Nowadays, in the eyes of Shen Yi and Shen Xun, the current Shen Zhizhao was basically equated with a murderer.
After all, Shen Ruxu and Shen Wentao had taken turns instilling a single thought into their minds: as long as they made their eldest brother unhappy, they would be killed.
"Are those two just fear-mongering?" Shen Yi had doubted it before. She felt that out of everyone, Shen Zhizhao actually had a pretty good temper.
Shen Xun's impression of their eldest brother was very faint. His brother had never bullied him, so in his eyes, he was also a good person.
However...
"If Shen Wentao and Shen Ruxu say someone is good, they definitely aren't a good person. But if they say someone is bad, then something must be very wrong."
They whispered in each other's ears, seriously discussing Shen Zhizhao's threat level.
Finally, they reached a unanimous decision.
It was better to just be obedient.
...
Thoughts returning to the present, Shen Zhizhao put the photo away again. Seeing that her confused expression didn't seem faked, he suppressed an indescribable sense of disappointment.
She truly knew nothing.
This was actually for the best.
If Shen Yi had shown even the slightest hint of recognizing him or wanting to get close, he would have doubted her true intentions. He would have wondered if the origin of this photo was a trap set in advance when he was young, and guessed whether this girl had been sent to get close to him and what ulterior motives lay behind it.
But she didn't.
She just acted like an ordinary child.
Shen Zhizhao withdrew his gaze.
"Perhaps it's just a coincidence," he said, his voice clear and cold. "You're right, there's really no need to care about this."
Ultimately, it was just the past.
Things of the past should be discarded; obsessing over history was meaningless.
People always have to look forward.
"Go back to playing."
He seemed to have completely lost interest in investigating, ignoring her and gesturing that she could leave.
Shen Yi let out a soft "oh" and, confused, returned to Shen Xun's side.
Life at this private work base was even more boring than the two children had imagined.
Every day involved waking up early, eating, following Shen Zhizhao through various gray corridors, and watching various strangers report various incomprehensible things to him.
It truly felt like a year dragged by with every passing day.
Shen Yi counted the time as she lived, desperately hoping that once the seven days were up, she could go home immediately.
She finally managed to endure until the seventh day.
Shen Yi, who was sitting on the sofa playing a mindless little game with Shen Xun, caught a glimpse of a person being pushed into the office.
The man's legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the floor, his face full of panic and unease.
He first looked around, and when he saw that there were actually two children in the office, he breathed a sigh of relief, but then his heart leaped into his throat again.
His face was ashen, and he looked exceptionally desperate.
He kept muttering, "What do I do, what do I do," as if he had lost his mind.
Shen Yi gently nudged Shen Xun, signaling, "Let's stop playing for now."
It seemed there was a show to watch.
Because she had been playing games with Shen Xun, she had already lost seven rounds in a row, and her face was covered in strips of paper.
Shen Zhizhao pushed the door open and walked over, followed by several people.
As he passed the girl on the sofa, he noticed that Shen Yi was also looking up at him.
The girl's face was covered in paper strips, and the longest one right in the middle of her forehead hung down, almost covering half of her face.
She looked like a little zombie sealed by a talisman.
Shen Zhizhao's gaze paused on her face for a second.
Then he saw Shen Xun next to her, whose face was completely clean.
He was slightly surprised, but in the next second, he guessed that she had humiliated herself by playing games with Shen Xun again and had lost miserably.
The young man sighed and gently pressed a finger on the top of her head.
The action was very light, as if done casually.
Shen Yi looked up in slight confusion, only to find that he had already withdrawn his hand without even lowering his head.
It seemed as if he had genuinely just accidentally brushed against her head.
Everyone looked at Shen Zhizhao, waiting for him to speak.
The silence lasted for about a minute.
Shen Zhizhao didn't sit down. He flipped open a document report and read it out in a flat tone:
"Our transit point in Central Africa was attacked. The ten people on duty were all killed, and our stockpile of munitions and supplies was looted."
"The direct loss is twenty-three million US dollars."
The conference room was so quiet that you could hear people breathing.
"Explain," Shen Zhizhao finally spoke.
The man slumped on the floor finally calmed down a bit.
He took a deep breath, tried hard to steady his voice, and began to report something in a low voice. The man's face was still ashen, but there was a hint of a desire to survive in his eyes. He tried to shift the blame, making excuses for his mistakes throughout the whole process.
Shen Zhizhao listened for a while, then suddenly interrupted him.
"You were in charge of the intelligence source."
He stood up.
Bypassing the desk, he walked toward the man step by step.
"Let me ask you," Shen Zhizhao began, his voice still gentle. "When was the last time you verified the intelligence?"
The man opened his mouth: "...Three days ago."
"With whom?"
"The local informant."
"What was the informant's name?"
The man froze for a moment, then carefully told him the name.
Shen Zhizhao: "You didn't investigate him?"
"I did, I did! But still..."
"But still a slip-up in a hundred precautions?"
The middle-aged man opened his mouth, wanting to explain something, but Shen Zhizhao smiled and stopped him.
"Beforehand, I asked you three times," Shen Zhizhao's voice was flat. "Three times, you confirmed the intelligence was accurate, but you still didn't take it seriously."
"No, I... I thought..."
"You thought?"
"You always harbor a fluke mentality, thinking nothing will go wrong, right?"
Shen Zhizhao tilted his head slightly, as if pondering something.
Looking down from above, his dark, heavy eyes revealed absolutely no emotion.
"Forget it," Shen Zhizhao's dark eyes curved slightly in a shallow arc, too lazy to waste more breath. "Since things have come to this, go down."
The middle-aged man acted as if he had received a grand pardon, practically crawling and rolling as he headed out.
Reaching the door, he paused.
Two mercenaries stood at the door, blocking his way.
The middle-aged man turned his head and looked at Shen Zhizhao.
Shen Zhizhao had already sat back in his chair.
"What I just said was," he spoke, his voice mild, "go down."
"Not go out."
The middle-aged man's face turned completely pale.
Immediately after, two people came in from outside and dragged him out.
Shen Yi witnessed the entire process and couldn't help but discuss it with her brother: "Will he live?"
Shen Xun: "He's going to die."
Shen Yi: "..."
It was too hellish.
In just a few words, he had someone dispose of this useless, trash subordinate.
Shen Zhizhao ignored the subordinates who were waiting to report their work.
Instead, he looked at the two little kids huddled on the sofa, as quiet as mice, and asked in a light voice, as if nothing had happened: "You two, what do you want to eat for your last supper today?"
Shen Yi: "..."
Last supper?
That sounded particularly spine-chilling.
Shen Yi grabbed Shen Xun, making him stand in front of her as a shield. Meeting the young man's smiling eyes, she mustered her courage and called him directly by his name:
"Shen Zhizhao, can you finally not stand it anymore? Are you going to kill us?"
