Sunset Boulevard - Chap 3

Chen Boqiao opened his eyes.

He was lying on a double bed. The room was very dark with a small slit in the thick curtains, and the gray sky before sunrise could be seen from between the slits.

Chen Boqiao turned on the lamp and sat up. Looking around slowly, he calmly took it all in — the master bedroom of the safe house where he had stayed for the night, the fact that he was in the TIS, Zhang Jue, and how his originally perfect plan had been indefinitely postponed and disrupted. He was good at adapting.

Having been in Military prison then becoming a fugitive, all but in exile from everyone and everything, Chen Boqiao was never one to panic. After he was fully awake, he quickly changed into his clothes and went to wash up.

There was only one bathroom in the safe house, on the left side of the door. He passed the living room and opened the bathroom door without too much thinking, and a cloud of white mist rushed into his face.

Zhang Jue had a bath towel around his waist and a towel for drying his hair in his hand. He stood half-naked amidst the steam, his mouth slightly open, and his eyes were a little surprised.

Chen Boqiao was stunned, then took a step back, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Zhang Jue waved his hand, “I’m done.”

Zhang Jue did not close the door, so Chen Boqiao didn’t move either, and asked out of politeness, “Taking a bath so early?”

Zhang Jue blinked slowly, and asked like he was confused, “Is it early?”

Before Chen Boqiao could reply, Zhang Jue stated, “It’s half-past four.” He sounded like it was the most natural thing in the world, a sense of sureness that somehow four-thirty in the morning was when everyone woke up and got to business.

Chen Boqiao couldn’t help but chuckle at that, and asked, “Is 4:30 not early? Don’t you sleep at all?”

Zhang Jue closed his mouth and said nothing, looking a little depressed. Chen Boqiao thought Zhang Jue’s stumped look was funny so he followed with,

“You didn’t actually stay up all night?”

“No,” Zhang Jue paused, explaining, “I slept for nearly five hours.”

His black hair was only half dry, sticking onto his neck and shoulders, and water droplets traveled down his chest, sliding past the flat plane of his ribs, and dripped into the bath towel along the V-shaped lines of his lower abdomen. Zhang Jue’s skin was pale as snow, and there were a few spots of light red where his skin was slightly burned by the excessively high water temperature. His muscles were not prominent, but he was not as thin and frail as Chen Boqiao thought he was when he was parachuting with him yesterday.

Chen Boqiao had been in the army for many years, so he’d seen a fair share of male bodies from having to share changing rooms with his fellow soldiers. He had also participated in the Asian League screening for several years to prevent Omegas from being mistakenly screened into the army. He believed that he had a pretty good understanding of the physical characteristics of a healthy adult Alpha.

It’s not that Chen Boqiao wanted to make any crude judgment of Zhang Jue’s body, but the two stood face to face. It would be impossible to not look at it.

In all fairness, if one did not look at his height, and only looked at complexion and shape, Zhang Jue has little to nothing to do with Alphas as a group.

However yesterday Zhang Jue’s gun-handling technique and the accuracy of their parachute landing made Chen Boqiao feel that Zhang Jue probably had received long-term professional training and had very good physical strength.

“Zhang Jue,” Chen Boqiao asked him, “You’re good at parachuting. Have you ever been a soldier?”

Zhang Jue shook his head and replied, “No.”

Chen Boqiao let out an “I see” and asked casually, “What did you do after graduating from Roche?”

The water vapor in the bathroom gradually dissipated, and the air-conditioning from outside the room seeped in. Zhang Jue seemed a bit cold, but he also did not seem to want to push Chen Boqiao away from the door. He hesitated at Chen Boqiao’s straightforward questions. Then he answered honestly, “I went to a university in North America, and returned to work for a few years after graduation.”

“What job did you do?” Chen Boqiao asked immediately.

Seeing Zhang Jue’s expression of hesitation, Chen Boqiao narrowed the scope of the question, “Is it related to what we are doing right now?”

Zhang Jue looked at Chen Boqiao, thought about it, and shook his head as if he didn’t want to talk anymore.

The two stood silently for a few seconds, and Zhang Jue tightened his hold on the towel as if he felt the cold.

Chen Boqiao lowered his head and saw the small movement. With a little thinking, he raised his hand to put it on the shoulder of the other man. After making contact with the cool skin, he smiled gently at Zhang Jue, and inquired, “Why didn’t you say you were cold?”

When Zhang Jue felt his touch, he shrank into himself slightly, then a light flush appeared on his cheeks. “It’s not very cold,” he lowered his eyes. “You can use the bathroom. I’ll go get dressed.”

