Kingdom's Bloodline, page 377
A few torches were scattered across the ground, though they still burned tenaciously, struggling to provide some light.
Thales slipped as he accidentally stepped on a puddle of blood.
It was just like a slaughter field.
Surrounded by such a sight, anyone would have held their breaths. Thales tried hard to gulp. He took a good look at the only man alive. The strong man sat on the ground, dressing the wound on his shoulder quietly.
Through the weak flames and moonlight, Thales could see the man's most distinctive feature at first glance: he had no legs.
At least Ralf still had his thighs and knees left, but the pants starting from the lower half of the boorish man's thighs were empty. He had even tied his pants together to form two knots, a sign of his former misfortune.
Thales frowned a little.
Gleeward snorted coldly. He had his teeth clenched tightly on a strip of cloth for bandaging purposes, and he lifted his head with great effort. "Tell me. You followed me here in the middle of the night. Who sent you here? Was it Nicholas, Vlad, or someone else, eh?"
There was doubt in Gleeward's eyes.
With the help of the light, Thales was able to see the man's face. Just as he had expected, there was nothing in Gleeward's left eye socket. There was only a black hole.
Below his short hair, the place where his left ear should be only spotted a round hole. It seemed like his ear had been torn from its root.
Thales was stunned.
"A little brat?"
The strong man furrowed his brows and appeared doubtful.
While he spoke, Gleeward used the remaining three fingers on his left hand to pull one corner of the cloth and used his mouth to pull the other corner. He had his right hand on the ground to help himself up and maintain balance of his broken body. Only half of it remained, and he tried his best to bandage his own wound.
Faint sadness rose within Thales.
'This man… only has half his body left.'
"Hey, are you listening, you little brat!"
Thales' expression changed. When he snapped back to attention, he scratched his forehead. "As a matter of fact, I am nearly forty years old…"
"You are a child indeed." Gleeward shook his head and snorted lightly. "Is child labor a trend now? Tsk, tsk. Why oh why are people so cruel now."
'Cruel?'
Thales could only manage a helpless smile as he watched Gleeward, who sat among the dead bodies.
Gleeward's face was flat, but he had a high nose bridge. His messy stubble could lead others to suspect that he had used a table knife to shave, badly.
When he was done dressing his wound, he moved his left hand behind him. Chafing sounds could be heard in the darkness.
The man pulled a wooden wheelchair to himself.
Gleeward gritted his teeth. He fixed the wheelchair on a flagstone that stuck out, then grabbed the armrest with his left hand, while his right hand remained on the floor to support his body.
He pushed the only remaining part of his body up from the floor, then leaned towards the wheelchair, trembling while attempting to sit on it.
A thought crossed Thales' mind. As he watched Gleeward performing these movements with great difficulty, he wanted to walk forward and help him.
But, in the next moment, Gleeward used his actions as a response to Thales' intention to help. The strong man let out a low groan before an endless power seemingly erupted from his powerful right arm, and he pushed the ground!
The next second, the boorish man leaped into the air steadily.
Thales had already taken a step forward at that point, but his foot froze mid-air.
As the wheelchair shook, Gleeward fell into it perfectly.
Gleeward leaned backwards and exhaled comfortably on the wheelchair. He glanced at the corpses all over the place in a sneering manner and revealed a cold smile.
At this point, Thales suddenly realized that even though the other person appeared to be handicapped and may only have half his body remaining, there was no doubt that the man who stood in front of him was the strongest man he had ever seen. He was also the most valiant warrior he had ever seen.
At that exact moment...
A female's voice, which he had not heard in a long time flowed into his ears.
The voice was gentle, light, and carried with it unwavering stubbornness.
"'No, Qiren.
"'They don't need cheap sympathy. It shouldn't be coming from us who think that we're the so-called 'perfect humans' and want to fulfill our moral obligations by helping as well as sympathizing with them.
"'They need us to remove our biases against them and treat them like how we treat normal people because they are no different from us to begin with.
"'They cannot be normal people because we are too full of ourselves. We are not tolerant enough. It is this imperfect society that has not provided them the foundation to be normal, be it the lack of certain limbs, which have brought them different gazes, or the lack of facilities, which has made living difficult for them.
"'Stop calling them handicapped.
"'Because they are not."
'It's her.
'But who could she be?'
He instinctively reached out to her.
But he touched nothing.
All that was left was blankness.
"Hey!
"You're even letting your mind wander at a time like this?" Gleeward moved the wheelchair to the front and sized Thales up from head to toe. He pointed at his brain with a puzzled look and said, "Could you... be retarded?"
Thales was astounded. He forced the sudden flashbacks into dark corners of his brain.
Gleeward clenched his right fist, making clear cracking sounds.
This sound caused Thales to tense up.
He tried his best not to look at the corpses around him. He put on a forced smile.
'Focus. Now…'
Thales took a deep breath. He wanted to appear friendlier.
Putray mentioned this before, "Smile, smile. Smile when you see the point of contact."
The prince opened his mouth and revealed his full set of white teeth. He looked at the man in the wheelchair eye-to-eye. "So, are you the man Putray talked about?"
