Chapter 1476 A Promise
Xia Fan had never been in such a dangerous situation as he found himself right now in his entire life. The creature that had charged toward him was practically about to tear him into shreds, yet he was still incapable of retaliating.
Speed was an unreasonable special ability, and against most enemies, Xia Fan could choose to fight those he was able to defeat, or flee from those who were much stronger than him. Just by sprinting away, no one would be able to catch up to him, and he would look das.h.i.+ng even as his figure disappeared into the distance.
But at the moment, Xia Fan had lost his speed, something that he depended heavily upon. Everything was due to the disruptor handcuffs, something that would be useless against anybody above Advanced Star Domain rank. Unfortunately, Xia Fan was still at the Advanced Star Base rank, and the disruptor handcuffs were able to effectively restrict his seventh brain region, applying a powerful suppression on him.
Ultimately, Sarah could not keep control of her little knives any longer, and the speed of their flight gradually waned, allowing more and more of the creatures to come charging toward Xia Fan and her.
!!
She must have felt that she was at death’s door. While she could think of over a hundred ways of executing Xia Fan, in the end, she was unwilling to let Xia Fan, someone who was clearly capable of escaping death, accompany her in death. Before she collapsed, with the kindness that a dying man might demonstrate, she threw a set of silver keys at Xia Fan, sort of forgiving him before she died.
The situation was dire. Behind Xia Fan and from his flanks, three creatures were snarling menacingly as they closed in on him. The keys that came flying in were like Xia Fan’s final life-saving gra.s.s. Xia Fan let out a bellow and used all his strength to dive for the keys, hurtling through the air as he did, weaving past the creature’s claws with astonis.h.i.+ng deftness as he caught the life-saving keys in his hands.
He did not have a moment to spare how Sarah had managed to get her hands on the keys to the handcuffs. With a nimble flick of his wrist, he stuck the key into the keyhole and twisted.
The moment those handcuffs detected the one hundred and twenty eight circuits matched, Xia Fan heard the clank of metal, and the cuffs that restricted Xia Fan finally unclasped, unleas.h.i.+ng the wild beast that had been kept caged for so long!
*Crack crack crack*
A series of cracks rang through the air as Xia Fan’s muscles expanded. His seventh brain region was fully unshackled! All his speed was back! His lethality had returned!
His figure disappeared from where he stood, and like a fast and accurate top, Xia Fan began the signature oblique acceleration used by the Skywing Clan!
He did not have the time to retrieve his weapon from his stealthed spatial ring, so he picked up the trit.i.tanium machete by Sarah’s side. This blade’s design had another name, known as a kukri. This thick blade was curved forward, making it ideally suited for hacking and slas.h.i.+ng.
With that blade in hand, XIa Fan accelerated in an arc at his speed of 500 m/s, extending his arm in a manner that turned his blade into a blender, cutting everything around him.
Indeed, everything!
The heads of the creatures were cleaved off! Those strange black crystal trees, chopped down! Everything was being obliterated in his path!
Anyone could tell that Xia Fan had been forced into a panic. He was demonstrating a level of ferocity that no one had seen him display before. He was not only slaying, but sweeping through everything in his path. He did not care what was in his way, but anything that he could not stand was cleared away! Talk would happen after he was done eliminating everything!
In a blink of an eye Xia Fan turned from a man into a crazy blender, using himself as the pivot axis to execute circles that swept everything away.
This circle of clearance was constantly widening, and every time it increased in radius, even more of the creatures would be hacked away, as even more of the strange trees shattered like gla.s.s.
In the span of a few minutes, a circular clearing over three kilometers wide appeared in the dark forest. Nothing remained alive in that s.p.a.ce, with corpses strewn everywhere. Blood flowed freely like a river, almost like a crop circle left behind by a devil.
That was the power of speed!
Not only was Xia Fan the fastest when fleeing, he was also the fastest when it came to killing!
*Thunk!*
After he was done with everything, Xia Fan viciously flicked the kukri in his hand, clearing the traces of blood that had clung to the metal from the blade. He had never expected to find red blood flowing inside these black creatures, but Xia Fan was not in the least bit bothered by it. They had forced his hand, so no matter what they were, all of them had to die!
There was no smile on the face of ever-smiling Xia Fan at this moment. With a cold and somber expression on his face, Xia Fan trod across the b.l.o.o.d.y ground as he regarded his surroundings icily.
Though there were still creatures in the distance, there was nothing still alive in a ten-meter radius around him. He strolled over to Sarah and lifted her injured body over his shoulder. He then proceeded to barrel quickly toward the dark forest, leaving a trail of carca.s.ses in his wake.
…
In her state of grogginess, Sarah could feel someone strip her naked and apply some sort of medicine all over her. She felt stings of pain from her wounds, but the feeling gradually faded as the medication began to seep into her body. Like a syringe injecting something into her veins, she could feel energy diffuse throughout her body.
After losing her reserves, her energy-deprived body began to ingest this new energy frantically, replenis.h.i.+ng her almost-depleted seventh brain region in the process, storing the excess in the almost ten trillion cells inside her body.
Sarah eventually regained consciousness, and discovered that she was under a thin yet warm cotton blanket. In the next second, Sarah realized something was off. She reached her hand down the blanket in a hurry and realized her body was bare. She could feel the medical gauze wrapped around her, but there was no other clothing on her, not even her undergarments.
Sarah was very bothered by this, and her cheeks flushed red. Though she was already twenty-seven, nine years older than Xia Fan, this was actually the first time someone had stripped her naked and tossed aside.
Sarah struggled to get up, wanting to shout, but realized that she was completely incapable of making any sound. She was still unable to bend her chest, and reaching to her back, she discovered there was a thick bandage wrapped around her there. It turned out that she had sustained a severe injury to her small of her back without even realizing what had happened.