Then, Zhang Jue took a step forward.

Chen Boqiao admits that he had never been a good person, and in that moment he deliberately did not move away because he wanted to see how Zhang Jue would react.

Zhang could not go past him, so he stopped again. For some unknown reason, he was always reluctant to raise his head and look up at Chen Boqiao. He looked dejected and embarrassed, like a new recruit who had been ordered to stand as punishment.

Chen Boqiao thought that Zhang Jue was a little more interesting when he was flustered, so he stepped back and gave up a small path that Zhang Jue could pass through, pretending to be natural, innocently told him to go ahead.

Zhang Jue hesitated for a few seconds and finally decided not to ask Chen Boqiao to make more space. He lowered his head and squeezed between Chen Boqiao and the door frame, and walked quickly back to his small bedroom.

Chen Boqiao watched Zhang Jue disappear from his sight before entering the bathroom.

When Chen Boqiao came out of the bathroom, the clock in the living room showed 4:40. Zhang Jue was dressed and sitting on the sofa. He was holding a tablet monitor, his expression grave. Chen Boqiao walked over and saw ten live surveillance feeds displayed side by side on the screen.

“We have to go,” Zhang Jue stated without looking up.

“What’s the matter?” Chen Boqiao frowned and took a closer look.

“Surveillance outside the safe house,” Zhang Jue pointed to a surveillance camera at an overhead angle, “This is the only lane in this area that can allow car passage.”

There was an alley in the displayed feed. Two tall men stood face to face not far from the camera. At first glance, they appeared to be chatting, but upon closer inspection, they seemed to be a little nervous.

“They have been here for ten minutes,” Zhang Jue said.

Chen Boqiao saw one of the men making a gesture. It was a gesture commonly used in the Asian League Armed Forces. It meant preparing for the operation commencement and it confirmed their identity.

After Zhang Jue broke him out yesterday, he took out the signal blocker implanted in his body and threw it away, making the tracker placed in his back by the military prison effective again.

Therefore, it was no surprise that the soldiers of the Asian League chased after them here. After all, according to Chen Boqiao’s past experience, the accuracy of the satellite navigation system of the Asian League was quite high when going after important people.

“Soldiers from the League,” Chen Boqiao explained to Zhang Jue, “The hand signal means preparing for action.”

Zhang Jue was silent for a few seconds, and murmured to himself, “They’re way too fast”.

After that, he got up and went into the room. He came back out with two duffel bags, hastily placed them on the ground, told whoever was on the other end of the communicator, “Guard the alley, I will leave with him first.”

Someone on the other side gave an affirmative response.

Cutting off the communication, Zhang Jue said to Chen Boqiao, “Let’s go, you help me carry one of these.” Then suddenly, as if he was suddenly reminded, he glanced at the cat sitting obediently on the mat with its limp foot.

“The cat…” Zhang Jue’s expression was unsure.

Chen Boqiao walked over quickly, picked the cat up in one hand, and the two bags on the ground in the other. He raised his hand to let the kitten make eye contact with Zhang Jue, and the kitten meowed in cooperation. And Chen Boqiao smiled at Zhang Jue, “Please? A favor as an old friend?”

“……Ok.”

Going down to the second floor, Zhang Jue opened the window, and both men climbed over the window sill. They descended along the ladder outside the second floor to the street behind the building. It was only dawn, and there was no one on the street. Zhang Jue pressed the key in his hand, and the headlights of a dusty and unremarkable vehicle flashed.

They’ve only rested for a few hours, and they were about to be on the run again.

Zhang Jue started the car quickly, speeding up and shifting gears in silence, bypassing the alleys in the center of the town, and driving out of town.

Driving past the last building at the edge of town, they traveled on the gravel plains, ran over the overgrown weeds, and rushed onto the highway that passed through the edge of the town. Zhang Jue suddenly queried, “After you were arrested, has anyone performed any minor surgery on you?”

Chen Boqiao turned his head to look at Zhang Jue, but said nothing.

“Or,” Zhang Jue added slowly, “Did you wake up and suddenly hurt in places you couldn’t see?”

Chen Boqiao was sure that Zhang Jue had already guessed it, but remained silent.

After driving for less than half a minute, Zhang Jue braked, and with the harsh braking sound, the car stopped.

“You drive,” Zhang Jue declared decisively.

The two switched seats and placed the kitten in the back seat. Zhang Jue found the detector from one of the bags he brought into the car, and with one hand holding Chen Boqiao’s shoulder in place, slowly moved the detector around Chen Boqiao with the other hand.

