Chapter 27: A Little Girl Has Arrived at the Citadel!

With his head tilted up and his uninjured right arm propped against the roof of the vehicle, He Lian watched Jiang Yu bounding around on top like an excited rabbit. Under the fine wisps of hair tossed by the wind, his pair of phoenix eyes brimmed with laughter.

This little fool was so genuinely thrilled just to see the sun.

If he had known earlier, he would have taken her away the very first time.

In any case, he, He Lian, had never been one to listen to reason in his whole life. To hell with the Song family—if he wanted to snatch someone, he snatched them.

Jiang Yu squatted down, pressing both of her small hands flat against the roof of the vehicle. The mild, radiating heat seeped through her palms and traveled down into every corner of her body, tingling her scalp with sensation.

It was so warm here.

Unlike the damp dreariness of Yangcity, nor the suffocating, scorching heat of Haicheng.

Everything was just right.

Glancing out of the corner of his eye, He Lian reached out to roll up her slightly long pant legs, terrified that she might trip over herself again.

That fussing posture, reminiscent of a doting father, left Ye Xun completely dumbfounded.

Five people present, yet living in two entirely different worlds.

Believing the sun was tricking his eyes, Ye Xun unconsciously reached out and grabbed at the air, making sure the two people before him were not a mirage.

“Where did this kid come from?” Ye Xun turned around and asked the other two. “Picked her up?”

Zhuang Yumian ignored him as usual, but Li Meng beside him wiped his face with a palm, taking quite a while before squeezing out a few words: “You could say that.”

Picked up… straight out of someone else’s house.

Ye Xun narrowed his eyes, making another grabbing motion in the air: “Boss sure knows how to pick ’em.”

This kid was unrealistically pretty. Especially against the backdrop of the desert’s yellow sand, she looked even more like a patch of light cloud dropped straight from the sky—looking cool and refreshing to the touch.

Seeing He Lian reach out his hands to catch Jiang Yu on her way down, Ye Xun called out heedlessly: “Boss?”

“Boss?”

“Boss??”

“BOSS!!!”

He Lian snapped his head around abruptly: “What!”

Before his annoyed roar could even settle, a figure suddenly dropped right before his eyes, scaring his heart into a violent leap.

This Jeep was nearly two meters high, yet Jiang Yu had jumped straight down like that! Fortunately, the ground was entirely made of soft sand; as she tumbled onto the earth, both of her arms sank into it.

He Lian shot a fierce glare at Ye Xun.

Li Meng went a step further and kicked Ye Xun from behind.

He Lian leaned down, wanting to pull Jiang Yu up, only to find the girl fully in her element—her two slender arms were sweeping back and forth in the sand as if playing in water.

A flash of mischievous humor glinted in He Lian’s eyes, and he squatted down: “Want to try with your feet?”

Jiang Yu had that exact intention.

The man helped her untie her shoelaces, slipped her shoes off, and lifted her slightly up.

Her toes were immediately wrapped in fine sand.

Grown taut from the novelty of the sensation, Jiang Yu stiffened her body.

Hot!

It burned her feet!

She hurriedly took a few steps forward. Driven by the heat, her pace grew faster and faster, leaving a flurry of panicked footprints in the sand.

Carrying her canvas shoes, He Lian trailed behind her, laughing so hard he could barely catch his breath.

Just like a little lizard.

So damn cute!

Not far away, Ye Xun retracted his gaze, looked at the other two, and rubbed his nose in slight awkwardness: “If I’d known, I would’ve brought a deck of cards. The three of us could play a few rounds of Landlord.”

Zhuang Yumian took a deep breath, her eyes cold.

Li Meng and Ye Xun exchanged a glance, sharing a bitter smile in tacit understanding.

Others might not know, but these close-circle team leaders knew crystal clear: as an executive assistant, Zhuang Yumian had liked He Lian for many years, and she was also the only woman in the Citadel’s main camp.

She held He Lian in immense respect and was one of the extremely rare members of the opposite sex whom their President did not actively repel.

An international first-class special operative, her close-quarters combat and marksmanship were both top-tier. The way she spoke and acted seemed carved out of the exact same mold as her beloved’s—never draggy or hesitant.

Li Meng and the others had always believed that Zhuang Yumian was special.

Only now, upon seeing Jiang Yu…

Did they realize what true specialness meant.

Zhuang Yumian stood behind He Lian.

But Jiang Yu lived inside He Lian’s eyes.

