CHAMPION | NCT

o63

C H A P T E R
S I X T Y - T H R E E

The gun wasn't an ordinary gun.

It won't kill me.

It's all I can do not to scream. It's all I can do to keep breathing.

Beads of sweat drip down my back, but I can’t tell if it’s from the laboratory's exorting heat or from my heart slamming against my chest.

Xiaojun's pair of eyes were as sharp as a blade, gleaming with a hint of something between malice and hesitation. His brown leather jacket was floured with smoke, black hair drenched with sweat, and lips pressed together tightly. He stared at me with an expression I can't discern.

"If only you..." he stuttered, blinked, and added, "if only you never left. You keep hurting people. And just move on with what benefits you. You lied to us, and I wouldn't be surprised if you lied to the ruler as well. Was toying with Nakamoto Yuta just as fun as toying with us?"

One second, we're just glaring at each other. And then, after one more, his finger pressed the trigger of the gun and -

    there was no sound of a gunshot.

But he did shoot. Strange thing was there no bullet, but, rather a radiation travelled in the air, and a beam of strange neon green light flooded the atmosphere. The almost-invisible particles scattered around the vast space, molding everything quickly like smoke and ash, until it completely diffused and wandered, bringing a heavy and sickening sensation in the rippling air.

A sudden rush ran through me quickly, perturbing my senses, as I ducked below and jumped more than a meter away from the scope of Xiaojun's shot.

But like I said, it wasn't an ordinary gun.

A matter of seconds after it fired, I fell to the floor.

Everything blacked out.

_______

I woke up without blood trickling down any part of my body. I was expecting pain, blood, blood, more blood, everywhere.

But there was none.

I woke up... alive and strangely well.

My hair was a mass scatters of disheveled strands, the ends sticking to my neck and collarbone. I found myself lying on a wooden floor, with the sound of sea waves surrounding my ears.

I propped myself up using my elbows, listening to the rolling hills and the low, wet valleys from outside. My eyes squinted, my head felt dizzy, but I tried my best to decipher where I was.

And how I came here.

My question was answered when I heard the sound of a kettle whistling not far away from where I was sitting. I held the torn sleeve of my clothes, looking around the all familiar room. From its warmth and moist, there's no mistaking it: