4 Scarred for Life

Squatting down, Su Fang reached out his hands to pick up the unique crystal in front of him with a wide grin.

"Hehe… Come to daddy, baby!"

In just a moment, the unique and shining crystal was in Su Fang's grasp. Immediately, the crystal turned invisible just like Su Fang, and Su Fang felt a warmth spread all over his body from the crystal in his hand. Just holding the crystal made him feel immensely comfortable. Now, no one other than Su Fang could see the crystal and its light. The crystal now belonged to him and him alone.

Smiling widely, Su Fang stood up and decided to leave the cave as soon as possible. After all, even though those strange beasts couldn't see him, and neither did they seem to have noticed the sudden disappearance of the crystal, Su Fang had no interest in staying in that place to listen to the music generated by smacking flesh and splattering liquids.

Holding the palm-sized crystal in his right hand, Su Fang turned around and started walking over to the tunnel he had walked down to arrive in this place. He decided that he would go out and wait for the sun to rise, and once the sun brightened the world with its glorious light, he would then traverse that eerie forest while looking for something to cover himself. As Su Fang was thinking of his next course of action, one of his foot stepped into the tunnel. Just when he was about to take his second step and completely walk into the tunnel, something strange happened.

The crystal in his hand started to get hot, and the light that it released started to change at a higher frequency. In just a few moments, the crystal had turned scalding hot, and it's light was changing at such a high frequency that Su Fang could only see white in his hand. The change and temperature of the crystal immediately startled him, and Su Fang tried to throw away the crystal, but all was for naught.

No matter how much he tried to fling away the scalding crystal, the crystal just wouldn't leave his hand. It was as if someone had welded it to his hand. And with how hot it had turned, Su Fang had no doubt that his hand would be burned, and the crystal would be embedded in it if he couldn't get it off soon! Throwing caution to the wind, Su Fang immediately turned around and ran over to the pond behind him.

He had previously ignored the pond due to the fear of disturbing those strange beasts, but he could no longer care about that. He had to somehow stop this cursed crystal from burning his hand. He could no longer care about the fierce-looking beasts noticing the disturbance he would cause in the pond.

Immediately arriving before the small pond containing different colored liquid, Su Fang plunged his right hand inside. But contrary to all of his expectations, the very next moment, the pond exploded with a loud boom! All the strange beasts on the platform in the middle of the cave were scared and scarred for life as they jumped forward to shield their babies, and their sleeping babies also woke up from their slumber and started to whimper and growl.

The entire cave was filled with scalding hot steam that blinded the vision of all the beasts. All the older beasts that were previously on the platform suffered dangerous burns all over their bodies, while the perpetrator of the entire event, though, was no longer present to see the mess he had just created. It was going to be a long night for the poor beasts!

...

"Son, is this guy dead?"

A dark-skinned and severely malnourished middle-aged man asked a skinny young boy squatting next to him while staring down on an unconscious naked man lying on the burning sand below.

"He's breathing, and the dead don't breath. I wonder if he was also robbed by the *Endless Dune Bandits*!"

The dark-skinned young boy replied in his rough yet childish voice. The boy seemed to be 12-13 years old, and his skinny appearance, protruding bones, and ragged clothes made one wonder how long it had been since the child last ate something. Even then, the child was in a much better shape when compared to the candle-stick figured middle-aged man squatting next to him.

"Man, those bastards are getting more and more greedy and vicious! Not only did they rob this youth of everything including his clothes, they even burned his entire right arm as torture, and threw him out in the burning desert. Man, just looking at him makes me feel pain."

The middle-aged man spoke with a pained expression while looking at the badly burned flesh on the unconscious young man's right arm, and his red and blistered skin that seemed to have been burned by the sun. He felt immense pity and sympathy for the poor guy, and could understand his plight as they, too, had been robbed by those scum of the Endless Dune Bandits!

"Let's take him back to the village. If we leave him be, he won't survive even a day in a place like this."

The boy said to the middle-aged man. Looking at the poor man lying on the hot sand right under the brightly shining sun made him feel bad for him. He couldn't understand how those bastard bandits could do something so cruel to someone who didn't seem to even have the ability to protect himself.

"Let's do that then. His injuries also need to be tended to."

The middle-aged man replied while covering the unconscious man's lower body with the ragged shirt he was wearing a moment ago. They couldn't just bring back a young man who was unconscious and naked, after all, there were women and children in the village. With their course of action decided, the middle-aged man put the unconscious young man over his left shoulder, and the two started to walk towards their destination.

...

"Ugh…"

Inside a dilapidated wooden hut, an unconscious young man groaned lying atop a wooden bed. Next to the unconscious man sat a fair-skinned but somewhat malnourished little girl looking to be 5-6 years old. The girl was intently looking at the lying young man, and as soon as she heard the man groan, a happy smile appeared on the little girl's face, and she hopped down her chair. Running to the broken door of the hut, the little girl excitedly yelled outside, "Daddy, Mum, Grandpa, Big Brother, the sleeping big brother is waking up!"

Done yelling out, the little girl ran back to the wooden chair she had been sitting on. But this time, instead of taking a seat, she directly climbed atop the chair and stood their watching over the young man who was slowly opening his eyes.

...

As Su Fang regained consciousness, he felt immense pain assault him from the right side of his body which made him groan. The pain, on the other hand, didn't last long and was followed by a cold and wet feeling that immediately calmed his mind. Even then, he wasn't able to move or open his eyes due to exhaustion. The next thing he knew was hearing someone run beside him, and a sweet and childish yell then made it's way into his ears.

