Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 158: Unexpected

Chapter 158: Unexpected

No one noticed the black smoke slowly seeping out of the man’s hand as he walked through the crowd to the first gate he needed to open, and that suited Cheng Bo Jing just fine.

Death was always more amusing when they didn’t see it coming.

Cheng Bo Jing held on to his smile as he nodded at the women around him, his stride never breaking for a second.

Getting to the first cage, he crouched down and looked at the woman inside of it. She looked so much healthier than his woman... her curves were still luscious and her hair, while greasy, wasn’t nearly as straw like as Wang Tian Mu’s.

She looked up at him and smiled as if she had seen her savior. Unfortunately for her, she had just seen her death.

"Are you here to save me?" she asked softly, looking up at him from under her lashes.

Cheng Bo Jing fought the sneer that wanted to come out, choosing to keep the smile on his face. There was no point in breaking character right now.

"I am here to get you out of this cage," he said, not really answering her question. It wasn’t his fault if she misunderstood his words.

"Thank you," she answered as she burst out crying. "It was so awful here. The things they did to me... I should just slit my wrists," she continued, watching his face. If she expected him to suggest anything other than that, she was delusional.

"Now, now," he murmured as he touched the lock of the cage. It quickly disintegrated, and the metal turned liquid, sliding up his skin and underneath his shirt.

He had discovered quickly that he could manipulate metal in multiple ways, and it had managed to save his life more often than not.

Every time he touched it, he added to the numerous tattoos along his body, the metal waiting just on top of his skin, waiting to be called.

The others had asked for the same thing. They might not be able to use it the same way he could, but he could use their metal to make them weapons. So he started designing tattoos on them as well in accordance with what they asked for.

This metal would go on Wang Tian Mu when she woke up so that she had the ability to defend herself. What more appropriate way than to use the cages like she was kept in to protect herself?

While he pretended to concentrate on the cage, he sent a small cloud of black smoke toward the women. It was dark outside, so she had no idea what was going on even as she breathed in deep, letting the smoke into her body where it would do the most harm.

But he was a patient hunter. The poison wouldn’t be fast acting. With the amount that he gave her, she would be able to run away, only to collapse a day later... her body destroyed from the inside out.

However, he could speed up the timeline if she took so much as a step toward Wang Tian Mu.

"Thank you so much!" she breathed as she climbed out of the cage and staggered to her feet.

A gentleman would have held out a hand to help her, but he wasn’t going to be touched by any woman other than his own.

Quickly stepping to the side, he smiled down at her.

"You might want to leave as soon as you can. I don’t know where the Alpha is, and if he finds you, he might capture you again." Sure, the Alpha was dead, nothing more than ashes in the wind at this point in time, but the woman didn’t need to know that.

Might as well light a metaphorical fire under her ass to get her away from Wang Tian Mu faster.

"Will you come with me?" she asked, reaching out to touch him again. Cheng Bo Jing simply shook his head.

"I would love to, but I have to free the others first," he answered, once again sidestepping her touch. Some people really were too dumb to live. And if she really thought he was a golden thigh to hang on to, he would slowly show her the error of her thinking.

She nodded like one of those bobbleheads. "I hope I’ll see you in the future," she continued.

Dumber than a brick wall, but what did he really expect? She was smart enough to survive in the camp and do well, so maybe it wasn’t that she was dumb... but just too confident in her abilities.

Sure... let’s go with that.

Cheng Bo Jing turned to the next cage and repeated the process over and over again, not once tired from using both of his powers.

However, he refused to rush. If someone did plan an attack, it would be easier for his teammates to deal with smaller numbers than to be completely overwhelmed.

And he had yet to even make it to the fighters.

For them, he had a special gift.

They are the ones that benefited most from the Healer, but what they wanted to do to her...

No, they would suffer.

Poison could destroy the brain as easily as it destroyed the body. Why not let them fight to the end?

---

"Are you here to save us?" asked the man as he stood just behind the bars of his cage, staring at Cheng Bo Jing.

"I am here to let you out," answered the other man, using the exact words he had countless times before.

"So, you are here to kill us," nodded the man. His response caused Cheng Bo Jing to freeze for a second, pulling back the toxic smoke that he had just sent out.

He studied the man in front of him for the first time. He had never met him in the pit or seen him fight, but like recognized like.

"Military?" he asked, and the fighter nodded his head. "You seem to be doing better than most."

"Really?" replied the military man, his face twisted in a smile that didn’t seem natural. Cheng Bo Jing had to wonder just how long he had been here. He appeared to be healthy, but that was not the way to determine his time in the camp. Wang Tian Mu always made sure that the fighters were in peak performance, no matter the cost to herself.

"Honestly, this isn’t all that bad," he continued, his eyes looking around the area as if he was searching for someone.

Cheng Bo Jing raised an eyebrow at his statement. Out of everything he could have said, this was the most unexpected.