Chapter 86#

The Disabled Big Shot’s Stepson#

Until he sat on the bus to the camping site, Lin Xiaodong still had a stiff face.

The youth leaned back in the first row of seats with his arms crossed, eyes closed. His left face read “I’m very annoyed” and his right face read “Don’t look for trouble,” making Ye Shiyuan, sitting across the aisle, struggle to contain his laughter for a long time.

But when his gaze met Lin Pei’s, who was sitting beside Lin Xiaodong, the man’s dark, heavy eyes released an invisible pressure, instantly making Ye Shiyuan shut his mouth obediently.

As an astute subordinate, one must constantly observe the leader’s mood, analyze the leader’s thoughts, and help the leader clear obstacles on the road one step ahead. It was rare for Lin Pei to come along for this camping trip. However, since boarding the bus, the two people sitting together hadn’t had any communication—one look at the expressions of these two, one large and one small, and Ye Shiyuan knew it was time for him to step up again.

“Let me tell you a secret,” he leaned over and whispered to Lin Xiaodong, “A kind of yellow fruit grows in that place. It’s very rare and can be used to make a yellow pigment. Many great painters can’t buy it even with a lot of money. This time, the Head of the Family specifically bought the entire piece of land for you. You can pick as much as you want.”

Lin Pei glanced over imperceptibly.

Ye Shiyuan knew this meant “well done.”

But Lin Xiaodong was obviously unmoved. He gave a heavy snort, pointed his thumb at Lin Pei sitting by the window, and asked with a face full of displeasure, “Then why did he come along too?”

“The Head of the Family is worried about your safety,” Ye Shiyuan said solemnly. “Don’t worry, we won’t interfere with you. We’ll just follow from a distance just in case.”

Lin Pei also added, “I will issue you a flare gun then. If you encounter danger that cannot be resolved, you must notify the teachers at the base in time.”

“You know that’s not what I meant!” Lin Xiaodong frowned tightly, glanced at Lin Qi sitting behind who was pretending not to care but almost had his ear pressed to the back seat, and whispered in Lin Pei’s ear, “You’ve said it yourself, so many people outside want your life. Why are you still following us to this kind of wilderness?”

However, the man just turned his head and looked at him with a smile in his eyes.

“Are you worrying about me?”

Lin Xiaodong’s eyes widened. He stared fiercely at this fellow whose thick skin was increasing day by day for a moment, then turned his head away and didn’t want to pay any attention to him anymore.

“Take it as I didn’t say anything!”

But Lin Pei was obviously in a great mood and even peeled an orange for him on the bus: “Want some?”

“No, sour as hell.” Lin Xiaodong was not to be seduced by wealth and rank.

The man knitted his eyebrows and tasted a slice himself.

“Alright, it’s indeed a bit.” He said, “I…”

But just after saying this, Lin Pei was stunned for a moment. An inexplicable sense of déjà vu made him lower his eyes, staring blankly at the orange in his hand. It wasn’t until the bus arrived at the destination that he finally came back to his senses, silently stuffing the orange with only one slice eaten into the trash bag.

…It was indeed very sour.

Their camping site was chosen in the depths of a dense forest. The task was to live in the forest for seven days on their own and find two different colors of flags based on clues on the map—a total of three yellow flags, each team member would get fifty medals after finding them; a total of fifteen red flags, an individual reward of ten medals for the first to find them.

Watching Ye Shiyuan nearby calling people to camp next to the bus, Lin Xiaodong, carrying his bag, exchanged a look with the black-haired man sitting in the wheelchair from afar, then withdrew his gaze and said to the fifteen children around him, “Let’s go.”

First of all, the most important thing was definitely choosing the campsite.

Although the trees here were tall and dense, it was far safer than a real tropical rainforest by unknown times. Therefore, after reading the entire map, Lin Xiaodong decided to lead the team forward for one kilometer and camp next to a small stream.

“Just right, let’s take an inventory of the supplies they gave while walking,” he suggested, and received unanimous approval from the others.

Ye Shiyuan gave each of them a backpack. It wasn’t large, not much different from an ordinary schoolbag, but its material was very good. Lin Xiaodong tried it and found that it was not only waterproof but could even be used as a lifebuoy at critical moments.

In addition to the very practical backpack, everyone’s standard equipment also included a Swiss Army knife, a box of windproof matches, a small bag of vitamins and basic anti-inflammatory drugs, a small roll of bandages, a bottle of water, a compass, a three-meter-long nylon rope, and a sewing kit.

The boys were responsible for carrying the camping tents, and as the captain, Lin Xiaodong’s backpack also had a flare gun and a detailed map marking the positions of the small flags and the terrain within a five-kilometer radius more than them.

He was busy burying his head in studying this halfway, making Lin Qi’s eyes almost turn green.

“The Lin family is indeed wealthy and powerful,” he sighed, “just the price of these bags alone must be tens of thousands, right?”

