Bai Li shook her head desperately. “Daddy, Mommy is inside. Besides Mommy, there are five other people—three men, one woman, and a child!”
Little Pi Xiu could hear the breathing of everyone inside!
“Li Li, how do you know how many people are inside?” Although Bai Li was very certain, Bai Dingting still had some doubts in his heart.
“Daddy, I heard them!” Bai Li said proudly, lifting her head and tilting her face back until the back of her head was almost parallel to the ground.
Upon hearing this, Bai Dingting and the other two were stunned. The surroundings were eerily quiet, with no sound at all. How could this child have heard anything?
“Daddy, hurry inside! Mommy is in there!”
Seeing the three of them not moving, Bai Li kicked Bai Dingting’s stomach with her left foot while in his arms, urging him.
“Li Li, it’s not that Daddy doesn’t want to go in, but Daddy can’t just barge into someone else’s house without a reason!” Bai Dingting patiently explained to Bai Li.
“Hmph!” Bai Li turned her head angrily, ignoring Bai Dingting. Excuses—adults always had so many excuses.
Don’t think Little Pi Xiu didn’t know—Daddy just didn’t believe her.
But since she was certain that the little cub’s mother was in the nearby room and still alive, Bai Li wasn’t anxious anymore.
After all, the one who would end up with egg on their face definitely wouldn’t be her.
“Ah!”
Just then, a heart-wrenching scream suddenly came from the room next to them.
Immediately after, a woman’s sharp and desperate cry followed, “What did you say? Li Li is dead?”
Hearing the woman’s voice, Bai Li suddenly felt her nose sting and uncontrollably called out, “Mommy!”
The situation was urgent, so the three of them no longer hesitated. Liang Junping and Ye Hongwei worked together to kick open the courtyard door and rushed inside, with Bai Dingting carrying Bai Li close behind.
The four of them rushed into the room where the sound had come from.
Inside the room, a man about 160 centimeters tall was lying on his back on the ground. A delicate and beautiful woman with a torn sleeve was kneeling on the man’s third leg, her hands gripping his neck, her eyes red as she screamed hoarsely, “Give me back my Li Li!”
That woman was the little cub’s mother, Yu Lixia.
Liang Junping, following behind Bai Dingting, couldn’t help but shiver when he saw the situation inside the room, feeling a chill below his abdomen. Indeed, they were a family—Comrade Yu was as fierce as the regimental commander!
As soon as Bai Li saw Yu Lixia, her body moved uncontrollably. She slipped out of Bai Dingting’s arms with a “whoosh,” ran toward Yu Lixia on her short little legs, and shouted, “Mommy! Mommy!”
Hearing Bai Li’s voice, Yu Lixia paused her hands and turned her head mechanically toward the source of the sound. When she saw that the person calling her was Bai Li, she shoved the man backward with force, stood up abruptly, and stumbled toward Bai Li as if she couldn’t see her husband beside her. She crouched down and hugged Bai Li tightly, her tone carrying a mix of fierceness and relief after a narrow escape.
“Li Li, you scared Mommy to death! I was just thinking I’d risk my life to avenge you! Thank goodness… thank goodness you’re okay!”
Feeling Yu Lixia pressing her face tightly against her chest with all her might, radiating worry and tearful joy, Bai Li found it hard to breathe. Her head felt dizzy, and a thought flashed through her mind: Is this what a mother’s embrace feels like?
Since Little Pi Xiu was born, she had never seen her parents, let alone been held by them! The clan elder often grumbled that Little Pi Xiu’s mother was busy consolidating her cultivation, while her father was helping her. The two beasts had irresponsibly left Little Pi Xiu behind and gone into seclusion.
However, Little Pi Xiu was now using the body of a young cub, and the young cub was Little Pi Xiu. So, the young cub’s mother was also Little Pi Xiu’s mother.
Thinking this, Bai Li reached out her chubby little hands without hesitation and patted Yu Lixia’s back, saying in a soft, sweet voice, “Mommy, don’t cry. Li Li is fine. But if you don’t let go soon, Li Li will be in trouble—she’ll suffocate!”