Gleeward creased his brows and asked loudly, "Who?"
His unpleasant and loud voice frightened Thales.
"Putray. Umm, he is the…" Thales tried hard to maintain his smile. He tried his best to speak in a language closer to the standard accent of the Northlanders. "The weird old man who smokes with a tobacco pipe?"
Gleeward blinked his only eye and scratched his chin under the moonlight.
Getting impatient, he opened his mouth widely. He was loud, but his words were unclear when he retorted, "What are you talking about?"
Thales' heart quivered.
'It can't be.'
"Maybe, maybe there is someone. He may not have used the name Putray. He could have used a pseudonym. He may not have smoked. He may not have had time to smoke lately…" Thales was waving his arms and moving his feet, trying his best to organize his words while cursing Putray secretly about his unreliability. "He asked you to… You know, at this time, get someone to, get someone to…"
Thales waved his arms and shook his head slightly. Looking hopeful, he watched Gleeward, who did not seem to be aware of the situation they were in. "To send him to…"
"At this time? Get him to…" The boorish man narrowed his one eye slightly. His eyeball moved in circles while he pondered on the matter.
He asked in a probing manner, "Do you mean… to be transported out of the city?"
Thales' eyes lit up, and he snapped his finger. "Right! That's it!"
Gleeward became quiet.
The man on the wheelchair watched him quietly for a few seconds.
Thales felt goosebumps.
Until...
"Ohhhh!"
Gleeward's face changed. He slapped his head all of a sudden.
The strong man was suddenly enlightened. He pointed his right hand at Thales. "So, it's you!"
'Oh, thank God.'
Thales exhaled!
He felt as if a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders.
"Right, right, right!"
Thales slapped his thigh. The interaction that just took place was difficult for him. He smiled uneasily. "It's me. Haha. Hi… Hehe. Umm, how should I address you?"
"Hmm…" Gleeward continued to size Thales up with a narrowed eye while he let out a low hum.
Thales felt goosebumps all over his skin.
"Gleeward." A second later, the rude man laughed and revealed his big yellow teeth. He extended his right hand. "Drew Gleeward."
Thales exhaled in relief again.
'Fortunately, this man appears to be someone who's easy to talk to…'
He extended his right hand while there was still fear lingering in his heart. He shook Gleeward's hand. "So—"
Right at that moment...
*Bang*
Thales who did not have the time to react felt a sudden weight on his right hand, and a sharp sting of pain on his neck. His line of vision shook viciously!
A great amount of force surged from Gleeward's right palm, jerking Thales and causing him to lose his balance. He began to fall in Gleeward's direction!
"I got you!"
Gleeward's smug laugh traveled into his ears.
"Hahahaha. You want to sneak out of the city? Hey, aren't you that little Prince of Constellation who was kidnapped?"
Gleeward's boorish laughter grew louder, causing pain in Thales' ears.
'What… just happened?'
Thales who was having difficulty breathing struggled to open his eyes. However, he was horrified to see that his hands had been locked down on his back with an unwavering force by the wheelchair-bound Gleeward.
The latter's left arm was around the prince's neck. The muscles on his arm were as hard as metal. Like a cage, it pinned the prince, whose back was turned to the man, tightly in his embrace.
"All of Dragon Clouds City has gone mad because of you, be it the underground forces or the officials. I have always loathed all these things and never wanted to have anything to do with them. Yet, you came to me yourself! Hahahaha…"
'No.
'No!'
The Sin of Hell's River surged in his veins instantly.
Thales gritted his teeth and wanted to break free, but noticed that his struggles were in vain. With just his strength-filled right hand and his abs, Gleeward had Thales' arms pinned tightly on his back.
It was useless.
Right from the moment Gleeward pinned him in his arms, Thales had already lost the position to use any sort force.
In the confinement of Gleeward's arms, Thales could not even touch JC's dagger.
"Take a guess. How much do you think Heroic Spirit Palace will pay me?"
Gleeward's laughter was rather ferocious and smug. "Damn it, that dead face destroyed so many things in my territory this afternoon. I'll make him pay until his pockets are empty!"
Gleeward suddenly used force in his left arm!
Thales only felt his head leaning back, and the moon as well as the starry sky appeared in his line of vision.
"Of course, it won't necessarily be Heroic Spirit Palace. At this point, there are plenty of people who want you, right?" The force from Gleeward's arm grew stronger. The laughter traveling into Thales' ears became even more excited. "Let me see… Should I ask for one thousand or two thousand gold coins? Tsk, tsk, would they give me more?"
Thales' face grew increasingly red. He only felt his neck becoming increasingly pained. Gleeward still had his left arm hooked around his neck. Without giving him a chance to fight back, he pushed down on Thales' windpipe.
His strength was so great that the prince almost felt like his back had been pressed into Gleeward's chest.
'This person… Why is his strength so great?!'
While he was struggling to breath, the prince lifted his left leg and stomped with all his strength!
But the pain on his foot only told him that he barely grazed the floorboard and only managed to kick the wood on the wheelchair.
