System, are you messing with me?

Ark 3 - The lives of many outweigh the life of one

Xu Dan worriedly gnawed at his lips. He had been couped up inside of the safe Base for three weeks now, as no one wished to form a team with him anymore. Even with his superior healing ability the people would still rather keep their distance from him. And all of that just because of the family Shi. 

"Fucking Shi Wei and Shi Juan. Why do they always have to stand in my way. I wish they would just die already. And stay dead for christ sake."

A hagered looking woman glanced at him sideways as she hurriedly bypassed him, her bags of belongings tightly clutched to her chest, as if she was affraid someone would grab it from her any minute now. Most likely it was Xu dan she was actually worried would pounce on her luggage.

Xu Dan quietly smirked to himself while a small trickle of water flowed from his fingertips. A few seconds later the female skreeched as she slipped on a wet patch forming in her path. Her body plummeted heavily onto the dirty asphalt and at the same time her bag slipped out of her hand, hitting another woman square in the face.

In a better mood, Xu Dan continued his way through the crowded streets. This time though he descided to creep through the shadows instead of walking in the open, which suited his plans better anyway. Stealthily he rounded another corner, breaking away from the multitude of people to cross into a more quiet district. After a bit more walking, he noticed the back of a familiar figure descend a flight of stairs. And more importantly, that person was finally alone.

For a couple of days now Xu Dan has been following Shi Juan arround town to end that boy's miserable life, but unfortunately something, or rather someone, always seemed to get in the way. Now that those two cousins knew about each other's survival, it was as if they were making up for lost opportunities by constantly walking around together. It was nearly impossible to catch the younger one alone. Especially because if Shi Wei shortly stepped away from his familly member then it was only due to that guy Zhao Yang still being around. Sometimes Xu Dan worried that his stepbrother knew that he was there but then remembered Shi Wei's mental illness and calmed down again.

Xu Dan quickly swollowed down the excitement bubbling inside of him and set off to pursue Shi Juan for the last time. When they both made their way through a narrow alley with little chance of escape he untied the corse rope that he had used as a belt and breached the last of the distance between them. With flourish the cord was thrown over Shi Juan's head and pulled backwards, so that the boy's back heavily hit Xu Dan's front.

Just when the youth in his hold started gasping for air a bright silver light flew passed his head, missing his hands by mere inches. The rope still tightly clutched between his fingers suddenly gave way and Xu Dan staggered a few steps backwards, watching as Shi Juan flung the other half of the cord, that was still resting on his shoulders, off to the side.

"That didn't work out so well, did it?"

(Authors note: From here on out it will be Shu Ning's point of view again.)

Shu Ning leisurely leaned against the nearby wall and casually played with a small transparent disc hovering just above his palm. His gaze was fixated on the stepbrother infront of him and a small malevolent smile tipped up the corners of his mouth. From time to time one of his fingers twitched, making the sharp disc jump forward without warning, just to settle back at it's initial spot a heartbeat later. 

"W-What are you doing here Shi Wei?"

"Me? I was waiting here for a little rat to appear. "

"A rat? Don't tell me.... Do you mean me? How did you...."

"How did I know that you were going to end up here? Well A-Juan made sure that you would. Don't think I did not notice you following us around. I'm not actually stupid. It was just getting a bit annoying so I descided to put an end to it."