Lee Seng stared at the phone and then back up to the large building. They were at the right place. Although cars may have littered the streets with destruction and debris everywhere, the buildings around were mostly intact.
"This the place?" Calis asked. Lee Seng nodded and called Chan-Yeol.
"Hello?" Chan-Yeol picked up the phone. Lee Seng turned away from the building and set his eyes to look around them.
"Hyeong, we're here." Lee Seng said.
"I'll be down shortly." Chan-Yeol hung the phone up, leaving Lee Seng to do the same. He stuffed the phone in his pocket and sighed in relief. He looked over to his friends, noticing Evan was focused on something in the distance.
"See something?" Lee Seng asked Evan. Evan shook his head and looked over at Lee Seng.
"It's nothing." Evan answered. The doors rattled, drawing the group's attention. Six men poured out of the building with Chan-Yeol exiting last.
Chan-Yeol scanned the group and then looked to one of his men, who shook their heads. He nodded and gave them a signal to stay. Chan-Yeol smiled and sauntered over to Lee Seng, embracing him in a high.
"It's good to see you're okay." Chan-Yeol said. Lee Seng returned the hug and then pulled away. Chan-Yeol's eyes moved over Lee Seng and onto his friends. "You came with them?"
"Yeah." Lee Seng nodded.
"Well, come inside. It isn't safe out here." Chan-Yeol motioned. He led the group inside with his men flanking behind them. "Have you been okay? I take it you're not entirely out of the loop on what happened with the lab?" Chan-Yeol looked over to Lee Seng, who nodded at him.
"Yeah I know." Lee Seng nodded. The business building has been turned into a makeshift base. People crowded the lobby floor, looking over as Chan-Yeol briskly walked with Lee Seng over to the elevator.
Chan-Yeol hit the up button and turned to look at Lee Seng.
"What's the reason why you contacted me, then? Are you really trying to look for the Numbers?" Chan-Yeol asked.
"My brother left a note saying they saw a Number. I just need to find them." Lee Seng answered. The elevator door opened and the group shuffled in. Chan-Yeol turned and looked at his men, waving his hand to tell them they didn't need to follow. He hit the fifth floor button and returned his attention to Lee Seng.
"There's so many survivors here." Evan commented. "How's food and water?"
"We've been hunting for air shipments all across the city." Chan-Yeol answered. "Speaking of that, how did you guys survive wherever you came from?"
"Well…" Lee Seng scratched his neck. The elevator dinged. The doors slowly rolled open and Chan-Yeol motioned for the group to exit. He led them to an office room - his area of operations for the time being.
Lee Seng looked at Calis and the others. They all nodded as they entered the room. Evan closed the door and stood off to the side of the door. Lee Seng began his long recap of what happened, leaving out the most recent events with the solar core underneath the lab and returning to his old home. Chan-Yeol listened. He didn't interrupt Lee Seng. It was the reason why Lee Seng liked him.
After Lee Seng finished bringing Chan-Yeol up to speed on everything, the room grew quiet. Lee Seng crossed his arms and waited.
"You went into the lab with the intent to finish things but things went horribly wrong, you almost died, were separated from your friends and the Numbers, and two months later were found by him?" Chan-Yeol pointed at Calis. Lee Seng nodded. "And after breaking out of this haze, you guys found the CEO and his sister with your Uncle? The same one who died years ago? Y-you know this sounds a bit…"
"Crazy?" Ritsuka suggested. Chan-Yeol looked over to Ritsuka and then to Lee Seng. He let out a confused sigh, unsure if 'crazy' was the right word or not.
"You reunited with your friends and decided you guys would split from them since they were worried about their families and friends…" Chan-Yeol continued. He tapped his foot as he summarized everything. He stopped and looked up at Lee Seng. "I can understand all of that but you were the cause of the extreme heat wave and turning this place into a desert?"
"More or so…" Lee Seng laughed awkwardly. Chan-Yeol sighed and folded his arms together. He let out another sigh, rolling his neck. He nodded and stood up from the desk he was leaning on.
"Fine." Chan-Yeol nodded. "Let's say I believe you on that. Did you find a way to stop this heat?"