Seeing that her expression was genuinely terrible, Li Meng had no choice but to call out to He Lian: “President! We should head back! Mealtime is coming up soon! I don’t want to go to sleep on an empty stomach!”

He Lian didn’t answer. Seeing Jiang Yu’s toes curled up high, he raised his eyebrows and laughed: “Burning your feet?”

Jiang Yu bit her lip, looked up, and reached out to ask for her shoes.

With a triumphant look in his eyes, He Lian bent down, lifted her with one hand onto the crook of his arm, gave her a satisfied bounce, and strode back with broad, confident steps.

Jiang Yu: “…”

He did that on purpose.

She didn’t know if it was because she had acted too foolishly back then, or because the hook she set was too sharp that it scrambled the man’s brain—He Lian just wanted to hold her all the time. It was only after she refused repeatedly that she managed to walk a short distance on her own feet.

If this kept up, her legs would atrophy and wither away.

She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair just yet.

Jiang Yu simply began shoving him: “No… walk by myself.”

He Lian came to a stop. Pausing for a few seconds in hesitation, he finally set her down, dropping to one knee to put her shoes back on.

Once her shoes were tied, he could only hold Jiang Yu’s tiny hand with a face full of regret.

The main gate of the Citadel swung open, and the Jeep pulled up inside the courtyard.

Hundreds of team members were engaged in evening drills. Sweat poured off them amidst low, interlaced grunts; some were even running wildly bare-chested while dragging five stacked tires behind them.

Li Meng poked his head out of the car window: “I say, don’t go workout yourself to death!”

Panting heavily, the man stopped—it was none other than Zhou Rui, the leader of Team Four.

“The President is back?”

He looked over; He Lian had stepped out of the vehicle, holding onto the door without moving.

Zhou Rui didn’t want to interrupt his training. Gripping the rope, he let out a loud shout and was just about to start up again when he caught sight of a little girl slowly climbing down from behind the car door.

Stunned out of his wits, he tripped over himself and took a heavy spill.

Good grief!

A woman!

Jiang Yu stood firm and glanced around, unable to conceal the surprise in her eyes.

My goodness.

So many men.

So many bare-chested men.

Especially the one right before her—he was even sturdier than He Lian. His exaggerated, bulging muscles left her feeling thoroughly outclassed. She couldn’t help but look back to gauge He Lian, having previously thought he was already well-built enough.

Noticing that Jiang Yu was staring straight at Zhou Rui just now, He Lian lowered his brow: “Go put some clothes on!”

Zhou Rui strode forward boisterously: “Holy crap, Boss, where did you pick up this little sister?”

The moment Zhuang Yumian heard those words, she walked straight toward the barracks.

Where did she come from? Where else?

He Lian went right into someone’s old residence and snatched her back alive!

He Lian: “Mind your own business where I got her!”

With that, he bent down toward Jiang Yu.

Jiang Yu thought oh no and sprinted after Zhuang Yumian, ducking right into the barracks.

He Lian: “…”

Great. The little fool wasn’t clinging to him anymore.

Could it be because she saw so many burly men…

Had he lost his favor so quickly???

He Lian straightened up, his expression looking downright awful. He turned around and barked orders: “From now on, all of you put your damn clothes on before training! Do you hear me!”

Li Meng and Ye Xun unconsciously raised their voices: “Yes, sir!”

Zhou Rui also hastily clutched his chest: “Yes, sir!”

He Lian turned and entered the barracks.

Having been cut off from modern society for five years, and with this place being a military camp, Jiang Yu was filled with curiosity about everything. She hadn’t seen any of it before, and she wanted to look at everything—pulled in two directions, she stopped dead in her tracks and swiveled her head wildly back and forth.

He Lian burst into laughter and beckoned: “A-Yu, come here.”

Hearing his voice, Jiang Yu turned her head, only to be startled into a momentary daze.

Noticing her reaction, He Lian seemed to realize something and turned around as well.

“…”

A densely packed crowd of team members was pressed against the outside windows watching the spectacle. Propping themselves up on their wrists and stepping on each other’s shoulders, they completely blocked out the setting sun outside.

Never mind Jiang Yu—even a full-grown man like him felt a wave of creepiness wash over him.

If someone didn’t know better, they’d think a virus had broken out somewhere and his Citadel camp had been invaded by zombies.

He Lian rushed to the doorway in three steps.

“All of you, get the fuck out of here!”

Support Sansukini on Ko-fi