The next morning as Feng Xinya and Xue Yang were eating their breakfast, a commotion was made outside.

The mistress had acted pretty fast.

As Xinya's mansion was bordered by tall fences and the only entrance was through one gate at the front, any outsiders would need proper credentials to even enter the vicinity of the mansion grounds.

The proper credentials were of course Xinya's ID and card key, as well as a vehicle installed with a marker that was unique to the cars in his own large parking garage inside his mansion grounds. If an intruder was missing even just one of these items, then they would be shot at once by the concealed firearms. There were warning signs along the road leading to his estate, so only fools would dare to trespass blindly if they were not intentionally trying to break in.

Thus, the commotion was actually very far away from their current location inside of the dining room. However, due to the advancement of technology the duo was able to instantly know that someone had attempted to break through the tight security. The intruders even tried to hack the firewalls to disable the security system.

Unfortunately, even if they had managed to disable it, an alarm had already been set off, alerting the professional hacker on Xinya's team who was now busy warding off the offender.

Feng Xinya and Xue Yang could view everything as they ate their meal, as there were micro-cameras installed at the gates and fences. They only had to pull up the app on their notebooks to see everything that was happening.

Xinya acted as if nothing was wrong as he finished his breakfast of sunny-side up and toast. And, seeing that Xinya did not mind, Yang didn't either.

However, he kept his eyes glued to the notebook as he ate, following the antics of those men in black suits and wearing shades as they continuously failed to infiltrate the premises.

Xinya elatedly watched Yang's lips occasionally curling upwards when their attempts ended in unfavorable outcomes. When one of the men tried to dig a hole in the ground to crawl under the gates, it didn't work as the basement floor took up a large portion of even the areas outside of the perimeter. The visible green life was actuality maintained on very shallow depths of dirt and the metal gates were directly connected with the roof of the basement floor.

Their confused figures afterwards were genuinely priceless, as those men's first impressions had made Xue Yang believe them to be unfeeling and almost robotic.

Unfortunately for them, the Qiu family was not so prepared to have provided them a jet or a helicopter to trespass from above.

Seeing as their attempts to go around the gates weren't working, those with consciences tried to bypass the checkpoint once more while the rasher ones decided to use their reinforced vehicles to ram through the gates.

Xue Yang furrowed his brows when he found out their intentions, to which Xinya picked up his phone and quickly dialed a number.

"Open fire," he expressionlessly ordered the soldiers he had on standby outside.

Not even a millisecond later, the muffled sound of gunshots firing could be heard.

In contrast, the eerily calm silence inside of the mansion could have been suffocating if the inhabitants had not been Xinya and Yang.

"I want to join," Xue Yang suddenly spoke up with determination lighting up his pale, jade green eyes as he looked squarely at Feng Xinya.

When he saw Xinya looking right back at him in silence, Yang continued, "I want to join you in the special forces."

Looking into Xue Yang's expression to gauge his intent with one brow slightly raised, Feng Xinya only to saw that the boy was resolute with not even a shred of hesitation.

Xinya scrutinized Yang's small and frail figure from top to bottom,

"You'll need a lot of work."

Seeing as how he wasn't being rejected, Yang immediately perked up, and his eyes were brimming with determination to catch up to the powerful man seated in front of him—his savior. He thought that only if he became stronger and more competent would he feel qualified enough to stand by Xinya's side as an equal and a lover.

Xinya didn't reject because it was ultimately Yang's choice.

Furthermore, it was the youth who would have to put in the effort to be able to even be considered by the superiors of the team. And that effort was far from small, as estimated from his currently thin frame that seemed as if it could be blown away with just a slight gust of wind.

Also, it was stated before, but Xue Yang's memory was the epitome of perfection which meant he had potential, especially if he could put his knowledge to use. When he used the gun the previous evening, it was already pretty good that he could shoot the bullseye on his first day.

He just needed to work his muscles for a year or two, then he would at least qualify for an inactive spot on the team. Of course, this was with a thought-out training program and diet.

