NOVEL NEXT Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Threat of Death
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Su Ye took another deep breath before he turned to look west, toward the city center of Athens.
A small hill that was about a hundred meters tall stood in the city center. Atop the hill was a famous cluster of palatial buildings. The entire hill was known as the Acropolis.
Just like always, the Acropolis was enveloped by a thin layer of fog that hid everything except the giant statue of Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom.
Under the pure-white majesty of Athena’s statue, the Acropolis seemed like little more than a pedestal. The mist couldn’t rise beyond the knees of the divine statue, growing wispy and thin in the sunlight.
Su Ye turned his head slowly and looked east, toward Piraeus Harbor.
A giant bronze statue towered over the harbor, reaching twice the height of Athena’s statue. It was taller than any building in the city of Athens. The divine statue of Zeus was like a mountain.
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It pierced the clouds.
Greece in this world was several times larger than Greece in the Blue Star had been. Similarly, the Athens here was also substantially larger than Athens there.
2
Su Ye finally turned his calm gaze back to Lawrence. He said slowly, “I will settle my parents’ debt.”
Lawrence astutely noticed the difference between the words “settle” and “repay.” For some reason, he felt a shred of unease crawl through his heart. However, he smiled brutally when he swept his gaze over Su Ye’s immature face and thought about how he had almost scared Su Ye to death just now.
“Old Koror, how is this lad going to pay the money?” Lawrence asked.
The friendly-looking Koror took a step forward and said respectfully, “Master Lawrence, I would think that his only option will be to beg his friends and neighbors to lend him the money, just like a wild dog.”
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Su Ye clenched his jaw as he looked at Old Koror. There was an uncontrollable hatred in his heart.
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“I will give you the chance to borrow the money,” Lawrence said.
Su Ye said with determination, “I will gather enough money by tomorrow.”
“Is that so?” The centipede on Lawrence’s face contorted suddenly.
Lawrence took a fierce step forward. The color of his skin changed abruptly, showing a bronze, metallic color. It was as if his entire body had become bronze-plated concrete.
Before Su Ye could even react, Lawrence extended his right hand with blinding speed. His hand latched onto Su Ye’s neck like an eagle hunting for food, then jerked Su Ye into the air.
“Argh…”
Su Ye hung in the air, gasping futilely for oxygen. His mind was in chaos. He instinctively twisted his body and kicked with his legs, scrabbling with his hands as he tried to pry off Lawrence’s grip with all his strength.
However, Lawrence’s hand was locked tightly around his neck like a vice. Su Ye’s fingernails couldn’t even leave a scratch on Lawrence’s bronze skin.
Su Ye’s eyes bulged outward. His face was turning purple, and his thrashing was getting weaker.
The world darkened around the edges. Fear spread throughout his body as he felt an unprecedented sense of despair. Death was descending on him.
“I don’t want to die!” Su Ye roared furiously in his heart. However, what replied was deeper darkness and vast silence.
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Su Ye slowly closed his eyes…
“Master Lawrence, don’t kill him…” Koror said fearfully, while watching from the side.
“Alright.” Lawrence loosened his grip, and Su Ye fell to the floor.
Thump!
Su Ye hit the ground in a senseless pile. His violent coughs and deep rasping for air sounded like the pathetic whirs of a broken wind box.
“He sounds like a braying donkey.” Lawrence smiled, then turned to leave.
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The centipede on his face seemed to be writhing slowly back and forth.
The four muscular men hurriedly stepped to the side and opened up a path.
“I’ll be back before the sun rises.” Lawrence walked outside with large strides.
Koror bowed and squinted, then smiled and said in a friendly tone, “Just turn over the house. Otherwise, there will be another corpse in the slums tomorrow for the wild dogs to pick clean.” He smiled and vanished out the door.
Su Ye pressed his arms into the ground and pushed himself weakly upright. He gritted his teeth, pressing his fists into the floor until his knuckles turned white.
Sometime later, the voices of the neighbors could be heard from the door.
Su Ye took a deep breath and suppressed the fury in his heart. He stood up and walked to the door, patting the dust off his body as he did.
