Doctor Lu Always Wants To Steal My Baby! Chapter 57
byChapter 57 The Protector
Because they set off in the middle of the night, the group arrived at Shangyun Star just as morning broke.
Fan Maode discreetly led Lu Changqing and the others off the shuttle. He didn’t see He Chen the entire time, and he was sensible enough not to ask.
Lu Changqing was true to his word. After breakfast, he immediately went to treat Fan Maode’s younger brother.
After the examination, Lu Changqing didn’t make any guarantees, but Fan Maode could tell from his expression that he was quite confident. Fan Maode’s heart settled, and he respectfully invited Lu Changqing to rest in the quiet accommodation he had arranged.
Once Lu Changqing entered the residence, there was no further movement from his side. The entire day was peaceful, and the whole of Shangyun Star seemed equally calm.
However, Fan Maode’s intuition told him that something unusual was brewing.
That evening, the power in Shangyun City was inexplicably cut off. Many businesses closed early, and the Fan family’s production lines were no exception.
When Fan Maode heard the factory report, he simply told them to go home early and said nothing else.
He also dismissed the people working overtime at the headquarters, telling them not to socialize and to return home quickly.
He himself hesitated for a moment. Instead of returning to his home in the city center, he took two bodyguards and went to the factory district located in the industrial park.
His life’s work was there.
He told the bodyguards to rest outside while he stayed alone in the reception building’s lounge within the factory district. He turned on the desk lamp, concentrated on his thoughts, and used primitive paper and pen to organize the new proposal that was gradually taking shape in his mind.
Unconsciously, it reached midnight. He heard a muffled thunder-like explosion, which jolted him awake. He quickly got up and walked to the window, just in time to see a flash of fire disappear in the northeast direction.
That was the location of Zihong Heavy Industry, the largest heavy industry on Shangyun Star.
Fan Maode gripped the window ledge, his brows deeply furrowed.
Zihong had several blast furnaces for smelting special star minerals. If they exploded, the affected area would be massive.
Fan Maode wasn’t sure exactly how large the impact would be; he could only pray that his own industrial park would be safe.
Of course, it would be best if nothing exploded at all.
Fan Maode had no cooperation with Zihong, and had even had some friction with them, but as one of their kind, he empathized. At this moment, Fan Maode sincerely prayed that they would be alright.
He also had to pray that the new General He would quickly triumph over the old General He.
After all, Fan Maode was highly anticipating the future envisioned by the new General He.
“We checked. All the remaining explosives are disabled. This set must be the opening they deliberately left.” In the same industrial park, in the shadows on the second floor of a factory building, a shadowy figure reported in a low voice to Lu Changqing.
“The factory’s control system?” Lu Changqing asked.
“There was a Trojan program, but it was intercepted before we could act.”
He is growing quickly then. Lu Changqing curved his lips.
“Master, why don’t we… communicate? If both sides cooperate, we can avoid unnecessary effort,” the subordinate asked hesitantly in a low voice.
“No rush.” Lu Changqing focused on the fight happening on the first floor—though calling it a fight wasn’t quite right. A group of well-trained, highly cooperative men in black, like a fine net, silently, quickly, and precisely knocked down and bound the other group of men in gray. Calling it a net was less accurate than calling them sharks passing through the deep sea.
No rush. If they fought side-by-side more often, one day, he would establish trust and tacit understanding with him.
“Dean Lu, it’s dangerous here. You should leave,” Qi Bo approached Lu Changqing and said.
He didn’t know how Lu Changqing knew they were operating here tonight. The Commander only told him to protect Lu Changqing, not to interfere with his actions. He also knew that Lu Changqing’s relationship with the Commander was unusual, so he had respected him and hadn’t obstructed him.
However, the current distance was too close. The other party was, after all, a precious healer. Qi Bo was afraid of an accident.
