Chapter 40: Li Yan

Hearing Willow's words, the mother had already begun to break down little by little. Willow was sympathetic when she knew the chances of LiYun surviving was slim and never wanted to tell the news to her, but, having been a doctor, she knew to withhold such important information was against the rules of being a doctor because it was information for the patient to understand their health and choices, which could be limited depending on their situations. Yet, it was the first in a long time that Willow felt this sympathetic towards a mother she had seen protecting and supporting the two children as her own.

"I would like to know about Li Yan." Willow said.

"E-Excuse me?" Li Yun raised a brow in bewilderment.

Willow shook her head with a sigh as she leaned back against the wall, "I'm warning you. If you don't tell me the truth about her abilities now, it won't be me that regret it later, but you.

"I knew it." Li Yun stated with tears in her eyes.

Willow frowned, "So, you knew. She can sense things that normal humans can't."

The mother took deep breath and in deep thoughts as Willow took a seat on the ground next to her. Hesitatingly, the mother finally spoke, "Li Yan is my cousin's child. My cousin, he met some woman overseas and wanted to marry her. The woman rejected him strongly and pushed him away. It's assumed that things didn't go as planned."

Li Yun wore a troubling look in her eyes as she recalled that day, "The next thing they knew, Li Yan appeared at his front steps with the same skin color as the mother. Because her skin was so pale, he's excused it for the child being sickly. However, my second cousin suggested a genetic test which was costly coming from a family in the rural side of China. However, my uncle claimed to have the money to afford the payment claiming that if the child has the blood of his sons that they belong in the family. A few months passed before they got the confirmation and during this time, the child was staying with a distant relative because my cousin would not accept her."

Li Yun shook her head in exasperation and sighed, "As you can guess, the test returned showing details that Li Yan was indeed his child. However, he didn't want her because he wasn't married to the mother, the mother was strange to have known where he lived in another country, and that she was a girl who couldn't pass on the family name. My uncle did not care for what he thought and beaten my cousin for attempting to throw his flesh and blood out. To him, she has their blood running in her veins and was a child from the main branch of the family. It was all that mattered to him."

"And you?" Willow questioned curiously, "Where you do stand in all this?"

"My parents and I are from a different branch from the main family and didn't live with those ideas anymore because it was stifling. They never wanted to return to the main house because their ideas were so harsh that we couldn't handle being there for more than an hour."

So, that's why Willow don't remembering seeing her...

As Willow heard this, she slowly nodded without many reactions, "And Li Yan? How did she came into your care?"

"It was just before the late Spring season ended last year." She said, "My husband and I were picking up our son during our lunch break when I received a call from our second cousin. My father had called me and told me that he had dropped off Li Yan at our house. At first, we were confused of everything because I didn't know my cousin had a child. Because I always so him as a younger sibling, I never thought of him having his own family before having a wife."

She continued to explain, "Like our uncle, my cousin's ideas of life are just as old as him. We aren't very close to be called close siblings, but we did see each other as the senior child and the junior child in our generation. I didn't understand everything, so I told my husband that my father had brought an unknown child to our home without telling me. He knew my background rather well and we both knew my father won't interfere with anything in our life without letting us know ahead of time for permission. So, we called out company and let them know we had to return home early for an emergency meeting. It took a while of persuasion, but we got the permission and hurried home with our son. When we found Li Yun, we found a letter in her hands that told us my uncle had provoked something they shouldn't have provoked and that person is targeting my cousins and uncle. That the figure was so important that not even the police can get a hold of them."

Willow nodded with a sigh and sat back as she asked, "Then, they're coming for her too."

The mother gave her a strange look when she heard this.

"Please continue." Willow urged quietly.

Hearing this, Li Yun nodded nervously, "My husband and I got afraid, but we were more worried because we saw Li Yun was more scared of us than we were, which was unusual for most children. Children should be happy and straightforward. Worry-free, in fact. Having loved children since we grew up, my husband and I felt worried about her behavior. So, we took the girl in. However, a couple weeks later, my aunt called me. Everyone, except for my second cousin, in the household had died mysteriously and the police are calling it poison."

