Henrik was standing outside the boy's dormitory when he relayed the news to Hao Xuan. Another group of students left right in front of them as they were talking.
"Is that where everyone went?" Hao Xuan asked gesturing towards the quickly disappearing backs of the participants.
Henrik shook his head halfheartedly, "Some of them. Rest went out for their own things. It gets too hot during the day so most of them move around at night."
"Hmm," Hao Xuan gave an indifferent nod and continued on his way to the portable camp behind the lake. Since he wasn't required to go out there was no need to even consider it. Right now he needed to deal with the matter regarding his rampant Qi first.
But he had only taken a few steps when Henrik's voice came into his mind, "There's someone waiting for you at the camp."
Hao Xuan didn't ask who it was since he would see for himself in a moment and hastened his steps.
The crescent moon reflected perfectly on the lake's surface like a mirror. Different colored fireflies-like insects flew above the lake akin to the will-o'-wisps from the old stories, occasionally getting eaten by the strange-looking fish that jumped out of the lake.
There was no one else around until Hao Xuan reached the location of the camp. Salome was sitting at the lake's edge with his feet in the water humming a tune while Fortis floated on the water's surface like a deflated zombie-doll, repeating the same word over and over again as if saying it enough times would make it come true.
"Foood~"
Zhurong was sitting on top of Salome's head, looking at the moon with lifeless eyes.
"Tsk, what the hell are you all depressed about?" Hao Xuan's voice came before he could be seen and the two critters jumped up in joy.
"FOOOD!" Fortis shouted excitedly, pointed at Hao Xuan like he WAS the dinner.
"Meow!" Zhurong even stood up and meowed a couple of times while Salome still sat there lost in thought.
Hao Xuan came out of the treeline shaking his head, "Yeah yeah, I'll make you guys something right now. Sheesh, you don't eat for a few hours and turn into heartbroken teenagers," he mumbled.
He went up to Salome and tapped lightly on his head, prompting a weak response.
"Eh?" Salome turned around to meet Hao Xuan's eyes with an air of melancholy.
Hao Xuan bent down to get at his level, "Why are you sad?" he asked in the native language.
"The village…I miss everyone. Right now we would be having dinner around the fire," Salome stated pensively, "Village grandpa (village chief) told us stories every night of the outside world. Of the three-headed dragon from the Northern Sea and Beast Masters of the south. I miss them…" his voice trailed off near the end.
*Sigh*
"I'm sorry about that," Hao Xuan patted his head to try and cheer him up, "I'm about to make some food for these two, how about I make some for you as well? And I'll tell you the stories about the King of the Monsters from my homeworld. He could breathe fire and kept appearing only on this one small island called Japan. Do you wanna hear them?"
"Un," Salome nodded intensely with a newfound glimmer in his eyes, "I wanna hear them!"
Hao Xuan smiled and winked, "Alright cool, give me a few minutes," and walked towards the camp. He had even forgotten about the visiter that was waiting for him in there but when he stepped through and saw the person's hunched back sitting in front of the campfire with a bottle in his hand, his smile froze.
*Sigh*
He let out a deep sigh without even realizing it.
"Does it have something to do with the weather? Why are all of you fuckers so sad? You're bringing down my mood as well," Hao Xuan muttered while going past Ryfon and into the cabin to change.
When he came out Ryfon was still sitting there with a doleful expression, drinking directly from an expensive-looking glass bottle.
Ryfon extended his left hand and another bottle appeared in his grasp. This one was slightly different in the sense it looked like it was made from hard ice. The liquid inside kept changing colors from white to blue to green and then back again.
"Come have a drink with me," Ryfon asked with a sorry smile. There was dried blood around his eyes and he looked much paler than usual.
Hao Xuan frowned, "Did you get your ass kicked? I'm not in a mood for a pity party motherfucker, already got too many problems to deal with."
Ryfon shook the ice bottle while staring at the fire, "Just drink, its good for your condition. Its the soul cleansing rum from the Divine Ape Clan.. Trust me, you'll like it."
