Chapter 16.2 – Undisclosed Strength
The warm lighting perfectly complemented her absolutely stunning beauty. This enormous bathroom that was decorated to a ridiculous level could not seize any of her spotlight and instead served as her backdrop.
Only, her beauty seemed to be completely useless against Su. Su placed her 'luggage' on the ground and silently left the bathroom. He didn't even turn his head once, let alone find an excuse to stay in the bathroom.
Persephone didn't let this small frustration defeat her. When the bathroom door was closed, she straightened her body and raised her head to gaze into a small wall lamp in the bathroom corner. She then smiled.
In the Black Dragonriders headquarters, the old man's screen just so happened to take in Persephone's composed yet wild beauty at that moment. He saw her close one eye, form the sign of a pistol with her left hand, and then aim perfectly at the area between the old man's brows.
"Bang!" From those erotic lips that were slightly opened, she uttered the sound a pistol made.
The screen on the old man's table immediately darkened and then released a green-colored smoke. The old man coughed, and embarrassment once again returned to his face.
Su hugged the Barrett while leaning against the head of a flight of stairs. His mind was a complete mess. Even though the scenario of the Black Dragonrider's third encounter had played itself several times in his head, there was still no way he could have imagined today's bizarre situation. He struggled to guess Persephone's next possible action, but he couldn't obtain the slightest bit of information through the methods he was used to using to analyze opponents. Su couldn't even guess at the true purpose of her arrival.
After being lost in his thoughts for a while, the master bedroom door quietly opened. Persephone walked out while shrouded in steam and sighed in satisfaction.
She had already changed from her classic professional outfit. A light-colored spaghetti strap nightgown wrapped around her post-shower skin. The hem of the skirt seemed to barely cover the upper portion of her thighs. Her stockings had long been removed, and her shoes had been exchanged for a pair of light slippers. Under the lighting, her feet were extremely dazzling. Her gray hair was still wrapped above her head, but it seemed much more casual. The black frame glasses now began to emit an enticing feeling.
An opened bottle of whiskey appeared in Persephone's left hand, and in her right were two glasses. She stood in front of Su and stared at him. "You seem to hug your gun as if you are hugging a woman."
Su raised his head. From his current angle, he could practically see where the other end of the pair of long, snow white legs was. However, it was still 'practically' because there was still 1.5 centimeters. For Su who was proficient in sniping, the number '1.5 centimeters' truly left him somewhat helpless. He couldn't help but admit that Persephone's charm was just too great.
Su patted the cloth wrapped Barrett in his hands. He smiled and said, "Women are unreliable, while guns are different."
Persephone revealed a slight smile and sat beside Su. She seemed to have extended her long, snow white legs right in front of Su's face. "This sentence shouldn't be spoken in front of a woman, you know. Want a drink?"
Her current posture seemed to completely display her impressive figure in front of Su. When Su's eyes passed her body, a thought automatically entered his mind: she wasn't wearing anything underneath. His eyes measured the thickness of the nightgown on their own and then reached this conclusion. This conclusion came extremely fast, to the point where Su couldn't even stop himself. He suddenly felt as if the instantaneous reactions he had relied on in the past didn't seem to be that useful.
Seeing Persephone push over a glass of whiskey, Su felt extremely awkward. After hesitating for a few seconds, with the resoluteness of facing inevitable death, he drained the cup in one gulp.
Persephone also finished it in one go. She stuck out her pink tongue and slowly licked away the remaining whiskey from her lips. She then poured another glass all the way to the brim. Leaning forward, she placed her arm on Su's shoulder. With the tip of her nose almost touching Su's light blonde hair, she softly said, "Why don't you come with me back to the Black Dragonriders?"
"You can bring my corpse back." Su replied.
"No fun." Persephone muttered. She downed her glass of alcohol, and her right hand pulled off a bit of the bandages around Su's face. Almost sticking to his ear, and in an extremely soft voice, she said, "I have a final trump card that will definitely make you want to delightfully follow me back, but I don't want to use it yet. Your face is one that I will always be able to see, but I want you to show me yourself… do you hear me?"
