It happened when Tian was busy slicing open a sect sister’s belly. Some kind of foul insect was gnawing its way in through her guts, and the only way to rip it out was to widen the hole, pour in a generic anti-gu medication, pray that the gu wasn’t well cultivated, and yank it out before it turned more septic. He had about managed it when Counter-Jumper picked up the vibrations of an enemy rushing at his back. Tian spun and threw the stunned Gu into the rushing spearman's face.
The scream was extremely satisfying. Less satisfying was the way the heretic lunged out with the spear anyway, forcing Tian to block it or watch his sect sister get stabbed. He managed to swing his arm around and knocked the spear to the side, but the spear still cut through his protective suit and scraped along his ribs before just barely missing the big artery under his armpit.
Tian repaid the favor by kicking his dart up into the man’s groin and once it was “safely” lodged, spinning the rope in a wide loop. The saw teeth ensured that anything softer than bone below his hips was shredded, particularly the femoral arteries. He waited for the screaming man to fall over, then got back to his sister. But not before seeing the face of the brother who should have blocked the heretic.
The brother was engaged with another heretic. It could have been an accident. Lots of things going on, and everyone is responsible for their own safety. It would be completely reasonable to think that someone just slipped past.
Tian didn’t believe it was accidental. It was deliberate. He just didn’t know what to do about it. So he carefully marked the man’s face. He studied the lines of his jaw, and the shape of his hands. Measured the length of his stride and the sound his feet made as they moved over the red sands. He took in the details of his three foot sword and the blue silk tassel hanging from the hilt.
He particularly took note of the way he tried to claim the loot.
Tian had his hands busy carefully lifting his brothers and sisters onto stretchers. The already dead were stored in the rings of their sect mates. Once again, his back was to his “brother” when the man chose to strike.
“So, Brother Lu, we have four bodies, and fifteen people to split them with. Leaving aside the two deadweights, that still leaves us less than one for three. And the heretics are broke bastards to begin with, so…”
“So what, Brother Sima?” Senior Brother Lu had a very flat tone. Tian didn’t blame him. The mission wasn’t exactly a resounding success.
“So I wounded eight of the heretics, and they broke when I used my White Dawn Slash. Did any do more than me? On merits, I should have the loot from all four, but in the interest of harmonious relations, I’ll content myself with two.”
“Oh, how broadminded.” Brother Lu’s voice was mild. “I did see that White Dawn Slash of yours. Quite dramatic.”
“Brother Lu flatters me. I’ll just-”
“No, I don’t. And no, you won’t.”
Tian finished loading the wounded onto the stretchers and sorting out who was best able to carry them. Brother Sima only had a long scratch across his temple. It bled like crazy and covered his protective suit in dark blood. Brother Lu had been stabbed three times in the torso. Each time he had deflected the blades enough so that the wounds weren’t immediately fatal, but he was a long way from fighting at full strength.
“Sister Hong, what are the sect rules for distribution of plunder taken during a patrol?” Tian’s voice wasn’t very loud, but it was piercing. Brother Fu had forced Tian to read books on history and ethics until Tian swore he would run off and live with the wolves if he had to turn another page. He had a good idea of where this was all heading, and didn’t want to go there.
“Under Standing Order 5 of the Battlefield Regulations of Ancient Crane Monastery, anything acquired during a mission for the Monastery belongs first to the person who found it or who killed the person carrying it. The Monastery has a superseding claim on any items on the Gold Fortune list, the Red Forbidden list or any item above the Heavenly Person level. A person with a prior claim who chooses to divide his claim with others may earn merit points based on the value of the goods divided, or in the event of a group kill, the total value of the goods is determined and set via merit points or spirit crystals, then divided as equitably as may be managed.”
Hong was clearly reciting most of what she was saying from memory. Tian had been forced to read the standing orders and regulations by his senior brothers. Most of it skipped off the surface of his brain like a rock skipping across a pond, but he remembered Standing Order Five running to twenty pages of quite small characters. Hong was giving them a brief summary, but it could be shortened even further. So he shortened it.
“It’s complicated, but those who killed the heretics have the right to their stuff.”
“Essentially.” Hong didn’t needle Tian. She could read the atmosphere too. Sima wasn’t getting many friendly looks, but there was an uncomfortable number of thoughtful ones.
Tian nodded and pointed. “I killed the one that’s missing his cock and balls. I have some medical training, so I am quite certain the one with the utterly destroyed genitals is the one I silently killed. Look, I even have the shredded remains of his bloodline trapped in the barbs on my rope dart. No time to clean it, too busy saving lives. Brother Sima, please, come take a close look. I would value your insight. Do you think this is all that remains of his once-prided manhood, or is some of it scattered over the sands here?”
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Tian walked over, his rope dart rising like a viper around him, displaying red and white scales. Brother Sima recoiled from it, then took three big steps back. Tian noticed the old man’s hand was resting on the hilt of his sword.