Whoever shouted was obviously a little child, and the child seemed to have ran back to his side after yelling out once. Using all the strength he could muster, Su Fang opened his heavy eyelids, and the first thing he saw right after opening his eyes made only one word appear in his mind: Angel

In front of him, no, right next to him was a cute, excited, and adorable little girl with long silver hair, and shining golden pupils wearing a spotless snow-white dress. From her appearance, she seemed to be about 5-6 years old, and was excitedly staring down on him with her hands crossed in front of her chest.

And as soon as the adorable little girl saw that his eyes had fully opened, she spoke up in an even more excited tone, "Uncle, I am Ning'er and I am 12 years old! Who are you?"

'I want to adopt her!' were the only words that reverberated in Su Fang's mind. He wanted to reply to her question, so he used a lot of energy to open his mouth, but before he could produce any sound, he heard the sound of footsteps coming near. The little girl also heard the footsteps, and turned her excited face to the broken door of the wooden hut to take a look.

"Mom, Dad, Big Brother, come fast! Look, the sleeping big brother woke up!"

The girl yelled towards the entrance of the hut. Su Fang also turned his eyes to take a look at the newcomers. In just a moment, he saw three people entering the hut one after another. The one in the lead was a severely malnourished little boy who appeared to be 12-13 years old, and behind him a pair of even more severely malnourished middle-aged man and woman.

All three newcomers were dark-skinned, completely different from the fair-skinned little girl next to him, and no matter how Su Fang looked at the three people, he couldn't find a shred of semblance between the three and the adorable little girl. No, wait, he could see that the middle-aged woman seemed to have the same silver hair and golden pupils as the little girl, though hers were not as bright as the little one. The four were truly a family, and the little girl was probably raised with a lot of love and care.

Su Fang couldn't help but feel pity and sympathy for the people in front of him. They were already not doing well, and now he imposed on them, even if not out of his will. He wanted to help them somehow, but he couldn't even help himself right now, so all he could do was pray for a turn in their fortunes.

"Ning'er, what are you doing! How many times have I told you not to climb on the chair? What if you fall down?"

The middle-aged woman immediately started to lightly rebuke the little girl standing on the chair next to him, while the little girl started to giggle and wave her hands in response.

"Hehe… Mum, I won't fall down! Look, Ning'er has never fallen before! Hehe…"

The little girl's actions immediately scared the middle-aged woman, and the woman immediately rushed forward and took the girl in her embrace, afraid that the girl might fall and injure herself.

"Ning'er, why do you scare mother like this! What will mommy do if you fell down? Dear, you tell Ning'er to not do something like this again."

The middle-aged woman said with worry as she turned towards the middle-aged man. In response, the middle-aged man gave a stern glance to the little girl and rebuked her, "Ning'er, if you don't listen to mommy, then daddy won't give you anymore Endless Desert Sweet Water!"

Listening to the threat from the middle-aged man, the little girl puffed out her cheeks and booed, "Daddy is a big bully!"

As the three were having a talk among themselves, the little boy had already walked up to Su Fang's left side. As Su Fang moved his eyes to take a look at the malnourished boy, the boy reached out his hands and grabbed Su Fang's still left arm. Joining together his middle and index finger of the right hand, he placed them on Su Fang's wrist. Seeing the boy's actions, the middle-aged couple also quietened down and focused their gazes on the boy, while the little girl started happily making faces towards Su Fang.

Su Fang was surprised by the quietness in the hut, and the little boys actions, but being surprised was all he could do. The little boy stayed in his position for a few moments before putting Su Fang's arm back in its former position on the wooden bed.

Seeing that the little boy was done, the middle-aged man spoke up, "Son, how's the situation of this brother?"

"The burns on the right arm will take a long time to heal, and the arm will remain scarred for life if he can't get some good medicine to remove scars. The burns and blisters on the rest of his body were due to steam and harsh sunlight, but they won't leave any scars and will be healed in a few weeks. He has no Qi reserves, so he can't heal himself, and all the energy reserves in his body are close to empty. Since he has no energy, and his recovery rate is also very slow due to the harsh environment of this desert, it will take at least a week for him to be able to move freely."

The words he said were solely for Su Fang, as the middle-aged couple already knew his situation. The couple nodded after listening to the little boy's words, while Su Fang was more surprised by the little boy's actions then he was worried about himself. The little boy's ability to deduce his condition from just his pulse was awesome, Su Fang thought. He wondered if the little boy practiced some ancient medicine technique or something like that. He must be quite skilled for the couple to put so much trust in his ability.

As for the deductions the little boy made about him, Su Fang only understood that his right arm was going to be ugly for life, since he was penniless, and he wasn't going to be able to move for a few days. As for what the boy said about Qi and energy, he didn't understand what that meant, nor was he interested.

"Well, it's good enough that this little brother was able to keep his life even after being tortured and thrown away. Living with a scarred arm is always better than living with no arm. Little brother, don't worry about the scars too much. If you can't find any medicine to heal the scars, just cover your arm up with a cloth, and you will still be able to find yourself a beautiful wife!"

The middle-aged woman said, trying to ease Su Fang's heart. Her words, though, didn't hold much persuasive power in them. Still, Su Fang smiled to show that he didn't mind. It wasn't like he cared about a scarred arm. He had a big and ugly scar on his chest… eh, if he remembered correctly, he no longer had that scar on his chest when he arrived in this world. Either way, it didn't matter, and the middle-aged woman's words were convincing enough. Just cover it up and no one would know.

As for being tortured and thrown away, it seemed that their was some sort of a misunderstanding…