Summer, 1970, Suicheng.
“Regiment Commander, we’ve searched from East First Alley to East Sixth Alley. We didn’t find the child Chen Jingbo or any suspicious individuals, but we discovered a little girl who was injured and unconscious in a corner of one alley!”
As the sun set in the west, a young soldier hurried out of an alley carrying a little girl about three years old. He ran up to Bai Dingting, who was standing in an open area, and turned the little girl to face him.
Bai Dingting’s chiseled face showed no emotion as he methodically issued orders one after another. Hearing the soldier’s report, he casually glanced at the little girl. But the moment he saw her face, he was struck as if by lightning, unable to believe his eyes. He instinctively whispered, “Li Li?”
How could his daughter be lying unconscious alone in an alley? Where was her mother?
Noticing a shallow wound on his daughter’s forehead that had already scabbed over, with faint bloodstains at the temple, and a swollen lump on the back of her neck, his heart ached with pain. At the same time, his professional instincts kicked in, and his mind raced—his daughter and wife were in trouble.
Carefully taking his daughter from the soldier’s arms, Bai Dingting gently patted Bai Li’s delicate little face. “Li Li, wake up!”
In her dazed state, Little Pi Xiu felt someone hitting her and instinctively opened her eyes, glaring at the beast that had attacked her.
Which beast had a death wish, daring to strike Little Pi Xiu?
But what met Little Pi Xiu’s gaze was not a beast, but a stern-faced young man dressed in a green military uniform.
Who was this?
Before Little Pi Xiu could react, fragments of memories suddenly flashed through her mind.
Ten seconds later, Little Pi Xiu lifted her hands in disbelief, staring at the chubby little hands before her. She finally accepted the fact—she had traveled through time.
It was all Taotie and Qiongqi’s fault! If those two hadn’t been fighting, she wouldn’t have been kicked by Taotie while her mind was fully focused on hiding her treasures, and she wouldn’t have ended up possessing this little cub.
Clan Elder, your beast has gone missing!
The little cub she now possessed was named Bai Li. Her father was the soldier before her, and her mother was Yu Lixia, daughter of Yu Jianguo, the military commander of the Suicheng Military District.
Since Bai Dingting hadn’t applied for family housing, after marrying Yu Lixia, she lived with the Yu family while Bai Dingting stayed in the military district’s single dormitory. He only visited the little cub at the Yu family during holidays.
The husband of the little cub’s aunt was also a soldier. Because he often went on missions, he too lived with the Yu family after marriage.
That morning, the little cub had been playing with her cousin. But her cousin took a liking to the toy in the little cub’s hands and tried to snatch it. When the little cub refused to give it up, her cousin suddenly threw a tantrum, grabbed the little cub’s hair, and tore off the hair tie her father had bought for her.
The little cub cried heart-wrenchingly, but not only did her cousin refuse to apologize, she even claimed the little cub had broken it herself.
Her grandparents and mother all told the little cub not to make a fuss over her cousin, making her feel both wronged and heartbroken.
It was clearly her cousin who had pulled her hair and ruined the hair tie—why did no one make her cousin apologize, and instead everyone told her not to mind?
Perhaps seeing how devastated the little cub was, her mother took her out, saying they would go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy her a new hair tie.
However, shortly after they went out, they were blocked by two very sleazy middle-aged men who looked at her and her mother with sinister smiles, muttering something about fetching a good price.
The little cub’s last memory was a sudden sharp pain in her neck.
Thinking of this, Bai Li (Little Pi Xiu) clenched her fists angrily. Although in the Pixiu clan, she was just a little cub, the clan leader often took her on journeys through various realms—she was a well-informed little Pixiu! The little cub might not know what she and her mother had encountered, but she, the little Pixiu, certainly did.
The little cub and her mother had been kidnapped and trafficked. In the process, the little cub had died, abandoned in a small alley, and then found by the little cub’s father.
The clan leader had said that taking something from others requires paying a price. She had used the little cub’s body, so she needed to give something in return. But the little cub was dead—how could she give anything back?
So annoying!
Bai Li scratched her head.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Bai Li’s mind—she could help the little cub save her mother!
Thinking this, Bai Li blinked her moist eyes, looking at Bai Dingting with urgency, her hands tightly gripping his shoulders. “Daddy, Mommy was taken by bad people! They said they were going to sell Mommy for money. Hurry, go save Mommy!”
Bai Dingting watched as his daughter woke up, first dazed, then scratching her head. Just as he was about to ask why she was here, he suddenly heard her words, and his heart trembled again. “Li Li, what did you say?”
As he asked, various images began to surface in his mind, and a faint intuition arose—the traffickers his daughter and wife had encountered today were closely related to the mission he was currently carrying out.
This intuition had helped him avoid danger many times before and had earned him countless achievements, big and small, allowing him to rise to the rank of regiment commander through his own abilities.
Now, this intuition had returned.
“Daddy, two hours ago, Mommy took Li Li to the supply and marketing cooperative. On the way out, we met two kidnappers. Mommy and Li Li were knocked unconscious. When Li Li woke up, she saw Daddy, but Mommy was gone.”
“Daddy, hurry and go with Li Li to save Mommy! Li Li knows where Mommy is. If we’re late, we won’t be able to find Mommy!”
In just a few words, Bai Li explained the situation and urged Bai Dingting to save the little cub’s mother.
The body still retained the scent of the little cub’s mother, and the little Pixiu could follow the scent to find her. But if too much time passed and the scent faded, the little Pixiu wouldn’t be able to track her down.
Bai Dingting’s mind was rapidly processing Bai Li’s words and thinking about how to rescue his wife, so after his daughter finished speaking, he didn’t immediately react to her words.
But in Bai Li’s eyes, Bai Dingting was just holding her, standing there like a wooden post, unmoving. She couldn’t help but feel anxious—was this little cub’s father a bit slow? His wife was about to be sold, and he had no reaction at all.
Her eyes darted around, and suddenly, she leaned close to Bai Dingting’s ear and shouted,
“Daddy, your wife is about to be sold!”
The young soldiers standing nearby heard Bai Li’s shout and exchanged glances, seeing surprise in each other’s eyes. They then lowered their heads, trying to hide their twitching lips and stiff expressions from their regiment commander.
The regiment commander was famously known as the “Grim-faced King of Hell” in the Suicheng Military District, but no one expected his daughter to be so mischievous, deliberately shouting loudly right next to his ear. The commander’s daughter didn’t realize he was deep in thought, as they were all waiting for his instructions.
The girl’s deafening roar made Bai Dingting’s eardrums sting, and his active train of thought came to an abrupt halt at that moment. He reached out and patted his daughter, whose eyes were darting around nervously and clearly feeling a bit guilty. “Li Li, don’t make a fuss. Daddy is on a mission right now. I need to get everything arranged properly before I can take Li Li to rescue Mommy.”
Yu Lixia was his wife, and he couldn’t possibly remain indifferent to her safety. An instinct deep inside urged him to hurry and follow Bai Li to find Yu Lixia, but with the mission at hand, he also had to assign someone to stay behind and consolidate the information first.
“Daddy, hurry up then!” Bai Li urged.
Just then, footsteps echoed from the other end of the alley, heading straight toward Bai Li’s direction.