Chapter Eighteen: Hudson's Proposition X Her Decision [2]
Neither blinking nor moving his gaze away from the pretty pair of cyan orbs she used to see, he steadied his breathing before speaking in a steadily paced tone:
"First of all, it's not Stephan." He pointed at himself and continued; "I am Hudson. Hudson Raze."
"Second, and more importantly, do I truly come off as one who is "mad" to you? Really?"
"And thirdly, last but not any less important, who committed a crime? Me? Tell me... What crime did I commit?"
Reeling from the barrage of comeback questions, she answered his questions in reverse, starting off with a question of her own;
"No crime? Then what would you call bringing me here against my will?" She asked with a slight frown.
"That... There is actually a story behind that. I had my reasons." He started to speak but she interrupted him, continuing on with her own shots.
It's not like he was going to actually tell her the whole truth about his cultivation path, and hence expose a potential weakness, but... Oh well.
"And om the account of you not being insane..." She paused, inhaled audibly before exhaling. "You are the one saying weird stuff."
"The whole "I'm not Stephan but Hudson" could potentially align with a personality disorder but... What? You are not from this world? What the heck? That's too far-fetched! Too much!"
"And downright insulting to my intelligence!" Her voice took on a more angry tone the more she spoke.
Both of them had a brief staring contest, one that he conceded in in the end. He closed his eyes, exhaling through his mouth in resignation.
Thinking about it, he felt that her reaction made sense. In fact, he should have found her to be either cunning, suspicious, or downright dumb if she had so readily accepted his words as sensible.
As he pondered how to proceed, the gears in the nurse's head continued to spin full throttle as she attempted to process their interaction.
She had failed to detect any signs one would find in a liar. He seemed to believe everything that he said.
This brought her to a crossroads as it meant that he was either superior to all the pathological liars she had come across in her life or that he was actually not so alright in the head.
She was brought back from getting lost in her own mind by his response:
"I see. I didn't think things through. Any normal and rational person would find me to be a clown." He muttered, his tone a bit somber.
Easily picking up on some of his heavy emotions, it was then that she decided to consider a third path - give him the benefit of the doubt.
She told herself; 'Like, hey, if anyone told our ancestors that one day monsters will suddenly appear in the world to wreak chaos and death, they would have deemed them as crazy. Do not even think of tossing in the part about even tossing in the tale of humans awakening superpowers.'
Pursing her lips, she mumbled internet; 'Who knows? I could be th first to witness the first phenomenon of a new age - people from a different world.'
'Or... I could just be entertaining a psycho.'
'Either way, would it not be the "thrill" that I have been seeking? I went to that penetentary hoping to be involved in some lively scenes but nothing truly interesting has happened...'
"...until now."
As she said those last two words aloud, she finally noticed that in her daze she had failed to notice that he had left her standing up on the rooftop, alone.
She could sense his presence disappearing down the stairs.
"Oi! Wait!" She ran after him, jumping steps with inhuman accuracy without watching her steps. "Stephan!"
After going down a few floors, she soon caught up to Hudson who had slown to a stop, glancing up at her from the landing on the fifth floor.
He had an inquisitive and curious look on his face as he wondered why she was running after him.
Wasn't she supposed to run away and report the situation to the security forces? He was already preparing to become the protagonist of "fugitive in another world".
Hmm, scratch that. Was he not already a wanted man? He had escaped from prison already!
"You... You really are quite fast." She tried to stabilize her breathing as she slowly made her way down the stairs.
"What do you want now? Are you not supposed to be looking for someone to lend you a phone so you may contact the authorities for help or something?" He asked.
She poured as she approached him, not stopping until the mounds on her chest were pressed against his.
She slowly raised her right hand to his right cheek, caressing it tenderly while giving him a "hungry" look.
Specifically, her gaze seemed to be locked on his lips as she said; "What if..."
As she slowly raised her gaze along his face, bringing it to a stop on his, she continued; "What if I said that I agree to be your guide?"
A glint flashed in the transmigrator's golden eyes as he heard that. He felt some hope while simultaneously feeling somewhat on guard.
"But in exchange, I want you..." She continued, bringing that right hand down from his cheek to his chin. She brought her face even closer as she said in a sensual tone; "...I want you to become my bodyguard."