Chapter 355 - Bringing the doctor

Chapter 355: Chapter 355 - Bringing the doctor

The moment Yuki said Muchen’s body was trying to start labor, the entire living room erupted into movement.

Jinju immediately ordered everyone who wasn’t helping to get out and give them space.

Hana hurried around clearing the tables and removing anything that could become dangerous if Muchen’s power surged again, while Shinju went looking for clean sheets, towels, and whatever medical supplies remained in the mansion.

One of the women they had rescued came running when she heard what was happening. She had helped deliver several babies before the apocalypse and had even delivered her sister’s child when they couldn’t reach a hospital in time.

For a few seconds, that small bit of experience sounded like a miracle.

Then she reached the sofa and saw Muchen.

He was crying and sweating heavily, curled against Yunfeng while Yuki knelt beside him with one small glowing hand pressed against his abdomen.

His soaked pants needed to come off, so Yunfeng and Jinju carefully helped remove them while Yuki continued trying to ease his pain with her healing power.

Once they were done, Jinju quickly covered Muchen’s lower body with a clean sheet.

The woman took one look beneath it and froze.

"I..."

Yunfeng’s head snapped toward her. "What?"

"I’ve only helped women give birth."

"So?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it again, clearly unsure how to explain the obvious problem without making the already terrified pregnant man on the sofa feel even worse.

Muchen answered for her.

"So I don’t have the correct fucking exit!"

Another contraction hit before anyone could respond. Muchen doubled over with a strangled cry, his fingers digging painfully into Yunfeng’s forearm as the nearby curtains lifted from the floor. A cup on the table rattled and slowly began to rise.

"Fuck! Yunfeng!"

"I’m here." Yunfeng immediately pulled him closer. "I’m right here."

"Do something!"

Yunfeng held him through the contraction, rubbing his back while panic rapidly swallowed whatever calm he’d managed to keep. He didn’t know what to do. None of them did. Muchen’s body was different from an ordinary pregnant woman’s, and although Qiu Yue had explained things about omega pregnancies before, Yunfeng had never imagined they would need that information this early.

Qiu Yue.

The thought struck him so suddenly that Yunfeng looked up.

The doctor was still at the research base, probably doing his mad research with Professor Jian as though the world wasn’t currently falling apart here.

"Muchen, wait for me."

Muchen’s grip on his shirt immediately tightened. "Where are you going?"

"To get Qiu Yue."

"No!"

"I’ll be back in seconds." Yunfeng kissed his forehead hard before pulling away. Muchen tried to keep hold of him, fear flashing across his face, but Jinju quickly moved into Yunfeng’s place and took his hand.

"Go," she said. "Bring him back."

Yunfeng stood, but Hana immediately realized what he intended to do.

"Your power isn’t stable."

He knew.

His body knew too.

The blue in Yunfeng’s eyes had become unnaturally bright, and black, void-like energy twisted around his trembling fingers as he raised one hand. He ignored the weakness spreading through his limbs and concentrated on the research base instead.

Qiu Yue.

The room where he’d left him.

Yunfeng fixed that location in his mind and tore open space again.

The black fracture appeared far more violently this time. Pain ripped through Yunfeng’s chest, making him grunt and stagger, but he forced the tear wider and stepped through before anyone could stop him.

At the research base, Qiu Yue was standing beside Professor Jian, arguing over the best way to preserve the serum sample during testing, when a black tear suddenly ripped open in the air beside him.

Professor Jian stumbled backward. "What the—"

An arm shot through.

Qiu Yue barely had time to turn before Yunfeng grabbed the front of his coat.

"Yun—"

Yunfeng yanked him straight through.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

The portal snapped shut behind them, leaving Professor Jian staring at the empty space where his prodigy had been standing only seconds earlier.

Back at the mansion, Qiu Yue came stumbling out of the distortion with enough momentum to nearly fall over the coffee table. His glasses were crooked, his hair was sticking up in several directions, and somehow he still had a pen clutched between two fingers.

For once, the doctor looked completely stunned.

"What the fuck did you just—"

"Muchen’s in labor."

Qiu Yue stopped.

His head whipped toward the sofa, and every trace of confusion disappeared from his face.

He rushed over immediately.

Behind him, Yunfeng swayed.

Jinju noticed first. "Yunfeng?"

He tried to answer, but something hot surged up his throat instead.

Blood spilled from his mouth.

His knees gave out.

"Yunfeng!"

He hit the floor on one knee and coughed violently into his hand. When he pulled it away, bright red blood covered his palm.

Muchen heard the commotion and immediately tried to sit up. "Yunfeng!"

"Don’t move!" Qiu Yue snapped, the command directed at both of them.

Yuki hurried toward Yunfeng, her frightened face going pale when she saw the blood, but Yunfeng shook his head and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

"I’m fine. Check Muchen."

"But you’re bleeding," Yuki whispered.

"I’m okay." He softened his voice when he saw how scared she looked. "Help Qiu Yue. Please."

Qiu Yue glanced at Yunfeng once before turning his full attention to Muchen. He pushed his glasses straight and began examining him, rapidly asking Jinju when the contractions had started, how often they were coming, when his water had broken, and how much blood there had been.

Yunfeng remained on the floor, breathing hard.

