"You are a monster as well." The man said calmly.
"What do you mean?" Xue'er's head turned to the side and her gaze lingered on him for a while. Then she thought about it for a while and said "In this world where people treat each other as a means to an end. Who can say who is a monster, and who is not."
The man smiled. The slight movement seemed to have caused him pain, and the smile soon quickly faded.
"You should have taken care of your creations better, or you would not have ended up in this state. Yet with all your skill in calculation, you have strangely overlooked one inevitable result of your great experiment. I thought you would be more cautious than this" She said, brushing the strands of gray hair away from his face with a gentle demeanor.
"It was but a mistake that it took one filthy creature to put me in this state. If there was another chance, I would be even more ruthless so that this would not happen again."
Hearing this, Xue'er's eyes darken, retracting her hand away from him. There were few things that could stir up anger in her, and this was a rare moment. "It's a pity that in this world there's no such thing as the word 'if', if there were, everyone would not be making any mistakes and it would be such a boring world we live in."
She looked towards the table filled with concoctions and an idea sprang up in her mind.
She walked towards the tables that were once overflowing with herbs. With a mocking smile, she asked: "Do you know why you have failed so many times?"
The man did not answer. It was a given that he did not know, or the failure would not have gone on to this day. Yet he still remained perfectly calm as though not the slightest ripple could disturb his mind.
"I've looked at the concoctions you made, and the notes you have written down, yet I've found that there was something missing." Xue'er paused as she spoke. Her fingers running along the wooden table that was shielded from sunlight. Upon the table were some leave fragments that she had not collected, either because they were too small, or had already crumbled to the size of dust.
"What are you talking about?" The man asked, there was a dangerous glint in his eyes.
"I said I know why every single being that you made is like a mindless beast that you have to keep chained up in this wretched place."
"IMPOSSIBLE! How could the likes of you know?" The man's voice grew louder, yet it also became hoarser due to the fact that he had not had any sustenance for the past few days.
A slight smile hung on Xue'er's lips as she watched his face contort in anger. Yet she did not fear him the least. He was not in the position to move the slightest bit, and even if he was, she would not fear him either. "You remind me of my grandfather, you see, he was very similar to you, wishing to make a medicine that would 'Cure-all Ills' so to say. In a way, he did succeed, but what happened was not an elixir that would miraculously cure all ills. He brought something much more interesting into this world. You see, what he made could not only strengthen the potency of medication, it could also bring out the potency in poisons. Depending on how it is used, it can either save people or kill people." As she said this, the expression on her face became harder to read, and her eyes became deeper, as though pondering, the words 'either save people or kill people' echoed greatly in her mind.
The man sat quietly, listening to her story. He was very interested, though she did not say it directly, he could vaguely sense that what she had spoken about was herself.
"Then, what is the 'ingredient' that is missing?" The man asked it was something he needed to know, having spent so much time searching for this one component, yet never knowing what it is.
"You will never know." Xue'er said each word clearly. Waiting to see the expression on his face.
The man looked at her. In his mind, a deep-set hatred took place. How could it be that he could not get it right, but there was someone else that beat him to it. His heart felt unwillingness, to allow something that he did not create himself to walk this earth. The man slightly moved his lips, and a flying object shot from his mouth. The projectile was silver and glimmered like a sword from what little light was available in the room. Traveling faster than one could see.
Xue'er felt a sharp pain in her chest, as her face twisted into an unsightly expression. She gasped heavily for breath, perhaps it was the deep pain in her heart that caused her to suddenly gasp for breath, or perhaps it was because the projectile she had seen coming hurt way more than she thought it would.
Laughter exploded in the room as soon as the expression of pain appeared on the girl's face "It was not meant for you, but seeing as it cares for you, I shall kill you first." The voice was filled with agony, yet there was also joy and relief in his voice.
But seeing that Xue'er had yet to collapse, he felt that something was off.
Xue'er calmed down her breathing and straightens her back, calmly pulls the needle from her chest. The needle was about two and a half inches long and gave off a dark sheen, clearly coated with poison. "Missed the heart." She said mockingly, before throwing it on the ground. The needle gave a light clang as it hit the ground. Yet to the man, the sound of the needle hitting the ground was deafening.
"How… how is it possible?" He muttered the chest was a weak spot that was the center of circulation within the body. If one were to disrupt it, then a severe injury could occur, resulting in death. Adding on to that, he had coated the needle with poison that could travel in the blood, as a drop of ink would muddy all water it was put in.
Xue'er did not answer him, as to how that was possible, she herself did not know either.
"Why do I get the feeling you will get punished?" She asked as a wicked smile appeared on her pale lips.
Answering a previous comment, I will not drop this, but the updates will be painfully slow due to a lack of inspiration and school work.
But I will try my best.