With a few years of undergoing Xinya's personal guidance in martial arts and other weaponry, only then would Yang be able to undertake the more dangerous missions alongside himself. Before then, the most Yang could hope to do would be to accompany him as an otherwise multipurpose assistant and helper.

As they quickly finished their short conversation, the soldiers outside had already apprehended two of the assailants and brought them to Xinya, who told them to lead them down to the basement in the shooting range. There was a hidden compartment in the wall with a vast assortment of torture tools, as well as a compartment on the ground that two chairs could rise from at the press of a few buttons.

Anyway, they would have to get evidence that the mistress was behind the assassination attempt to throw to the Xue head so that he wouldn't stop them from their next course of action, which was to take her into custody to further insure Xue Yang's safety.

While Feng Xinya personally took charge of torturing the captives, he didn't bother trying to keep Xue Yang in the dark. Xinya was also pretty knowledgeable in the various methods as a victim of torture himself. So, it went without saying that the captives had cracked in less than a day. The entire confession was recorded, then promptly sent to both his superior and the Xue head the next morning.

Really, no matter what the Xue head felt towards that mistress of his (he didn't feel anything, but he considered his youngest son's feelings), Xinya and his superiors were not the type of people to put them to mind as they were duty-driven. Whatever posed as a possible threat to their target would be eliminated at all costs—even if their employer did not agree to it.

So, they had immediately acted and sent a team to capture her as soon as possible.

However, as they did so, they had left Xue Bai alone as the hostages only mentioned the mistress, his mother. It wasn't as if he was directly involved anyway.

In Xue Bai's case, he'd merely been aware of what his mother was doing but never took part in it, only passively reaping the benefits.

Of course, since Qiu Shui—his mother—had been taken away from him, he had instantly panicked but since he was still a child of the Xue family he still had his father to fall back on.

"Where did they take mother?" Xue Bai stood in front of his father's desk in the study with swollen, red eyes as he asked in a desolated voice that cracked ever so slightly.

As he was only twelve and his appearance was delicate to begin with, what with his pure snow-white skin, the added depressed and desperate air only further elicited pity and sympathy from anyone who saw him.

The Xue head put the pen in his hands down as he sighed tiredly and rubbed his temples in an attempt to soothe the oncoming headache,

"That woman is no longer your mother. Ah Bai, she is not a good woman and did something evil, so she was taken away to atone for her sins."

But Xue Bai did not relent, "I want to see mother! Take me to see mother! I know you can do it, father!"

His crystalline tears slowly dripped down his cheeks as he bit his lips until they bled. It seemed as if he would not leave until his father agreed to let him meet with his birth mother for the last time.

After this last meeting, he would be officially and legally adopted by the current lady Xue, the Xue head's lawful wife. With this reasoning, coupled with the fact that the he had always spoiled this son of his due to the despair he'd felt after Xue Yang's "death," the Xue head relented.

He would at least ask that special forces soldier who was responsible for his eldest son's safety if the boy could meet his mother for the last time.

Xinya had immediately replied to the Xue head that any meetings would be under strict surveillance, even if it was between a child and his mother.

The Xue head could tell from his unsympathetic response that Xinya was even suspicious of such a young child and felt some dissatisfaction deep inside.

But obviously Xinya wouldn't care about the thoughts of insignificant others. He only knew that allowing the two to meet could possibly even rope the boy directly into the mess depending on the words they passed to each other.

While it was impossible for any of these ants to endanger his kitten in any way with him around, Xinya preferred not to wade into such muddy waters such as interfering with the Xue family's internal affairs—especially after Yang had already resolutely handed over his right to inheritance, thus cutting off all relations with them.

On the day of the meetup, the Xue head accompanied his youngest son along with Feng Xinya and Xue Yang to the special ops intelligence headquarters, which was a famous large bar in the capital of A country—Pandora's Box. There were many private rooms for different levels of the elite, with the highest level reserved for only a select few privileged individuals; Xinya and the Xue head being two of them.

The intelligence headquarters was where the various members of the corps had set up a spot to gain all sorts of information. It was also where the mistress was held as a person who definitely held important information regarding the Qiu family and Qiu Se, Xue Yang's aunt.