His entire body felt wrong.

Using Void Break once while his powers were only beginning to return had already strained him. Forcing it open twice more within minutes had torn through whatever recovery his body had managed. His hands wouldn’t stop trembling, and blue sparks flashed unpredictably across his skin.

But he could still see Muchen.

For now, that was enough.

Qiu Yue’s expression grew worse the longer he examined him.

"We can’t do this here."

Yunfeng grabbed the sofa and forced himself upright. "What?"

"He needs surgery."

The woman who had helped with births looked visibly relieved that someone finally understood what was happening, but Qiu Yue was already issuing orders.

"Get the hospital ready. I need the cleanest operating room available. Boil water and sterilize everything you can. Find whatever surgical supplies were left behind." He glanced at Yuki. "You’re coming with me."

The little girl nodded quickly.

"We’ll carry him," Shinju said.

"Carefully. Keep him as still as possible."

Muchen reached blindly toward Yunfeng, and Yunfeng immediately caught his hand.

Qiu Yue looked at the two of them, and something in the doctor’s expression made Yunfeng’s stomach twist.

"What?"

Qiu Yue didn’t answer.

Yunfeng’s grip tightened around Muchen’s hand. "What is it?"

"We need to move now."

"Qiu Yue."

The doctor exhaled slowly. He clearly didn’t want to have this conversation here, but Yunfeng wasn’t going to let him leave without an answer.

"The pregnancy is nowhere near full term."

"I know that."

"No." Qiu Yue looked directly at him. "You need to understand exactly what we’re dealing with."

Muchen went very still beside them.

"The fetus is only around three months along."

Yunfeng stared at him for several seconds, as though waiting for the rest of the sentence.

Then he said, "So stop the labor."

"I’ll try."

"Don’t try. Stop it."

Qiu Yue’s jaw tightened. "That’s what I’m going to attempt, but his membranes have already ruptured. He’s bleeding, the contractions are continuing, and his power is reacting violently to the stress. I cannot promise you that I can stop this."

Yunfeng’s fingers slowly tightened around Muchen’s.

"If you can’t?"

Nobody answered.

He already knew what the silence meant. He simply didn’t want to hear it.

Qiu Yue eventually spoke. "If we cannot stop the labor and the baby has to be delivered now, the probability of survival is extremely low."

Something inside Yunfeng seemed to drop away.

For a moment, the room around him became distant. He could still see everyone moving and hear Jinju speaking to Shinju, but none of it seemed to reach him.

His child.

His baby.

Only that morning, Yunfeng had kissed Muchen’s belly before leaving. He’d jokingly told the little thing to behave while he was gone, then promised Muchen he would come back soon. At the time, his greatest concern had been whether the research base would give them anything useful.

He had never once considered that he might come home and lose their child instead.

Yunfeng’s legs weakened, and he caught the edge of the sofa before he could fall.

"Yunfeng." Jinju reached for him.

He barely noticed.

Three months.

The baby was tiny. Far too tiny.

His child might not live.

"No..."

The word slipped out before he could stop it.

A broken sound came from the sofa.

Yunfeng immediately looked at Muchen.

Tears were streaming down his face.

"Don’t say that."

Qiu Yue frowned. "Muchen—"

"My baby isn’t dying." Muchen’s voice shook horribly, but one hand curled protectively over his stomach while the other clung to Yunfeng. "He’s not."

Yunfeng dragged himself closer.

Muchen grabbed the front of his bloodstained shirt and held on tightly.

"You promised me."

Yunfeng’s eyes burned. "I know."

"You promised you’d protect us."

"I know."

"So don’t stand there looking like that!"

The words broke halfway through, and Yunfeng swallowed hard. He leaned forward until his forehead rested against Muchen’s.

Neither of them spoke for a moment.

Muchen was trembling from pain, his breathing still uneven after the last contraction. Yunfeng wasn’t much steadier. Blood remained at the corner of his mouth, and his entire body shook from the damage he’d done to himself getting back here.

Still, he tightened his fingers around Muchen’s hand.

"I’ll protect you," Yunfeng whispered. "Both of you."

Qiu Yue gave them only a few seconds before snapping back into action.

"Then stop wasting time."

He pointed toward Shinju. "Get something we can use as a stretcher."

Then he turned to Jinju. "Prepare the operating room."

Finally, Qiu Yue looked directly at Yunfeng.

"And you are not opening another portal. If you tear yourself apart, I’ll have two patients dying instead of one."

For once, Yunfeng didn’t argue.

He didn’t have the strength to.

Instead, he remained beside Muchen while the others prepared to move him. When Shinju returned with a makeshift stretcher and they carefully lifted Muchen from the sofa, Yunfeng stayed close enough that their hands never separated.

He had been afraid countless times since the apocalypse began. He’d feared being bitten, losing his family, running out of food, being surrounded by zombies with nowhere left to run.

None of those fears felt anything like this.

As he walked beside the stretcher, Muchen’s fingers wrapped tightly around his own, Yunfeng could think of only the tiny heartbeat inside him.

For the first time since the apocalypse began, he wasn’t afraid of zombies, starvation, or what kind of world would be waiting for them tomorrow.

He was afraid that heartbeat would stop before he ever got the chance to hold his child.