Lu Xunzhi only needed a single glance at Pu Xin to know she was feeling guilty. When the silly mother lacked confidence, she would pretend to concentrate very hard, sitting quietly and keeping to herself like a child secretly preparing to cause trouble.
He had no idea what she felt guilty about. Thinking back to the few times when she merely frowned and then proceeded to completely crush violent-type aliens, he suddenly felt that perhaps there was no real need for him to know. So he simply pretended not to notice her guilty conscience. He set her down and took out a spare pair of shoes from the spatial bag to help her put them on.
Ever since he had brought the silly mother home, an entire shoe cabinet’s worth of shoes had been packed into his spatial bag, making it convenient to take them out for her anytime, anywhere.
Seeing how incredibly practiced his movements were, Fang Jing’s eyelids twitched. Who could possibly imagine that Major Lu Xunzhi, who was brutal on the battlefield and capable of making a group of burly men cry during training, would carefully kneel down to help a young girl put on her shoes…
Perhaps the look in his eyes had grown too complicated. Pu Xin, who had been quietly drinking juice, suddenly lifted her head and flashed him a toothy grin.
The beautiful young girl did not feel particularly approachable to him. Her crescent-shaped eyes were still adorable, yet Deputy Director Fang instantly straightened his back and adopted a solemn posture, as if he were facing an important leader.
Pu Xin was startled by his exaggerated reaction. Lu Xunzhi, who had just finished tying the ribbons of her shoes, seemed to notice their small interaction and raised his head. She hurriedly blinked at Fang Jing before lowering her gaze again and obediently sipping her juice.
Fang Jing was thoroughly confused by her behavior, and just as he was puzzled over it, he met Lu Xunzhi’s somewhat cold gaze. He immediately groaned inwardly, his imposing aura shrinking a few degrees.
He tugged awkwardly at the corner of his mouth to show friendliness, only to receive a cold snort from Lu Xunzhi, who clearly still held a grudge about Pu Xin being taken away earlier.
With the two of them and the Little Dandelion between them, one person felt too guilty to speak, another had made a mistake and did not dare open his mouth, and the last had no intention of lightening the mood. Around them, the only sounds came from the clanging and banging of people cleaning the battlefield, making the atmosphere extremely strange. Little Chives, which had been playing with its chive leaves near Pu Xin’s feet, gradually stopped moving, suddenly too nervous to continue.
After tying the ribbon on the little leather shoes into a neat bow, Lu Xunzhi turned to Fang Jing and asked, “How are our casualties?”
At the mention of this, Fang Jing’s expression became rather strange, as though he had encountered a difficult question.
Lu Xunzhi frowned. “Are the casualties severe?”
The FSB had been ambushed, so heavy losses would have been understandable. Yet for Fang Jing to show such a reaction, the situation must have exceeded expectations.
Fang Jing’s expression became even more peculiar. Unsure how to explain it, he simply beckoned to his assistant. “Pei Qin, bring those aliens over.”
Lu Xunzhi raised an eyebrow at that. Soon afterward, Pei Qin pushed over an empty cage from the auction hall. The cage stood about two meters tall and, for some reason, was covered with a black cloth. Something living seemed to be inside, occasionally wriggling under the fabric. As Pei Qin pushed the cage forward, small bulges popped up on the cloth one after another.
Pu Xin, who had nearly finished her juice, suddenly felt her eyelids twitch. She stood up and tugged at her little one’s sleeve.
“Zhizhi, I still want more juice. I’ll take 009 with me to find some.”
009 was the name she had given Little Chives. The latter had accepted it happily and even puffed out its chest proudly whenever she called its name.
Normally, whenever the silly mother wanted juice, she would simply order Little Chives to fetch it. Why did she suddenly want to go look for it herself now?
Lu Xunzhi narrowed his eyes slightly and adopted the authority of someone disciplining a disobedient mother. “You just finished one cup. No more.”
Pu Xin pouted. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the cage drawing closer and said again, “Then I want a little cake. There’s some in the room ahead. I’ll go get it.”
