Chapter 2 (1/2)

Chapter 2

After spending an hour or so in the bath, Tang Shan carefully walked out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. He was still having mixed feelings about the whole situation, and was thus extremely relieved that Li Yuanyu wasn't waiting on the other side of the door.

He looked around carefully, making sure that Li Yuanyu really wasn't around, and quickly put on the clothes left out for him. After he was dressed, he was suddenly struck with the awareness that he had no idea what he should do.

He stood where he was, unsure.

The sound of rain pelting against the windowpanes began to lower in intensity. Within the house, it was so silent that it was scary, the damp and dark hallway giving off an ominous aura.

The door to his room was half-open, the slightest hint of light peeking through.

He plucked up his courage and went forward to investigate, only to be met with the sight of Li Yuanyu flipping through the artistic romance novel on his table.

Come to think of it, Li Yuanyu was probably the owner of the book.

Tang Shan convinced himself of this fact and decided to leave the room. He didn't feel like having anything to do with the man at the moment, but once he took a step backwards, he b.u.mped into the door behind him, resulting in a large creak.

”d.a.m.n it!” Tang Shan cursed silently.

”You're done bathing.” Li Yuanyu gave him a kind smile, saying nothing of his clumsiness.

That disarming smile rendered Tang Shan momentarily speechless. He'd never seen any man as beautiful and enchanting as Li Yuanyu was.

Tang Shan came back to himself, gasping at his outrageous thoughts. He turned away and ducked his head, unwilling to look at Li Yuanyu's face.

Li Yuanyu gave an extremely defeated smile and proceeded to get up from his chair.

Tang Shan furrowed his eyebrows in nervousness, glaring at Li Yuanyu's feet. He could see them gradually coming closer to him, and all he could do was retreat till he was out of the room, his back against the wall of the hallway.

”Am I Medusa?” Li Yuanyu teased him albeit unhappily, in response to his obvious desire to escape. Tang Shan stayed silent.

”Don't be afraid, I just want to go to the bathroom. It's my turn to shower.” That said, Li Yuanyu walked off in the direction of the bathroom.

The moment he left, Tang Shan immediately heaved a sigh of relief, sliding onto the floor as he felt his strength leave him.

The rain finally stopped and the sound of rainfall no longer lingered. In exchange, he heard the sound of water trickling in the bathroom nearby. At the thought of Li Yuanyu naked in there, Tang Shan gulped, his heart rate increasing.

He couldn't stay any longer; it was just too dangerous! He couldn't control his own mind, and to even fantasize about Li Yuanyu in the nude...

He didn't want to admit the existence of his desires for Li Yuanyu!

So he escaped.

In a small town where he had no sense of direction and everything was foreign to him, he ran alone, with no purpose and no idea where he could go. All he wanted to do was escape from Li Yuanyu.

He ran till he was tired and his stamina completely diminished, to the point that he could no longer move. Only then did he stop.

He realized that the scenery around him was completely different, which indicated he'd run outside of the places that Li Yuanyu had brought him to- He was now completely lost.

He surveyed the area carefully. At one end was a place that seemed like a plaza or square, while there was a stone staircase on the other end. He was at the bottom of the staircase, which made him curious about the scenery above.

Just as he was about to climb up, he was stopped.

”Mr Tang Shan! What a coincidence to meet you here!”

A lady wearing the uniform of a policewoman on patrol advanced towards him, adjusting her ill-fitted pants as she walked. Her smile was extremely bright, as if she was familiar with him.

”You know me?”

The policewoman, was stunned for a moment, and asked confusedly, ”Of course I know you, is there anyone in this town who doesn't? What's wrong with you? Why would you ask me something like that?”

”Why is it natural for everyone in this town to know me?” Tang Shan retorted.

”You're Mr Li's partner, everyone obviously knows you. Ah... Oh no, don't tell me you lost your memories again?” The policewoman began to answer, before she reacted. Her voice was incredibly piercing with her high energy and register.