System: “Look overhead.”

Lin Xiaodong narrowed his eyes, looked up through the dense canopy at the sky, and found that a drone was following them from each of the four directions—east, west, south, and north—and they, with so many people below, didn’t hear any sound at all. This was simply the treatment of a mayor’s travel.

But it was no wonder. Not to mention Lin Pei, almost the entire next generation of the Lin family was concentrated here. If anything happened to them, no one could bear the responsibility.

The distance of one kilometer was not far. It was just after ten o’clock when they arrived. Lin Xiaodong looked at a group of brats who were as excited as if they were on an outing, sighed deeply, and began to assign tasks with resignation.

The girls went nearby to look for wild fruits, while the boys began to pitch tents under his direction—Lin Xiaodong was incredibly thankful. If Ye Shiyuan hadn’t taught them the knack in advance, just this one item would probably have consumed the entire afternoon.

When the tents were pitched, the girls also came back with the fruits they had gathered.

In addition to the red fruits Ye Shiyuan mentioned on the bus before, Lin Xiaodong’s mouth twitched as he found several brightly colored red mushrooms in them. Instantly his mind was filled with that demonic nursery rhyme “Red umbrella, white stem, lie in a coffin together after eating.”

He immediately gathered everyone together, pointed at those red mushrooms, and told them that if they didn’t want to die young, the next time they saw this thing, they should turn around and run immediately, right now.

After working hard for half a day, the group finally settled down.

They pitched the tents, set up a simple fence with branches around them, and chewed on the wild fruits gathered by the girls as a meal. Lin Xiaodong let out a long sigh, sat on a tree stump, and just as he wanted to say everyone should rest for a while, Lin Qi, who had long been unable to hold back, jumped out immediately.

“Captain, I think you should make the map public to everyone,” he said righteously, “otherwise, only you among the sixteen of us know the location of the red flags. This is very unfair.”

Lin Xiaodong’s action of chewing on the fruit paused.

Noticing the eyes of the other children around, he smiled, threw the fruit core aside, clapped his hands, and agreed casually.

“Sure. But there’s a requirement: the time to go look for the red flags every day must be fixed within a certain period, and a rotation system will be implemented. Someone must remain on guard at the camp. No objections, right?”

The youth with the pageboy haircut was the first to raise his hand and answer: “I have no objections.”

Lin Shanshan glanced at him quickly, seemingly a bit annoyed that she couldn’t be the first to respond to Lin Xiaodong’s proposal. But she still spoke up immediately after: “Neither do I.”

In a chorus of agreement, Lin Qi’s gaze was slightly gloomy. But in any case, he had barely achieved his goal, so he also reluctantly nodded along with the crowd: “I agree too.”

“Alright then,” Lin Xiaodong took out the map, spread it on the grass in the middle of the camp, pointed to a small dot, and said to them, “This is our current location. Everyone must remember it well…”

Inside the bus.

Ye Shiyuan looked at the surveillance screen displayed on the laptop screen and smiled at Lin Pei: “Head of the Family, you indeed didn’t see the wrong person. Xiaodong is looking more and more like a leader now.”

“A bit better than his previous half-dead state, but still too naive.”

A curve curled at the corner of Lin Pei’s lips. Although he said so, the pride in his words was beyond expression.

“By the way,” he turned the wheelchair in another direction, and his expression suddenly became serious, “has the movement of that mercenary team from the Fang family that we’ve been tracking been discovered now?”

Ye Shiyuan pursed his lips and shook his head.

“Sorry, Head of the Family, it’s my incompetence,” he said puzzledly, “But I don’t understand. Didn’t the Head of the Fang family say he wanted to form a marriage alliance with us before? Why would the attitude change so much suddenly…”

“That’s because Fang Chenghiong is afraid of me,” Lin Pei sneered, and coughed twice from the wind in the dense forest. Ye Shiyuan hurriedly had someone bring a blanket from the bus to wrap around him. “But now? He thinks I’m already a useless person, not worth fearing, so of course he won’t be willing to marry his precious daughter over.”

“But it shouldn’t go to the point of meeting with weapons.”

“That’s your thought,” Lin Pei said calmly.

The man in the wheelchair looked into the distance, his eyes indifferent: “This world is originally a matter of the weak being prey to the strong, a life-and-death struggle. The so-called warmth between big families before was only because of temporary identical interests.”

This was the truth he had always wanted Lin Xiaodong to understand.

“Achoo! Achoo!!”

Lin Xiaodong in the camp inexplicably sneezed twice in a row.

“Someone is missing you, Captain,” the pageboy haircut teased him with a smile. “You’re 18 this year, right? Have you ever been in a relationship? Or, do you have someone you like?”

Before Lin Xiaodong could answer, a group of brats moved by gossip swarmed over. Even Lin Shanshan, who was lightly scolding them as “boring,” unconsciously pricked up an ear.

