It wasn’t long before they arrived at the villa. The three dirty children filed out of the car. Having not said anything the entire way, Kain was at a loss as to what to do with them now.

He had no experience taking care of children. No more than half an hour ago, he was teaching the child where to stab someone to make them choke on their own blood. He was by no means a good role model.

Then again, the system did give the kids a talent enhancement. So maybe his parenting style wasn’t all that wrong.

He caught Amelia’s shining eyes as they stepped through the threshold. Her eyes were glued to the little girl. He could tell she was having fantasies of how she would train her.

He chuckled, realizing Amelia might not have a hard time warming up to them. As for himself, that remained to be seen. All he knew was that this task was done.

The door closed behind them, signaling that Jake and Veronica had arrived.

Kain stared at the three silent children before him. The grime on their bodies reminded him of the collapse. He frowned. The dirt on their bodies made it impossible for him to tell their features, and by their height, he assumed they were about three years old.

Pursing his lips, he stood unsure of what to say. Four adults and three children could only stare. Finally, Kain coughed lightly and spoke.

"What are your names?"

The writer, as Kain had dubbed him in his mind, was the one who replied.

"That, this, hey you, bastard, son of a bitch, fucker. That’s what they call us." The words were delivered with such a flat tone that everyone present knew the three children had heard such words often.

Amelia trembled. Kain’s eyes narrowed. Jake and Veronica couldn’t help muttering under their breath.

"Well, I don’t like those names," Kain said through gritted teeth. Even if he didn’t like them, they were his kids. If he knew who those people were, he would let them know what a bastard is.

"From now on," he pointed to each child in turn. "You’re Dominic, you’re Ashton, and you’re Avery. All of you have the last name Nightfall."

The children showed no joy on their faces. Perhaps they had learned that emotions got them nowhere. But no matter how much they were harmed or might even mistrust the people before them, it didn’t stop the shimmer in their eyes.

Even though they hid it quickly, Kain still caught it.

Nodding inwardly, he said, no matter how much they seem dead on the outside, they are still children. Just the mention of having names made them happy.

"As for us," he continued. "We are your parents. My name is Kain Nightfall, and this is Amelia Hartwell. We are your real parents, just like others have parents, you have parents too."

The scrutiny that passed between the siblings didn’t slip past any of the adults in the room.

Having no idea what they had gone through to be such cynics at such a young age, Kain didn’t say much else. He signals for someone to come and collect them.

"This is Eve. She’ll take you to get a shower and find you some new clothes." He gestured to Eve, and she led them up the stairs.

As he watched them leave, ve his eyes caught sight of something being held in Ashton’s hand. A glinting piece of metal. It was part of a larger blade. Kain didn’t know if it had been hidden in his clothes. But seeing the blade, he couldn’t help giving a warning.

"We don’t hurt people in this house. Put it away."

As they disappeared upstairs, Amelia raised an eyebrow, "Dominic, Ashton, and Avery?"

Kain shrugged, "I couldn’t keep calling them writer, stabby, and fighter, could I?" He pointed to his index finger to his head to say that’s what he called them in his mind. Amelia nodded.

Turning to the other two, Kain ushered them to the couch, "Tell me how you found them."

Sitting on the couch, Jake began, "Boss, you don’t know how hard it was. I almost pulled my hair out. I-"

Veronica elbowed Jake, forcing him to stop talking.

Taking over the conversation, he said, "With the information you gave us about the lab, we were able to find their last known location. Most of the time was actually spent trying to get the location.

At first, they were sent to a mountainous village. But for some reason, they were later relocated. The only record the lab had was that they were relocated, but we didn’t know. It was only after monitoring that we were able to suss out some details. They moved around from one state facility to another.

No one wanted to keep them there for too long. Then they ended up at Cradle Orphanage. The only reason they stayed there was that someone gave the director a hefty sum to keep them."

Jake took over, more professional now. He didn’t want Veronica to take all the credit. "After we located them, we had to do a DNA test. We tested all the kids in the orphanage. It was easy to get DNA from the other kids, but yours...," he grimaced. "Well, we got it anyway. Remember to repay our hard work, boss."

Amelia chuckled at Jake’s grimace. She didn’t ask what happened, but Veronica’s creased brow told her it was probably a ’dirty’ job.

As for Kain, his thoughts were on the person who might have been shuffling the kids. It made no sense to him that someone would want them moved around so often. He didn’t know they existed until his past life.

He knew thinking about it wouldn’t give him any answers, so he tossed it to the back of his mind.

"Well, you both did a good job. Too bad there’s still more work for you to do." Kain shot them a wicked grin.

Now that the kids have been found, they need to move on to securing all their apocalypse necessities.

Not long after Kain gleefully told them all the odds and ends they needed to take care of, the children came downstairs. Seeing the maid unharmed, he heaved a sigh of relief. He didn’t think he would be able to explain ’death by blade while bathing a child ’to the police.

The little pitter-patter of their feet sounded in the living room. They walked towards the four adults. As Kain caught a glimpse of their clean faces, the pitter-patter turned into a death drum in his ears.

His body shook when he saw their faces.

Though smaller and a little gaunt, he was certain he knew them. And that knowledge made Kain’s body go rigid. His heart thumped in his ears. And for a moment, he didn’t know whether he was giddy or frightened.