FSE

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The naked fox lay on top of the fallen Labrador, both motionless. My ears were still ringing from the deafening sound of the handgun's shot. Staring blankly at the scene before me, I didn't know what to do.

In my head, I yelled at myself, demanding my body to get up and move, to go check on 74258's condition.

But my body refused to obey. It had betrayed me, just as I had betrayed everyone who had ever believed in me.

The effects of the electric shock had likely worn off, so I guessed that my inability to move wasn’t just a physical issue.

I felt as if I were surrounded by an endless darkness, swallowed by a deathly silent abyss, falling into the unseen depths of—

74258 moved.

The fox was still alive! Still alive!

I was pulled out of the mire and could breathe again. It was as if a firm hand had grasped me.

“Fox, are you alright?” I called out, nearly biting my tongue after stumbling and falling. But I still crawled over to them, checking to make sure 74258 was really breathing.

“I’m fine,” 74258 said, rubbing his temple. “I think I just hit the floor and blacked out for a moment.” His olive-green eyes blinked, eventually focusing on me, and he chuckled. “Compared to you, I’m in pretty good shape.”

Seeing him still able to joke, I relaxed and laughed a bit too. But then I quickly noticed the wound on 74258's arm.

“Just a scratch,” he said after inspecting it, immediately leaning closer to examine the collar around my neck. “Let’s get this thing off you first.”

74258 found his terminal among the scattered clothes on the ground, then rummaged through Hunter's pockets for the pedigree's terminal and began working.

I didn’t want to test the collar's defense mechanisms, so I let 74258 handle it.

Noticing the faint rise and fall of the Labrador’s chest, I averted my gaze, deciding to pretend for now that he didn’t exist.

“Do you want to put some clothes on first? I’m not in that much of a hurry.” Though every extra second with this collar made me feel unbearably uncomfortable, enough to want to bang my head against the wall, I felt even more awkward with 74258 staying naked like that.

“Oh,” the fox's ears drooped slightly, a blush spreading to the tips. “I can't stop now. If I’ve made you uncomfortable, I’m really sorry...” His voice grew softer and softer, his tail shifting as he tried to cover as much of his body as possible.

“No, it’s not that. I’m not uncomfortable at all.” I quickly waved my hands, trying to explain, not wanting to seem like an ungrateful jerk. “I just thought you might be… uncomfortable.” I was pretty sure my ears had turned red.

“Well…” 74258 chuckled lightly, his body relaxing a little. “Living in an all-male environment for sixteen years, you either get used to it or at least learn to pretend you’re used to it, or you just won’t survive.”

The resigned acceptance in the fox’s tone made my heart tighten. But I didn’t know how to respond, or whether I even should.

“Wait,” I suddenly realized, “did you say ‘sixteen years’?” “How old are you?”

“I’ll be nineteen in a few months.” 74258 glanced at me, amusement in his olive-green eyes. “My logic and intelligence were assessed as outstanding, so I was discovered and trained early.”

“Nineteen?” His mature demeanor, exceptional skills, and perhaps most notably, those eyes that had seen too much. “I thought you were only a few years younger than me.”

“Not exactly something I’d want to hear from an old man,” 74258 teased.

“I’m only thirty-three!” I definitely wasn’t raising my voice, nor was I having a sudden burst of anxiety.

74258 shrugged, not saying anything more.

“I’ve got some bad news…” After a while, 74258 looked up at me. “As Hunter claimed, this collar is different from the ones we’ve seen before. There’s no design to unlock it, and I can’t disable the tracking signal or the shock function.” He leaned in again, checking the collar around my neck. “If we’re thinking of physically destroying it, we’d need some specialized tools.”

“In an estate this big, there’s bound to be something useful, right?” I sighed, glancing around the now somewhat messy kitchen.

“That’s the next piece of bad news.” 74258 showed me Hunter’s terminal. “He’s already sent out a message, and someone’s on their way. I don’t know how much time we have before they get here.” He glanced at the unconscious pedigree. “I could try hacking into their terminal from here, but if it backfires, it’ll just alert them.”

I knew our luck would run out eventually. At that moment, the Labrador on the floor twitched, letting out a sound like a groan.

“I don’t really care, but what did you do to him?” The thought of Hunter still seeing me as the greater threat even at the end made me want to laugh.

“I mixed your morphine tomatoes into the fruit.” 74258 stuck out his tongue at me. “I know the kind of habits guys like him, who think they have everything under control, tend to have. Though I originally planned to mix it into the wine, I didn’t even get to break the wax seal before…” 74258’s voice trailed off again, and he turned away, picking up his clothes and starting to get dressed.

I wanted to ask if he needed to clean up or something, but I didn’t think it was my place to say, so I stayed quiet. When Hunter let out another deathly gasp, I thought of something else—how much tomato had he eaten?

I leaned down, listening to Hunter’s shallow, slow breathing, and then… a low growl. Pressing my index and middle fingers together, I checked his pulse, then opened his eyelids to examine both pupils. After that, I grabbed my terminal and activated the light chip, shining it into the Labrador's eyes.

“Maybe you should go find some supplies, like a first aid kit. Estates of this scale should have well-stocked medicine cabinets,” I said to 74258, gesturing to his arm.

“Okay.” He nodded at me, then tossed Hunter’s terminal back onto the floor. “I’ve faked a few signals from your collar. That should make it harder to track us for now, but it’s not a long-term solution.” Before leaving, he gave me a worried look. “We still need to get out of here as soon as possible.”