Hearing this, Yu Lixia was so frightened that she immediately loosened her arms. With tears streaming down her face, she checked Bai Li up and down. “It’s Mommy’s fault. I almost hurt Li Li!”
While Yu Lixia was checking on her, Bai Li took the opportunity to look around.
At that moment, the man Yu Lixia had been restraining earlier had already been handcuffed by Liang Junping and Ye Hongwei.
The group was on a mission and always carried handcuffs with them.
Before Bai Li could explain the situation to Yu Lixia, the sound of hurried footsteps reached her ears from outside the room.
“Daddy, the traffickers outside are trying to escape with a child!” Bai Li shouted urgently, hearing the footsteps running from inside the house toward the outside.
Little Pi Xiu couldn’t hear the child’s footsteps, which meant the child’s feet weren’t touching the ground—likely because they had been abducted.
The clan elder had said that every young cub was precious and must not be harmed.
Upon hearing this, Bai Dingting and the other two didn’t hesitate. They rushed outside just in time to encounter a man in gray clothes carrying a child, followed by a man in black and a middle-aged woman, all sprinting from a room on the other side of the courtyard toward the main gate.
The boy was about six years old, with sharp eyebrows, bright eyes, a straight nose, and thin lips. He wore a white short-sleeved shirt and black bell-bottom pants, but his head hung limply, as if he had fallen unconscious.
When Bai Dingting saw the boy, he felt a sense of confirmation. With a powerful leap, he vaulted over the fence between the room and the courtyard, finally blocking the main gate just as the three traffickers were about to reach it. His gaze was as sharp as an eagle’s.
“Put the boy down immediately and surrender!”
Although he stood alone at the gate, his cold and intimidating presence made it feel as if an entire platoon were guarding it.
Seeing no way to escape, the man in black snorted coldly and suddenly pulled a handgun from his pocket, firing a shot at Bai Dingting. Bai Dingting dodged sideways to avoid the bullet, then drew his own handgun and fired back. The man in black fell to the ground with a thud.
Immediately after, Bai Dingting leaped in front of the man in gray. Without giving him a chance to react, he grabbed the man’s arm and, with a clever twist, snatched the boy away.
Liang Junping and Ye Hongwei quickly stepped forward to assist their captain in apprehending the traffickers.
Seeing the situation turn against her, the middle-aged woman seized the moment when Liang Junping and the others rushed outside to capture the others. She suddenly changed direction and charged toward Yu Lixia and Bai Li.
Seeing this, Liang Junping couldn’t help but shout at the young soldier who had followed them, “Quick, go protect Comrade Yu and Li Li!”
However, the middle-aged woman had already bypassed Ye Hongwei and the other person, stepping into the room with a fierce expression, reaching out to grab Yu Lixia.
Yu Lixia was caught off guard and was about to be seized by the middle-aged woman.
The middle-aged woman laughed triumphantly, “All of you, stop right there, or I’ll—”
But before she could finish her sentence, a chubby, fair, and delicate little hand grabbed the large hand she had extended and pulled.
“Crack!” The sound of a bone dislocating came from the middle-aged woman’s body.
Immediately after, the middle-aged woman let out a piercing scream.
“Ah!!”
Bai Li stared blankly at her own small hand, then at the middle-aged woman, who was clutching her right shoulder—now visibly longer—with her left hand, her face pale with pain. Bai Li began to reflect.
Were human bodies this fragile?
Little Pi Xiu had only given a gentle pull, without even using much force, and the shoulder had dislocated?
Suddenly, Yu Lixia’s sharp and anxious voice rang out, “Li Li, be careful!”
Bai Li looked up and saw that the middle-aged woman, taking advantage of her moment of distraction, had endured the intense pain and drawn a pistol from her waist with her left hand, aiming it at her. Meanwhile, Yu Lixia, standing beside her, had wrapped her arms around Bai Li, trying to shield her with her own body.
At the same time, from outside the door, Bai Dingting’s tense and worried voice roared, “Stop!”