"We revisited the lab and I did find a way to stop it." Lee Seng nodded.
"But we did get attacked." Calis added.
"By what?" Chan-Yeol asked.
"An intelligent slime." Lee Seng answered. Chan-Yeol began to open his mouth to ask for more information when a knock came to the door. Chan-Yeol stopped and looked over.
"Sir, it's urgent." A familiar voice spoke from behind the door.
"Come in." Chan-Yeol answered. The door opened, revealing a roughed up Chrono. The Fox Spirit's eyes met Lee Seng's for a moment before turning her attention onto Chan-Yeol's.
"There's a problem! Group 4 has located the air cargo shipment but they walked into a monster trap!" Chrono informed the Penumbra Vice CEO. Chan-Yeol nodded and looked over to Lee Seng.
"We'll have to finish this conversation for another time." Chan-Yeol told the group. He looked over to Chrono. "Are any of the remaining cargo groups still out there?"
"The last one just came back." Chrono shook her head. Chan-Yeol muttered to himself before looking over to Lee Seng. "Can your group go out and assist with Chrissy, here?"
"W-what, sir? A-are you sure?" Chrono asked.
"They've survived two months out there. I'm pretty sure they can help you retrieve the cargo members and clean up the monsters." Chan-Yeol nodded. "We'll finish our conversation after. I really need your help, Lee Seng."
Chan-Yeol turned and put a hand on Lee Seng's shoulder. Lee Seng sighed and nodded.
"Fine." Lee Seng agreed. Chrono looked at Lee Seng with interested eyes. Lee Seng had unknowingly found a Fox Spirit and maybe she could give them more information for the fight to come.
Lee Seng turned to look at his friends. They all nodded and Lee Seng turned back and nodded.
"Alright. I'll leave you in Chrissy's care. I'm going to check on the cargo crew that just returned then." Chan-Yeol waved goodbye and nodded at Chrono before leaving.
When they were sure Chan-Yeol wasn't lingering, Chrono and the group turned to look at each other. Chrono let out a sigh of relief.
"I didn't know you were coming here. I didn't even know if you were alive after seeing the lab incident for myself. What happened?" Chrono asked.
"It's a long story. Let's just say I might've accidentally Cultivated and I'm stuck like this until Keng awakens, again." Lee Seng replied.
"Keng… he…" Chrono looked at Lee Seng's heart.
"He saved me from the Failed Ones."
"The… what?" Chrono looked up at Lee Seng.
"Dad... The Creator was holding a dark secret. The Failed Ones… the experiments that he couldn't quite bring himself to get rid of. They broke free and… I'm trying to find them." Chrono's expression grew dark.
"I was afraid that was the case…" Chrono whispered in Fox tongue. She shook it off, remembering they had a mission. She switched back to English and looked at the others. "Let's focus on the current problem at hand first. Let's go save the Cargo Crew 4 before it's too late."
Chrono led the group down and outside. She flipped her phone out and scanned the area. She moved in the direction of Cargo Crew 4.
"Where are the others?" Lee Seng asked Chrono.
"On mission." Chrono answered. "I don't know much else. Our goal is to keep the balance."
"I thought your mission was to watch the lab."
"Everything went south, so we had to adapt. Commander Chimera's orders. Eyes forward. Monsters and thieves are going to start showing up."
Calis, Evan and Ritsuka kept their eyes on different areas as they ran. Lee Seng focused on what was ahead of them.
"Below us!" Lee Seng shouted. The earth erupted as a large circular mouth with rows of sharp teeth moved upwards for them. Lee Seng let the flames out of his hands, engulfing the mouth in flames.
"Piercing Darkness!" Calis balled his fist and opened them, releasing a blast around them. Evan engulfed the group in a dome ball, listening to the teeth monster shriek in pain as Lee Seng's fire flew back up.
The kinetic ball moved downwards, hitting the earth and rolling downwards. The ball froze in place as Evan strained. Runes lit the dark ball space as Lee Seng's energy grew.
"Leave it to me." Lee Seng told Evan. He slashed the runes as Evan pulled his concentration away from it. "Let's see where you came from… Vanishing Shadows."
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m