Tang Shan could feel his ears throb in pain and raised his arm to cover one of them. He moved one step backwards, trying to put some distance between them.

”Why isn't Mr Li with you?” The policewoman peered behind Tang Shan but saw no one there.

”When you say Mr Li, do you mean Li Yuanyu?”

”Of course, who else would it be? That's strange, why would Mr Li let you go around alone? That doesn't make sense.” The policewoman found it strange.

Tang Shan didn't want to explain further. He went on to ask, ”Is Mr Li a very famous person?”

The policewoman began to laugh out loud, as if she'd heard something incredulous.

Tang Shan was unbelievably embarra.s.sed. Was this a very stupid question?

She ceased her exaggerated laughter before answering, ”Mr Li is the manager of this place. He's something like the mayor here.”

”He's something like the mayor here? So he's not really the mayor?”

”He can't really be considered the mayor, since we don't belong to the government. To be strict about this, Mr Li would be something like the king here. Your partner is an extremely outstanding individual.” The policewoman shook her head as she sighed, ”If I were ten years younger, I'd definitely use all available methods to try and climb into Mr Li's bed.”

”Go on and climb, I definitely won't mind or even stop you,” Tang Shan thought inwardly. However, he had no guts to actually say such disrespectful words out loud.

”Are you free now? I wanted to look around, so do you think you could accompany me?” Tang Shan suggested.

”I can't do that, I have to continue patrolling later. I can find someone in this town who's incredibly free to accompany you, though.” The policewoman immediately spoke into her walkie-talkie, ”Anyone in Area 510, please tell Jake to come to 603, Mr Tang Shan is here.”

Moments later, Jake appeared looking annoyed, complaining at the policewoman as soon as he arrived.

”What do you want me for? I want to sleep,” he grumbled, before glaring at Tang Shan.

The policewoman knocked his head good-naturedly. ”You! Be more courteous with Mr Tang Shan!”

”What are you doing, it hurts!” Jake cradled his head as he shouted, quickly hiding behind Tang Shan's back and using him as a s.h.i.+eld.

”Don't think I can't do anything if you hide behind Mr Tang Shan!”

”What do you want, you monster!”

”You!” The policewoman held up her baton as she advanced towards Tang Shan, aiming for Jake.

The innocent Tang Shan was stuck in between these two, even getting his clothes tugged around by Jake.

Once the policewoman was done venting her anger, she patted Tang Shan on the back, ”I'm sorry you had to see such a scene. Jake's extremely familiar with everything in this town, so ask him anything you want to know. I need to go back and patrol now.”

Jake only released Tang Shan after he made sure she was gone. He found that a little section of Tang Shan's s.h.i.+rt had gone wrinkly from his tight grip previously, and no matter what he did, the s.h.i.+rt would not return to its previous state. He cursed, trying his best to smooth out the s.h.i.+rt that was now crumpled.

”s.h.i.+t, I'm finished. Li Yuanyu's going to kill me.”

Tang Shan turned around. From his angle, all he could see was half of Jake's head.

”Why didn't you just stay at home like a good boy? You even came outside! Does Li Yuanyu know you came out here?” Jake eventually gave up and got angry, uncaring about the state of the s.h.i.+rt.

Tang Shan grew silent.

Upon noticing the mood wasn't quite right, Jake guessed, ”You didn't tell him, did you?”

Tang Shan turned, seemingly having difficulty expressing his thoughts.

”Ugh, you're so troublesome!” Jake rolled his eyes and took his phone out, immediately dialing.

Tang Shan immediately gripped his arm and s.n.a.t.c.hed his phone away, his movements quick and smooth as he disconnected the call.

”What are you doing?”

”Please don't contact him.”

”What?! Do you want to get me killed?” Jake made a weird noise, trying to get his phone back. Tang Shan just raised his arm higher, and due to the height difference, Jake couldn't reach even if he stretched for it.