She started to step forward, but Lu Xunzhi caught her elbow. He bent his finger and flicked her lightly on the forehead, delivering a devilish interrogation.
“Mom, what exactly did you do while I was gone?”
Pu Xin’s body stiffened slightly. She looked up at him with a wide smile and asked innocently, “Zhizhi, what are you talking about? I don’t understand.”
It perfectly matched the silly mother’s usual foolish persona. Yet when someone acted overly guilty, did that not expose them as the thief?
Lu Xunzhi simply smiled without saying anything. Still, he held her hand firmly, preventing her from leaving. Her eyes darted everywhere, the guilt in them becoming even more obvious.
Pei Qin pushed the cage closer. Pu Xin shot it a quick glance, then innocently tugged at the fluffy white pom-pom on the sleeve of her dress.
Pei Qin noticed that the cage had suddenly fallen silent and lowered his head to take another look, puzzled.
Before arriving here, none of the aliens inside had behaved. One had been pulling another’s leaves, another whipping a branch at someone else, one trying to snatch someone’s fruit while another knocked off someone’s flowers. The chaos had been nothing short of a brutal battle.
But now the cage was quiet, so quiet that Pei Qin even wondered whether the aliens inside had somehow destroyed one another in a moment of mutual annihilation.
He pushed the doubt aside, saluted Lu Xunzhi and Fang Jing respectfully, and stepped back.
Seeing the cage suddenly calm down, Fang Jing did not feel confused at all. Instead, he had an expression of realization.
After all, these violent-type aliens had already surrendered earlier. What was strange about them behaving quietly now?
He calmly pushed up his glasses and pulled the black cloth away with a loud rustle.
Inside the enormous cage, the aliens that had just been fighting fiercely were now huddled together like quails. Not only had they stopped whipping their branches around, they had even tucked in their leaves, behaving obediently like hens patiently sitting on their nests to hatch eggs.
Lu Xunzhi looked over the aliens in the cage and noticed that each one seemed to have something rather “special” about it.
For example, the smallest willow alien was nothing more than a short tree stump. Six branches hung down from its bald head, yet four of them had been tied into two bows. The remaining two short branches drooped pitifully, already missing most of their leaves. It was impossible to tell whether they had been lost during the earlier fight or plucked out under some other circumstances.
Little Dandelion quietly observed nothing and spoke nothing. At some point she had already picked up Little Chives from the ground and placed it on her lap. She idly played with its leaves, and it almost looked as if she wanted to tie them into bows.
The extremely familiar gesture made Lu Xunzhi’s eyes twitch.
He seemed to have figured out where the bows on the willow stump’s head had come from.
His gaze shifted again. One sunflower had lost half the seeds in its flower disk and now drooped its petals listlessly, not daring to lift its head. Beside it, a dark purple Purple Mandrake had nearly lost all its stamens and curled its tiny feet inward, looking pitiful while thinking who knew what.
The aliens inside the cage looked utterly miserable, yet Little Dandelion did not even lift her head. She continued playing with the Little Chives on her lap. The latter did not dare protest and obediently extended its leaves for her to fiddle with, serving her attentively.
Lu Xunzhi rubbed his forehead.
Normally, whenever the silly mother saw so many little aliens, even if she did not circle around them with excitement, she would at least look at them. She definitely must have done something.
Sure enough, Fang Jing’s next words confirmed his guess.
“Our people suffered almost no casualties.”
Fang Jing’s tone was somewhat subtle, and he cast a similarly subtle glance at the obedient Little Dandelion.
The FSB had surrounded the auction house according to plan. Once they confirmed that the place was indeed conducting illegal activities, they swiftly controlled the members leaving the building and launched an assault.
However, not long after entering the auction house, the FSB agents were ambushed by violent-type aliens, not in one place but in six different locations.
The operation had been extremely secret. Although the number of people mobilized was small, they were all elites of the FSB. Yet they had faced six fully matured violent-type aliens and could not use large-scale weapons. Fang Jing had felt unprecedented pressure.
