The voice was so hoarse and desperate, it was like the dying cry of a blood-soaked bird.

Even those like Qiang Ge, who knew the inside story, were startled, not to mention Tao Zhixing.

Tao Zhixing had been busy with official duties; after inheriting the Tao family, he focused on cleaning up his image, gradually shifting his work focus to the company’s affairs. As for the shady business in the background, most of it had been handed over to Zhao Jiayang, the “second-in-command,” while Tao Zhixing himself only managed the overall situation.

But just recently, Tao Fengche had an incident at the school gate and was nearly kidnapped.

Although the kidnappers’ car didn’t get far before being forced to stop by the Tao family’s driver, and Tao Fengche didn’t seem to have any psychological shadow, resting at home with a good appetite and sleeping well, every time Tao Zhixing thought about it, he felt a chill down his spine—what if the driver hadn’t reacted in time, or if the kidnappers had more accomplices…

Tao Fengche would definitely have been in grave danger.

He only had this one child, Tao Fengche, who was always cherished like a treasure. If anything had really happened… even though it was just a hypothetical situation, Tao Zhixing dared not think further.

The night he learned of Tao Fengche’s accident, he thought long and hard, wondering if he had been too focused on self-cultivation in recent years, making others think he had completely washed his hands of the matter, or perhaps they considered him an easy target, daring to lay a hand on Tao Fengche.

For this reason, Tao Zhixing had recently started to involve himself again in the shady business, giving the upper management a good talking to, and occasionally inspecting various shops himself.

Today was no different. He had just finished a business discussion with the CEO of another company nearby, and since it ended early, he remembered that the Tao family had a shop in this area, so he decided to stop by and have a look.

His decision was made on the spur of the moment, without notifying anyone in advance. The small-time leader in charge of the shop was caught off guard and hadn’t even had time to hide Sui Yuesheng before Tao Zhixing mentioned wanting to check the accounts.

The leader was on edge, barely managing to get through the account check, and was preparing to see this “big Buddha” off when Tao Zhixing suddenly decided to take a look around the back of the shop.

Despite the small leader’s silent prayers, Tao Zhixing’s inspection did uncover something.

The Tao family was in the pharmaceutical business, and the storeroom was supposed to only store the drugs for sale, with maybe some firearms and ammunition. Seeing the closed door, Tao Zhixing assumed it was the same as a previous shop he had inspected, where someone had been stealing drugs for resale, leading to a discrepancy in the inventory. But he hadn’t expected to hear such a desperate cry for help from inside the room.

Just a moment ago, he had been asking if there was anything shady inside, and the next moment, he got this huge “surprise.”

The people accompanying him turned pale immediately, and before the small leader could come up with an excuse, Tao Zhixing’s expression darkened. Without asking a single question, he nodded slightly to the right.

The bodyguards accompanying him stepped forward and kicked the locked door open with just two kicks.

Smoke and dust rose together, and the bodyguard reached for the switch, turning on the light in the room, revealing an omega lying on the concrete floor to everyone.

At the first sight of this figure, Tao Zhixing frowned.

In early December, Jingpu had already entered winter, and a cold wave had recently hit, with the biggest blizzard of the year just falling this morning. The temperature had already dropped below freezing, and although the front of the shop had the heating on, making it somewhat warm, this room was as cold as an ice cellar.

Even someone as robust as Tao Zhixing, an alpha in his prime, felt uncomfortable in such cold, but the small omega inside was only wearing a thin garment, with a dirty down jacket draped over him, stained with a lot of blood, clearly something discarded by someone else.

—Tao Zhixing didn’t know at the time that an alpha had thrown this dirty down jacket to Sui Yuesheng to prevent him from freezing to death, even rubbing oil on him a few times.

The omega’s gray hair was tangled and dirty, matted together as if it hadn’t been washed in a long time, emitting a sour smell of sweat fermentation. He looked just like a street beggar.

But only “like.”

After all, a beggar wouldn’t have such a pretty face.

Perhaps because he had been in the dark for so long, the sudden light made the omega uncomfortable. He raised his head dazedly, then quickly shut his eyes tightly, fully exposing his face to everyone.

Even though he was in tattered clothes, emaciated to the bone, with lips blue from the cold, hair disheveled like weeds, and a face devoid of any color, he was still beautiful, strikingly so, standing out in stark contrast to the chaotic surroundings and the discarded drug bottles scattered around.

