On his way back to the city, Deathstalker paid a visit to Sukraj.
"Mister… Mister Jang," Sukraj greeted him, stammering. It was obvious he had just been awakened by Deathstalker's knocks on his door.
"I'm not disturbing you, am I?" Deathstalker asked, as if he didn't notice what he had clearly done.
"No… no… of course not, sir," Sukraj said, then opened the door wider. "Please, come in."
Without hesitation, Deathstalker entered the house and made himself comfortable on the couch.
"What can I help you with, sir?" Sukraj asked once he had sat across from Deathstalker. "The potion won't be ready until the next five—"
"How could you be yellow?" Deathstalker cut him off.
"Excuse me?"
"You said earlier, you could be yellow if you wanted to," Deathstalker reminded him.
"I…"
Deathstalker reached into his robe and pulled out two sticks of pork jerky. "I want that potion."
Sukraj stared at the pork jerky, gulping his saliva down. But then… "I can't give it to you."
"What?! What do you mean you can't give it to me?!"
Sukraj smirked. "Those two sticks of pork jerky aren't enough."
Deathstalker sighed. "What do you want? These jerkies are all we have. All my gold has been bartered for our stay here. I have nothing else to offer you."
Sukraj shrugged. "I don't want your gold," he said. "Like I said, your gold isn't that precious to me."
"So what do you want?"
Sukraj sighed and stared at Deathstalker solemnly. "I want to know why you need that potion. I want to know what you're doing here, under the earth. I want to know who you are and what your mission is."
"Who said I have a mission?"
"Please, Mr. Jang," Sukraj cut in with a calm but solemn tone, "if that's even your real name," he added with another sigh, "don't insult my intelligence."
Deathstalker stared at him but said nothing.
"I'm human," Sukraj said. "But this place is where my daughter and I live now. I have a responsibility to protect it—even from my own people."
Deathstalker still didn't respond for a long moment. Finally, he sighed in defeat. "We're not here to harm this place," he said, then sighed again. "My name is not Jang, but I cannot tell you my real name. I work for an organization on Earth. A secret organization…"
"Conduct of Olympos," Sukraj cut in again with sharp precision.
"How did you know?" Deathstalker asked, suddenly alert.
"I once worked for the same organization before I vanished down here." Sukraj's calm tone made Deathstalker's jaw drop. Sukraj rolled up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo on his wrist—an inverted theta symbol, a zero crossed with a vertical line. All members of the organization who didn't live at HQ had to wear that symbol.
Sukraj smiled. "I suspected you were with the organization. If you weren't, you wouldn't have come here with that much gold. Common humans who end up here by accident don't bring any preparation—let alone gold," he explained, revealing his deduction.
Seeing Deathstalker remain silent, Sukraj continued, "So… what is the organization up to with this place?"
Deathstalker sighed. "The organization doesn't want anything from this place—at least, that's what my mission says," he began to explain."There's a pandemic up there. A weird new virus is attacking us, paralyzing the whole world."
"And the organization suspects the virus comes from here?"
"Not comes from—but was made here."
"Look… these creatures are basically just animals. Unlike humans, they don't have evil intentions," Sukraj said, defending his community.
"That's true," Deathstalker agreed. "But it also means they're naive. They can be easily used by humans."
"So you mean… humans are the masterminds?"
Deathstalker nodded. "Wang Ji Shu is the eldest son of the former North Eastern highseater. When he failed to become the new highseater, he led this rebellion."
"Let me guess, that's still only the organization's assumption."
"Yes."
The smirk that was about to form on Sukraj's face vanished when he heard Deathstalker's next sentence: "Until I saw Wang Ji Shu in this place—less than an hour ago."
"Where did you see him?"
Deathstalker sighed. "I followed a group of creatures walking across the hill."
"What were they doing there during resting time?" Sukraj asked, frowning deeply.
"Working."
"Working?"
Deathstalker nodded. "Behind the hill, there's some kind of mining site. I saw those creatures queueing to enter the site. They work there. Then I saw Wang Ji Shu coming out of it."
"That is fishy," Sukraj murmured. For several minutes, he was lost in his own thoughts.
"So, what do you need the potion for?" he finally asked.
"I need my brown-skinned partner to be able to work there," Deathstalker replied.
Sukraj nodded. "Okay. I'll support you with the potion. But I only have five bottles left. And each bottle only lasts for a day."
"We'll manage that," Deathstalker agreed.