Come Daybreak

Xue Yang (xxvi)

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.