“Is this omega brought from elsewhere?” Tao Zhixing’s gaze swept over his distinctly non-Kyushu hair color and appearance, then over the drug bottles on the concrete floor. As the head of the Tao family, he had a good grasp of all kinds of drugs, and after roughly estimating the quantity, he frowned, “He’s been locked up for over a month, and you’ve been keeping him alive with just nutrient injections?”

In the dead of winter, Tao Zhixing asked these two questions, and the small leader’s inner garments were already soaked in cold sweat. Before he could even open his mouth, Tao Zhixing continued, “Shouldn’t he have been sent away as soon as he arrived in Kyushu? Why has he stayed, or rather, been locked up here for so long?”

It’s over.

Completely over.

The small leader wasn’t surprised that Tao Zhixing saw through the omega’s origins, but he hadn’t expected him to be so sharp, immediately pinpointing the heart of the matter.

He trembled all over, knowing his time was up, and just as he was about to try to defend himself, Sui Yuesheng had already opened his eyes again.

He still wasn’t quite used to the bright light, blinking in confusion, but he managed to make out the middle-aged alpha standing among the crowd. Judging by his aura, this must be the person in charge.

…So this is “Master Tao”? He looks surprisingly young. I always thought he would be some old man in his sixties or seventies, Sui Yuesheng thought groggily.

Tao Zhixing said nothing, exuding a natural authority that made Sui Yuesheng shrink back, but at this moment, he couldn’t care about anything else.

He stubbornly repeated his earlier plea in a hoarse voice, “Help… help me…”

The voice was so faint it could be scattered by the wind, but the room was so quiet that Tao Zhixing heard every word clearly.

Then he looked at Sui Yuesheng, and with a slight nod, the Tao family’s bodyguard stepped forward and carefully helped Sui Yuesheng up from the ground. He was so weak that he couldn’t even stand on his own, and the bodyguard seemed a bit unsure of what to do. Finally, with Tao Zhixing’s permission, they found a slightly cleaner crate in the room and helped Sui Yuesheng sit on it.

“What exactly happened here?”

Only after the bodyguard had finished did Tao Zhixing speak again, repeating his question.

The small leader was completely speechless.

By rights, he wasn’t even qualified to meet Tao Zhixing, but he was good at flattery. Once, when his boss sent him on an errand, he had seen Tao Zhixing from a distance. Today was his first time being so close to the head of the Tao family, and earlier, when Tao Zhixing casually complimented him on how clear the accounts were, he had been happy, even dreaming of promotions and wealth…

Now, it was all gone.

Tao Zhixing had come straight from the meeting, dressed in a pure black suit with a dark overcoat that reached his knees, his hair neatly combed. Combined with his handsome features, he looked like a business elite straight out of a fashion magazine, but now his face was as cold as ice, his voice calm and emotionless, yet exuding an inexplicable aura of dread.

So all the lies the small leader had prepared vanished into thin air. He was at a loss for words, his whole body trembling slightly.

When the boss didn’t speak, the underlings behind naturally didn’t dare either. Some of them even naively hoped that since it was just an omega, as long as they all kept quiet today, they could cover it up.

But they were dealing with Tao Zhixing.

Mr. Tao had dominated the scene for decades and had never encountered a situation he couldn’t get to the bottom of. Without a word, he casually took a Browning pistol from the bodyguard, and after unlocking the safety, pointed it randomly at someone in the crowd, “Talk.”

There might have been a chance to get away if they kept silent, but once they spoke, it was a matter of life and death. The alpha who had been pointed out hesitated, and in the next second, Tao Zhixing shot him in the ankle, sending him crashing to the ground, screaming in pain like a piece of rotten meat.

Everyone except the Tao family’s bodyguards was terrified.

The small leader had at least seen Tao Zhixing before, but the others only knew him by reputation, and now, seeing him so ruthless, their minds went blank.

Tao Zhixing didn’t look at the alpha on the ground again. The muzzle of the Browning gun still had a wisp of smoke curling out of it. He cocked his head slightly to the side, his voice as calm as before, “Speak.”

By the time he pointed to the third person, someone in the crowd finally couldn’t stand the atmosphere of one-by-one execution anymore. He knelt on the ground, trembling like a leaf, and stammered out everything. The more Tao Zhixing listened, the darker his expression became. By the end, his eyes were full of malice.