Unexpectedly, although the violent-type aliens appeared ferocious when they emerged, their attacks were not as aggressive as those previously encountered. Their vines lashed down fiercely, clearly capable of hitting people, yet they somehow kept missing.
At first, Fang Jing thought the narrow space limited their movements. But after several exchanges, he realized that the aliens genuinely seemed unwilling to attack them. Their vines danced wildly but never struck anyone. If he had to describe it, it almost looked like they were putting on a highly skilled performance.
The thought startled him. After several tests, he discovered that the aliens were not unwilling to attack. They used their full strength each time, yet at the final moment they forcibly withdrew their attacks, as if restrained by some kind of limitation.
As a result, although the battle appeared extremely violent and chaotic, the FSB agents themselves were barely injured.
“Mom,” Lu Xunzhi called softly.
Pu Xin jumped to her feet with a thud, clearly overreacting.
Lu Xunzhi smiled silently and reached out to smooth her slightly messy hair. “What kind of little cake do you want? I’ll have Qi Xia buy it.”
Little Dandelion’s eyes immediately lit up. She extended her fingers and began counting one by one.
“I want strawberry cake, blueberry egg tarts, mango snow mochi, and chocolate mousse…”
As she counted, the little dimples on her fingers were clearly visible, tender and adorable. Lu Xunzhi could not resist poking one.
Pu Xin looked up in confusion and whispered, “Did I ask for too many?”
She wrinkled her nose and secretly glanced at the aliens in the cage, who were now far more obedient than she was. At that moment they all shuddered simultaneously.
The aliens that had been fighting moments ago suddenly shifted positions together, clustering in one corner and trembling.
Their reactions were far too exaggerated. Pu Xin quickly withdrew her gaze.
Just then, her little one suddenly wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her.
She looked up in confusion. His chin rested on her shoulder, warm breath brushing lightly against her cheek. Like a small child seeking comfort, he rubbed his chin against her shoulder.
“Mom, thank you.”
Aside from the silly mother, no one could make so many mature violent-type aliens behave so obediently.
When she had led him out of the underground auction hall earlier, she had guided him the entire way. He had already guessed what must have happened after he was taken away.
Once his identity was exposed, the silly mother’s identity would not remain hidden either. Being captured had only been a matter of time. The mastermind behind the scenes had planned carefully, but the silly mother had clearly outplayed them. Wherever aliens existed was her territory.
Thinking about how she had boldly marched into the auction hall, it was not hard to guess that she had never been controlled at all and had instead wandered around in a daze looking for him.
Recalling the shocked expression of the leader among the ten assassins who had detained him, a strange sense of pride rose in Lu Xunzhi’s heart.
His mother might be a little absent-minded, but it was not easy for anyone to gain an advantage over her.
Pu Xin blinked happily. She rarely saw her little one express his emotions so directly. Now that he had grown up, he was easily embarrassed and rarely called her “Mom,” much less hugged her voluntarily.
Delighted, she hugged him back and patted his back like she was soothing a cat or dog.
“Zhizhi little one, Mom loves you.”
It was her first time being a mother, and she did not know how to raise a little one properly. Yet she was very happy that he was willing to show his feelings to her.
Lu Xunzhi could more or less guess what she was thinking and allowed her to keep patting his back.
Having witnessed their affectionate mother-and-son moments many times, Deputy Director Fang calmly turned away and calmly instructed Pei Qin, “Take them away first. If they refuse to behave, bring them back immediately.”
As he spoke, he glanced at the trembling aliens. The creatures that had once looked so imposing were now shaking like sieves and frantically shaking their heads, apparently understanding the hidden meaning behind his words.
Fang Jing suddenly felt curious. What kind of magic did Lu Xunzhi’s little mother possess to make these violent and unruly aliens so terrified?
But it was obvious that he could neither investigate nor suggest doing so. A certain overprotective major would never allow it.
All the blood samples of Pu Xin that had once been stored in the FSB had already been destroyed under Marshal Lu Bieling’s orders. The Little Dandelion currently sitting nearby and happily petting her little one had already been classified as the Federation’s highest-level secret.
