Keeper | The Lost Tomb Fanfiction

Being followed

Chapter 25: Being followed

Wu Xie walked out of his room absentmindedly towards the main hall. It's been one week since Zhang Qiling left Wushanju, and three days since Pangzi left for his business trip. That trip which Pangzi was surprisingly able to postpone when he and Zhang Qiling fell into a short coma.

He arrived at the empty hall and sat down on his chair and looked around at the empty room confusedly. He finally remembers that his cousin and Hei Yanjing took the kids and Wang Meng to the mountain behind the house while Kan Jian, Liu Sang, and the Shen twins left for a mission given by his second and third uncles, which means aside from him, only his uncles, grandmother, and the other helpers are in the house.

Feeling bored, he stood up and decided to walk outside seeing as the sky is clear and today seems to be a good day. It also seems to be a good time to take off the stuffy feeling inside his chest, and a walk would probably help. He didn't tell anyone since most of them are unavailable, so he left, walking towards the busy street of Hangzhou.

Walking around, he stops by a noodle shop for lunch and toured the familiar street he walked through since he was young. Many things have changed throughout the years, but he can still see familiar people staying in their spots, living their life.

A kid bumps him and he only smiles as he watches the kid run away, probably thinking Wu Xie will blame him.

He shook his head, looked at his surroundings, and surprisingly found a unique coffee shop near a middle school. He enters and marvels as he sees it was a library café, a coffee shop with books you can read while having a coffee, no wonder there were many customers even when it was a weekend. After walking towards the counter, he ordered a coffee and took an interesting book from the shelves, before he sat on a single sofa beside a window, sighing at the comfort it brings. He put his coffee on the table and opened the book with a faint smile.

'This is not bad'

Hours passed by as the sky darkens. Wu Xie closed the book he was holding with a pleased expression and put it on the table beside an empty cup of coffee. He has been focused on the book to notice the time but he only feels peaceful, so he felt that it was worth it.

At this moment, his phone rang. He took it from his pocket and looked at the caller id only to see his cousin's name.

"Hello, Xiao Hua?" He answered the phone and looked outside, seeing that it was dinnertime. His eyes scan the streets faintly. He narrowed his eyes as he saw a strange person at a restaurant on the opposite street from where he is. Although he has been focused on the book, it is not enough not to feel the stare's from across him.

"Wu Xie, where are you?" He looked away as he heard a noisy background on the other line and thought all of them must be beside Xie Yuchen. He patted his head at forgetting to leave a note for everybody.

"Oh, I'm outside. Is there a problem?" He frowns not because of his cousin, but because the stares still linger on him.

"Oh, no. Just wondering where you are." Xie Yuchen paused, "Are you eating out?"

"No, I'll be back at..." He looked at his watch and saw it was 7 p.m., "I'll be back in 30 minutes." He said firmly. They talked for a while before deciding to hang up. Looking up, the strange person disappears from his position. Although strange, Wu Xie forgets about it as he packs up his things.

-----

He left the shop and noticed that most people are gone, presumably eating their dinner at home. He decided to take a shortcut, which means he will pass through a maze-like alley to get home.

Wu Xie turned to another alley and walked at his own pace. He thought of different things happening lately and his two friend's leaving. He admits that it felt crap not having them by his side but since it's like this, he has to endure it, no matter how reluctant he was. Scrap that, he is very reluctant. Sighing, he can only shake his head.

Wu Xie frowns at the faint sound of footsteps behind him. He tried to ignore the strange feeling he felt and tried to look back to check and saw no one. Seeing this, he acted as if he was clueless and took out his phone. He was about to dial Xie Yuchen's number when a hand appeared from his side and took it from him. He dodged as that person punched him from behind and turned around to kick his attacker causing the both of them to separate.

He looked up after balancing himself and saw a man wearing black clothes and a face mask, with one hand holding his phone while the other on his stomach.

"What do you want from me?" He asked the man fighting with him, he looked around the place for something that could help him as he waited for an answer but to no avail, as the man remained silent and threw his phone far on the ground, then walked towards him.

Wu Xie looked up from his discarded phone, then slowly looked back at his attacker's face. The attacker did not care to see his expression before attacking again, arm raised to punch his face. Wu Xie was distracted as he was pissed, causing him to fail in avoiding the punch to his stomach. He grunted in pain and frowned as he felt himself throwing up. He backs up and throws himself at the enemy, both of them falling to the ground.

Grunts and groans of pain filled the alley as the two fought with their fist. He lands a kick to the enemy's side and throws a bag of trash he saw a while ago. The enemy immediately ducked in disgust and took a small dagger from his boots, then aimed at him and threw it.

Wu Xie saw this and dodge while also taking his own dagger from his back. He almost wants to kiss a certain someone as he always wants him to bring this dagger with him when he leaves. Too bad he is not here.

He stayed in his position, betting that his enemy would attack first since he always saw him looking at his watch. 'The attack on him must have a time limit.' Wu Xie joked to himself.

The enemy indeed attacked after taking a dagger from his waist, slashing at his side. He avoided it and gave an uppercut, to which the enemy avoided, then took his neck with one hand, pushing him to the wall while the other raised the dagger. Wu Xie knew it was bad being cornered so he kicked the man in his shin causing him to bend over and take the enemy's dagger. He took this chance to escape the man's grasp while not removing his stare at his enemy, cautiously looking out for a surprise attack.

A phone rang at that moment, fully echoing in the silent alley. Wu Xie looked at the source and found that it was his phone. He looked back and saw the man still on the ground before he decided to fetch his phone, whose screen flashed a call from his cousin.

Wu Xie felt something behind him and rolled from his place. He heard the sound of metal colliding with cement and knew it would be him if he did not dodge. Putting the ringing phone on his less dominant hand, he put his eyes on the enemy. He saw that the enemy's eyes were already looking at him with anger, maybe for what he did a while ago.

"If you have someone to blame, blame her." Wu Xie was distracted as he heard the first sentence his attacker said, but did not understand.

'What is he talking about? Her? Who is Her?'

The attacker took his distraction to his advantage and pulled something from his pocket and threw it in Wu Xie's direction. Wu Xie was surprised at the powder thrown at his face and forgot to cease his breathing so injected a lot of powder. He patted his face from feeling numb as he felt himself losing control of his body, his hold on his dagger loosening.

Wu Xie fell to the ground, not being able to open his eyes or move his body. He watched with his eyes half open as his attacker turned to walk towards his side, sitting down to look at him, then raise his hand holding the dagger.

Wu Xie was in a daze to know what happened next as he felt his eyelid getting heavier and he was losing focus, but one thing is for sure before he closed his eyes, he heard a loud thud as if a person collapsed beside him, then everything went black.

*****

A/N: That's two chapters today! Hope you enjoy it! =)