Chapter 15

Ajax didn't want to be seen here. He didn't want to let Charles know that he was not dead.

Making a police report would keep him safe for a little while, but there was no evidence to support these accusations against Charles. With Charles's background and means, Ajax would probably be accused of trying to frame him, and once things died down, Charles would make sure he stayed dead.

Ajax could barely stand in his current state, let alone trying to come up with a plan to fight back. The most urgent thing at the moment was to find a place to hide. However, everyone knew who he was after his antics at the academy's event. He'd always been alone and had no friends he was close to, he didn't even have a family to rely on, and now that he lost his home and was left without a place to hide.

It was already past midnight, and there was not a single soul on the originally remote streets. As time passed, Ajax started to feel drowsy and felt a chill running down his spine. He knew that he had lost too much blood and that if he didn't receive treatment soon, he would end up passing out and likely dying within the hour.

Ajax made a judgment call and made his way to the only unmanned self-service station nearby, took out the few dozen eddies, and dialed a number using the fixed calling service inside.

Of course, this was Alana's contact information; she had given it to him when they were together.

It was late in the night, so it took about 30 seconds for Alana to pick up. "Hello?" and there was the sound of water dripping.

"Hey, its..." Ajax barely managed to say a few words with difficulty.

"Huh?" Alana on the other end hesitated for a moment, then recognized the voice and said, "Wait, Ajax?!"

"Yeah...are you...available..."

"I'm showering right now, what's up? Miss me already?"

Alana's voice was still playful, and Ajax's call caught her off guard. But Ajax wasn't in the mood to joke around with Alana at the moment as his body ached and he felt 2 of his ribs shift with every breath he took.

"You...we need to...meet"

At this moment, Alana realized that something was off with Ajax's voice: "Hey what's going on? Where are you?"

"Cough... the No. 19 self-service...station near my...house," he said in between labored breaths. "Just come...please cough argh..." Ajax began to cough and let out a groan as he felt one of his ribs move and a piercing pain struck his chest.

"O-ok I'm-I'm-I'm on my w-way." Alana stuttered anxiously; she quickly got out of the shower, put on some casual clothes, and left the dormitory in a rush regardless of her roommate's inquiries.

Even though it was late at night, there was no curfew at the Apollo Academy, and people were free to come and go as they pleased. The guard nodded and smiled politely when he saw Alana. He had seen the academy's event the day before yesterday, so he naturally recognized her.

It took about five minutes for Alana to arrive at the No. 19 self-service station in a magnetic car. When she saw Ajax covered in cuts and bruises, torn clothes, and blood all over himself and on the ground, she panicked. It had only been about two hours since they last saw each other, how did he end up like this?

Alana quickly knelt and shook the unconscious Ajax: "Ajax?... Ajax?... AJAX!" But Ajax had already passed out due to blood loss, her antics were useless.

Alana had no choice but to ask the driver of the magnetic car who had yet to depart to help bring Ajax to a nearby hospital. Fortunately, Ajax was still breathing.

Seeing Ajax's house in ruins while driving by, Alana could more or less piece together what happened. But no matter how much she thought about it, she was just guessing, and she had to wait for Ajax to tell her what happened.

After a 2-hour surgery that ended at around 3 in the morning, Ajax's condition was stable, and Alana, who was tired, fell asleep beside Ajax's bed in a daze.

...

After an unknown amount of time, Ajax felt a burst of pain and opened his eyes to a frighteningly white ceiling. He tried to sit up subconsciously only to feel even more pain. Inspecting his body, he found many tubes inserted into it as his right hand had an IV connected to it.

He saw Alana sleeping soundly on his bedside. The pain started to overwhelm his senses so Ajax closed his eyes, slowly recounting yesterday's events, and realizing that Alana had been the one to rush to his aid.

Feeling his slight movements Alana also awoke and rubbed her sleepy eyes.

"Thank you, I owe you my life." Ajax attempted a smile, his face had a thick gauze on the right side of it where Charles had cut him with the knife. Every word he uttered hurt the wound so much that it was difficult to speak.

"What happened yesterday? Is it related to Charles?" Alana's expression gradually became serious, and she bluntly expressed her guess.

"How long have I been out for?" Ajax looked at the door and lowered his voice, "Who else knows I'm here?" He didn't answer her question.

"It's been about 2 days, and I haven't told anyone except the doctor." Alana shook her head.

"A day? I've been lying down for 2 whole days?" Ajax's left eye which wasn't covered with a gauze widened. He thought it had only been a few hours at most.

"Yeah." Alana nodded blankly; she slept here twice. "And the matter about your house was also reported."

While talking to Ajax, Alana took out her Vox and clicked on the News, then clicked on a local early morning report of yesterday. It showed Ajax's house that had been turned into ruins under the title of "Fire caused an explosion due to hot weather—no casualties, the local authority is attempting to contact the homeowner."

Seeing this made Ajax's scalp tingle; the last thing he wanted was for Charles to know that he was still alive. There was no news about the incident at first, so Charles probably thought he had died. But now that a news report came out, it was more than likely that Charles had sent out some people to go and finish the job.

"I need to leave here; I've stayed here too long." Ajax began to pull out the messy tubes on his body. After lying down for 2 days, this place was no longer safe, and Charles would know that he's here.

"Wait, you haven't recovered yet; tell me what happened!" Alana pressed Ajax's hand, her tone firm.

Looking into Alana's eyes, Ajax took a breath and said slowly, "You were right to warn me about Charles. He came to look for me and brought a group of people to kill me in my own home. I would be dead by now if it wasn't for a hole in the shitty house house."

"He tried to kill you?!" Alana cried out in a low voice with shock all over her face.

She originally thought that Charles was just playing around and enjoyed bullying people, she never expected Charles to be much more ruthless than she thought.

"Not only did he try to kill me, but he will probably have someone come after me and make sure the job is done right this time." Ajax smiled wryly.

"What the fuck is wrong with that bastard? Does he not care about the laws of the planet?"

Alana took out her Vox and was about to make a call, but Ajax grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"It's useless, they didn't leave any evidence, there's nothing anyone can do about it." Ajax knew that Alana wanted to notify the authorities, but Charles and the others had obviously thought of something like this happening in advance.

"I can protect you. But you would have to stay by my side, he wouldn't dare to take action while I'm around." Alana wanted to pull out her hand and call the authorities using the Vox.

"No. I don't want to be behind someone else's protection for the rest of my life. This is a matter that I will solve with my own two hands." Ajax's words did not falter, but while doing so, he remembered Charles's actions angering him and subconsciously tightened his grip on Alana's wrist.