Chasing You and I'm Home(追声与循途) by 庸责己

Chapter 16 (vol.2 Ups and Downs)

The four members of Hail Schoenberg No.2 wait with ants in pants until the third day; they can't wait anymore, and Hardbone is sent to ask. Zhongyuan sends a message right on 8 o'clock in Indonesia.

- Hardbone: How is Jakarta?
- Kang: Not so good.
- Kang: The flood was too bad, the slums look like Venice after war.
- Hardbone: Oh, how is the people there?
- Kang: Pretty good, they're simple.

Zhongyuan thinks: I'm not wanting to know about the natives. He strikes his phone, thinking how could he ask about Lin Yan inadvertently.

The text box jumps out with a new message:

- Kang: I saw Lin Yan.
- Kang: He's also in Jakarta.

His phone drops to the floor when Zhongyuan se the messages. He picks his phone up in the speed of "food can still be eaten if you pick it up within 3 seconds"; says three times "thank god" silently; after calming down in one minute, he starts typing very fast.

- Hardbone: Is he? I only heard about him being invited to the South East Asia by the foundation in Singapore.
- Kang: Then yes.
- Hardbone: You guys met? So lucky.
- Hardbone: What did you talk about?
- Kang: We didn't, he didn't notice me.
- Hardbone: Huh?
- Kang: I didn't let him to.
- Hardbone: ......
- Hardbone: Why?

This conversation ends since Kang stops replying.

Zhongyuan sends the screenshot of their conversation directly to Hail Schoenberg No. 2.

- Hardbone: It ended here. He didn't reply.
- Guan Xiao: ......
- Principal: ......
- Xi Feng: What does that means?
- Principal: It means that stupid Mu doesn't want to see Conductor Lin.
- Xi Feng: Why's that?

Why? It's a hard question. Xifeng don't know, Liming couldn't understand, Xiao couldn't explain, Zhongyuan doesn't feel the same.

Maybe, about the people that have more pride, the more reluctant to admit about their depravity, they always fool themselves into thinking that they never forget their original intentions.

Until one day, he passed time, and once again saw his intention that once throbbed strongly.


Kang leaves right on the day he saw Yan. He feels very uncomfortable as he thinks about leaving without greeting, especially when there are only less than 3 meters between them. It happens that there are some buddies in the diving group are looking for someone to go to country P to dive, saying that they got a reliable original dive site map.

Kang replies immediately:

- I'm going, help me with the equipment.

They meet at county M, lend 2 cars and drive for 4 hours, then change to boat for one hour and finally arrive at the island.

That dude isn't joking; the new dive spot is really nice, high under water visibility. High diversity of creatures, especially the big ones: tuna, mullet, flagellum and sea turtles are everywhere. Kang is insatiable even after diving for two days, the others even are planning one week for this diving trip.

Unfortunately, Kang has so much works to be done, he just has to leave.

When the sky isn't bright yet on the third day, the homestay host takes him away from the island. Kang, with his diving equipment and luggage, drives alone to the airport.

The weather is hot and wet, clouds are low in the sky. There's fog diffusing the road, bringing the visibility down to less than 20 meters. Kang drives for 2 hours, stopping by the road to fill the gasoline.

He has just taken the oil drum out of the trunk when he feels a cold, solid thing pressing on his waist.

Kang stuns for a while, and he sees two people walking out the forest: a man that's about 40 to 50 years old, and the other one younger. Both of them are wearing vest and camouflage pants, holding dagger, looking at him fiercely.

The solid object that's pressing his back hits hard.

Kang's cold sweat comes down.

Country P is a popular place for diving, Kang came for more than once before. He knew that there are a lot of robbery at some far-off diving spot.

However, knowing it and experiencing it are two different situations.

Kang holds his hands to fists and forces himself to calm down. The current situation is very unfavorable to him: there are three people on the other side, and the one who is behind him is likely to have a gun, and he has only his fists. By one-on-one, Kang is sure that he can win, one-on-two, he can bet it, but he can only give in when there are three enemies with weapons.

People who come diving rarely bring valuables. Divers are not the targets of robbers most of the time. Kang dared to leave by car alone because he knew it, and he doesn't expect that he could still experience this.

Kang carries the fear that panned in his heart. He trembles and raises his hands to show that he wouldn't resist, and points to the diving equipment in the trunk slightly, indicating that he was only diving without valuable things.

The person holding the gun behind him should have seen the diving equipment and speaks a few words with the other two companions. The young one shows a hesitant look and turns to look at the 40 years old man.

That man is expressionless. His yellow eyes are looking at Kang like a dead object and slowly approached. He reaches out and takes out the cigarette case and lighter from Kang's left pocket, and takes the phone out of the right pocket.

