Wormhole Cultivation [Book 2] - Chapter 29: Family Business (Patreon)

I didn't have to fight my way out.

The reason was prosaic: the Bao family had lost its leader and was no longer acting as a unified power. The patriarch's body hadn't even gone cold yet, and the carefully constructed illusion of unity was already falling apart before my eyes, dissolving into a handful of separate players, each of them now calculating their own advantage.

The old man's fears had materialised at breakneck speed.

None of those present held enough political weight to risk anything radical against me on their own.

Bao Xue, with her prick reputation and sharp tongue, had nonetheless behaved like a good little girl. Bao Hai held the position of father to a potential heir, but that was backed by nothing beyond rumour. The other three, to my amateur eye, looked more like background extras. Bao Ke was stupid, and the other two didn't dare risk a direct confrontation with me.

Firstly, it would have gained them little. Secondly, nobody wanted to waste resources on me, and on Novak standing behind me, when they were saving their strength for each other's throats. The demon attack didn't bother them in the slightest. Even the old man himself no longer interested them, only the will he'd left behind.

That will would remain a mystery for at least another day, until the old man's death was officially registered in the system.

In that kind of atmosphere, the simplest solution turned out to be letting me go.

Both of Bao Feng's sisters seized the moment: Bao Song as pilot, Bao Liu as guide.

I couldn't blame them. If I'd had the chance to flee a household like that under the first available pretext, I probably wouldn't have hesitated either.

The flyer rose into full darkness. The sun had set completely and clouds had swallowed the sky: no stars, no moon. The blackness, though, was torn by rare patches of electric light below, where, just an hour ago, ridges and gorges had still been visible. The mountains had all but vanished, dissolving into the night even for my cultivation-enhanced eyes, and Bao Song was reduced to flying purely by instruments.

Bao Liu sat across from me, hands clasped tightly in her lap, looking exhausted and tense at once. I doubted any words of comfort could fix that. She'd probably only truly relax once she was alone, or alone with her sister.

I was still turning that over when an unexpected call caught me. My interface lit up with a name, and I found myself smiling for the first time all evening, without meaning to. Bao Liu noticed immediately.

I waved it off. "Your brother," I said, and tapped the virtual key to connect. "Didn't think I'd hear from you this fast. Are you on Earth?"

"I'm in Beijing, just came through the portal. Next one to Urumqi is in twenty minutes. Then I'll need time to rent a flyer. Not sure how long that'll take."

"You flew here to rescue me?"

"Nur's message made it sound serious."

"Your great-grandfather died," I reminded him.

"He's been dying as long as I can remember," Bao Feng said dismissively. Zero grief in his voice.

"Relax," I said. "I already rescued myself. We're flying to Urumqi. Me and your sisters."

"Um… are they in one piece?" Bao Feng asked, specifying.

"What do you mean, in one piece?" I said. "Are you implying something?"

"Right," Bao Feng ignored me. "Who exactly got hurt?"

"Nobody got hurt!" I barked, making Bao Liu flinch and Bao Song glance back.

"Really?"

"I happen to be a member of the Hall of Diplomacy, you know!"

"I know your diplomacy: torn-off jaws and broken limbs. Though this time it's almost a shame you held back. A good thrashing wouldn't have hurt my relatives, and it wouldn't have hurt you either."

"You absolute shit," I said, offended.

"A shit who flew out to rescue you," he clarified. "How are my sisters, anyway? As much of a pain as I was in my first year?"

"No, actually! They’re way better behaved than you are even now."

"That's because you're a Four. I want to see them, hold onto them. We'll meet at the Urumqi portal station. How much longer's your flight?"

I looked out the window. Urumqi's lights were close now. They'd stopped being a single glow and had separated into individual buildings.

"A few minutes. I can already make out the portal station."

"Hold onto them," Bao Feng asked once more before hanging up.

The girls had clearly been listening to my half of the conversation, so I said out loud what they hadn't heard: "Your brother wants to meet you."

Bao Liu's face froze for a moment displaying a mix of surprise and something I couldn't quite decode. She glanced at her sister, who was in turn watching the rear-view mirror.

"We're not allowed to speak with our brother," Bao Liu finally admitted quietly.

"Isn't he practically a superstar to you people right now?" I asked.

"Yes, but we haven't received any new instructions since the ban was issued."

God, what a shitty family.

"Your family head just kicked the bucket," I said. "I don't think any instructions are particularly relevant right now."

"These are our honoured father's instructions, not our great-grandfather's."

"Even more reason. Daddy has other problems right now, and you'll be applying to the academy soon enough. You won't be able to avoid Bao Feng there anyway."

The girls twitched in sync, as though wanting to exchange glances, but held themselves back together.

"Let's just say it was my order, and you decided refusing me wasn't the wisest tactic."

I talked them into it in the end. We waited for Bao Feng together, near the exit from the Beijing portal zone.

I'd bet money they didn't recognise him until he got close. They remembered a short teenager, and instead met the bulked-up, stocky mutant Feng had turned into over his time training in the Ka Federation. His civilian hoodie made him look even wider, though the girls, in their heels, stood a little taller than him.

