In the dark prison room...

"Hahaha"

Low muffled chuckle could be heard.

A pale figure having thick facial whiskers and messy hair, wearing a torn military cargo pant and whose face covered in bruises sitting in the corner and bleeding profoundly.

In front of him lying around 26 lifeless bodies in a pool of blood that seems to be tortured to a certain hellish extent before taking their last breaths. As either their head or limbs are missing from their torso. .

Distant steps sounded....

"This must be the place, B team follow me in and C team wait for my order. "

"Roger Captain"

"Roger Captain"

"Roger Captain"

They responded.

...

"What the fuck???? "

reacted captain Lu after watching the bloody massacre inside the prison cell.

Others instantly frozed.

Captain Lu composed himself and lightly coughed before looking around to search for his commander in chief.

Lu Shen gaze darted and spotted at the bearded man who was covered in bruises and asked " Chief are you alright? "

The bearded man expressionlessly raised his face in response. Lu Shen dashed forward to check for his vitals and finally heaved a sigh a relief after confirming he is fine.

" Have you check the base? " the bearded man asked unhurriedly.

" Yes chief , we found labs loaded with biochemical modules and .."Captain Lu Shen hesitate to continue.

"And what? " the bearded man raised an eyebrow and asked in a low voice.

Taking a deep sigh Lu Shen said " Chief, it is best if you see it yourself. "

...

Underground basement ...

"Chief, Captain "

"Chief, Captain

"Chief, Captain"

Soldiers respectfully saluted after seeing Chief-in-command coming in tow with Captain Lu and others.

"What's the situation " the bearded man asked

"Sir, we retrieved all the biochemical modules and secure the place, but don't know what to do with her" one soldier responded and pointed towards a girl who is sitting on the floor expressionlessly gazing towards the couple of children who are lying motionless on the floor.

The bearded man directed his gaze at the girl . who is around Three years old at most, wearing loose white patient gown, which enhancing her beautiful little pale face.

He momentarily frozed before averting his gaze and Ordering the soldiers "Burry the childrens and burn the base."

"Sss sir, what about the girl " One soldier boldly asked.

Chief paused before saying expressionlessly "take her with us. "

Finally the girl lifted her head to see the bearded man who is ordering his troops around....seeing his face which looks handsome despite having those dense beard and messy hair. She suddenly felt like crying. God knows in how much despair she is in past few days, she had lost all hopes when seeing those childrens dying in front of her because of some foreign substance that are injected in their bodies by those bad uncles.

She silently muttered "papa" to herself.

"Roger sir " Soldiers responded.

. ...

After returning back to mansion.

Lu Shen was casually sitting in the living room munching an apple when he saw his chief coming downstairs who is now looking much more younger and handsome after shaving off his beard and treating his wounds.

" So, Jichen how are you doing there? " Lu Shen asked expectantly.

Jichen narrowed his eyes and asked" What do you think? "

Lu Shen chuckled softly " Just by looking at your bruised face, I say, this trip of yours was quite rough at the very least. "

Jichen starred him intently " Did you found anything suspicious about this triad? "

Lu Shen nodded " Yes, we track back their bank accounts and founded that majority of their funds comes from Country Z via darkne and childrens are also trafficked from there. " Lu Shen paused before adding " These childrens are mostly orphans or kidnapped from single parent families. "

"Continue your search and find out who's their backer "replied Jichen after hearing him out to which Lu Shen nodded.

Near footsteps sounded.

"Little miss , this way please " housekeeper aunt Wu told the little girl in tow who is wearing a white tee with pink skirt.

"Master " aunt Wu slightly bowed to Jichen before taking her leave.

"Hey, little princess what's your name " Asked Lu Shen smilingly.

Little girl darted her eyes towards Jichen and replied reluctantly.

" My.. My name is Xiaoxing."

Jichen turned towards Xiaoxing and asked " Little star ?"

