Ark 3 - The lives of many outweigh the life of one

Xu Dan worriedly gnawed at his lips. He had been couped up inside of the safe Base for three weeks now, as no one wished to form a team with him anymore. Even with his superior healing ability the people would still rather keep their distance from him. And all of that just because of the family Shi.

"Fucking Shi Wei and Shi Juan. Why do they always have to stand in my way. I wish they would just die already. And stay dead for christ sake."

A hagered looking woman glanced at him sideways as she hurriedly bypassed him, her bags of belongings tightly clutched to her chest, as if she was affraid someone would grab it from her any minute now. Most likely it was Xu dan she was actually worried would pounce on her luggage.

Xu Dan quietly smirked to himself while a small trickle of water flowed from his fingertips. A few seconds later the female skreeched as she slipped on a wet patch forming in her path. Her body plummeted heavily onto the dirty asphalt and at the same time her bag slipped out of her hand, hitting another woman square in the face.

In a better mood, Xu Dan continued his way through the crowded streets. This time though he descided to creep through the shadows instead of walking in the open, which suited his plans better anyway. Stealthily he rounded another corner, breaking away from the multitude of people to cross into a more quiet district. After a bit more walking, he noticed the back of a familiar figure descend a flight of stairs. And more importantly, that person was finally alone.

For a couple of days now Xu Dan has been following Shi Juan arround town to end that boy's miserable life, but unfortunately something, or rather someone, always seemed to get in the way. Now that those two cousins knew about each other's survival, it was as if they were making up for lost opportunities by constantly walking around together. It was nearly impossible to catch the younger one alone. Especially because if Shi Wei shortly stepped away from his familly member then it was only due to that guy Zhao Yang still being around. Sometimes Xu Dan worried that his stepbrother knew that he was there but then remembered Shi Wei's mental illness and calmed down again.

Xu Dan quickly swollowed down the excitement bubbling inside of him and set off to pursue Shi Juan for the last time. When they both made their way through a narrow alley with little chance of escape he untied the corse rope that he had used as a belt and breached the last of the distance between them. With flourish the cord was thrown over Shi Juan's head and pulled backwards, so that the boy's back heavily hit Xu Dan's front.

Just when the youth in his hold started gasping for air a bright silver light flew passed his head, missing his hands by mere inches. The rope still tightly clutched between his fingers suddenly gave way and Xu Dan staggered a few steps backwards, watching as Shi Juan flung the other half of the cord, that was still resting on his shoulders, off to the side.

"That didn't work out so well, did it?"

(Authors note: From here on out it will be Shu Ning's point of view again.)

Shu Ning leisurely leaned against the nearby wall and casually played with a small transparent disc hovering just above his palm. His gaze was fixated on the stepbrother infront of him and a small malevolent smile tipped up the corners of his mouth. From time to time one of his fingers twitched, making the sharp disc jump forward without warning, just to settle back at it's initial spot a heartbeat later.

"W-What are you doing here Shi Wei?"

"Me? I was waiting here for a little rat to appear. "

"A rat? Don't tell me.... Do you mean me? How did you...."

"How did I know that you were going to end up here? Well A-Juan made sure that you would. Don't think I did not notice you following us around. I'm not actually stupid. It was just getting a bit annoying so I descided to put an end to it."

"Yeah, right. Are you going to kill me then? You don't seem to have any evidence of my actions after all."

"perhaps. And it's not like the chief would believe me over you."

"See? And as Shi Juan is still new to his abilities and you have come alone, I still have a chance to get away unscathed."

"Who said I came alone?"

As if on cue Zhao Yang and Nian Zhei jumped down from a window ledge, landing right before the startled boy's feet and grabed his arms to imobilize him. With a cry Xu Dan started thrashing in their hold but the grip of the two men were too strong for the captive to get out of.

"Let's bring him to your father."

Shu Ning let Zhao Yang take the front with the still strugling Xu Dan and settled at the side of Shi Yuan to follow behind. The young man fortunately didn't get seriously injured by the strangelation, only a faint red line bloomed on the white skin where the corse material of the rope laied.

"does it hurt?"

"Nono. It doesn't. You stepped in before any damadge could be made."

"I'm sorry. I said I would take care of this but then got you involved after all."

"It's fine. I'm glad I could help. I hope that we can finally get rid of him now."

Shu Ning laughed at the selfsatisfied expression of the youth and reached out to ruffle the other's head playfully. With a wine Shi Juan batted the offending hand away and hurried closer to Zhao Yang's side, not daring to hide behind the bigger man just yet.

Smiling fondly at the wary boy, Shu Ning climbed up the stairs to the chiefs office, helping Nian Zhei push open the door when Xu Dan started to struggle harder. They all gathered infront of Zhao Yang's dad who eyed them curiously and Shi Yuan stepped forward to take over the explanation.

A frown appeared on the old man's face as he listened to the youth talk and from time to time his eyes flitted to the form of Xu Dan, who stayed caged in between Zhao Yang and Nian Zhei. Instead of trying to get away he had now resulted to show a pitifull expression instead.

"I see. So he killed your entire family and now tried to dispose of you as well. I'm sorry for your loss but what exactly do you expect me to do with him now?"

