Chapter 5 - The Pact with the Devil
"Becoming more than a dog is not enough...
When you face a wall. "
—
Three months have passed.
Ken - or rather Xu Fang - is no longer the same.
No more submissive shadow.
No more the silence of a dog.
Now it shines.
Not like Liyan.
But almost.
He learned to charm.
To smile without offering.
To talk with your eyes.
To move with an insurance stolen from his master.
It is no longer admired as a strange object.
He is desired. Sometimes even feared.
And above all... he feels ready.
Ready to go back to where he had failed.
Yueyao.
The wall.
The splinter.
The one who had crushed him with a simple look, three months earlier.
Today, he no longer wants to understand her.
He wants to learn from her.
Not by submission.
By strategy.
Because he knows: to surpass Liyan, he needs this knowledge too.
Medicine. Poisons. The secret of the body.
The thing that even Liyan can't touch.
He enters the medicinal garden, dressed simply but elegantly.
His hair is tied, his hands clean, his calm look.
She's here.
Back turned. Busy sorting roots.
She hears it.
She doesn't turn around.
- "What do you want? She said, without emotion.
Ken smiles, inwardly.
She didn't chase him right away.
Already, a victory.
- "I want to learn. Medicine. Poisons. From you. "
She turns around. Slowly.
Look at him for a long time.
— "Do you really think...? "
A cold silence.
- "You think that because you have become beautiful, a little respectful, a little more... Liyan, will it impress me? "
She takes a step. Then another one.
- "Even your master, with all his charm and power, does not impress me. "
She leans slightly.
- "And you... do you think you can make me bend? "
She slams a root against the table. - "Get out. And don't come back. "
Ken remains frozen.
He falters inside.
I did everything. I have improved. I changed my voice, my look, my gestures. Why is nothing enough?
She doesn't see anything. She refuses to see.
Even Liyan didn't pierce this armour.
And I... I'm just that?
A void.
Nothing?
No.
He clenches his teeth.
And he speaks.
- "I can be your guinea pig. If that's what it takes. I want to learn.
I want everything. "
Silence.
She approaches slowly. Take out a glass syringe.
— "Don't move. "
She injects.
The liquid is black. Cold.
Wait a minute, nothing.
Then his veins swell.
His body is inflamed.
A sharp, twisted, animal pain.
He screams. He falls. He convulses.
The floor is blurry. The world is shaking.
Then... the black. When he wakes up, she is there.
Calm. Sitting. A notebook in hand.
- "Fascinating. You're still alive. "
- "First guinea pig to survive this dose. "
She writes something, without looking at it.
- "Come back when you can walk. "
His gaze slides over him, a flash of almost sadistic amusement.
- "I have other experiences pending."
She smiles.
And Ken understands.
He had just signed a pact with the devil.
End of Chapter 5