Willow nodded again, "Then, you got quarantined and the current situation."
Li Yun took a deep breath as a tear rolled down from her eyes twinkling with tears. Willow thought for a bit before she nodded, "Would you be all right if I did the head surgery for you?"
"You can do that?" The woman frowned when she heard this, "You started the conversation with my daughter, so you know something about her. Just what are you trying to do?"
"I have my guess." Willow responded vaguely, "But, I'll tell you this. If you pass as well, the situation around your children will still worsen with or without my intervention and worst case scenario is that they'll get caught."
Willow's words caught her by surprise and fear and she turned to Willow in bewilderment, "What do you mean?"
Willow thought for a while and said, "There's... another power in this world aside from manpower and military power. A power that has been dismissed as illogical for a much longer time and that's what the Li main household messed with. To make it worse, they messed with the wrong side of it."
"Spiritual." Li Yun's eyes widen as she said it bluntly, "It's spiritual, you mean. What does this have to do with the Li family? Are you trying to frame my parents too?!"
Willow shook her head with a sigh, "The situation got more serious as people began dying from your family, right?"
As there was no words from her, Willow continued with some hesitation, "There are people coming after her and they're taking advantage of their deaths to track her down. So, if you leave the kids, they're opening the last door to all of us. What I don't understand is how did they find her? If she lived quietly in the residence, then how did they find her in the house?"
"What are you saying?" Her eyes narrowed in confusion, "How did you know how she lived?"
"Because we're almost exactly the same." Willow responded, "Me, her, and that guy downstairs. All three of us lived with one biological parents, not two. Those coming after her is the same. They want her."
"For what?"
"For what she could be able to do." Willow responded, "But, her senses are the only thing I can tell that she wasn't similar to normal humans. Her mother shouldn't be normal, but she isn't bad. However, I doubt she has the time or the thought to come back for Li Yan."
"What parent leaves their child in danger like that?" Li Yun stated in bewilderment and anger when she heard this.
"It's never known." Willow responded, "My father never came back for me, so I was raised by my mother and step-father. He never did till I was close to death. He saved me just so I could come back and deal with the survivors here. Then, he left. Said he was busy with foreign matters. He never came back to deal with my mother and never once appeared around me after seeing my mother that one time. I'm not too sure about him either. Most children like us don't. The enemy should've lived a similar life, but they're parents want them to do something for them. I bet Yellow Springs are in chaos just from missing a few souls meant to move on."
The color drained from the woman's face as she shuddered, "Then, I'll take the surgery."
Willow nodded as she held back a breath of relief having finally succeeded in persuading the mother, "Looks like you've witnessed her peculiarity?"
"The child has often stared into space or even talked with my son about some crazy things going on." She responded hesitantly, "My husband and I brought her to a children psychologist one just before news of my father's passing and found that nothing was wrong with her. I've thought of the idea, but I can't say for certain while my husband was against those thoughts. Since she's been close to our son, I didn't bother getting further involved. If I had known, I would've done something to protect her."
Willow said with a sigh, "Remember when I told you not to leave this building or lessen the time you leave this room? I placed a wall, you could say, around this place. I've also given the same instruction to the kids. I'm going to search for medicine to perform the surgery."
"Will it really work?" The mother said nervously, "How would I know my children won't be harmed if I'm gone?"
Willow shook her head again with a sigh, "Stop thinking so negatively and, no, I'm not gonna throw these kids into a lion's den so simply. You stay here. It'll be difficult without some equipment, but not impossible."
"Then, it should be fine. I can handle a little pain."
"Yeah, I'll get you a wig or a bandana too later." She added.
.....
After coming out, Willow noticed the kids petting Akira much to his dissatisfaction as she turned to Belen, "I'll be heading out, but I might need help."
"I get it." Belen nodded as he got up from the bench he was resting on.
"Just don't strain yourself too much and let me do the work when you can." She added.
"What about me?!" Akira called out to her telepathically.
Willow turned to the cat, "There's been a change of plans. You're babysitting the kids."
As Akira screamed at her without even asking why, Willow turned to the brother and said in Chinese, "You need to stay here with your sister, all right? Aki will be with you. I'll be back before night fall. We'll try not to be late, but, even if we are, don't come out."
The boy nodded his head firmly.
.....
Leaving the building behind, Willow and Belen headed further east as Willow began, "So what were you doing when you left that place?"
"I went to go find a boat." He grumbled, "But, it took me a while to realize that this wasn't the ocean side. So, I just started finding shelter before realizing that those guys were chasing after me."
Willow chuckled, "Not in Beijing. There's another one of two provinces before reaching the ocean side. I bet those places are closed off too, so it's no use trying to leave China by boat."
"What were you talking about with the mother?" Belen asked bluntly.
"Somebody rather curious." Willow responded with a smirk.
Belen frowned, "You were talking with her for a long time. What's wrong with the girl?"
"They say curiosity kills the cat, you know." Willow answered as she threw him another larger duffel bag
"Then, where are we going?"
"You'll see."
As Willow answers each of his questions in such a casual manner, the guy becomes more nervous as he realizes how different the woman before him was from the one he had seen in the facility. What annoyed him the most was when they stopped by a clothing store and she threw a black hood jacket over his head telling him to cover up his appearance just because he stood out too much. His hair was naturally colored red indigo, got it?!
.....
After walking on for a couple of hours, they finally came upon the large gated park that had its gates removed. Willow led them to a large white tent that has been partially broken down from the wind. The beds that had been made from the homeless had become rags and trampled over by feet and the climate While the plastic tables had been overturned. The plastic tent is now filled with holes and frayed by the elements.
"When you said those guys were chasing you, do you know who it was?" Willow questioned.
"The guys stuck in those facilities and Serah."
"Serah?" Willow raised a brow.
Belen nodded, "That's the name of Elijah's half-sister."
Willow noted, "So, she's the other child."
"You knew?" Belen raised a brow.
Willow shrugged, "I bet Elijah's all about the money, power, and their father. How does he have the room to think about others coming to kill him or betray him? With his field, I bet the most he would do is corner someone with an illness and walk away. He wouldn't think about what to do if someone betrays him to leak out information about him."
"Now that you mentioned it..." Belen said with a frown.
"The one who caught you must've been his half-siblings or their allying demigods." Willow responded, "How could they just let you leave after you betrayed them? They won't do that if they don't even know what you'll say after meeting another demigod. They won't let you off."
"But, I saw the video." He said with his cellphone held up, "They wouldn't leave him if they knew he would be in trouble."
"They probably left him." She responded, "I mean, you were probably recruited by him?"
Seeing his nod, she continued, "Then, you went ahead to betray him, but he didn't show up to take care of his own mess. Who would want to take care of an adult man who can't even clean up his own mess, much less doesn't even know about it till the very end?"
"So, they abandoned their own allies?"
"Can you continue to support a person that continues to pick fights and can't even follow along with a plan everyone made?" Willow said with a sigh upon realizing how vague the guy's thoughts had been, "That mixed with the fact that they were probably in another country. There would be two different reasons. So, tell me about Serah, if you can."