Chapter 9: Assassination
Sunlight shone through the windowpane, landing on the sleeping Nuonuo.
As if tickled by the lightly dancing sunlight, Nuonuo sneezed and woke up from his dream.
He sat on the bed in a daze for a long while, two sleepy tears squeezing from the corners of his eyes, before he slowly started to climb down. The bed wasn’t high, but for Nuonuo, he still had to stick his bottom out, his little feet pedaling in the air for a good while before they could touch the ground.
Waking up in the morning, Nuonuo’s first thought was to go find his papa and brother.
Auntie Wu estimated that Nuonuo would be waking up soon. Sure enough, the moment she pushed the door open, she came face-to-face with the little one.
Nuonuo tilted his head, thought for a moment, and then recognized that this was the Auntie Wu from yesterday.
“Yiyi, Papa gone!”
Hearing this “Yiyi,” Auntie Wu smiled so widely that her crow’s feet appeared. She quickly picked Nuonuo up and carried him downstairs.
“Mr. Fei has already gone to work. Young Master Luo is still downstairs eating. How about Nuonuo goes and eats with his brother?”
Nuonuo was a little sad not to see his papa first thing in the morning, but hearing that his “Bwo-bwo” was still there, his eyes lit up and he nodded brightly.
Downstairs in the dining room.
Fei Luo was eating a savory little sesame flatbread. Usually quiet and silent, today he would occasionally look up at the doorway.
After waiting for who knows how long, when he saw Auntie Wu walk in carrying his little brother, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared in Fei Luo’s eyes.
“Bwo-bwo!”
The moment Nuonuo saw Fei Luo, he stretched out his little hands, asking for a hug. He was particularly keen on hugging his papa and brother. Every time, before he even got close, he would eagerly stretch out his hands first.
Fei Luo, on the other hand, was a little shy. He stood up, lowered his head, and wiped his hands completely clean with a napkin before taking Nuonuo from her.
The moment Nuonuo was in his brother’s arms, he started chattering away, as if he had experienced a thousand things in one day and had endless stories to tell.
Auntie Wu watched the young boy stiffly holding the child and couldn’t help but smile. “Young Master Luo, Nuonuo really likes you. He won’t let go once he’s holding on.”
Hearing Auntie Wu’s words, Fei Luo’s earlobes inexplicably burned, turning a blood-red.
After finally coaxing Nuonuo, Auntie Wu quickly fed him a few bites of food. Nuonuo couldn’t multitask; once he started eating, he became completely immersed.
Seeing that Fei Luo had finished, Auntie Wu quickly waved her hand, signaling for him to leave. Otherwise, once Nuonuo finished eating, he would surely cling to Fei Luo and not let him go.
Although she had only been there for a day, Auntie Wu had already seen through Nuonuo’s nature as a “little sticky bun.” As long as Mr. Fei or his brothers were present, he wanted nothing more than to be glued to them. Auntie Wu sometimes found it strange. They were all adopted children, so why was Nuonuo so close to the Fei family?
Fei Luo saw that it was getting late. He lowered his head, shouldered his backpack, and took the car to school. He had never found going to school to be a painful experience before, but today, for the first time, he felt a rare touch of school aversion.
If I stayed home, I could have finished breakfast with my little brother, Fei Luo thought, his mind wandering.
At the school gate, many parents dropping off their children were discussing last night’s sensational news.
“I heard those hooligans were victims of revenge. They were covered in blood.”
“I think they got what they deserved. So many girls were harmed by them. Good riddance!”
“True, and they’ve already been sentenced. Some of the assault victims were minors, too. A lot of people online are supporting a heavy sentence!”
“A heavy sentence is for the best. And now that they’re missing that ‘thing’, they can’t do any more harm when they get out!”
Fei Luo heard these discussions, but his expression remained unchanged as he walked into the school as silently as ever.
After Nuonuo finished eating and saw that his brother was gone, he frantically wanted to go out and find him.
Auntie Wu followed him outside, took out a small ball to attract his attention, and started tossing it for him to play with.
Before long, Nuonuo was chasing the ball, giggling, his eyes sparkling as he chased the ball that landed on the grass. He had never played many games before, so everything was new and incredibly fun for him.
Auntie Wu saw that Nuonuo’s forehead was covered in sweat from playing and wiped it with a napkin. The bump on Nuonuo’s head had already gone down, but it still had a purplish-blue tinge, which made Auntie Wu’s heart ache as she blew on it gently.
