Chapter 4.7: Reason

Old man Feng got off the train in a remote train station

in his many years of life, he had seen many things and felt many changes he had become indifferent to change, but one of the people who left a feeling on him was named Qin Zihao

in the military, he was a great friend always ready for any problems his principle was to be always on time and to be always ready.

Qin Zihao was a man of principle never late, never early, and always on time.

Feng may have grown old but he knew people don't change easily and when he sent a message to Qin Zihao 2 days ago telling him the boys were going to leave in 2 days and he better prepare a surprise for them to return when they get there also telling him to send a message back when the boys arrive safely.

But he got no such message back and it greatly worried him

The boys were a smell of fresh air in his dull life he didn't know it then but only after they left he understood how monotonous his life originally was and the interactions with the kids good or bad had filled his life with energy.

When he came to the village on the map that was drawn many years ago by Chief Qin himself, entering the village Old Feng knew something was wrong many years in the military were not wasted or rusted on him

Immediately he crouched near a wall peeking into the village.

Silence! was all he felt emotions ran through his mind but staying calm under pressure was the mark of a true veteran

Ransacking the village he found many bodies of the villagers he guessed, there were no wounds no mark of resistance, some were in their beds dead while others were in the streets dead, few people had blunt wounds on their heads where they fell but the trajectory of the wound assumed the wound happened when they fell down

Old Feng had thought of many solutions to this village shrouded in mystery, but he threw those thoughts to the back of his head because one problem took priority over the others.

the kids he welcomed and sent back were not in the village, considering the effect on the village the most probable cause was poisoning but to poison all the people at the same time might have been planned.

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After searching the whole village in a rush he did not find anyone walking close to the forest he found the color of the grass weirdly familiar and continued searching the area

after what seemed like 30 minutes Old Feng searched in the other direction going into the plain field in the tall grass area skimming through it he found them

5 boys were lying on the ground unconscious one of them had bubbles forming in his mouth.

Old Feng quickly took out his phone and called for help judging the boys' situation to be critical

Sounds of fluttering grass sounded far behind him, tensing up Old Feng hid in a bush.

to see Zhu Quan coming back to the unconscious boys holding a notebook and a few tools with him.

Old Feng calmed down and took a breath sneaking up on the boy tapping his shoulder

Zhu Quan's immediate reaction was to swing a hunting knife at the unexpected stranger tapping his shoulder.

Old Feng was surprised but he didn't panic easily stopping the swinging knife and dropping it on the ground grabbed Zhu Quan's shoulders " What the hell happened boy "

Zhu Quan took some time to re-arrange his thoughts tears started to swell up in his eyes looking at old Feng " I don't know we were happy and talking but the village was all quiet, I walked to my home and looked for others they were sleeping not waking up others were as well everyone was not waking up, only us breathed " Zhu Quan's words broke down during the explanation and all he could say were stuttering sounds at the end. Tears streamed down his face

Old Feng wanted to ask more questions but looking at the state of Zhu Quan he decided not to, and chopped the boy on his neck softly immediately knocking him out and gently laying him on the ground he made a phone call with helping on the way.

Being unable to do much here the best he could do was to ensure the survival of the children in front of him. The villagers were already dead the reason wasn't known investigation was due to that, he wanted to help the boys but he wasn't a medical expert best he did was the emergency treatment of critical wounds

After 20 minutes help came in the form of an ambulance with 2 cars following them

out of the cars few men in freestyle clothes walked up to old Feng and bowed a little, the man in the front took out a silver suitcase with equipment and came forward and gave a nod to Old Feng

" sir. "

Old Feng had plenty of time to prepare a plan after reading the notebook Chief Qin left behind he already had few ideas of where the poison came from the forest was the primary suspect, followed by the river and the plains around the village " The Whole village was poisoned by something call for cleanup give them a clean proper burial find out the source of this poison forest, river and plain around are suspected "

the men took in the information " Yes Sir! " and scattered to search for information

Old Feng took out a pack of cigarettes and started a smoke, his mind was flashbacking into his earlier days all the things he saw as a soldier.

