“Mo Xin, I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to go down this path with me,” Liang Qiuchi sighed, “This path is too bitter, I can walk it alone, even if you’ll hate me…”

“Do you think the path I’ve walked in these eight years hasn’t been bitter?” Mo Xin cut off his words, his eyes reddening uncontrollably.

Back then, he had been unconscious for nearly three months after being shot, not only losing a significant amount of weight but also waking up in a daze, taking nearly half a month to clear his confused mind.

The moment he regained consciousness, he wanted to call Liang Qiuchi to ask about his condition.

“Don’t call him for now,” his older brother said, “Wait until you’ve recovered, then you can contact him. That way, he won’t worry about you.”

“Give me your phone first,” Mo Xin said, “I’m bored lying here.”

Mo Qi made excuses, “The phone is broken, and I haven’t had the chance to buy a new one. Just lie down for now.”

Mo Xin felt his older brother’s attitude was a bit strange. He tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep, with Liang Qiuchi’s desperate and pale face before he collapsed from being shot, filling his mind whenever he closed his eyes.

He was genuinely worried about Liang Qiuchi.

So, he simply pulled out the IV tube and stumbled downstairs to find a phone.

But Liang Qiuchi’s phone couldn’t be reached.

At first, Mo Xin thought he might have remembered the number wrong. He carefully entered it again, comparing it with the number in his memory, but the result was the same.

He started to feel anxious.

On one hand, he feared his memory might be confused and mistaken, and on the other hand, he feared his bad premonition might come true.

So that night, Mo Xin sat nervously by the phone, repeatedly dialing the same number that wouldn’t connect.

It wasn’t until three in the morning that Mo Qi got up to go to the bathroom and found him.

“You need to rest now!” Mo Qi ordered someone to forcibly take him back to the bedroom and rehang the IV drip.

“Liang Qiuchi’s phone can’t be reached. I just want to ask about his situation.” Mo Xin looked pale as he spoke to him, “Ge, can you help me contact him?”

“He’s doing fine. Stop worrying so much and go to sleep.” When Mo Qi left, worried that Mo Xin might sneak out again in the middle of the night, he locked the door from the outside.

This ambiguous attitude only deepened Mo Xin’s inner worries.

He lay in bed, silently repeating Liang Qiuchi’s name, his hands and feet trembling uncontrollably in a fixed rhythm. He stared at the diminishing drip in the IV bottle, waiting for it to empty. When it did, he got out of bed again.

Finding the door wouldn’t open, he went to climb out of the window.

Coincidentally, a nurse came to remove his needle and was startled by him perched on the windowsill, screaming in shock and alerting everyone in the Mo family.

Mo Qi paced back and forth in the room with a solemn expression, occasionally glancing at his younger brother’s terrifyingly pale face. Finally, he sighed and said, “I discussed this with Dad. We were originally planning to postpone telling you until you were in better health.”

“What’s going on?” Mo Xin couldn’t help but tighten the grip on his pajamas.

“It’s like this…” Mo Qi thought for a moment and said, “Liang Qiuchi, he’s dead.”

Mo Xin felt like he’d been struck by lightning.

He was dazed for a long time before he came to his senses.

“How did he die? When?” He kept asking about everything regarding Liang Qiuchi, but Mo Qi’s answers were vague, and he quickly made excuses to leave.

Mo Xin never dared to believe this fact. But the Mo family kept Liang Qiuchi’s name taboo, so apart from “Liang Qiuchi is dead,” Mo Xin couldn’t find out any more details.

Shock and grief almost engulfed Mo Xin, but along with it came a bit of self-deceptive denial and hope.

He couldn’t believe it unless he saw Liang Qiuchi’s tombstone.

However, his father and elder brother were keeping a close watch on him, never allowing him to leave the Mo family compound, and not even providing him with any means of communication with the outside world.

Finding it suspicious, Mo Xin seized an opportunity on a rainy night to sneak into his elder brother’s study.

With the wind and rain masking the sound of his footsteps, he didn’t alert anyone this time.

