Chameleon: My True Face 171 Brutal Selection

Dongmei didn't respond to him, looking at his face with an empty look. Her eyes were half-closed, her unfocused gaze staring at nothing in particular. Wuxing immediately got worried, feeling that her arms also had no strength in them as if she was totally unconscious. 

"Scarlet, tell me what happened," Wuxing quickly asked as he reached out to Dongmei's face, holding onto it gently as he started checking her pulse. 

Her heart was beating steadily, without much disruption and her breaths were slow but regular. Although that made him sigh in relief, something had to be wrong with Dongmei to lead her into that state. 

"I don't…" Scarlet replied anxiously, not knowing what to do. "She was sitting with her eyes closed when she suddenly snapped them open before going back to the state you see her now. Nothing else happened…" 

'Is she okay?' Wuxing questioned in his mind, but Devil Face didn't help him much. 'I'm not sure. Everyone behaves differently during their evolution. It's best to wait and see.' 

"Dongmei, can you hear me?" Wuxing asked as he looked into her eyes, caressing on her cheek with his thumb. 

He couldn't even imagine how would he feel if something happened to Dongmei during the evolution right now. He didn't want to think about it. "She has to be well. There is no other option…" Wuxing muttered to himself and waited for any signs coming from Dongmei. 

Thankfully, he didn't need to wait for too long. Dongmei eyelids trembled and in the next few seconds, her gaze started regaining focus. She moved with her hands and grabbed onto Wuxing arms for support. 

Wuxing couldn't be more than happy to see her eyes locked with his own and her lips slowly curve into a smile. 

"I'm back… Did you wait long…?" Dongmei asked weakly while squeezing his arms and Wuxing couldn't help himself, leaning over to kiss her gently on the lips. 

Although a bit dry, they were still soft and warm just as he remembered. "You scared me…" Wuxing muttered, their noses rubbing against one another. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel better after the kiss… I want one more…" Dongmei asked shamelessly and Wuxing was happy to accommodate her request, closing in once again, leaving another love bite. 

Even though Wuxing would love to continue, he pulled away and took out a whole bar of chocolate. "Here, you need to eat something. I bet you are tired," Wuxing said sweetly as he unwrapped the chocolate and feed her piece by piece. 

Dongmei didn't complain and ate whatever he gave her before washing it down with water. "We already spent too much time here. Shall we move? I'm fine already," Dongmei informed, seeing that Wuxing was still worried about her.

"Are you really fine? How was your evolution? Can you stand up?" Wuxing questioned in quick succession as he stood up and held her hands for support. 

"Mhmm, I'm really fine. My mind was really exchaused but the chocolate helped a lot." Dongmei assured him as she let him lift her up. "About the ability, I think it's really useful for us. It's called Ultimate Vision." 

"It's okay, you can tell me about it as we walk. We have time," Wuxing said softly with affection and they finally turned to Scarlet who has been silent the whole time. 

"Thank you for taking care of me," Dongmei acknowledged as she pat Scarlet with her free hand. Even though she didn't help much, at least she tried. 

"Ah, I didn't do anything…" Scarlet replied honestly and commented out of blue, "You two really love each other a lot. I can see it clearly." 

"Don't worry, you will find someone for yourself as well," Dongmei promised and held onto Scarlet's hand to cheer her up. She didn't reply to that as she turned quiet for a moment and only looked at the two, her gaze stopping at Wuxing. 

"Mhmm, I believe so too," Scarlet agreed and picked up her backpack, showing she was ready to leave. 

They moved without delay and this time Dongmei was also leading the way for them. She explained how her Ability worked on the way, making Wuxing amazed. She had some troubles at first but after a third try and Layla help, she was able to split her mind into two, using one into walking while the other for scouting. 

They almost got caught in another battle but thanks to her, they were able to dodge it. Compared to Wuxing, her scouting used much less energy and she was able to scout much bigger terrain. She could see almost everything within the two kilometer radius after just a few tries. 

"You are really amazing," Wuxing said with admiration in his eyes, realizing they almost reached the base without meeting anyone for the last eight kilometers. Just with her ability, any mission he took in the past would be as easy as stealing a candy from a kid.

"I can see the base," Dongmei suddenly informed, stopping abruptly. "There is a trap set up right in front of entrance. Four men are waiting for contestants to pass before killing them. I can see three dead bodies already." 

"I knew it," Wuxing muttered, rolling his eyes. "Those are not the participants of the selection." Wuxing wasn't worried at all but he knew exactly what it was. 

"Yeah… Something is wrong... They have more gear on them and kevlar underneath their shirts… They seem to be—" Dongmei spoke, gathering more clues until the two answered at the same time.

"Instructors." 

Scarlet was the only one surprised. "Why would instructors kill people?" She asked bothered, not understanding why would anyone kill for fun like that. 

"It's an early selection," Wuxing explained with a gloomy sigh. "There are more than ten thousand candidates on the island landing since morning in different groups. The base has limited amount of space so I they don't expect more than a few thousand to reach the real selection." 

"Isn't that too brutal…?" Scarlet asked worried. "They should give everyone a chance…" 

"Scarlet sweetie, this is the brutal truth behind the selection," Dongmei smiled bitterly as she hugged the pure blonde head of Scarlet and looked at Wuxing, "Less than fifty percent should even reach the base, being killed by either other participants or the instructors. Am I right?"

"Even less than that. Seven Stars wants the best of the best. The main goal of this selection is to train killers but they can't do it without an actual killing. This is the integral part of the training," Wuxing revealed the truth. "I wouldn't be surprised if the whole island was monitored. They can easily do that with a satellite and count how many of us are left. For them it's best if we all meet and try to kill each other. 

"So cruel…" Scarlet murmured unhappily, hugging Dongmei to feel better. 

"Let's go. We have to pass through them anyway," Wuxing decided, knowing they can't dodge them. "They shouldn't fight us as we are in the group. At least one of them would get hurt." 

"Wait, I know what we can do…"

Chapter end