Chapter 354 - Its too early

Chapter 354: Chapter 354 - Its too early

He didn’t know whether he was reassuring the baby or himself.

For several minutes, nothing else happened, and Muchen gradually relaxed. He even started feeling foolish for worrying.

Then Hana shouted from across the garden.

"Mom! Look at this!"

Jinju stood and walked toward her. Muchen turned his head as well, curious to see what they had found.

The pain struck without warning.

His entire abdomen tightened violently, making him suck in a sharp breath and fold forward. Both arms instinctively wrapped around his belly as the farmer’s hat slipped from his head and fell beside the chair.

This wasn’t like before.

"Fuck..."

The pressure didn’t disappear immediately this time. Muchen breathed shallowly, waiting for it to pass, but before it could fully ease, something strange began happening around him.

The fallen hat beside his feet trembled.

Muchen didn’t notice. Neither did he see the small shovel Jinju had left behind slowly lift from the soil. A bucket rose several centimeters into the air, followed by another.

Hana was the first to notice.

"Mom..."

Jinju turned and froze.

The loose vines scattered around the garden had begun floating. Small objects rose one after another as though gravity had simply stopped working around Muchen.

Jinju’s expression immediately changed. "Muchen?"

He tried to answer, but another wave of pressure tightened around his stomach before the first had completely faded. A frightened gasp escaped him, and suddenly the chair beneath him lifted.

Muchen’s eyes flew open.

"What the—"

The chair rose nearly half a meter from the ground with him still sitting in it.

Everyone in the garden froze.

"Muchen!"

Jinju dropped everything and ran toward him.

Muchen grabbed the sides of the chair, but his panic only made his power worse. The bucket shot higher. Tools lifted from the ground, and dirt and torn leaves began floating around him.

"Don’t come close!" Muchen gasped, terrified that one of the tools might hit her.

Jinju immediately stopped.

Muchen’s face had gone pale. One hand remained clenched around the chair while the other protected his stomach. He was trying to control his breathing when something warm suddenly ran down the inside of his thigh.

He froze.

No.

His eyes slowly lowered.

A wet patch was spreading across his pants.

For one stupid second, his mind went completely blank.

Then another contraction hit.

Muchen cried out, and the chair jerked violently in the air.

Jinju’s face drained of color. "Shinju!"

Her scream carried across the entire garden.

Shinju dropped the vine he’d been pulling and ran toward them. Hana was already moving, but Jinju caught her arm before she could get too close to the floating tools.

"Muchen, look at me." Jinju forced her voice to remain calm even though her hands were shaking. "Breathe. Don’t fight it. Just breathe."

"My water..." Muchen looked at her, horror slowly filling his face. "I think my water broke."

Jinju stopped breathing for half a second.

It was too early.

Far too early.

Muchen seemed to realize the same thing because his eyes immediately filled with tears. "No. No, it’s not time yet."

The fear in his voice broke something in Jinju. She moved forward despite the objects floating around him and grabbed his hand.

"We’re getting you inside."

"Yunfeng..."

"I know."

Muchen squeezed her fingers desperately as another contraction began building. "Call Yunfeng."

Jinju immediately looked toward Shinju. "Get the radio."

Shinju turned and ran.

Muchen shut his eyes, one trembling hand resting over his belly while the garden slowly rose around him.

"Tell him to come back."

Getting Muchen into the mansion turned out to be much harder than anyone expected.

His power had become completely unstable. Every time another contraction hit, the air around him seemed to lose its grip on gravity. The chair rose, gardening tools trembled, loose stones lifted from the ground, and once even Jinju’s feet left the soil for a terrifying second before dropping back down.

"Muchen, you need to calm down."

"I am calm!" Muchen shouted through clenched teeth, only to let out a broken groan when the pain tightened around his stomach again. "Fuck... fuck, it hurts."

Jinju didn’t argue.

She and Shinju waited until the contraction eased before carefully helping him out of the chair. The moment Muchen tried standing, his knees nearly buckled. Shinju caught one arm while Jinju supported him from the other side, and between them they slowly managed to get him toward the mansion.

Hana ran ahead to clear the way.

"Where’s Yuki?" Jinju called.

"I’m getting him!"

"And bring towels! Clean ones!"

Muchen barely heard them. His entire attention had narrowed down to putting one foot in front of the other while keeping his hands around his belly. His pants were soaked and sticking uncomfortably to his legs, but it was the faint reddish stain mixed with the fluid that frightened him far more than the pain.

