Its two last words made him silent for quite a long while. His eyes wandered around to check the surroundings. However, aside from him, he found no one else in the place. It was still daytime so it would be impossible to miss out a person in this kind of open field. Speaking of an open field, he noticed that this basketball court, which appeared a bit run-down due to the old and fading paint on the bleachers, rings, and even the flooring, was unusually quiet.
Weird. Very weird.
Why was this? Since it was Sat.u.r.day, young men should be flocking around here. After all, basketball was the most loved sports in this country, popular to many men, especially youngsters around his age. So how come there was no one besides him?
No, in the first place, where was this? It appeared to be in a rich neighborhood because from afar he could make out several tall villas and townhouses... On the east side, high-rise buildings could also be found. In short, it was not in the middle of nowhere. This means this place was accessible to normal youths like him. So why was there n.o.body around?
And who the h.e.l.l caused him to teleport here?
Chris felt his body growing colder as he at least recognized that he was not even in his own neighborhood anymore. His face showed just how much shocked he was for discovering that in just a second, he was no longer inside his house.
"So a host could so something like this, huh?" he asked himself when a bit of calmness returned to his body.
"Clarissa then?" He began guessing as to lessen the panic in his heart.
"For that frickin" phone?"
Just when his mind was being plagued by so many questions, he suddenly felt the back of his scalp and his spines tingled. Something inside his brain suddenly screamed of danger. He felt cold all over, his senses perceiving something which appeared behind him. For how he sensed that, he didn"t know. He also didn"t know why he had this feeling. If he had to guess, maybe it was the enhancement which the system told him five days ago.
However, no matter what the reason was, he did sense something, no, someone appearing behind him. As if the embodiment of danger just had materialized out of thin air. Its aura was so deadly and strong that he felt the air in the whole place thinning greatly, making it hard for him to breathe. Whatever kind of ghost or creature it was, it had definitely succeeded in rendering him afraid and nervous.
"d.a.m.n! I don"t know what it is, but I don"t like the feeling on my back!"
Chris regulated his breathing for a few seconds. The system did not have to instruct him. He refused the urge to turn around, and instead, started to run away. With his brain and senses telling him that he would die if he doesn"t get away, it would be stupid to not do so! This was why he madly began to dash away!
"Eh, fleeing from me?"
Frost gripped his heart when he heard that voice. It belonged to a child. However, that was not what caused his heart to drop. He trembled because he heard it next to his ears, which shouldn"t be possible given that he had run for five or so seconds...
"How..."
Actions suddenly happened faster than words. When Chris" head was still blank due to that voice, a blur flashed before her eyes and before he knew it, he was already flying backward. After the abrupt dizziness which clouded his head and dimmed his eyesight for three seconds, pain just suddenly registered on his brain. Extreme pain, which gave him the illusion that his body had been hammered down violently to something harder than the cement floor. Actually, the torturous feeling was so much that he didn"t know where to compare it anymore. His body was now completely convulsing, he couldn"t move, not even a finger. He even found himself groaning miserably due to pain, but his mouth couldn"t also convey it properly due to the blood which sprung forth from his throat.
"Uuughhhhhhhh!"
The system was alarmed because its half-host was now pinned at the barbed wire fence of the court. One of the half-coiled barbed wire on top created a long and deep wound from his scalp to his forehead. However, the worst part was how he got punctured into three or four thick iron rods sticking out from the cement pillar where half of his body was pinned at. Currently, Chris looked someone crucified, except the nails keeping him on place were on his back, blood continuously gushing out of his innumerable wounds like faucets that were left open.
"Oops, I overdid it, hahaha, sorry! Are you alright?"
The voice came from his left. When he opened his blurry eyes to check who the b.a.s.t.a.r.d was, he couldn"t see properly at first because his eyes or forehead were heavily bleeding. When his sight had adjusted a bit, he made out the figure of a laughing boy younger than him by four to five years. His head momentarily blanked when he saw that the person was more than five meters away from him and was still walking towards him. As his nerves and brain remained tortured, realization struck his brain, making him understand what happened. He found it hard to breathe as he coughed out blood again.
However, because of the sharp pain and the blood, his mind somewhat cleared, and he began throwing furious glares at the person who did this to him. Given his current state, this was the only thing he could do. Because even if his heart was screaming of desires to punch the kid, he couldn"t even move, much less throw a fist.
"W-who...are you? Why... are you..." He paused to cough again, then glared at the kid while continuing, "t-targeting... me!?"
"Hahaha, h.e.l.lo!" The kid arrived before him and began to half-circle him to check how bad his condition was. Chris very much hated the laughing eyes of the insane b.a.s.t.a.r.d in the midst of his inspection.
"Hahaha. You don"t know how much trouble I had to go through just to summon you here. Just to inform you, I had to body-swapped with you then teleport back here. After that, I was about to introduce myself earlier when you suddenly ran. Anyway, it"s nice meeting you, half-host 98, hahaha. Your t.i.tle is so funny. Half-host!"
"Lunatic!" Chris thought in his mind, once again convulsing when the kid poked at his throbbing and aching chest wound.
"Big bro, sorry by the way for suddenly kicking you and making you end up like this. But actually, it"s your fault. Anyway, I"ll just consider this my payback for ratting me out yesterday. Punishment for making me upset."
"..."
"Right. You asked why I"m targeting you. It"s because of this."
"Hahaha. You know. When I was feeling happy that a police branch finally managed to locate and predict my moves, my companion just suddenly told me it"s actually a system-user who did."
"Aye, you don"t know how disappointed I was! You"re so bad for making me feel like that! So I located you and summoned you here!"
"..."
Only one thing crossed Chris mind when he finished hearing the lunatic boy"s speech. With widened eyes and body still trembling from pain, he mentally shouted to the system,
"Leo Jones!!!???"