”You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, to think you could be so despicable!” Jake yelled as he jumped, though he still couldn't even touch his phone.

At this moment, the phone began to ring. Tang Shan took a look at it- It was Li Yuanyu calling back. He turned around and quickly removed the battery from the phone.

”Here's your phone. As for the battery... I'll keep it for now.” He returned the phone to Jake and placed the battery in his pocket.  While he did feel a little sorry for Jake, he tried to look as nonchalant as possible.

”You actually used my phone and hung up on Li Yuanyu's calls?! I'm dead, I'm really dead this time!” Jake was on the verge of tears as he s.n.a.t.c.hed his phone back. The screen was obviously black as the battery was gone, and he immediately began to shout in exasperation.

”Bring me around then, where does this road go to?” Tang Shan coerced him to leave, and then turned back to watch Jake after walking a distance.

Jake was still on the same spot, glaring at him angrily. He didn't seem to have any plans of moving.

”Don't think everything will go your way.” Jake spat out resentfully.

”I lost my memories, do you think anything's going my way?” Tang Shan retorted.

Jake was speechless, but his expression was still terrible.

”Or you can just let me wander around alone, and when I completely lose my way, things will get even worse for you.” Tang Shan stalked off after speaking, hoping Jake would follow.

Not long after, Jake really went after him, mumbling under his breath, ”d.a.m.n it, you're obviously taking advantage of me. You're the same before and after you lose your memories, you selfish monster!”

Tang Shan ignored his comments and continued climbing to the top of the staircase. At such a high position, he could see a completely different scenery. The town was situated in a basin, which was surrounded by mountains. He wasn't in the middle of the town, but at one of the corners. The styles of the architecture in the center were incredibly bizarre. They were arranged in a way so strange that it seemed to create a maze.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew and a thick layer of fog covered the scenery. The town under the fog was gloomy, and if one were to enter recklessly, one would definitely get lost.

”This fog really has good timing. I can't see anything anymore, so can we go back now?” Jake exclaimed, taking advantage of this misfortune to force him to return.

”At least I got to see the outside.” Tang Shan was unwilling to give up here, but he voluntarily walked down the stairs.

Jake cursed at him behind his back, but still followed.

As he crossed the road, Tang Shan turned back and told Jake, ”Careful of the carriages. ”

”I don't need your concern, I can take care of myself.” Jake rolled his eyes in answer, ”No matter what, I'm still better than someone who loses his memories so frequently.”

”I guess so, I was almost run over by a carriage just now.” Tang Shan crossed the road safely and waited for Jake to follow, and then continued to move forward. On the way, he asked Jake questions about the city, such as why the architectural styles were so strange and lacked thought. He also asked about the strange appearances of horse carriages.

Jake could only stutter out his replies, unable to give a definite answer.

”It's always been like this ever since I came here. It's better to ask Li Yuanyu these things.” In the end, he pushed all the questions to Li Yuanyu.

Tang Shan wasn't able to get any of the answers he wanted, and could only admire the surrounding scenery earnestly.

Once they pa.s.sed by a tunnel, he halted his footsteps. The tunnel was so dark that he couldn't see its end, as if it wanted to suck someone into its depths.

”Let's go! Don't stand in the middle, do you want to die from getting run over?” Jake ha.s.sled, pulling aside Tang Shan, who was unwilling to leave.

However, Tang Shan was unable to divert his gaze and stared into the darkness of the tunnel. He suddenly had a strange feeling- No vehicles would enter this tunnel, and he definitely had to enter it.

”Hey! What are you doing?” Jake saw through his thoughts and quickly grabbed ahold of him, stopping him from stepping foot into the tunnel.

”I need to go to the other end,” Tang Shan made his stand firm.

”Are you crazy? Are you trying to commit suicide or what?”

”It'll be fine, I know there aren't any vehicles that will pa.s.s through here. I have a feeling about this.” After saying his piece, Tang Shan felt his argument was much too weak. Things like 'feelings' couldn't really be relied on...