Chapter 665 Emergency Response I

'Fire? Why fire?' Keng asked himself. The doctors studied him like the rest of the coffee shop did.

"Are you sure? I think you should—" The employee insisted on Keng to change. Keng shook his head.

"I'm fine." Keng flexed and the hot chocolate particles flew off of him. He motioned at the spilt drink and lifted his hand up. The entire liquid flew into a ball of hot chocolate as Keng knelt to grab the cup. He stood up, putting the ball of hot chocolate in the cup and setting it on the table.

"Keng?" Chrono's worried voice called out to him.

"Woah." A customer's kid gasped.

"Did they say his name was Lee Seng Chang?" Another customer asked.

"What is someone like him doing all the way out here?"

Keng moved past the two doctors and grabbed his phone. He pulled it up to his ear.

"I'm fine." Keng told her. He looked around, noticing the doctors wanted to talk to him and the amount of people staring at him.

"Are you sure? It sounded bad! What if—"

"I'm fine. I'll call you back about my ride, 'kay? Bye."

"But Keng—"

Click.

Keng slid the phone in his pocket and turned his attention onto the two doctors. Upon closer look, the woman did look very much like Olivia. She had black hair that was in a ponytail while the male doctor stared at him exactly like Olivia did when she was focused on something. He moved between his legs like he was thinking and realized he was staring at Keng.

"Oh, are you really fine?" The male doctor asked.

"I had them call an ambulance because the smoke coming out of your lungs could be really bad." The female doctor told him. Keng noticed their badges. They were both from Capitol Hospital East of the coffee shop. It was at least a ten-minute walk from here.

"Dr. Ok and… Dr. Jung?" Keng spoke their names aloud. The two doctors looked at him, nodding.

"Yes." Dr. Jung nodded. Dr. Ok, the male doctor, took a step forward, observing him. "You should really get checked out, Student Chang."

"You're quite far away from the Academy. What're you doing all the way out here?" Dr. Ok asked.

"You should sit down, student Chang." Dr. Jung motioned. Keng grabbed his things and turned to the doctors.

"Thanks, but I gotta run." Keng waved.

"H-hey!" Dr. Ok shouted.

Keng moved out the door, opening it and turning right. He ran down the street, weaving through the people as his phone lit up in text messages from Chrono.

"Are you sure you're fine?" Chrono asked. "I think you should rest!"

"I don't have time for that. I think something bad's happening to Lee Seng." Keng texted back. "Give me the address to the lab. I'll check myself." Chrono sent him the address, asking for more context, but Keng ignored it. He mapped it by foot, noticing it would take hours to get to.

"Luckily for me, I can move quite fast." Keng smiled, strapping the other strap on and tightening it. "Please be okay, Lee Seng."

---

It was nearly nightfall by the time Keng got there. The gates were wide open for him to run through. He made his way down to the end, noticing ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks with nobody in them. Their lights were on and going as the entrance of the lab was opened.

"Please be okay." Keng whispered. He jogged inside, moving through the opened set of doors. The lab's emergency lights were on. No sirens were going off and no flashing lights indicated anything out of the sort as Keng looked around. His entire body shifted. His face appeared and the academy outfit slightly changed with him.

The halls were empty as Keng wandered them. There were no signs of the emergency responders or Lee Seng. Keng's phone buzzed multiple times. He ignored the calls and texts, but it continuously kept buzzing, which irritated him. He pulled the phone out and noticed many missed calls from Chrono, Valen, and even General Halys, himself. There were text messages from all these people including Calis. The one name that stuck out to him was Ritsuka.

Keng clicked Ritsuka's text messages.

Hey, where are you? Calis says no one can get a hold of you. Respond pls.

Keng, where are you?

Hello?!?

Hey

Hey

Hey

Hey

Hey

Keng

Keng

Keng, where are you?

Calis told me Lee Seng might be in that lab. Did you go there?!?

You did, didn't you?

