Outside the grand and ancient manor, a Brabus G-Class off-road vehicle passes through the iron gate, driving through the night. The manor is surrounded by dense electric fences. Inside, the trees and flower bushes are thick. The patrol personnel see the vehicle passing by and stop to salute one after another.
The vehicle stops in front of the courtyard door. The non-commissioned officer gets out from the driver’s seat, walks to the back seat, and pulls open the door, slightly bowing: “Colonel.”
A pair of shiny black leather shoes steps out of the vehicle. He nods to the non-commissioned officer, then walks into the villa. As soon as he enters, Ren Junzhu feels an unusual warmth. The snow-white walls are all reflecting an orange-red glow. In the middle of the night, the villa has not fallen into slumber; instead, it is very noisy.
“Xiao Xing, Xiao Xing, you cannot go out!”
“Xiao Xing, don’t run around anymore.”
“Let go of me, I want to——”
Inside the huge, luxurious living room, orange-red flames shoot through the air, scattering like fireworks. The crystal chandelier and the surrounding furniture are all burning with flames. In some places on the ground, there are black carbonized remains, it seems quite a few things have already been burned. An uninformed person would think the villa is on fire.
A fire line flies over. Ren Junzhu’s eyes darken. The fire line stops in front of him. He looks at the chaotic living room, illuminated bright red by the firelight, waves his hand, and in an instant, all the flames are extinguished.
Several non-commissioned officers are hugging a small child. The child has a bandage on his forehead and a cast on his right arm. When the officers see him enter, they quickly let go and salute.
“Ren Suixing, you little bastard, what are you doing not sleeping in the middle of the night, setting fires recklessly again?” Ren Junzhu says with a dark face.
As a top-rank bloodline awakener and a high-ranking military officer, the moment his face darkens, everyone trembles with fear. Originally, due to his excessively high pheromone level, he is very prone to irritability. Over the past seven years, although he has restrained himself somewhat, he has become even more moody and unpredictable. When he loses control, not just the entire Southern Base, but even Headquarters would have to take emergency precautions.
However, the child does not care about his expression at all and shouts even louder than him:
“Ren Junzhu, you old bastard, what are you doing not coming home in the middle of the night?!”
Ren Junzhu looks down at him from above: “I went to clean up your mess. Who allowed you to act on your own? The person in charge of this rescue operation is Fan Zhiwen. Before their intelligence unit had even gathered all the information on that mercenary group, you dared to go and catch them by yourself, behind my back. There were two S-ranks there, are you really not afraid of death?”
Ren Suixing looks up and snorts coldly. His voice is a crisp, youthful boy’s voice: “By the time they finish gathering intelligence, those children would have already been smuggled out of the country. Isn’t their goal just to capture children who might differentiate into high-rank awakeners? There is no agent in the entire base, or even in Headquarters, more suitable than me. This is the fastest way to save people. Don’t you dare deny it!”
In the year YS1653, extreme global weather occurred frequently. Natural meteorological phenomena were abnormal. Atavistic wild beasts in the mountains were ferocious and devoured people. The oceans surged vast and swallowed cities. Various countries began to see bloodline awakeners with supernatural abilities. Starting from then, global turmoil erupted, and seventy percent of the land fell into chaos.
In YS1947, the United Nations Conference passed the “Awakened Control Act” and established the World Awakener Management and Prevention Alliance, the AMP Alliance. Its purpose, same as the United Nations itself, is to resolve awakened disputes, maintain world peace and security, and carry out international cooperation. Various countries also have their own local corresponding management organizations. What is established here is the National Special Military Defense Headquarters, the NSMS Headquarters, divided into two major bases, Northern and Southern, handling domestic unnatural phenomena, managing awakeners and awakened species, and maintaining social safety and stability.
The land of light establishes rules and order; the place of darkness also has evil fangs growing in clusters. The fields covered by awakeners are vast and complex, ranging from pots, pans, firewood, rice, oil, and salt to biomedicine, aviation, and military affairs. The higher the level of the awakener, the more powerful the awakened, some even possessing combat power and threat comparable to nuclear bombs. Therefore, high-rank awakeners have become the most precious resource contested by various factions. Adult high-rank awakeners after differentiation are difficult to capture, so undifferentiated children have become prey in the mouths of countless evil wolves. An alpha child whose gland tester shows a B-rank can sell for millions on the dark web; A-rank directly exceeds one hundred million. Moreover, the younger the age, the higher the price. Under such exorbitant profits, even though the AMP Alliance explicitly prohibits it, the claws of evil cannot be completely eradicated.
“Agent my ass.” Ren Junzhu’s forehead veins pulse wildly, his anger deepening: “Did you submit a report? Who approved it? Who reviewed it? You’re so awesome, yet in the end, wasn’t it your old man who went to rescue you?” Seeing that little bastard’s reckless attitude, he raises his hand to strike. The non-commissioned officers, butler, and servants quickly come over to stop him. They dare not touch the infuriated Ren Junzhu, so they can only stand in front of the child, shifting left and right to act as human shields.
“Colonel, Colonel, calm down, calm down.”
“Colonel, the child also meant well. Don’t hit him, don’t hit him. The child knows he was wrong.”
The soldiers are performing a crab dance over there. The Colonel is a man with a stern face and an even sterner heart. They cannot let the Colonel beat this precious treasure. This treasure, the only one of its kind in the entire country, even the entire world. The Chief of Staff sent his own assistant over precisely because he was afraid the Colonel would get angry and directly enforce justice above all else by killing his own relative.