“What are you guys… doing?” Lin Xiaodong didn’t know whether to laugh or cry looking at them.

A group of teenagers surrounded him with sparkling eyes and urged: “Tell us, tell us! We want to hear!”

I want to hear too.

Lin Pei, staring at the monitor without blinking, thought.

Lin Xiaodong had no choice but to pretend to be stern and questioned: “Stop wandering around. Have you finished the tasks at hand? Is today’s dinner resolved? Go now!”

“Tsk…”

Seeing him not saying, the group dispersed in great disappointment.

For some reason, Lin Pei also silently breathed a sigh of relief. However, the tactless Ye Shiyuan pointed at Lin Shanshan on the screen, whose pigtails were swaying, and smiled: “It’s so good. If Xiaodong is with Shanshan, then I really won’t have to worry. These two children joining forces will definitely be able to carry forward the Lin family after they grow up.”

He also sketched a beautiful vision in his heart—Lin Shanshan, calm and rational, acting as a counselor and a virtuous helper by his side; Lin Xiaodong, generous and tolerant, just right as the head of the family to absorb more talents. Simply a perfect match!

Lin Pei gave him a glance with eyes devoid of any emotion.

“Ye Shiyuan,” he said calmly.

“Present!” Ye Shiyuan instinctively stood at attention and answered.

“I limit you to three days to find the whereabouts of that mercenary team,” the black-haired man tapped the armrest of the wheelchair and said flatly, “Otherwise, you take the people from Lin’s Construction and go build airports in Africa for me.”

Ye Shiyuan: “…………”

While Ye Shiyuan here experienced the treatment of being in deep trouble because of his loose tongue, on the other side, Lin Xiaodong, who was out camping with fifteen children, was also feeling overwhelmed.

It’s not easy being a nanny!

To be honest, the IQ of the children in the Lin family is generally a notch higher than that of their peers, but in any case, they are after all still children. Curiosity, exuberant action, and a spirit that always remains in an excited state are their standard features. In just one short day, Lin Xiaodong felt his hair was falling out in handfuls.

“I really admire Gu Xingzhai from the previous world now. How did he manage to teach a group of boys that even dogs would despise into that?” Finally, it was late at night, and everyone was asleep. Lin Xiaodong finally had a chance to be alone—because he was one of the night watchmen tonight, responsible for the most difficult second half of the night.

System: “Probably… talent?”

Lin Xiaodong bent one leg, leaned against the tree trunk and sighed: “Then I probably won’t have such talent in this life.”

He intermittently fiddled with the bonfire in front of him with a branch, listening to the faint snoring from the tents, and also felt a wave of sleepiness emerging from the depths of his brain.

The youth let out a large yawn, forced himself to resist the urge to sleep, and kept awake by chatting with the system.

In a forest like this in the middle of nowhere, although their camping position was not too deep and there wouldn’t be any large beasts, they still had to beware of snake attacks in the middle of the night. It’s early October now. Although the climate here in the south is still warm, the time for it to turn cold is basically in these two days.

By the time the cold wave arrives, the role of the bonfire is almost negligible in front of hungry beasts.

But before dawn broke, Lin Xiaodong finally fell asleep.

In a daze, he seemed to see a figure sneak into his tent. Lin Xiaodong woke up instantly, but he didn’t move. Instead, he continued to maintain his original posture and pretend to sleep, watching the person’s shadow carefully rummaging in his tent.

“It’s Lin Qi, right,” he said with certainty, “He came to find the map?”

System: “That’s right.”

“He definitely won’t steal it. The whole team only has this one map. If he takes it, he will be targeted by everyone.” Lin Xiaodong frowned slightly, “So, he secretly brought electronic products over?”

Sure enough, the next second, Lin Qi in the tent pulled out a mobile phone from his pocket.

“Not much ability, but quite a lot of schemes.” Lin Xiaodong sneered, and just as he planned to get up and catch him red-handed, he suddenly heard a burst of propeller buzzing from the southeast. He instinctively turned his head to look—in the direction the sound came from, leaves were falling, accompanied by a dull thud of a heavy object hitting the ground.

With just such a daze, when he looked back again, Lin Qi had already slipped back into his own tent.

But Lin Xiaodong didn’t have time to deal with him for now. He greeted the pageboy haircut who was also awakened by the sound just now and stuck his head out of the tent while rubbing his eyes, and walked over there alone.

After walking less than a hundred meters, he saw a familiar drone lying on a rock by the stream. The propellers were still idling, but the whole fuselage was basically shattered to pieces.

Lin Xiaodong stared at it silently for a few seconds, knelt down, and picked up a fragment of the drone.

The moment he saw the bullet marks on it clearly, a chill instantly swept through his heart.

He took a deep breath and turned around to run without hesitation.