Chapter 89
Huo Corporation—Top Floor.
Huo Ye stood in front of the vast cityscape, his tailored suit impeccably buttoned up to the collar, black obsidian cufflinks gleaming under the light.
His dark eyes held an unreadable emotion as he stared into the night.
A figure appeared in his mind—one that should have been insignificant, yet had been haunting his dreams lately.
Ye Qingquan.
Three years ago, Ye Qingquan had left him without hesitation, heading abroad.
At the time, Huo Ye had felt only anger and confusion—but also an undeniable sense of relief.
His heart had always belonged entirely to Ming Qiu. Anyone else had merely been a substitute.
Now that Mu Mingqiu had returned to China, Ye Qingquan, as a mere replacement, had naturally ceased to matter.
In the past three years, Huo Ye had never reached out to Ye Qingquan.
As the heir to the Huo Corporation, he shouldn’t—and couldn’t—lower himself for someone so beneath him.
And yet—
Why did he keep dreaming of Ye Qingquan?
Why did he keep remembering Ye Qingquan’s gentle smile, the way his hair fell over his forehead when he read, the way his ears flushed red whenever he looked at him?
And—why in those dreams was there always a child?
A child who looked so much like them, so small, so soft, so lovable.
A child with big, round eyes and a bright, innocent smile.
Why… did his heart ache?
Huo Ye clenched his fists.
He shut his eyes, forcing the unwanted emotions away.
“I don’t have a son,” he said coldly into the phone. “Men can’t have children.”
Then—he hung up.
Kidnapper: “……”
Multiverse Livestream Chat: “………”
[Damn, but he’s not wrong!]
[HAHAHAHA I CAN’T TAKE IT—someone’s actually applying normal logic in this novel?!]
[(Thinking) The author never really explained why Ye Qingquan could have a child… just briefly mentioned something about being intersex?? But most of the characters accepted it without question??]
[Huo Ye is such a scumbag. This kind of toxic yet seemingly deep love is the quintessential setup for a “pregnant runaway + chasing redemption” trope. No wonder Genius Baby at Three and a Half became so popular.]
[The more indifferent he is now, the more he’ll completely break down and go crazy when he finally sees Lanlan. He’ll try every possible way to make up for the lost years…]
[Just reading your comments makes me feel like I’ve read at least a dozen “pregnant runaway” novels already orz]
[But Huo Ye doesn’t even know about Lanlan yet. Meanwhile, Lanlan’s already been kidnapped! How’s he going to escape?? Is he actually going to get killed off?!]
*
Inside the Warehouse
The kidnapper’s expression darkened the moment he heard Huo Ye’s indifferent response—”I don’t have a son.”
“Fine, you said it yourself! Don’t regret it!!!”
The next second, he lightly pulled the trigger—
Huo Yan clapped a hand over his mouth, choking on a scream.
Help—he’s—he’s really gonna kill someone!
Huo Yan shut his eyes tight, too terrified to witness the gruesome scene of blood splattering everywhere.
…But the expected gunshot never came.
Wait…?
Huo Yan cautiously cracked open one eye.
Not far away, the kidnapper’s face was just as confused as his own.
“What the hell?” The man pressed the trigger a couple more times. “Why isn’t this gun… working?”
Frowning, the kidnapper brought the weapon closer for inspection.
That’s when he noticed—somehow, at some point—the barrel of his gun, the one pointed at the little boy, had been bent upwards!
The gun now looked almost comical, its barrel curved like a limp noodle.
No wonder the bullet wouldn’t fire.
The kidnapper blinked in disbelief.
Meanwhile, the small boy in front of him innocently retracted his hand and blinked up at him with wide eyes.
“Uncle, your gun’s got quality issues.”
Kidnapper: “……”
The kidnapper squinted, crossing his eyes as he examined the bent gun up close.
Muttering under his breath, he said, “That’s impossible. This was a damn expensive gun. Let me see…”
While still inspecting it, he absentmindedly pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The gun that had been completely jammed just moments ago suddenly fired, sending a bullet flying past the kidnapper’s face—
—straight through his ear.
The bullet embedded itself deep into the warehouse wall behind him.
Blood gushed from the kidnapper’s ear as he stumbled back, howling in pain.
“F***! IT HURTS!!! What the hell?! Did this gun just… bond with a master or something?!”
Jian Yunlan & Huo Yan: “……”
Watching the kidnapper jump around clutching his bleeding ear, the two boys exchanged a look—one of silent sympathy.
Honestly, with that level of intelligence, this man was seriously not cut out for the kidnapping business.
The kidnapper continued to wail in agony.
Then, suddenly, he caught sight of the two boys staring at him—
With an expression like they were watching a clown.
Oh, hell no. They were mocking him?!
The blood rushed to his head in fury. His face twisted into something even more menacing.
“Alright, you little shits,” he growled. “Maybe I can’t deal with you—but I can damn well deal with him!”
Saying this, he turned his vicious glare toward Huo Yan.
Jian Yunlan: “?”
Huo Yan: “???”
Wait. Bro.
What does this have to do with ME?!
Before they could react, the kidnapper suddenly lunged—grabbing Huo Yan by the throat.