When the detector reached Chen Boqiao’s left shoulder, the green light of the indicator turned red, and an alarm sounded. Chen Boqiao felt Zhang Jue’s hand on his shoulder tighten.

“What’s wrong?” Chen Boqiao asked.

“You have a tracker,” Zhang Jue replied in a low voice, “It’s how they came after us so quickly.”

Chen Boqiao did not answer and waited patiently for Zhang Jue to continue.

“I don’t have a signal blocker, so I’ll have to take it out,” Zhang Jue said grimly.

Chen Boqiao stated, “Do it then.”

Zhang did not move. He simply moved the detector away to prevent the alarm from going off again, and after a short while, he sat back.

“I should have thought of it earlier,” Zhang Jue fumed, feeling annoyed.

“It’s not your fault,” Chen Boqiao comforted him naturally, “Just remove it for me.”

“But I don’t have anesthetics,” Zhang Jue retorted, “I only have simple surgical tools.”

“Just do it,” Chen Boqiao encouraged, “The tracker from the League usually lies close to the skin’s surface.”

Chen Boqiao turned the steering wheel and stopped by the side of the road. He turned off the ignition, turned his head to look at Zhang Jue, “We have no time.”

The sky was already bright, the air of the TIS being very clear, and the sky was blue like a painting, clearly visible through the transparent sunroof on the top of the car. The sun shone in and every detail of the interior of the car could be seen.

Chen Boqiao took off his shirt, revealing his upper body that was littered with scars.

He led teams on many missions and suffered a lot of external injuries. The superficial ones faded over time, leaving behind the deep ones.

Some soldiers regarded their scars as a medal, but Chen Boqiao prefered to think about them as a catalog for his memory.

Chen Boqiao was always busy, busy losing his comrades or loved ones, so he had a lot more to remember than other people. He remembered the lives of comrades-in-arms and relatives with the formation of the scars, and his mind recorded everything about his latest loss before continuing to accept the next one calmly.

Chen Boqiao knew that Zhang Jue was looking at his back, and he also noticed that Zhang Jue had frozen, so he joked with Zhang Jue, “I don’t use anesthesia when I am injured in combat anyways.”

Zhang Jue hesitated for a moment, then went into the back seat and fished through the bag. When he returned to the front seat, he held two boxes in his hand, one of which was a cooler box.

There were five syringes containing blue liquid in the cooler box. Zhang Jue took one out and simply assured Chen Boqiao, “This one… is for my personal use. It can also be used as an anesthetic. After the injection, you’ll lose all sense of touch and pain for 12 hours.”

Zhang Jue pressed one end of the syringe into Chen Boqiao’s arm, and its contents were automatically injected into Chen Boqiao’s body. The liquid took effect almost immediately.

“Do you still feel anything?” Zhang Jue questioned as he reached out and touched Chen Boqiao’s forearm.

Chen Boqiao raised his hand and touched the leather steering wheel and plastic instrument panel of the vehicle. There was no feeling. Only the resistance against his hand told him not to continue pushing.

“What kind of medicine is this?” he asked Zhang Jue. But this was not the question he wanted to ask, he wanted to know why Zhang Jue needed to use this medicine.

Zhang Jue’s eyes wandered while he avoided the question, and he raised his hand to close the cooler box. Chen Boqiao’s hand shot out faster than Zhang Jue, but he couldn’t control the strength of his hand and directly pushed the box out.

The box fell from the storage table, and all the glass syringes fell out. Both wanted to save them, but they bumped into each other in their hurry and could’t salvage any of them. The injections fell to the ground one by one, shattering with a crisp sound, and then they were crushed by the heavy cooler box.

Chen Boqiao looked down, and the blue liquid flowed freely all over the floor.

“……”

The two were speechless for a few seconds. Chen Boqiao apologized to Zhang Jue as earnestly as possible, “I’m sorry!”

“Is there a place to buy this?” Chen Boqiao tried to remedy it.

Zhang Jue never spoke a word, his eyes were shocked as if he hadn’t realized that the man he’d risked his life for had broken all his important medicine.

“If you could tell me what it is, I can get Pei Shu to get it for you,” Chen Boqiao said again.

When Zhang Jue did not respond, Chen Boqiao stretched out his hand and waved in front of Zhang Jue’s eyes, “Zhang Jue? Are you okay?”

Suddenly, there was some white noise from the communicator, followed by sounds of fighting and gasping voices, “Sir, have you gotten far? We can’t hold them back anymore, we have to retreat.”