Book 1 Chapter 30.2 - Half Dog
Following his shouting, a wave of graceful and hurried footsteps sounded. After a while, an extremely beautiful woman with light brown hair that was arranged behind her with a brightly colored cloth emerged from upstairs. In her hands was a black decorated tray, and on top of it was a hot porcelain pot and two clean cups.
The woman knelt down next to the coffee table. She slowly poured the water inside the porcelain pot into the cups and handed Su and Kane one each. The water inside the cup had a faint yellow color and released a rather delightful fragrance. This type of fragrance was light and seemed to seep into one’s soul, completely unlike the unique smell dangerous creatures used to entice the prey they feed on.
Su knew that this was tea from the olden era. Even though this tea that entered his mouth still carried some stinging numbness, a trait for traces of radiation, it still made Su feel inwardly peaceful and relaxed.
After two more glasses were poured, the porcelain pot was empty. The woman placed the porcelain pot back onto the tray before standing up.
Su raised the teacup and didn’t immediately drink it. Instead, he looked towards the woman and said, “Thank you. I’m called Su, how should I address you?”
The woman smiled but didn’t say anything before walking upstairs. Only now did Su realize that her gait was somewhat unnatural.
Kane straightened his posture and said, “Penny! Let Su look at your leg.”
With her back facing Su, the woman obediently raised her long skirt, revealing a pair of slightly dark but fine and graceful legs. However, when the skirt was raised to her knees, a large patch of pink tumors could be seen. The higher it went, the more tumors there were, and eventually, it looked like densely packed grapes. She didn’t wear anything under the dress, so one could clearly see that this burdensome flesh had reached all the way into her buttocks.
In fact, these tumors were things that almost every single individual struggling for survival in the wilderness had. However, these weak and worthless cells greedily fought against the main body for nutrients. However, those with mutated tissues that had reached this woman’s level were still few in number, and most people with mutated tissues that reached this level were long dead.
“Alright, Penny, you can go upstairs. Su and I are going to discuss some matters,” Kane instructed. Penny lowered her dress in compliance and followed the stairs to the second floor.
All the way until her figure vanished, Su still found it hard to believe that this refined and elegant woman who possessed a beautiful appearance rarely found in the wilderness actually possessed such serious mutated tissues, moreover in such an unnatural place. The area where mutated tissues most often appeared were various internal organs, and then from there the soft tissue, as well as the lips, oral cavities, and other mucous membranes. Very rarely would so many mutated tissues be seen on one’s leg. However, since Kane allowed him to see these things, he probably had something he wanted to say.
“Penny is my wife.” Kane’s first sentence immediately made Su feel a bit strange. Wife; this was a word that should have been buried within dust and ruins.
“She followed me since the age of fourteen, giving birth to two children. However, at that time, I was extremely poor and had no way of raising them. Later on, a mob of refugees attacked the inhabited area we lived in, and I was knocked unconscious. When I awoke, the inhabited area was already turned into ruins, and the whereabouts of the mob of refugees that attacked was unknown. They also took away Penny.” What Kane spoke of were stories that happened every day in the wilderness, but this common story took an unusual turn.
“After losing Penny, I realized that she meant more to me than just someone to go to bed with or someone who could make children. For me, she was what brought color to this black and white world.” Kane brought out a cigarette, but he didn’t light it. He simply took a few deep whiffs of it before putting it down. It could be seen that he didn’t want to ruin the fragrance of this house. Kane looked at the cigarette in a somewhat reluctant manner and continued, “In the following few years, I rushed about busily and formed my own troops while searching for Penny’s whereabouts. In reality, after the first year, I was already in despair. It was hard for women that fell into the hands of mobs to survive even a year. However, perhaps due to the fact that there truly is a god in this mad world, and that god heard my pleas, I miraculously found Penny. Me and my men killed all of the mob of refugees around her and brought her back, and since then, it has already been almost a year. This house was put together and arranged all by her. However, when I found her again, she wouldn’t open her mouth to speak again no matter what I said, and I had no way of helping her either.”
“During these years, she tenaciously survived inside that mob of refugees. Perhaps due to a lack of ways to satisfy their desires, they cut apart her skin and smeared waste products on her lower body, using this type of method to induce new mutated tissue. It is exactly as you saw just now.”
Kane’s voice was full of deep fatigue and helplessness. However, when he occasionally looked upstairs, his eyes would be full of warmth.
Su understood Kane’s intentions and said, “You wish for me to think of a way to cure the mutated tissue on her body?”
Kane looked at Su and said, “You might not possess this type of technology, but the Black Dragonriders can definitely cure Penny. She is only twenty years old!”
“You also know about the Black Dragonriders?” Su raised his eyebrows and asked.
“Correct. There are a few companies among the ones that I deal with that also provide supplies to the Black Dragonriders. I have even completed business transactions with the subordinates of several dragonriders, so I could recognize the military rank. What I said shouldn’t be false, right, Second Lieutenant Su?”
Su laughed and said, “You’ve always left me somewhat amazed. However, since you already made contact with the Black Dragonriders, why didn’t you try to cure Penny through them? Removing mutated tissues is an expensive procedure, but you should be able to afford it.”
Kane’s smile was a bit bitter. Clawing his hair that was already somewhat sparse at the center, he said, “Exactly! I can barely pay the price. However, of the Black Dragonriders that I’ve encountered, not a single one was willing to help someone from the wilderness, let alone a woman from the wilderness. For them, a woman from the wilderness is nothing more than a female beast, not something worth using precious medical resources on.”
Su softly swirled the teacup in his hands. With a sigh, he said, “I might be able to get you into contact with a hospital that can cure her. However, right now, I can’t promise you anything. Moreover, this procedure is extremely expensive, and I cannot offer you any assistance on its expenses.”
Kane’s eyes immediately flashed with radiance. He suddenly straightened his upper body and grabbed Su’s hand without any fear of repercussions, and as a result almost caused the teacups in their hands to fall. He quickly said, “Money is definitely not an issue! There are plenty of resources in the wilderness. You… can you really get me in contact with a dragonrider hospital?”
After thinking about Persephone’s private hospital, Su lightly sighed inwardly and said, “I can help you get in contact with one. However, I believe that the expenses there will be much higher than what is normal. Moreover, seeing Penny’s current circumstances, I don’t know if she is curable.”
Kane stared fixedly at Su, and only after a period of time did his tense body relax. He buried his face deeply inside his arms, and after silently loosening his shoulders, he forcefully rubbed his face a few times before releasing a breath of air. “Doesn’t matter. If not even the Black Dragonriders can cure her, then there truly isn’t any more hope. Su, only someone like you would help a woman in the wilderness.”
“Women are also people.” Su said.
Kane released a few bitter laughs before saying, “Unfortunately, almost no one thinks like you do. Su, why didn’t you bright any subordinates?”
Su released a faint smile and said, “I’m too poor and can’t raise subordinates. In fact, not only am I poor, I still owe others a large sum. Before paying back this debt, I probably won’t have the ability to hire any subordinates.”
Su’s voice was extremely calm and gentle as he spoke about matters that others might do everything they could to cover up. After all, poverty wasn’t something that was pleasant to listen to, and in the age of turmoil, poor people were the same as those without any skills. However, in this era, these types of skills oftentimes meant either killing or looting.
Kane thought for a moment and then suddenly said, “Let me be your subordinate! You don’t have to provide me with any items, equipment, skills, or medicine. I can get all of those myself. It is enough as long as you can give Penny treatment.”