Villainous

As a faint coughing was the only response, Li Mei slipped around to the front and cautiously peeked inside.

Under a pile of bodies crammed in the back of the cage emerged one tiny hand waving weakly to capture attention.

A child!

Li Mei rushed to move the bodies, elbowing and shoving corpses aside unceremoniously until she freed the survivor from the crushing weight.

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[Hana]

Eos (Rare Unknown Bloodline)

Female

Rank 0 (93%)

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The child, Hana, looked no older than seven. Her tiny body was covered in blood and injuries. On her back were a pair of tiny black wings, crumpled and broken with many feathers missing or askew. Parts of her flesh unmarred by wounds were covered in thick old scars instead. Her head was shaved, odd scarring patterns on the scalp indicating strange equipment was hooked up to her often.

All she wore was something resembling a brown sack with a barcode printed on the left shoulder. She looked up at Li Mei with fear in her teary scarlet eyes, but lacked the strength to protest or even speak. She was hugged tightly by the body of another child, a boy just older than Hana whose lips had gone pale and no longer trembled with breath.

Even in death, he was positioned to protect her.

Fury bubbled in the depths of Li Mei"s belly. She clenched and unclenched her hand, gritting her teeth before carefully lifting the tiny girl in her arms, prying her away from the boy"s arms with tender care.

Hana was as light as a feather. Thin and delicate.

"My name"s Li Mei. I"m going to help clean you up, okay?" Li Mei whispered, but knew better than to wait for a response.

She dashed back to one of the rooms that had an eye wash station. Compared to the high pressure of shower stations meant for hastily cleansing off harmful chemicals in a lab environment, eye wash stations had more gentle water flow from their nozzles. Since the child was already badly injured, Li Mei didn"t want to risk aggravating her wounds by shoving the poor thing under a high pressure flow.

With gentle hands she washed the small girl free of blood, then cleaned and dressed her wounds with supplies from her storage. The entire time, Li Mei swore and cursed the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who tortured and experimented on a little girl. Some of her language was so colorful it made Hana blush, bringing color back to her pale face.

"They should count themselves lucky I don"t kill them again!" Li Mei snarled while crushing a bunch of herbs into powder, sprinkling it on one of Hana"s wounds which gave off a faint sour stink. Once Hana was wrapped like a little mummy, Li Mei sighed and glanced toward the door of the room. "That boy out there, the one who protected you. We can"t bury him or anything considering where we are, but... Do you want me to cremate him? The monsters won"t get him that way."

Hana hesitated, then nodded. Li Mei smiled, leaving her in the room with a barrier blocking the door.

She didn"t care about the other bodies as they were all scientists and soldiers, but Li Mei was as gentle with the boy"s corpse as she was with Hana, cradling him in her arms and taking him to a cage that could be seen from Hana"s position.

Countless accelerants and a lighter ensured his body caught aflame with ease. Li Mei returned to Hana"s side, sitting in silence as the small girl clasped her hands and bowed her head. Tears rolled down Hana"s face as she whispered: "Thank you, brother."

She waited until some time after the flames died down. Li Mei glanced at the pale and shaking girl at her side, eyebrows furrowed. "I"m sorry for your loss, uh..."

"...Hana. My name... Is Hana." Her voice was soft and faint, like the flutter of b.u.t.terfly wings. She was still weak from loss of blood, and spoke slowly with soft gasps between the words.

"Hana. That"s a nice name." Li Mei decided it was better to pretend she didn"t know already. Explaining her random acquisition of knowledge would be a pain.

"Brother... Named me. It... Means flower."

"He had good taste. I"m named after a flower too." Li Mei smiled, then glanced at Hana"s wings. "I"m sorry but... I don"t know anything about wings. I can tell they"re broken and I"m sure it hurts but I don"t know how to fix them."

