"As I just said: I was unconscious for one full day. I only woke up at noon yesterday. Why are you asking that, bro?"
Royce widened his eyes at Ethan's strange question. And Ethan - apparently not satisfied with the answer from his friend of another species - continued to surprise Royce.
"So what day is it today?"
"It's only the 17th."
"And the month?"
"It's still October, bro."
"But October of what year?"
"Ha ha ha!"
Royce didn't answer Ethan right away because he was too busy laughing. His human friend looked so bright and intelligent, yet it turned out he was unbelievably gullible.
"Bro! Don't tell me… Don't tell me you believed all that nonsense Felix made up earlier?"
Instead of answering Royce, Ethan lowered his head and looked at his own hands.
Ever since he had started living with Autumn, Ethan's fair hands had become noticeably rougher because of Mr. Silvan's morning physical training sessions.
His fingers were still slender, but the joints between them had visibly grown larger and stronger.
On top of that, his palms, once smooth and soft, were now covered with calluses and scars - the result of using his bare hands to swing, grip, climb, and scramble up trees or sheer cliffs.
Combined with the blue veins that always stood out on the backs of his hands, Ethan's hands no longer looked like those of a "frail scholar who couldn't even tie up a chicken" as they once had.
But in the end, they still didn't look like the hands of an old man - old enough to have eye bags, a double chin, gray hair, and wrinkled skin - like the portrait Felix had taken of him.
And from Ethan's observations, although people could use many methods to make their faces look younger than their real age, the condition of the skin on the neck, the backs of the hands, and the knees never lied about a person's true age.
Oh!
How could Ethan have been so gullible?
Meanwhile, the wounds on his body from the previous battle with Kai clearly hadn't healed completely. Now and then, the wound on his chest still throbbed sharply, as if reminding him that he had only been unconscious for a day or two - not in a coma for ten whole years, as that boy with the beauty of a music idol had fabricated.
If ten years had truly passed, then the wounds on Ethan's body, along with the traces of damage on all ten of his fingertips from touching the slimy fluid of the cocoon formed from Kai's body, should have disappeared by now.
Hmph!
Felix! That little brat! Ethan needs to teach him a lesson!
"Hey, bro! Where are you going? You're not fully recovered yet."
Royce quickly grabbed the hem of Ethan's shirt when he saw him suddenly stand up and march toward the door with murder written all over his face.
"Leave me alone. I need to deal with that kid."
"And what exactly are you planning to do to him?"
"I… I'm going to…"
Ethan faltered.
He really was furious.
But honestly, he had no idea how he was supposed to put that little brat Felix in his place.
Scold him?
No.
Ever since he was little, Ethan had never lashed out at anyone with harsh words. True, his parents had practically fed him verbal scoldings whenever he came home with poor exam scores. But he genuinely had no desire to hurt someone else the same way he had once been hurt.
Maybe beat him up?
That wasn't an option either.
After all, Felix was a year younger than Ethan and nearly ten centimeters shorter. Even though he was a Vampire, the boy looked much more slender and fragile than Ethan. On top of that, he was still living with an artificial heart while his real one underwent special treatment after being crushed by the Blood Giver.
See?
How could Ethan possibly use brute force to punish such a pitiful kid?
But at the same time, he couldn't simply let Felix get away with it. If he kept giving in and letting things slide, the brat would only become bolder. Who knew what kind of prank he'd pull on Ethan next?
"Ah… That's it! Hehehe!"
"Bro, you're freaking me out. Why are you laughing like that all of a sudden?"
"I'll… I'll… Hehehe!"
"What are you going to do? Seriously, just say it already. Stop laughing."
"I'm going to… make him less handsome. That brat cares way too much about his looks."
But how?
Ethan instinctively rested a hand on his chin, deep in thought, just like that famous teenage detective from the never-ending manga series. Then he remembered how Ruby had screamed in panic and even fainted when she saw a few scratches appear on her beautiful face.
He wondered…
How would Felix react if the same thing happened to him?
Forget it.
Whatever.
Ethan decided to postpone punishing Felix for the time being. His heart suddenly felt heavy as he thought about Kai, Ruby, Anya, and Yara.
And that was when he finally realized why he had fallen for Felix's prank so easily.
He had believed it simply because he had wanted to believe it.
Yeah. If ten years had really passed, everything would have been so much easier.
Kai's fate - whether he had died as a Feral Vampire or survived and become a Semi Vampire - would already belong to the past. By now, his family would probably have found a way to move on from their grief.
Perhaps Kai's story had even faded from the memories of the people in Harmony Town, becoming nothing more than another urban legend alongside all the other horrifying incidents that had taken place there.
But sadly, everything had happened only the day before yesterday.
Ethan still had to face the present… and the guilt of not saving Kai in time.
In that regard, Ethan found his own thoughts rather puzzling. What difference was there, really, between facing something that had happened two days ago and something that had happened ten years ago? The past was simply the past.
"Felix isn't down there, bro. He'd never dare come anywhere near this area."
Royce whispered as the two of them stood before the fire door leading to the emergency staircase on Basement Level B2 of the Field Hospital.
Ethan's Bloodbound instincts warned him not to recklessly descend another flight of stairs. Because something was waiting below - something a weak human like him was better off never trying to understand.
"I know. I'm not looking for Felix. I just want to know what happened to Kai."
"As far as I know… he's still alive."
"But I want to know what kind of 'alive' he is."
"Alive is alive. That's all you need to know. We should head back upstairs."
Royce tried to persuade Ethan, but it was already too late. Ethan had pushed open the second fire door and plunged into the endless darkness of the staircase leading down to Basement Level B3.
Unlike the emergency stairwells connecting B1 and B2, the motion-sensor lights on the staircase to B3 didn't work. But that didn't intimidate Ethan in the slightest. Once someone had crossed the line between life and death more than once, darkness itself no longer seemed frightening.
Realizing there was no stopping the stubborn human boy - who could be as mule-headed as an actual mule - Royce quickened his pace, overtook Ethan, and took the lead, ready to protect the fragile young man from whatever dangers might lie ahead.