He turned on the computer, but before he could do anything, a news popup appeared in the bottom right corner of the screen.

The headline read: “Former Deputy Minister of Defense’s Son Liang Qiuchi Officially Joins Lugo Armed Forces.”

Mo Xin thought he was seeing things, but upon clicking into it, he realized it wasn’t some attention-grabbing headline, but real!

How could this be?

While relieved that Liang Qiuchi hadn’t died, Mo Xin was flooded with more questions.

He quickly searched for related news and found that all the articles were conveying the same information: Liang Qiuchi’s father committed treason, and as his only son, Liang Qiuchi had nowhere to turn. He shot Roy Reinis and officially defected from the Federation to join Lugo in opposition to the Federation.

As for the specifics of Liang Qiuchi’s father’s crime, he couldn’t find any statements, only footage of Liang Qiuchi shooting Roy and Godwin at the funeral.

Watching the footage of Liang Qiuchi resolutely and coldly firing the gun, Mo Xin felt a bit unfamiliar.

Because the Liang Qiuchi in his memory was always gentle and cheerful, but the man on the screen was just a cold-blooded killer.

How could so many significant changes have occurred during his three-month coma? Was Liang Qiuchi okay now? Why didn’t he seek refuge in Danga, but instead went to Lugo? Would Lugo really accept someone from a high-ranking Federation family?

Mo Xin had too many questions that needed answers.

No, he had to find Liang Qiuchi and ask him face to face.

News reports weren’t enough to believe; he only trusted what Liang Qiuchi said.

Mo Xin made up his mind, and his actions were swift.

He only took a gun, went downstairs, and prepared to drive straight to Lugo to find him.

But as soon as he stepped out of the front door, he triggered the security system installed around the perimeter walls and gates, and the piercing alarm shattered the rainy night.

Mo Xin wanted to run, but his body hadn’t fully recovered, and he was weaker than before. He couldn’t fight, and he couldn’t run. Once again, he was tied up and taken back home by the people arranged by Mo Qi.

“Let go.” Mo Xin’s hands were bound behind his back, and he couldn’t break free for a moment.

Mo Qi dragged him to the guest room on the first floor, leaving a trail of wet footprints on the floor. He asked Mo Xin, “It’s pouring outside. Where do you plan to go?”

“To find Liang Qiuchi.”

“Ah,” Mo Qi sighed, “I didn’t think I could hide it from you, but you found out so quickly. Still, it’s beyond my expectations.”

“Why lie to me that he’s dead?” Mo Xin coldly interrogated.

“He defected from the Federation. Is there a difference between that and being dead?” Mo Qi sat down on the sofa, looking a bit helpless. “Do you know that by going to find him, you’re also walking into death?”

“So the news is true…” Mo Xin’s heart sank, “With such a big incident in his family, I can’t just ignore him.”

“What’s your relationship with him that you have to meddle in his affairs?” Mo Qi crossed his legs, looking at his younger brother, who had always been cold to everyone and everything, with some interest. He clicked his tongue lightly. “What charm does Liang Qiuchi have to make you like this?”

Mo Xin knelt on the ground, struggling hard to untie his hands.

The ropes on his wrists had rubbed his skin raw, but there was no sign of loosening in the knots.

“Ge, I’m begging you, let me go find him.”

“Alright, I’ll ask you, with the weather like this outside, where do you plan on finding him?” Mo Qi said, “Lugo? I bet you haven’t even figured out Liang Qiuchi’s exact whereabouts, and you’ll be shot dead by the locals before you do.”

These words didn’t shake Mo Xin’s determination at all.

“You won’t know if you don’t try.”

Mo Qi stared at him for a moment and nodded. “Alright, let’s make a gentlemen’s agreement. I’ll give you one month to search. If you find him, do as you please. If you don’t find him, come back obediently, go back to school, graduate, and never mention this person again.”

Mo Xin didn’t respond immediately.

Mo Qi reminded him, “This is the biggest concession I can make. If Dad finds out, you might lose this chance too.”

“Okay,” Mo Xin agreed, “Let’s do it.”