Poison Ivy - I
"In… increase?" Chen Chen's eyes darted here and there. Why was this girl so sharp? He had actually done nothing for past one month but eaten and rested. He had stopped his exercise also, hence he was so low on stamina suddenly. But how could he tell all this to Su Xin Yu? Would she not kill him then and there?
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Chen Chen replied, his gaze still shifting here and there. Su Xin Yu squinted her eyes. She knew he was lying.
"Alright, alright. Why don't we continue now? We have taken a five minute break, that should be enough right?" Li Ming Hao interrupted the bickering two. Seeing that interaction, he started experiencing a tight feeling in his chest. He wasn't tired or anything, why was he feeling so?
But he also wanted to start the real journey where they would actually go into one of the places to explore. Right now all he could see was these weird trees lining up the trail that was disappearing as they were going ahead. The grass was also scarce now and rocks had started appearing here and there.
"Fine, let's go. I had not accounted for this rest time before we reach the peak. I will miss my sunrise if we keep stalling like this," Su Xin Yu pouted, glaring at her cousin.
Su Xin Yu and Li Ming Hao started walking while Chen Chen was still sitting, reluctant to get up. He ultimately had to leave his comfortable position because the two people had gone so far ahead in a few seconds that he was about to lose sight of them. He tried running behind but fell down into a pile of leaves from the trees above.
Chen Chen dusted his clothes off and started walking briskly to catch up with the couple.
"Psst… If Chen Chen is your cousin, why is his surname different? Is he your cousin from your mother's side?" Li Ming Hao was a curious person by nature, so he liked to ask questions about the subjects that interested him a lot whenever he could. Right now, of all the mysteries around him, he was intrigued by two, the dungeons and this girl. Dungeons he was going to see anyway, so he decided to probe about the girl's life.
Su Xin Yu didn't think that much of it since his dad, Dean Li knew everything anyway.
"Uhh… my tribe has only a handful of people left. We do not really divide ourselves based on families and surnames etc. We consider ourselves a big family. And so, everyone in one generation is a cousin," Su Xin Yu replied.
"Then… ahem… when it comes to marriage and all…," Li Ming Hao continued asking personal questions but the girl still didn't mind. She was just looking forward to the sunrise. It didn't matter to her if she had to answer a few more questions. Besides, since she did not have real friends, she was not very familiar with personal boundaries. As long as any question did not threaten her own being, it was okay.
"Well, tribe's elders do track who is blood related and who not. But majorly, cousins are allowed in our tribe to marry each other. Our tribe is not very advanced, they're not familiar with the concept of genes and deformation in pure blood families," she shrugged her shoulders.
She had to be thankful to Dean Li for this at least. She had some knowledge about everyday things which her tribe refused to accept. She had tried multiple times to convince her elders to let the kids in the tribe study. Until and unless the grown up kids left the tribe on their own, they were totally against the idea of bringing foreign culture to their own tribe.
Chen Chen was one of the people who were illiterate but were going out for expeditions in hiding. The tribe had no idea that he was mingling with Su Xin Yu. Su Xin Yu had become an outcast of the tribe but she was being kept around because she had the key to the dungeons. If the tribe lost her, they would lose the only way, the only legacy.
Yup, even for her own people, she was just a keeper of secrets, a tool. She had just accepted her fate and started living with the fact. But she had not given up on carving her own path in life.
"Oh, I am sorry to hear that," Li Ming Hao did not understand how a whole tribe could be so backward that they would refuse to accept the change, unless, they had their own advanced technology. Was her tribe hiding something? How could that be? But why would they be so opposed to opening up to the world?
Seeing his pitiful expression, Su Xin Yu got flustered. Was he feeling sorry for her or just lamenting the ignorance of her tribe in his heart?
"A… anyway, wear your mask, the foliage is getting thicker. These are not normal plants here. Make sure no part touches any of them," Su Xin Yu stated while putting her own gas mask.
"Why so suddenly? I feel fine, there is nothing in the air," Li Ming Hao did as instructed but he still wanted to know the reason.
Su Xin Yu frowned. Why could this guy not count on her experience but had to be questioning everything? Could he just not follow the recommendations silently? And where was her cousin now? Why was he being so late? They were just few minutes away from the summit.
And the sky had already become quite bright now. What to do? She had to wait for Chen Chen no matter what. This was a familiar place to her but Chen Chen did not really know about it and Li Ming Hao was totally new to the area. She had to make sure that both the guys were safe till the end of this journey. In the end, she did not give any reply and just turned around to stare at the empty trail behind her.
Li Ming Hao looked at the worried expression of the girl and tried to comfort her, "Do you want me to go back and check?"
Su Xin Yu shook her head. They needed to trust in each other. If they needed to look out for each other every five minutes so early in the journey, the times ahead were going to be too arduous. Seeing her quiet, Li Ming Hao had no choice but join her in her wait.
"Aaaaahh!" They both heard a scream from the direction they were looking at. They dropped their bags hurriedly and ran towards the voice in panic. It was definitely Chen Chen, what had happened?