Finishing his call with Xue Rui, Li Xinwen began to contemplate on how to deal with the unconscious man in his room. 'I'll just tie him up,' Li Xinwen decided after a while and began to look around for something to tie up Xue Liang.
In his quest, he saw the small hole by the glass door to his balcony and understood how Xue Liang managed to get into his room. 'Really. This Xue Liang is truly dangerous,' he thought to himself before he continued his search. In the end, he couldn't find anything to tie Xue Liang with so he ended up using his spare bed sheets. He cut them into strips before tying the ends together to make one long makeshift strips.
Finishing the makeshift rope, he approached the still unconscious Xue Liang and tied the man up securely. Once he's done, Li Xinwen then brought Xue Liang downstairs and unceremoniously threw him on the sofa. His next step was to create a barrier around Mother Li's room so that no sound could travel into the room to bother her rest. After all, Li Xinwen doesn't know how messy things could go once Xue Rui arrived. 'Not to mention... his eldest brother was with him. Who knows if I'm going to have the whole set here tonight.'
The thought alone made Li Xinwen let out a heavy sigh. He didn't know the temperament of the eldest siblings but after knowing the other two, Li Xinwen didn't have high hope of him being decent. "I guess a young master will always be a young master," Li Xinwen said to himself.
Just then, Li Xinwen heard the door upstairs being opened, then closed, followed by several footsteps. "Hua-jie? Why is she awake at this time?" Li Xinwen wondered as he glanced at the stairs. He could hear the footsteps getting closer and Li Xinwen started to try and think of a good excuse on why Xue Liang is here. In the end, he decided that telling the truth would yield a better result. Especially since Li Jinghua is someone who had experienced a rebirth, lying would not be beneficial. He had learned his lessons in a hard way.
'Technically, it is not my fault. If she had told me she broke the engagement, would I play along with the original's wish on keeping Xue Rui close to the family?'
When Li Xinwen thinks about it, the person who is most wronged here is himself. "Maybe this is heaven's way of telling me to pay my debt..."
"What debt?" Li Jinghua's voice sounded out.
Though Li Xinwen already knows that Li Jinghua is arriving, he still puts on a surprised expression on his face. "Hua-jie! What are you doing up so late?" Li Xinwen asked, faking his nervousness as he shifted his body as if to attempt to hide Xue Liang's figure from Li Jinghua.
Of course, his action was seen since Li Xinwen let it be so. So when Li Jinghua saw Xue Liang's figure, a deep frown is formed on her face. Then it turned to worry as she glanced at Li Xinwen. "Ah'Wen... he... what is he doing here?!" she asked in a slightly panicked tone as she approached Li Xinwen. She looked over him from top to bottom, before she raised her hand and attempted to lift Li Xinwen's shirt up.
Li Xinwen's reaction was quicker, and he grabbed Li Jinghua's wrist to stop her from doing so. Unfortunately, this only made Li Jinghua became more suspicious.
"What did he do?" Li Jinghua's voice sounds stern as she glared at Xue Liang with eyes full of malice.
"Hua-jie, do you think he did anything when he's like that?" Li Xinwen asked back.
"I... well," Li Jinghua's expression softened slightly but the suspicion in her eyes didn't disappear. "Let me see your body."
"Why?" Li Xinwen asked back.
"To make sure that nothing really happens."
Li Xinwen was now feeling nervous. The reason why he's reluctant to let Li JingHua see his body is because of the fact that his wounds have disappeared completely after drinking the water inside the dimension. 'I should've used them before going down...'
Just as he was lamenting, the bell to the entrance rang once. "Ah! That must be them!" Li Xinwen said as he avoided Li Jinghua and rushed to the door.
"Wait, who is them? Ah'Wen!" Li Jinghua called out, though she still minded her voice as to not accidentally waking her mother. But her brother continued on to the door so she can only follow.
When the door opened to reveal two strikingly similar men standing side by side, Li Jinghua's mouth was left hanging open. "This... this..." she pointed to the two men by the door before turning to Li Xinwen with a confused expression, silently asking Li Xinwen for his explanation. The two men were none other than Xue Rui and Xue Jun who had rushed all the way from the club. Xue Rui's face was flushed and reeks of alcohol. Though Xue Jun had also drunk his fill, one can see that he handled his drinks better than his younger brother.
Li Xinwen who saw this can't help but let out a heavy sigh. Earlier, he did have a bad feeling that tonight might end up being too messy once the three brothers arrive. Add Li Jinghua to the equation, Li Xinwen felt a heavy headache coming his way.
