Chapter 274: Stealing a Son
Lu Weiyi, who had been resting with eyes closed, was awakened by the noise. He nodded slightly and then turned his playful yet cold gaze toward Xu Yi.
Just as Xu Yi was about to feel relief — finally — he caught Lu Weiyi’s eerie expression. The man was toying with an arm in his hand — Xu Yi’s own.
Zhuang Ai Yi’s joyful steps halted as he noticed the child on Lu Weiyi’s lap. Taotao was also staring at him. Their eyes met, filled with curiosity.
No one had ever told Zhuang Ai Yi about the so-called “other kids rivalry.” To him, a new child simply meant someone to play with. His dirty face showed shyness mixed with obvious joy. Taking a few bashful steps forward, he said in his milky voice, “Hi! I’m Ai Yi. What’s your name?”
Taotao tilted his head slightly. His red bellyband — whatever it was made of — still fit perfectly despite his small frame. He stuck his chubby white index finger in his mouth and, after a long pause, replied, “My name is Taotao.”
Then, shyly, he buried his head in Lu Weiyi’s chest — but couldn’t resist peeking again.
“Ai Yi, go take a bath and change your clothes,” Lu Weiyi said, his gaze fixed on Xu Yi. He could faintly smell a stench from Zhuang Ai Yi, and with a wave of his hand, summoned a washbasin into the bedroom. He tilted his chin toward the room.
Zhuang Ai Yi sniffed himself and blushed. “Ai Yi smells bad.”
He ran a few steps toward the room, then turned around and saw Taotao still watching him. “Little Daddy, can I take the little kid with me?”
Lu Weiyi grabbed the knot tied behind Taotao’s back, lifted him, and handed him to Ai Yi. “Take good care of your little brother.”
Though he still didn’t fully understand what exactly Taotao was, it didn’t stop him from sending the kid away — what was about to happen wasn’t suitable for children.
“He’s my little brother?” Zhuang Ai Yi asked loudly. Struggling with the chubby kid, he still managed to hold him tightly despite his own small size. Even though it was difficult, he didn’t let go.
“Yes. Go ahead,” Lu Weiyi waved him off.
Zhuang Ai Yi turned and staggered off, carefully reminding the barefoot child in his arms to call him “big brother.”
Once the two kids left the room, Lu Weiyi turned back to Xu Yi. He didn’t speak. One hand was still toying with the severed arm, a crooked smile playing on his lips — more disturbing than friendly, and giving off a strong sense of unease.
Suddenly, an invisible pressure crushed the room. Xu Yi, who had been scanning the others, felt as if a thousand pounds were pressing down on him. With a loud bang, he was forced to his knees. That sound alone meant his kneecaps were probably injured.
“…Lu… ugh…”
Every bone in his body felt like it was shattering. Xu Yi’s power level was low to begin with; now he couldn’t even resist. Even struggling became a luxury.
“…uh…”
“…ugh…”
“Captain!”
Qi Lin suddenly spoke up, drawing Lu Weiyi’s attention.
He was kneeling by the bed, spine bent, “…There are still sick people here…”
The few others whose powers had been suppressed looked to be in extreme pain.
Lu Weiyi immediately withdrew his ability. Since breaking through to SS-level, his power was many times stronger than in his past life, and he wasn’t yet used to controlling it. “Sorry.”
Heavy breathing filled the room. Qi Lin, the only one still in slightly better condition, waved it off. He didn’t dare hold a grudge.
“…Take it easy, Lu Xiaoyi. I’m not ready to die yet,” said Xu Sa weakly, voice trembling.
“Lu Weiyi, f*** your mother — I saved your son and now you’re stabbing me in the back…” Xu Yi’s hoarse voice rose with emotion. Tears carved clean streaks through the grime on his face. His legs hurt too badly to move, but his mouth was still working.
“You damn bastard, if I’d known, I would’ve just left your son. Let someone take him and turn him into a duck whore — I wouldn’t have stopped them…”
Lu Weiyi didn’t react to the words. What caught his attention first was the curse. He raised his hand, ready to shut this annoying guy up.
Qi Lin rushed over and quickly shielded Xu Yi, clamping a hand over his mouth while forcing a smile. “Captain, let me handle him.”
With Cong Qing’s earlier analysis and Xu Yi’s emotional rant, Qi Lin was beginning to think the situation wasn’t exactly what they had assumed.
Faced with Lu Weiyi’s cold and chilling gaze, Qi Lin couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat. He felt that the aura around this version of Lu Weiyi was even stronger than before, carrying a palpable sense of oppression.
Lu Weiyi withdrew his gaze, which was considered tacit approval of Qi Lin’s suggestion.
Qi Lin, being a soldier, found it very easy to subdue the fragile Xu Yi. “If you speak again, he’ll tear you apart!”
After spending several days together, everyone around already knew that Xu Yi was timid and afraid of death. The moment he heard the threat, his babbling came to a pause. Qi Lin seized the opportunity to say quickly, “Don’t make a scene, this whole living room is full of injured people, and the squad leader is furious right now. You stole his son…”
“Who says I stole him!” Xu Yi shouted indignantly, his face half clean, half dirty—looking like a clown. He pushed Qi Lin aside and looked directly at Lu Weiyi. “You were all drugged unconscious. When I woke up, I saw that relative of Zhuang Mingxu moving you all to the basement…”
Lu Weiyi’s indifferent gaze sharpened, and Xu Yi’s words halted briefly. He grew more confident and described what happened that night, angrily continuing, “If I hadn’t taken your son away, he would’ve ended up like the rest. I heard that man asking for the child.”