“You’re a young master of the Huo family too, aren’t you?!” he snarled. “Go on, then! Call your uncle Huo Ye! Tell him to bring ten million in cash, or I’ll choke you to death!”
Huo Yan had already been terrified beyond belief, and now with hands squeezing his throat, a strangled “ghhk—!” sound escaped his lips.
His face instantly turned pale.
It looked almost like—an asthma attack.
Yet the kidnapper, too caught up in his emotions, failed to notice anything unusual. He kept tightening his grip, growling impatiently, “Say something! Hurry up and talk!”
Jian Yunlan’s expression immediately changed.
This is bad.
At this rate, Huo Yan really might die.
Jian Yunlan himself was a transmigrator—if he died, he’d just move on to another world. But Huo Yan wasn’t like him. Huo Yan was a real person.
A living, breathing child.
A child who could be overjoyed simply because of a roast duck.
Whether as an adult or as a transmigrator, Jian Yunlan could not allow himself to just sit back and watch.
Heart pounding, he lunged forward, grabbing onto the kidnapper’s arm with all his strength.
“Let go! He has asthma—”
Unexpectedly, the kidnapper immediately yelped in pain and loosened his grip.
Huo Yan collapsed onto the ground, gasping desperately for air.
Jian Yunlan: “?”
This isn’t good.
He immediately realized something was wrong. It was a trap.
But it was too late.
That moment seemed to stretch on endlessly.
The kidnapper looked at the little boy standing just a step away, a malicious grin spreading across his face, filled with pure malevolence.
“Hahaha, let’s see how you get out of this one! Go meet the King of Hell!”
He pulled another gun from his coat.
The bullets were already loaded, and since they were so close, Jian Yunlan didn’t even have time to reach out or dodge.
The cold barrel of the gun pressed against his temple.
Click… click… Jian Yunlan could hear the trigger being slowly squeezed.
The night had completely fallen. In the warehouse, only a dim, flickering light was on, and the light was too weak to illuminate the entire room. The sound of the summer night wind howled outside.
His heart nearly stopped beating.
The shadow of death spread like a black tide, sweeping over his knees, his waist, his shoulders, his throat, and it kept rising, almost suffocating him…
Suddenly, the tide receded entirely.
The expected pain never came.
Instead, there was a figure blocking in front of him and a few strands of silver hair floating in his vision.
“Human,” the figure laughed lightly, speaking lazily, “It was hard for me to find you. Why have you gotten yourself into such a mess?”
Hearing that voice, Jian Yunlan instantly felt a sense of relief.
The voice was familiar, but still somewhat strange.
Familiar in the sense that it had the arrogant and slightly annoying tone of Taotie.
Strange because… it had a childlike, almost childish lilt to it, as though a little kid was pretending to be an adult.
On the other side, the kidnapper stared, unable to believe his eyes. “Where did this little brat come from?!”
But before he could finish speaking, his words were abruptly cut off.
The kidnapper slumped to the ground, falling silently.
Little brat?
Jian Yunlan quickly rushed over to check on Huo Yan, confirming that he had just passed out but was still alive.
Then, he cautiously turned his head to look in the direction of the mysterious figure.
What he saw was—
A boy wearing a luxurious Warring States robe stood before him. The robe was embroidered with a menacing Taotie design in golden thread, and the bone shoulder pads emanated a chilling coldness.
But on this boy, the robe looked almost too large.
It was a little boy.
The boy’s immature face wore a lazy, arrogant expression, exuding an overwhelming air of confidence.
His skin tone was slightly darker than before, and his round, golden beast-like eyes glinted. Above his head were a pair of furry, silver ears, and his silver hair was tied up in a high ponytail, fluttering in the breeze.
His body was just like Jian Yunlan’s—a three-headed height.
Just like Jian Yunlan, he was so small he couldn’t even reach someone’s knees if he jumped.
Taotie (age 3.5 version).
Jian Yunlan: “…”
Taotie: “…”
The little Taotie felt awkward under Jian Yunlan’s gaze, his entire white face turning bright red.
“Human, why are you staring at me like that? …By the way, human, why did you get so small?”
Jian Yunlan silently rolled his eyes, mimicking the childish voice: “You’re one to talk. Aren’t you the same?”
A 30,000-year-old fierce beast, still pretending to be a baby.
At this point, Taotie fumed.
His slightly chubby face puffed up in anger, and even his hair seemed to float on its own, despite the absence of wind.
“It’s all because of this damn dimension!” he huffed. “After that weird dimensional leap, I got sent straight to that useless place—the East African Rift Valley! Those people were speaking gibberish, I couldn’t understand a word! To find you, I rode an elephant, took a bullock cart, got chased by crocodiles, and finally, after a lot of struggle, I managed to get a train ticket. I was hungry the whole damn way…”
As he spoke, the light in Taotie’s eyes began to dim. He picked up some straw from the ground and started chewing it.
After enjoying the exquisite food Jian Yunlan made for him, these past days, Taotie had only been eating dry buns on his journey.
The contrast was just… depressing.
Jian Yunlan: “…”
Earlier, Niu Tou had mentioned that Taotie and Hu Danggui were “one close, one far.”
Who knew the one who was supposed to be “far” would be sent straight to Africa?!
Poor Taotie.