“Don’t be alarmed, Brother Sima, I already determined it’s not cursed or toxic. I just want your opinion. What do you think about the body I destroyed? Do you want it?”
The old man spat on the ground and turned away. Senior Brother Lu clapped and got the walking wounded moving and detailed people to carry stretchers. Tian carefully checked over the body, removed the storage ring and only then shook the flesh off his rope.
“He won’t forgive that.” Hong murmured.
“So?”
She looked at him and sniggered. “Mad Dog’s Pup.”
Tian nodded. Everyone else thought it was an insult, or at least a mean nickname. He made sure nobody knew it filled him with pride every time he heard it. As a reward, he didn’t mention how he had left one of the other bodies, that of the scorpion woman, to her. She didn’t have a fight over it.
Nobody wanted to stand near him on the walk back. He didn’t mind that one bit.
They returned to the base, perhaps not covered in glory but Tian was content knowing he did his job as well as he could. Nobody died on the walk back. That was a huge victory right there. He made his report, got through the interrogation with a minimum of doubt and ill will by the interrogator, and returned to the Mission Hall.
“Brother Zhang, I think you may be the one who needs a mission to bed now.”
“Haha. Ha. Yes. Any word on when we are getting support from the walking wounded?”
“No. I just got out of interrogation. Sorry, Senior Brother.” Tian brought out a large jug of wine and handed it over. He didn’t recognize the characters on the side of the jug, but it smelled strong and spicy. It was probably good.
“I don’t need an apology gift, although I’d like to take this one. Junior brother, do you know what this is?”
“A major portion of the total loot I found today. Actually, I was hoping to ask you about someone.”
Brother Zhang looked longingly at the bottle, then handed it back to Tian. “I can’t take it. Sorry. Believe me, I want to. But this is rare stuff, and I can’t tell you anything about anyone that would justify the price. No, really. I’m not just being polite. I can’t take this. Your brothers would hang me up from the rafters if I did. Go give it to that Brother Su of yours. He took a lot of trouble, and heat, on your behalf.”
“I will do that then. Thank you, Brother Zhang. You are very kind.”
Tian had never seen a human being look quite as awkward as Zhang Jun did at that moment. “I’m really not. At all. Who did you want to know about? Ask, then go. You have twenty four hours down, then you report back to the hospital.”
“A Brother Sima who was on the mission with me today.”
“What about him?”
“Anything you can tell me without breaking a rule.”
“Sima Yu, Level Nine from Red Ox Town Outer Court. He has an adequate balance of Military Merits, but not an outstanding one. He takes almost exclusively patrol and scouting missions, but usually sticks to the larger groups when he has any kind of choice. That’s all I know. Now go. I’m sure you have more sleep to catch up on.”
Brother Su was out on a mission, and Brother Fu’s bunk was practically unused. Most of the brothers he was close to were out in the field, or in the case of Brother Wong, worked nine-tenths to death. He really didn’t know where to turn. He sighed, and trudged over to the warehouses.
“Martial Aunt Wu, do you have time for a cup of tea?”
“Junior, what time is it?”
“I have no idea, Senior.”
“Look outside. What time is it?”
He did and reported back. “Roughly some time between the hour of the pig and the hour of the rat.”
“Yes. Exactly. And my shift runs all night.”
Tian nodded understandingly. Then waited.
“Go to bed, Tian. Come find me tomorrow afternoon if you want to share some tea. I hope you found better tea leaves, the new ones are no good.”
He hadn’t, but he would try to get some before the afternoon.
Tian lay in his bunk and stared up at the ceiling. He ran his fingers over the coarse blanket, feeling the fabric and the space where his missing fingers should have been. He couldn’t sleep. He was tired, but he couldn’t sleep. One of his brothers wasn’t his brother.
He had known it would happen sooner or later. Someone who should have been on his side would see him as prey. And now, beyond that, Tian had firmly fixed the grudge. There was something Three Night Hwang would shout when he was losing a spar- “A man can be killed but not humiliated!”
How humiliated was Sima when he got put in his place by a thirteen year old boy? When he tried to steal from a thirteen year old boy and a thirteen year old girl? Well, it would have been alright if he had succeeded and divided the loot with some others, but to fail in snatching the loot? That really was humiliating.
Brother Su had warned him on his very first mission- the Level Tens are the crazy ones. The ones who take offence at the slightest disrespect and never, ever let it go. They had nothing but a desperate hope for a miracle that would carry them to the Heavenly Person Realm. They had nothing to lose but their lives, and after a century or more, they carried that weight lightly.
If they had no fate with immortality, so be it. They would live for their satisfaction. At the end of their days they would pass through the cycle of reincarnation and try again in the next life.
Tian laughed silently. What else could he do? He was on the battlefield with legends of the rivers and lakes, with immortal cultivators, fighting in the cracks between demons and monsters, and it was like he never left the junkyard. Sometimes, you have to fight to keep your food, even if what you are fighting is much stronger than you.