Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 114: Go

Li Mei’s eyes fluttered open, a rasping laugh escaping her. "Silly," she whispered in a dry voice. "I’m not dead yet." She raised her left hand and patted Leon’s chest.

Leon’s eyes rolled in their sockets. His mind scrambled, trying to piece the horrific puzzle of her words together. ’Not dead yet? What does she mean?’

Then deliberate footsteps echoed in the hallway behind him. He didn’t turn to check, but felt a great pressure slam down on his shoulders.

Behind him, Mr. Lee and Feng stood at the doorway, blocking the hall’s light from entering the room. "It’s time," Mr. Lee said in a low voice that left no room for argument.

On the bed, Li Mei’s grip on Leon’s hand loosened. But she gave his index finger one last squeeze, then let go. "Go," she said in a soft command, followed by a calm smile.

Leon stared at her, his eyes tilting from the slope of her nose, to her mouth, and finally to the blind white eyes that seemed to see straight through his soul.

’Mom, I will miss you,’ he whispered in his thoughts, leaned down, and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

His eyes closed for a brief second as he forced himself upright, his muscles protesting.

A choking cough echoed from behind him after he turned toward the door.

Cough. Cough. Cough.

He paused, his right foot hovering over the ground, every instinct screaming for him to go back. Leon closed his eyes, her words resurfacing in his skull: Go.

Leon took the step, then another, and walked into the hallway without looking back.

Mr. Lee stepped from the corner and stood beside him, then placed a heavy hand on Leon’s right shoulder. Feng walked by Leon’s left.

A fresh wave of agony cut through Leon when his eyes snagged on the closed door of Lily’s room. ’I will make sure I get you whatever you need, while I am away,’ he promised her in the silence of his skull.

"Come on, they are waiting," Feng said in a tight voice. He placed a firm hand on Leon’s back and made Leon’s legs double their pace.

At the front door, the maid stood still, her hands clasped tightly before her chest. She stared at Leon with a wide stare, then nodded.

The moment they stepped outside, the cool but heavy air slammed into his face and waved through his hair.

Hei Luo, Lu Wang, and Hei Yung stood like obsidian pillars in the gravel driveway, waiting beside a hulking MRAP.

As soon as Leon’s boots crunched onto the ground, a rolling rumble of thunder followed. Then, in a blink, rain began to fall heavily, striking the ground like thousands of swords.

The cold drops struck his head, his shoulders, and his entire body, soaking him instantly. His jet-black hair plastered to his scalp and neck as he moved forward.

He closed his eyes, tilted his face up, letting the drops hit him directly in the face.

Behind his eyelids, the face of his mother’s tender smile, Lily’s teasing grin, and his father’s paint-stained face appeared and reeled like a movie.

From his right side, Mr. Lee placed a hand at Leon’s back and guided him forward, then pushed him into the MRAP.

The roaring sound of the rain muted when the door was slammed shut.

"Welcome on board, Leon Storm," Hei Luo said in a conversational tone as he settled into the seat opposite the boy.

He stretched his arms forward and wrapped them around Leon’s in a formal greeting.

Leon turned his head to the window, closed his eyes, and sighed. When he cracked his eyes open, he saw the rain on the glass, distorting the world into watery streaks of light and shadow.

After an hour, the MRAP halted at the front of a massive wall. At the top of the wall was an inscription written boldly across it: WELCOME TO THULE AIRLINE – MILITARY TERMINAL

Mr. Lee got down from the front passenger seat and stepped into the rain. Leon followed, the rain turning his warm body cold.

"They will take you from here," Mr. Lee said in a voice that was barely audible over the rain and the hum of the airport.

He offered no further explanation or final words of advice.

Hei Luo and his two colleagues walked around Leon and moved him through a series of security gates that clicked open for them.

They moved past armed guards whose faces were like those of hungry lions. They snapped to attention the moment Hei Luo walked up to them.

The three men and the boy walked on and entered a large area. Air that smelled of fuel and metal struck Leon’s lungs when he inhaled.

In the center of the vast area was a military craft with its engines on and running.

Leon followed the men in black and entered. Just as the ramp began to close with a hydraulic sigh, he finally realized Mr. Lee and Feng were not following.

’Where are they?’ he screamed in his head. "Mr. Lee! Uncle Feng!" he called their names loudly, the echo seeming to pierce through his own skin like sharp knives.

"Leon," Hei Luo spoke out. "They are not here."

Leon stared at him, the shock solidifying into wild confusion. "WHY?"

"They are officials of the Thule Federation," Hei Luo stated. "They will only visit when protocol permits."

He gestured to a padded seat. "Now, sit and tighten the belt across your waist. Also, grab the stability hook there." He paused, tilted his gaze at his colleagues.

"We don’t want you to be injured before you arrive."

Leon numbly did as he had been instructed, fumbling with the heavy clasps. He pulled the harness tight until it dug into his chest, then held onto the hook bolted to the seat.

In a blink, the craft lifted with a power that pressed Leon down into the seat.

Even on the inside, Leon felt the violent thrust and the scream of the engines intently fighting gravity.