“That must have hurt so much. You have to be more careful in the future.”
Nuonuo shook his head. “No… no hurt.”
He truly didn’t feel much. He hadn’t even looked in a mirror, so he didn’t even know he’d had a big bump on his head, just obliviously eating and sleeping.
Auntie Wu felt that Nuonuo was the blissfully happy type—silly, but endearingly so.
Patting Nuonuo’s little head, Auntie Wu was about to take him for a walk outside when she saw Xiao Qing approaching with Dr. Li.
“Auntie Wu, Dr. Li is here to apply medicine for Nuonuo.”
Seeing Nuonuo hugging his little ball, Xiao Qing’s heart was a mixture of nervousness and complexity.
Hearing this, Auntie Wu didn’t dare to delay and carried Nuonuo back into the living room.
Applying the medicine today went more smoothly than yesterday. Nuonuo only felt a cool liquid being dabbed on his head, which felt very comfortable.
Dr. Li praised Nuonuo with a smile, calling him a brave and good baby, which made Nuonuo’s little face flush red. He covered his eyes with his little hands, too shy to look at him.
After applying the medicine, Dr. Li pulled Auntie Wu aside to speak, mainly to give her some instructions on child care.
Xiao Qing saw Nuonuo sitting alone on the sofa, playing with his own hands, and knew her chance had come.
Crouching down, Xiao Qing forced a smile. “Nuonuo, do you want to play with the little ball? How about I take you outside to play?”
Nuonuo still remembered this “big sister.” She was the one who had led him to his brother yesterday. Hearing that she wanted to take him to play with the ball, Nuonuo nodded excitedly. He was quite fond of this ball-tossing game.
“Pway, ya—”
Taking the sister’s hand, Nuonuo followed her out to the lawn.
After his meeting, Fei Zhiyan handed a file to the Secretary-General. “Pass this down. A candidate for the Council President of the Jaran region needs to be confirmed as soon as possible. Also, for the other regions in Daizhou, get a tally of those willing to merge as quickly as possible.”
The Secretary-General acknowledged the order, looking at Fei Zhiyan’s lean, handsome jawline and sighing inwardly. He considered himself to have a good eye for talent. He had become Fei Zhiyan’s secretary back when he was just a minor city mayor and had watched him rise all the way to become the most powerful Council President in Yunzhou. The speed of his promotion was simply the most incredible thing Yunzhou had seen in nearly a century.
But Fei Zhiyan had the ability. His methods were ruthless, he was a master strategist, and in just a few short years, he had taken control of the entire continent of Yunzhou.
Just when many thought he would focus his efforts on Yunzhou, he, with stunning speed, took over Huazhou, a continent that had always refused to communicate or cooperate with others. It was only then that everyone realized this man’s ambition did not stop there; his sights were set on the entire world.
Of the four continents, Fei Zhiyan held half in his grasp and had used the Jaran region to pry open the door to Daizhou. It could be said that no one could stop his path to unification anymore.
Except, of course, for Baizhou.
This was the only continent that had not been invaded, and it had long made its position clear, absolutely opposing Fei Zhiyan’s expansion. But Fei Zhiyan never responded; he barely gave the people of Baizhou a second glance. The inside of Baizhou was already rotten. Only the Baizhou Council President was still struggling to hold on. Otherwise, that bunch of spineless cowards would have probably knelt and surrendered directly.
They don’t even have the backbone of the people on those scattered islands of Daizhou, Fei Zhiyan thought, a sarcastic curl on his lips.
Walking to his office door, just as his fingers closed around the handle, his eyes suddenly darkened.
“Go and hurry the people in the council. Tell them to submit the data reports from each city.”
The Secretary-General, suspecting nothing, nodded and left with the files.
Fei Zhiyan, meanwhile, pushed the door open as usual and sat down calmly in his office chair.
After taking a few sips of tea, Fei Zhiyan’s deep, inscrutable pupils were completely hidden behind his gold-rimmed glasses. Like the man himself, his appearance was gentle and refined, but his inner self was like a chained beast, lying in wait in the darkness.
The atmosphere in the office was eerily silent. It was as if tiny ice cubes were hidden in the air, freezing time itself.
