Nightmare's Call

“What? An explosion?”

At night, an outburst of shrieks was heard in Lin Sheng’s home. Horrified, Gu Wanqiu held her son Lin Sheng tightly, checking him from head to toe to see if he was hurt. Lin Zhounian’s brows knitted together as he puffed on his cigarette silently. On the other hand, Lin Xiao covered her mouth with her hand, tears starting to swell in her eyes.

Lin Sheng was helpless, but the situation had come to the point where they had to make a choice. Huaisha was no longer safe, and they should leave while they still could.

Not wanting to complicate the matter, Lin Sheng had made up an excuse that there had been an explosion in his workplace, and he almost could not make it home in one piece. The white lie sent shock and disbelief throughout his family, making the already troubled atmosphere worse, which was something he had expected anyway. But what falling outside his calculation was a guest, Chen Minjia, who saved his elder sister previously, showed up in his home all of a sudden. It seemed that she had just come over for a casual visit.

The foreign occupation of Huaisha seemed to have little effect on Chen Minjia; she was still living a good life, just like before. When she heard Lin Sheng’s fabricated story, her expression turned slightly grave as if she was in thought.

“No worries, mom. I’m fine, just frightened. Sarroux and I have talked over it, and a friend was able to help us get out of Huaisha,” said Lin Sheng.

“Leaving Huaisha?” Gu Wanqiu was stunned. Not far away, Lin Zhounian, who was holding a cigarette in hand, was also visibly shaken. As a matter of fact, they had thought of leaving too because the situation in Huaisha was getting more unstable with more incidents by the day. All the more so because of the runaway inflation. This place was definitely not a place to be in anymore. But that was all just wishful thinking without knowing how to go about it.

“Your friend could get us out?” Lin Zhounian got to his feet and interjected loudly. “Bullshit! Do you know what the situation in Huaisha is right now? Even Mr. Hu and his entire family, who live next to my store, could find no way out. Let alone you!” Never Lin Sheng expected his dad would not be buying his story. He stayed silent for a while and then said, “I saved his life once—” Before he finished, he quickly covered his mouth as if he had made a slip of the tongue.

Upon seeing Lin Sheng’s reaction, Lin Zhounian seemed to have guessed a thing or two and exchanged an enlightened look with Gu Wanqiu. “I’m not going to ask what you have been doing on the outside.” He appeared like he had guessed what it was all about. “I don’t care who your friend is, Sheng Sheng, but you need to have a good grasp of the situation. Is what he says real? Are you sure it’s going to be safe?”

Lin Sheng nodded as he believed that Elba would not risk earning the wrath of Khadula by lying to him. If things really went wrong and Khadula came to wreak havoc again, the entire Anduin province would fall into turmoil. More so, he could always use the Ironfist Society as a scarecrow, and Elba would have to worry about more monsters like Khadula.

“I am dead sure it’s going to be okay. All we need to do is to think about where to go.” Frankly, Lin Sheng was also scratching his head over the matter.

The world was one big place. Other than Xilin, there were Miga, Olro, Riehen nations, Osiris, and others. Lands surrounding the Pearl Ocean existed many powerful and peaceful countries, which they could also include in their list of refuge. But they needed a visa to go there.

“You all should leave while you still can.” Chen Minjia, who had been staying silent all this while, suddenly spoke. “If you all have nowhere to go, I can help get you all to a neutral country, Xylond.”

“Sis Minjia, you can go with us.” Lin Sheng looked at Chen Minjia. He had enough quota to bring more people, including Chen Minjia. But he was not going to take along other disciples of the Ironfist Society as he planned to disperse them to various parts of Xilin and let them keep on training. By doing this, he could vacate more quota.

“I don’t need it, Lin Sheng. Thank you.” Chen Minjia shook her head with a smile. “I have a good relationship with a private college in Xylond. You and your elder sis could go there with my recommendation. Treat it as a self-sponsored study.”

Lin Xiao appeared reluctant and was about to decline the offer upon hearing that it was a self-sponsored study.

“That will be great!” Lin Sheng quickly agreed. “But Sis Minjia, why don’t you leave too?”

Chen Minjia let out a smile. “To be honest with you, I’m not a citizen of Xilin. I hold an Osirian passport and am here for business. I can go anytime if I want to.”

“We don’t want to trouble you anymore, Sis Minjia,” Lin Xiao said helplessly.

“Not at all. Getting the travel pass and out of the war zone could be a little tricky, but the rest is just a walk in the park,” Chen Minjia said with a smile. She liked how this family interacted with each other, which was a stark contrast to the cold and indifferent atmosphere at home. Earlier, she had even taken Lin Xiao as her younger godsister, making placement recommendation to a college was like taking candy from a baby to her. All it took was just a call. “But first thing first, it is only an average college, not a branded university,” she said, smiling.

“It’s all good and better than nothing. I really appreciate it, Sis Minjia.” Lin Sheng nodded in a gesture of appreciation. He willed in his mind, and two vault guards transformed into plumes of black smoke and got inside Chen Minjia’s vehicle that was parked downstairs. The vault guards would be her bodyguards.

Lin Sheng had long wanted to repay her kindness for saving his elder sister’s life. Little did he expect they had to get her help in getting out of the country before he could even reciprocate her first favor. Since they were parting, leaving behind two vault guards to protect Chen Minjia would be the least he could do. Besides, Lin Sheng was also eager to find out how far the distance from which he could remotely control his summoned creatures.

That same night, Chen Minjia had contacted the college. With a letter of invitation sent out in an email from the college from Xylond, getting a student visa was not going to be a problem. Their parents could also apply for a long-term visa too.

But Lin Zhounian and his wife were more worried about the other family members, especially the bedridden Grandpa. They had a good relationship with many relatives from both sides. Lin Zhounian felt terrible to leave all these people behind.

Lin Sheng knew what was bothering his dad, but he could not help it. He could bring along his Grandpa, who was living alone after all. But not the rest, with whom he was not close enough.

After making a phone call that night, Chen Minjia decided to stay for the night here with Lin Xiao.

As for Lin Sheng, his parents had questioned him for like hours, and only after they were convinced of the travel pass thingy, they only started to discuss how to make a living in a new place. After all, they had everything but money.

Chen Minjia had expressed her willingness to help them find jobs, but Lin Zhounian had categorically declined her goodwill. After the Lin family had received such a great favor from her, he could not bear to see himself asking for more, he thought.

That night, while everyone was asleep, Lin Sheng heard faint voices of discussion in his parents’ room. They seemed to be hesitant about whether to leave or stay.

While Lin Sheng lay in bed, the sacred power continued to heal him. Considering his state of injury, it would take at least a week before he would fully recover, and that meant during the next one week, he had better not go into any combat.