Shen Yi had been brought here by Qin Ruolan.
Along the way, she saw members in identical uniforms everywhere: black uniforms, communication earpieces, and the bulging outlines of equipment at their waists. The walls on either side of the corridor were a cold gray, with lights recessed into the ceiling.
Qin Ruolan walked at the very front.
Shen Yi followed close behind, her legs moving so quickly she had to practically trot to keep up with Qin Ruolan’s stride.
“Madam, your company’s operations look incredibly professional.”
Qin Ruolan understood a child’s train of thought all too well. “In your imagination, it’s probably a group of people in black suits gathered in some underground place where the sun never shines, surrounded by the smell of blood?”
Shen Yi had, in fact, imagined exactly that.
“That’s how they show it in cartoons.”
“Watch fewer cartoons.” Qin Ruolan’s tone was mild, though her voice carried a hint of derision.
The first thing Shen Yi saw after they entered was a row of enormous screens.
The display was divided into more than a dozen sections. Some showed street surveillance footage, while others displayed building floor plans.
There were also several dynamic routes she couldn’t understand. Different data streamed continuously across every section.
Qin Ruolan stopped and led Shen Yi into an inconspicuous blind spot, where they could look through the glass and see inside.
Shen Sixing was seated in front of the screens.
He was reclining in a swivel chair with his legs crossed. One hand rested on the armrest, while the other held a mouse, moving it slowly across the desk.
The light from the screens flickered across the profile of the young man’s face, causing it to shift between brightness and shadow. The corners of his lips were curved slightly upward.
The Shen Sixing before her seemed completely unfamiliar. It was as if something that had always been wrapped around him had been peeled away, revealing an entirely different texture beneath.
Several people were standing in the room as well.
They wore identical dark uniforms, their hands hanging at their sides and their heads lowered. One man was kneeling beside the desk in front of Shen Sixing. His shoulders trembled, and a fine layer of sweat covered his forehead.
Shen Sixing set down the mouse.
“You were in charge of the route map for the third team, weren’t you?”
“…Yes.” The man’s voice trembled.
“More than a dozen vehicles were intercepted in advance, and you’re telling me you had already set up an ambush?”
Shen Sixing nudged the leg of the desk with his toe. The chair slid forward a short distance. He leaned down and looked at the man.
“So how do you intend to clean up this mess?”
“I’m sorry, sir. Please forgive me.” Sweat poured down the man’s forehead. He crawled forward on his knees, trying to get closer to Shen Sixing, and reached for the edge of his sleeve.
Shen Sixing raised his leg and planted his foot on the man’s shoulder, pushing him back half a step.
“Who told you that you could come near me?”
He looked down at the man beneath his foot, the faint curve of his lips still in place. There wasn’t the slightest trace of amusement in his eyes.
Shen Yi had seen that kind of elusive expression on her older brother many times.
Shen Zhizhao sometimes wore the same expression when dealing with disobedient subordinates.
It was light and languid, like a cat toying with prey that was already half dead.
But—
Wasn’t Shen Sixing supposed to be a mouse?
And yet, after nearly two months without seeing him, he had somehow evolved behind their backs into this.
Shen Yi found it utterly unbelievable. She pressed herself against the glass and peered inside.
With both hands gripping the window frame, she rested her forehead against the glass. The cold surface flattened the tip of her nose.
How could a person change just like that?
The little girl leaned and craned forward with astonishing determination.
Qin Ruolan stood behind her, worried that Shen Sixing might notice them. She reached out and gently covered Shen Yi’s forehead with her slender fingertips, pulling her back.
Shen Yi pushed forward with all her strength, neck stiff and body straining, like a puppy refusing to be dragged away from its food bowl.
Qin Ruolan paused in surprise for two seconds. Then she increased the pressure of her hand and pulled Shen Yi firmly against her.
“Shh, shh, shh. Don’t let him see you.” Qin Ruolan’s voice was very low, brushing past Shen Yi’s ear.
One hand remained pressed against Shen Yi’s forehead while the other gathered her by the shoulder, drawing her a little closer into her arms.
Without realizing it, Qin Ruolan’s fingers gently twisted a few strands of Shen Yi’s soft, fine hair.