As Fang Jing’s assistant, Pei Qin knew a little about Pu Xin. However, from being the “special alien” spoken about in the FSB to now becoming the mother of Marshal Lu Bieling’s only son, he had never interacted with her directly. The burning curiosity inside him could only be forcefully suppressed as he stiffly pushed the aliens away, who looked as if they wished they could break the cage and flee.
After letting the silly mother pet him for a while, Lu Xunzhi turned to Qi Xia, who had just arrived.
“It’s too chaotic here. Take my mom out first and buy her some little cakes.”
Pu Xin grinned and called out to Qi Xia. He quickly responded.
“Madam, please follow me.”
He was no longer the adjutant who rushed into battle wherever the major pointed. Compared to fighting on the battlefield, he now had a far more important mission.
Taking care of the major’s “elder mother.”
Pu Xin waved cheerfully at her little one. He instructed her worriedly, “Be good. If you’re tired, go home with Qi Xia first. I’m very busy today and might not be able to stay with you.”
Even during his leave he was still helping the FSB handle matters. In the entire Federation, he might be the only one like this. Thinking about it made Lu Xunzhi somewhat displeased. After tonight, he decided he would dump everything onto Fang Jing so that he could spend a few more days with the silly mother before returning to the battlefield.
Just as Fang Jing was about to speak, he suddenly sneezed loudly. He had the distinct feeling someone was speaking ill of him. When he turned around, he found Lu Xunzhi staring straight at him and nearly jumped in fright.
Lu Xunzhi slowly withdrew his gaze and looked at the underground auction hall, now almost reduced to ruins.
“I’ve already arrested everyone who participated in the auction. But according to the newest follower my mom recruited, someone called Old Gou appeared at the auction house before. He was extremely cautious and is very likely someone from the FSB.”
“Investigate carefully. It would be best to pry out this person’s identity from those people.”
The fact that a traitor existed inside the FSB had already been revealed during the assassination attempt on Pu Xin. Fang Jing had conducted a thorough internal investigation. Yet when they followed the trail, the suspects either committed suicide or disappeared.
For this operation, both men had been extremely cautious. Apart from the higher-ups, all participants were notified only at the last moment and monitored throughout the mission. Even if information had leaked during the operation, it should not have allowed the enemy to prepare so thoroughly.
If Pu Xin had not intervened and intimidated those mature violent-type aliens, everyone participating in the mission tonight might have died here.
Fang Jing was not stupid. He had already formed a suspicion. As former classmates from military academy, the two shared a certain tacit understanding. After exchanging a glance and seeing the same conclusion in each other’s eyes, they both calmly looked away.
Just then, the FSB Director arrived with several people from outside. He waved away the dust around him and frowned.
“Why did you make such a huge commotion? Residents nearby have already reported it to the police.”
Lu Xunzhi glanced at the FSB Director, his gaze pausing briefly on the nameplate pinned to his chest.
The FSB Director’s surname was Gou, given name Liguo. His leadership style was authoritarian and domineering, which had earned him many complaints within the bureau. In private, people called him Director Dog.
“Director Gou, what brings you here?” Lu Xunzhi asked casually.
Nearby, the buyers who had participated in the underground auction were being brought out one by one after having their masks removed.
Normally well-dressed elites who frequented high society now looked extremely miserable, their hair disheveled as they lowered their heads in shame.
Hearing how Lu Xunzhi addressed him, the veins on Director Gou’s forehead twitched. He hated it when people used his surname to address him. Everyone in the bureau knew this taboo and never dared provoke him.
Except for Lu Xunzhi.
Nine out of ten times, he would deliberately call him that, as if intentionally stepping on his sore spot. Yet since Lu Xunzhi was a highly decorated Federal Major who commanded an entire legion, Director Gou could not afford to offend him and could only endure it with a forced smile.
“Major Lu, after all, I was the one who led this operation. It wouldn’t be appropriate if you did all the work while I came at the end just to claim the credit,” the FSB Director said with a laugh.
