Chapter 4 Poison

He asked, “How long till we get to the hospital, driver?” “‘About ten minutes.” William said nothing for a while, then he called an ex-patientKevin Leedsof his. Grateful for William’s help, Kevin promised to help William all he could. He was a powerful man in the intelligence department, and his specialty was finding people and clues. A few moments later, the call went through, and William briefed him about the situation and gave him Mia’s details. Once he hung up, Tia asked with concern, “What happened, William?” William shook his head, but there was worry in his eyes. “Not sure. I hope it’s just a false alarm.” About ten minutes later, someone sent a location to William. It was Mia’s location. She was in the middle of the street about two hundred yards west of the hospital. He told the driver to change directions and called Mia again, but still, no one picked it up. Five minutes later, they stopped before an old, narrow alleyway. “I can’t go in,” the driver said. William tossed him fifteen dollars and darted out of the car, running toward the location Mia was while glancing at his phone from time to time. Tia ran after him, but she was huffing and puffing after a while. Suddenly, William stopped. Mia’s around here. On my left. An old building with a wooden door stood before him. He banged on the door loudly, peeling off more paint. “Open up!” he roared. Nobody took the door. William slammed the door down with his feet, destroying the latch easily. The door flew back and fell with a thud. He was greeted with a courtyard. It was covered in weed and junk. Beyond that were three ancient houses. The commotion attracted the attention of the residents. A bald, dark-skinned man showed up. He was fat, and a dragon head tattoo adorned his arm. “Who are you?” He was holding a butcher knife and inching closer to William with a malicious glint in his eyes. William ignored him. He opened the third eye and looked at the houses. The one on the left had a girl in it. She was lying on the ground, her clothes half taken off. She was none other than Mia, and beside her was a lad in his twenties. He was staring outside the window to see what the commotion was all about. “Damn you.” William flew into a rage. He wanted to kill. For once after so long, he wished to kill, but he couldn’t. Not after he went to prison. He quickly poked the chest of the man before him. The bald guy felt all his strength leave him, and his knife fell to the ground with a clang. Quickly, William charged into the house and tapped on the lad’s lower back twice. Before the lad knew it, he fell to the ground and was unable to move. Lying on the bed was an unconscious Mia. She must be drugged, but she’s not violated. Thank god. He heaved a sigh of relief. He pointed a finger at Mia’s forehead, and a sliver of Qi entered her body. A moment later, Mia opened her eyes and saw William. Surprised, she said, “William!” She hugged him tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks. Then, she was reminded of the harrowing event that happened to her, and the color drained from her face. William patted her back. “It’s alright. It’s alright now. I’m here.” Tia came in as well. She muttered, “Is everything alright?” William nodded. “It’s alright. We should go now.” He led the ladies away and took a cab to the hospital without sparing the men a glance. After William left, the men heaved a sigh of relief. The darker man sneered, “He’s lucky he ran away fast, or I’d have chopped him into pieces.” The younger man laughed. “That was close. Good thing he didn’t call the cops.” The darker man pouted. “That was a nice lass. Pity we didn’t get to f*ck her.” He then felt something drenching his crotch, and he turned his sight to his pants. What? Why am I pissing myself? The same thing was happening to the younger man and looks of horror crept to their faces. What’s going on? Did that guy scare us this much? Unbeknownst to them, the little pokes William used were no simple pokes. They were something called the Hidden Poison. William destroyed their kidneys, spleen, liver, lungs, and heart. Over the course of a month, they would experience kidney failure, bursting spleen, bloated lungs, heart failure, and cirrhosis. If they could get treated, they would suffer for two more weeks before they die. These men had no idea that their lives were coming to a painful end. Mia was a lot calmer when they arrived at the hospital, and she told William about the events that happened earlier. At first, she was going to buy something from the stall near the hospital for Melisenna to eat. When she entered that alleyway, someone covered her mouth from behind her, and she fell unconscious. If it weren’t for William finding her just in time, she might have been Just thinking about that filled William with murder intent. William changed the subject to distract Mia. “So, what about Mom? Do you know what she’s down with?” Mia frowned. “Gastric cancer, probably. She has to wait in line for the gastroscopy and biopsy.” William was surprised that it was gastric cancer, but he didn’t despair. He was good enough to cure that kind of cancer. “It’s not even diagnosed yet. Calm down.” Suddenly, Tia said, “Hey, I know a good doctor. Do you want me to ask him for help?” William didn’t think much of that idea. He just nodded and said, “We’ll see.” Before they got to the hospital, Melisenna called, and she sounded anxious. “William, the village chief and his team are trying to tear our house down. I’m going to stop them right now, even if this kills me.” William frowned. “What? Why?” “They’ve been trying to do that for a while now. They want to build some new buildings, but we’re missing some paperwork, and our place isn’t up to par. They have to tear it down and rebuild it, but we’ll have to pay seventy grand and have the chief’s son build it. We don’t have that kind of money, and seventy grand for rebuilding is just robbery.” William’s house was in rural Halivaara, but then the town expanded, turning his village into some sort of slum. The chief’s son is trying to tear my house down, eh? Fury glinted in William’s eyes. After his father died, the village chief worked with Salazar’s family to double down on them. He was a corrupt man who bullied everyone because he had seven siblings to help him out. Everyone was scared of him. “Calm down, Mom. I’ll be right there.” He hung up and told the driver to speed up. The cab drove into Eastabbey and stopped before William’s house. A group of young thugs was trying to uproot the pagoda tree in front of their house. The tree was more than a century old. William spent a lot of time playing and resting under its shade when he was a child. He loved the tree, but now it was going to be uprooted. Melisenna was crying helplessly before the entrance.