Chapter 48: When Septimus Was by himself
Translator: Pluto Editor: Tehrn
They heard a faint sound of an explosion in the far distance and felt the ground shook for a moment following that explosion. Septimus wiped the perspiration from his forehead while he turned to look behind him. In the darkness, all he saw was the vast ruins of the city, disfigured by the intense heat that enveloped around them—Other than that, he did not spot any peculiarities.
After exhausting all their energy, running continuously for ten minutes at their maximum speed, the four members of the squad were now very far from the spot where they were separated from Lin Sanjiu. The number of duoluozhongs chasing behind them had long dwindled to less than half the original sum, and the remaining few were quickly killed off with the joint efforts of Griselda and Gao Fei. Blood and pus spurted, sprayed, and splattered everywhere, creating a literal path of bloodbath behind the few of them… Fortunately, they were out of danger, for now.
Panting heavily, Gao Fei plopped down on the floor, wiping sweat off his face as he commented, “Even though it isn’t right for me to say this… If Luther’s friends didn’t get into trouble then, we might not have escaped so easily.”
Septimus’s face visibly darkened when he heard these words. He gave his face a rough wipe and remained silent with a somber expression. Not far from him, Xu Xiaoyang stood quietly with Griselda, guarding her like a bodyguard.
“I am bad with words, please don’t take it to heart.” Gao Fei felt the inappropriateness of his words when he saw Septimus’s expression, “Even though she is… gone, she was a kind person. Don’t forget this, she sacrificed her life to save others.”
Septimus raised his hands to cover his eyes. After a while, he placed his hands down and pretended as if he was composed, but the corners of his eyes were still red. Gao Fei felt bad when he saw him acting in that manner. He sighed and said, “You’re both good people. If you didn’t yell for us to run, I would have been dead meat by now…”
When he heard this, Septimus gave a wan smile, “Shouting a sentence is not that big of a deal.”
“If you didn’t take the initiative to stay at the rear of the group with me, who else would even cover my back?” Gao Fei got a little emotional as he spoke and gave Septimus’s shoulder a slap. “I think you should be about the same age as me, right? Why don’t we become sworn brothers when we get back?”
The teenager laughed candidly, and before Septimus could reply, he continued wilfully, “I am 17 this year, my birthday is in July… What about you? You’re younger than me by 2 months? Ha, then you should call me big brother… Don’t worry! I think you should have noticed that my ability is quite useful and practical. If you are in trouble, I’ll definitely help—”
“Stop your jibber-jabber! Are you done resting?” Xu Xiaoyang interrupted him suddenly, “Let’s go!” Before they stopped to rest, Xu Xiaoyang had made it clear that they will have to make a detour before they return to Oasis to inform the executives to send more backup to help eliminate the duoluozhongs. Even though the girl tried her best to sound threatening, her sweet adolescent voice made each word sound much milder, so Gao Fei didn’t mind complying. He dusted himself off and stood up.
“Uhh… all of you can leave first, you don’t have to be bothered with me,” Septimus said suddenly, giving a feeble smile and avoiding Gao Fei’s shocked expression.
“What are you saying? If you stay here alone, you’ll be eaten by duoluozhongs.”
“Even if I tried my best to keep up, I will just slow you down.” Septimus sighed softly and confessed reluctantly, “Actually, I sprained my leg just now. Basically, I can’t even stand up right now.”
Xu Xiaoyang exchanged a glance with Griselda when she heard what he said. Gao Fei cursed and hauled Septimus up by his arm, “So that was it? You had me thinking that it was something worse! You just hurt your leg, do you have to act like you’re going to prepare to sacrifice yourself? I’ll carry you.”
“That won’t do. If we meet the duoluozhongs again, it will be difficult for you to run…” Septimus protested to no avail as Gao Fei pulled Septimus’s arms over his neck, latched his arm under Septimus’s knees and carried him in a piggyback manner. Luther had a height of over 1.7m, so he fit quite comfortably behind Gao Fei’s 1.9m frame. Gao Fei had extraordinary strength so the weight of Luther’s body was really nothing much to him. He flashed a smile at Xu Xiaoyang and gestured for them to start moving, “Let’s go!”
“Busybody,” Griselda muttered under her breath as she crouched down for Xu Xiaoyang to jump on her back. With that, the four of them started moving again. Even though Griselda brought a map with her, it did not show the area beyond Long Hua Road. To make sense of their direction, they had to stop now and then to look around. There were even instances where they had to turn back when they found out that they were heading in the wrong direction. After they defended themselves against a few surprise attacks, the factory compound finally came into view in the distance. Just then, Gao Fei realized that the arms around his neck started to shiver.
“Luther, what’s wrong?” he asked a little worriedly.
Septimus replied in a weak voice, “I think… I think I have a fever. I feel very, very cold....”
“Huh? Are you sure? Let me check!” Gao Fei quickly stopped, shocked by Septimus’s reply. At the same time, Xu Xiaoyang also turned to look behind...
Everything happened in a split second, it was so fast that no one could even react in time. Gao Fei’s neck was suddenly torn open as arterial blood sprayed in all directions, creating a shower of blood. With his throat severed, blood gushed continuously into his trachea. Gao Fei could not say a single word, he struggled and only manage to make a few gurgling sounds. His bloodshot eyes burned with fury, and as he stood tottering near the brink of death, he tried his best to reach for his back...
Septimus slid down from Gao Fei’s back nimbly, holding a blood-covered knife. He stared expressionlessly at Gao Fei who was withering in pain, then he lifted his leg and delivered a kick to the back of Gao Fei’s knee.
“Bam!” Just like that, the tall figure fell to the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust. Blood poured out from Gao Fei’s neck, and soon he stopped moving. Under the silent night sky, the cloud of yellow sand dust obstructed the view of the bloody, gruesome aftermath. As the sand settled again, it revealed Septimus’s serene expression—on Luther’s face.
Xu Xiaoyang was totally stunned. She gripped Griselda’s clothes tightly as she turned pale. It took a while before she could react properly to what had happened. “Why… did you kill him?” she only realized how dry her throat was after she spoke.
“Huh, you’re asking me?” Septimus scratched his face with some annoyance, “I thought you would’ve figured out once you see this.” He paused for a moment, then his eyes gleamed with a hint of humor. “Even though I don’t know the reason, there can only be three survivors in our squad, right? Team Leader, it is the three of us here, no?”
Xu Xiaoyang furrowed her brows. She did not question how he knew that information, but instead asked, “What if your friends are not dead?”
“If that was the case, I’ll just kill them both. I’m sure it’ll be easier than dealing with Griselda.” Septimus took two steps to the left, carefully avoiding the blood that was still spilling out from Gao Fei’s corpse. The atmosphere had frozen for a moment before Xu Xiaoyang commanded curtly for Griselda to continue walking. After that, she turned to look back at Septimus, “You better watch out…” Turning back to the front, not intending to give Septimus another gaze, she said, “Don’t talk to me when we’re back at Oasis. I don’t like you.”