Tricking omegas into coming to Kyushu, then transporting them to the black market or brothels to be sold like goods, and the omegas were completely unaware…

This completely violated the Tao family’s principles. And judging by how skilled they were at it, they must have been doing this behind his back for quite some time.

Ridiculous that he had been kept in the dark.

First, outsiders dared to kidnap his son, and now his own people were double-dealing like this. Did they really think he had spent all these years living a life of religious devotion?

And this was just something he happened to stumble upon today. How many other omegas had suffered similar unjust fates? How many more were colluding to carry out such activities?

…This was just one small aspect of human trafficking, a negligible part of the Tao family’s secret businesses. What about the others?

Tao Zhixing closed his eyes tightly.

When he reopened them, all the fury in his gaze had dissipated, and he was once again as calm as still water. The small leader breathed a sigh of relief, thinking Tao Zhixing didn’t intend to pursue the matter further. He was just about to flatter him when Tao Zhixing said, “That’s enough. Take care of all of them.”

The Tao family’s bodyguards nodded and blocked all the exits.

Most of the people didn’t understand what “take care of” meant and were still in a state of confusion, but the small leader suddenly made some grim connections.

And this time, his imagination came true.

Tao Zhixing pulled the trigger, aiming right between the small leader’s eyes.

He only fired that one shot personally. After that, dealing with the remaining people was nothing short of a massacre by the Tao family’s bodyguards. The scene was a bloodbath, like a hell on earth, with a small stream of blood forming on the cement floor. Tao Zhixing stood there unmoved, only making a call to his trusted aide.

“Investigate. Find out how many others are involved in this. No matter how many, execute them all, and make sure to keep it quiet.” After giving these instructions, he suddenly asked, “Who’s in charge of this area? Wasn’t it Liu Tianlei?”

“Also, check if he was aware of this. If he was, take care of him too. If not… leaving such a useless person in his position is still a hazard. Give him a lesson and exile him somewhere to live out his days.”

After finishing the call and while his bodyguards began methodically cleaning up the scene, Tao Zhixing casually turned his head and suddenly noticed the omega sitting on the crate.

…He had been so quiet that Tao Zhixing had almost forgotten about him.

Tao Zhixing squinted his eyes with interest. After witnessing such a bloody scene, not only did this omega not cry like others would, but there was even a trace of satisfaction on his face, as if a great revenge had been exacted. Recalling what the sobbing alpha had confessed earlier about “being left here temporarily because of his temper”…

It was rather intriguing.

“Go get the down jacket from my car,” Tao Zhixing instructed the bodyguard, then turned to Sui Yuesheng and asked, “Do you have any other family?”

He had intended to do a good deed by giving Sui Yuesheng some money and sending him back home, but Sui Yuesheng shook his head and said no.

There was no scent of pheromones on Sui Yuesheng, meaning he was still a minor omega. After thinking for a moment, Tao Zhixing initially planned to send him to an orphanage that the Tao family had invested in, but when the bodyguard returned with the down jacket and handed it to him, he suddenly changed his mind.

This down jacket, which was completely against Tao Zhixing’s taste, had been bought by Tao Fengche out of concern for his father’s warmth. But as a big shot, Tao Zhixing absolutely refused to be seen in public wearing something so bulky, yet he kept it in the car as a token of his son’s filial piety.

…Tao Fengche was all alone at home and just happened to need a playmate, and this omega owed his life to Tao Zhixing, so there was no need to worry about his loyalty for now. And besides, he was an omega…

“I have a son, and he just happens to need a little friend. Would you like to come with me?” he asked.

Sui Yuesheng looked a little confused. “Your son?”

Tao Zhixing nodded, and thinking of Tao Fengche, he softened noticeably. “Yes, he’s an alpha, eight years old, about this tall, fair-skinned and soft, but he cries a lot. If you come with me, you’ll have to help take care of him.”

He gestured to indicate Tao Fengche’s height.

…A powerful boss like this, with a son who cries a lot?

Sui Yuesheng couldn’t imagine it, but he still nodded lightly. After all, he had nowhere else to go.

Tao Zhixing chuckled, extending his hand and personally leading him out. “It seems we’ll need to come up with a new name for you. Let me think… what would be a good name…”