What It Means To Be King

Chapter 36: A Key That Intersects Their Goals

So I had a program the whole afternoon, and read 300+ chapters of manhwa for the rest of the day. Blame the late update on the cute characters I found, like, it's totally not my fault that 2D fictional characters are literally made to distract me. Again. 

Also, I just found out Charles' bodyguard is named Raven (I mean I get where it came from) so uhh, I'm gonna use that from now on to ease my working process. 

Also, I have this silent theory that although Charles may be someone with an perfect attitude, he curses inwardly, and probably had the same level of anger issues as Shao Long, but could hide it perfectly well. Like I mean, the dude pretended to stab Gion as a joke, he has a dark humor, dearest, his mind couldn't be pure. 

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Leo's lying skills should be concerning to most, the fault being his neutral face that was completely expressionless. From there, Leo has mastered the art of expressions and could pull off most expressions a human could convey emotions through, and he could keep it still for hours, leaving barely any room for it to crack. Unlike Shao Long, the mask that Leo created and wore was almost unbreakable unless Leo himself wanted it. 

That aside, it still pissed Anubis sometimes how easily he was fooled. Somewhere in his heart, a voice was telling him that he had been lied to, that there was something unnerving going on where he couldn't currently see, and that only led back to Leo and Shao Long. Leo hadn't followed him afterwards, choosing to follow Shao Long instead, and Anubis could've sworn that the blond had said that Shao Long didn't know that Leo was there. 

That was when he finally remembered that Leo had meant to give that brute a pair of chopsticks, his pair of chopsticks, and Shao Long wasn't that dumb. 

Leo being Leo, he wouldn't meet up with Shao Long face to face, and Anubis had this ridiculous thought that Leo might've just.....dropped the chopsticks on the middle of the hallway, waiting for Shao Long to pick it up. 

And Shao Long being Shao Long, of course he would know that Leo was there, because the only person in the world who could find the chopsticks he had just bought today that was supposedly lying on the streets of Momosu, brought it to this unknown building in the middle of nowhere and willingly gave it to him. Emphasis on the word willingly, because Anubis would never give Shao Long his chopsticks, he'd rather hand him a grenade, or a riffle, or a bazooka. 

So now, Shao Long knew that Leo and Anubis was here, and that thought didn't sit right with him, for some reason that he himself would like to know. Curse his inability to come to terms with basic humans emotion, because Anubis would very much like to know. Here he was, thinking that being within a few meters radius with Gion could somewhat leave him at ease, but no. 

Instead, there was this growing emotion curling in his stomach that something was wrong, and it hadn't been the fear of anyone getting hurt, not Gion, not the princes, and definitely not Shao Long with how capable he was, and the fact that Leo was with him as well, the duo currently on their way to the control room with the former having absolutely no idea he was actually being led there. 

Anubis' eyes flickered to the ceiling of the hallway, as it had been the whole time as they were in the building. He had already mapped every path he had come across and was able to make out the easiest path to the exit, the fastest path, the most dangerous path, etc. In fact, he had even memorized the number of emergency lights and the location of light bulbs lining the hallway, barely lighting up the darkness. The ones that weren't lit up at all were the orange bulbs and nothing else. They were all in good condition though.