Chapter 252: Chapter 252 Unattended

Without Chen Ke saying, everyone knew the gravity of the situation–the mobile phone belonged to the consortium, and now their cover was blown.

Mr. Lan Mei, the new appointee, certainly wasn’t as sincere as he claimed; he now commanded the mission to hunt down Pankia, and the capture and interrogation of Sleery was also his directive.

He definitely wouldn’t know Chen Ke, or rather, the man he thought was Lin Mo, who was currently rushing around with Sleery.

They had booked a room in this small inn for a week, but they hadn’t even stayed 12 hours before they had to leave.

Chen Ke checked the weapons and equipment, inserted another Spiritual Ability Pistol into the holster, then had Louis and Rama pack up the few possessions they had.

Speaking of which, they were just their spare clothes and boxes of bullets; Louis had been clever enough to buy two backpacks specifically for packing these items, not realizing they would be immediately useful.

The three men and one woman left the inn with two backpacks, stepping on the damp streets in the night, the air filled with the scent of countryside mud.

Under the moonlight, the dark blue sea of clouds churned without a hint of wind; Sleery’s car had been blown up by the consortium assassins, and without a fixed residence, Chen Ke couldn’t just bring everyone into the Fan Hede Kingdom.

If Chen Ke no longer had anything in this world, could he still casually come back? Chen Ke didn’t want to take that risk.

The consortium’s assassins had gone all out and used a lot of resources to block and pursue Pankia; nobody knew his location.

As the daughter of Pankia, Sleery was also targeted by the consortium; if they wanted true safety, it seemed they had to leave the city for a while.

The four walked along the road and soon saw a bus stop ahead; Louis ran up to read the schedule, his expression showing he was unfamiliar with Opportunity City.

Chen Ke was also unfamiliar and could only look to Sleery.

Sleery slightly shifted her sunglasses and strained to read the stop name in the moonlight; she turned to Chen Ke, saying, “This is the night bus that can take us out of the city. It travels on the interstate highway, and we can take it to Ganquan Town nearby.”

“Ganquan Town… How far is it?” Chen Ke asked.

“About a 2-hour drive… around 20 kilometers,” Sleery replied.

“That doesn’t sound far, and it’s convenient to come back. Let’s head there first,” Chen Ke said.

After waiting at the bus station for half an hour, they finally caught that bus.

The bus was small, at least smaller than a city bus, dark green and looking quite old. With few people aboard, upon entering, the four of them headed to the back row. Chen Ke had no coins on him and had to stuff a 10 union coins bill into the fare box.

Sleery sat next to the window, the four of them in the last row, pondering the view outside as the night bus slowly started, moving forward toward Ganquan Town amid the roar of the engine.

Sleery had many questions for Chen Ke; the recent phone call had branded him as the consortium’s assassin, which greatly concerned her. Chen Ke didn’t hide anything, there were things she had to know.

“Si’s consortium isn’t exactly a legitimate business… Sleery, your father has been doing bad things for them,” Chen Ke said.

Sleery was noncommittal, unable to argue because neither the events of tonight nor Chen Ke’s identity allowed her to believe in her father anymore.

“What exactly is your name…? Chen Ke? Lin Mo? Or Lin Ke? Or are all three names just aliases?” Sleery asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Chen Ke said.

“No, it matters a lot. Everything that happened tonight made me doubt if my childhood was all a lie… I always thought my father was a good person, a business elite. He had a bad temper, but he loved me and always tried to give me more…” Sleery shook her head.

“I’d rather believe that his love for you was real before this. Sleery, the world is unpredictable, human hearts have changed, everything evolves; parents are not always selflessly devoted,” Chen Ke sighed.

The saying goes, ‘even a fierce tiger does not eat its cubs,’ parents are thought to give their all, even sacrificing themselves, but undeniably, not all parents do this. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many abandoned babies and orphans in the world every year.

Even the hardest hearted person might act kindly on the surface, the most cunning businessman might set up foundations for poverty alleviation and disaster relief, but when disaster strikes, how many would step forward? How many would donate generously? And blood ties are not so strong after all, in the face of personal interest, human nature can’t withstand the test.

“Do all you Fei Huang People speak like that?” Sleery smiled.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Chen Ke asked, puzzled.

“Never mind, I’m too tired, can I lean on your shoulder?” Sleery sighed, stroked her sunglasses on her face, lazily yawned, and rested her head on Chen Ke’s shoulder, soon falling asleep.

Chen Ke didn’t push her away, as doing so would break the mood, just like Louis and Rama who were woken up abruptly while they were sleeping, their butts barely hitting the seat before they dozed off, and the other few passengers in the car were also quietly napping. Thus, Chen Ke leaned back in his seat, allowing his brain to blank out into a daze.

To save fuel, the lights inside the bus were off, pitch black, with moonlight hazy outside the window as if draping the countryside in a thin, white veil, the dark mountain ranges in the distance undulating. Every 8 seconds, a streetlight would flash by with a “swish” sound.

At that moment, a continued light rain began to fall from the sky, the moon obscured by clouds of mist, the thin veil on the landscape quietly slipping away.

For some reason, Chen Ke felt a song automatically playing in his mind, a single by Avril from 2002, “I’m with you.”

He recalled the familiar lyrics and couldn’t help but feel as if the song was expressing his own emotions.

It was a bitterly cold night, Can’t anyone take me home? I waited in the darkness, nothing here but the rain. I tried to ponder life, Is someone trying to find me?

Would there ever be another exactly like him, living only amidst killing, sacrificing lifespan for Spiritual Energy… Chen Ke felt a sense of loneliness, for a moment, he thought of Lucina, Pihom, Lester, but none could soothe this intense sense of alienation.

He felt like an outsider, unable to fully immerse himself in the lives of ordinary people, he took out his cellphone, thought about texting Lucina for a chat, but then reconsidered and gave up.

He tapped his temple, spacing out always led him to wild thoughts, just like before at the lakeside cabin. It seemed he needed to find something to keep himself busy.

A deformed soul appeared in the palm of his hand, this would add 3 hours to Chen Ke’s lifespan. Previously, he felt it was a bit of a loss, but now was the time.

Unseen and unheard, the shattered Dark Soul was absorbed into Chen Ke’s chest, into the Sun Mark, his lifespan limit reset to the maximum, a full 24 hours.

Thus, he finally had a whole day’s lifespan…