Chapter 63

Chapter 63

As if he'd just woken from a dream, Lin Ze asked with slight discomfort, "Xiu Jin, when did you get back?"

"Guess what I did tonight?"

Lin Ze averted his gaze. "...No."

"I went to exchange hostages."

"Exchange hostages... What about Lu Mo?" Lin Ze feigned nervousness.

Li Xiujin said coldly, "Didn't get him back."

If he hadn't gone himself tonight, hearing this news unprepared would have devastated him. But Lin Ze had just seen Lu Mo safe and sound.

"Why aren't you sad?"

"I..."

"What did you do tonight?"

"...At home, at home sleeping with Chong Yi."

"If you didn't go out, why are you swollen here?"

Li Xiujin suddenly grasped his chest, squeezing with moderate pressure.

Lin Ze's limbs began to go weak.

"Did you take the gun from the house to the port?"

Caught, Lin Ze didn't try to deny it, nodding in shame. "...Yes."

"Didn't I tell you not to get involved in this matter?"

"...Yes."

"Why didn't you obey your husband?"

"I... was worried." Lin Ze lowered his eyelids.

"Then going alone like that, did you ever think I would worry?" Li Xiujin retorted.

"I, I won't do it again."

Li Xiujin's anger subsided. He parted Lin Ze's shirt, staring at the spot that was already leaking milk from just that touch.

"Was it very swollen?"

"...Yes."

"Ask your husband to massage it for you."

Lin Ze's cheeks flushed crimson. "...Husband."

Li Xiujin's eyes darkened, almost immediately...

After the massage relieved the swelling, Lin Ze's snow-white face was flushed a soft pink, and his skin had a tempting sheen.

Aching with need, Li Xiujin told him to spread his legs.

After a moment of shame, Lin Ze complied obediently.

Without much hesitation, he thrust in fiercely...

When the sky began to lighten, Li Xiujin finally decided to end it. He patted Lin Ze's buttocks. "Let go."

Colonel Lin, who had long since passed out, seemed to still hear him, slowly relaxing.

Li Xiujin preferred not using protection, but Lin Ze could get pregnant, so he usually only released outside. But seeing Lin Ze's flushed face, he aimed at his face...

Soon, Lin Ze's snow-white, clean face was made a mess...

Li Xiujin swallowed heavily, admiring it for a good while before carrying Lin Ze to bathe. After bathing, he nestled into Lin Ze's arms, suckling as he fell asleep.

The next morning, Li Xiujin opened his eyes and did it three more times. Lin Ze only woke up on the third time, his cheeks shyly flushed, responding to his kisses...

*

Military Interrogation Room.

"General, we captured over a hundred of their people yesterday. We picked out a few in positions of authority, the ones who've been with them the longest."

Li Xiujin nodded. After entering, he didn't rush to interrogate. Instead, he first played them a video of previous interrogations he had conducted. The person in the video was tortured almost beyond recognition, with screams coming from time to time.

After playing several such clips for them, they looked at each other, fear beginning to set in.

After frightening them, Li Xiujin continued, "As long as you answer my questions truthfully, you can avoid my torture. If you don't answer properly, then..."

"You are all from M country. Why is your leader from our country?" Li Xiujin asked the first question.

"Our original boss was from the same country as us. Later, the boss picked up Li at a brothel. At the time, Li had been tortured terribly. The boss saw he had a good appearance, took pity on him, and brought him back. Not long after, our former boss was killed in an ambush. Then Li quickly took power. We originally didn't accept him at all. Who knew he was extremely cruel in his actions? Anyone who dared say they didn't accept him, he would directly kill them. We had no choice..."

"What is his real name?"

"Li Wei."

"He seems like he came from a very wealthy family before."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because he's very picky about food, clothing, and daily items, and he orders us around arrogantly, like he's used to being served."

"Besides wanting to claim the combustible ice for yourselves, what other purpose did you have for scouting the energy extraction sites?"

"We don't know that. We just followed orders from above."

"Does this Li Wei have any other unusual habits?"