Lu Xunzhi gave him no face at all. “I actually think it wouldn’t be bad if you did claim the credit from behind.”
The smile on the director’s lips froze.
He knew perfectly well that Lu Xunzhi was mocking him for pretending to work while actually doing nothing.
Having weathered many storms, the FSB Director pretended not to understand. He laughed loudly and patted Lu Xunzhi’s shoulder.
“You young people are capable. I’m already old, so all I can do is share a little of the glory.”
Lu Xunzhi lifted the corner of his mouth slightly but did not continue mocking him. Instead, he looked toward Liya, who was being heavily guarded and covered in injuries.
“Quite a few people were injured tonight. The bureau is short on manpower. Since the director is here, why not help interrogate a few suspects? It would be best to get results tonight. Marshal Lu is urging us.”
In formal settings, he never referred to Lu Bieling as his father, strictly separating public matters from private ones.
The FSB Director immediately recognized Liya, the woman who once dominated the underground auction house and casually threw people to aliens as blood food. His guilty conscience made him hesitate, unsure whether to accept this troublesome task.
That brief hesitation caused him to miss the best opportunity to refuse.
Fang Jing quickly added, “Since the director is here, important matters naturally fall to you. Madam Lu was injured, and Major Lu is worried. He has been busy all night as well. Surely we can’t keep him here all night.”
Fang Jing was clearly speaking nonsense. The director narrowed his eyes before finally deciding.
“My fault, my fault. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of the rest.”
Lu Xunzhi nodded. “We trust the director’s abilities. These important suspects will be handed over to you and Fang Jing. I’ll interrogate the unimportant buyers outside.”
With that, he turned and walked away, clearly having no intention of participating in the interrogation of the buyers.
Pu Xin played wildly tonight. First she had raided the alien breeding area of the underground auction house, suppressing those little aliens until they dared not resist. Later she helped the Red-plum girl awaken her talent. Now that everything had quieted down, drowsiness crept up on her and she yawned several times.
Seeing her eyes grow watery with sleepiness, Qi Xia almost wished he could bring the hover car over so she could rest comfortably. Madam was so pretty and adorable. She should be at home soaking her feet and raising aliens. Why should she be dragged outside to suffer like this?
After silently condemning his major, he asked gently, “Madam, would you like to go straight home?”
Pu Xin waved her hand while yawning. She wanted to wait and go home with her little one.
But just as the thought formed, it suddenly froze.
Pu Xin forced her sleepy eyes open and immediately tried to catch the figure that had flashed past.
Golden short hair shimmered brilliantly. His tall figure was exceptionally striking.
In an instant, the drowsiness vanished from Pu Xin’s mind.
She shouted excitedly, “Xiu Xiu!”
The man in the distance had already removed his mask, revealing an elegant and noble face. His fox-like eyes were beautiful, with a small red mole at the corner. His lips were thin, the curve of them always seeming to hold a smile while maintaining a distant aloofness.
His silver-gray suit gleamed under the bright lights. Diamond cufflinks sparkled from the shadows.
Standing amidst the ruins, he resembled a god fallen into the mortal world. Ruin and nobility coexisted around him, creating a striking contrast.
Pu Xin muttered to herself, “Little one is so handsome.”
Her voice was crisp and soft, traveling through the drifting air and reaching Arcius’s ears clearly.
He slowly turned around.
That sideways glance was unforgettable.
Seeing the girl waving at him while running over, her eager expression lively and adorable, Arcius’s eyes softened with a trace of amusement. He was about to greet her politely when she suddenly charged straight at him. Unfortunately, she kicked a small stone on the ground and stumbled forward, crashing directly into his arms.
Arcius was not accustomed to physical contact with strangers, and his body stiffened for a moment. Yet the girl in his arms was incredibly soft and light, almost like a feather. His hands had already moved to push her away, but an inexplicable hesitation arose, as if he feared knocking her down.
That brief hesitation cost him the chance to push her away.
The girl not only fell fully into his arms but even took advantage of the moment to wrap her arms around his waist. She raised her head happily and shouted loudly: “Xiu Xiu!”