Li Mei knocked gently on the side of the crate-like cage. "Hello? Anyone still alive in there?"
As a faint coughing was the only response, Li Mei slipped around to the front and cautiously peeked inside.
Under a pile of bodies crammed in the back of the cage emerged one tiny hand waving weakly to capture attention.
A child!
Li Mei rushed to move the bodies, elbowing and shoving corpses aside unceremoniously until she freed the survivor from the crushing weight.
-----
[Hana]
Eos (Rare Unknown Bloodline)
Female
Rank 0 (93%)
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The child, Hana, looked no older than seven. Her tiny body was covered in blood and injuries. On her back were a pair of tiny black wings, crumpled and broken with many feathers missing or askew. Parts of her flesh unmarred by wounds were covered in thick old scars instead. Her head was shaved, odd scarring patterns on the scalp indicating strange equipment was hooked up to her often.
All she wore was something resembling a brown sack with a barcode printed on the left shoulder. She looked up at Li Mei with fear in her teary scarlet eyes, but lacked the strength to protest or even speak. She was hugged tightly by the body of another child, a boy just older than Hana whose lips had gone pale and no longer trembled with breath.
Even in death, he was positioned to protect her.
Fury bubbled in the depths of Li Mei's belly. She clenched and unclenched her hand, gritting her teeth before carefully lifting the tiny girl in her arms, prying her away from the boy's arms with tender care.
Hana was as light as a feather. Thin and delicate.
"My name's Li Mei. I'm going to help clean you up, okay?" Li Mei whispered, but knew better than to wait for a response.
She dashed back to one of the rooms that had an eye wash station. Compared to the high pressure of shower stations meant for hastily cleansing off harmful chemicals in a lab environment, eye wash stations had more gentle water flow from their nozzles. Since the child was already badly injured, Li Mei didn't want to risk aggravating her wounds by shoving the poor thing under a high pressure flow.
With gentle hands she washed the small girl free of blood, then cleaned and dressed her wounds with supplies from her storage. The entire time, Li Mei swore and cursed the bastards who tortured and experimented on a little girl. Some of her language was so colorful it made Hana blush, bringing color back to her pale face.
"They should count themselves lucky I don't kill them again!" Li Mei snarled while crushing a bunch of herbs into powder, sprinkling it on one of Hana's wounds which gave off a faint sour stink. Once Hana was wrapped like a little mummy, Li Mei sighed and glanced toward the door of the room. "That boy out there, the one who protected you. We can't bury him or anything considering where we are, but... Do you want me to cremate him? The monsters won't get him that way."
Hana hesitated, then nodded. Li Mei smiled, leaving her in the room with a barrier blocking the door.
She didn't care about the other bodies as they were all scientists and soldiers, but Li Mei was as gentle with the boy's corpse as she was with Hana, cradling him in her arms and taking him to a cage that could be seen from Hana's position.
Countless accelerants and a lighter ensured his body caught aflame with ease. Li Mei returned to Hana's side, sitting in silence as the small girl clasped her hands and bowed her head. Tears rolled down Hana's face as she whispered: "Thank you, brother."
She waited until some time after the flames died down. Li Mei glanced at the pale and shaking girl at her side, eyebrows furrowed. "I'm sorry for your loss, uh..."
"...Hana. My name... Is Hana." Her voice was soft and faint, like the flutter of butterfly wings. She was still weak from loss of blood, and spoke slowly with soft gasps between the words.
"Hana. That's a nice name." Li Mei decided it was better to pretend she didn't know already. Explaining her random acquisition of knowledge would be a pain.
"Brother... Named me. It... Means flower."
"He had good taste. I'm named after a flower too." Li Mei smiled, then glanced at Hana's wings. "I'm sorry but... I don't know anything about wings. I can tell they're broken and I'm sure it hurts but I don't know how to fix them."
Hana shook her head. "They... Will heal. Two... Three days. I always... Heal. "
Li Mei scowled. Hana implied they broke often, and the thought of what those nasty scientists were doing to such a small girl made Li Mei want to punch something into mincemeat.
Hana. That poor boy. And the monsters who were also all (Modified) when she Scanned them. What the hell were these bastards up to down here?!
Faust had a lot of explaining to do when he got back!
Li Mei opened her mouth to ask something when a sharp chill went down her spine.
-----
[Sense]
Hostile detected!
Threat level: Moderate
-----
Son of a b*tch!
Li Mei glanced around in panic, then grabbed Hana and gently hid her inside a cabinet under a nearby counter. "Hana, there's something bad coming. Stay here, stay quiet, and I'll take care of it. Okay?"
She smiled and closed the cabinet before Hana could open her mouth to protest, pulling out the two halves of her broken staff.