Finishing his smoke he was thinking about the situation of the boys to be interrupted by one of the men " Sir we have a lead you should come to take a look. "

Old Feng followed the man while the man explained " Sir following your suspicion my team went into the forest in the notebook late Chief Qin said he and the village ate a boar that come from the forest and suspected the boar had eaten a paralyzing mushroom or plant "

While following the man listening to the report Old Feng realized something, while moving forward the plants started to slowly rot.

" walking near here the plants around this area was suspiciously rotten walked deeper some plants are fully yellow some are dead and scrunched up some are rotting," said the man pulling up a 1-time mask and giving it to Old Feng " Sir you might need this "

Old Feng was not a fool arrogance was not something he needed in his life taking the mask-wearing it "continues. "

" at the presumed core where the rot was the most concentrated, we dug the ground and we found this. " slowly pointing at the ground in front of him the man's voice started to quiver.

Old Feng looked up at the ground to be shocked.

there were bodies under the ground buried. While most people would find this unsettling nightmare fuel Old Feng was a veteran through and through and the men around were a testament to that

Analyzing the bodies that were buried, the bodies couldn't be older than a week the skin decomposing was still happening and other clues lead to bodies being buried here not that long ago.

Finishing his analysis Old Feng got up from his knee and walked back to his men " Everyone let's leave we should have the professionals analyze them I have never seen or heard of poison doing these things to the human body if we stay here longer it might be dangerous to us. "

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Radiation...... it was goddamn radiation

slamming the report he got from the investigation team on the work table, he wasn't mad he was furious. As far as he knew village chief Qin had no enemies that would warrant such an inhumane way of revenge.

This indicates that this was just a coincidence but coincidences don't happen in the form of radiation poisoning? to their whole village.

But the worst part was it wasn't just radiation poisoning it was Radiation + other types of chemicals, some were found to be medications used in a normal hospital every day some were just raw elements in their pure form while the others were medications used against cancer.

Old Feng had no idea what happened, so he had no choice but to sit still and wait for an investigation, taking a deep breath the boys were still unconscious taking the medications the 12 hours it took for him to check up on them had taken its toll.

The doctors promised to save their life but they feared there to be permanent damage to their bodies greatly shortening their lifespan if it gets worse slow death under 2 years were possible as well.

Old Feng had quit smoking consistently for many years but the event of the last 2 days was taking a toll on his mind finishing his fourth smoke this week he sat in his office not sure of what to do.

Knocking was heard at his door " Enter " he said calmly

a large man with a tattoo near his left eye came in a black 3 piece suit came into the room " Sir the kids are awake some have forgotten what happened due to shock but Shi Ye and Shen Feng remember everything telling them to calm down was impossible they had to be sedated with a calming agent. I am afraid there is not much we can tell besides the truth "

the man was in charge of the Investigation team under Old Feng named Dai Yun.

Old Feng took some time to think before asking Dai Yun " You think i should tell them the truth or keep it hidden "

Dai Yun rolled his eyes " They perfectly remember what they saw that day I doubt anything besides the truth could keep them down, I suggest telling them the truth but advising them to not act immediately let them know how weak they are aggression without plan never has good conclusion. " raising his hands cracking his finger " you know we both have learned that the hard way and we both know the kids are gonna want revenge from whoever did this to their village to their family and i don't think its fair to hide this from them "

Old Feng's mind was in a little shamble he didn't want to tell the 2 kids their whole village was poisoned by a bunch of radiated bodies buried by someone near their village contaminating their water source and poisoning the animals who at near.

"I will tell them the poisoning but the effects will lay under tell the others as well to everyone don't let it slip "Getting up leaving the office Old Feng was in a deep mood

silently walked to the hospital nursing the 6 unfortunate children

' Life sure isn't fair at all '