"Well. I- I mean.... That is..."

Helplessly Shi Juan turned to look at Shu Ning, pleading with his eyes to take over the conversation. With a put upon sigh the latter stepped next to the young man and smiled at the older male behind the desk.

"We hoped that you could choose an appropriate punichment for Xu Dan. As we are only civilians, the people would not react well if we just enacted justice ourself. But it would be different for you."

"That is true. And Xu Dan would really deserve a rightful punishment, but there is one tiny problem in this. Xu Dan is too important for humanity to truly harm him."

"What do you mean?"

"Xu Dan is capable of fighting off the zombie virus. Even if he can not heal zombies with his abilities, he is our hope that it would one day become possible. So unfortunately, no matter how much I agree with your assesment of the situation, there is not much that I can do."

Shu Ning's mouth tightened into a thin line and and his eyebrows twitched in consternation. When he glanced at Xu Dan, he saw the other boy grin in selfsatisfaction and wind his arms out of Nian Zhei's grasp, tidying his wrinkled clothes as he straightened up.

"So we have to let him roam free again eventhough he obviously is a danger to other people?"

"Allright. Let's do it like this. I will have an ability user keep watch over Xu Dan at all times and if he reports anything worrying to me Xu Dan will receive the punishment he should. On top of that, he will be restricted to certain areas. That means, he will not be able to enter the market or get close to the district you are living in."

"Fine. I suppose that is all we are going to get."

With a ruefuel smile Shu Ning directed Shi Juan out of the room, leaving Nian Zhei and Zhao Yang behind to discuss the details of their agreement with the chief. Without another glance at the closing door, the two of them took the stairs out of the building and walked side by side down the road towards Shu Ning's home.

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Authors note: By the way, my initial plan was actually to kill off Shi Juan in this chapter, but my friend likes the young boy a lot, so I had to let him live  ┐(￣ヘ￣)┌

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A few days later Zhao Yang, Hu Jin and Shi Yuan met up at Shu Ning's place to celebrate the birthday of Shi Yong. The little boy was excitedly jumping around the group of men and taking it upon himself to seize their jackets and hang them up. That resulted in a pile of clothes with flailing limbs running right into the nearby wall and falling flat on it's behind.

Shu Ning laughed heartily as he picked up the child from the ground and freed him from the bundle of fabric. A round face with short and unruly hair slowly emerged from underneath and with a stubborn glare directed at his foster father, the child grabbed the jacket's again and then tugged at Zhao Yang's leg. The bigger Man naturally bend down to pick up the child and help him hang the coat's onto the hooks.

The rest of the guests made their way through the entrance and into the livingroom, silently shaking with laughter. Shu Ning followed behind them and directed each person to their destined spot at the table, which was already set with tableware, a chocolat-cream cake and blueberry muffins.

Most ingredients used to bake those goods had to unfortunately be bought from the system's store, but it was worth the points it cost Shu Ning when Shi Yong laied eyes on the carefully decorated sweets and broke out into a bright smile.

"CAKE!"

Shi Yong squeeled in delight and ran over to sit on Shu Ning's lab as there weren't enough chairs for all of them to get their own spot. A few seconds later the child's cheeks were covered by white and brown splotches of cake and the table infront of him looked a downright mess. As if the pastries were not eaten but slaughtered instead.

Shu Ning picked up a napkin he had wisely prepared beforhand and carefully wiped the child's face clean, licking off a drop of whiped cream that had made it all the way to Shi Yong's temples. The kid barely reacted to the tongue swabbing at his skin, so absorbed was he in bathing in the delicious cake.

Next to them, Hu Jin broke off a piece of his muffin with a fork and reached it toards Shu Ning's mouth, ignoring the dark glare he could feel pricking his skin. The latter reflexively opened up to receive the offering and heartily started chewing while Hu Jin broke off another piece to feed. This time though it was Zhao Yang who beat him to it and with a role of his eyes he shared an amused look with Shu Ning who let the taller man continue earnestly feeding him.

"Shi Wei. The chief asked me this morning if I could start working in the labaratory to help develop a vaccine. I'm not really a scientist but he said that with my ability 'appraisal' I know my ways around the mashinery better than the rest."

"That's good. I'm sure you would be a great help to all of them."

"You think I should agree then?"

"You didn't do so yet? Why?"

"Well. Like I said, I'm not a scientist and I'm not sure I could work together with those arogant maniacs."

"Maniacs? That bad, huh? Well, I can't tell you what to do, but the chief is correct. You helped bring back the equipment for the vaccine, so you know best how to use them all."

"Would you do it with me then? I could use an assistant I trust and someone who wouldn't mind working together with an outsider."

"You want me to become a scientist? But I know less about all of this than you do."

"That's fine. I'll teach you the necessary steps, but most of all you just need to clean and tidy the tools, take care of the plants and document our findings. All very simple."

Shu Ning was incredulous at the offer. He never considered becoming a scientist in this world as it was only Hu Jin who could develop a proper vaccine. But after thinking about it a moment longer he could see the merrits in assisting his friend. Not only because of Xu Dan still running around out there somewhere but also because it would give him some experience in this field, which he would maybe need in the future.

"Ok. I'm in. I'll try to assist however I can."