Chapter 38: Catching Up

Xie Sen ran out as fast as he could, but Maine was nowhere to be seen. He ran all the way through the hallway, and out of the Cox house. The parking lot to the right of Cox’s house suddenly lit up with a beam of light, the bright light of the shuttle starting up at night. He looked over to see Maine’s shuttle taking off.

He rushed to the curb and stopped a public shuttle. He pointed at the shuttle that was about to disappear from view. “Mister, catch up with it as fast as you can.”

The driver drove as fast as he could, while he glanced in the rearview mirror. “Why are you chasing him?”

Xie Sen guessed that the driver was worried that he was following someone to do something bad, and simply replied, “He’s hurt and angry.”

The driver saw Xie Sen’s anxious eyes, then his thin body, and he joked, “Had a fight with your boyfriend?”

Xie Sen wasn’t in a joking mood at all. He was thinking about Maine’s injuries and his last expression. His heart ached, and he couldn’t help but worry. He urged, “Can you go any faster?” 

“I’m already going the speed limit. Don’t worry, we can’t lose him. He can only go so fast.”

Xie Sen opened the bracelet to contact Maine, but all the communications and messages were lost in the sea. He got no response, and the speed of the shuttle ahead didn’t slow down at all. The two shuttles were one after the other, overtaking countless shuttles along the way. Twenty minutes later, the driver frowned. “Where does your friend live? If we keep driving, we’ll be out of town, and public shuttles can’t get out of town.”

Xie Sen was even more worried. He hoped Maine would stop in time. Outside the city was a continuous forest of rogues. It was too dangerous to go into the forest at night. His hopes were dashed as Maine drove the shuttle, stopped briefly at the city gates, then went straight out of town, while his shuttle was forced to park in a parking lot at the Star City border.

Xie Sen paid and got out of the shuttle in a hurry. He didn’t care at all about the driver who was yelling behind him that it was dangerous to leave the city at night. He ran to the city gate, and was stopped. “You can’t go out there.”

“I have a permit to leave the city!” Xie Sen looked anxiously out of the city, and showed his proof.

“You’re a junior, right? In addition to the permission to leave the city alone, you must also be able to meet the conditions of the ability charm. For three, they must be D class or above contract beast masters.” The officer who was checking the documents looked at him. “To go out alone, the minimum is a B class contract beast master.”

Xie Sen thought it was a close call, and pulled up his identity information. “I’m a B class!”

The inspector looked surprised. After he read his information, he looked at him again. “Are you sure you want to go out alone? It’s dangerous at night, and you are entirely responsible for your own safety outside of the city.”

Xie Sen’s patience was almost exhausted. “I’m sure. Can I go out now?”

“Yes.” He met the conditions, and was so determined, that the inspector had no reason to stop him and just nodded.

Xie Sen took two steps outside, turned back and asked, “I saw someone fly a shuttle in. Where would they park it?”

There must be a place to park the shuttle since it wasn’t allowed to fly in the forest at all.

“Go out and to the right. There’s a parking lot at the edge of the forest that the hunters use to park.”

“Thanks.” Xie Sen said. He switched on the light in his bracelet, turned and ran to the right.

Outside the city gates was a large flat area that belonged to the protective zone between the city and the forest. If a beast came out of the forest, it could be seen at a glance. There was absolutely no place to hide.

Xie Sen ran for fifteen minutes before he reached the parking lot where there were few shuttles. He spotted Maine’s shuttle near the edge of the forest.

Xie Sen ran over. Maine wasn’t in the car. There was only a trail of blood on the ground.

As he gasped for breath, Xie Sen followed the blood trail all the way into the forest. Before he had walked far, a bird flew steeply above him, screeched, and startled him. His heart was beating wildly.

There were quiet noises in the forest at night. The odd sound of birds and insects made Xie Sen’s thoughts go wildl, and he called out Maine’s name as he went along.

“Maine…”

“Maine…”

The forest was like a big mouth that swallowed all his shouts. He didn’t get any response.

Xie Sen walked for another twenty minutes, and felt particularly tired. Although there was lighting, it wasn’t as good as daylight, and he tripped over tree roots several times along the way. He was following the blood trail, but suddenly his steps stopped sharply. His face turned white, and he subconsciously took two steps backward.

Not far ahead of him stood a black-skinned, vicious-looking beast. The beast was about a meter tall, with a strong body, sharp and pointed teeth, and a pair of green eyes that stared at him.

Xie Sen’s heart almost stopped, and reflexively he held his breath.

The beast looked at him for a moment, lowered its head, licked the leaves on the ground and moved forward. The distance between him and Xie Sen gradually shortened.

Xie Sen’s eyes widened abruptly. It was licking Maine’s blood!

He bit his lip, restrained the urge to scream, and slowly moved to the side. The beast looked at him and lowered its head again. It occasionally looked up as it licked the leaves that had Maine’s blood on them as it passed.

The beast followed the blood trail all the way to Xie Sen’s position, but didn’t attack him.

Xie Sen’s face gradually regained its color. He returned to the previous location, looked around for evidence of Maine, but found no trace of blood. He looked back at the distant beast. If he could, he would have liked to go over and grab it by the neck and yell at it, “Spit it out, you son of a bitch!”

