Chapter 013 : Someone in Somewhere

A man ran quick. In his current state, additional abilities that he never had came out of his body. Under normal circumstances, he could not possibly have run so fast and so far. The heavy breathing made him feel chest pains. It felt like he had been running for a long time. He didn't know how much longer he could run before his body fell due to fatigue. Wherever he turned, that man was still chasing him from behind. This chase seemed like an eternity.

Slowly, the dark night turned into a black shadow, ready to swallow him. The person was already running and running, but it seemed as if he was only turning around on this seemingly endless path. He hoped this was just a nightmare. But it was definitely not a dream because he could not wake up at all and escape from all of these. From hours ago, he was being hunted like a wild animal that had to be eliminated.

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As he thought this, his legs felt even weaker. His breathing was heavy and chasing. It almost made his lungs explode. His lungs ached more and more. He lacked oxygen. At this time, he wishes he could stop running to take a deep breath. But it meant the man who was chasing him could catch up with him straight away.

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He tried to kill the negative thoughts that came to his mind.

A few dozen steps later, he turned around again. This time, he was running on a surface that felt very hard to step on. There was a lot of gravel scattered in some parts. He ran as if he was sliding on the slippery gravel. If he was not careful, he could fall on those small stones. And it happened then. A few steps later, he fell off. Fortunately, He fell on his stomach. So, he still was able to hold it with both hands so that his face did not hit the hard surface. Immediately, he managed to stand up. He felt pain because his palms and wrists were covered with scratches. But he had to bear it. He must forget the pain.

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Because of this fall, a lot of time was wasted. He felt his pursuer was getting closer.

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During the chase, he never looked back. Just ran forward and stared straight ahead. Looking back would only slow him down. He did not see the pursuer at all and only wondered how far he was from the pursuer. By his estimation, the pursuer was quite far behind him. Maybe between eighty and a hundred meters behind him. As he continued to run, he looked to the right or left of the road for gaps that could become temporary hiding places. The whole day seemed to be raining quite heavily. Some parts of the surface of the ground he had been through were muddy. He hoped this situation would help him somehow. Then he saw that about a hundred meters ahead of him, there was a corner. The corner turned to the right. He thought that maybe after the turn, he could use a tiny hidden spot as a hiding place for a while.

He sped up his run to the corner with all his remaining strength. Three meters from the corner, he almost slips. Fortunately, he still could hold his position so that he did not fall. As soon as he passed the corner, he spun his attention to the right and left side of this surrounding. The hiding place should not be too far from the corner. If his pursuer had reached the corner behind when he jumped into hiding, his efforts would be in vain. About ten meters ahead, to the left, there were thick bushes. In the darkness of this night, hopefully, it would be a perfect hiding place. Fifty meters further on, there was another corner. The path turned left at the bend ahead.

Without wasting time, he jumped into the thicket to his left. He instantly fell and laid his body parallel to the ground. He hoped the man chasing him would continue to run down the path that curved in front of him. About thirty or forty seconds later, the person chasing him arrived. As expected, the chaser continued to run down the path. Right now, he had to act expeditiously. Perhaps fifty meters ahead of him, the pursuer would turn left on the track. But after that, he probably noticed that the person he was chasing was no longer running in front of him. At that point, he could turn around. He would probably walk toward where he was hiding, carefully examining the bushes on the left and right of the path in that section, one after the other.

After the pursuer turned left, fifty meters ahead, quickly the man rises and comes out of the bushes in which he was hiding. Without wasting much time, he straight away ran in the opposite direction, which was the direction he had come from earlier. About ten meters ahead of him, there was a bend. He speedily turned left in the direction he had come before. But he did not continue running along the path. About twenty meters from the corner, he threw himself desperately into the bushes on his right. This time he did not fall and lay his body down as before but kept trying to move forward.

Behind the bushes were full of thorny plants. The man bit his lip in pain as sharp thorns scratched his body. Behind the thorny plants was a fairly dense forest. There were many enormous trees. The ground was planted with grass that grew very tall. It was challenging for him to move. But he had to keep moving. At this point, the pursuer might have noticed and turned around. The darkness made it even harder to find a way through the trees. But he kept moving forward and forward. Until, at last, he couldn't take it anymore. He was exhausted and fell to the ground's surface, covered with tall grass.

After he fell, he was still trying to crawl. There was a gigantic tree in front of him. It was behind the tall grass. At once, he crawled there quickly. He wanted to rest for a while by leaning his body against that immense tree. Finally, he reached the tree and sat, leaning his fatigue body to the tree in a flash. He tried to catch his breath. Trying not to make any sound, hoping that the pursuer wouldn't catch up with him to the place.

He sat leaning against the tree. He was thirsty and hungry. Wanted to eat something. But there was nothing to eat or drink. Perhaps he should be patient and wait until dawn to move around, searching for things to drink or eat. His hand touched the ground. Feeling wet and a little sticky. Moving his right hand back, he touched the immense tree trunk he was leaning on. His fingertips felt a slightly rough texture of the tree trunk. But suddenly, he felt there was an empty part. Immediately, he groped the tree trunk even deeper.

It turned out there was a hole at the bottom of the tree trunk. The spot was not clearly visible because the tall grass covered it. He tried to turn his body around so that he could feel accurate. Now he was facing on the surface of the tree trunk that he had just leaned on. The trunk of this tree was enormous. It's clear to his eyes. The diameter was probably over two meters. To the left of where he used to lean, there was a hole at the bottom. He tried to feel the gap with his fingers. The hole was not too big, but he thought it should be big enough for him if he dared to get inside. Suddenly, a small animal ran out of the hole. The animal ran outside and immediately disappeared behind the tall grass. From its voice, it seemed like a rodent.

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Suddenly, he felt drops of water falling from above, making his face wet. The drops of water became more and more. Even though he took shelter under the gigantic tree, he would still get caught in the rain because the treetop was so high.

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The man crawled and bowed to see if he could get in there. After trying a few times, he thought he could fit inside the hole. Slowly, he tried to get himself into the hole. He knew maybe this was a stupid thing to do. What if he gets stuck inside? No one could help him. If he had screamed, the pursuer would have been there quickly and caught him. But he didn't care anymore. He crawled on and slowly pushed himself into the hole.

Eventually, he made himself inside. It turned out that the inside of the hole was quite spacious. The hollow in the enormous tree was more than enough to accommodate a grown man. Of course, he had to curl up because it wasn't high enough. Still, it was much better. It's better than being caught outside in the rain. Or even it's better than being seen by the person who had been chasing him.

Outside was pouring. Maybe the pursuer had given up by then and was no longer out. But the man still had to wait until dawn. Walking through the dense forest in the middle of the night in such bad weather was most likely more dangerous. Especially when he was hungry, thirsty, tired, and injured. A sane person would not do that.

Slowly but surely, his body began to adjust. All the time he had been running has made him fatigued. He needed rest. Now, in a much more relaxed situation like this, his body's alarm went back to normal as usual. Fatigue made him sleepy. Within minutes, he had fallen asleep.