The Card Apprentice - What Kitt Entrusted

0″What’s with you staying with me?” Chen Mu lifted his eyes to take a look at Wei-ah. He had found Wei-ah’s reaction strange that day when they ran into the ant swarm. Wei-ah’s first reaction had been to grab Chen Mu and Li Duhong.
    

For him to rescue Li Duhong first wasn’t really unexpected, but for the other one to be himself was something Chen Mu couldn’t quite understand. He believed either Alfonso or Kitt were more important than himself. And moreover, he was pegged with a foreign identity. Chen Mu tried to guess who it was in the end that had caused the clan elder to command Wei-ah—who never left the clan elder’s side—to appear in their division. Chen Mu had never considered himself at all likely.
    

Wei-ah was right beside Chen Mu ever since. No matter how much Chen Mu asked him why, he would remain silent. But as soon as Chen Mu stood, he would stand right alongside him.
    

“Kitt has come-to! Kitt has come-to!” The encampment grew lively, with such good news making the beaten-down youths’ faces bloom with smiles.
    

Kitt had finally woken up. That was good news for everyone, including Chen Mu. He breathed a sigh of relief, since with Kitt alert, he wouldn’t have to take charge any longer.
    

“Mr. Chen, Kitt would like you to go to him.” A youth who looked to be about 12 had come to Chen Mu, speaking with admiration. Chen Mu’s performance those last two days had won over the respect of all the youth.
    

Chen Mu got to Kitt, but he was startled when he saw Kitt’s face showing such a feeling of malaise. Kitt’s cheeks presented an unusually livid redness, which looked very much like a final show of lucidity.
    

Kitt forced a smile upon seeing Chen Mu arrive. “Thank you.” Li Duhong and Alfonso were both by Kitt’s side. Li Duhong was showing strength well beyond that of a child, having insisted on walking during that time and not riding on someone’s back. Kitt seemed to have just said something to Li Duhong, whose face still had some traces of tears on it, while a resolute gaze still shone from his two onyx eyes.
    

“Don’t thank me,” Chen Mu shook his head, responding very honestly. “You just get better. I’ve already done what I can do. I don’t have any good ideas right now.” He wasn’t being self-effacing; he had wracked his brain and still couldn’t come up with anything. There were still 2,700 youths remaining, but only three adults who had any military training. To lead so many youths would be like leading a herd of plump lambs without a pride of lions to protect them.
    

Who knew if the wild beasts had already spotted them?
    

“What you’ve already done is outstanding!” Kitt was looking straight at Chen Mu, not hiding his admiration in the least.
    

Chen Mu smiled bitterly. “Outstanding? Your praise for me won’t do any good, since I really have no ideas.”
    

Who knew what Kitt was thinking, but his tone turned deep and hard to make out, “Fate will always make one feel hopeless, but it is just when one is hopeless that there is a ray of sunshine.”
    

With his knowledge all card-related, Chen Mu didn’t grasp that, not ever even having skimmed literary knowledge. So, he chose to remain silent.
    

“What are your ideals, Chen Mu?” Kitt suddenly changed the subject to ask such an utterly irrelevant-seeming question.
    

“Ideals?” Chen Mu was turning over in his mind what he had learned in his experience about what he considered a rather strange term. He suddenly remembered some things that had happened. He remembered those few years when he had been making one-star power cards, and he remembered the excitement and distress when he had been making a card play together with Copper. And he remembered the uncontrollable excitement when he had discovered the mysterious card…
    

“You don’t want to die here in the jungle, right?” Kitt cut off Chen Mu’s reminiscences, staring at him deeply.
    

Restored to himself, Chen Mu hurried to respond, nodding his head. “Right.”
    

Kitt signaled for Alfonso to help him sit up, and all of the youth around couldn’t help their excitement. They believed once Kitt got better and joined Chen Mu, the two would certainly be able to lead them out of danger. Chen Mu and Kitt were acclaimed as the most gifted young people, and they both deserved the youths’ faith.
    

“Haven’t you seen them? They are very young and weak, and any wild beast could tear them to shreds.” Kitt was looking straight at Chen Mu.
    

Chen Mu was listening, knowing Kitt had more to say.
    

“But that is now! Among them are many who have already undergone military training, even though it’s incomplete! But provided only five more years—no, maybe they only need three—there will be quite a few of them who will grow into excellent soldiers!” There was a lot of pride in Kitt’s face. “You might not know that those in this unit are all the most excellent youth of the clan! Each one of them is extremely outstanding!
    

“If you wish to escape the jungle, you won’t succeed by yourself! I believe you understand that. But it won’t be an issue if you have them with you. Most of them will become specialists in the jungle. Having such expertise, this stretch of jungle will become your kingdom. You will be the king of this kingdom!”
    

