The time suddenly stood still as if someone had pushed the pause button. It may be attributed to the force resulting from the collision.
For the first time, Haichong could not utter a single word once his eyes met the cold blue eyes of Shen Yuan, and he was not alone in this. In fact, every adult inside the car looks dumbfoundedly at the lone omega standing in front of their vehicle.
"Just where did he come from?" one of the thugs thrashed around due to the impact of their sudden stop, yelled in shock. He didn't see how Shen Yuan suddenly appeared out of nowhere since he was busy shooting those chasing after them. But one thing he is sure about is the inexplicable nervousness crawling in his entire body.
"This is crazy! That omega just fell from the sky?! What the hell?" the driver suddenly blurted out. His eyes never left the road. That is why he saw how this tall omega with platinum blond hair fell from the sky. In fact, he tried to swerve away from this crazy omega because he had a terrible gut feeling the moment he saw him. However, their vehicle did not budge at all. It's as if something encloses their minivan on both sides like an invisible tunnel.
"Moshi moshi!" Shen Yuan made a sinister smirk at Haichong and the driver through the windshield. "How does it feel to get a taste of your medicine? Feeling great?"
It was a smirk mixed with all the hardship he encountered several minutes ago. The force he exerted on his two arms increased as he still felt the car's futile attempt to drive forward.
Clank!
The creaking sound of the car's hood assaulted his hearing again, but that didn't matter to him. He gritted his sharp canine teeth and made the most painful move for him. He willed his beautiful, fluffy, and presently cloaked with invisibility spell nine-tails to hug the damned black minivan tighter, not giving any chance for the kidnappers to run away. "Yah! Are you really testing me, stupid humans? Fucking stop!"
Shen Yuan angrily punched the van's hood. He was so mad that he didn't bother to regulate how much mana he coated his fist with.
Boom! The thunderous sound of breaking metal reverberated on the highway.
The next thing that followed was an eye-catching dent on the surface, the sound of the engine dying, and a thick wisp of smoke that signals the end of cat and mouse chase.
"W-what a monstrous s-strength!" The driver blurted out stuttering.
The sound of the car breaking snapped Haichong out of his surprised daze. At this point, everyone is aware that they are in a dire situation. Bai Tingfeng is just behind them, speedily catching up to them. It is just a matter of who will crack from the pressure— or who could click the trigger.
The glint of his eyes turned sharp, and like the wind, he quickly grabbed a gun in the car compartment, "Idiot."
"No, Daddy!" Yanyan yelled desperately for his daddy. The beaming smile he had was replaced with a teary-eyed face full of worry.
The gunshot and the sound of glass breaking sent the little boy into a frantic fit. Yanyan was not even bothered by the pain of being held by the scaly hands of Haichong's puppet. All he wanted was to meet his beloved Daddy, and now that there is only glass that sets them apart, Yanyan will not allow something bad to happen to his Daddy, no matter what. Yanyan was too young to notice that his Daddy disappeared in front of the car.
"Mandaley, take the kid! We can't let Shen Yuan and Bai Tingfeng retrieve that thing!" Haichong roared as he summoned his insects. "Fucking Shen Yuan!"
"Where do you think you are doing, Little Twerp? You're not going anywhere unless I extract all of your blood," the man roared.
The buff alpha male, Mandaley, grabbed the needle and was about to sink it into the crying child's skin. However, before that happened, the locked door was forcibly slid open, breaking it in the process, and there, he saw Shen Yuan grabbing one of his comrades and flung it outside like a doll. That repeated when another one of his partners in crime tried to shoot at Shen Yuan.
It happened so fast that Mandaley did not have time to react. He is an awakener who could boost his strength, not his reaction time. Therefore, he is severely outmatched by Shen Yuan, who is naturally gifted in speed and agility, a natural trait for a fox spirit like him. It also helped that his new vessel is highly compatible with the celestial fox spirit, Suki.
In a more concise word, Mandalay is fucked.
"Fucking, omega whore!" He cursed out loud, and that was his last word before Shen Yuan's hand clutched his entire face and hit him against the car seat like he was some block of ice.
"Mind where you are putting your hands on, foolish bastard," Shen Yuan said, his cold blue eyes glistening with suffocating hostility.
"Daddy! You saved me! My Daddy! Waaah!" Yanyan's loud cries reverberated inside the car.