"Hua-jie, this is... Xue Rui," Li Xinwen pointed at Xue Rui. "And this over here is-"
"Xue Jun," Xue Jun speaks up suddenly, cutting Li Xinwen's sentence off. "I believe this is the first time we've met, though both of you seemed to have already met my two younger brothers."
When Xue Jun spoke, Li Xinwen actually received a huge surprise. Not because how his voice sounded, but because he felt Xue Jun checking him out, spiritually!
Li Xinwen looked up at Xue Jun and their eyes met. In that instant, both of them knew that the others are not someone simple at all. Xue Jun's eyes narrowed at his findings but Li Xinwen simply turned his head and ignored his questioning look.
"The one inside is called Xue Liang," Li Xinwen said to Li Jinghua as if he's just continuing from his explanation later. "They are all triplets."
"Triplet...?" Li Jinghua's eyes went from Xue Rui to Xue Jun, back and forth as if trying to find any differences between the three.
"That's right, ah! Where's second brother? Xinwen, he didn't do anything bad to you, right? He... he... did he..." Xue Rui, upon hearing Xue Liang's name, finally speaks up. Earlier, his mind went 'offline' the moment he lays his eyes on Li Xinwen and felt that he was simply dreaming.
Knowing what Xue Rui was thinking about, Li Xinwen quickly dispelled his thoughts. "No. Nothing happened. Xue Liang is inside all tied up."
"Tied... up?" Xue Rui stared at Li Xinwen for a while and once he saw that Li Xinwen wasn't lying, he felt a huge sense of relief. The thoughts that have been crushing down his chest suddenly disappeared.
"Come on in so you guys can pick him up," Li Xinwen said as he gestured for the two to come inside.
The two brothers stepped into the house but as they walked towards the living room, Li Xinwen noticed that Li Jinghua stood rooted in her place while her eyes are still staring at the two brothers.
"Hua-jie?" Li Xinwen called out and Li Jinghua finally snapped out of her stupor. "Is something the matter?" he asked, his face shows a hint of worry.
"Ah'Wen... they are triplets?" Li Jinghua asked and Li Xinwen just nods his head. "Triplet..." Li Jinghua repeated as she suddenly felt that something was not right but she can't pinpoint what it was. She was once again deep in her thought that she didn't realize Li Xinwen coming over to her.
"Hua-jie," Li Xinwen once again called her out in a gentle tone making Li Jinghua snap out of her thought and look at him. "Whatever it is you're thinking about, you can tell me. Since you trust us with your secret, then if there's something worrying you, you can share your burden with this younger brother of yours," Li Xinwen said with a smile.
"I... well," Li Jinghua looked hesitant at first before sighing. "Those three... looks exactly the same."
"Yes, they are," Li Xinwen agreed, though since he was a cultivator, he could differentiate the three of them easily just by their spiritual signature.
"What if... the one with me in the apocalypse is not Xue Rui?" Li Jinghua voiced out her suspicion. "Back then, Xue Rui always went out to find supplies. One day, he didn't return for a long time and... when he did, he suddenly became a three-line ability user..."
Just from the sentence alone, Li Xinwen understood Li Jinghua's suspicion. "So, what Hua-jie is saying... the 'Xue Rui' that was with you at that time might not be Xue Rui at all? He might be the other two of the triplet?"
Li Jinghua simply nods her head and Li Xinwen turned his head to the direction of the living room. "If that is true, then... I guess we'll have to include them in our plans for the future."
"But maybe we don't have to! Ah'Wen, if the person that was with me back then is really not Xue Rui and is one of them, then they are dangerous. It is enough if we have Xue Rui as our back up plan."
"But Hua-jie, that Xue Jun person is not a simple man. He seems to be a high ranking officer in the military. Who knows, maybe he can also help us with weapons?" Li Xinwen tried to persuade Li Jinghua. Based on Li Jinghua's memories, Li Xinwen knew that they need a lot of weapons if they want to live a good life in the apocalypse. "Also, it seems that he's a martial artist like Mr. Min."
"Martial artists like Mr. Min?" Li Jinghua's eyes widened as if she had just remembered something. "Earlier, you said he's a high ranking officer from the military?"
Li Xinwen nods his head and then, Li Jinghua quickly rushed over to the living room as if she had just been injected with chicken blood. Li Xinwen was left confused as he stared at the direction Li Jinghua ran to. 'I guess there is more to the apocalypse that Li Jinghua lived in than what I currently found out from Hua-jie...'