When he saw their sympathetic expressions, Su Ye knew that his neighbors couldn’t help him, even though they wanted to. He forced out a smile. “I’m a bit shaken up right now, so I need to calm down and think for a while. I’ll take care of all this. You guys have plenty to do without being worried about me.”
Su Ye nodded and closed the door, ignoring the reactions from his neighbors.
They stared at Su Ye’s door for a good while and shook their heads.
“What a pity for such a good child…” the crowd muttered as they split up.
Su Ye leaned on the door as countless memories surfaced in his head. He couldn’t tell if the memories were from his dreams or reality.
Ten minutes later, Su Ye creased his brows and realized that his thoughts had slipped into chaos. He instinctively tapped his right thumb and index finger twice, then pushed his chest out and head up before he took a deep breath.
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“What’s the most important thing that I should be doing at this point in time?” he thought.
After he asked himself the famous question by Alan Lakein, Su Ye immediately suppressed his complicated emotions. Instead of thinking about the general mess he was in, Su Ye broke the situation down and began thinking about each fact individually.
“My family had no quarrel with Lawrence. In fact, Lawrence bought the loan from someone else after he found out that my parents had passed on. The person who loaned my parents the money sent someone to apologize to me. That means that this house must be his goal. Ownership of this house was what made us citizens of Athens.”
“If that is the case, why is he trying to take the house away from me?”
“If I consider things from his perspective instead of mine, then… He chose us because my family are outsiders, not natives of Greece. I haven’t learned magic, and my abilities are weak. Also, my parents didn’t have any powerful connections. My parents’ friends aren’t as influential as Lawrence. He isn’t just the leader of an ordinary mercenary regiment; rumor has it that he is managing a band of pirates in secret and that he has the support of a noble.”
“That’s not completely correct…”
“Old Koror was out with my parents when they were killed. Why didn’t he die as well?”
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“Why would he betray my family and sell me out? Does he have anything to do with the death of my parents?”
“Uncle Figo tried to plead with Lawrence on my behalf, but it didn’t help. Afterward, he told me that Lawrence normally wouldn’t do anything too eye-catching within the city, but something different was going on here. I didn’t understand what my uncle said at first, but now I think he was hinting that Lawrence has some other motive. He might even kill me to achieve his goal.”
“The person who handed the debt over to Lawrence sent someone to apologize and gave me some food two days ago. He said something very strange. He said that he hadn’t thought things would turn out this way. On the surface, he might have been talking about the transfer of the debt. But when I think about it more closely, he seemed to have been apologizing after he realized an even more serious outcome.”
“Furthermore, when Lawrence came to speak to me the first time, he ransacked my house under the excuse that he was looking for valuables, but it was clear that he was searching for something else while he was going through the cabinets. He searched the house again today.”
“Could the death of my parents have something to do with an object?”
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“He might harm me even if he gets the house,” Su Ye concluded. “I only have two choices now. I can either run for my life, or I can find the strength to resist Lawrence!”
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Su Ye quickly arrived at a decision.
“Lawrence will definitely send men to keep an eye on me. He will never allow me to leave this city alive. In that case, I should be searching for the strength to resist Lawrence and protect myself! If I cannot save myself, then I can consider ways to avoid Lawrence’s surveillance and escape from Athens.”
Su Ye slowly walked around the house as he thought about this.
Su Ye’s house was fashioned in the style of typical Greek dwellings. It was built using clay bricks and crushed pebbles, then painted an ashen-white. While the nobles and the extremely wealthy might build palaces for themselves, an average Greek wasn’t picky about where they lived. The walls of the house were covered in irregular dents and holes, revealing either the gray mud or colored rocks underneath.
The main door faced a small yard. In the middle of the yard sat an empty marble pedestal, colored with alternating black and white, which usually supported a statue.
To the right of the yard was a wall, and outside the wall was a narrow alley. To the left of the yard were the storehouse, lobby, and bedrooms.
In the front of the house was an Ionian-style colonnade, with bleached, circular pillars of rough construction carved from naked granite. Within the colonnade were the living room, kitchen, and bathroom.
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All in all, it was a typical folk house in the city of Athens.
However, the house’s furnishings were scattered about in disarray.