On the Petals of a Flower, I found something that does not belong to me

26

For those who stand up for what they believe and want to do.

 After Alex's amazing cooking skills burned the pot, he had to go several miles in a shop and bring a new one. Which Daryl did not let him touch.

 Jiang Cheng instead offered to cook. As much as I didn't believe it, the food he made was quite tasty. Plus it had no meat or fish. It was a vegetable soup.

 As much as I tried not to look like I liked it, I finished my bowl in seconds and with a heavy heart and a lot of shame, I asked Jiang Cheng for a second meal. He scoffed, but obeyed and offered me one more bowl of his soup, without any comment.

 "What exactly are these creatures?" Daryl did next to me and drank water from his mug.

 "I'm seeing them for the first time" Alex turned to him and looked at Jiang Cheng.

 Jiang Cheng sighed and massages temples. "There is a whole army of them. Gathered in a cave."

 Cave? What cave?

 "Are the others there? Why aren't they with you?" I asked.

 Jiang Cheng this time gave me a tired look. And then I realized how tired he looked. The scars on his face still looked fresh.

 "I do not know where the rest of us are. We split up after the attack. Once I'm done here, I'll go find them. We need to regroup and reorganize our plans."

 A hint of guild pierced me. I must have been very sharp and rude. Who knows what he went through. Plus he was separated from his friends. If they were his friends.

 "They are definitely not ghosts or corpses. And they do regenerate very quickly" Daryl next to me seemed skeptical.

 "The only way we could deal with one was to disassemble it and put it in a spirit-trapping bag. Again, we had to keep it closed with the flow of our energy every two hours," said Alex.

 Jiang Cheng nodded. "It took three people for a monster."

 I looked at him. He seemed to be worried about his friends. And he was not wrong. If three people were needed for a single monster, how many people would be needed for that army?

 "And besides that..." Alex said and looked at me. There was a playful smile on his face. "How do you know our names?"

 Everyone's eyes fell on me.

 What should I tell them? That these guys were from the novel I was reading, but in another world?

 "Uhhh" I did. "You're just known around here and I heard some people in some places talking about two well-known rogue cultivators."

 Their eyes were still on me.

 "I didn't know we were so famous," Alex said and smiled proudly.

 Daryl sighed.

 "Yes. I have heard about you two too," said Jiang Cheng. But for some reason he was looking at me, not them.

 I raised my eyebrow. Was he covering me?

 Alex slammed his hands on the table and stood up. "Well!" he said. "We were simply resting here. This is our first time. I suggest until miss... »

 "Charlie" I did.

 "Charlie? Nice name. So until Charlie recovers, to stay here... "

 "We can not stay here. We are leaving tonight."

 We all turned to Jiang Cheng. He was looking at the mug in his hand.

 I licked my lips. "I understand where you're coming from," I said. "You want to find your friends, to see if they are well. I understand, believe me. But I'm injured. You can go. I will not hold you back. I will stay here. I wanted to come here from the beginning and you told me every time 'after and after'. But now it's time to do what I want. You were holding me back for an inexplicable reason from coming here. Now that I've come, I'm not leaving."

 Jiang Cheng raised his head. His gaze darkened again.

 "You will not find anything here. We told you before. But you can not put it in your stupid head. "

 I got up abruptly. I grimaced in pain, but I ignored it. "My stupid head? I want to go home and you are holding me captive! You told me you would help me but you instead walk me around here and there! You took me on a mission that I can easily lose my life. Do you want to get rid of me so much? Why don't you do it yourself then?"

 Jiang Cheng grabbed my hand and pulled it. "Let's go out and talk if you want. You are ridiculous."

 "Ridiculous?"

 One hand grabbed Jiang Cheng's hand. I turned next to me. Daryl's face was serious.

 "You can say what you want in front of us. We promise we will not tell anyone," said Alex. He seemed to be having a little fun. How typical of the Alex I knew though.

 "No" Jiang Cheng said and pulled me. "We're better off now. The sooner, the better."

 But Daryl did not back down. He tightened his grip on Jiang Cheng's hand, after it had turned white. Jiang Cheng grimaced.

 "The maiden does not want to come with you Sect leader and wants to stay here. I do not understand what your relationship is and I do not want to get into your personal things of your sect, but that does not seem right. Something is wrong here."

 Jiang Cheng sighed.

 Maybe out of fatigue, maybe out of fear of not being exposed, he let go of my hand.

 "Okay. We will leave here whenever you want" he hissed.

 And then he left the house, before slamming the door with a bang behind him.