Only then did Thales remember woefully that Gleeward did not have legs.
"Or else, I can ask for something else, but I'll have to be more cautious in this…"
Thales' line of vision gradually became blurry as his breathing was no longer smooth.
Very soon, plenty of "golden stars" started to pop up in the sky before him.
'No. I can't let this continue.'
He inhaled a little bit of air with every single bit of strength he had left. With his rich experiences of being choked, he held his breath and stopped moving to save his strength.
Thales' face was red. He forced out a few words from his windpipe, and his voice was as thin as air. "You… are… not… the… contact… Gleeward…"
The response he received was Gleeward's wanton laughter.
"Hahaha! So that's the case?! You can even mistake the contact?! Looks like your information is lacking in standards!"
Under the double torment of pain and lacking in oxygen, Thales tried his best to retain his last shred of calmness.
He no longer had the time to complain about Putray.
"Wait…"
Thales' face contorted. He forced out the following words while he was in great pain.
"Double! If you want money… I'll give you… double…"
Gleeward was slightly stunned before he snorted coldly.
"Shut up." The boorish man did not seem to be tempted at all. He ground his teeth and spoke coldly, "Don't take me as a fool…"
Nevertheless, his voice gradually grew weaker.
The next moment, Thales only felt the pressure on his neck lessening slightly.
A breath of air he had not taken for a long time was drawn into his lungs, though the process was mixed with pain. It was like his throat was being dragged along sandpaper.
The sound of gnashing teeth traveled into his ears from behind him. There was also Gleeward's voice, which was unpleasant to the ears, but Thales could still hear that he was slightly tempted. "Hey, brat…"
The boorish man took a slow gulp, then whispered, "Are you really offering… twice the amount?"
Chapter 338: The Point of Contac |
Thales shivered and coughed with sweat all over his face while gulping down his hard-earned fresh air as though he was a traveler in the desert, and the air was the precious water on the sand-filled terrain.
But Gleeward did not let him go, his grip was still so tight that it was difficult for Thales to break free.
"Really, I will pay you double the amount of what they offered, whether it is a thousand or two thousand gold coins." The fog in Thales' mind slowly cleared. As he panted, sweat continued to break out on his skin. He could breathe again, but he had no strength. "The Jadestar Royal Family is very rich, Constellation is loaded as well… For instance, the Secret Intelligence Department has estates in Dragon Clouds City worth millions…"
Gleeward raised his eyebrows. "Very good… Wait." In the next second, the man's face darkened. "You mean to ask from the King of Constellation?"
"Secret Intelligence Department… The Secret Intelligence Department should be enough." Thales blinked hard after he had just cleared the stars from his line of vision. "They will definitely give—"
In the next moment, there was another heavy weight on his neck. His windpipe was blocked again.
"Shut up, you really think that I'm a fool?" Gleeward's exasperated voice rose into the air. "Listen, I only take money!"
Thales gulped in a breath of air with great difficulty.
'F*ck… you bastard… Do I look like I have cash with me?!'
"If you… hand me over…" Thales tried his best to seize his opportunity. "The City of Faraway Prayers… will fight against the Alliance of Freedom, and Constellation—"
Gleeeward interrupted him impatiently, "Shut up, I don't know politics!"
Thales, who was seeing stars in front of him, felt himself rendered speechless from feeling depressed.
'What kind person IS he?!'
"Forget it, I'd better look for that dead-face, it's much safer," Gleeward muttered. He increased the force of his grip, trying to knock Thales out by cutting off his air supply.
Alarm bells rang in Thales' head. He tried hard to think while fighting for air against his enemy, and shouting these words in desperation,
"Shield District!"
Once he said those words, Gleeward's arms relaxed.
"What?" he asked with a frown.
Thales seized the opportunity to take in a few breaths, then hastened to clear his mind.
'Yes. Shield District.'
"I heard… your conversation just now," said the prince in pain while he secretly pulled the back of his head away from Gleeward's chest.
Earlier, Gleeward was not affected by whatever humiliation and insults he suffered. And yet, only when the enemy began using Shield District, his brothers, and friends to threaten him...
"This… this is Shield District, right?"
Thales was gasping, his words gradually began to flow smoothly. "And you are probably the leader here. Look at your surroundings, it's now in ruins… a thousand or two thousand gold coins won't be enough to rebuild it. You need more, and not just money…"
Gleeward remained silent for quite a while, but in the end, he sneered coldly and shook his head.
"Shut up, I'm quite content with what I have. I have no interest in bringing trouble to my doorstep."
When he saw that Gleeward was going to strangle him again, Thales quickly said,
"And I heard it! Those who died in Shield District six years ago were your brothers, right?"
Once these words were said, Thales felt Gleeward shudder behind him.
"During those six years, their surviving family members would need compensation, they need to live, and you should be distressed by this, right? I guess Dragon Clouds City did not have any reserves to compensate for the losses Shield District suffered…"
While Thales babbled on in an incredibly smooth manner, he wracked his brain over a way to free himself.
