Chapter 114: A Visitor
For the next three days, no one came to their door. Nightfall still moved as they usually did, greeting people, doing their rounds. They were more vigilant, however. They didn’t want what happened before to happen again.
Kain was satisfied seeing this.
After three beautiful, restful days, people Kain didn’t want to see came to their doorstep.
Verdana had come to call them, saying there was a family outside to see them. As soon as Kain stepped outside, he wished he hadn’t. Jasmine and Chad, the Wiltons, and behind them, Lila, Boyd, and Xavier.
Jasmine smiled like they were friends who had known each other their entire lives.
"Hey, Kain, Amelia, I know we got off on the wrong foot last time, but the kids have been talking about your little ones. We were wondering if we could let them have some play time."
"You sound like a 1950’s housewife," Amelia retorted.
Jasmine grimaced, but didn’t say anything else.
Kain turned to the little ones who had come out behind them. "Do you want to see them?"
He didn’t try to influence their decision. He allowed them to make the choice themselves. Whether to view them as threats, he allowed the children to decide.
As for himself, he viewed all of them as a threat. It didn’t matter how small these children were. He knew his own children, and they were smart. He wouldn’t be surprised if these lab-grown ones were the same.
After a beat, the children nodded. What surprised Kain was that for the first time, the children initiated contact through the link.
It seemed they knew Kain’s worry and told him not to worry about them.
Seeing the three children nod, Lila, Boyd, and Xavier paid no mind to Kain and Amelia and ran towards them.
Kain frowned. "Are these the kind of kids you’re raising? They just run past the owner of the house without saying anything?"
"They’re young. I’ll reprimand them when we get back," Jasmine replied. "While they’re playing, why don’t we get reacquainted?"
Kain and Amelia looked at the two people. They truly couldn’t understand them. It made no sense for them to pretend. They couldn’t understand what they received from pretending.
But he also knew they wouldn’t leave.
Resigning himself to his fate, he gestured for them to sit down. The four adults sat around a table making small talk.
It had to be said, Jasmine was a master at acting. Should anyone pass by, they would think Jasmine was being hospitable and trying to mend fences, but Kain and Amelia were being hostile.
Inside, the children were having their own conversation.
The little girl who had pretended to be delicate outside completely changed. Her eyes were contemptuous. The two boys, full of smiles, suddenly became indifferent and arrogant.
Ashton, Dominic, and Avery had never pretended to be anything other than their usual selves, so nothing changed for them.
Lila looked around the room and scoffed, "So, this is the dump you’ve been living in? Our place is better."
Xavier clicked his tongue, arms crossed over his chest. "You were losers in the lab, and you’re losers now."
"Don’t think because you gave some food, your family is better than mine." Boyd chimed in.
None of the three siblings said anything. This was how it usually went. Avery, Dominic, and Ashton would communicate through their link, not caring about the malice of the three Wilton siblings.
"Don’t you hear us talking to you?" Lila said, aggressively poking Avery’s shoulder.
Had it been before, the Nightfall siblings might have chosen to back down. After all, the Wilton siblings had always been the ones to receive comfort when things went wrong. But after spending time with Kain and Amelia, they wanted to take a chance.
It was an unconscious belief, and without their telepathy, the Nightfall siblings collectively decided now was the time to vent their past frustrations.
The three lunged towards the other siblings, who were still standing there with their contemptuous looks.
Seeing the Nightfall siblings launch themselves, the Wilton siblings only had a split second to act. Unfortunately, because they thought they were superior, they didn’t train as much as the Nightfall siblings.
Now, their movements were clunky. Avery, Ashton, and Dominic kicked, punched, and bit the Wilton siblings. This wasn’t the kind of fighting they did with enemies.
This was their most childish desire coming to the surface.
There was no precision, only the feeling of hitting someone who had hurt them, venting their frustrations, and hoping to be protected in the aftermath.
The Wilton siblings were so surprised they screamed out, unable to come to terms with being attacked. By the time they realized and tried to attack, they had already been punched a few times.
The scuffle didn’t last long. The adults outside heard them knocking things over.
Four adults ran quickly into the room. Seeing the scuffle, they pulled their respective children away.
Unlike Jasmine and Chad, Kain and Amelia allowed the children to get a few more hits in before picking them up.
Seeing the six children breathing heavily with scratches all over their bodies, both sets of parents felt anguish for their respective children.
Jasmine and Chad’s children, upon seeing their parents, cried immediately. Kain and Amelia’s children did not.
"Get out!" Kain’s voice was low, deadly.
He didn’t wait for their response, nor did Amelia; she practically shoved them out.
They were so angry that they missed the vicious look on the three children’s faces as they and their parents were pushed out.
Searching the three children, up and down, he saw they were scratched all over, but they didn’t cry.
"Are you okay?" Kain asked. Amelia knelt down beside them.
Suddenly, Kain’s expression tightened. Amelia’s hands reaching for the child froze. They both heard it at the same time. The system chimed in their minds.
[Adaptive Suppression Compound found]
[Developmental collapse imminent]
[Estimated future potential loss 80%]
"What the hell does that mean?" Kain shouted to the system.
[The host’s children have been given a drug which weakens their connection to Source Energy and dries up synapses related to energy development.]
Kain was finding it hard to control himself. He could feel himself going in and out of consciousness. He was resisting the urge to go out and tear those people apart.
He looked at the children, really looked at them. He thought the sweating before was because they had been fighting, but their furrowed brows and inability to say anything weren’t normal.
"What should I do?" He asked urgently.
The system didn’t give him a task; he didn’t know what this drug was really doing inside them.
[The host can attempt to withdraw the drug. However, it binds to the child’s Source Energy. If the host is to remove it, it would mean sending the suppressant into his own body.]
"I don’t care, just tell me what I need to do."
He didn’t think about his own safety. What matters is the safety of his children.
[Host, please enter Floor Five of the Sanctuary.]
He looked at Amelia. He pursed his lips. He wasn’t sure what to say to her.
"We’ll be right back. Don’t come in." He hadn’t noticed his voice cracked when he said this.
Before Amelia could respond, Kain teleported to Floor Five.