Chapter 871 Saving The Suburb



Smoke rose from the suburbs. Evan's eyes widened.

"We're close to home." Evan whispered. "T-that's the direction of my home." Evan sprinted off towards the suburbs, leaving his friends behind.

"Evan!" Ritsuka shouted. He cursed under his breath as he looked at the others, starting to follow after Evan. "C'mon, let's go!"

"Please don't let anything bad be happening to her." Evan whispered. Shrieks echoed through the air as red lights flew through the air.

"More of them?!?" Keng shouted. Four loud thuds hit the beach, throwing sand into the air as Evan ran past. 

"Evan!" Ritsuka shouted. 

"They're agile but they're pretty weak!" Lee Seng informed the others. "Break the head part of it!" The headlight monsters flew forward in different directions. One moved straight for Liz, swiping its sharp jagged claws at Liz. Liz rolled to the side, dodging the swipe as a bolt of psionic electricity stunned it for a second. She raised her hand and blasted the headlight, watching it crumple to the ground.

"Watch out!" Keng appeared to the side of Liz, blocking the next headlight monster. He pushed the monster back, sonic booming the monster to bits. Ritsuka jumped to the side, watching the claw barely miss him. He lashed out, shattering the headlight in a single strike as sand hardened and pierced the last monster.

[A boosted 8,000 souls has been added to the Soul Bead! 239,674/1,000,000 total Souls collected!]

'These guys aren't even good for souls.' Lee Seng thought.

"Let's go!" Manny shouted. Ritsuka led the way with Manny and Olivia in tow. Lee Seng hung in the back behind Liz and Keng as they moved out of the beach and towards the suburbs. Evan had disappeared in the fight, leaving Lee Seng worried.

"It's this way!" Ritsuka pointed. "It's the biggest house in the whole suburb. You can't miss it!" Houses were burning and the streets were filled with broken cars and blood pools. 

"What did they do to all the people?" Lee Seng whispered. "Did they kill them?"

"Mommy!" A little girl shouted.

"Laura! Run! Run honey, Mommy's — AHH!" The mother screamed as the little girl began to cry loudly. 

"I'll handle it!" Lee Seng darted away from the group. The Sun blade shimmered into existence as his hand adjusted itself to it. "Devouring Sun Flash!" Lee Seng exploded in sunlight as he flew across the street, towards the little girl. He slashed the headlight monster, exploding it to bits as the mother dropped. 

Lee Seng grabbed the mother and slid to a stop, falling to his knees.

"Are you okay?" Lee Seng asked. The mother's delayed reaction was met with a blank stare as a Fox stared at her. 

"You're…" The mother began. Lee Seng let her go, standing up and turning to the little girl who was crying profusely. "Oh, Laura!" The mother scrambled over to her daughter and embraced her.

[80 souls have been added to the Soul Bead! 239,754/1,000,000]

Fire crackled everywhere. A weak cough broke through the crackles of the flames. Lee Seng made his way into the fire, carefully avoiding the flames and low ceilings. A bloodied man coughed as he reached out for Lee Seng.

"Help… my wife and daughter…" The man weakly pleaded. Lee Seng scooped him up and quickly exited the burning building. He moved the man off to the side, noticing blinking from the corner of his eye.

BOOM!

The mother and daughter screamed as a golden shield flew up . Lee Seng hissed as the man shook in fear. 

"Are you okay?" Lee Seng asked.

"W-we're not dead?" The man asked. He opened his eyes and noticed Lee Seng looking down at him. His eyes widened. He began to scream for help as he pushed himself away from Lee Seng. "Get away from me! Monster!" The man fell to the ground, causing more of his injuries to appear. 

'Lee!' Manny telepathically called for him. 'We're four houses down! We found some more people who need help!'

'Alright.' Lee Seng answered before reaching for the man.

"Stay away from me, monster!" The man shouted. 

"D-dear…" The mother called out. "H-he saved—"

"Calm down, sir." Lee Seng moved a hand above the man. His tails wrapped together, becoming one as a golden light washed over the man. "I won't hurt you. I'm here to help." The man's burns and injuries began to fix itself. The man watched with fear slowly draining out of his face; it was telling Lee Seng all he didn't care to know. The man's fear was slowly draining. "Has there been any word on evacuating or safe places?" 

"T-there's one on the outskirts of our little suburb." The mother spoke up. She held her daughter who wanted to run to her father and embrace him. "We were on our way there when they attacked."

"Susan, you shouldn't tell him all this. What if he's really the enemy?" The man asked sitting up. 