The moment Fei Zhiyan set down his teacup, the sound of a bullet cutting through the air rang out, aimed straight for his heart. But just before the bullet reached his chest, it was shattered by an unknown force, disintegrating into dust that scattered in the air.
Seeing the assassination fail, the person hiding in the shadows darted out nimbly. Just as the assassin was about to escape through the window, Fei Zhiyan reached out and grabbed at the empty air, slamming the person directly against the wall.
The man slid heavily to the ground. He struggled to open his eyes and, seeing Fei Zhiyan standing before him, spoke with trembling lips. “You… you’re not human!”
How could a normal person possess such strange and unpredictable abilities?! This man is an out-and-out devil!
Fei Zhiyan’s lips pressed down slightly, his eyes filled with contempt for this ant overreaching itself. “You’re right. But so what?”
The man looked at Fei Zhiyan’s handsome face, and a sense of despair rose in his heart. The people of Yunzhou, and even the people of the whole world, had no idea that the supreme Council President who was about to rule them was not even human!
Endless fear filled the man’s eyes. “You… you…”
He only managed to get out two words before a large mouthful of blood gushed from his mouth. But soon, he calmed down from his panic. Remembering something, a triumphant smile appeared in his eyes. “Ha… ha, so what if you’re strong? Your son… will be joining me on the road to hell!”
Hearing this, a look of mockery appeared in Fei Zhiyan’s eyes, as if he were enjoying the sight of a dying man’s overconfidence. “Relying on a little girl? Are all of you from the Jaran region this naive?”
The man’s laughing expression froze on his face, his eyes filled with disbelief. He looked both comical and pathetic.
Fei Zhiyan saw the man’s filthy clothes and showed a rare expression of disgust. He pressed a bell, summoning the guards to come and take him away.
It wasn’t that Fei Zhiyan had a moment of compassion and spared his life instead of crushing him to dust. It was just that when the man mentioned Nuonuo, Fei Zhiyan’s heart had, uncontrollably, skipped a beat.
The moment that girl, Xiao Qing, had applied to be a maid at the villa, Fei Zhiyan had known her identity. Using his “son” as bait to lure out and eliminate assassins was Fei Zhiyan’s usual, cold-hearted method. But when the target became Nuonuo, Fei Zhiyan had, for a rare moment, wavered.
Perhaps this plan of mine is not so flawless after all.
Fei Zhiyan thought of Nuonuo’s silly little face, and his own expression darkened.
Ignoring the furious look on the guard captain’s face upon seeing the assassin, Fei Zhiyan had his secretary arrange for a car and headed home.
The car stopped on the lawn in front of the villa. Attracted by the sound of the engine, Nuonuo stared unblinkingly at the black sedan.
When he saw the person getting out of the car, the little ball in Nuonuo’s hands fell to the ground in his excitement, and he ran over unsteadily.
“Papa!”
Nuonuo hugged Fei Zhiyan’s leg, tugging at his trousers and looking up at him with pleading eyes.
Seeing Nuonuo’s clear, translucent eyes, the heart that had been on edge since he was in the office suddenly relaxed.
Reaching out to pick up the little one, Fei Zhiyan patted his grass-stained trouser legs. “Why are you so dirty from playing?”
Nuonuo didn’t answer. He wrapped his arms around his papa’s neck, his little feet kicking with joy. Fei Zhiyan could imagine that if Nuonuo still had his blue fishtail, its tip would be curled up high right now, expressing its owner’s excitement.
With this thought, Fei Zhiyan’s expression softened, and he carried Nuonuo through the main door.
Nuonuo snuggled in his papa’s arms, counting on his fingers as he told him about all the things he had done that day. The soft, milky little voice sounded in Fei Zhiyan’s ear, making him feel dazed for a moment.
This feels… quite nice.
But he quickly came back to his senses and glanced at Xiao Qing, who was standing nearby, trembling.
The moment Xiao Qing saw Fei Zhiyan, she knew her cover was blown. Her legs felt weak, and if not for her willpower, she would have probably fallen to her knees on the spot.
But Mr. Fei didn’t expose her directly. Instead, he leisurely played catch with Nuonuo on the lawn.
Nuonuo, like a little puppy unskilled at walking, chased the ball all over the yard. His giggles drifted far on the wind, making Xiao Qing, standing to the side, feel in a daze as if the sunlight had inexplicably grown a little warmer.
