Chapter 391 - 341: Dual Perspective, Double Reassurance

Chapter 391: Chapter 341: Dual Perspective, Double Reassurance

Chaisi had never been so exhausted in his entire life.

Hunters often said that returning from a Nest was like a wandering ghost of a thousand years re-entering its mortal shell. But Chaisi felt it was even more than that—as if his brain had become a bunch of dried-up leaves.

Every time he tried to think, he could hear the stiff, heavy nerves in his head rasping drily against each other.

He had already briefly lost consciousness once, right after pulling himself out of the Black Abyss Belt and returning to his normal state.

It was the single thought, ’I have to save Han Liuyue,’ that had propped him up, forcing him to open his eyes and drag himself back to the humanoid black hole. He had collapsed into a sitting position and remained there for two days, never once closing his eyes, as he coaxed Han Liuyue’s flesh and blood back from the Black Abyss Belt, sentence by sentence.

’Didn’t he deserve a little rest?’

’If it were Mai Mingle waking him, fine. But who the hell was Nate?’

"Get out," Chaisi growled.

There was a moment of silence from outside the door. "But—"

’He should be thankful there was a door protecting him. Most people get murderous when their sleep is repeatedly interrupted, let alone someone like Chaisi.’

"Come back when I call for you. For now, get the hell out."

"No, you don’t understand. Open the door, quick! I have something—"

Chaisi snatched the pistol from his bedside table and flicked off the safety. The sharp CLICK echoed in the darkness, cutting Dr. Nate off.

"If I open this door, there will be only one outcome," Chaisi said in a low voice. "Do you understand?"

He couldn’t believe it. His first "Get out" hadn’t been enough. Nate was actually still there, forcing him to waste more words.

’Nate was greedy but cautious, and he knew how to read a room. What was going on with him now?’

"Are you afraid to listen?" the man outside asked in a low voice. "Are you afraid to open the door?"

’What?’

"You just want to hide in your room and live a safe, secure life, don’t you? That’s why you’re afraid to know what really happened. You’ve done a terrible thing, but you don’t dare face it. You’re afraid of the consequences..."

Chaisi flicked the safety back on.

’No need to shoot. The gunshot would just make my ears ring and ruin my sleep later.’

’I’m going to grab Nate by the hair and smash his face into the wall again and again, until the plaster and his skin are one and the same... ’

Chaisi’s head was buzzing as he walked to the door, a bloody red mist searing his vision.

Perhaps it was the severe lack of sleep, but that man-eating rage came on too fast, too strong. It wasn’t until he had reached the door and his hand was on the knob that he suddenly snapped back to his senses.

He gently removed his hand from the doorknob.

’Something... isn’t right...’

’First of all, how did Nate even get in?’

In his drowsy state, he had subconsciously assumed a Kai Family Hunter had let Nate in. The Kai Family worked with a few regular doctors, and Nate was one of them. It would be normal for someone to recognize him and let him in—but they would never let him come upstairs alone.

Not a single Kai Family Hunter, knowing Chaisi was sleeping, would allow an outsider to wake him unaccompanied—not even Mai Mingle, who had just saved his life.

The Kai Family Mansion was dead silent.

"Are you alone?" Chaisi asked, pressing hard on the corners of his eyes and his temples.

’This is no time to be tired... Wake up, damn it.’

The other side of the door went quiet. It was a simple yes-or-no question, yet it was enough to make Nate shut up for a few seconds.

Chaisi’s grip was strong, and he pressed hard enough to make his own skin ache. Even so, the heavy feeling of exhaustion was only slightly dispelled at the edges.

He subconsciously glanced down and saw the doorknob slowly and silently turn downwards. It turned all the way, then slowly released.

"...Open the door. You’re right behind it, aren’t you?"

Nate’s voice was very close, as if his lips were pressed against the crack of the door. His breath hit the frame, the echo faint and moist.

’If I were to raise my hand to the crack, I could probably feel his hot breath.’

Of course, Chaisi did no such thing.

Not only did he not put his hand there, he took a step back—because just then, a deep, long sniff echoed from the crack in the door.

Chaisi couldn’t see Nate’s face, but in his mind’s eye, two nostrils flared behind the narrow gap, trying with all their might to draw the scent from the other side of the door deep into Nate’s body.

’What is he doing?’

’Could it be that the person outside isn’t Nate, but an enemy using some kind of Illusion?’