Moreover, he wondered if it was his imagination, but he hadn’t seen Lu Changqing for half the afternoon. When he saw him again, he felt his face was particularly pale, and even now, he was sitting in a chair instead of standing.
Just as he finished speaking, Lu Changqing suddenly raised a hand to stop him. Qi Bo followed his gaze and looked downstairs, frowning.
There were only a few men in gray left, and the remaining ones were cornered. However, one of them suddenly ripped open his jacket, revealing… a chest and back covered in explosives.
“Get out! Or we all die together!” the man in gray threatened, his hand resting on a pull-cord-like fuse at his waist.
“Pluto-5 tungsten bomb, estimated 30 kilograms. Core zone 15 meters, impact zone 50 meters, fragmentation zone 150 meters.” The report immediately came through the earpiece of He Chen, who was in the center of the men in black.
“Retreat first.” He Chen’s eyes were fixed on the fuse. He made a gesture and led the men in black to slowly back away.
Just then, a familiar sound, one that shouldn’t have been there, came through his earpiece: “Restrict his movement for 5 seconds, is that enough?”
He Chen’s movement paused slightly.
“Blink once if yes, twice if no.”
He Chen quickly blinked once.
“Start.”
A steady voice came through the earpiece. At the same instant, He Chen dashed forward like lightning, his body leaving an afterimage. No one saw how he did it. Two seconds later, when everyone reacted, the “human bomb’s” two hands were firmly bound behind his back.
He Chen reached for his chest, found the main control box, and successfully switched it off. Simultaneously, his subordinates moved forward to control the remaining men in gray.
The danger seemed to be over. He Chen turned his head, searching for Lu Changqing, who had just spoken to him.
On the second floor, Lu Changqing’s pupils suddenly contracted. From his angle, he saw one of the men in gray, whose hands had been bound, pull out one arm and throw something he was holding toward He Chen—it was a small bomb!
Lu Changqing had no time to think or warn. He threw an object to intercept the bomb, and at the same time, he leaped down, tackling He Chen!
There was a deafening boom.
Dust and smoke billowed up.
Under the tremendous impact, Lu Changqing shielded He Chen as they fell. However, in a flash of lightning, a massive snow-white wolf protected Lu Changqing. The two men and the wolf rolled into a ball, tumbling several meters away from the blast’s impact.
“Senior Brother?” After a brief moment of mental blankness and deafness, He Chen quickly flipped over, knelt up, and looked at Lu Changqing.
He had a bad feeling. Although he was deafened just now, he sensed a tremor in Lu Changqing’s chest. Checking now, there were indeed traces of blood on Lu Changqing’s lips.
“Where are you hurt?” He Chen’s expression was grim.
“It’s nothing.” Lu Changqing was already sitting up. He stroked the large wolf, using invisible mental power to pull out the bomb fragments embedded in its body.
“Let’s leave first.” He Chen didn’t wait for him to continue the treatment. He recalled the snow wolf into his mental domain and looked at the others.
The bomb was small, and the others were far away, so their injuries were not serious. They had already firmly restrained the culprits, the men in gray.
“Subordinate is guilty.” A soldier looked pale as he apologized to He Chen. He had failed to check this man properly.
“The punishment will wait until we return,” He Chen said sparingly. “Watch them closely. Don’t give them a chance to seek death.”
After giving his orders, he turned back to Lu Changqing. Lu Changqing had stood up and was standing quite steadily, but just as He Chen turned around, he swayed slightly.
He Chen immediately reached out to support him. He looked to the side, and a medic wearing gloves, who was part of the team, understood and quickly ran up: “Dean Lu—”
The medic reached out to treat Lu Changqing.
“No need,” Lu Changqing stopped him. “The injury is fine. I know what I’m doing.”
His refusal was serious, not merely polite deference.
“Then I’ll wrap things up here. I’ll have someone send you back first,” He Chen said softly, not insisting.
Lu Changqing didn’t refuse this time.
