Chapter 131 - Sentiments
*Creeeeak*
Both Hao Xuan and Sin jumped back and took out their respective weapons while facing the door. Sin had two long daggers, one in each hand. They were shimmering with a dark light and if one didn't directly look at them, they seemed to disappear and meld with the surroundings. Hao Xuan could only imagine how difficult it would be to fight against someone like that, whose weapons weren't even visible during the fight.
"Assassin?" he asked looking at her daggers, making her smile in return.
"Daddy?" a quivering voice asked from the door as the figure slowly came closer to them.
"Stop! Who are you?!" Sin raised her daggers and pointed them at the small figure, ready to attack.
"Mama!" the figure shouted and came running at her. Sin didn't hesitate for even a second and slashed towards the moving figure while jumping back once again.
Hao Xuan who was carefully looking at the figure suddenly disappeared from his spot and appeared on the other side of the room with the little figure in hand.
"Idiot! What are you doing?!" Sin shouted at him from afar, prompting Hao Xuan to shout back. "Look before attacking moron!"
He looked down at the figure in his embrace and smiled gently.
"Daddy?" was the only response heard from the figure.
"Eh? No no, I'm not your dad," he shook his head and put away his sword and walked back to the fireplace. Sin was still standing at the other corner with her daggers pointed in Hao Xuan's direction.
Hao Xuan went in front of the fireplace and dragged a chair closer to it, placing the figure on it.
"You're drenched. Here, take this off," he said and took off the blanket covering it, revealing a small girl with a sleeping puppy in her arms. Sin frowned looking at her and didn't let her guard down at all.
"Daddy, Xiao Xiao isn't waking up," the girl had tears in her eyes as she extended her hand. The puppy was breathing heavily and just like the girl, was wet from head to toe, shivering.
Hao Xuan awkwardly scratched his head and looked over at Sin with pleading eyes.
"Can you help a little? What are you afraid of?"
"We checked almost everything. Don't you think it's weird how everyone else died but a little girl survived? How can you be so trusting?"
"That may be so, but I'm not going to let a child who might have experienced all that stand out in the rain and not help. In the off chance, this is.....something else, I'll take responsibility," he waved his hand and took out two towels from the storage ring.
"What's your name?" he asked bending down in front of her, purposefully exposing his neck and other vital areas, leaving it open for attacks. Sin let out some strands of Qi and they turned transparent, melding into the air.
The girl's eyes started watering, "Papa doesn't remember Kana?"
"E-Eh? Papa? I'm no-"
"Kana, do you remember your house?" as Hao Xuan was trying to tell her he wasn't her father, Sin who had walked over to them asked, cutting him off.
"Mhm," Kana told her exact address and Sin quickly jumped out of a window. She returned within 3-4 minutes with some clothes in hand.
"Go away, I'll take care of her," she said pushing Hao Xuan away from her.
"The hell? Why such a sudden change?" he mumbled and took the little puppy covered in towels closer to the fireplace.
Sin helped the little girl change into a new set of clothes and called Hao Xuan back over. She took the puppy away from him, handed it back to Kana, and dragged him away again.
"What? Why are you acting so weirdly?" he asked looking at her suspiciously.
*sigh*
"I found her, in her home," she said lightly while looking at Kana from the corner of her eyes.
"Found who?"
"The girl, Kana. Her severed head is still in her home," she looked back at Hao Xuan.
"But she's right here. How's that possible?" Hao Xuan asked suspiciously.
"It's not her. The girl is dead. That's just a sentiment," she shook her head.
"It happens sometimes. When people are killed too suddenly and they still have something left to do in this world, their souls linger on for a little while and then disappear into the void. I think it's because of that," she pointed at the puppy.
"The girl was probably too attached to it and her soul couldn't move on knowing that it would die here if there was no one to take care of it."
Hao Xuan was stunned. So Kana was basically a ghost? Ghosts were real?!
"Just go along with the act. Her soul is pretty weak so she should move on by tonight," she whispered in his ear and walked back to Kana with a kind smile on her face.
"Mama, Xiao Xiao is so cold," Kana looked up at Sin, almost breaking out crying herself.
"Let mama see," she said gently and took the puppy from her hands. The pup was around 3 weeks old and looked like a husky. It was white with black spots here and there.
Hao Xuan looked at them from afar, not knowing what to do. How was it possible that she was a ghost? He felt her pulse before. Her body was as real as his.
*Bzzt*
His spirit band vibrated, waking him from his daze. It was First calling.
"Brother, what's wrong? Did you move to a grade two town yet?"
Hao Xuan shook his head, "No, I'm in a small mining village but..."
"But what?"
"But everyone here is dead. The children, the elderly, even most of the animals....."
Hao Xuan explained everything he saw and First went quiet for a few seconds before speaking in a grave voice. He looked at Hao Xuan in the eyes, "We have had similar reports from all over the Kingdom. Multiple towns and villages have lost contact completely. The few places we could send people to were in the same condition. After a general calculation, the casualties seem to be more than 15 million. Many places have been wiped out completely and..."
"And what?"
*Sigh*
"All the bloodshed seems to have sent the beasts into a crazed state. Many small scale beast hordes have attacked random towns and cities. A large scale evacuation has been ordered and all citizens are to move to the nearest graded town. The survival rate outside of such places is less than 10 percent. An official announcement will be made in a few minutes."
"Brother, you need to get to a safe place. The hordes are coming," his words sent a cold chill down Hao Xuan's spine.
Ever since coming to this world, he had never seen a full-scale beast horde. Although there was one almost every year, it would normally be near one of the Grade 1 cities which were well equipped to deal with such things.
But now beast hordes were forming all over the kingdom and could and most probably would attack every big settlement. This was a disaster on a national scale.
"I have been assigned one of the Grade 2 cities near Fortuna so I'll be leaving with two regiments of the Red Legion. You have to be extremely careful brother. If you can't reach a graded city by nightfall, then find a deep dark hole and stay there for a few days."
"Mhm," Hao Xuan didn't know what to say so he simply nodded his head and hung up.
"Papa," Kana's voice came from the Fireplace where she was sitting in Sin's lap and looking at Hao Xuan with a bright smile.
*Bzzt*
His spirit band vibrated and just like First had said a notification popped up.
Attention: All citizens are to move to the nearest protected encampment and stay there until further notice. A Level 4 beast horde has been sighted near the coast and is expected to move into the inner areas within 24 hours.. This is not a drill.