45 ◇Hellish Consequences◇

'Now to figure out what the hell happened while I was gone.' Lu Xing thought hoping that there would be some sort of clues, or better yet, some form of life inside.

He had enough regrets from his prior life.

Only after he knows their all safe, can he go and do everything he can to...

Take vengeance.

Looking inside from the doorway, it appeared empty... save for a light that was streaming from the living room area. His highly sensitive ears could hear the soft breathing of multiple people from that direction, and he gave out a sigh of relief when he heard Yue'ers voice... Followed by Yiran's voice.

Yue'er was trying to soothe Yiran's worries, but everyone in the living almost instantly went quiet when Liu Zhuo hushed them as he couldn't help but overhear the front door shut.

Switching on the lights to the entire place, Liu Zhuo and Wang Yun both walked towards the makeshift hallway...

"Glad to see you two are actually working together." Lu Xing said leaning against the wall in the hallway.

Inwardly he was rather relieved.

He took a glance around the room at everyone and instantly noted that a few people were respectively missing.

"I'll have my new friends come in...and then I would like to know where the others are." Lu Xing said, his eyes on Yiran who seemed deathly pale but seemed anxious.

"Is my brother..?" Yiran asked, her eyes darting anxiously towards the empty space behind Lu Xing.

"Yeah, he's in the truck taking care of the baby with the others." Lu Xing offhandedly informed them, and eyes widened in surprise around the room.

"Others?" Liu Zhuo said, followed by Wang Yun's, "Baby?"

Lu Xing turned and walked back to the front door and out...

He was instantly followed by four people.

Inwardly his mind was going back and forth trying to figure out where everyone else could possibly be...

"Sister!" Xiaolang clamored off the passenger side and ran to his sister when she got out.

Xiulan hesitated following this newfound big brother with her baby brother in her arms, but she did.

Yiran hugged her brother, whom she had missed ever so much, and her eyes teared up.

The hug was so heartwarming that Wu Xinyi was forced into a grimace before getting off the truck and slamming the door behind him. Wen ZhenKang took this as a sign to get off the trucks bed, the kid following behind him...ever so awkwardly grabbing ahold of his shirt. Wen ZhenKang didn't make a single move to shake Sun Rong's hand off.

Seeing all these newcomers made Liu Zhuo glare at Lu Xing.

'So you leave us worrying while you go and make friends...' Liu Zhuo darkly thought.

"It really is a baby..?" Wang Yun said questioningly as he went over and started up a conversation with Xiulan, her and the baby remimding him of his own baby sister Yue'er.

Yue'er followed suit, though her eyes couldn't help but follow Wen ZhenKang. Meanwhile, Wen Zhenkang's eyes had turned onto Xiaolang and his sister. Only Lu Xing took notice of all these little details and frowned.

Because everything was different this time around, everyone's relationships would change...with new people added into the equation...Lu Xing couldn't even begin to imagine its outcome.

After everyone had been introduced, he had everyone come back inside were they then took the newcomers to bunkbeds and Lu Xing asked them to settle in for the rest of the night. He had discreetly taken out a brand new bassinet from his earring, which he then claimed had been in a corner out of the way. No on questioned it, and Xiaolang with Wang Yun's help had little Cai placed to sleep properly.

Then Lu Xing pulled Liu Zhuo, the Wang siblings, and the Peng siblings away.

He simply had to know...

Where was everyone else?

☆☆☆

Old Wang was busily handling the festering wound on Peng Xiong's lower abdomen. He had been at it for a two hours now, and Peng Xiong seemed to be worsening.Pale and clammy, Peng Xiong lips bled from where he had bitten down earlier from the throes of wrecking pain that had entered somewhere within him.

He felt like his entire body was incased in a cold iceberg. His flesh had begun to take on a blackish blue color. His eyes, though wide open,seemed to be unfocused.

It was to this that Lu Xing and Xiaolang entered the room too.

Xiaolang instantly seemed upset, as he went to his father's bedside. His sister following silently behind, her face streaked with tears. Looking at the hideous gashes of a wound that seemed to have boiled up and turned disgustingly squishy seeming...

Lu Xing knew it had been the Mutant Cat's doing, its claws having been covered in a poison of sorts.

Purposely, he walked to Old Wang's side and stopped the old man in his movements from where he was trying take away the bad flesh.

"Doing this won't save him," Lu Xing stated, his gaze steely, "The poison has taken its toll... Take everyone out, I'll handle this."

Lu Xing's presence seemed to calm the old man in his actions, and he nodded as he motioned for the siblings to leave. Yiran shook her head, but Xiaolang who seemed to be the most unwilling one with a heavy heart listened, and dragged his sister out. Once Lu Xing heard the door shut, he looked at Peng Xiong...disappointment clear in his eyes.

"I should let you die." Lu Xing muttered unhappily, "But for Yiran's sake, I'll save your life this time...but not without consequence."

Placing his flame covered hand upon the man's weakly beating heart, Lu Xing began to melt away the poison from every portion of the body he could deal with...

Except, just as he had warned, there was indeed a consequence to this.

Peng Xiong shook slightly, his breathing becoming more steady...the color of his flesh beginning to return to its normal tan tone.

'You'll live.' Lu Xing thought,his eyes falling onto Peng Xiong's now shut eyes...