There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 296 - 288. Chasing Tail

Chapter 296: Chapter 288. Chasing Tail

The next morning, when Zein woke up, he spotted Bassena staring at the ceiling in a daze--which means the esper wasn’t sleeping a wink.

"Are you awake the whole time?" Zein dragged himself up, leaned to the headboard and brushed the esper’s fringe aside so he could see the amber eyes better.

"Every time I close my eyes, I see the time you were going down on me and..." he stopped talking, covering his face and groaned onto his palm.

Zein raised his brow. "Was it that good?" he yawned and reached for the water on the bedside table. "I don’t think I did a good job last night."

Well, but at least it stopped the esper from thinking about the horrific encounter with the rats.

"Good?" Bassena pulled his hands away from his face, looking at Zein with a flabbergasted look. "It’s going to be one of my core memories for real."

And it wasn’t just the blowjob. It was the slow, sweet sex they had afterward. Bassena asked if they could do it without protection, without guiding, and Zein had allowed it--although this time, he had to release it outside. Still, it was heavens. It was almost better than the guiding, even, because this time, he was totally in control of himself, not losing his mind from the deep, delicious guiding.

Zein chuckled, almost choking on his water because of that. That kind of sloppy job warrant a place in his core memory vault? Zein couldn’t even put it all the way inside his mouth.

"What are the others?"

"Hmm?" Bassena finally got up now that Zein was awake. "When we first met, of course, and...that night," he scratched his reddening cheek shyly. "When you, umm...called me ’baby’ the first time."

Zein put the water aside and tilted his head, reaching out his hand to pinch the esper’s chin and made the younger man face him. Staring into the blinking amber eyes, Zein curled his lips and spoke in a low, sultry voice. "You called me ’honey’ last night."

The amber eyes widened, and for a few seconds, Bassena only parted his lips without saying anything. "...I did?"

"You’re so distraught by the rat that you don’t even remember it, huh?" Zein laughed, pulling the esper’s face closer and planted a soft, short kiss.

"Uhh..." Bassena still staring blankly even after Zein climbed out of the bed and rummaged through their suitcase to find a shirt. "So...did you hate it?"

"Do I look like I did?"

Bassena grinned, crawling out to pepper kisses on the guide’s shoulder--which was already littered with his artwork. "What are your plans now? Should we go straight to the guide center, or should we try the house once again in daylight?"

"Let’s try the house again first," Zein decided after pulling out a plain shirt and wearing it. "I want to try asking the neighbors."

"Ah, right. It looks like an old neighborhood, so they probably knew each other well," Bassena nodded in agreement. He looked down and pulled on the shirt that Zein wore—his shirt. "But why are you wearing clothes again? We can just hop on the tub together."

Zein turned to look at the esper with an arched brow, and Bassena just tilted his head innocently.

A few seconds later, the shirt was discarded again.

* * *

The house still looked as abandoned as ever. Still munching on the sandwich they bought for their breakfast, Bassena craned his neck to peek inside the yard again, observing the hard ground.

"Wanna go inside again?" Zein smirked, and Bassena pursed his lips. "Just kidding," he chuckled and patted the esper’s bulging cheek. "I don’t think there’ll be much different than last night."

"Hmm..." Bassena nodded and leaned against their car to continue eating his sandwich in peace while Zein looked around the vicinity.

"Should we go door to door?"

"It might be faster if we just ask the community leader here," Bassena suggested. "Don’t people need to report to them when they move out?"

"I wouldn’t know about that," Zein shrugged. His community didn’t have that kind of thing after all.

But it made sense to simplify their effort. And there was also a chance that the neighbors wouldn’t want to open their door for them—two very high-profile people who were also known to be scary. Both had an unsavory reputation for violence, after all.

But community leaders should be more open to welcoming them, because they have to safe face, and are more used to talking to important people. Besides, the house owner who moved out did not always tell their neighbors about their new location, but they were more likely to tell the people in charge of administration.

"Yeah, let’s—" Zein paused for a bit, but Bassena immediately put his sandwich in the guide’s mouth.

"Let’s," the esper said with a grin, opening the car’s door so Zein could slide inside.

Biting into the leftover sandwich, Zein wordlessly entered the car. As Bassena drove the car away, Zein turned his head to look at the whistling esper. "Did you put on a tail?"

"Of course," Bassena smiled cheerfully. "My children can go as far as five kilometers now, so you don’t have to worry."

"Alright," Zein nodded and ate the rest of the sandwich.

It was good that Bassena stopped him from making an obvious reaction earlier, when he realized someone was watching them keenly from afar. And no—not in the way inquisitive reporters or excited fans did. That person was worried, cautious, and had no plan to come to them.

