Chapter 67: Azure basilisk (7)
Jaster glared at the hundred of cables tangled up together in front of him. They bound and tangled in a complicated way, spreading all the way to the roof.
"Shkkk...." Jaster could practically sense the snake now. He kept sidling until he reached the cables.
This would have been easily solved if he weren’t forced to pose sideways in an impossibly tight space.
"SHKKKK!!!"
"WHAT DO I DO?" Jaster’s mind raced, his heart beating fast. The fact that he didn’t know what the snake was doing made his adrenaline surge.
He used his last resort. Instead of his head facing sideways, he forced it to face the wet wall. Then he raised his arms and dug his nails into the wet cement. He kept repeating the motion, climbing slowly and steadily.
"Shkkk!!" Just after a few climbs, with his head facing forward, he could finally see what was below him.
Underneath, he saw the basilisk’s huge head sniffing the tangled cables. The monster had used its long body to chase after him in this tight space. Jaster panicked, and his chest began to glow.
He started changing his skin to match the dark grey cement he was holding onto, camouflaging himself against the wall.
"Shkkkk??" The beast looked around. It tried to get to the other side of the cables but got pushed back by the thousands of wires.
It looked left, then right. When the monster didn’t see anything on both side, it looked up.
For a moment, Jaster’s eyes met the basilisk’s diamond eyes. He shut his eyes immediately, trying to stop his heart from beating too loudly.
The snake squinted after seeing one of the "cement" patches shake a bit. It lifted its body, its head reaching in front of the white-haired boy.
The beast’s eyes narrowed at the shaking cement. It started moving closer, slowly.
Please, no. Please, no. Please, no...
He begged anyone up there that he wouldn’t be found. The snake got close to his camouflaged hair and sniffed a couple more times.
"Shkkkk?" It retreated its head and opened its giant maw.
Shoot!
Jaster thought he needed to do something. As the snake kept getting closer, a long blue tongue emerged from its mouth.
Then the tongue touched his camouflaged hair. It maneuvered slowly, tracing every strand.
Shit...
Just when Jaster thought it was game over, he heard a meow.
"Meowrr?" An orange cat stood on top of the cement wall. It meowed at the snake, tilting its head at the colossal serpent. The beast, however, didn’t react calmly. Its eyes dilated, and the monster screeched.
"SHAKKKKKKKK!!!!" It charged upward toward the orange cat, its giant maw ready to eat the feline.
"MEOOOWWWWWWRRR!" Jaster couldn’t see it, but he could hear the cat screeching as well. His heart ached as he closed his eyes.
I’m so sorry. I can’t do anything...
Jaster kept climbing until he reached the end of the tangled cables. Before he jumped to the other side, he heard a crunching noise, followed by a weak meow.
He didn’t dare turn around, nor could he anyway. He leaped sideways and landed on the wet concrete floor.
Jaster immediately got up. He was finally free from the tight space he’d been trapped in. He looked in front of him and saw the huge tangled cables. Now that he could see them clearly, he felt completely overwhelmed.
But he shook the thought away and started running, far from the cramped space he’d been in.
He kept running along the sidewalk, surprised by the gloomy atmosphere of the neighborhood. The first thing Jaster noticed was the abundance of apartments.
The tall buildings stretched so high that moonlight couldn’t even reach this area. The only light source came from half-broken streetlights that kept flickering.
But Jaster was more surprised to see that all the apartments were still standing strong.
Does the basilisk not come here? He thought about it for a moment. It made sense, the only passageway he knew to reach this part of town was that extremely tight space.
His thoughts were interrupted when he accidentally stepped in a purple liquid. The ground was extremely dirty, covered in trash and unknown substances.
He glanced to his right and saw a man lying on the floor, holding a bucket and waving it weakly. His skin had compressed, showing his skeleton underneath.
After a few more steps, Jaster kept seeing more people like this. They all had one thing in common: they were extremely malnourished.
His eyes shook. He couldn’t bear seeing all these suffering people. Though he hated humans, he would never wish this kind of life on his enemies.
"Well, maybe the Brokers are an exception."
He kept walking until he saw a grandmother feeding many kittens on the street. She was bent down, feeding all the baby and adult felines surrounding her.
"Meowrr." A tuxedo cat purred and stood up to reach the treat in the grandma’s hands.
"Oh, Lucy, you’re always so impatient!" She scolded the kitten but still gave Lucy the treat anyway.
Jaster finally sighed in relief.
Finally, someone who doesn’t look like they’re suffering from extreme poverty!
He ran toward the grandmother and stopped in front of her. He expected a response, but she didn’t acknowledge his existence and continued feeding her cats.
"Uhh... Hello, ma’am. Do you know a way out of here?" The grandmother startled at the boy’s voice and dropped the treat bag in her hands.
Cat treats spilled everywhere on the ground. The cats seized their chance and started munching on the fallen treats. Some even stuck their heads inside the bag.
"Ah, my bag!" The grandmother tried to bend down and grab it but grunted when her back started aching.
"I’m so sorry, miss! Let me get that for you!" Jaster picked up the bag from the ground and put all the fallen treats back inside.
After finishing, and getting side-eyes from the cats, he handed the bag back.
"Here you go, ma’am. Still, I’m incredibly sorry." He said nervously. The grandmother’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Jaster.
"Oh, oh, no need to do all that, kid." She gladly took the treat bag from Jaster’s hands. "You’re so kind and handsome. Oh, the twins will absolutely love you!"
Jaster didn’t understand a word she was saying. His eyes wandered, trying to think of something to say. In the end, he settled with:
"Yeah."
An awkward silence hung between the two strangers. Jaster rubbed the back of his head while forcing a smile.
"Actually, ma’am, I’m here to ask if you know a way out of here?"
The grandmother didn’t answer immediately. She continued staring at his eyes, then turned around and headed back inside her apartment.
"Come inside, my boy." She gestured with her hand for him to follow. Jaster blinked a few times, only able to form a few words.
"What?"
