04 Blood Bats and Red Sky

Somewhere in Blue Planet.

A thin layer of ice gripped the streets, and the temperature plummeted several degrees. The gusts of wind howled even more fiercely, sharp enough to freeze a person in mere minutes if they dared step outside.

"What do we do? What are we going to do now? Brother Bowen, I think the world is ending, how are we going to survive? Even sister-in-law is still missing."

A young woman muttered incessantly, her voice trembling with anxiety as she paced back and forth across the room, her steps rapid and frantic.

"Zi Yan, for the love of god—stop pacing around like a damn worm and saying unlucky things! My head is hurting as it is, and you are making it worse." A rasped voice of a young man cut through the air, mirroring her frustration.

Zi Yan flinched before glancing toward the corner where the irritated youngster sat. Wang Bowen's usually warm and doting gaze towards her was now cold and steely. If one were to compare, the expression on his face would be as lifeless as the frozen world outside.

The dark circles underneath his eyes were screaming about his lack of sleep last night due to the anxiety of being attacked. Overnight, his fresh handsome face turned stern and ashen. However, it was no surprise that in a restless situation, he would look more agitated than usual.

Thus, when Zi Yan met his eyes, her body stiffened and recoiled slightly; there was something chilling in his stare as if saying that the man would physically shove her into a box to keep her from moving if she didn't stop making a scene. Zi Yan trembled and quietened a little.

With a heavy sigh, she sank into the stiff, uncomfortable sofa that the rundown hotel room could only afford to provide. The rough fabric dug against her soft bum, reminding her of its cheapness, but Zi Yan stifled any complaint.

During this time, she knew that she must bear to suffer a little. There was no room for frustration—not with the grim reality of their situation pressing in on everyone. She had no choice but to endure, finding whatever fleeting comfort she could in the meager cushions beneath her.

But once her gaze drifted again to the empty space in front of her, her eyes couldn't help but welled up with tears.

"Big Sister..." she whispered softly and sniffed as her eyes flickered toward the hastily boarded-up windows. The wooden scraps were still nailed tight to keep those blood-sucking bats out. They were safe but what of her dear sister?

"Is there still no word on my sister-in-law?" She wondered aloud while worrying if her second brother's wife was safe or if she had been…

Zi Yan bit her trembling lips and clenched the hem of her jacket while quietly sobbing, "Sister Xiaotong, you can't be dead. Please stay alive."

Hic…

"Big Sister, wherever you are... please hold on. Endure, just a little longer, until we find a way to reach you." Zi Yin whispered the words heavy with desperation like a prayer whispered into the cold night—soft, but unanswered.

"Young Miss," a gruff voice interrupted, "Stop crying."

Zi Yin flinched and awkwardly wiped her frozen tears.

With eyes red and strained, she glanced up, only to find bodyguard Sung standing nearby. His expressionless face was etched with a small scar at the corner of his upper lip that made him very intimidating despite his handsome features comparable to a Korean actor.

This man was a foreign bodyguard with a lean figure in his late twenties whom Zi Xuan hired when he met him on one of his overseas trips. Zi Yin who was only accustomed to seeing university kids who were barely in their twenties often felt a bit scared when in front of him.

 "You should stop crying," he repeated and reminded firmly, "It's below freezing out here, and your tears will only make you weaker." His rough fingers brushed against her trembling form, as he handed her an additional blanket.

"T-thank you, Mr. Sung," Zi Yin stammered as her face flushed with guilt. "And umh... I'm sorry for being such a bother." Her eyes, swollen from crying, met his with quiet appreciation as she took the blanket from his hands.

Sung Jinwoo didn't speak. His only response was a curt nod as he turned away. He checked the temperature gauge again, ensuring the surroundings weren't worsening, then walked toward his partner who was monitoring the live feed from the thermal surveillance they'd set up outside the moment they first arrived at this hotel as a safety precaution.

Who would have known that they would be scanning the cold, empty streets for any sign of movement, not from people but from strange hostile creatures?

"Old Lu, how's the situation?" he briefly inquired. Lu Bu shifted his sight from the thermal monitor and shook his head at the young man.

"Anything from the boss?" he shot back but the former also gave an undesirable response. "I can't reach the boss. It seems the line was cut for overseas calls. That aside, I don't see any news about what's happening here as well," Sung Jinwoo replied with a sharp gaze.

"Could it be..." The two people's expressions darkened.

"It's not impossible." A day had passed but there was still no smoke coming out. Normally, this kind of story would have been scattered in real-time by those so-called vloggers on the internet.

"Someone must be suppressing the news of those monstrous bats from leaking out to prevent the city people from panicking and escaping to another nation."

"I've relayed our current situation through his local number, until the boss returns, we are on our own. I just hope it won't get worse than this," Sung Jinwoo stated in an 'as a matter of fact' tone and deliberately let the two rich kids in the living room hear, to give them a reality check.

Wang Bowen and Zi Yin knew what he meant and said politely in unison.

"Uncle Lu, Mr. Sung... We'll be in your care!" In this kind of situation, they're not some young masters but burdens. If they go Karen on these two, they might throw them both to the horde of bats outside.

By then, even if Zi Xuan arrives, who knows if they're still alive?

"Please be at ease, Young Master, Young Miss." Lu Bu mildly uttered. "We will carry on with our job to protect you as long as you cooperate later with our plans. Don't do anything reckless, without consulting us. If you do that much none of us will suffer." 

Listening to his words, the two understood and obediently nodded.

"Let me take it from here. Go take a rest, I'll take the night watch." Seeing them settled, Sung Jinwoo chimed.

"Well then, call me if something strange appears," Lu Bu didn't try to argue and patted his shoulder before retreating back to a vacant room in the suite to catch up on sleep.

"En."

Outside, the sky abruptly turned scary and ominous, bearing a deep shade of crimson blood, and it had been like that ever since its sudden shift yesterday morning. Without sunlight to warm the land, the weather had become unbearably cold, but the sudden drop in temperature wasn't the only thing that sent a chill down her spine.

What's more concerning was the creatures that suddenly appeared on the surface and began wreaking havoc and attacking humans.