'I can't believe it. She was right.' Qui Lin had thought, referring this comment to Judith. And though at this moment Qui Lin should have been filled with awe, curiosity and confusion. She couldn't help but be consumed by the pain burning in her heart, which had only seemed to be dialed up to eleven when she found the prince's killer.
Qiao, now finally realizing himself, scoffed, before rushing off into the building that he had emerged from.
Qui Lin knew for a fact that he was getting away, but her focus did not sway from the maid she was trying to save. More over, she felt a very sinister part of herself enjoy the fact that she will be hunting Qiao down, and once he had been found, she would do away with him in the most inhumane way possible.
As she thought of this, a strange lust had burnt in her heart, which caused her to grin with wide eyes. This bloodlust that had consumed her for a moment had caused her Alkalis to flinch, so Tsai groaned in pain.
At once, Qui Lin snapped out of her daze, and focused on the matter at hand. She would get to Qiao later, right now she had something important to do.
Within the second, Qui Lin had said "Now" causing Judith to pull the knife out of Tsai's neck with a bit of aggression prompted by panic. Though this had made things a little difficult for Qui Lin, she said nothing, as she realized it was her fault for not properly communicating the manner in which Judith should pull out the knife.
Qui Lin did her best, concentrating and pouring Mana after Mana into her Alkalis and after ten minutes of stress-filled silence, she was finally done. The gapping wound in Tsai's neck had disappeared and Tsai was okay. Sound asleep, but okay.
"She'll be fine." Qui Lin said to Judith, who gave the barest response, as she was too dazed to speak. Dazed by the fact that Tsai had almost died before her very eyes. Dazed by the fact that this moment, had reminded her of one of the most horrifying instant in Judith's life.
The image of her mother had flashed in her head several dozen times. The image of her mother, dying. After a minute or so of silence, several tears began to stream down Judith's eyes, and before she knew it, she began to cry.
This reaction had left Qui Lin a little more stunned than she would have guessed. She knew that Judith was close to this maid, but how close could they have gotten in the span of a day for her to be crying to such a degree, even though Tsai had lived?
Qui Lin did not quite understand it, perhaps, Judith was just an emotional person, or perhaps not. It didn't really matter to Qui Lin at this point in time, what did matter, was finding Qiao, and making sure he wishes he was burning in hell.
Before attending to a very pressing matter — that being the captain — she made her way over to Judith and began healing her wounded arm. This had caused Judith to stop her crying in a mute cacophony of sniffles, as she felt it impolite and or awkward to cry when someone was helping her.
Trying to remove her head from the pain in her heart, she thought on the wound and in an instant she felt disappointed.
Her wound did not heal. Perhaps she was just crazy after all.
With this, she thought nothing else.
After several moments of silence, Qui Lin was done. Without wasting anymore time or even waiting for Judith to say thank you, she stood, ready to make her way to the building. But before she could take a step, Judith had said "Wait" with a sniffle, which held Qui Lin in her tracks.
Qui Lin, not wanting to be held any longer, simply said, "I don't have time for gratitude." After saying this, she made to leave when Judith had halted her once more.
"No it's not that." Judith had said, only realizing how rude her statement was when it was already too late. But as far as she could tell, she was a victim of circumstance.
Qui Lin, who was now a bit angry, but very embarrassed, had kept her gaze away from Judith and then asked, "What is it then?"
Attempting to speak up at once, Judith opened her mouth, only to find out that the appropriate words she was looking for had eluded her. Taking in several deep breaths, she began to think. She was trying to remember the ranking system of this world before saying what she wanted to say next.
She thought the novel's ranking system. That being Jade, Opal, Sapphire, Garnet and Zircon. Opal was the strongest, Zircon was the weakest and Jade was legendary.
But that wasn't the end of the ranking system, because apart from having a rank, each rank was graded from 1 to 10. 1 being the weakest and 10 being the strongest. Judith at this point, had now fully structured the ranking in her head so she knew the incoming Parabeast's rank and grade.
Qui Lin, having what little patience she had left eating away at her, almost screamed at Judith, just when Judith had spoken.
"A 9th-Grade Garnet-Ranked Parabeast is about to attack." After speaking, Judith had realized her blunder and cursed herself. Not only did she just predict the future, but she even gave the Beast's rank and grade. She couldn't have made a mess of things any better.
Without letting the angered, slightly embarrassed and now profoundly confused Qui Lin speak, Judith added, "This outpost will be needing you."
After Judith had spoken, silence fell.
Qui Lin did not react to what Judith had said, she didn't even know if she believed. But one thing was clear, her priorities were else where.
She at once, turned her sights to the building where Qiao ran into and before she could do anything, a bell rang, alarming every living person in the Outpost, most especially Qui Lin.
Following this bell was an enormous crash that sounded like a giant block of wood had been rammed by an indestructible bullet train, which all but shattered the block of wood into splinters.
After the thunderous sound, the ground underneath their feet had vibrated, as though a terrible tremor that warned of an earthquake had stirred.
It didn't take long before explosions, lightning and other forms of Offensive Alkalis boomed into the night's air. Which did a fine job of frightening every one that wasn't a Tethered, more than they already were.
Judith did not meet Qui Lin's gaze, as she felt she would come under too much scrutiny, which she didn't have the strength for at the moment. With one more sniffle, she rose onto her feet and turned toward the direction of the commotion.
In the distance, beyond several buildings, Judith could see flashes of lights of different colors leak into the darkened sky like the works of a painter, who preferred a black canvas.
Judith pointed in the direction of the commotion and spoke.
"If you don't help, dozens of Tethereds will die." Judith had said, hammering this fact home because she knew a big part of Qui Lin had been crying out to chase after the captain, and leave this matter to the Tethereds that were present in the Outpost.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Qui Lin found herself contemplating, no, weighing what was more important. The lives of dozens of Tethereds, or avenging the prince's death.
Deep down, Qui Lin knew this revenge was not for the prince's sake, but for hers. She was in pain, and she needed someone to place that pain on. A selfish fact, but Qui Lin was not denying it, because she was no hypocrite.
"If they die like flies, then they weren't meant to be Tethereds in the first place." Qui Lin said with a cold tone, which Judith couldn't help but be disappointed at.
Knowing full well Judith couldn't do this without Qui Lin, she spoke just as she was about to walk away.
"Under that building, is a tunnel that branches into several more tunnels, which forms a maze." Judith said with a flat tone.
"A tunnel in a desert?" Qui Lin had asked in disbelief.
"We are closer to Qugan, the ground under us is more solid now. So yes, tunnels." Judith said, whilst still staring at the ensuing battle in the distance. "If you go now, without me, you will never find him." With these words, Judith had turned to face Qui Lin. "But if you help these Tethereds, I'll take you to him."
Qui Lin at this moment, found herself in a pool of confusion, she stared at Judith wondering who this Westerner was. Though this was an important question, she knew this was not the time to ask it, so she let it go.
Finding an excuse to set aside her vengeful spirit and help save the lives of the people in this outpost.