"You know, I am still waiting for you to thank me." She sweetly said as they left the Manor in the same car.
"What for?" He curiously looked at her.
"If it wasn't for me, she would have kept you waiting for months if not years." She giggled as she said that and then mischievously smiled at him.
"Right." He nodded to her words, held back his chuckles and then shook his head. "Why do you tease her so much?"
"I just don't like it when someone tries to compete with me when they should not." She shrugged. "Besides, she started it."
"Did she?" He amusedly asked.
"Yes!" She nodded her head.
"I see..." He knew better than to continue talking about it and focused on driving.
There were four cars following their Gamera, and one of them, the black BMW, belonged to Victor and Ryou. The three other cars were black Aston Martin DBX, which belonged to the Demiliore Family's Shadow Guards who were assigned to protect their Young Master by Caesar.
His entourage attracted a lot of attention from the people when they passed through the suburbs of the city, and thankfully, the traffic was light this evening. Once they got onto the Freeway that led straight to the Military District, all the vehicles accelerated and then maintained the speed of 200 Km/h.
Keith glanced in the rearview and smiled when he met the eyes of Yingying, who was silently sitting next to Marianne.
"Feeling better?"
"Yes." His cute shadow nodded her head.
"Want to continue the training?" He playfully asked.
"Yes."
"Good." He appreciatively nodded his head.
Even though he himself had not started using the same method, he understood pretty well how painful it was at the start. And he was quite satisfied that all of them were more than willing to continue this training regime.
At first, Yingying had been a little hesitant to try out the method of training that Keith had recommended, mostly because she did not want to stay away from him for extended periods. But after witnessing how Victor seemed to have lost some muscles just after two days of using the One-Fold Heart Pulse, she decided to ask Keith to help her with it too.
He smiled when he recalled how anxious Victor was this morning. He was scared that he had grown weaker because he had lost his muscles, but after he tested his strength and found out that it had not diminished, he was quite elated.
"You are training her?" Rebecca curiously asked.
"Yes." He nodded and then smiled at her. "There's something you are yet to tell me, my dear Rebecca." He faintly said.
"Yes?"
"Why do you want to marry me?" He straightforwardly asked.
Rebecca frowned at his question, and her ocean-blue eyes tried to read through his smile.
"Why do ask this question?"
"I know that your Mother can not make you do something you don't want to do. In fact, I don't think there is anyone in the world who can make you do something you don't want to do." He chuckled. "And that leaves me curious. Why?"
"Why do you want to marry me?" She smiled and asked back.
"I like you. I need you. And I want you." He answered straight away, which caught her off-guard.
"I see." She nodded to herself and then turned her eyes away, gazing at the road ahead of them.
She stayed silent, and Keith did not insist her to answer his question. He knew that she would answer him eventually, and so he stayed patient.
"If I marry you, you will not need to harm my family."
Her words were faint, but Keith felt that they were loud and clear enough.
"I see..." He did not deny her words, and he was not surprised that she had pieced it all together and understood his intentions.
"You scare me." She lightly smiled and said, before looking at him with her gorgeous blue eyes. "You are so hard to read through."
"Thanks!" He chuckled at her words and shook his head. "And?"
"Do you think there's more?" She surprisedly asked.
"Knowing you, it isn't enough of a reason."
"How do you know me so well?" She frowned and curiously looked at him.
"I just do." He shrugged and smiled at her. "So?"
"Well, it's not like there aren't any benefits of marrying you?" She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Being around you is fun. And I know that I would never get bored of it. Also, you can help me cultivate, become stronger, and help me understand the mysteries of the world. It's just a completely different life, one that I had never expected or thought was possible, but I knew it was meant for me when I discovered it." She giggled to herself. "The Bride of Darkness has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" She playfully asked.
Keith could not help but smile at her silly title for herself. For a moment, he was tempted to tell her that she had far better titles bestowed to her at her birth, but it was not the right time to talk about it.
"I see. So, it's all for benefit." He feigned some hurt which prompted her to burst out in giggles.
"Yup." She ruthlessly nodded. "But you are not too bad on my eyes either."
"Ahan?" He smirked. "Finally admitting that I am the most handsome man in existence?"
"Your narcissism is a great turn-off, but well, it's a sacrifice that I can make." She scoffed and folded her arms on her chest. "By the way, what does Qingyue taste like?" She curiously asked.
"Why?" He grinned at her. "Do you like her?"
"Just curious." She shook her head and said.
"She tastes like a sweet poison. A divinely citrusy-sweet poison." He smiled and said, and his words made her frown.
She could feel that there was an underlying meaning in his words, but she could not figure it out.
"If you cherish your life..." He lightly smiled and looked her in the eyes. "Don't ever forcefully kiss her. Even I, with all my Medicinal Knowledge, won't be able to help you from certain death."
"I am not into girls!" She clearly said, but Keith only snickered at her words. "I am serious!" She dangerously narrowed her eyes at him.