Kang smells a strong smell of sweat, soil and smoke.

The man whispers to the other two, and the person behind Kang immediately hits his neck. He doesn't have great techniques to make someone pass out, but it is enough to make people dizzy.

Kang shudders, and before standing still, the man gives him another hit.

Kang kneels down to the ground all at once, his sweat covers his handsome face, dropping into the soil bit by bit.

The two young men tie Kang's hands and feet skillfully, tightly, and the rough twine is deep into the skin. The older man refuels the car, and the three of them throw Kang into the back seat. Two of them sit in the front row, and one sits beside Kang's.

The robbers here are very dangerous. The bad and chaotic environment makes life worthless. Killing a person is not different from killing a chicken; killing a person or not after robbing is just a matter of mood for them.

The car is bumpy, and Kang has a strong desire to vomit. He is dizzy and he thinks: where is this going? The slaughterhouse?

...He never knew that killing is exquisite here.

Kang is groggy and is rippling all the way. As if after a century, the car finally stops.

He opens his eyes, and the sky outside the window is still familiar and gloomy, and time doesn't seem to past for long.

The car door opens, and more people speak, Kang still couldn't understand a sentence. Someone comes over to untie the rope under his feet and pull him out hard.

It takes Kang a long time to stand. The entrance is a vacant lot surrounded by dense jungle. There is a simple and old abandoned building in the center. The walls are dappled and mottled.

Other than the three men who brought Kang here, there are still seven or eight men sitting or standing in the open space; all wearing similar vest camouflage pants, staring at him improperly.

This is not an ordinary robber at all, it is a large organized criminal group.

How the hell can he escape? Kang is horrified, and he is born with timid despair.

No one comes to waste energy and touches him anymore. The older man comes over and points to the only building here, and says indifferently in English, "Go in."

Kang has no choice but to walk in slowly.

All windows are blocked, leaving only one door frame facing the open space for people to enter and leave. The room is dimly lit, and the walls are covered with graffiti and suspicious marks; the ground is dirty and messy, and a pile of branches and rubble are stirring sporadic food packaging bags; the air is cloudy and stagnant, and there is a lingering wet, dust, and rot smell.

Kang stands by the door, faintly seeing a man sitting in the corner, hands also tied, with messy hair and disheveled clothes.

When I meet a partner, it seems that we could cross this together. He thinks anxiously. Don't know what language this dude speaks, it'll be too bad if they don't speak the same language and couldn't talk for the last minute.

The guy in the corner slowly raises his head when he heard the footsteps. His face is covered with dust, and the original whiteness and refinement couldn't be seen. What left is a pair of clean and clear eyes, looking straight to Kang.

At the moment when their eyes meet, Kang could hear nothing.

The man asks him to go in and sit down impatiently, but Kang stands stupidly without any reaction.

Seeing that the man is about to come in with a knife, Lin Yan whispers nervously: "Kang!"

Kang replied unconsciously: "... Ah?"

Yan almost snarls: "Sit across from me, quickly!"

Yan never talked to him like this. Kang is finally pulled back by this roar. He doesn't dare to look back. They both catch fear and anxiety in the eyes of the other, and both bow their heads.

The man walks to the door with a dagger, glancing at the two hostages who looked very obedient, and turns away.

They sit nervously silent for more than ten minutes, and find that no one cares about them at all. A group of kidnappers chat and sleep, not even worrying about the two defenseless unlucky guys in the building would work together.

Very reasonable, they are really not considered as threat.

The surprise has dissipated, Kang stares at Yan to his opposite, his mouth is bitter.

He envisioned countless situations where he meets Lin Yan again, from dreams to reality, from expectations to calmness, for seven years, and never stopped. In each scenario, Lin Yan must be handsome, elegant, clean and confident. That is the unique temperament of conductor Lin. There is only one person in the world like that.

Even the Yan who was playing piano in the ruins a few days ago, can still perfectly match the figure that has never faded in his memory.

Anyway, not this one.

Not like this.

Yan's mouth was reddish, with blotches of blood that had dried up, and his face is exhausted. His hands holding the baton were tied, and his eyes are blank.

Kang takes a good look at it, and his heart shudders with anger: How could they ... treat him like this.

He doesn't want to say anything, and silently stares at Yan's dirty face. He puts aside his life and death, only thinking about what he could do to save Yan out.

Both of them are imprisoned and the calamity is approaching. It should be a time when they are weeping or running out of hope.

But Yan smiles at Kang at this moment.

As if the clouds are scattered by the warm sun, the rain drop in the beginning of the spring, Yan's eyes vividly reveal the gentleness that Kang was familiar of.

He looks at his crush who had been separated for many years and says softly, "It's so nice to see you."