Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 127: Death-Scented Air

As soon as Leon thought about the Shattered Land, a loud bang echoed from the physical world into his dream, shattering it completely.

"Wake up! Wake up!! Wake up!!!" Liu Yan screamed, standing at the center of the room, wearing a transparent blue nightgown.

She whirled around, panting heavily. "Someone tried to kill us." She pointed a trembling finger at the top of her bed—Leon’s, Wu Ze’s, and An Lang’s.

"How?!" Wu Ze screamed, rising from the bed, her bare feet touching the ground. "This is the first time something of this sort has happened."

Her heart hitched when she saw a bangle she gifted Bao Xiong hanging on the dart that had struck her bed.

’Bao Xiong?!!!’ Her nose, ears, and eyes blazed with smoke, screaming the name inside her head.

"How can this happen? This is a secured zone, right?" Leon turned confused glances at Liu Yan and Wu Ze, leaving An Lang, who lay on his bed as if he was deaf.

"Only one person would do this." Wu Ze’s heart heaved against her chest, fixing her gaze at the section of her bed where she normally placed her pencils—the one that turned into the katana with a press of a button.

With reddened eyes, she neared the bed, pulling the pencils. She closed her eyes, then sighed sharply, her thumb hovering over the green button.

Her brown hair blistered like gold when she cracked her eyes open and walked toward the door. The door swung open as if obeying her will, then slammed shut the moment she exited.

The sound of metal screeching blasted from the hallway as Leon moved closer to the door.

He turned a confused expression toward Liu Yan. "Where is she going?"

Liu Yan gave a sarcastic expression, then sat down heavily on her bed. "Only she knows." Her body leaned back until the bed bounced as her back hit it hard.

With a disturbed mind—one from the dream and one from reality, all bleeding in Leon’s skull—he walked and stood by the side of the window.

The death-scented air brushed over his skin, his eyes closing unwillingly. His mouth opened in an endless yawn, his eyes closing tighter.

He forced the yawn to end, blinked the sleep away from his eyes, and stared at the figure moving in the sky.

"Dad, Mom, Lily," he mentioned the names and linked them to the bow constellation. "I will make sure I become what you wanted me to become, and not what you feared I would become."

The short vow hummed to life as three leaves whirled toward his direction. He fixed his gaze on them until they fell like boneless skin.

As the morning sun shone bright, gracing them, Hei Yung walked into the room, Wu Ze walking by his side.

Hei Yung stopped by the door, but Wu Ze continued inside, guilt filling her face.

Liu Yan broke her stiff greeting, then rushed toward Wu Ze and leaned by her side. "Is something wrong? Did you get to injure him?"

"Uhm..." Hei Yung gave a swift cough. "She has been banned from joining your group in all activities for the next two weeks."

Leon shifted his shocked expression from Hei Yung to Wu Ze. ’What did she do that she has been banned? Who will lead us in Chaos City, since she is the only C-rank left?’

Hei Yung walked from the door, the heels of his boots hitting the ground in a more thunderous tone.

...

"Since she has been banned from all activities, and Bao Xiong left and joined the Black Ops, I will be the leader." An Lang stood up, flaunting his shoulders.

"Who, you?" Liu Yan pointed a finger at An Lang, laughter escaping her lungs in harsh pulses.

"You’re an E-rank, so keep—" An Lang paused, seeing the sharp gaze in Leon’s eyes. His mouth remained quiet, the words scrawling across his throat, trying so hard to flee from Leon’s gaze.

"Well, since you all see me weak," he paused, neared the door, then turned. "I’m also heading out. You two can continue the tasks or adventure for today or the days that follow."

He slammed the door shut behind him, then exited into the bright daylight exposure of the Agatha Special Force ground.

"Don’t mind him, he’s just going out to show off to his girls," Liu Yan said, smiling at Leon.

Leon smiled back, then walked toward the wardrobe that was allocated to him the first day he joined the Madhouse.

"Uhm... I need to send this to Lily." He stared at the jade emblems. "Uncle Feng can help them sell and use the money to support Mom’s condition."

He sighed heavily, the smiling face of Li Mei hovering in his thoughts.

He grabbed twenty of the jade emblems, five hundred of the jade coins, then turned toward Liu Yan.

"Uhm..." he caught her attention. "How can I send these to someone in Thule?"

Liu Yan stared at the items clouding Leon’s mind. "There is no need to send such valuable items."

"Why?" Leon’s expression shifted.

"You can just go to the exchange office for them to exchange it to money." Liu Yan paused, then stood up from Wu Ze’s side.

"Let me show you where the office is."

Leon placed the items in a backpack he found in his portion of the wardrobe, then followed Liu Yan out of the Madhouse.

Entering the main street at the front of the CODX building, the eyes of strange people Leon had never seen drew to him like holes in a fishing net.

Whispers his ears couldn’t hear clung to him so much it caused his steps to falter.

"What type of money would you want to exchange it to?" Liu Yan asked, slowing her steps as they neared the twenty-meter glass building.

"Are there types of money?" Leon’s eyebrow raised, scratching his chin with his fingers.

"Don’t you know?" Liu Yan looked at the boy in a swift up-and-down sequence, then gave a shallow sigh.

’Seriously? No wonder some call him Dusthollow Rat.’ She glanced at Leon, then back at the building in front of them. ’How can someone like him—he might even be between the ages of eighteen to twenty.’

"Well," Liu Yan broke the rampage in her head, "there is digital, physical, and the one normally referred to as Essence money."