"I see. Well, fine. If you don't remember, Rulu, then forget it." Kallen could tell from Rulu's expression that he didn't seem to be lying, so she stopped pressing him. Suddenly, Nana, who had been quiet the whole time, spoke up: "Um, Rulu, actually, I have a question I want to ask you too."
Rulu immediately looked at Nana in confusion. When he saw the deep worry on her face, he suddenly had a bad feeling.
Nana didn't speak right away. Instead, she lowered her head and thought. She remembered what had happened in the Emperor's palace. Rulu had used some unknown ability to control everyone in the great hall and force them to kill themselves. Back then, Nana had been in such extreme shock and fear that she had forgotten about it for a while. Now that she had calmed down, the memory had come back to her.
Nana hesitated for quite a while before she finally said, "Back in that Emperor's palace, Rulu, it looked like you used some strange ability to control those people and even made them hurt themselves. What exactly was that?"
"I used a strange ability to control other people..." Rulu thought hard, and before long he remembered what Nana was talking about. He remembered that both Shari and Nana had been there when it happened. Shari had been close to death at the time, so she probably didn't know much about it. Nana, however, had seen the whole thing with her own eyes.
Rulu thought it would be best if Nana and the others never found out that he could control other people's minds. His mind raced as he tried to come up with an excuse to keep it from them.
Kallen thought Rulu was acting very strangely, so she pushed him: "Rulu, why aren't you saying anything? I really want to know what happened after you and C.C. were taken away too. How did you and C.C. escape from that Emperor's palace?"
"Uh, well... actually, I'm not really sure myself. Like I said just now, my memory of the time before I passed out is very blurry, so I don't really know what happened back then..." Rulu couldn't think of a good excuse, so he decided to pretend he had lost his memory and hope that would get him through.
But Kallen was no fool. When she saw Rulu stammering and looking flustered, she realized right away that he was lying. Kallen gave Rulu a doubtful look and said, "No, Rulu, you should remember these things. Why are you lying? Do you have some secret you can't tell us?"
Rulu felt that he could never reveal this, so he insisted, "I really don't remember. And even if I did, it's a private matter between me and that Emperor. There's no need to tell outsiders like you."
"What? Rulu, you think of us as outsiders? I risked my life to protect you in the Sanctuary, and you see me as an outsider?!" Kallen said loudly, getting a little angry.
Rulu kept a straight face and said in a low voice, "You weren't the only one in danger, Kallen. And no matter what, you're only my subordinate. Don't meddle too much in my affairs."
"Hmph, when he can't win an argument, he pulls rank on me. How low," Kallen muttered.
When Nana saw that things were getting tense between Kallen and Rulu, she tried to smooth it over: "It's fine. I was really just asking. If you don't remember, Rulu, then forget it. You can tell us later when you remember."
Since Rulu refused to talk, Kallen didn't press him any further. Rulu had made up his mind to hide this for as long as he could. He would never bring it up himself.
After that, Rulu and the others hid in the forest on the small island. They watched for any activity around the island and rested and recovered at the same time. Over the next few days, all was calm around the island. No one appeared nearby, and no pursuers from the Sanctuary came to catch Rulu and the others.
After watching for several days, Rulu and the others decided they were safe. They put out to sea in a houseboat made from trees, planning to cross the ocean in it and return to the Huaxia Nation. The houseboat was like a small house. It sheltered the passengers inside from the wind and rain and protected them from the blazing sun. W.W. used her Magic Psionic power to steer the houseboat west, and they began drifting across the sea.
Since most of them were Ultra-capable, surviving adrift at sea wasn't very hard for them. They could easily get fresh water and food from the sea, and they weren't too worried about being attacked by sea creatures. The only thing that bothered them was that they didn't know exactly where the Huaxia Nation and Blue Sea City were.
One night, as they drifted at sea, Rulu's group happened to come across a large cargo ship. It was also heading west. Rulu guessed the ship was probably going to the Huaxia Nation, so he quietly snuck aboard to gather information. To his delight, he found that the ship was headed for Blue Sea City in the Huaxia Nation. So Rulu and all the others secretly slipped into the ship's storeroom, planning to ride the ship to Blue Sea City.