So, one of her half sibling is still alive...

"My second cousin was left disabled from the waist down but had become stuck in a coma. My father was one of the people amongst the victims. He was found inside of my second cousin's room." Li Yun continued suddenly finding herself a little teary remembering the not too distant past, "Because my husband and I lived so far away from the main house, we weren't too worried about it because Beijing is a big city with many people having the same surnames. My mother stayed with us since then and has stayed close to our son, but she passed two weeks right before the disaster occurred."

"Serah?" The guy raised a brow, "I've known a few demigods in the west, but not much about her. I didn't even know whose child she was until she had killed one of the demigods in that facility."

"Then, no one else knew?" I questioned as I began looking through the small bottles or capsules of medicine from a metal container with a lock and several dents. There was obvious tempering done outside of it, but, at least the lock implanted into the box was still hidden safely away as Willow remembered she had.

The key was under some debris of the former shelf that once stored all the equipment used for check-up and studies. Gasoline for vehicles was gone, but that didn't matter at the moment. She wasn't using a vehicle right now, after all.

"I don't know." Belen responded with a frown, "Nobody was willing to talk to me even if I was the one talking to them."

Willow raised a brow, "Are all demigods talkative? The demigods I've met don't talk very much with each other."

"We're as diverse as regular humans." Belen responded as he noticed her gesturing him to the debris of shelf where he found a bunch of dubious-looking medicine containers, "As for Serah, she was a little girl probably around thirteen or fourteen years old. She's always with this group of other demigods and a large man-eating monster."

"So, she's gotten her hands on one too." Willow frowned, "What did it look like?"

"A gigantic black dog?" He responded with a raised brow, "I'd say it's Cerberus's little puppies, but..."

"Yeah..." Willow slowly nodded in agreement with a small wry smile, "I'm not an expert in greek mythology, but I don't think Spot has puppies yet."

"Right..."

Belen gave out a small nervous laugh at her will to call the guardian of the gates to Hell by its translated name.

This woman has guts to talk down on the ancient monster. But, to Willow, the "monster" guarding the gates to Hell that Hades somehow didn't change the name of was continuosly called Spotted in Greek for who knows how long. However, a thought came to her as she noted, "I remember that he was a Hell hound, so what she has must be something similar, then? Was there any physical features?"

"Well, it's pretty strange." Belen responded as he brushed away Willow's previous comment, "The dog had this creepy red eyes that glowed whenever she was watching us fight for our life. She had the dog with her next to him and it's eyes would glow red in the dark. I thought it was no different from a demon or something."

Willow sighed, "At least, it's not the Heavenly Hounds. I would be surprised if it was that."

"Heavenly Hound?" Belen raised a brow, "That sounds familiar."

"The Jade Emperor of Heaven here has a nephew from his sister's side. Because of his heritage and the fact that his sister broke the law and eloped with a human, it's said he doesn't want to show much recognition towards the nephew." Willow stated, "However, the nephew is pretty strong and is well-known for upholding justice regardless of that. More importantly, alongside him is a hound he tamed which has the ability to swallow the sun or moon during a solar eclipse and is extremely smart and loyal."

"That's impressive." Belen raised a brow and look at her curiously, "So why did you think that she would have one?"

Willow shrugged, "It's better to be careful, right? If she stole the dog that guards the gates to Heaven, then I wouldn't know what the Heavens would do from there."

That and Willow was curious why the heavens in China was willing to help her father and that woman who looks like she was from Greece. They were rather strict with their laws. Compassion and sympathy don't often find ways into their courts. Either in Heaven or in Hell.

"That does have a unique difference when compared to Cerberus." Belen touched his chin as he nodded upon recalling the facts.

To Willow, the guy sounds as though he was also familiar with the legends of China. With this in mind, she watched him as he continues, "I recall that there was an attack by the child of the Red King a few days before the whole conference with Elijah ended badly. Then, there was a zombie apocalypse somewhere else outside of America."