If Zein reacted as if he knew someone was there watching them, the person might run, and even if they caught him, they didn’t have any justification for interrogation—that person could pretend to be watching them out of curiosity because they were famous.

So the best course of action now was pretending to go somewhere else, while putting a tail on that person to see where they were going; who ordered them to observe Zein and Bassena.

Or, perhaps, it was the house they were observing.

"Where are they going?" Zein asked after calmly finishing the sandwich. Indeed, it was better to think in a sated stomach.

"Out of the neighborhood," Bassena explained. "No vehicle, so it might not be too far."

The car entered the main road out of the neighborhood and Bassena drove slower than usual, staying close to the sidewalk as if they were looking for a place to eat or park the car--not only to match the speed of the one they tailed, but also because he had to see two sceneries at once. Along the way, Bassena kept updating him about the person’s movement.

"Ah, they entered a housing complex," Bassena said after they drove around for about twenty minutes. "A small apartment with no security."

"That’ll be easy," Zein started to look out and around. "Let’s park the car somewhere and go on foot."

He touched the navigation system and looked for the nearest parking lot. It was good that they came out early morning on the weekend during winter, because a lot of people preferred to be inside their house now, enjoying their day off. Otherwise, it would be harder for two high-profile people with insufficient disguise to move around in broad daylight without catching attention.

Zein pulled his hood down and opted to wear a medical mask rather than the heavy-duty filtering one. Bassena had the cap he wore to the candy store and casual clothes instead of his usual formal wear. And using the child of darkness, they followed the quietest path with no people. Miraculously, the only one they met on the way was a dog, who wagged its tail toward Zein and followed him until the end of the road before it ran back to its home.

"Here it is," Bassena said, one of his children of darkness peeking behind the fence.

It was an assuming building, with a beige wall and dark brown accent like any other community building built by the local government. This kind of building was geared toward guides and civilians, which had a lower buying power than espers. Due to the limited budget, it wasn’t made of mana-resistant material, which also worked as soundproofing.

Which means, Zein and Bassena, with their heightened hearing, could hear what they were talking about inside.

[Do you think they will find us?]

[I don’t think so. It seems like they want to ask around and to the administrative office. They might ask the Central, but none of those know where you are]

It was a young woman’s voice, probably the one who observed Zein and Bassena before. They looked at each other and smiled; not only because they unexpectedly found the place they had been looking for, but also because that person was pretty accurate about their initial plan.

Well, this saved a lot of wasted time, then.

But what should they do now? Would they even open the door for Zein when it was clear to him that they avoided him?

"Umm...excuse me?"

In the middle of Zein’s ponder, they heard a voice from the hallway. It was an old woman who reminded Zein of the Grandma next door, prompting him to reflexively lower his mask.

"Oh, yes?"

"Are you looking for someone? You’ve been standing there without knocking," the Grandma walked closer while carrying something in her hands; a casserole dish.

Zein could only blink, but Bassena used his most charming smile and sweet voice to respond. "Ah, we’re looking for Aunty Ria and Aunty Sherry," he said, using the names of Lucia’s friends in a familiar way as if they were just two nephews visiting their Aunties.

That was true for Zein, technically.

Zein, finally gaining his wits, smiled at the Grandma, who immediately lowered her guard and beamed as she looked at the two very handsome young men. After all, such charming and handsome young men couldn’t be bad people, right?

"Oh my, so you are guests!"

"We visited their old house earlier, but we found out they were already moved. We’re hesitating because we’re not really sure if this is the right address," Bassena added, scratching his neck and grinning sheepishly.

And technically, there was no shred of lie in his statement--except for the part that they weren’t sure about this being those aunties’ place.

"Oh, no--you’re in the right address, don’t worry. They’ve only been here for a few months, but they are all so sweet," she smiled softly and lifted the dish in her hands. "I came to give them this. Are you their relatives?"

"Ah, not quite. My late mother was their best friend, so I want to see if they are living well," Zein replied with a gentle smile, using everything he gained from his PR lesson. Not that he said any lies. "Shall I hold it for you?"

"Oh, my, how sweet you are," the Grandma put the dish in Zein’s hands, which was immediately taken by Bassena. She then proceeded to knock on the door, calling out to the resident inside with a loud voice. "Hana! Open the door for me sweetheart!"

They could hear the sound of light footsteps, and a moment later, a young woman opened the door cheerfully. "Grandma, are you making too much food aga--" she paused, frozen with one hand on the door handle as her widened eyes caught the sight of two handsome men smiling at her behind the Grandma.

Bassena raised the dish in his hand and smiled charmingly. "Good morning?"

Behind the young woman, standing with widened eyes, were two middle-aged women looking at Zein’s blue eyes with slightly trembling hands.

"Hello, Aunties."