"He makes a phone call in your country's language at a fixed time every week."

Leaving the interrogation room, Yang Yu said, "The other party is named Li Wei, formerly engaged in sex work. That's all the information we can get for now. We don't even know what he looks like."

"I made eye contact with him once. We can have a sketch artist simulate his true appearance."

"Then I'll go find a sketch artist right away."

Soon, the military's specialized forensic sketch artist arrived at Li Xiujin's office.

"General, you can describe the other party's appearance now."

"It should be an oval face, with soft contours."

"The eyebrows aren't as dark as a typical man's, somewhat slender and long."

"Phoenix eyes."

"Very thin lips."

After about an hour, the sketch artist finished and showed it to him. Li Xiujin examined it carefully: "Make the lips a bit thinner."

"The eyes slightly larger."

After multiple revisions, Li Xiujin looked at the portrait—though the subject was a man, his features were strikingly delicate and pretty. He finally told the sketch artist to leave and then called Yang Yu in.

Yang Yu's eyes went straight to the portrait on the desk, and he exclaimed, "Is this a guy or a girl?"

"No wonder their former boss took pity on him and brought him back. If it were me, I wouldn't have been able to help myself either."

"Focus on the task at hand," Li Xiujin said.

Yang Yu quickly complied, taking the portrait to begin a facial recognition search. He searched for almost a full day, but strangely, found no information about the person at all.

Yang Yu hurriedly reported to Li Xiujin: "General, this is strange. We can't pull up any info on him..."

Generally, as long as someone has a birth certificate, their family information can be tracked internally. But this person had none. If he were born overseas or moved there shortly after birth, it would be normal. However, his subordinates said he stowed away overseas in his teens, so there should be some record of him...

Li Xiujin said, "Either he's undocumented, or someone has hidden his information."

"But those people said he seemed to come from a wealthy family. If that's the case, he probably wouldn't be undocumented, right?"

"Why not? What if he's an illegitimate child?"

In the afternoon, Li Xiujin took the portrait to see Zhou Dingshan and Su Wang.

Zhou Dingshan looked at the portrait: "I've only seen their previous leader, not this one."

Su Wang, however, frowned and examined the portrait closely.

"Have you seen him before, Commander Su?" Li Xiujin asked.

"He looks somewhat familiar."

"Familiar?"

Su Wang said, "A long time ago, I saw a child who was very beautiful, so I looked a bit longer. The eyes and eyebrows remind me of that child, but I'm not sure if it's the same person."

"Where did you see him?"

"It might have been at a banquet hosted by a wealthy merchant, or perhaps at a dinner party. It was too long ago; I really can't remember clearly."

Lu Mo stayed in the hospital for a few days until his vital signs returned to normal, then was discharged. After leaving, he immediately went to the military headquarters.

"When I was captured, my eyes were blindfolded the entire time, but along the way, I heard voices speaking different languages. I should be able to pinpoint the cities we passed through based on the languages and ultimately figure out where they held me..."

Yang Yu said, "That's possible, but what if it was just a temporary holding spot?"

Lu Mo shook his head: "It wasn't temporary; it was their base. After they took me there, they took my blindfold off for a bit, and I saw many firearms stored inside... If it were temporary, they wouldn't have been able to move them all."

Li Xiujin nodded: "Now, map out the route."

"We've captured a lot of Li Wei's men. If we go now, we can catch them off guard."

Lu Mo nodded and, thanks to his photographic memory, marked all the cities they passed through on the map. Finally, the arrow pointed to two small countries in the far south.

"It should be one of these two small countries," Lu Mo said.

"Do some covert recon first," Li Xiujin ordered.

Yang Yu immediately set to work. After keeping watch for about three days, he finally got word from the troops. As soon as the message reached him, he hurried to Li Xiujin's office: "General, the soldiers have spotted Li Wei and his subordinates in the small country of Vena."

Li Xiujin leaned back comfortably in his chair, sensing that the truth from seven years ago lay with Li Wei.