Ren Suixing hides behind the crowd and yells fearlessly: “They’re useless, and you blame me? If you have the guts to scold me, then go ahead and scold them too!”
Ren Junzhu snorts coldly: “Fan Zhiwen’s command was ineffective, and the encirclement plans were repeatedly delayed. He has already been suspended from duty and is accepting a base investigation. As for you, acting on your own, disregarding military discipline, not repenting, and talking back to a superior, you will be given a major demerit and have two military merits deducted. Now roll back to your room and reflect on your mistakes.”
In most countries, the criminal act of human trafficking is repeatedly banned but continues to worsen. However, after years of ruthless actions by the Northern and Southern Bases domestically, a series of organizations trafficking glands and minors have been completely cleared out. Only some remaining mercenaries fleeing along the border occasionally risk death to kidnap people. Ren Junzhu is a relatively special military leader within the NSMS Headquarters. With him stationed at the Southern Base, even terrorist organizations with S-rank awakened individuals dare not easily offend. His role is deterrence. Unless in special circumstances, Headquarters will not dispatch him.
Although there was intelligence that the mercenary gang had S-rank awakened individuals during this operation, the Base had already developed relevant emergency plans for S-rank awakened individuals many years ago. Matters like this should not have required Ren Junzhu to handle. Headquarters had assigned this mission to another commander. But unexpectedly, this little bastard didn’t know where he heard the news, actually slipped unnoticed to Yunzhou City, and directly engaged the mercenaries. Upon hearing the news, Ren Junzhu was so angry that his liver fire flared up. In the middle of a meeting, he kicked and shattered a window, personally going to rescue the person.
He should have broken that reckless little bastard’s legs. Only deducting two military merits is letting him off too easily.
“No!” Ren Suixing shouts, crawling out from under the armpit of a non-commissioned officer and standing in front of Ren Junzhu:
“Give me a demerit if you must, but you cannot deduct my military merits.”
Before Ren Junzhu can speak, he continues, face lifted upward: “Otherwise, you might as well beat me. Beat me to death then. But you absolutely cannot deduct my military merits.”
His face is full of stubbornness, the tear mole at the corner of his eye slightly upturned. Ren Junzhu glances at the wound on his forehead and the splint on his right arm, his brow tightens, but he does not resort to violence, suppressing his anger and saying: “Roll back to sleep. For the next three months, you are not allowed to go to the base. Stay at home and reflect properly.”
“Wait.” Ren Suixing calls out to Ren Junzhu who is about to leave. “I have something to ask you.”
Ren Junzhu folds his arms and looks at him, lifting his chin slightly, meaning: if you have something to say, say it.
Ren Suixing stares into his eyes and asks very seriously: “Who is the white-haired man who saved me in Wenshan Village?”
“Does it have anything to do with you?”
“Is he my mom?”
This sentence seems to touch some kind of taboo. The living room suddenly falls silent. The non-commissioned officers stand nearby without a word. The butler and servants suddenly freeze, then dare not even breathe loudly. The assistant sent by the Chief of Staff is a mint-scented omega, very shrewd and capable. He opens his mouth wanting to change the subject, but seeing Ren Junzhu’s expression, he hesitates and closes his mouth again. He quietly moves two steps closer to Ren Suixing, ready to shield the child a few times if Ren Junzhu truly explodes.
Ren Junzhu’s earlier furious expression recedes like the tide, replaced by a calm as still as windless waters. His handsome face, under the crystal chandelier above, has half hidden in shadow, making it impossible to see the expression in his eyes.
Ren Suixing knows him well. When he yells and shouts, his anger isn’t actually at its peak. It’s when his face is expressionless that he is truly enraged. This silent, icy cold demeanor, Ren Suixing is still afraid of it. An adult male ferocious beast can tolerate a certain degree of transgression from its cub, but cannot have its bottom line touched. Once crossed, even his own cub would have its throat mercilessly bitten through.
After a long while, those lightly pressed, pale thin lips finally utter two words, neither lightly nor heavily:
“No.”
Ren Suixing frowns: “I don’t believe it. I have evidence. Unless you can convince me.”
“Speak.”
“I have Fire-Water mixed attributes. He is a Water-attribute awakener.”
“The Baize big data system shows that there are 214,265,431 people in the country with Water-attribute bloodline.” Ren Junzhu lifts an eyelid: “Are you saying you have over two hundred million moms?”
Ren Suixing lifts his finger to point at his own right eye: “He also has a tear mole, the same shape and position as mine.”
“In the entire country, there are 7,493 people with Water-attribute bloodline and a tear mole on the inner corner of the lower right eyelid.”
“But the scent of his pheromones gives me a very familiar feeling of intimacy. I should have smelled it when I was little!”
Upon hearing this, Ren Junzhu sneers coldly: “The intoxicating flower pheromone is an allure-type pheromone famous even in Headquarters’ high-risk pheromone archives. It’s more than enough to fool an S-rank awakener, let alone an undifferentiated little brat like you. It would be effortless.”
“Then what about that knife?” Ren Suixing’s brows are calm and composed, his voice firm: “Don’t think I wouldn’t recognize it. The dagger on his body was made by your own hands. You’ve never even given me anything you made yourself. Why does he have your weapon?”
This question seems to stump Ren Junzhu for a moment. He does not answer immediately. His eyelashes lower slightly, and a murky, difficult-to-understand dark light flickers in his eyes. His handsome face appears even more gloomy and unreadable.
Ren Suixing is about to say something more when Ren Junzhu speaks:
“Haven’t you always wanted to know how the scar on my left chest that won’t fade came about?”
“It was him. He took the knife I gave him and plunged it without hesitation into my heart.”