Sense only alerted her to hostile intent if she didn't see the enemy yet it had spotted her. Something was targeting her, and she didn't know from where.
What a horrible feeling.
'Ah. Karma for my antics hunting the soldiers in the forest, maybe?' Li Mei smiled wryly, turning on the spot to scrutinize every corner in the room. The vents, the cabinets, the door... 'I just wanted to scare them, make it easier to-'
Her eyes widened as a faint touch of wind stirred the hairs on the back of her neck.
She spun on her heel, slamming her elbow into the face of...
Of...
A horrible creature whose shaggy fur-covered humanoid body was laden with wounds and crawling with maggots. Icky, gross, fat, wiggling little worms dripping out of every wound.
Li Mei screeched at the top of her lungs and threw several vials of acid at the creature, not even bothering to Scan it before splattering a bunch of chemicals in its face.
She didn't want to see!
She didn't want to know!
She just wanted it to die, die, die, die, then die again just for good measure!
But the creature was fast. Fast and eerily silent. After she hit it with acid, it darted forward and swiped at her with claws the length of kitchen knives.
Li Mei jumped backwards, grabbing a medical cart and chucking the entire thing at the horrible, horrible creature.
Unfortunately, the creature slashed the cart to pieces with just one swing of its claws. Then it jumped up, using its claws to cling to the ceiling and skitter towards her at high speed, maggots dripping from its body all the while.
Until it slammed into a barrier, smashing it to bits but losing its momentum. Taking advantage of its daze, Li Mei pulled three knives out of her inventory and flung them at the creature.
One missed, the second slashed its arm, but the third embedded itself in the creature's side. It glanced at the offending knife, then at Li Mei, and bared a mouth full of jagged yellow fangs. Some sort of fat green grub crawled out of its mouth and plopped to the floor with a wet slapping noise.
The creature launched itself toward her, only to find itself once again obstructed by a barrier as Li Mei fled across the room screeching the word "GROSS" over and over.
She didn't notice the cabinet door slowly opening, or Hana's small hands glowing with rosy red circuit patterns as she gathered mana for a spell.
"Brother Li... Look out!" Hana yelled as a tiny, pitiful little fireball condensed in front of her palms and flew toward the creature with a wobbly, unsteady trajectory. The creature dodged artfully but the fireball changed its route no matter how the creature moved, until finally hitting it square in the leg.
All the fur on its body combusted as though the creature were soaked in oil. The whole time it burned, it never made a single sound - it just stared at Li Mei, taking step after pained step towards her, until it collapsed on the ground with one clawed hand outstretched in her direction.
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Li Mei shuddered, and hurried back to the cabinet where Hana lay panting for breath, a sheen of sweat gathering on her upper lip.
Seeing her savior was okay, Hana smiled slightly and closed her eyes, falling unconscious.
Groaning, Li Mei crouched next to the small girl and once more carried her gently like a princess. "Just who do you think's a Brother Li?" she muttered, wondering why two people now insisted on calling her a boy.
She was a fine, delicate, clever and attractive young maiden, okay?!
Li Mei raided the nearby rooms, searching for lab coats and safety equipment. Once she amassed a decent amount she shred then tied them together again to make a sling for Hana, securely holding the unconscious girl on her back.
Having someone smaller and weaker to keep an eye on was a new experience. She met Otto in the forest, a place she was already familiar with and was very confident in moving through safely.
Though Otto was much weaker than her, it wasn't really a problem since she just strapped him to Bao's back and carried him home. The guy was also much taller than she was, and rather than a feeling of protectiveness, his cherubic face made Li Mei want to bully him more.
Bao had always been stronger than her, so he didn't count either.
Hana was so... Small. And delicate. Li Mei's eyes softened when she thought of the girl's pale face and sunken eyes.
Unforgivable!
If Faust had a hand in Hana's treatment, Li Mei would never forgive him!
She exhaled a turbid breath before her temper flared up too far. Making sure Hana was secure and as close as comfortable inside the sling as she could get, Li Mei nodded to herself and crept back toward the cage with all the bodies inside.
They stank. Badly.
'I wish there was a way to search the bodies without actually touching them,' Li Mei whined inwardly, wrinkling her nose. Dead bodies weren't that big of a deal themselves, but when they started to rot they got stinky and sticky and mushy and then there were bugs and...
Ugh! Gross!
Luckily, her resolve and bravery in the face of decomposition bore sweet fruit.
The Class-A Keycard!
Li Mei washed her messy hands in a nearby sink until her skin was raw. 'Finally I can get out of here! I got the Cores, got the data which I can check later when I'm safe, if I get Hana out of here my Quest will be complete! Ah, I should look into getting explosives or something... It'd be nice if I could just erase this horrible place from existence.'
