A Day-off for Peak Squad

"How's Cheng doing?"

After dealing with the mess downstairs, Yun Che went into Yun Cheng's room upstairs with Xing Feng. Because Yun Cheng's zombie instinct was triggered by blood previously, he would have rampaged if they hadn't arrived in time.

"After eating a lot of crystal nuclei, he's stabilized right now."

Leng Yehan sat on the side of the bed with a mean face. "What did you do with those people?"

If they knew what Yun Cheng really was, Leng would have to kill all of them.

"Don't know. Haixuan is taking care of the problem. They…"

Yun Che walked up to his brother and touched his face. After going over what happened with Leng Yehan, he noticed that Yun Cheng didn't have many crystal nuclei with him, so Yun Che grabbed another pack from Space to put it in his brother's hand. Yun Cheng, barely calmed by crystal nuclei, still reacted a bit slowly at the moment. He robotically shoved the crystal nuclei into his mouth. The scene broke everybody's heart. Great efforts had been made so that Yun Cheng could live a normal life with them, those people almost screwed it all up.

"OK."

Leng Yehan nodded after a long time. He leaned in to stop him from eating like a starving predator regardless of his red eyes. Leng Yehan picked up a level-2 crystal nucleus to put it into Cheng's mouth. "Slow down. Take it easy. I'm here for you."

"OK."

Looking in his loving and caring eyes, the bloodlust in Yun Cheng's eyes faded. With a gentle nod, he bit one crystal nucleus at a time from Leng's hand.

Yun Che didn't have the heart to disturb them anymore. After patting on Leng Yehan's shoulder in silence, he left with Xing Feng.

"Don't move. Let me hug you for a while."

The moment the door got shut, Yun Che turned around and hugged Xing Feng tightly, burying his head in his arms. Although they kept telling themselves that it'd all be fine as long as Yun Cheng was around but it was harrowing to watch him chewing crystal nuclei like a robot every time. In the past, Yun Cheng was in Space, Yun Che forced himself to stay strong no matter how bad he would feel because he was alone. Now that Yun Cheng was out, everybody knew the situation, Yun Che allowed himself to show his weak side in front of Xing Feng.

"He will be fine."

Solace like this was futile but it was the only thing Xing Feng could say when he held his boy in arms. No one had ever dealt with a situation like this before. No matter how strong and confident they were, all they could do was move forward in search of the best solution.

"Yeah."

Replied Yun Che in a low voice with a nod. He never doubted that his brother would be fine.

The two of them had their arms wrapped around each other for a good while in the corridor. Zhan Yafei and the others wanted to check how Yun Cheng was doing but they retreated as soon as they got upstairs. Just like Yun Che didn't have the heart to disturb Leng Yehan and Yun Cheng, the guys hated to disturb Yun Che and Xing Feng. Yes, Yun Che was powerful, but he was just a human being, not a God. He, too, needed some space.

By the time Lu Haixuan came back, it was already 8 pm. No one said one word about what they did with those people but everybody could pretty much imagine it. When the dinner was over, Lu Haixuan personally went to next door to get his mom and grandpa home after Yun Che permitted him to do so. The truth was ghastly but Lu Haixuan chose to tell them anyway. He didn't want his mom and grandpa to live with guilt, but at the same time, he wished they got a better understanding of the callousness of the doomsday so that they could stop being nice and kind.

This night, no one got a good sleep. Yun Che went straight to sleep with Xing Feng. But Xing Feng, the one who had been eager to make their relationship count, just held him for the whole evening. They didn't do anything before they fell asleep after midnight.

Unsurprisingly, everybody got up later than usual the next day, including Yun Yao and Wang Suhua, who would generally get up very early to make breakfast for everyone. When Yun Che and Xing Feng came into the house from next-door, everybody was still quite sleepy, especially Lu Haixuan and his family. Lu's mother's eyes were inflamed, clearly, she'd been crying the whole night. Lu's grandpa seemed older than yesterday. The truth must have wrung their kind hearts over and over again.

"I have a conference with the military today. Xingchen, Jiang Shang, come with me. You guys take a one-day off at home. No quest today. Haixuan, stay with your mom and grandpa."

During breakfast, Yun Che announced his decision while everybody was here. Leng Yehan, an iron-man who never took a single day off, frowned at once. Yun Cheng's need for crystal nuclei was insatiable. Leng would never feel tired as long as Yun Cheng needed crystal nuclei. But when he raised his head to make eye contact with Yun Che, he could only keep his objection to himself.

"I'm full."

Leng Yehan put down his bowl and chopsticks and went upstairs. Yun Cheng was still kept upstairs in case Lu's mom and grandpa got shocked. Since there was no quest to do, he might as well stay with Cheng for all day. Over the past few weeks, he hadn't really spent much time with him.

"Che, why don't you take me with you? Jiang Shang is untalkative. If there was an argument, you'd be at a disadvantage."

To lighten up the mood, Zhou Zeyu intentionally picked on Jiang Shang. Too bad, he was Jiang Shang whose sole focus was on Ye Xingchen. He didn't have time or energy for others.

"I want to go with you, too. Take me there for fun, master. I heard the army guys were cool but I've never seen them. I wanna have a look."

Heiyu leaped onto Yun Che's shoulder out of nowhere. It annoyed Yun Che who was having his breakfast. The little beast also spoiled everyone else's breakfast. They never had one peaceful day since Heiyu came back. They had to be on alert all the time. And here he came again but he always ended up with…

"Whoa! Flying again! Don't do this to me every time. I'm nearly addicted to it."