There shouldn’t be blood.

At least, he didn’t think there should be.

"Yunfeng," he gasped.

"We’re calling him."

"Call him now."

"Shinju!"

"I’ve got it."

As soon as they crossed the mansion entrance, Shinju reached for the walkie-talkie clipped to his belt. Static crackled from it while he switched channels.

They didn’t even attempt the stairs. Jinju immediately directed Muchen toward the large sofa in the living room, but he had barely reached it when another contraction seized him.

Muchen cried out and curled forward.

The nearby coffee table rose from the floor.

"Move it!" Jinju shouted.

Hana grabbed the edge before it could drift closer and dragged it across the room. Two cushions floated off the sofa, followed by a vase from a nearby shelf. Jinju ignored all of it and crouched in front of Muchen, taking his shaking hands.

"Look at me."

Muchen couldn’t.

Tears were already running down his face.

"Something’s wrong."

"We don’t know that yet."

"There’s blood."

"I know."

"It’s too early."

Jinju’s throat tightened, but she refused to let her fear show. "Yuki is coming. Qiu Yue isn’t here, but Yuki can heal. We’ll take care of you until Yunfeng gets back."

Muchen shook his head desperately. "Call him."

Across the room, Shinju finally caught the correct frequency.

"Yunfeng. Yunfeng, respond."

Static.

He tried again.

"Yunfeng, this is Shinju. Respond immediately."

Several seconds passed before Yunfeng’s voice finally broke through.

"I’m here. What happened?"

Shinju looked toward Muchen and hesitated for only a fraction of a second.

"Muchen collapsed."

The radio went silent.

At the research facility, Yunfeng had been standing near the entrance while Professor Jian and the others continued discussing how much equipment could realistically be moved. Jai had only recently come back out, and they were still deciding whether to return immediately or wait while the scientists tested Qiu Yue’s sample.

The moment Shinju’s words came through the radio, Yunfeng stopped hearing everything around him.

"What?"

"Muchen collapsed in the garden. His water appears to have broken, and he’s in pain."

Yunfeng’s face went white.

Behind him, Jai immediately turned. "What happened?"

Yunfeng didn’t answer. He gripped the walkie-talkie so tightly that the plastic casing creaked beneath his fingers.

"Is he bleeding?"

Shinju looked toward the sofa. "A little."

That was enough.

Yunfeng turned and ran.

"Yunfeng!"

Jai went after him, but Yunfeng was already through the outer doors.

Zei frowned. "Where the hell is he going? The car’s that way."

Shao had already understood.

"He isn’t taking the car."

Outside, Yunfeng’s breathing had become ragged.

Muchen was bleeding. His water had broken, and the baby wasn’t supposed to come yet. The research base was hours away by road.

"No."

Electricity snapped violently around his fingers.

The power that had only been returning in weak sparks suddenly surged through his entire body. Pain shot along his nerves, but Yunfeng barely noticed. His eyes flashed blue.

He couldn’t drive back.

He couldn’t wait three hours.

He needed to be there now.

Yunfeng raised his hand.

Power gathered around his palm, but it wasn’t the familiar electricity he normally controlled. Something deeper tore through him, something he hadn’t forced himself to use in a long time.

Void Break.

The air in front of him distorted, and a thin black line appeared.

Yunfeng drove his hand into it.

Space split open.

The crack widened with a violent shudder, revealing nothing behind it except warped darkness that seemed to swallow the light around its edges. The pressure nearly forced Yunfeng backward. His returning power was nowhere near stable enough for this, and every instinct in his body screamed that forcing Void Break now was a terrible idea.

He didn’t care.

"Muchen."

He stepped through, and the tear collapsed behind him.

Jai burst through the research facility entrance barely a second later.

"Yunfeng!"

There was nobody there. Only a faint black distortion remained in the air before disappearing completely.

Jai stared at the empty space. "What the fuck?"

Zei stopped beside him. "Well."

Jai slowly turned toward him.

Zei pointed at the place Yunfeng had vanished. "He could do that this entire time?"

Shao came up behind them. "Apparently."

Jai’s eye twitched.

They had just driven three hours.

Before he could properly become angry about that, Yunfeng was already falling out of another tear in space.

