'Just a few more hours, please just be safe.' Renji prayed as he was limping his way out of the forest. Although it was unbearable for him to walk in his condition, he still persevered, the only thing on his mind right now was the safety of his family he could care less about his injury.
'Where do you think you are going? Do you think you can survive this forest on your own?' thought the masked man who was trailing behind Renji after he left the safe zone. He had just killed a monster without making a single sound that was going towards Renji.
'Well doesn't matter it seems to be the perfect opportunity for me, you just had to come right to my doorstep, didn't you? Masked man snickered as he looked towards the clueless Renji who still had no idea what was going on around him.
With a swift blow of wind, the man disappeared in an instant from the place he was standing. In an instant, the man was standing behind Renji.
"Whaa….." Before Renji had a chance to react the man grabbed Renji's neck from behind and he injected something into Renji's body. In an instant, before Renji could figure out what was going on, he fell flat on the ground as if he was a ragdoll. Whatever the man injected Renji with was extremely potent as it didn't even take 1 second to knock Renji out cold.
"Alright now open your mouth." said the man as he sat down beside the seemingly lifeless body of Renji. The man took a test tube out of his jacket pocket, and a small bug-type creature came out of the test tube. After looking at the bug for a second on his finger, he made sure the bug was fine.
The man opened Renji's mouth and threw the bug inside his mouth, the bug slowly crawled inside Renji's body who was still unconscious. After all of that was done the man took out another syringe and stabbed Renji with it again.
"All done now, you may go, all I can do now is pray. I can't stay here any longer or I'll be killed bye bye." Said the man as he slowly disappeared in broad daylight. He didn't want to stay inside the forest after he had done his task.
..................….
After a few minutes, the masked man was on the outskirts of the forest. The speed at which he traveled from the second layer to the outskirts of the forest was unbelievable. If Renji had to walk right now in his condition it might even take him a couple of hours, but this man was here in just a few minutes. If Renji had seen this man's traveling speed he would have been dumbfounded, this man's abilities were on a different level.
"This is me, No.1803 reporting." Said the man on his phone.
"Good, now leave the area do not get spotted by anyone. Come back to base for now." Said the voice on the other side of the phone.
"Rogger.." said no. 1803 as he hung up the phone, following the instructions on the phone the man disappeared from the jungle without leaving any trace.
...............
"Ahhhh…. What just happened? Why was I unconscious?" asked Renji himself as he didn't have any recollection of what had happened to him just a few minutes ago. Even though he was confused, he didn't stay there any longer and started walking once again right after waking up.
"Where do you think you are going, boy?" After a few hours of walking straight, Renji had to stop in his tracks as he heard a hoarse voice.
"Who are you?" asked Renji as he looked around the forest trying to find the source of the voice. But his search was pointless as it was already night and in the dark, he could barely see anything.
"Leave me alone, I just want to go home." Said Renji as he turned around resolutely, and started walking without looking back. He had only one goal in his mind which was going home.
"I have been watching you, boy, for long a time. Do you think you can survive this forest on your own?" as the man said those words, he threw something towards Renji.
"What…." Renji was startled as the lifeless body of a monster fell in front of his feet. He almost vomited after seeing the corpse.
"Why are you doing this to me? I just want to go home." Said Renji as he continued walking, it seemed like there was nothing that could stop him from walking.
"Ptsk…. Why are you all so difficult? I'll die along with you if I don't bring you home, she'll skin me alive. Look I know why you are so desperate to go back home, you must be worried about your family. You don't have to worry they are all safe, they weren't harmed in that incident.
But even if you go to the place where you used to live before you won't find them there, they have been taken to a better place. I'll take you to meet them tomorrow if you come back with me right now. There is no point in you going to the wasteland anymore." Said the old man as he rubbed his forehead with one hand, he was getting frustrated.
"What do you mean I won't find my family in the wasteland? Did you do something to them? I'll fucking kill you, you son of a bitch." Renji stopped in his tracks as soon as he heard the hoarse voice.
"Your family is unharmed trust me, but they will be killed if you do anything stupid boy. I'll just say to you one thing, shut your mouth up and follow me. if you don't forget your family. Your parents are poisoned anyway they won't live that long, I'll also starve your sister." Said the voice menacingly.
"no no no no…." Renji wanted to move but he couldn't move his body, some kind of unknown pressure enveloped his entire body. Under that kind of immense pressure, his knees gave way and he fell straight to the ground. Suddenly he saw a figure get close to him, he finally saw the face of the old man. Renji tried to move his hands, he wanted to tear the old man's neck apart but he wasn't even able to lift a finger under such kind of pressure.
Renji's mind was clouded with thoughts of murder but, his body couldn't do anything. Renji had never felt so helpless in his entire life, even when he was being hunted down by monsters. Even then Renji had some plan to get himself out of that situation, but now he was just kneeling on the ground helplessly.
'Why am I so weak? Why?' that's all Renji could think about as soon he fell to the ground unconscious.
"AHHHH fuck you were so tough until now, and suddenly you fall asleep. Why do I always have to deal with this shit, fuck." Said the old man as he lifted Renji's body from the ground and started walking.