She gently blew into Su's ear, and Su's light blonde hair immediately stood up! Then, it slowly scattered down.
That night, Persephone naturally occupied the master bedroom. Su held his Barrett and leaned against the gate in his old position as he slept. Persephone did not express any opposition towards his choice of location, as if she never worried about him escaping through the night at all.
Su didn't think that much either. Based solely on pursuit, this bit wasn't nearly enough for him to create a safe distance. Moreover, each second he stayed near Persephone drained more of his strength than during actual combat. Together with that glass of alcohol, Su was already dizzy. As such, he quickly fell asleep.
This time, Su's vigilance became unusually low, to the point where he had been completely surrounded by the warm darkness. This was the first time in a while where he relaxed. There were no dreams, but he did not wake either.
Only when the rumbling sounds of machines entered his ears did he wake up from his deep slumber. His consciousness wa still clinging onto the cozy feeling, making him a bit reluctant to wake. Through the gap between the base's gate, he could see that the sky was already bright, seeming to be around 9:45 or so.
Could he have actually slept for 12 hours? Su suddenly snapped awake!
The moment his eyes opened wide, Su's body suddenly went rigid. Then, he slowly relaxed. The Barrett had unknowingly when moved from his chest to his side, and the hard, ice-cold metal alloy below him had a layer of soft blanket under him. A thin blanket was also placed over his body. A pillow had even been added behind his neck. Under this unfamiliar situation, Su's first instinct should have been to immediately enter a combative state, yet the feeling of reluctance to leave this warm and gentle environment made him unable to immediately produce a reaction.
"Woke up?" Persephone walked over from around the corner. Today she had changed into a light blue shirt and a pair of jeans. On her feet were a pair of lightweight multi-purpose sneakers. Her gray hair had been tied into a simple pony tail, making her appear extremely pure and sporty. The only thing that was the same as yesterday were the black frame glasses, as well as the pair of beautiful eyes capable of a myriad of instant changes.
The female canvas bag immediately appeared in Su's mind, automatically calculating the amount of space the clothing and footwear occupied when folded. He then couldn't help but feel a bit awkward the instant this conditioned reflex took place.
Persephone smiled as she stood there. In her hands was a plate of piping hot food, and a wrench was sticking out from her back pocket. The black pencil was now currently serving as a hair pin. The jeans might be even better at revealing her long legs' fine lines than her pencil skirt. Su felt like the Persephone today was even a bit more intimate, and the temptation that was hidden behind her hidden outward appearance was even greater.
Su lifted the blanket and was about to stand up when she said, "Dont get up." She then directly sat at Su's side. Her hands brought over the plate of food, and then she enthusiastically looked into his eye and said, "Breakfast!"
What was on the plate was in fact just the nutrient-filled food the base produced, but after it had gone through Persephone's hands, it became rather fragrant. Based on Su's customary line of thinking, after undergoing further cooking, the manufactured nutrient-filled food definitely suffered some loss of nutrients, so it felt rather wasteful. However, as he looked at this plate of food, Su began to feel his reasoning was starting to become challenged, feeling that this might not be that bad of a choice too.
"What about you?" Su immediately calculated the amount of nutrient-filled food in the plate and noticed that this should be roughly the amount that was leftover in the base.
Sure enough, she smiled and said, "Only found this much. You are a man and need to fight, so you should eat first."
This was a reply that was completely fitting for the wilderness. Surviving in the wilderness, with food and water limited, the order of distribution should be adult men, children, women, and then old people last. Su seemed to have felt an illusion, as if she had already become a model wilderness woman that was sending off a man about to go hunting.
Su's reasoning immediately expelled this type of absurd reasoning. Forget about everything else, just from how easily she removed Su's pistol form his hands, how she was able to remove his gun and bullets, and how she even placed a blanket over him proved how powerful of an individual this mysterious and beautiful woman was. At the very least, none of the Black Dragonriders he had met thus far were comparable.
Su picked up the table knife and split the food into two halves. He left the smaller half for himself and the large portion for Persephone.
"This much is enough for me." Facing her sparkling eyes, this was what Su said.