Shen Yuan felt a painful pang in his chest upon seeing the little boy's tears. Something about this kid touches the soft spot that Suki didn't know that he had. "No, it should be the remaining feeling of the previous owner of this body, Shen Yuan."
His second-long musing was interrupted when his hidden fox ears caught a dangerous rustling in the car's front seat and a suspicious, loud breaking of the glass in the back seat. He hugged the little boy without thinking twice and tried to get out of the minivan swiftly.
Of course, it was bad guys are bad guys for a reason. They are annoyingly resilient. "Where do you think you're going?" asked Mandaley while gripping Bai Shengyan's leg. He boosted his hand and arm's strength to make sure he would not let go of the child. He knows that Haichong has already summoned his annoying but powerful insects, and with that, they can turn things around. It is still possible to achieve their goal.
Breaking a bone or two will still give them the needed blood volume, right?
"No, Daddy, it hurts!" Yanyan cried.
The sleeping maternal instinct that Shen Yuan has was completely awakened when he heard the pain-filled cry of the child. At this moment, Shen Yuan subconsciously unlocked his extraordinary perception. His vision broadened as if he saw the horizon before him.
This is not magic. This is one of the perks of being a nine-tailed fox. Every fur in each of his tails served as the extension of his sense. The movement of the wind, the sound of the movements, and virtually all of the information present in his immediate surroundings were picked up by his beloved fox tails. And now, Shen Yuan's cold blue eyes are sporting intimating vertical pupils.
At this moment, all of the kidnapper's movements and those outside are bare in his eyes. The guns pointed at him, the buzzing of the insects, and the attempt of certain someone to outsmart him came to his attention as if he was reading the entire situation on paper. "It's silly of you to think that you can fool me the second time. But since you are not my priority, I will let you go this once."
Shen Yuan looked at the blood-soaked smirk on the muscled alpha. Just one look, and he clearly knows the intention of this damned pest. 'What a pitiful soul."
"Go, take the child, and I will make sure he will be missing another leg, Omega."
Mandaley's threat was met with the cold, murderous eyes of Shen Yuan. "You really should observe your surroundings first before you pull a desperate struggle, stupid."
The omega hugged Yanyan tighter against his chest and comfortingly caressed the crying child's back. "Don't cry, Yanyan. I will make sure that Daddy will get an apology from this bad guy."
The little boy nodded despite the pain, and he just buried his head on Shen Yuan's chest.
He made a frightening smirk and slowly uttered a word as if he was savoring its every letter, "Heavenly Foxfire."
From his back, where his nine tails were hidden, glowing white flames with a few bluish streaks suddenly erupted. At the same time, a fierce wind suddenly blew from the south. "Aish, the annoying male lead is here."
Shen Yuan was determined to land the decisive blow since, above all, he hated the fact that Yanyan was hurt in front of him. His pride and whatever his feelings are wouldn't let this impertinence pass. He is a celestial fox spirit who obtained nine tails.
In a split second, the bluefish white Heavenly Foxfire engulfs Mandaley and all the other kidnappers inside the minivan. The man who is being grilled by the sacred fire has no strength to hold on to Bai Shengyan's leg, and that was the cue for Shen Yuan to move the child away from safety.
He made a big leap backward with the child in his arms. Because his leg strength was reinforced with magic, his jump was high enough to call it flying.
The ghostly wails of pained souls erupted inside the minivan, and Shen Yuan just watched it with a cold expression. "You provoked me, so I apologize if I let you experience hell without taking your lives."
Feeling the cool breeze brushing against his tiny back, Yanyan raised his head to look at Shen Yuan. His fair cheeks and the sides of his cute round eyes were stained with red blush. Finally, he felt at ease because he was in the arms of his Daddy.
"My Daddy is more good-looking in person… Yanyan is super happy," he murmured in his heart. He continued to study his Daddy's face when his eyes caught on something.
The father and son landed gracefully on the ground.
Shen Yuan felt the little boy's lingering gaze, so he looked down and asked with a flattering smile, "What is it, Yanyan?"
However, that smile turned stiff when Bai Shengyan grabbed his hidden fox ears with his two little hands, "Why do you have fluffy fox ears, Daddy? Oh, and you grew a lot of tails, too!"