Chapter 73 - Sandalwood

Zou Yue rolled over and moaned softly, hugging the sheets. A strong smell of sandalwood filled his senses. 'Did mum change the fabric softener... it smells so good,' Zou Yue moved closer to this heavenly smelling pillow and nuzzled against it. Its surface felt soft and warm at the same time. 'hmmm so good...'

Suddenly, the pillow groaned.

'Can a pillow groan?' he opened his eyes confusedly. His sight was still blurry so was only able to see a vague image of a dense set of lashes trembling softly. 'Someone's sleeping next to me... must be Peng Peng,'

He threw his legs over him and hugged him tight. 'Poor guy must have dragged me back home..why the hell is he so big though.'

His friend was slender and shorter than him, but this figure next to him was huge.

'Maybe he rolled himself in layers of sheets,'

His soft breathing warmed his face slightly, bringing about that heavenly sandalwood scent.

'hmm.. but why does Peng Peng smell like sandalwood, not Chanel 24,'

This time he was fully wake. He woke up stunned to Fan Xui sleeping with his head down on his pillow.

Their faces were so close that their lips almost touched.

"!!!!!!!" he rolled away swiftly and fell off the bed. Thankfully, the sheets cushioned his fall. 'What is Fan Xui doing here.. Oh my god I touched him. He is definitely going to be revolted.' He slowly sat up and peered at him.

He was wearing a casually white shirt and a pair of shorts. 'But why is he here, though?'

A small tug at the bottom of his pants disrupted his thoughts. Trexa gran pitifully hugged his shin and whined.

"What is it, baby? Why are you whining?"

The little rat tried to signal something to him, but he was not able to understand anything. But all he knew was that his baby pet was terrified of something.

"shh shhh," he cupped Trexa gran carefully in his palm. "I won't let anything happen to you,"

Baby Trexa peered at him with round black eyes. "squeak," she squeaked cutely and nuzzled against his thumb.

"Oh my baby..." he kissed her little snout and placed her on the table. She just jumped into his arms and clung to his shirt. "You want to come with me to the bathroom?"'

She nodded.

"okay then,' he picked her up carefully and but phone next to her pinged. He picked it up. There was a ton of message and missed calls.

'Why is there so many messaged from uncle Wen?'

"Don't tell me.. Did I drunkenly message him?" He walked into the bathroom with Trexa in one hand and his phone in another.

Closing the door after him, he placed Trexa gran down on the counter and started reading the messages.

His first message went out at 11pm after which his phone got overwhelmed by all uncle Wen's call and text.

["I kown I hav sister... tell info.. now."] The message was spelled exactly the same way.

"Oh, my god what the hell is this? Why did I even message uncle Wen like that?" he could spot almost ten thousand mistakes in the text alone. He was really tempted to bang his head on the walls.

Following his message he got ten replies from uncle.

[Sorry I did not say anything. It was my fault. But now that you know I will send you all the information we found all those years back]

A pdf was attached to the second message.

[Please don't think badly of me for hiding this. I'm sorry,]

He swiftly downloaded it.

There were only three pages. First was her birth certificate.

His hands started to shake in anticipating. Sitting down on the toilet seat, he carefully held his phone in his hands. There was a small photo of a baby attached in the corner with all the information included.

"Tian Ai.... " he whispered, gently touching the baby's scrunched-up face.

She must be at least twenty-five given her birth date. When she was just two years old, she was adopted by an American family. Later on, her information was not available.

His mum speculated that she might have changed her name, but he was more sceptical about this.

'Something must have happened.'

Zou Yue swiftly called his uncle. "Uncle, is that all the information you have on her?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Uncle Wen sounded very apologetic.

"It's okay. I'll go to H city and check if can get anything more. Maybe she might have come visited the orphanage after growing up, right?"

"There is a change that could have happened? Do you want me to send my men there?"

"No, no, I'll take care of it. If by chance we find her, I don't want her to meet strangers. It might spook her." Yue smiled softly, glancing at the baby's photo. "But can you find me an agency which does information check. I need to find anything and everything about her,"

"hmm.. But Yue Why are you going to H city when the end is so near? It's a great risk?" uncle Wen whispered softly.

Zou Yue stood up and walked to the counter, glancing at his reflection. "These twenty-five days is all I've got. After the world ends, the information system will collapse and we won't be able to find anything about her. I can risk it..."

His eyes gleamed slightly.

"If you say so..." uncle Wen sighed loudly.

"It's okay uncle, don't forget that I am a good archer and a swordsman. Even if I get caught in the apocalypse, I can easily come back home. But.... if by any chance anything happens to me, please take care of my parents,"

"I give you my word, little one,"

"Thank you.... thank you so much," Yue gently caressed Trexa's coarse hair. He cut the call and placed the phone on the counter. "I have twenty-five days Trexa, just twenty five. I have to find her before that,"

"Squeak!" Trexa cheerfully jumped into his hands and nuzzled against his thumb.

"Yes, we can do it. We will survive this,"