The human body's capabilities had limits. Ning Zhe might be able to solo-kill an armed security captain one-on-one, or rely on feigned weakness and ambush to consecutively eliminate two gas station employees. But if directly facing three or more armed adult males, even if boxing champion Mike Tyson arrived, it would be a certain death situation.
Moreover, one of them had a gun, though it appeared to be merely a crude black powder homemade shotgun.
"Young man, where did you come from?" The gas station owner looked at Ning Zhe somewhat puzzled. "Where's Boss Zhang?"
"Ah?" Ning Zhe was somewhat surprised. Their reaction exceeded his expectations. Not only did they have rationality, they could even communicate, and they didn't seem to know he was "Zhang Yangxu."
The gas station owner raised the homemade shotgun in his hand, the muzzle pointing at Bai Zhi cradled in Ning Zhe's arms. "Never mind if you won't say. Step aside, young man. Guns don't have eyes. Don't want you getting hurt in a moment."
"You want to kill her?" Ning Zhe frowned. "Not kill me?"
"Kill you for what?" The gas station owner looked even more puzzled than him. "Aren't you Old Ning's grandson? The old fellow treasures you to death. You even peed on my leg as a kid... though you don't remember that. We're all townspeople. What happened today? Why didn't you go home and came here instead?"
"No, I remember. I just think it's strange..." Ning Zhe put down the short spear in his hand, thoughts churning.
The people at the gas station hadn't lost their rationality, nor were they driven mad or brainwashed. They were still the same people, natural expressions, fluent speech. Communication showed no logical confusion whatsoever.
They were all normal people.
They just wanted to kill Bai Zhi.
"Can you tell me why you want to kill her?" Ning Zhe asked.
The employees beside the owner looked at each other, all bewildered. "To be honest, we don't know either... The little miss looks pitifully adorable, quite likable actually. But somehow, we just want to kill her."
"Really, really want to." The employee beside the owner raised the machete in his hand. "Little brother, put her down. This girl must die today."
The owner also said, "Young man, you leave. I've known your grandfather for almost decades. As long as you don't speak of today's matter, it's fine. We have to do this today."
"...All right."
Ning Zhe nodded, casually tossed Bai Zhi into the bushes of the greenery belt beside them. The gun muzzles and spear tips in everyone's hands immediately turned that direction.
At the same time, a nimble black shadow flew over on fluttering wings.
Wind-riding spirit movement, magpie threading branches. The moment Ning Zhe's body was about to collide with the owner's face, he instantly transformed back to his own appearance. His hard knee, borrowing the lunging momentum, struck between the man's legs. The owner's body immediately fell. His hands loosening their grip on the homemade shotgun, it fell into Ning Zhe's hands.
Without the slightest hesitation, Ning Zhe reversed the muzzle and pressed it against the owner's head. A gunshot smeared acrid gunpowder smoke across the silent night.
The moment the gunshot rang out, Ning Zhe's form once again became a black and white magpie, dodging the boar spear thrust at him by the employee who had reacted. But the magpie state maintained for only a few short seconds. The next moment, Ning Zhe's hands gripped the spear shaft, thrusting the rust-covered spear tip into his chest cavity. He snapped it upward, breaking ribs. Warm blood sprayed across his face.
The machete's edge then fell, but couldn't cut through those black and white wings.
Bai Zhi, thrown into the greenery, dragged her drowsy consciousness up with difficulty. The gunshot just now had jolted her awake from sleepiness. With her body full of lassitude and soreness, she raised her head from the bushes. She saw bodies covered in blood lying scattered before the gas station.
The only person not yet expired curled on the ground, trampled under Ning Zhe's foot, struggling painfully. All four limbs seemed completely broken or dislocated.
Ning Zhe bent to pick up the homemade shotgun fallen on the ground, ejecting the paper-shell cartridge after explosion and combustion from the chamber. He loaded ammunition scavenged from the gas station owner's corpse. His cold, ruthless face was covered on one side with sprayed blood, like a vicious demon crawling from hell.
Click.
The owner's own face had already been blown to pieces by steel ball shot fired at close range.
After confirming no one else was around, Ning Zhe carried the shotgun to the greenery, lifted Bai Zhi out, and walked toward the convenience store inside the gas station.
"Ning Zhe... you killed them all?" Bai Zhi asked breathlessly. She felt her breathing growing increasingly difficult.
"No, left one alive. I have questions for him." Ning Zhe's voice remained calm. His dead, lifeless eyes were like a pool of stagnant water, producing no ripples from the recent slaughter.
"They placed mercury at the ventilation opening's exhaust fan. Colorless, odorless mercury vapor filled the room. You have mercury poisoning."
Ning Zhe placed Bai Zhi on a rattan chair at the convenience store entrance, took the gun into the store for some zero-dollar shopping of a bottle of mineral water and a box of milk, returned to Bai Zhi, lifted her chin, unscrewed the cap, and poured water directly in.
"Don't swallow. Rinse your mouth then spit it out."
"Mm..."
After rinsing her mouth, Ning Zhe also used mineral water to wash Bai Zhi's eyes and nose, then poured a box of milk down her throat.
"Listen. For mercury poisoning to show such obvious symptoms in such a short time means the mercury concentration in that room was extremely, extremely high. You inhaled large amounts of mercury vapor in a short time, showing acute poisoning symptoms. I'm not medically trained, there are no pharmacies on the highway, and the emergency measures I know are very limited. This is all I can do."
"Next, you may very likely die. Even if you don't die, your body will suffer irreversible permanent damage."
Ning Zhe spoke very quickly, but Bai Zhi seemed unable to concentrate on his words anymore. Her body trembled slightly, eyes rolling back. Blood splashed on her dress gave off a sweet metallic smell. Her shoulders, calves, and other exposed skin broke out in red patches.
"What the hell..." Ning Zhe lifted the disoriented Bai Zhi off the rattan chair and laid her against the wall. He then used a knife to cut open her clothes, removing the entire dress together, leaving only close-fitting underwear. Her originally fair, tender skin now showed large patches of allergy-like red rashes.
Ning Zhe poured the remaining half bottle of mineral water on her neck, then hauled out a bucket of drinking water from the convenience store and poured it over Bai Zhi's head.
"Ning Zhe... will I die?"
"Most likely. I'm doing my human best, leaving the rest to heaven." Ning Zhe said indifferently, brushing Bai Zhi's soaked hair from her face back behind her ears. "What about you? Do you think you'll die?"
"I don't think so..." Bai Zhi struggled to raise her head, showing him a pale, weak smile. "We've only known each other one day."
"Whether or not I know you has no necessary connection to whether you die. I think you're already starting to become mentally confused." Ning Zhe poured the remaining drinking water over Bai Zhi's exposed skin, lifted her limp body again, walked into the gas station to find a sofa and set her down.
All that needed doing was done. He had prepared himself to watch Bai Zhi expire before his eyes. But when Ning Zhe returned from the bathroom with a bath towel, unexpectedly, Bai Zhi's body had stopped convulsing. The redness and swelling on her skin had also receded.
Pressing his palm to her back to test, he found her originally rapid heartbeat had also calmed, beating vibrantly and powerfully. The reason for not testing from the chest front wasn't because Ning Zhe was particularly gentlemanly, but because Bai Zhi's figure, like her mother's, belonged to the voluptuous type that concealed assets well. The thick pair drooped heavily on her chest, somewhat hindering operations.
"Really not dying?" Ning Zhe withdrew his hand. This medical miracle before his eyes made him regard Bai Zhi with new respect.
Chapters in advance there: patreon.com/Thaniel_a_goodchild