Yun Che grabbed his little leg and threw him out. The cheeky, masochist puppy cried how great it felt in the air. Everybody couldn't help but find him gross. It seemed no one on this planet could bear with his shamelessness.

"We're not going to argue with anyone. Jiang Shang is good. You stay quiet."

After dealing with Heiyu, Yun Che shot a warning glance at Zhou Zeyu. He'd be crazy to bring him along. Why would he think he was any better than Heiyu? If he was around, the friendly conversation would turn into an intense debate. Being untalkative was good, at least Jiang Shang wouldn't cause trouble, though he did often show off his love!

"Why are you so hard on me, Che?"

Zhou Zeyu wore a sulky face after giving Yun Che a miffed glare. Everybody shook their heads and laughed. But Zhou Zeyu and Heiyu did manage to lighten up the mood. Even Lu's mom and grandpa put on a smile.

The conference was set to start at 9 am. It was about half past eight when they finished breakfast, but Yun Che didn't seem in a hurry at all. Xing Feng and Gu Mingxuan didn't rush him, either. Since it was those people who were trying to lure them out of the base, they had to wait. No matter how pissed-off they were, they must act like they respected Peak and Chaoyang.

"Sister, Yehan will be living in the same room with Cheng. Xingchen and Jiang Shang can move into Yehan's room. Clean up their rooms with Auntie Wang later so that Mrs. Chen and his dad can stay in their old rooms on the first floor."

It was late last night, so Ye Xingchen asked Jiang Shang to sleep in one room with him and to give his room to Mr. Chen. Zhan Yafei slept in one room with Yun Yao and Chenchen after giving her room to Lu's mother. It could make do for a night but in the long run, they definitely needed to re-arrange the rooms. Even though Leng Yehan wasn't with them, he wouldn't disagree with Yun Che's decision. In fact, ever since Yun Cheng came out of Space, he rarely slept in his own room. Ye Xingchen and Jiang Shang, however, were kind of embarrassed in everyone's presence. But Ye Xingchen agreed by not saying no. Jiang Shang opened up his eager eyes despite the blush on his face.

"Ahem! Um, You're welcome to do something wild. I'm told that the sound insulation is good, you don't need to worry whether you'll disturb others or not. But, of course, on the premise of you latching the door and windows."

Yun Che cleared his throat and teased them when seeing the looks on their faces.

"Yun Che?!"

"OK!"

Ye Xingchen's face immediately flushed, so did Jiang Shang's. But Jiang's answer was more frank. Everybody looked at them with teasing eyes. Even the two girls, Yun Yao and Zhan Yafei snickered.

"Mr. Chen, Aunt Chen, this will be your home from now on. What's in the past stays in the past, the dead ones won't come back to life no matter how much you miss them. We're alive and we need to keep moving forward. At least you're together with Haixuan now, aren't you?"

After joking around, Yun Che walked up to Lu's mother and grandfather. They were Lu Haixuan's real family and would be his as well.

"OK. Thanks."

Mrs. Chen's eyes became red again. She expressed her gratitude while sobbing. Lu Haixuan opened his arms to hug her in silence. Yun Che gave Lu a look, hinting that he'd leave this family to him. He then turned to Xing Feng and nodded at him. The two of them turned around and left. Ye Xingchen and Gu Mingxuan followed up. They were going to attend the conference. Peak was asked to take this day off but Chaoyang was supposed to finish quests as usual. They had no choice. Even if they didn't do any quests, they still needed to hand in 1,000 low-level crystal nuclei to their captain.

"Aunt Wang, please keep Anut Chen company. Yafei, let's go clean up the rooms."

Yun Yao was free at the moment since she had dropped Chenchen at the kindergarten before breakfast. Lu's mom still seemed tense, so she suggested Wang Suhua, someone at her age, keep her company while she took Zhan Yafei away.

"Mr. Chen, I'm Zhou Zeyu. How about Haixuan and I walk you around our community?"

Zhou Zeyu as an outgoing fellow proposed a walk outside at once. Mr. Chen couldn't say no to his enthusiasm even though he was going to give the girls a hand. He nodded after looking at Lu Haixuan. "O-OK. Thanks, young man."

"No problem. Haixuan's grandpa is no different from my grandpa. I can look after your grandson if you like."

"Sure. Good boys, good boys."

This enthusiastic, lively young man cheered Mr. Chen up. The old man kept nodding in tears. He was only here less than one day and something unpleasant happened during that time, but he wasn't old and dumb. He could tell that these guys genuinely treated Haixuan as one of the family. He could feel the warmth suffusing the house. In the doomsday, this very warmth was invaluable.

"Let's go, Haixuan."

Zhou Zeyu held Mr. Chen up by the arm. Before he left, he said to Lu's mom with a smile, "Mrs. Chen, please make yourself at home. Just take a walk in the community with Aunt Wang later. People are nice here."

"Hmm? Ah, OK."

Lu's mom nodded timorously as she didn't expect him to speak to her. Wang Suhua held her hand and soothed her with enthusiasm, "Mrs. Chen, just relax. They are easy-going kids. Your politeness only makes them feel awkward. My husband and I went through this when we just came to this family but after you knew them more…"

Wang Suhua was an extrovert and the two old ladies shared similar pasts, so she wouldn't stop talking. She even waved Zhan Tianlong off when he tried to say goodbye to her before setting off to the clinic. The face of Lu's mom lit up with the help of Wang Suhua.