Kitt’s speech was full of temptation.
    

Chen Mu wasn’t moved by that. While Kitt had outlined an extremely beautiful scene, all of it was based on the premise that he could lead those youths to survival.
    

Could he?
    

Chen Mu was shaking his head to himself, not considering himself to have that ability.
    

Kitt started to cough, which became more and more violent as the red flush on his face become deeper. It looked terrifying to Chen Mu. The youths all stood and nervously looked on.
    

Kitt stopped his coughing with a great deal of difficulty and forced a smile. “I reckon I’ll die soon; the heavens are rushing me. Lead this gang of kids, Chen Mu. If things get dangerous for you, just run off. You won’t take a loss in any case…” Kitt had another fit of violent coughing, while Li Duhong was chewing his lip to the side, his eyes red, keeping his little face stiff as he struggled to keep tears from falling.
    

Chen Mu sighed to himself and lightly said, “Alright, but I can only say I’ll do my best. I can’t guarantee anything.” He had already seen that Kitt had started to bleed again from his stitches, and his distinguished face had become so full of red it looked like it would ooze blood.
    

Kitt stopped coughing after a few minutes and looked at Chen Mu in gratitude. “Thank you!” Then, after speaking, he patted Li Duhong’s head lightly with his right hand. “Little devil, remember to listen to what Mr. Chen says.”
    

“Arrgh,” Li Duhong groaned with a heavy sob, having nearly bitten his lips to bleeding, as his eyes were swimming with tears. To his side, Alfonso couldn’t help but turn away to wipe his tears.
    

“Wei-ah.” Kitt suddenly lifted his head.
    

Wei-ah was startled, not having thought Kitt would have anything to say to him.
    

“Come over; I have something to tell you.”
    

After some hesitation, Wei-ah walked over to Kitt.
    

“Come a little closer.”
    

Wei-ah put his ear near Kitt’s mouth, and Kitt said something to him quietly. Wei-ah looked at Chen Mu with some astonishment and lightly nodded. Chen Mu had watched the particulars and couldn’t help but mull them over, wondering what Kitt had said to Wei-ah.
    

Kitt then brought some of the older youths to his side, giving them careful exhortations. There were sounds of crying all over the camp, as none of the youth could stop the flow of grieving tears.
    

Kitt’s voice became weaker and weaker until it couldn’t be heard, and then he looked as though he were sleeping. No matter how much they called out to him, he gave no response.
    

Wei-ah put his finger to Kitt’s neck and shook his head at Chen Mu. “He’s dead.”
    

Kitt was buried on the spot, and the morale of the division had reached its freezing point. Chen Mu was helpless in that kind of situation, only able to keep camp for a while. They left remembrances along the way, though not one of those with Colin had caught up with them. Chen Mu conjectured that there would no longer be any positive signs of them.
    

But, what was surprising to Chen Mu was that he found several small-scale cluster cannons among the material on the backs of the beasts of burden. When they had run into the swarm of ants previously, those with Colin hadn’t been able to retrieve them. Although he didn’t think those few small-scale cluster cannons would be be very useful, they were better than nothing. No matter how small, the ants were still flesh.
    

He specifically chose several of the older youths to learn how to manipulate the few remaining weapons.
    

The division kept moving forward, though more slowly than before. They were children after all, with quite a bit of difference in their bodily strength compared to adults. But, they were quite excellent, and after a very short time, they had learned how to manipulate the small-scale cluster cannons, which they tirelessly practiced.
    

Chen Mu sent Wei-ah out to scout since he was the only one in the entire division who could do such work. Chen Mu had been a little worried that Wei-ah wouldn’t take his orders, not having thought that Wei-ah would be so exceptionally compliant; whatever orders Chen Mu gave, he would carry them out without hesitation. The only thing that gave Chen Mu a headache was that Wei-ah would still urge him every day, right into his ear, to learn his techniques.
    

Wei-ah was deployed to the fullest by Chen Mu, as the surliest martial fellow in the entire division.
    

Wei-ah’s performances had demonstrated that he was worthy of his designation as the top ace in the village. They would often come across the corpse of some wild beast along the way. After they asked Wei-ah, they understood the beasts had all been killed easily while he was scouting.
    

Jiu! A drawn-out scream suddenly sounded from the woods.
    

The entire division stopped its progress, as the youth couldn’t help showing their terror.
    

Chen Mu’s face also shifted involuntarily, since that was Wei-ah’s cry of danger, proving he had run into trouble. When Wei-ah couldn’t resolve some trouble, it would really have to be bad!
    

Chen Mu shut his eyes as fast as he could with an inward bitter smile.
    

Breath control! He needed to enter that damned state of breath control right away!
    

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