“I protected him while healing, hid and ran with him—do you think that was easy for me?” Xu Yi was kneeling on the floor, pointing a trembling finger at Lu Weiyi, tears streaming down his face.
Lu Weiyi didn’t fully buy the explanation, given Xu Yi’s record, but…
The utterly pathetic sight of Xu Yi crying stunned everyone in the living room, who had just come out of danger and were now watching the drama unfold.
“You saw with your own eyes that Zhuang Mingxu let those powered people in?” Qi Lin’s expression grew odd.
“I…” Xu Yi glanced around the room, confirming that Zhuang Mingxu really wasn’t there.
“Did you see it yourself?” Lu Weiyi’s icy gaze locked on him.
Xu Yi recalled for a moment, then shook his head. “I only heard him ask the others who they were. Then I was too busy getting Zhuang Ai Yi out… But I saw the leader among them was Li Ji. The one catching people later was Zhuang Chengye.”
Zhuang Mobai caught people inside. Zhuang Chengye blocked the outside. And Zhuang Mingxu just happened to be guarding the gate…
There was no need to say much more.
Most of the injured had been moved back to the rooms by Qi Lin. Only Antonio, Dean, Xu Sa, Liu Rui, the Gu brothers, and Lu Xi remained in the living room—it simply couldn’t accommodate everyone.
“Tell me what happened over the past couple of days,” Lu Weiyi said, eyes closed, his index finger massaging his temple.
“You suddenly turned into a tree. Zhuang Mingxu wanted to guard you and told us to rest. Not long after, we all fell unconscious,” Antonio turned with difficulty so that Dean could sleep more comfortably in his arms. “When we woke up, we were in a lab.”
“He said with his own mouth he wanted to transplant my crystal core,” Antonio’s voice dropped with anger. “He tortured Dean.”
He looked at Lu Weiyi and added, “Everyone heard it. He knew what was happening.”
He was demanding an explanation from Lu Weiyi.
Lu Weiyi opened his eyes and looked at the other two beds. People who normally maintained a distance were now clinging to each other for comfort. Xu Sa met his gaze and gave a weary nod.
Gu Qingzhi held his drowsy brother tightly, eyes on Lu Weiyi—silent confirmation, and a plea for justice.
Seeing the mood, Xu Yi quietly tried to shrink his presence. Qi Lin’s eyes moved from one conscious person to the next, saying nothing.
There wasn’t a single person left to speak for Zhuang Mingxu.
Lu Weiyi pinched the bridge of his nose in silence. From the corner of his eye, he glanced at Xu Yi and gestured for him to continue.
Xu Yi obediently recounted everything that happened between him and Zhuang Ai Yi. When they saw Lu Xiao, they originally planned to return to the villa quietly and contact him secretly.
But the Zhuang family had heightened their security after Lu Xiao’s return and intensified the search, so Xu Yi had to take Zhuang Ai Yi through darker, more hidden paths. That’s when they attracted unwanted attention.
“They wanted to take us and sell us into prostitution,” Xu Yi gritted his teeth. He had never suffered such humiliation—his chest rose and fell with fury.
“How did you escape?” Qi Lin asked, knowing Xu Yi wasn’t that skilled.
“…It was Zhuang Ai Yi’s mutated plant that helped us.” They had already been captured, and Xu Yi was considering revealing his identity. But Zhuang Ai Yi’s terrified cries triggered the green plant on his wrist, which then helped them escape—though it also alarmed the Zhuang family.
Had Lu Xiao been even a minute later, they’d likely have been caught.
“Mutated plant?” Lu Weiyi turned to look at Zhuang Ai Yi, who had just come out clean and dressed. Sure enough, there was a green vine wrapped around his wrist.
“It’s my mutated vine,” Gu Qingzhi said hoarsely. “Right before I passed out, I sensed something was wrong and told it to run.”
It had ended up with Zhuang Ai Yi.
Fortunately, it did—had it gone to the lab, the core would’ve been long gone.
Gu Qingzhi waved toward Zhuang Ai Yi and seemed to communicate silently. The vine moved, detached from Zhuang Ai Yi’s wrist, slithered over, and returned to Gu Qingzhi’s wrist.
“Uncle Xu, why are you kneeling?” Zhuang Ai Yi didn’t understand what was happening. Hugging Taotao, he walked toward Lu Weiyi. Between them was a small pile of snacks.
“My tummy was growling. Little brother gave these to me,” Zhuang Ai Yi said, looking clean and fair again—though his face still had injuries, his eyes sparkled at Lu Weiyi.
“It was me,” Taotao said, his chubby hand pointing at himself.
It seemed he’d taken the food from the spatial storage without anyone noticing…
“Next time, tell me first.” The space held more than food—some critical items too. If tricked into giving those up, it could be dangerous.
“Got it, Father,” Taotao obediently replied, hugging Zhuang Ai Yi’s neck. He then turned and called him “Brother,” which delighted Zhuang Ai Yi enough to start peeling dried fruits to share.
“Ahem ahem…” Still hungry, Xu Yi loudly cleared his throat to get attention. Zhuang Ai Yi, realizing, quickly handed him a few packs of bread. “Uncle Xu, eat too.”