Xiaoxing nodded profoundly " Yes, my mumma always says that I'm her little star. "

Lu Shen asked " Do you know your parent's contact number Or anything "

Xiaoxing shakes her head and got little emotional thinking about her mother .

Jichen reads her emotions and avoided to comment anything and change the topic.

"Are you hungry? " he asked.

Xiaoxing planning to reply but her tummy grumbled , and selling her thought out .she shyly lowered her head and fixed her gaze at her shoes.

Seeing this Jichen felt amused and unknowingly corners of his lips curved upwards into a very faint smile that's very rare on his expressionless face.

"Let's eat first then "he said and turned to walk towards the dining hall.

Seeing him walking away Lu Shen woke up from his thoughts and tug Xiaoxing hands to follow behind him.

.....

In the dining hall.

Jichen walked towards the head chair to settled down , Lu Shen followed the suit and sat on his right and Xiaoxing sat to Lu Shen right side.

Seeing the variety of delicious delicacies on the table Xiaoxing was slightly stunned and her eyes lit up and she gulped mouthful water.

She raised head and looked in Jichen direction, as if asking for his permission to eat.

"Start serving" he ordered.

After hearing him , couple of servants come forward and started serving the dishes in an orderly manner.

Xiaoxing hurriedly poked her chopsticks in the lobster that is lying in front of her. Ater some time she pouted her lips and put her chopsticks down as she failed to peeled its skin off.

She hurriedly looked around for help but realize that both the other men are busy in eating their dinner and hence she lowered her head disappointedly.

Jichen who is monitoring her small movements the whole time and seeing her like this he feel some strange emotions therefore he decide to peeled a lobster for her and placed it in her plate .

When she was sulking and eating her rice reluctantly she saw a stretched long hand howering above her plate and dropping a piece of peeled lobster in her plate delicately. After pausing for few seconds she ate it without lifting her head, she was expecting for more such dropped pieces and she was not disappointed as Jichen continued to peeled and drop such pieces every now and then.

Xiaoxing enjoying her meal and subconsciously her eyes curved upwards like crescent moon.

Lu Shen mouth agaped at their interaction , because he's with Lu Shen for more than 3 years and all the times when dine together Jichen always avoids the food that takes too much effort to eat and today here he is preparing the same for another person.

Jichen himself haven't realised his abnormal action rather he feel some accomplishment seeing little Xiaoxing eating happily.

....

After dinner Lu Shen got a phone call from the base and he bid farewell and drives away.

Jichen summoned housekeeper aunt Wu and assigned her to bath Xiaoxing and make her way to the bed ,Xiaoxing happily went upstairs to take bath.

After giving her bath aunt Wu make her lie down on the bed and covered her with a blanket . After making sure she is in deep sleep, she silently leave the room and closed the door. As soon as door get closed Xiaoxing opens her eyes , she looked around the room and silently jumped from the bed.

Jichen was in his study room sorting some documents when he heard someone rattling the door knob, he turned his head towards the door and sees a little cute figure in blue nightsuit tiptoeing behind the door and sneakingly looking around with her little groggy eyes.

Jichen dropped his pen, seeing her cute action his lips curved in a faint smiled, he signalled her to come inside and asked " Haven't you sleep yet? "

Xiaoxing enters inside the room and unknowingly jogs towards Jichen with her short legs and fidgeting with her little fingers which indicates her restlessness and she said emotionally " I missed mumma " just as she finished saying this her eyes turns red.

Jichen paused for a moment before lifting her up and placed her on the side chair and caressed her head affectionately.

" You'll see her soon " he replied soflty.

Hearing this Xiaoxing raist her head and looked expectantly at his handsome face and asked hesitately " Really? "

In response he simply nodded.

Xiaoxing jumped from the chair and dashed towards Jichen and finally gave him a hug with her short arms happily. Jichen was stunned for a moment before gently embracing her dotingly.

Xiaoxing felt the warmth emitting from his body and feel safe in his embrace before gently snuggled in a comfortable position and doze off.