He Yuan smirked as he discarded his tray on a nearby table and calmly followed after. Earlier, he'd first slipped a needle into Ding Weimin's major pain receptor to numb him to the six more needles that he'd slipped in immediately after.
Those six needles had been inserted in major acupoints on Ding Weimin's back in order to increase the sensitivity of the man's sensory organs by three times.
This meant that the words Ding Weimin heard were three times louder, touches from people were felt three times stronger and the effects of the alcohol in his system also increased by three times. There was no particular reason for this except to make Ding Weimin feel uncomfortable enough to leave the hall on his on accord to take a break.
Ding Weimin calmly walked about the different sections of the Grand hotel with his hands clasped behind his back. He was feeling very overwhelmed, restless and especially angry about the fact that he'd let his guard down and had almost gotten drugged by that Yang girl.
Somehow, he ended up circling back and ending up in the bathroom section right next to the Grand hall. This section had two rows of private restrooms lined up on each side.
After a slight hesitation, he walked up to the first one but when he heard a muffled sound from within, he held back and chose the one two doors down.
As the name implied, everything within the Grand hotel was grand to the extra mile. The private restrooms each had one bathroom stall and then a large counter outside the stall with a large shiny mirror, some toileteries and a soft plushy rug before the counter.
Ding Weimin slowly walked into the stall and relieved himself before walking out, washing his hands and staring at his reflection in the mirror. His forehead was dotted with sweat and his initially neatly combed hair was a bit messy.
His anger flared up for no reason again and when he thought back to the events back at the hall, he became even angrier.
Truthfully.... he hadn't really been focused all night. Right from the moment he'd noticed the Yangs were present, his mind had been constantly drifting off to Yang Xue and he hated himself for it. What was so good about the mandron?
He absolutely disliked Yang Xue very much but deep down... Deep down, he felt raw guilt and even deeper, there was need. It had been so long since he last set eyes on the mandron. He was aware that Yang Xue had acquired a prosthetic limb but that information left him slightly confused.
Since Yang Xue had gotten a new limb, why was he remaining off the grid? Wasn't the mandron's dream to become a General? Why hadn't Yang Xue tried to speak up about his stolen merit? Why did Yang Xue remain silent even after the lies that he'd boldly spouted at the press conference? What was going through the mandron's head?
Yang Xue was a mandron and this meant he was naturally straightforward. He'd been expecting Yang Xue to come to him once more to demand justice but there had been nothing all these while. Such a silent attitude was making him feel even more guilty.
Ding Weimin cupped his hand under the automatic faucet and splashed his face with water. When he stared at his reflection once more, his eyes reddened. His emotions were at an all time high for no reason and he felt awful.
If only he hadn't gotten himself involved with Jin Qi in the first place because of his fear of facing the truth. If only he'd handled that conversation with his parents a bit better and Yang Xue hadn't been sent away. If only he'd held himself back from accepting the merit so soon....
His mind drifted suddenly to the events at the second Xor queen's cave.
[[ After the exit of the Xor queen's lair collapsed, Ding Weimin -covered in sweat, dirt and blood- froze when he noticed that there were just two of them.
-He pulled his hand away from Jin Qi's in confusion, "Where's Yang Xue?"
-The equally dishevelled Jin Qi had showed a look of pure terror before looking to the collapsed wall. "He'd been right behind me. I was too focused on running that I did not bother to look back." She trembled. "Oh no..."
-Ding Weimin's eyes widened. "WHAT?!" He might have been in denial about his feelings for Yang Xue, neglected him, placed his reputation over the mandron and even broken the promise he made to marry the mandron but there was no way he wanted Yang Xue to encounter harm.
-He didn't wait for Jin Qi to say more before turning around and madly hacking at the collapsed wall. It was unsuccessful so he'd commanded Jin Qi to get help whilst he ran away to look for a different entrance.
-He'd spent hours in different parts of the cave but he couldn't find a different entrance and neither did Jin Qi show up. Deep down, he'd known that it was too late and Yang Xue was gone but he kept on searching for who knew how long. Finally, he had given up and returned to his soldiers at the army warship in sadness.
-Who knew that the minute he returned, all his soldiers would begin screaming at him in praise?
-Apparently when he'd been so involved in searching for Yang Xue, a strong wave of magnetic energy signalling the end of a Xor queen had spread throughtout the vicinity. With him still in the cave, they'd all assumed that the death of the second Xor queen had been his doing but only he knew that the kill had most probably been carried out by Yang Xue.
-That realization had also finalized the impression that Yang Xue was dead in his mind.
-The right thing he should have done at that moment would have been to explain things clearly to his soldiers but when he took in the praise and worship in their eyes, his resolved crumbled and greed had set in. His exact thought then was 'Yang Xue was dead anyways so why not?'
-He'd later found Jin Qi but before he could ask why she didn't return with help, he was told that she'd been found by a group of soldiers unconscious by the side the rocky road. He couldn't really blame her could he?]]
Ding Weimin was pulled out of his thoughts when a waiter suddenly walked into the restroom. He straightened his posture automatically. There was no way he would let a single being in the Plexar Federation catch him -the universally proclaimed hero of the Federation- having a mental break down in a bathroom.
"This one's taken." He said without looking directly at the waiter. There was no sound of the restroom being opened which made him to turn to the man with a questionable brow raised. As soon as he gave the waiter a proper look though, he stiffened. Although the waiter was clearly human, he had the same height and body structure as Yang Xue.
Ding Weimin's eyes glazed over again.
[[ Back when he had realized that Yang Xue had survived, he was both relieved and apprehensive. He had been tempted to say the truth but the consequences of that would have been too much for him to bear. He would be punished heavily by the army and he would also lose the respect of everyone.
-Besides, he had been pressured by the high expectations people had of him so he couldn't dare say the merit wasn't his.
-He had gone over to the hospital to see Yang Xue and explain things to him but when Yang Xue had remained stubborn, he'd gotten angry and let go of all inhibitions. He couldn't afford to have the truth come to light.
-He'd left the hospital thinking of a way to kick Yang Xue out of the Third army to ensure that the mandron would never find an opportunity to reveal the secret but Yang Xue had remained silent all these while.
-Again he was plagued with curiosity. Why was Yang Xue being so well behaved now? ]]
He Yuan calmly watched Ding Weimin's faraway look with raised brows. He was a little baffled. Although he had heightened Ding Weimin's sensory organs, it was not to the point that the special one would suddenly turn into a fool so why did he look so messed up?
"Well it works for me anyways," He whispered under his breath before flicking a needle at the centre of the man's forehead.
Ding Weimin's eyes widened at the last moment and he quickly dodged to the side. Next, He took out a light gun from his waist area and pointed it at He Yuan with a stone cold expression. "Who are you?"
He Yuan shrugged nonchalantly. He'd heightened Ding Weimin's sensory organs so it wasn't a surprise that the man's sense of danger was heightened as well. He expertly flicked 20 more needles in rapid succession at Ding Weimin.
Ding Weimin reacted equally as fast, deftly dodging majority of the needles. A frown made way onto his face. He'd never seen such an attack method before. Another issue was, his emotions were currently at an all time high so he had difficulties concerntrating.
His hand tightened around his laser gun as he maneuvered his way around the small restroom in avoidance of the needles. He soon found an opening but just as he was about to take action, a needle managed to slip through and insert itself right in the middle of his wrist.
He Yuan quickly followed that one needle up with three more needles on Ding Weimin's forehead, chest and lower abdomen.
Ding Weimin staggered a bit before collapsing.