"General, when should we round them up?"

"We'll set out tomorrow night."

"Alright, I'll lead the troops there tomorrow."

"I'm going with you."

Yang Yu blinked. "Didn't Colonel Lin just give birth?"

"What, you think we'll run into trouble?"

"After all, it's not our territory... General, don't worry, sir. My team can handle it."

Li Xiujin shook his head: "I must capture Li Wei myself and personally ask him who in the military is collaborating with him."

*

"Lu Mo, are you really alright now?"

In the secret base, Lin Ze asked: "Why are you being so reckless, leaving the hospital in less than a week?"

"Colonel, I'm really fine," Lu Mo said.

"Can I see the baby?" Lu Mo asked eagerly, looking at the bassinet.

Since Lu Mo hadn't seen Li Chongyi since birth, Lin Ze had brought him along today.

Lin Ze smiled and folded back the canopy of the bassinet.

Lin Ze had thought he was asleep, but he was actually awake, staring at the hanging toys. When the canopy opened, he saw Lin Ze and reached out his arms, wanting to be held.

Lin Ze carefully picked him up.

Lu Mo looked as if he had discovered something novel, stroking his chin and examining the baby closely.

"Colonel, he's the spitting image of General Li."

"Does he look like him?" Lin Ze asked.

"Yes, extremely so. It's like they were carved from the same mold," Lu Mo affirmed.

Lin Ze had occasionally thought Li Chongyi's expressions resembled Li Xiujin's, but he hadn't realized it was so obvious that others could see it at a glance.

Lu Mo wasn't particularly interested in children, but Lin Ze's child was different. He asked Lin Ze: "Can I hold him?"

After receiving Lin Ze's approval, he carefully took the baby into his arms.

"He's not crying?"

“Mm-hmm, he’s not afraid of strangers.”

Lu Mo poked Li Chongyi’s cute cheek. “So, Colonel, are you guys thinking about giving him a sibling?”

Lin Ze never imagined that one day he’d be discussing having babies with Lu Mo. He shifted uncomfortably. “We’ll talk about that later…”

Lu Mo remarked, “So you *are* thinking about it.”

Lin Ze changed the subject, asking about Lu Mo’s capture. Lu Mo told him everything he knew, and even mentioned that he had drawn the layout of Li Wei’s base for Lin Ze.

Lin Ze’s face grew solemn.

When Lin Ze returned home, he first went to the bedroom, unbuttoned his shirt, and freed his aching, full chest. He looked down at the pronounced curve—it was manageable under the thick uniform now, but if the weather turned hot, he’d probably have to bind them, otherwise…

Li Chongyi’s crying interrupted Lin Ze’s embarrassment. Lin Ze quickly picked him up, cradled him, and brought him to his breast. Li Chongyi was hungry and latched on eagerly, suckling hungrily…

“Chong Yi, slow down…”

After Chong Yi was full, Lin Ze still felt uncomfortable—even a slight touch would cause leakage. He buttoned his shirt, thinking with shame that the rest would have to wait for Xiu Jin to come back and drink.

This time, before Lin Ze could even soothe Li Chongyi to sleep, Xiujin returned.

As usual, he took Li Chongyi, rocked him to sleep, and placed him in the crib. Then he gently pushed aside Lin Ze’s pajama top.

Li Xiujin frowned. “Did he bite you?”

“It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt…”

A tiny white tooth had emerged from Li Chongyi’s gums, leaving marks when he nursed.

Li Xiujin snorted coldly, then quickly noticed how full Lin Ze was—just a light brush of his fingertip made it drip like a faucet that wasn’t shut all the way.

Seeing himself like this, Lin Ze covered his face in shame.

Li Xiujin’s throat went dry. At first, it was just drops seeping out, but once he stimulated it, it turned into a milky stream…

Although Li Xiujin didn’t bite him, he made it even more flushed and tender, enough to make one’s lower abdomen tighten with desire…

Li Xiujin restrained himself and said, “I’m taking Yang Yu abroad tomorrow to capture someone…”