Don't act hastily! Answer me!

I'm coming for you.

You better be there!

Keng clicked his phone off and sighed. 'Ritsuka's coming to get me? I don't have to worry about how I'm getting back, I guess.' He pushed away the thoughts of after and focused on the now. 'Find Lee Seng…'

The halls were empty. Doors were left open like the emergency response team had quickly looked through them. The silver halos in Keng's eyes showed him remnants of energy patterns. They were all quickly looking for something.

'Did something happen to Lee Seng?' Keng wondered. A low growl came from behind him. He began to turn to look when a voice called out to him.

"Argh… Help me…" A police officer weakly called out. Keng immediately turned and noticed the man leaning against the wall. He was clutching his stomach. Blood was painted over his face and hands. He held his stomach as he winced, losing his footing. Keng rushed over, watching the police officer fall to the ground with a loud thud.

"Are you okay? W-what happened?" Keng asked, supporting the man.

"G-get… help…" The police officer told him. He gulped the blood in his mouth down as his eyes shook with fear. "A… A monster… got into… the lab… Get…" His head and body slumped over onto Keng.

"H-hey! Sir! Sir!" Keng shouted. "Dammit, he's lost too much blood… Heal!" Keng watched a rune grow on the man, shattering to pieces as the silver light fell onto the police officer. Keng laid the police officer onto the floor and stood up. "I gotta find him before someone actually manages to kill him."

"Grrrr…." A guttural low growl echoed around Keng. A pang in Keng's chest made him squeeze the clothes near his heart as he struggled to breathe. His eyes watered, blurring as he tried his best to keep himself on his feet.

"N-not now… Please…" Keng begged. The guttural growl grew louder as Keng fell onto the ground. He gasped for air as something invisible squeezed him.

"Ahh!" A voice cried out. Keng's head slowly rose to see a firefighter run through the doors. Fear in her eyes as she investigated the dark abyss behind her. The doors began to close as the firefighter glanced over at him, panicked. Before she could say anything, the doors flew open, two bodies sailed past her and slammed into the walls behind them.

The energy grew as the demon inside quieted. There was an odd feeling that washed over Keng. He knew what was in the darkness.

Keng grunted as he pushed himself up onto his feet. The firefighter shook in fear as her eyes were glued onto the doors. Keng sucked in a breath and let out a shaky one. The feeling seemingly subsided and left Keng to his own will. He started towards the door when the firefighter called out to him.

"Hey, student! You shouldn't go over there!" The firefighter warned him. When Keng didn't seem to stop or acknowledge her warning, she fought against her own fear and went after him. "Did you hear me? Don't go in there! It's too dangerous!" She grabbed him and pulled his attention. The silver halos along his irises glowed as he immediately turned his attention towards the door.

A strange noise was coming from inside those doors. The firefighter woman seemed to notice, too, because she released Keng's arm and shook in place. Keng took the opportunity to turn his entire body to watch the door.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

'It's coming.' Keng thought. A putrid smell made its way to his nose. The woman gagged as she leaned over to puke. Keng covered his nose, waiting for what he hoped to be Lee Seng. A memory appeared at the forefront of his head. He had inquired about what to do and Halys's words were the only thing he could recall.

"When you find each other, you must connect with him. Once you do that, it'll be a mental battle. Will you be able to find the trace of sanity within him or succumb to the demon born from separation?" General Halys's warning was the only thing going in his mind. Keng had inquired 'what' needed to be done. Everything he had read was outdated and nobody seemed to know.

"What do I do then?" Keng asked General Halys and the others. The older Foxes didn't know what to do. Halys shifted in his seat as he looked off to the side for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

"You'll know what you need to do when the time comes." General Halys told him. "Trust me, the stories I've heard all end the same – a tragic death so I can't tell you what to do when that time comes. But you must promise me one thing, Keng." Halys leaned forward looking at him. "Whatever you do, make sure to come back with Lee Seng no matter what."