"He's healing you." Susan retorted. "You should be thankful he's healed you and not made you burn to ashes!" The daughter began to cry again and Susan hushed her daughter, telling her it would be alright.

"Can you walk there?" Lee Seng asked the father. 

"It isn't far, but we should be able to get there if there isn't anymore monsters." The man reluctantly answered. Lee Seng pulled his hand away, removing the healing energy.

"Then go there. You'll be safest there." Lee Seng began to turn when the man's brain began to wonder where the Fox Spirit was going.

"What will you do? You're not gonna try to save everyone else, are you? It's fine out here but in the city it's—"

"Don't worry about me, sir." Lee Seng smiled. "I'm not alone. Get to the safe point with your family. If you can help others, do so. Biohumans need to stick together in these trying times."

Lee Seng darted away, finding his friends further down than Manny had mentioned. People were fleeing down the streets as Lee Seng reappeared. Ritsuka and Keng noticed him instantly, acknowledging him.

"There isn't much people left." Manny told the group. "We should find Evan." Ritsuka pointed down the street to the end. 

"He's over there." Ritsuka told them. "The Trainor Residence is that way. He must have went straight for Mrs. Trainor and the maids and butlers."

"That checks out." Olivia nodded. "You think his dad will be here?"

"He's probably in the city on some work if I had to guess. Let's not dilly-dally." Ritsuka led the way.

"Where's— Oh, he's here." Liz turned and noticed Lee Seng. 

"The father was scared of me." Lee Seng told them. 

"Checks out with how they reacted with Keng." Olivia said. "They shrieked and when Keng didn't hurt them, they wondered if he was 'storing them for later.'"

"The spell must still be in effect, huh?" Keng asked Lee Seng. They ran down the street, looking in opposite directions as they scanned for survivors. Some houses burned while others were crumpled. Cars were tossed around, maybe even burning and/or crumpled to metal bits. The streets and lawns were filled with disaster as they came closer to the Trainor Residence.

"Probably. Chaos like this might break the spell. It might not. It all depends on the person." Lee Seng replied. 

"Argh!" Evan grunted. A shield appeared, slamming on the ground and crumpling the headlight monsters to bits. He let out a huff as the group slowed to a stop. The gates were broken and parts of the home looked like they had been forcefully broken into.

"Evan!" Ritsuka shouted. Evan turned and noticed his friends were here. He began to turn and run in, ignoring his friends. "Ah, he's like this again."

"Hey Evan! Wait up!" Manny shouted. Evan blurred past the gate and into the home. "What's up with this guy?"

"Just ignore it." Ritsuka patted Manny's shoulder. "He's worried."

"I'd be worried too." Olivia empathized with Evan. 

"Let's go. We'll help anyway we can." Ritsuka motioned. The group ran into the gates and up the large road to the home. The door was left open for them like Evan knew they would follow after him. They entered a large hallway that led to other hallways and a large living room area to the right. Books and items were tossed around as distant screams echoed around.

"Split up?" Lee Seng suggested.

"Me, Liz and Ritsuka will go left." Manny told them. "You, Keng and Olivia go right. Let's try to meet outside afterwards."

"Roger." Keng saluted. The others nodded and they split, leaving Lee Seng, Keng, and Olivia together. The three walked into the living room, noticing a large dining room to their left with food and plates smashed on the floor. A large window-door combo that was once nice led outside. The group stepped outside and listened. A scream echoed in the air followed by a crunch noise.

"Over there." Lee Seng pointed. The twins and Olivia rushed over to the greenhouse. It was up in flames as a headlight monster busted out of the green house rooftops and landed short of the group.

"Oi, this stupid junk!" A Scottish man shouted. "I oughta— Aye, aye! Heal the lady before she blows me eardrums out, dearie!" A woman's scream continued as the greenhouse door came into view. It was wide open and reeked of fire. "Put the fire out, Janice! Don't just stand there all scared!"

"Y-yes, sir!" A timid girl's voice answered. Water began to spew into the air and soaking the fire into nothingness.

"Hello?" Olivia called out. "Anyone need help?"

"Who is that?" A younger man asked. The greenhouse was intricately made with loads of thriving plants. A young man stepped into view and noticed Olivia, Lee Seng and Keng. His eyes took them in and then widened. "Monsters!" His body crackled with lightning as he bolted straight for the group.

"Ah, shit." Lee Seng and Keng spoke in unison. They threw up a shield and watched the young butler slam into the shield, ricocheting off. Lee Seng caught the butler in mid-air as his eyes widened.

"Those aren't monsters, Barry." The Scottish man spoke. He stood at the end eying Lee Seng. "They're Master Evan's friends."