He stumbled onto the front lawn of the mansion. The sudden transition nearly sent him to his knees. His vision blurred, and blood immediately ran warm from his nose, but he caught himself against the ground and pushed upright.

The mansion was directly ahead.

He had done it.

Yunfeng ran.

"Muchen!"

He slammed through the front door hard enough to send it crashing against the wall.

Everyone in the living room turned.

Jinju stared at him. "Yunfeng?"

Nobody had expected him for hours, but Yunfeng didn’t even look at them.

His eyes found Muchen.

And his heart nearly stopped.

Muchen was curled on the sofa, rolling onto his side as another contraction tore through him. Both arms were wrapped around his swollen stomach. His hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat, his face wet with tears, and his pants were soaked from the waist down.

There was blood.

Not much, but Yunfeng saw it immediately.

"Muchen."

Muchen’s head snapped toward him. For a moment he simply stared.

"Yun..."

His face crumpled.

"Yunfeng!"

Yunfeng crossed the room in seconds and dropped to his knees beside the sofa. Muchen immediately grabbed him, locking both arms around Yunfeng’s neck with enough force to nearly choke him.

"It hurts."

"I know."

"It fucking hurts!"

"I know. I’m here."

Yunfeng wrapped one arm around his back and placed the other over Muchen’s belly. His hand was shaking so badly that he couldn’t hide it.

Another contraction came.

Muchen screamed and buried his face against Yunfeng’s shoulder.

Yunfeng went completely pale.

He had fought zombies without flinching. He had walked into hordes, been surrounded, lost his powers and still driven a blade through a zombie’s skull.

This terrified him because he couldn’t fight it. There was nothing in front of him to kill, nothing he could punch, shoot or burn to make Muchen stop hurting.

"Do something," Yunfeng snapped, looking desperately toward the others. "Where’s Qiu Yue?"

"He’s not here," Jinju reminded him. "You left with him."

Yunfeng’s stomach dropped.

Of course.

Fuck.

He had left their best doctor hours away.

Before he could think of what to do, quick footsteps came running down the hallway.

Yuki rushed into the living room, her little monkey clinging tightly to her shoulder. She looked frightened by all the shouting, and the moment she saw Muchen curled up on the sofa, her already wide eyes grew even wider.

"Muchen!"

She hurried over and squeezed between the adults, dropping to her knees beside the sofa.

Yunfeng immediately looked at her. "Yuki, can you help him?"

The little girl nodded quickly, though she looked nowhere near as confident as Yunfeng desperately wanted her to be.

"I’ll try."

She reached toward Muchen’s stomach, hesitated for a second, then carefully placed both of her small hands against it. Soft light slowly gathered around her fingers.

Muchen whimpered and clutched Yunfeng’s shirt.

"Baby..."

"It’s okay." Yunfeng kissed his sweaty forehead, keeping one arm tightly around him. "The baby’s okay."

"You don’t know that."

Yunfeng’s throat tightened.

"No," he whispered. "But I’m here."

Beside them, Yuki had gone unusually quiet. Her eyes remained closed as she concentrated, her small face scrunching up with effort. The glow around her hands strengthened for a moment before flickering.

Then her expression changed.

"Something’s happening."

Yunfeng immediately looked at her. "What?"

"I don’t know." Yuki sounded scared now. "His body feels weird. It’s... pushing."

Before Yunfeng could ask what she meant, Muchen suddenly stiffened.

His eyes widened as the lights above them flickered.

Every loose object in the living room rose at once.

Cushions, books, cups, broken pieces of wood, even one of the chairs lifted from the floor as Muchen’s power surged uncontrollably. The little monkey on Yuki’s shoulder squeaked and immediately buried itself against her neck.

Then Muchen himself began to rise from the sofa.

Yunfeng grabbed him immediately.

"Muchen!"

"Make it stop!"

Yunfeng wrapped both arms around him and pulled him against his chest, fighting against the invisible force trying to lift them both.

Yuki stumbled backward, frightened, but she didn’t run. She stared at Muchen, then at the faint blood staining his soaked pants. Her face slowly went pale.

"I think..." Her voice came out small. "I think the baby wants to come out."

The room went completely silent.

Yunfeng stared at her.

"No."

Yuki looked helplessly toward Jinju before looking back at Muchen.

"But it’s too early, right?"

That frightened question hit Yunfeng much harder than a calm medical diagnosis ever could.