"Okay. I will take your word for it." He shrugged and said, but then smiled brightly. "To be honest, I would not mind if you ever wish to join me and Qingyue in bed."
"Of course, you would not mind it." She scoffed and turned her face away, not willing to argue with him over it.
"I am serious..."
"Shut up!"
...
..
.
The rest of their drive was a noisy affair, where Keith teased her incessantly, enjoying every moment of it, but as soon as they entered the Military District, both of them stopped playing around.
Damien Angelini had already arranged for everything, and one of Kiara's guards received them at the fifth gate, and then led them straight to the Military Hospital.
After a quick inspection and identification, all of them were allowed to enter the building.
Even though she had been to the Military District a lot of times in the past, it was the first time she was visiting the Hospital, and she could not help but look around since it was very different from the Hospitals she had been to before.
It was too quiet, and a little too big. So big that it took them 15 minutes to reach the Morgue and Forensics Lab where the dead body of the driver of the Black Lotus was kept.
"Mr. Demiliore!" An aged man in a Military uniform and surgeon's gown greeted him.
"Good Evening, Colonel Kent!" Keith lightly smiled and nodded to the man before shaking his hand.
It was not hard to guess the rank and name of the person since he was wearing the badges and the name plate on his uniform.
"Please come with me." The aged man seemed pleased at being addressed by his rank and politely asked him to follow him inside the ward.
There were a couple of more doctors and several nurses inside the ward, which was partly a lab, who were busy with their computers and other tasks, and right in the middle of the room was the dead body.
Rebecca and the rest had to stay within the glassed entrance of the ward, which was also a waiting room, but Keith was allowed in after a nurse helped him change into scrubs and protective gear.
Even though he did not need it, he did not refuse it since they were only making sure that he would not come in contact with the poison.
Colonel Kent did not ask him any questions about his medical expertise. He was only following the orders and answered every question that Keith asked him.
And after going through all the reports and test results, Keith finally approached the body.
The liver, heart, and kidneys had already been extracted and were separately placed inside liquid-filled containers. The team had performed various tests and had found nothing in them. He had seen the reports and knew that there was nothing helpful in those organs.
After visually inspecting the body, Keith finally used his Aura, and when he did it, Colonel Kent narrowed his eyes in surprise.
Aura was generally used to inspect living things, but on dead bodies, it was not as effective. However, the old man had never before seen such delicate control over one's Aura, and if there were any doubts in his heart about Keith's medical expertise, they instantly vanished away.
"I need a trimmer," Keith spoke after he finished inspecting the man's head.
A nurse immediately brought him what he needed, and then, under his guidance, she shaved off the hair from the dead man's head.
The body was then strapped and Keith made an incision at the back of the head, right where the spinal column connected to the skull, extracting a few samples of clotted blood.
After doing that, he inspected the blood under a microscope before preparing a solution to test it in. The doctors who were watching the results on their computer screens looked at everything in shock and fascination.
"What sort of poison is this?" Colonel Kent finally asked as he observed the sand-like blood crystals that could only be observed through the microscope after they were extracted from the solution that Keith had prepared.
"It's a type of a natural cold poison that is extracted from a rare species of fish near the Yellow Sea. It is not deadly in itself, and usually, nothing happens if you ingest it. However, if you lace a tiny needle with it, and then pierce it into the back of someone's head, their brain could freeze within a few minutes, and the peripheral nervous system stops working. It is temporary, but by the time the effects can naturally wear off, the organs of the body would have already stopped working, and almost all of the victims suffer a heart attack within 30 seconds after the poison takes effect. In rare cases that the person survives, he would end up paralysed and incapable of using his limbs or speaking."
"So that's how he died..." A young doctor fascinatedly nodded his head.
"Yes." Keith smiled and then wrote down the information about the poison as well as the fish that it is extracted from before handing it to Dr. Kent. "Thank you for allowing me to check up on the body."
"I am just following orders, Mr Demiliore." The old man smiled at him.
After a brief exchange of words with the rest of the medical team of Dr. Kent, Keith excused himself and left together with Rebecca.
He had only just stepped out of the Hospital when his phone rang, and he immediately picked it up.
"Good evening, Uncle!" Keith smiled and said.
"Colonel Kent has informed me about your findings." Damien's serious voice sounded out of the phone, and Keith excused himself from the rest of the group before walking a little away.
He knew why Damien had called him. The information he had given to Dr. Kent was insufficient.
"There is a Rogue Sect in China by the name of Poison Mountain. It's a Hidden Sect, and they train fighters, as well as doctors and poison masters. This poison is called Red Sand, and it isn't easy to extract and is very precious since it can also be used in medical treatment..." Keith gave him the information that would straight go into a classified file.
"Falkens wouldn't be in collusion with a rogue foreign organisation." Damien frowned.
"True. But they have someone in their ranks that knows the secret of the Poison Mountain." He smiled and said.
"I see. Be careful!"
"I will be fine," Keith assured him and ended the call. "Let's go." He brightly smiled and grabbed Rebecca's hand before leading her to the car.