He wiped his face, turned his head to look at the dark forest in the distance, put both hands to his mouth and shouted, “Maine! Maine!”

He shouted, pained and angry, “Bastard. Do you know how worried I am?!”

He shouted as he continued to walk. He knew it was dangerous, but he couldn’t help himself. He wanted to see Maine so badly.

There was a deeper concern in his mind. Maine’s final manic appearance was a good indication that what happened tonight was what caused Maine to go black. Maine was devastated. Now he was a man who would only get more and more bullheaded, and he feared that Maine was falling into paranoia.

Gradually, his pace slowed down. He looked around in confusion at the almost identical scenery, and had no idea which direction he should go. He looked down, opened his bracelet and tried again to dial the communicator. Still no response.

Anxious and angry, he sent ten messages in a row.

Looking at the unresponsive bracelet, he dropped his hands in defeat.

Suddenly, a beast howled mournfully from his left side. To him, he sound was very small, so it was clear that there was a distance between them.

The howl continued, then disappeared abruptly.

Xie Sen looked in that direction, and his eyes snapped open. There were lights!

Maybe it wasn’t Maine, maybe it was a hunter, but even if there was only a slight possibility, he couldn’t let it go. The light grew brighter and brighter, and so did Xie Sen’s eyes. Finally, panting, he ran to his destination.

There was chaos all around, blood everywhere and a huge beast that lay silently on the ground. It had already lost it’s life.

Not far away from it, Maine leaned against a tree trunk with his head bowed. His whole body was exuding a shadowy aura. His right hand was holding a dagger, and it scratched the ground with each breath.

The moment Xie Sen saw him, he wanted to shed tears. He panted heavily with his hands on his knees. He slowed down, then went to Maine’s side to squat down.

Maine, who had kept his posture unchanged, suddenly struck out as Xie Sen crouched down, and placed his dagger against the side of Xie Sen’s neck. With just a little force it could have ended Xie Sen’s life.

“Maine!” Xie Sen looked at Maine in shock. “You’re crazy! I’m worried sick about you, running into the forest like a fool to find you, so what do you mean by that?”

“Worried about me?” Maine’s handsome face didn’t have the slightest expression. His eyes were dark with no emotion at all.

“Nonsense, why else would I look for you?” Xie Sen said in an unpleasant manner.

Maine stared at him. His eyes suddenly were filled with waves, and the dagger against his neck pressed down. “Liar. All liars. I saw it. You smiled at him!”

Xie Sen frowned in pain, and was confused. “Who did I smile at?”

Maine laughed wildly. “Who else? They were right. You’ll be sorry when you find out who I am!”

Xie Sen thought back. “You mean Young Master Qiao? I’m laughing my ass off. You pushed me to the ground, and he helped me up. I was politely thanking him!” He pointed to the dagger. “Let’s talk about it. You put this down first. If I accidentally move with any force, I’ll die.” When he saw Maine’s cold face, Xie Sen was annoyed. “If you want to kill me, why do you need to keep holding the dagger? Your hands aren’t tired!”

Maine hesitated for a moment, then put the dagger down. Xie Sen looked at the wound on his shoulder, and softened his tone, “Let’s go out first. You need to take care of the wound on your body.”

Maine didn’t respond, just stared at him. His expression didn’t change.

Xie Sen was helpless, and grabbed his arm. “I know you’re sad, and it’s hard to let go for a while, but you have to know that you’re not alone. There’s me with you.”

Maine’s eyes twitched, and he put the dagger against Xie Sen’s neck again. Xie Sen stared at him.

What was wrong with him now? He thought back on what he said and there were no problems!

Maine leaned forward, his voice soft and dangerous, “Staying with me? It’s all lies. When he was a kid, he also said he would stay with me, but he changed. Only when you die, you really don’t change.”

Xie Sen’s scalp tingled, and a chill ran up his back. “Nonsense. I’d be the biggest liar if I died. What’s the point of staying with me if I don’t have a life?! You’re too much of an asshole. I’ve come to you with my life at stake, and you still don’t trust me!”

Maine stared at his exasperated face, and smiled coldly. “Trust? Ridiculous.”

Xie Sen’s nostrils were filled with the smell of Maine’s blood. When he saw that his eyes were cold and he didn’t trust anyone, Xie Sen thought of Sotoko and wanted to hammer the man. He said sincerely, and seriously, “I told you. We are brothers for life. I will not lie to you. If you don’t believe me, I can’t help that, but …I think you should give me a chance, and wait until you find out that I’ve lied to you. Then you can kill me, which you are perfectly capable of doing anyway.”

“You…” Xie Sen saw his expression was loosening slightly, and was about to try to persuade him again when his right hand lifted uncontrollably and touched Maine’s face.

At the same time, his head moved towards the dazed Maine. Their breathing entwined together, a little closer, about to kiss.

Xie Sen’s eyes widened. Why was he suddenly uncontrollable? It was already 9:20!

He had counted the time, noon nap, wake up 1:20, so within eight hours was no problem. Before they attended the party, he and Maine had agreed to return to the apartment by 8:30, but who knew that the plan couldn’t catch up with the change.

Xie Sen was in tears, and the words came to his mind, God, he is going to kill me.

Now, Maine will kill him for sure!