Contemplating – Horrus Kai’s POV

Bai Georgi saw that Kai was struggling to ask him a question. He was however lost in his own thoughts and figured Kai would say whatever needed to be said when he was good and ready. When he heard Kai's question however it was like he was smacked on the head with a sledgehammer.

Bai Georgi could almost hear his thoughts come to a screeching halt. His head and ears seemed to buzz, and the world seemed to come to a complete stand still for a moment. Bai Georgi couldn't process anything at all for a moment. When Kai saw Bai Georgi staring blanky in front of himself Kai was very worried. Maybe he should have kept his thoughts to himself. However, the more Kai thought about it the more likely he found that his idea held merit.

- Horrus Kai's POV-

"Why did Bai Lang fall behind everyone in the group?" Kai wondered to himself. Bai Lang might not be the best in the squad since most people had a military background, but Bai Lang was far from the worst. After all Bai Lang grew up with the training from the Bai Family, there were people in their squad who had no martial arts training whatsoever.

Bai Lang never dragged down their team when being on a mission outside and since Kai always knew how valuable Bai Lang was he always tried to keep an eye on him.

Kai was one of the few people to realize the importance of Bai Lang. The reason why Kai realized Bai Lang was important was because Bai Georgi never tried to hide the contributions Bai Lang made. The entire group however thought that Bai Georgi was exaggerating or handing his own contributions to Bai Lang. Kai however before the start of Paradise had always been the intelligence officer in the squad. He never liked to listen to rumors and always liked to base his own opinions on facts. So, when Bai Georgi said Bai Lang was valuable, he was surprised at first, but being the good intelligence officer, he was he decided to check out what was really going on. This check showed him how important Bai Lang was and would be during the survival in Paradise.

Kai's guess of Bai Lang's importance was proven correct quickly. When others around them were still muddling their way through the new reality that Paradise created. Bai Lang used the new energies and new materials, which existed only because of Paradise, to provide new weapons to the squad.

So, when Bai Georgi told him in confidence that Bai Lang did all the job and class research for the system, he believed it. He also understood Bai Lang's reason for letting Bai Georgi make the suggestions. Therefore, when Bai Georgi asked Horrus Kai how he should handle the analysis Bai Lang made for every squad member he told Bai Georgi that him making the suggestions on the system classes and jobs, based on Bai Lang's analysis was the right call. Kai however was one of the few who realized that Bai Lang was a true genius and therefore followed Bai Lang's analysis for his choices without a sliver of doubt.

Many years later he would still reminisce that following Bai Lang's suggestions might have been one of the best decisions he has ever made. He would also reminisce at the same time however how conceited he was in his own judgment and how he should have been a better friend to Bai Lang when he was still alive. He always regretted his youthful conceit, maybe if he was more considerate a lot of things would have gone differently. Just maybe if he would have made sure that everyone knew that every suggestion was based on Bai Lang's research everything would have been different….. Then maybe people that had died because Bai Lang was death wouldn't have died…

Kai could see that Bai Lang would have no problem surviving in Paradise and was a great addition to the group. Therefore, he really wondered how Bai Lang could have died so quickly and quietly. The conclusion he came too was that maybe Bai Lang's death wasn't an accident at all, because what Kai found peculiar was the fact that Kai never felt that Bai Lang was the kind of person to sacrifice himself for others. It's not that Bai Lang wouldn't help others, he most definitely would, but not at the expense of his own life. Bai Lang always seemed to make the most rational decision in any situation. Bai Lang was a great comrade in arms to have he was always willing to help and always considerate of everyone's safety. Having such a team member disappear suddenly was hard to swallow.

Besides Kai never felt or saw that Bai Lang had an undying love for Claire. Him telling Claire "To run ahead and go live a good life" at the expense of Bai Lang's own life just didn't seem very plausible. The fact that Claire was bawling her eyes didn't change Kai's idea. Kai still thought that Claire might have plotted Bai Lang's death. Sure, Dio Claire and Bai Lang were engaged to be married, but both Claire and Bai Lang seemed to hardly interact with each other. Therefore, Claire bawling her eyes out and seeming heartbroken over Bai Lang's death actually seemed suspicious.

Besides, Kai always had this feeling that Bai Lang seemed to be preoccupied with something else. Bai Lang was either doing research and inventing things, or he was teaching his apprentice. Only when Bai Lang went on missions he seemed to emerge from his laboratory, other times you would barely see Bai Lang wandering around HQ. Bai Lang always seemed to be in is laboratory. When Bai Lang was not teaching his apprentice, he seemed to prefer to be alone.

Bai Lang seemed to live in his own bubble separated from the world. This would however only be noticed by people who were as keen in intelligence gathering as Kai. Bai Lang preferring to be alone never seemed to harm anyone though and since the group seemed to be averse to Bai Lang for some reason, he figured the situation was fine as it is. Therefore, he never brought it up to Bai Georgi. Now however he wondered if he did the right thing. This was also the youthful conceit he would regret many years later, because maybe stepping in at that time would have changed a lot of things for the better.

The conjecture, that Bai Lang seemed to live in his own bubble, was proven correct when he saw Bai Lang once sitting in his laboratory completely alone in a daze. That specific night Kai had walked into Bai Lang's research room after a long mission. Kai being the soldier he is, always preferred to be armed. Since the mission took longer than expected he was completely out of energy blasters. Therefore, he decided to head to Bai Lang's laboratory to resupply and then go to bed.

Since it was midnight Kai didn't expect anyone to be there. Therefore, Kai didn't knock on the door and simply walked into the research room. There he saw Bai Lang sitting in an almost entirely dark room. Bai Lang seemed to be in a daze. So much so that even when Kai walked in and greeted Bai Lang, Bai Lang didn't notice. Now Bai Lang might have never been in the military, but in the time, he had been around Bai Lang he had noticed Bai Lang seemed to be always aware of his surroundings. Bai Lang at this moment, however seemed to be on a completely different planet with his thoughts.

When Kai took a closer look at Bai Lang, he saw that Bai Lang didn't have his focus anywhere in particular, but he seemed to be remembering something fondly and had a shallow smile on his face. In all the time Kai knew Bai Lang he hardly saw him smile. If Bai Lang smiled it was almost always towards his big brother Georgi, but the smile always seemed to miss something. Now seeing Bai Lang smile in a daze while reminiscing he noticed what was usually missing in Bai Lang's smile. Other smiles Bai Lang gave might have never been completely sincere and genuine. This one however seemed to be.

In Paradise good moments were few and far between, therefore Kai decided not to interrupt Bai Lang's daydream and come back later for supplies. Even when he closed the door behind him, he could still see Bai Lang through the window still smiling. When he walked by the research room an hour later, after having taken a shower, Bai Lang still sat at the same place not having moved an inch from the place where he sat all this time.