Hiding behind a door in silence wasn’t Chaisi’s style. Normally, even if the entire population of a Nest was on the other side, he wouldn’t hesitate to rip the door open and face them with his life on the line—but things were different now.

His own death meant nothing, but he was still carrying "the rumor."

’If I die, Uncle Kai will never get it.’

’This is probably related to Fu Tailan... They must be after "the rumor," right?’

Chaisi’s mind was still foggy. Just thinking through such a simple problem took him several seconds; every thought felt like it was being dragged through mud.

In the silence, Nate suddenly asked, "Is this the room you lived in as a child?"

Chaisi froze.

"...How do you know that?"

"I heard it somewhere," Nate replied, a smile in his voice. "Is it?"

’...Yes.’

After Damian’s death, Uncle Kai and Aunt Hai had continued to live in the mansion for a few months. But after Uncle Kai brought him home, Chaisi’s presence seemed to stir up the grief that had laid dormant in the house. Aunt Hai refused to stay there any longer, no matter what.

Less than six months after he returned to the Kai family, this place had been converted into an office.

All traces of it ever being a home were methodically removed. His bedroom was stripped of its wallpaper and carpet, the nightstand was taken away, and the memories were swept clean. The "Chaisi" from ages five to thirteen was exorcised like a ghost. Now, it served as a lounge for Kai Family Hunters to rest.

Chaisi wasn’t bitter. Because farther down this hall, the next room—the last room—had also been...

He cut off the thought.

"The last room down the hall, is that Damian’s bedroom?" Nate asked abruptly.

’He came prepared—he’s trying to provoke me. How ridiculous. I’ll just make him die so horribly his flesh and skin turn to slush—’

"Why don’t you answer? Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I have something urgent and important to tell you."

Nate seemed completely oblivious to his anger, urging him on relentlessly. "You haven’t already heard some rumors, have you? Is that why you’re hiding in your childhood room, refusing to see anyone? Tsk, tsk. You’re so tough when you’re bullying the unarmed. But now that you’ve run into a little trouble..."

Chaisi yanked the door open.

***

Mai Mingle swallowed several times, forcing down the lump in her throat and trying to calm her breathing.

She remembered everything clearly. She knew she had lived for eighty-six years, and that the year was 2026. She knew she had entered a fantastical realm beyond normal reason, a place called the "Nest."

This scene before her shouldn’t exist, yet here it was. ’Is this an Illusion? Or a denizen?’

’But very few denizens can enter the human world, right?’

Her husband had already returned to the kitchen to continue cooking.

Mai Mingle didn’t dare to follow rashly. She walked to the kitchen doorway, stopping just before the floorboards that she knew would creak.

"...Where’s Ivan?" she asked, her voice trembling.

But she couldn’t bring herself to ask the next question: ’Are you Ivan?’

"Ivan? He’s in the usual spot, of course," her husband replied without looking up. "What would you like to drink tonight? Juice or wine?"

Mai Mingle turned and looked around.

The apartment was small. Everything was just as it had been fifty years ago. A heavy, clumsy television set took up so much space, yet its screen was so small. The news had ended, and an ad for ivory bath soap, one she hadn’t seen in over fifty years, lit up the screen once more.

’This situation... it should be dangerous, right?’

But Mai Mingle couldn’t figure out where the danger would come from.

It had been over fifty years since she’d heard the song her husband was humming in the kitchen.

So she, too, had once lived in a time so full and bright. The world was getting better, life was getting better. Everything was familiar. She didn’t have to learn to adapt, didn’t have to ask young people about everything, and didn’t have to constantly mistype her messages.

As if in a dream, Mai Mingle first checked the bathroom. No one was there.

The hospital bed in the master bedroom, with its wheels and adjustable height, was gone. In its place were two narrow single beds, facing each other reservedly, much like her and her husband most of the time.

Of course, Ivan wasn’t here either.

The storage room—no, it had finally fulfilled its owner’s hopes and become a nursery. The walls were a pale daffodil yellow, and a small crib was placed against one wall. The wind stirred a toy mobile, and a small baby in the crib laughed and gurgled intermittently.

Mai Mingle knew this all had to do with the Nest, that none of it was real. But in that moment, she couldn’t stop herself from walking over to take a look.

She carefully leaned over the side of the crib.

...She had found Ivan.