Hana shook her head. "They... Will heal. Two... Three days. I always... Heal. "

Li Mei scowled. Hana implied they broke often, and the thought of what those nasty scientists were doing to such a small girl made Li Mei want to punch something into mincemeat.
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Hana. That poor boy. And the monsters who were also all (Modified) when she Scanned them. What the h.e.l.l were these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds up to down here?!

Faust had a lot of explaining to do when he got back!

Li Mei opened her mouth to ask something when a sharp chill went down her spine.

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[Sense]

Hostile detected!

Threat level: Moderate

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Son of a b*tch!

Li Mei glanced around in panic, then grabbed Hana and gently hid her inside a cabinet under a nearby counter. "Hana, there"s something bad coming. Stay here, stay quiet, and I"ll take care of it. Okay?"

She smiled and closed the cabinet before Hana could open her mouth to protest, pulling out the two halves of her broken staff.

Sense only alerted her to hostile intent if she didn"t see the enemy yet it had spotted her. Something was targeting her, and she didn"t know from where.

What a horrible feeling.

"Ah. Karma for my antics hunting the soldiers in the forest, maybe?" Li Mei smiled wryly, turning on the spot to scrutinize every corner in the room. The vents, the cabinets, the door... "I just wanted to scare them, make it easier to-"

Her eyes widened as a faint touch of wind stirred the hairs on the back of her neck.

She spun on her heel, slamming her elbow into the face of...

Of...

A horrible creature whose s.h.a.ggy fur-covered humanoid body was laden with wounds and crawling with maggots. Icky, gross, fat, wiggling little worms dripping out of every wound.

Li Mei screeched at the top of her lungs and threw several vials of acid at the creature, not even bothering to Scan it before splattering a bunch of chemicals in its face.

She didn"t want to see!

She didn"t want to know!

She just wanted it to die, die, die, die, then die again just for good measure!

But the creature was fast. Fast and eerily silent. After she hit it with acid, it darted forward and swiped at her with claws the length of kitchen knives.

Li Mei jumped backwards, grabbing a medical cart and chucking the entire thing at the horrible, horrible creature.

Unfortunately, the creature slashed the cart to pieces with just one swing of its claws. Then it jumped up, using its claws to cling to the ceiling and skitter towards her at high speed, maggots dripping from its body all the while.

Until it slammed into a barrier, smashing it to bits but losing its momentum. Taking advantage of its daze, Li Mei pulled three knives out of her inventory and flung them at the creature.

One missed, the second slashed its arm, but the third embedded itself in the creature"s side. It glanced at the offending knife, then at Li Mei, and bared a mouth full of jagged yellow fangs. Some sort of fat green grub crawled out of its mouth and plopped to the floor with a wet slapping noise.

The creature launched itself toward her, only to find itself once again obstructed by a barrier as Li Mei fled across the room screeching the word "GROSS" over and over.

She didn"t notice the cabinet door slowly opening, or Hana"s small hands glowing with rosy red circuit patterns as she gathered mana for a spell.

"Brother Li... Look out!" Hana yelled as a tiny, pitiful little fireball condensed in front of her palms and flew toward the creature with a wobbly, unsteady trajectory. The creature dodged artfully but the fireball changed its route no matter how the creature moved, until finally hitting it square in the leg.

All the fur on its body combusted as though the creature were soaked in oil. The whole time it burned, it never made a single sound - it just stared at Li Mei, taking step after pained step towards her, until it collapsed on the ground with one clawed hand outstretched in her direction.

Li Mei shuddered, and hurried back to the cabinet where Hana lay panting for breath, a sheen of sweat gathering on her upper lip.

Seeing her savior was okay, Hana smiled slightly and closed her eyes, falling unconscious. She"d obviously pushed herself to the limit in order to cast that one small spell.

Sighing, Li Mei crouched next to the small girl and lifted her into a gentle princess carry. "Just who do you think"s a Brother Li?" she muttered, wondering why two people so far insisted on calling her a boy.

She was a fine, delicate, clever and attractive young maiden, okay?!