6 The rules of karma

As Wei looked around the camp there were plenty of red outlines but none were as striking as the three people he saw before.

'They must have done some pretty bad stuff to be this color,' he thought.

'That is for sure,' Jinx responded in his mind.

'I should keep away from those three if possible. Anything else you are not telling me?'

'Hmmm. I don't think so. If you have any questions I will be sure to answer all of them if my authorization allows it,' Jinx replied.

Wei thought about it and then asked: 'How do I get more karma points?'

'Do good things and you get positive karma points. Do bad things and get negative karma points. Also some actions can be rewarded by extra karma points from the viewers like what happened with the bulls. That is basically it.' Jinx replied.

'Is there any negative effect of the negative karma points.' Wei asked.

'You can't spend negative karma points. That is about it.' Jinx replied.

'Ohh, and you could get hunted by the positive people with a system for the karma points if you are negative.' Jinx replied.

'What do you mean by hunted? Why would they hunt me?' Wei asked.

'To get positive karma points of course. Duh.' Jinx replied.

'How do they get positive karma points if I am negative?' Wei asked in wonder, feeling a bit annoyed.

'When they kill you, your negative tally transforms into their positive tally of course,' Jinx replied as if it were only logical.

'You could have mentioned this at the start you stupid… ahh forget it.' Wei was getting a headache by talking to Jinx.

'So to get karma points fast all I need to do is kill the red outlined people?' Wei asked after a while as he eyed the red ones around him.

'In theory but it could also lead to some unfortunate circumstances if you are not careful about it.' Jinx replied.

'What do you mean?' Wei asked.

'If you kill someone who is red but has friends who are green and they attack you they won't turn red immediately but will just lower their positive value a bit. If they kill you they will get negative karma points equal to your positive values and may become red but by that time you will already be dead. So you should not make enemies of the positive karma people or people with negative karma with a strong backing. Or you could just kill them discreetly. If no one knows who did it, no one will come after you.' Jinx explained.

Old Tibs watched Wei rubbing his head and frowning from time to time while eating and could not help but ask: "Still having a headache?"

"Nah. I am mostly good thanks to you. By the way, why do you have two cots in the tent? Wei replied.

"The other one is for my nephew. The stupid bugger must sneaked out of the tent last night. I have been looking for him the whole day. Stupid bugger making me worried. I just hope for my sisters sake nothing happened to him and he is just laying down somewhere with a hangover." Old Tibs lamented.

"What does he look like?" Wei asked.

"His name is Barkash. He is as tall as myself. Has reddish brown hair and a mole on his chin. If you happen to see him anywhere tell him to come to our tent for a good whooping… I searched the whole camp but I could not get into the fortress. Maybe he is inside. I don't know where else he could be.' Old Tibs explained.

Looking at the red figures in the distance Wei had a premonition.

'I wonder if they had anything to do with his disappearance.'

Looking back at Old Tibs and his bright green glow he could not help but think of his uncle.

'Will this karma outline ability work when I get back to reality?'

'Reality? Ohh, you mean Earth. This is reality and Earth is reality. So to answer your question. Yes it will work.' Jinx replied.

'So my bastard uncle will probably glow redder than Rudolph the red nosed reindeer if I ever get to meet him again.' Wei thought while gritting his teeth.

"Old Tibs, do you see those three gentlemen in the distance wearing nicer clothes than the rest of them?" Wei suddenly asked.

"I do. What about them." Tibs asked in wonder.

"I get a bad vibe from them. Call it a hunch or an instinct but I think they had something to do with your nephew's disappearance. You should be wary of them." Wei explained.

Tibs took another look before he solemnly said:"So you think so too."

Wei looked at him with surprise.

"Don't look at me that way. I have been long enough in this world to know that people of different clothes don't mix if they don't have ulterior motives. I just hope Barkash will get through this just by learning his lesson and keeping his life." Old Tibs explained his last answer.

Wei thought about his options.

'I have no weapons. Even if I had a weapon and Tom, Dick and Harry are probably better at wielding them here than I am. It would be suicide if I attacked someone head on. I guess there is nothing I can do.'

"You are pretty lucky you have such a great resistance to the Headache root poison. Most people would run around like headless flies if they ate as much of that stuff as you did."

Old Tibs started joking to turn the topic away from his missing cousin.

'Hmmm. The Headache root… Jinx if I feed them this root will it really cause them to run around like headless flies.' Wei suddenly had an ominous spark in his eyes.

'It should but how are you going to feed it to them,' Jinx replied.

'Is the toxin thermally stable?' Wei asked.

'What do you mean?' Jinx replied.

'Will it get destroyed by cooking the root?' Wei continued his thoughts.

'As far as I can tell it will only grow more potent if it's boiled in water and then as you evaporate the water you can increase the concentration. You could peel the roots since the toxin is just in the skin and make a concentrated tonic.' Jinx replied.

'Won't it taste bitter?' Wei asked his concern.

'The chemical responsible for the bitterness should decompose at 80 degrees celsius but the toxin needs 140 celsius for it to decompose. You would only be left with a sweet toxin infused water if you boil it.' Jinx replied.

'Perfect.' Wei smiled with a grin that sent chills down Old Tibs spine as he was watching him.

"Could I borrow a knife from you Old Tibs?" Wei suddenly asked him.

"What do you need it for?" Tibs wearily asked.

"I am going to make us some dinner dessert later." Wei replied.

Old Tibs looked at him with caution but still took a knife from the inside of his boot.

"Thank you," Wei replied before he got up and walked towards the wilderness.

"Where are you going?" Tibs asked.

"To get the ingredients of course." Wei replied with a smile.

Tibs could just watch him go into the distance before he kept watching the surroundings hoping his useless nephew would somehow magically reappear.