The muscles around the waist were also called core muscles; if her legs were injured, she would still be able to walk with a limp, but the moment the injury was at the waist then there was nothing else to do but quietly lie down and recuperate.
“Are you awake?”
Sarah heard Xia Fan’s voice and instantly felt anger that was on the verge of erupting wildly. She turned her head in the direction of his voice, only to find that the ugly man who had taken off all her clothes had transformed…
The person in front of Sarah’s eyes was no longer the ferocious man from Deserted River, but a typical youngster from the Inner Territories, with tender fair skin, a symmetrical face, and a sharp gaze. There was even an inviting smile on his face.
This young man was not ugly at all, and could even be considered fairly handsome by some metrics. Though he could not be considered muscular, his body still had the proper triangle and a gentle temperament, not betraying a hint of the savagery or ferocity from before.
Xia Fan was using the moisture collector to gather water vapor from the air, then using the outdoor heating cup to brew himself a beverage. For the sake of convenience, the outdoor survival beverages he used were in capsule form, like a pill.
Xia Fan looked at the angry face of Sarah and then pointed to the various colored beverage capsules and asked, “Coffee? Juice concentrate? Or milk?
“If you don’t say a word, I’ll just give you a fruit juice.”
Xia Fan soon finished preparing a cup of concentrated juice. After testing the temperature, he made his way to Srah’s side and reached out to support her neck. The moment his hand came in contact with her body, she immediately felt her entire body tremble, to which Xia Fan shrugged and rea.s.sured her, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
For some unknown reason, Sarah felt completely at ease after hearing Xia Fan’s words. Perhaps it was because Xia Fan’s natural temperament made him much more approachable, or perhaps Sarah instinctively understood that she needed someone to take care of her right now. In any case, she was very confused by the sudden emotion that she felt. This person that she had originally hated to the bones actually made her feel bouts of warmth. She wanted to continue to hate him, but found it difficult to accomplish.
Gently helping Sarah upright, Xia Fan used his arm to support the small of her back as he fed her the drink like a baby. After she was done, Xia Fan very carefully helped her lay back down. It was evident that Xia Fan had once studied medicine before, as he demonstrated a superb understanding of the human body structure, protecting Sarah’s injured waist the entire time.
Though she had recovered her energy, she was still feeling an empty stomach. After drinking the beverage, Sarah could feel the warmth of the juice permeating her belly.
Sarah was mildly startled when she discovered a colorless crystal about the size of her fist tossed on the ground.
That was a Grade Nine energy crystal! The value of the item was astronomical; just one alone could purchase a small yet habitable planet!
At this moment, a corner of the colorless Grade 9 energy crystal was gone. It turned out Xia Fan had actually used something so precious in order to ensure she recuperated faster. It was no wonder she had managed to recover her fitness so quickly!
Sarah stared at Xia Fan intently as she asked him, “Why? Why did you save me?”
Xia Fan somewhat sheepishly scratched his head., “So you’ve forgotten all about it. When I begged you to uncuff the disruptor cuffs, I promised some things. Well, I’m here anyway, so you don’t have to worry about anything. That’s all.”
Sarah did her best to recall what had happened. Before she fainted, Xia Fan did indeed yell something at her, but at the same time, she was already slipping in and out of consciousness from overexertion, so she had no idea what Xia Fan had said to her.
Promise? ‘Just what did this guy promise me?’
Xia Fan sat on the ground and sipped on his cup of broth, savoring it. The next words that he spoke only made Sarah even more anxious.
“Those creatures are getting close again, so we’ll be leaving in a couple of minutes.”
Again? Why did he say again?
Could he have traveled so far while carrying me in my unconscious state?
Several minutes later, Sarah got her answer. Xia Fan found a straight crystal from the dark forest and then tied Sarah up tightly. The straight crystal was used to support Sarah’s waist; binding her tightly to it ensured that she would not be jostled by his movements, which would result in the bones that had just mended dislocating again.
Xia Fan carried Sarah with two hands and ran at a very slow speed.
Sarah knew that Xia Fan’s top speed was nothing like this. The reason why he was running so slowly was probably because he feared injuring her if he went too fast…
—
At a speed he could ensure she did not sway unnecessarily, Xia Fan carried Sarah along, running for hours before finally coming to a halt. Along the way, he was constantly sniffing the air to confirm where any enemies were, and diverting around them.
Setting Sarah down on the ground, Xia Fan said with a smile, “Right now we have an hour of rest. If you wish, you can take a little nap, but you’ll have to eat something before that.”
And so, Xia Fan prepared a meal for Sarah once again, using something akin to needles to inject the energy from the crystal into her.
An hour of rest later, he would spend several more hours running, and then make another stop afterwards to take care of Sarah, before once again resuming his run.
In a blink of an eye, three days went by.
A human heart was ultimately flesh, and Sarah’s hard exterior actually hid a kind heart within. There was no way she was not touched after Xia Fan took care of her so meticulously.
‘Who knows how many days it has been, and this guy has been taking care of me all this while…
‘Had it not been for me, a speedster like him would probably have rendezvoused with his partner already, right?’
The thoughts were flitting through Sarah’s mind as she snuck glances at Xia Fan. He was much younger and far more energetic than she was. Given how outstanding he was, his genial personality, and was capable of taking care of others, perhaps…
Sarah promptly shook her head and cleared her mind of her random thoughts. She knew their age gap very well, and seeing just how impressive of a person he was, she was certain he was very popular with the ladies in Starcloud system; she was really reading too much into things!
He had said, ‘I promised some things…’
Those words bothered Sarah tremendously. ‘Just what did he promise me before I lost consciousness?’