Chapter 2: [System Diagnostic] Wrestling a Royal Bull

Following Shivute was like trying to keep up with a frightened duiker darting through a maze of thorns. Thomas sprinted, his bare feet slamming against the hard, sun-baked earth. Every step sent a jolt of pain up his ankles, but Amutenya’s calloused soles seemed to absorb the worst of it. 

"Hurry!" Shivute yelled over his shoulder, his voice cracking with pure adrenaline. "If it dies before the elders get here, we are finished!"

They burst through a dense thicket of whistling acacia trees and entered the main grazing clearing. The air here was heavy, hot, and vibrating with the anxious lowing of dozens of cattle. The herd had pushed themselves back against the thorny perimeter, leaving a wide, tense circle in the center.

There, thrashing in the dirt, was the King’s alpha bull. 

It was a magnificent, terrifying beast—deep charcoal black, with a massive hump and ivory horns that spanned wider than Thomas was tall. But right now, it was a picture of agony. The bull was on its side, its powerful legs kicking violently into the air, churning up clouds of choking red dust. Thick, dark blood was oozing from its nostrils, bubbling with every ragged breath.

Thomas froze. His modern instinct was to look for a phone to call the police. Then he remembered he was the phone.

Okay, smartphone brain, do your thing, he thought desperately. How do I scan this monster?

As if responding to his mental command, a transparent blue window slid into his field of vision.

[APPLICATION: HEALTH MONITOR V1.0]

[TARGET LOCK REQUIRED]

[NOTICE: To initiate diagnostic scan, please maintain a steady 3-second ocular lock or establish direct physical contact with host DNA.]

"Ocular lock? Easy," Thomas muttered. He planted his feet, narrowed his eyes, and stared directly at the thrashing bull's head. 

A digital crosshair appeared in his vision, turning from white to amber as it locked onto the beast.

[SCANNING: 1%... 2%...]

Suddenly, the bull let out a guttural, bone-rattling roar. It rolled onto its belly, its massive muscles bunching as it fought its way back onto all four legs. Blinded by pain, the beast whipped its head around, its giant horns cutting through the air. The sudden, violent movement broke Thomas’s visual track. 

[SCAN INTERRUPTED. DATA INSUFFICIENT. PLEASE RE-ESTABLISH LOCK.]

"Are you serious?!" Thomas yelled internally. "It's a dying, six-hundred-kilogram tank, not a QR code on a cereal box! How am I supposed to keep it still?"

The bull roared again, its crazed, bloodshot eyes locking directly onto Thomas. To a terrified animal, a standing human was a threat. It lowered its massive head, its hooves scraping deeply into the dirt. 

"Amutenya, run!" Shivute screamed, scrambling up the branches of a nearby camel-thorn tree.

But Thomas couldn't run. If he ran, the bull would collapse and die, the plague would spread, and his own existence counter would drop to zero. 

"Fine," Thomas growled, his knuckles turning white around his wooden herding staff. "Let's do this the hard way."

The bull charged. 

It was like watching a freight train barrel down on him. The ground literally shook. Thomas waited, counting the seconds in his head, relying entirely on the muscle memory and instincts of Amutenya’s body. Three... two... one...

At the very last second, Thomas dived to the left. The bull’s massive horn grazed the leather loincloth at his hip, the sheer wind of its passing nearly knocking him over. Thomas hit the dirt, rolled over his shoulder, and scrambled back to his feet with a feral grin. Years of playing dark-fantasy action games had finally paid off. The hitbox on that charge was huge, but the recovery time was slow.

The bull overshoot its mark, its heavy hooves skidding in the loose sand as it tried to turn. 

Thomas didn't waste a heartbeat. He lunged forward, discarding his staff, and threw his entire body weight against the bull’s massive, overheating shoulder. He reached out with both hands, grabbing a handful of the coarse, dusty hair near the beast's neck.

[PHYSICAL CONTACT DETECTED.]

[INITIATING COMPREHENSIVE BIOLOGICAL SCAN...]

The bull went ballistic. It bucked, hoisting Thomas completely off his feet. His ribs slammed against the animal’s solid muscle, knocking the wind right out of his lungs. The world became a blurring vortex of blue sky, red dust, and flashing digital loading bars. 

"Hold on, Amutenya! Hold on!" Shivute shrieked from the tree.

Thomas clamped his jaw shut, wrapping his arms around the bull's massive neck, his fingers digging into its hide. Just a few more seconds!

[SCAN: 45%... 70%... 95%...]

[DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE.]

A loud, triumphant CHIME echoed inside Thomas’s skull, followed by a bright amber warning screen that completely replaced the loading bar. 

Thomas let go, throwing himself backward into the dirt just as the bull whipped its head around to gore him. He scrambled away on his hands and knees, gasping for breath, his heart drumming a frantic rhythm against his chest.

Safe for a brief second behind a thick bush, he looked up at the flashing text in his eyes. He expected to see Anthrax. Instead, the system text made his blood run completely cold.

[DIAGNOSTIC RESULTS]

[TARGET: Royal Alpha Bull]

[STATUS: Critical / 12 Minutes until Cardiovascular Collapse]

[DIAGNOSIS: Acute Toxidrome. High concentration feed of Omuvango Leaf Extract detected.]

[SOURCE: Intentional Ingestion via Contaminated Grazing .]

[ALERT: This is not a natural illness. The King's herd has been sabotaged.]

Thomas stared at the word Sabotaged. 

This wasn't just a medical emergency. It was a setup. Someone had intentionally poisoned the King's prize possession, and if it died on Amutenya’s watch, the punishment wouldn't just be a scolding—it would be a swift execution for treason.

"Hey, Shivute," Thomas said, his voice dropping into a tense, deadly serious whisper as he stood up and wiped the red dust from his face. "We have a massive problem. And a stick isn't going to fix it."