I waved a hand at him, indicating that he didn’t need to worry, and started searching the kitchen.

Once I was sure he was gone, I crouched down beside Hunter, placing my hands around the Labrador’s neck and gripping tightly.

I could feel his faint breaths, pulse, and body heat.

“I’m sorry, but you’re beyond saving.” I had seen these symptoms in other foxes who had overdosed on morphine. There would always be some who couldn’t resist the temptation and stashed a few morphine tomatoes away. “Considering that you intended to torture and kill us, I think this isn’t unfair.” The overdose wouldn’t kill him immediately, but he’d slowly suffocate as he became paralyzed, dying bit by bit. “Trust me, I’m doing you a favor.” I had seen how terrifying it could be—no one should endure such agony, not even the pedigrees.

I began to tighten my grip around the Labrador's neck.

Flashes of all the friends who had been abused by the pedigrees, all the people hurt by them… and Adam's final moments, his head devoid of eyes.

My hands started to tremble, but I tried to hold on. When Hunter's legs began to kick, though, I couldn’t bear it anymore and released him.

Damn it, why?

Don’t I hate them? I hate them so much! So why can’t I do this?

I had fantasized about strangling those evil pedigrees who oppressed us with my own hands so many times. Why, now that I had the chance, couldn’t I do it?

He had just been planning to brutally torture us! If our positions were reversed, I’m sure this perverted Labrador wouldn’t hesitate for a second to kill me—he had already demonstrated that—so why am I so useless?

Sitting on the Labrador’s chest, my body collapsed, and I sobbed over my own weakness.

When I came to, I realized that 74258 was squatting next to me, a hand on my shoulder, his olive-green eyes full of concern.

“I even wanted to put him out of his misery…” I couldn’t care less about the sobs in my voice or the tears streaming down my face. “Why can’t I do it?”

Why, why, why, why?

“This way…” 74258 spoke, pulling my attention back. “… might be easier. I just disabled the security system.”

74258 was holding the Labrador’s gun. I had thought about using the gun to blow Hunter’s head off or slitting his throat, but the very thought of it made me recoil—I'm really useless.

"Count to three, okay?" 74258 gently held my hand, guiding us to grasp the handle of the gun together, with both our fingers resting on the trigger. I noticed a small diode emitting a green light. "We'll do this together."

My vision grew even blurrier, but I tried to nod at 74258 while sniffing back tears. I didn’t want to mess up, so I shoved the barrel of the gun into the Labrador’s mouth, pressing it against the roof of his mouth.

"One... two... three." We pulled the trigger simultaneously, and the bullet fired.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but the gunshot seemed much quieter than before. Hunter’s occiput exploded, a mixture of grayish, viscous matter and bright red blood spraying in a conical trajectory, splattering far and wide.

I thought I might feel nauseated, but instead, all I felt was a wave of relief.

I almost gave in, ready to surrender to the comforting emptiness and let go of everything. But once again, 74258 played the strong one between us.

He gave me some time to lose myself in my thoughts. By the time I came back to reality, he had already packed our backpacks, retrieved our coats from the coat rack, and even found me a change of clothes.

A surge of shame and gratitude rose inside me, leaving me unsure of how to react.

Logical, he’s not even nineteen yet. Shouldn’t I be doing something useful? And besides, he just went through...

I shook my head vigorously, knowing this wasn’t the time to dwell on such thoughts. Besides, I wouldn’t even know what to say. This kind of thing requires delicate handling, and I’m completely clueless in that area.

Either way, sitting on the ground wasn’t helping anyone. So I wiped my face with my sleeve and at least managed to stand up.

"I found something earlier," 74258 said while I was getting dressed, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You’re going to want to see this."

I nodded at the fox, and he led the way.

We both carefully avoided stepping on any part of Hunter’s... remains, trying to pretend the large pool of blood didn’t exist. But just before leaving the kitchen, I couldn’t resist turning back to look at the Labrador lying on the floor — he was still wearing that faint smile.

I didn’t know what to make of the compassion welling up from my chest. I’d just pulled the trigger myself and blown his head off!

But maybe, I was starting to notice that, in the end, when death comes for us, we’re all the same. There’s no difference between any of us.

"This... is interesting." Standing in what looked like a garage, I looked at the two-wheeled vehicle in front of me and could only comment that way. "When I was just a cub, I was obsessed with virtual driving simulation games, though I’m not sure how much difference there is in real life. If it’s not too different, I might be able to manage."

An internal combustion engine and exhaust pipes... Those things are rare now due to carbon emission quotas. But some places still keep similar vehicles for backup because of the convenience of energy conversion.

I glanced at 74258, just in time to catch what he tossed to me — a full-face helmet.

"Virtual driving simulation games?" He grinned, flashing his canine teeth, his olive-green eyes narrowing slightly. "Alexander had..." 74258's expression darkened briefly but quickly recovered. "...my ex... cough... former lord had one of the same model. We used to sneak it out for joyrides whenever the old earl was away from the territory."

I was still processing this flood of information when 74258 had already donned his helmet and mounted the motorcycle.

"Hop on!" the fox shouted. I noticed the helmet was vibrating — it had built-in speakers. "We’ve got some distance to cover."

I had no choice but to climb onto the back, adjust our backpacks, and cautiously raise my tail, not wanting to get burned by the exhaust pipe.

Once he confirmed I was secure, 74258 revived the engine, and we sped off into the depths of the night.