Unbeknownst to the public, there was a basement floor that was used as an interrogation prison that was not much different from Xinya's personal one back at his manor aside from the fact that is was much larger, drearier, and contained numerous barred prison cells.

The mistress was held in a random cell near the end of a dark and dank corridor. She was already covered in blistering cuts and bruises after having only been taken in for less than a day. The soldiers worked really fast, hoping to complete their mission of subduing the Qiu family and the aunt as quick and efficiently as possible.

"Mother!"

"My son!"

Seeing his mother who'd loved and taken care of him all these years in such a state the young, black-haired boy's eyes reddened as he ran up to the bars separating the two from hugging each other in longing and grievance.

Xue Yang remained impassive as if the scene ahead of him had nothing to do with him, and Xinya even more so. The Xue head felt complex emotions as his line of sight shifted from his youngest son to Xue Yang.

In the end he had spent more time with his younger son, so he couldn't help but feel a sense of heaviness on his chest seeing the boy crying as he wrongfully reached for his mother, whom the Xue head personally held no special regards towards, against the bars.

But when he felt the cold eyes of the tall soldier beside Xue Yang fixed upon his figure, the Xue head knew that this mistress had acted against the son he felt immense guilt for, so he knew not to overstep the boundaries by asking to treat her better.

In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if she ended up dying in these soldiers' hands. After all, he was the president of A country. He may have lived in the light, but he was far from unaware of what went on in the shadows of his own country. But this was also a form of justice as these people were acting for the good of his own son.

Although almost imperceptible, when Xue Yang saw the Xue head staring back and forth between him and the sobbing mess of a child, he felt apprehensive. What if the man suddenly asked to free the child's mother just to make him happy? Even though Xue Yang had resolved to disregard the family, it was only recently and he wasn't as unfeeling as his partner beside him.

Thankfully, he was overthinking things and the Xue head remained silent.

In truth, if the Xue head had not been doused in figuratively cold water by Xinya's threatening gloominess, then he probably would have uttered something that he would have instantly regretted.

When the child noticed that his father, the most powerful man in the world, hadn't even uttered a single word even when faced with his tears Xue Bai couldn't help but feel indignant. When had this father of his ever rejected him especially when using such an appeal in the past?

He associated this failure to the white-haired boy standing beside the powerful soldier he had seen the other day and already felt that he was unpleasant to his eyes. How could he not notice the way his father looked at the boy. His eyes were full of love, guilt, and restraint all at once. The love in his eyes was enough to rival the love that he, as the only son of the Xue family, should receive!

He was told previously by his mother that he was the only son of the Xue family. He never knew about the existence of this half-brother of his as the mistress was confident that Xue Yang had no hope of ever getting out of that hellhole in this lifetime.

Unfortunately, she and the aunt had miscalculated. At least, they thought they did but their plan was spotless and there truly were no miscalculations.

They had simply never associated this outcome with Feng Xinya's presence and interference in this world because no one knew he was an anomaly to begin with. If he had not been sent into this world, then Xue Yang would have died back then in place of the protagonist, and there would have been no reason to investigate his "death" at all.

But it was because of the fact that the Xue head had made concessions for Xue Yang that Xue Bai did not act hastily. Xue Bai may have had more emotional attachments with his mother but he was raised by the Xue head, so he was not dumb.

Xue Yang was obviously held with great importance in his father's heart and his mother wasn't exactly the most innocent woman either. However, it pained him to see her being treated so cruelly because he knew she'd only done those bad things for him.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do for her now, aside from making sure her efforts were not in vain. Xue Bai silently resolved himself to take over the Xue family as she had wished, sucking up the losses he'd received that day. His father was right.

Even if he felt the world was unfair, Xue Bai knew that his mother would have to atone for her sins.

But if his older brother still wished to fight him for the head position then he would make sure to return this grievance tenfold in the future. If not, then at least in that way both parties could live in peace. Hopefully they would never have to see much of each other, either.