"Kui Kui Ge, let’s go," Rada Gan turned and walked away, but after a few steps, he realized Kui Kui Ge hadn’t followed.
Kui Kui Ge no longer considered himself Rada Gan’s follower; at this mont, he looked at Zhao Ling with eyes full of anticipation and admiration.
"Kui Kui Ge!" Rada Gan called out again.
Kui Kui Ge didn’t look at him, saying only, "Courage."
Rada Gan stopped in his tracks, his gaze towards Kui Kui Ge changed.
"And loyalty, Mr. Rada Gan, these are the only things He demands of us now," Kui Kui Ge continued.
Finally turning his head, Kui Kui Ge looked at Rada Gan.
Now, there was no longer a master-servant relationship between the two; the black youth had grown into a man with a heart of steel, no longer the boy from the streets of Felda who joined a gang just to get by.
"Kui Kui Ge, just look, look at the fate that woman t," Rada Gan said.
At that mont, Zhao Ling had already crossed the center of the blood pool, but she had lost her way because both her eyeballs had slipped from their sockets.
Her waist suddenly swelled, forming a large bulge, and then, with a loud pop, it burst open, splattering blood and flesh.
Zhao Ling faltered, falling into the blood pool; her proud bosom also turned into rotten flesh, shriveling into two empty sacks of skin that hung from her chest. Her robust muscles gradually dissolved, and the forearm of the third arm on her back broke off, leaving only a half-piece of withered bone protruding from her shoulder blade.
With a plop, Zhao Ling sank again; her other leg also lted beneath the blood pool, and now she could only crawl forward painfully with her hands.
The blood pool washed over Zhao Ling’s head, enveloping her entire body. At first, those on the shore could still see ripples on the surface and her hands occasionally reaching out. Then, there was no more movent.
Everyone waited a few more minutes.
Kui Kui Ge sighed, unable to keep the hot tears from falling.
Cha Na had already turned pale with shock from what he had witnessed.
Baphot approached Rada Gan and whispered, "Now, won’t you try it out?"
Rada Gan shook his head, "You saw it too, she just lted into the blood pool; this is not an opportunity... the thod isn’t perfected yet."
"Perhaps, the bodies of your humans are simply too frail," Baphot said.
"Why don’t you try it then? You ca from the heavens, surely you’re more noble than we are," Rada Gan said with disdain.
"I’m nothing but a grassland goat now, no different from you guys; I’m certain I could make it across, but I am waiting for the right mont," Baphot replied.
"Maybe this won’t work, and we’ll all die here," Rada Gan said.
"You’re too pessimistic," Baphot responded.
At that mont, Cha Na suddenly raised his hand and pointed across the pool, "Look! Look! She... she made it across..."
Cha Na’s voice was initially excited, but then it fell into deep despondency and fear.
Everyone looked towards the far shore, to see Zhao Ling with only half her body remaining. She had lost all her hair, and her upper body retained only one arm, the forearm severed, as she crawled ashore, leaving a long trail of blood in the sandy ground behind her.
She couldn’t crawl anymore and lay there motionless, leaving everyone in doubt as to whether she was still alive.
"Zhao Ling!! Are you still alive?!" Rada Gan shouted across the pool.
He looked around, intending to run around the edge of the lake to the other side, but although the oasis was neither very large nor small, running there on foot would probably take more than 20 minutes.
"She’s succeeded!" Kui Kui Ge declared.
"She’s dead..." Rada Gan said.
"No, it can’t be like this... That’s not what It wants, right...?" Cha Na was sowhat shaken.
"She’s dead, who among us is next?" Rada Gan said.
Everyone was very quiet.
"Now, I’m sowhat envious of Yaha. She didn’t co here; she doesn’t have to face such a choice," Rada Gan continued.
"I have courage, I am also loyal!" Kui Kui Ge said.
He too loosened his tie, removed his shirt, prepared to enter the black blood pool.
"Kui Kui Ge, this is suicide," Rada Gan said.
Kui Kui Ge let out a careless snort, removed all his clothes without looking back, and stepped into the blood pool.
Rada Gan watched the 1.9-ter-tall black man’s retreating figure, unsure of what fate awaited the man.
Kui Kui Ge walked the six-ter distance, the blood pool barely covering his thighs due to his height.
Still, despite that, he showed signs of excruciating pain.
Blisters ford in rows on his dark skin, swelled up, burst, then swelled again as pus and blood flowed over his body, his genitalia lting, his legs charred to the point of peeling. He roared at the sky, whether from the pain, to boost his own morale, or perhaps both.
"Co on! Co on!" Cha Na shouted from the side.
"I’m almost there... just a little bit more," Kui Kui Ge said, his eyes suddenly bursting, black fluid gushed from his mouth.
In agony, he kneeled in the blood pool, his chest and abdon making sizzling noises, and when his jawbone dissolved, his face was left without a chin, his black tongue dangling out.
Nearly acting on instinct, he finally reached the shore, his legs dissolved to nothing but two bones. Just as he climbed out, they broke.
Kui Kui Ge kneeled at the edge, motionless, while Zhao Ling’s half body lay on the other side, four ters away.
"Kui Kui Ge?!" Cha Na called out to the opposite side.
"Courage, show your courage, steward," Baphot encouraged.
"I refuse to die here. Even if I’m not a Knight, I can still serve Wei Tianyang!" Rada Gan said.
"Oh, you choose to retreat," Baphot seed to laugh.
"I will be more rational. Even if Yaha were here, she wouldn’t rashly step in either! Look, Zhao Ling had no choice, Kui Kui Ge wanted to climb higher, but I’m different. I don’t need to do that. I’ve proven my worth elsewhere!" Rada Gan was sowhat losing his composure as he tried hard to prove himself.
"No one is denying your value, but courage is all too real. I guess, It won’t like cowards," Baphot said.
At that mont, the sound of wading water ca from behind. A man and a sheep looked over to see Cha Na had gone more than four ters out.
The kid was only 1.7 ters tall, a full head shorter than Zhao Ling. The water of the blood pool covered his chest. Just standing straight and moving forward made him unavoidably swallow a few mouthfuls.
Cha Na hadn’t walked for long before he completely sank into the blood pool. Rada Gan guessed that his lower half must have lted like Zhao Ling’s...
It was too cruel... too terrifying...
Rada Gan shook his head, resolved not to step into that damned blood pool. He couldn’t bear to watch his own body dissolve and be destroyed like that.
However, a few minutes later, Cha Na crawled onto the shore just like Zhao Ling, with only half a head, half a torso, even his arms were gone, forced to move forward by the squirming of his shoulders.
The black sheep called out twice to the sky as if celebrating their victory.
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