Qi Bo, already understanding, walked over: “I apologize, Commander.”
He felt useless, reacting slower than Dean Lu, a healer.
Dean Lu’s regard for the Commander was truly… Qi Bo took Lu Changqing from He Chen with the utmost respect.
It was strange; once the man was in his hands, his injury seemed genuinely fine, at least he didn’t need support.
Qi Bo glanced at He Chen as if making a guarantee, and then escorted Lu Changqing outside.
He Chen watched their retreating figures for a moment, then withdrew his gaze and commanded in a deep voice: “Do not slacken. Continue searching other suspicious locations…”
As Lu Changqing walked out of the factory building, he signaled his hidden people to stay behind, while he himself got into the hovercar with Qi Bo.
“Captain Qi, please wait here,” Lu Changqing said when they arrived back at the residence.
“Dean Lu, don’t you need to call a doctor?” Qi Bo was worried.
“I do,” Lu Changqing replied. “I’ve already contacted Fan Maode. His private doctor will arrive soon. Please wait for him outside. My mental power is somewhat shaken, and I need quiet rest and adjustment. Do not let anyone disturb me for one hour.”
“Yes, sir.” Qi Bo agreed, watching him enter the room. The door was well soundproofed. Qi Bo heard the sound of water for a moment, and then nothing.
The night was deep. In the sky above Shangyun Star, two pale white moons intersected, as if embracing each other.
Qi Bo briefly thought of the Commander and Dean Lu, then refocused, guarding the door and waiting for the private doctor to arrive.
In the night sky above Hanxiao Star, however, only a crescent moon hung like a hook.
Xiang Heng was not wearing the Ping Shan Base military uniform. Dressed in plain clothes, shrouded in the dim moonlight, he walked slowly through a graveyard, stopping and starting.
He stopped in front of the deepest tombstone, bent down, and picked up the clay doll placed beside it.
The doll was crude and looked like He Leyan had made it, but there was a crescent-shaped mark on the doll’s left cheek. Xiang Heng guessed it was He Chen’s handiwork.
Leyan certainly wouldn’t know; only He Chen knew that Han Jin had such a scar on his face.
That year, when they officially enlisted, Han Jin got that scar protecting He Chen.
He and Han Jin were older, and He Chen and Xu Lin were younger. For many years, he and Han Jin had always played the role of the steady protectors.
“Do you want to go back to the way things were?” Xiang Heng touched the scar on the doll’s face, looked at the tombstone, and asked in a low voice.
The tombstone naturally didn’t answer, but Xiang Heng’s terminal briefly lit up.
Xiang Heng looked down at the terminal. It was a message sent through a specially encrypted channel. After being marked as read, it glowed for a few seconds before automatically dissolving into garbled code and disappearing: [Brother, they have started the operation on Shangyun. Everything is going smoothly.]
[Don’t call me Brother next time. You must learn to protect yourself.]
Xiang Heng replied, his spirits lifting slightly. He took one last look at the tombstone, turned, and walked toward the direction of the sanatorium.
Xiang Heng took the secluded route because he was constantly monitored by He Hongsheng’s people and his movements were not free. Being able to come out tonight was a rare opportunity to shake off surveillance.
But halfway back, he caught an unusual sound in his ear. He stopped and looked in the direction of the sound: two figures in black flashed over a wall.
One of the figures had a build very similar to the person monitoring him.
Xiang Heng’s pupils contracted. He silently climbed a nearby high wall and looked into the compound.
This defense layout was wrong! It shouldn’t be so sparse.
Just then, firelight and human voices came from a distance. Xiang Heng frowned: the direction of the firelight was opposite to where the men in black were heading.
In an instant, Xiang Heng realized something, and his expression changed drastically!
As he leaped down the high wall and ran wildly under the cover of night, he risked opening the encrypted communication channel: “Quickly warn Ning Tian! Protect Leyan!”