To the Start of a New World

3.12

Ji Ling jumped, the instinctive human fear sending her careening out the door. Lu Hao grabbed Hong Sheng into his arms and carried him out. He kicked the door closed behind him, and trapped an electric current into the metal of the door handle. Anyone who tried to enter the room would suffer a severe shock. He did this because he knew Ji Ling would try it.

He had more important things to worry about. Hong Sheng bleeding; Hong Sheng not wanting to look at him.

Lu Hao brought Hong Sheng to the medical wing. The doctors and nurses of the SG were swamped, but they quickly treated Hong Sheng and sent him out.

The white gauze wrapped around Hong Sheng's neck made him look delicate and fragile. Lu Hao wanted nothing more than to hold him tight, and keep anything from touching him.

The base was still in the aftermath of chaos. Many people had died and were injured. The SG needed Lu Hao, but Hong Sheng needed him too.

"Hong Sheng," Lu Hao called softly. He tried to reach for Hong Sheng, but Hong Sheng inched away from him. Lu Hao pursed his lips. "Don't overthink things. I only care about you. I..."

Hong Sheng didn't respond, and just laid down in his bed and covered himself up to the head with the blanket. It was a clear, I'm resting. Don't talk to me.

Lu Hao couldn't force him right now. His hands tightening to fists, Lu Hao leaned down and softly pressed a kiss through the blanket over Hong Sheng's face. "I'll come back and explain after I take care of the base." Hong Sheng didn't answer, but the lump beneath the blankets trembled.

Lu Hao left Hong Sheng's room. He set a trap on Hong Sheng's door similar to the one on his own, and for a few hours, went to go sort out the mess at the base.

The dead bodies of the enemies were piled up to be thrown out the base, and the bodies of allies were to be buried at the back of the SG territory. Earth, metal, and wood ability users were organized into repair teams, and everyone else was on high alert.

Lu Hao directed the SG members and kept everything in order. People were on edge, terrified after the attack. It hadn't even been long since the start of the apocalypse, but the awfulness of human nature had already come to the surface.

Something like this wouldn't happen again once the core of the SG grew in power, but in these beginning stages where Lu Hao was the only one they could rely on, tragedies and power struggles were inevitable.

Hours later, Lu Hao was finally free. He went to Hong Sheng's room and sat next to Hong Sheng, who had left the blankets and was curled up miserably into a ball on his bed.

"Do you remember what I said after we saw her in the bakery?" Lu Hao asked.

Hong Sheng didn't answer, but Lu Hao didn't need him to.

He continued, "I said that she's the person I despise the most. I kept an eye on her because of this."

Lu Hao reached out to brush his fingertips against the fine strands of Hong Sheng's hair. Hong Sheng lowered his head in a sulky manner, leaving Lu Hao a little speechless.

"Are you worried that I like her?" Seeing Hong Sheng's fingers twitch in a telltale sign, Lu Hao continued to coax him. "I don't care about her. I'm angry that you got hurt. You're the most important person to me, and if anything happens to you..." He paused, and a frightening look crossed his eyes. "People who can't be trusted shouldn't be kept near you. I won't let this happen again."

He needed to keep closer guard of Hong Sheng at all times. Hong Sheng was self-sufficient, and Lu Hao had thought the ability users in the SG would have been enough to keep guard.