"Hey," Bao Feng said.

The girls exchanged glances, a second of silence, and then Bao Liu stepped forward, folded her hands, and bowed: level, formal, almost exactly the way she'd bowed to me at our first meeting a few hours earlier.

"Elder brother," she said. "We're glad to see you in good health."

Bao Song repeated the same bow and the same words a second behind her.

"Right, okay," he said, then hugged Bao Liu, who was closer, and then Bao Song after her.

Both girls' eyes very nearly popped out of their heads.

"I missed you two," he said. "Even though you were a pain in the arse."

The girls didn't know what to say to that, and their family drama didn't much interest me anyway.

"What's happening on Verdis?" I asked, then clarified: "Do they know about the demons yet?"

It would've been strange if the Baos had gotten the information first, but I'd seen stranger things.

"Same as after the probe," Bao Feng answered. "A stingy official statement and lots of theories on the forum. Suddenly all the important people are busy."

"And Johansson just let you go, that easily?" I asked.

"Surprisingly easily," Bao Feng shrugged. "I suppose the death of a clan head counts as something equally important. It's almost awkward, honestly."

Awkward. Interesting word to describe the situation.

"Staying for the funeral?" I asked, outright.

Bao Feng's face twisted like he'd bitten into a lemon. The silence dragged on a bit. The twins managed to exchange glances twice.

"I'll decide later," Bao said, and turned to his sisters. "Are you hungry? Shall we get dinner together?"

Trying to draw his sisters out, Bao Feng asked their advice on local restaurants. They rattled off a couple of upscale places by rote, and I remembered Bao Feng's reaction the first time he'd tried crisps. Before Black Lotus, he'd eaten nothing but healthy food prepared by the family chef.

"If they're even a little like you," I said, "treat them to some cheap junk food. They've probably never tasted anything like it."

Finding something like that at the portal station wasn't easy. Portals themselves weren't a cheap pleasure to begin with, so everything around them catered to the wealthier classes, which showed both in prices and in selection.

We took a flyer over towards the centre of Urumqi and landed at one of the paid lots. On the way, Bao browsed the network and found a cheap little eatery near the parking area. After landing, he took stock of his sisters' fancy outfits, then pulled two more hoodies out of his spatial pocket and handed them over.

"So you don't stand out from the crowd too much," he said.

Well, I don't know about that. His hoodies hung off them like off coat hangers, but they did hide their elegant suits down to nearly the knee.

Bao Feng sent them on ahead and hung back with me himself.

"I'll catch up," he told them. "I need a few words alone with Jake."

"Trying to get rid of me?" I asked him.

"No, I want to ask which one's which. I've been racking my brains."

"They're your sisters!"

"They were chest-high to me the last time I saw them."

"Bao Liu's the one in green, she's the talkative one. Bao Song's quieter."

"They never used to shut up, either of them," Bao Feng said.

The smell of grilled meat, dough, and spices reached us even out on the street. The eatery itself turned out to be cramped and noisy, so we sat outside instead, even though it was a bit chilly. But the girls had their warm hoodies, and Feng and I were both Stage Four. The girls looked at everything like it was new, so Bao ordered for all of us. Naturally, it turned out to be a mountain of meat on wooden skewers: lamb and pork with a spread of sauces and some thick tortillas.

For us, Bao got rice liquor; for the girls, soda.

I wasn't a fan of the liquor, it was a vile stuff, but everything else was pretty good. The girls liked it too, and even loosened up a little, starting to talk like normal people. Bao Song, unexpectedly, turned out to be the chattier one.

I satisfied the hunger that recent events had worked up in me, then excused myself, leaving the Bao family to rebuild their broken connections. I stepped away to call Nur.

She picked up almost immediately.

"Nobody else died?" she asked instead of a greeting, in the tone of someone who'd already run through the worst-case scenarios a few times in her head.

"No, everyone's alive," I confirmed. "Thanks for the help."

We didn't talk long, I just let her know I was fine and asked how much I owed her for the message. It wasn't a free service, after all, but Nur refused to name a price. Instead, she just asked me to take care of myself.

I'd just made it back to the table when another unexpected call caught me.

Incoming call: V. Novak

Accept / Decline

"Master," I said, accepting the call and stepping a few paces away from the table again, this time with a pork skewer in hand.

"Alive," Novak stated instead of a greeting. "Your voice sounds calm, so I take it no rescue's needed?"

"I'm already with Bao in Urumqi."

"Which Bao?"

"Bao Feng."

"Good, because I have catastrophically no time to rescue you personally right now."

It only just clicked for me then. Though it should have been obvious the moment he'd actually managed to get through.

"You're on Earth."

"Demons," Novak answered in a single word.

"Meetings-briefings?"

"Exactly that. We're studying the attack data."

"Many casualties?" I asked.

"The attack's goal wasn't inflicting damage, it was clearing minefields," Novak said. "That goal, unfortunately, the demons accomplished successfully. It was an expected move on their part; we've already deployed countermeasures, but the matter still requires a full investigation."