She remembered fondly how it felt burning that manor to the ground. Even if she got hurt and had to flee into the Forest of Pain, it was worth it in the end.
Sighing, Li Mei crept toward the entrance of Lab 3, sticking to the shadows and taking slow, measured steps.
Without her staff, Li Mei experienced a sense of discomfort that surprised her. She didn't realize how much she'd come to rely on it, and once more cursed the evil millipede in her heart for biting it in half.
An arsenal of knives and homemade acid was nothing compared to the long metal staff she was used to wielding!
Li Mei sighed again. At least some of the monsters in the forest had strong large bones, she could make a suitable temporary staff later... And some back-ups. Maybe some other reserve weapons!
Her mauve eyes sparkled as she crept through the facility toward the emergency escape tunnels, stretching her senses to the maximum. Hana would be disturbed if she got in a fight, and it was better for her to rest well.
The entrance to the emergency tunnels was a massacre. Li Mei shook her head and clicked her tongue as she dug out their Cores.
People had Cores too, after all. Not just monsters or beasts!
Compared to exploring the research facility, escaping was easy. The infiltrating soldiers already cleared the tunnels, then died in a fracas while the people inside tried to escape. Since the tunnels were sealed by the security system, none of the creatures managed to get into them.
Li Mei heaved a sigh of relief and checked her map, choosing an exit close to where Bao was waiting. The escape tunnels were a vast network with exit hatches all over the forest, a fact she kept in mind for possible later use. With her new Class-A Keycard, she had free access to all of them!
As soon as she set foot in the forest, the Quest 'Escape' counted complete, rewarding its enormous chunk of EXP and the stats it promised for the bonus objectives. Li Mei grinned.
The Fera almost bowled her over in his excitement when she finally arrived at their meeting spot, nosing against her injuries with obvious displeasure on his fluffy face. Then he snorted, catching sight of the injured girl on Li Mei's back.
"Her name's Hana and I rescued her," she explained. "She was experimented on. Her brother died protecting her in there."
Something like sympathy, or perhaps pity, flashed across the Fera's golden eyes. He glanced at Li Mei, also a child who'd been hurt and in need of rescue, and wisely understood why she brought the younger girl out.
He was a very clever boy, after all.
Bao knelt so Li Mei could get on his back without disturbing the sleeping Hana, then the three of them made their way back home.
[https://i.ibb.co/t8p9D1d/Divider.png]
Hana awoke as Li Mei was changing her into a clean shirt. The girl's face went blank, her body limp as she remembered the researchers removing her clothes, scolding or hitting or pinching if she tried to pull away or move during the process.
Li Mei rolled her eyes and flicked her finger gently against Hana's forehead before tugging the shirt firmly over the smaller girl's head, bringing her back to reality. "Hey, hey. We're both girls, you don't have anything I don't. Wings aside, I mean." Seeing Hana's mouth drop open in shock, Li Mei's expression darkened while she resisted the urge to flick the girl's forehead again. "Do you have to be so surprised about it? First that idiot, now you..."
"Is she decent yet, Boss?" A man's voice called from the other side of a curtain, and for the first time Hana realized she wasn't in the familiar Lab or even the horrible holding cells.
"Yes, bring the food in." Li Mei sighed as Otto trotted in holding a tray of warm dishes, Bao close on his heels - the Fera never let Otto near Li Mei's room without close supervision.
Hana snapped her mouth shut as her mind whirled with questions.
Sh was brought to the research facility as a small child and barely remembered that the soft thing she laid on was called a bed, a comfortable surface for sleeping so different from the stiff cots in the holding cells she'd grown accustomed to.
Her crimson eyes glanced around, searching for the security cameras or medical tables or even a scientist in a white coat watching with cold apathetic eyes as though she were already dead, or a fish gasping its last breaths on a chopping board...
But the surroundings smelled of earth, stone, herbs and fresh air mixed with the aroma of warm food. It was peaceful, and refreshing, and oh so confusing to the girl who barely recalled what any of those things were. Memories buried deep within her heart stirred, clawing their way to the surface.
"The tall guy is Otto, and the fluffy one is Bao," Li Mei introduced both her companions while setting the tray on the bed. "I made the food myself so I promise it won't be gross. Eat up, you need to recover your strength."
"Where...?" Hana asked, only to be interrupted when Li Mei held a spoonful of porridge in front of her lips. She opened her mouth obediently, screwing her eyes tight shut in preparation for a horrible bitter medicinal taste.
Instead, the porridge on her tongue was warm and sweet. Hana, who didn't have any memories of ever eating something so delicious, felt tears roll down her cheeks.
Li Mei smiled, her expression gentle even if the fire in her heart raged toward the people who tortured a child so badly that some porridge made her cry for joy. "Don't worry, you're safe now. Welcome home, Hana."