« More subtle and you die… »
But that was also why he was isolated: Jack's way of fighting was so brutal, so dirty, that no enemy wanted to face him. He ended up cut off from the main battlefield, forced to deal only with the last volunteers or cannon fodder.
« Okay Tāo, you see the guy going berserk over there? Well, that's where we're going. »
Tāo growls softly at hearing yumiel mispronounce his name, then lowers his ears, a sign that he doesn't understand what she just said.
« This is going to take a while… »
yumiel points at Jack, then makes a finger gesture, miming walking toward him, and finishes by raising her thumb. Tāo looks toward where Jack is, then back at yumiel, before lightly nodding and whining in what she assumes is a sign of understanding.
Grabbing yumiel by the arm, he pulls her back onto his back, getting ready to jump from building to building. Running on all fours across the rooftop, he quickly reaches 50 km/h. yumiel clings to him to avoid falling. Accelerating more and more until he hits 70 km/h, he leaps into the void, landing on the opposite building.
They keep going like that until they reach the end of the street, directly above Jack. Jumping down from the building, he throws himself onto a soldier, shredding him instantly. yumiel gets off his back and heads toward Jack. But Tāo moves first, sprinting past her and lunging at Jack to attack him.
Jack sees the attack and dodges by stepping back. The moment Tāo touches the ground, he launches himself again at Jack, who this time can't dodge. He's about to break his limits—fortunately yumiel reacts in time, throwing her eight daggers between them and creating a wall. Tāo crashes headfirst into it. On the other side, Jack can see Tāo slam into the wall.
On the ground, Tāo tries to get back up. yumiel arrives at the same time, turning her wall into a dagger and sending it to chase off the last soldiers who had fled when the werewolf arrived. She stands over him as he gets up and yanks his ear, pulling him upright.
« You stupid werewolf, that's my teammate—so he's yours too now! »
Whining in pain, he straightens up.
« Uh… yumiel, care to explain? »
« I got saddled with these kids who don't speak a word of English. »
Tāo steps closer to Jack and says, « Pack? »
Although he didn't speak a word of English, his desire to learn was genuine. He wished he could communicate with them.
« Yes, pack. See? He speaks English—or at least he's learning. »
« Great. Well, I'll let you get acquainted, I'm going to go fill my stomach. »
While Jack talked to Tāo in Chinese or English—whatever—she ripped the hearts out of the dead soldiers one by one, finding them slightly better than human ones, but far inferior to Awakened.
Sweeping the area as she moved up the corpse-littered street, she turns around and sees Tāo eating the hearts she'd left on the ground, while Jack walks toward her.
« After talking with him, I learned his name—though I assume you already knew that. I also learned that he feeds on hearts to get stronger. However, when I asked if he needed the blood inside them, he said no. So he won't bother you. »
« Good to know. Now let's find Alan and get the hell out of here. »
Tāo finished eating all the hearts she'd left and joined them, not understanding much of their conversation.
« I'm having fun here. I eat, I fight—let's keep going, right? »
« You think we're here on vacation? We got what we came for. Now we grab our pilot and disappear. In the meantime, you can break, torture, or whatever number of enemies you want. »
Initially reluctant, he eventually agreed; after all, as long as he could continue to have fun while eating some brains, it nourished him.
« Sounds good. »
« Where's Alan? »
Jack shrugs.
« Lost sight of him. »
yumiel thinks, while Tāo sniffs Jack all over. During that time, a dull rumbling can be heard in the distance, then helicopters appear. Soldiers rappel down from them and head into battle.
« Looks like it never ends. »
Some head toward the main battle, others block off a street, preventing their group from reaching it without making a detour.
Strangely, the soldiers don't advance, simply aiming their firearms at the group. Tāo growls at them, yumiel pulls her daggers close and opens her senses, Jack crosses his arms and yawns.
Fear is clearly visible in the soldiers' eyes. yumiel glances at Jack and asks him,
« What did you do to those poor soldiers? »
« The bodies speak for themselves. »
She hadn't taken the time to look at them. Now that she does, the bodies really do speak for themselves: eviscerated, crushed into a thousand pieces, dismembered and left to die—there was something for every taste.
The soldiers stay in position. Tāo wants to charge them, but yumiel grabs his ear just before he does. The soldiers begin to part, letting a man through, then all of them withdraw.
Walking toward them, he raises his hands in a non-hostile gesture, stopping about ten meters away.
« 我是第二团的指挥官.如果你不是效忠于这头肮脏的狼,我请你离开. »
« He's serious—he spoke Chinese. He doesn't want to learn English like everyone else. »
Jack translates for yumiel. Tāo struggles to control himself, wanting to rip the man's head off; yumiel has to squeeze his ear even harder to suppress the urge.
« Just tell him we want to retrieve our pilot and leave. »
Jack speaks to him. The commander replies, hesitating for a moment. Jack translates; yumiel understands instinctively and releases Tāo's ear—who immediately lunges at him like a rabid dog.
The commander throws small clay statues onto the ground, which transform into life-sized figures, all equipped with different weapons, trying to slash, crush, or shoot Tāo. Thanks to his great werewolf agility, he dodges everything, but can't get close.
yumiel pulls back her daggers, ready to throw them into the fight. Jack smiles, then rushes in to join Tāo.