Inside the room, the atmosphere was exceptionally stifling. No one dared speak up to beg for mercy.
The kneeling man didn’t dare move forward again. He lowered his head, hunched his shoulders, and tried his best to make himself as inconspicuous as possible.
Standing by the door, Shen Yi watched the aura Shen Sixing was giving off—so completely different from his usual self—and her eyes practically filled with stars.
All she could think was that she should bring Mom here to see this.
Men were truly the most charming when they were doing bad things!
This was far more attractive than his usual lifeless, half-dead appearance.
Qin Ruolan watched the girl lower her head and bite her lip in silence. Her brows shifted slightly.
—She must be frightened.
Good. That was exactly what she wanted.
A good child shouldn’t associate with bad children.
After doing every wicked thing imaginable, Shen Sixing actually thought he could start a new life?
He really was unbelievably naive.
Inside the glass room, Shen Sixing toyed with the gun in his hand. He looked rather gloomy, one finger resting against the trigger guard. He seemed as though he might casually fire at the useless fools standing before him at any moment.
The man kneeling on the floor had already pressed his forehead to the ground.
Shen Sixing stood up, walked around the desk, and stopped in front of the kneeling man.
Holding the gun, the young man pressed the muzzle firmly beneath the man’s chin and smiled.
“I’m trying to get home early. You people keep ruining my plans, then come begging me to spare you.”
“Do you think my home is a pasture?”
“Subordinates as useless as you, who do nothing but create trouble—why don’t you just die?”
He lightly toyed with the trigger. Watching the terror-stricken expression on the other man’s face, he slowly tightened his finger.
Qin Ruolan let out a soft laugh.
Then she rapped hard on the glass.
Shen Sixing froze. He immediately turned toward the source of the sound, his expression impatient, assuming that some idiot subordinate had done something stupid again.
But what he saw weren’t two idiots.
It was his mother and his daughter.
Shen Yi hesitated a few steps away, unsure how she was supposed to react.
Qin Ruolan had already taken her by the hand and led her over.
The atmosphere inside was oppressively tense. The man whose chin had been held at gunpoint—certain that he was moments away from meeting Jesus—had gone weak in the legs and collapsed onto the floor, trembling uncontrollably.
Shen Yi didn’t dare go inside. She clung to the wall beside her with both hands.
Peeking her head out, she looked at Shen Sixing and whispered, “…Daddy?”
At that moment, the gun was still raised in Shen Sixing’s hand, maintaining the same bent-forward posture.
The kneeling man remained sprawled on the floor, his body seemingly stripped of every last bit of strength. Cold sweat covered him from forehead to nape, soaking through his uniform and plastering it to his back. His shoulders continued to tremble faintly.
He had genuinely believed he was going to die there today.
Instead, the gun hadn’t gone off.
The glass had.
Shen Sixing’s attention was entirely focused on the two people outside the door.
Qin Ruolan leaned leisurely against the doorframe, her hands folded before her and a faint smile playing at the corners of her lips.
“So you’ve finally revealed your true nature in front of your child?”
She turned her head and glanced at Shen Yi.
“You wanted to know what your daddy does all day, didn’t you? This is it.”
“He’s cruel, vicious, and points a gun at people whenever he feels like killing them. Even I tremble in fear whenever I’m around him, little girl. Are you sure you still want to call him Daddy?”
Shen Sixing instinctively felt that she would despise him.
His expression froze. He was just about to explain that he had his reasons when, in the next second, Shen Yi spoke.
She suddenly understood. “Dad, so this is what you’re really like.”
He’d actually been pretending to be a mouse while secretly being a cat. How despicable.
She and Mom had genuinely believed he was being bullied at work.
As it turned out, he’d been the one bullying everyone else in the workplace all along.
Hearing Shen Yi say this, the last thread of restraint holding Shen Sixing’s sanity together snapped in an instant.
His true nature?
But hadn’t she said she didn’t care what bad things he did?
Hadn’t she said that before?
Shen Sixing nervously tightened his grip on the gun. He suddenly looked up and shouted almost on instinct:
“My true nature? What true nature do I have?!”
His voice rose half an octave higher than usual. “My true nature is that I’m your biological father!”
