437 The republic

“Shit shit shit... AAAAAAHHHHH!!!” screamed Zi Han as his body fell to the ground. He wasn’t screaming because he was afraid of falling but because of what he had been through. That was the most unpleasant feeling in the world.

With a loud bam, he fell to the ground like a rookie.

“Ah shit,” he swore his face hurting from the fall. He clutched that familiar looking sand and he suddenly panicked. Thinking that creature will suddenly emerge from the sand he hurriedly got up to his feet only for him to meet but a tranquil desert type of silence. It was the kind that doesn’t make you feel a sense of relief but the kind that mocks you to death. It’s either the thirst will kill you first or the heat.

Zi Han brushed the sand out of his hair when he heard Igneous who had been in the dog house because of the simulator speak. Maybe it was because of transmission problems or something that its voice broke and there was a harsh static noise that hurt his ears.

“Si... wat... bene,” said Igneous but before Zi Han could try and understand what it was saying his feet were pulled into the sand and he fell into what could be described as a tunnel. While he was falling he was struck in the face by something hard and got knocked out cold.

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Sounds of senseless chatter filled Zi Han’s ringing ear as he came back around. He didn’t immediately open his eyes listening in on what they were saying.

“What are you going to do with him?” asked a young raspy voice followed by the sound of a rough female voice answering,

“Put him back where we found him. He has a lot of valuable things. We can sell it for some Terre coins. Pass me that screwdriver there,” she replied, and the sounds of someone getting up followed.

“He is dressed weirdly. Can we take his clothes? We can sell them for money,” said the young man and the female voice replied,

.....

“Sure, let’s just fix this first. We will take his clothes when we leave,” she said and Zi Han heard the sound of footsteps coming towards him. The person crouched in front of him and examined his face closely.

The boy seemed fascinated by the man’s skin which seemed flawless and milky tempting one to squeeze. He raised his finger hesitating to touch the man’s face. When he saw the injury on the left side of his face that had already bruised he couldn’t help but turn to the girl,

“Why did you hit his face so hard? We could have brought him to the noble ladies in the city. They would have bought him as a husband. Or maybe sister, you can keep him for yourself.”

Zi Han heard this and he almost laughed. These two literally let a lion into their den.

“He is too heavenly for my liking. I don’t want to attract attention by having such a weak flower vase by my side... we can’t sell him either. If his people come looking for him we will be implicated,” said the female voice with slight irritation in her tone.

“Oh, how long will he be knocked out,” said the young man before moving his finger closer to the man’s cheek to pinch it. Before he could even touch him, Zi Han grasped the young man’s wrist and grabbed his dagger from the sheath on the boy’s thigh. He twisted the man’s arm behind had back and with a devilish smile, he placed the tip of the dagger on the young man’s throat.

“Weak ha...,” he said but when he glanced at his ring finger he found that his ring was missing. His eyes which were playful just now turned cold. He glared at the girl sending chills all over his body.

“My ring,” he said and the girl who was more concerned for her brother than his words yelled,

“Let go of him!” She drew a shabby-looking laser gun and aimed at the man ready to kill him to save her brother.

Zi Han pressed the blade tightly on the boy’s neck nicking his skin a little. A drop of blood dripped down his skin and his face turned ashen.

“Sis-sister,” he called out his voice trembling in fear.

“My ring,” said Zi Han nudging his eyebrow at the ring peaking out of her bag. She picked it up and tossed it at the man before pointing the gun at the man again her hands still trembling.

Zi Han let go of the young man and put the ring back on his finger. His heart which was panicked calmed down significantly. He got up from the ground and because the space was tight he had to bend his neck.

He could see she was still pointing that thing at him but he knew she wasn’t ruthless enough to pull the trigger. Even if she did she would miss. He went to the bag on the table and began to take back his things.

“Hey, that’s that’s mine,” she said but Zi Han ignored her. He picked up all his pendants and sheathed the dagger. He took everything that belonged to him including his light brain before sitting down like he was in his own home.

He took out a pear from his interspatial storage. The young man who was curled up on the ground suddenly brightened seeing that delicious looking fruit he had only seen in children’s books. He shed off all the fear on his face and sat up staring at the man’s hand almost drooling.

“Let’s start all over again. My name is Han and you two what are your names?” he said but he noticed that both of them kept staring at his hand.

Zi Han tapped the table and the girl woke up from her trance. “Nayeli and that’s Nathan. Where did you get that?”

Zi Han glanced down at the pear before smiling slightly and saying, “Tell you what Nayeli. I will give you each one of these if you tell me where I am.”

“You have two?” asked the young man excitedly. For a person who grew up on meal replacements this was heaven.

“Uh huh. I will even forget that you bashed my face, robbed me and wanted to pimp me off to some rich ladies.”

The siblings, “...”