Ten Rules to Bind Her Heart - Chapter 55
Jackal heard the engine and turned.
The instant he saw Shen Yu’s vehicle, he jogged over with several subordinates behind him.
His loyalty to Shen Yu was absolute and fanatical, his eyes filled with reverence.
Shen Yu opened his door and stepped out.
“Boss!”
Jackal snapped to attention, his deep voice powerful.
“We’ve finished inventorying the new collection and were preparing to report.”
Shen Yu nodded but said nothing. Instead, he walked around the front of the vehicle and opened the passenger door.
Jackal froze.
Everyone on the base served Shen Yu. When had Shen Yu ever personally opened a car door for someone?
In the next instant, a trembling foot in a cream-colored leather shoe emerged.
Then Xia Zhiyao lowered her head and climbed from the car.
The moment Jackal recognized her, surprise appeared on his respectful face.
This woman again.
In his eyes, a weak woman who did nothing but cry had no value beyond warming a man’s bed.
Then his gaze fell on Xia Zhiyao’s dark green uniform dress—or rather, on the black-and-gold wolf insignia above her left breast—and his entire body froze.
That was…
Was that the black-and-gold wolf insignia?
Jackal’s eyes widened in disbelief. He looked from it to Shen Yu.
Shen Yu’s face remained expressionless. He had no intention of explaining and merely cast Jackal a cool glance.
The look was calm, yet it poured over him like a bucket of ice water and trapped every remaining word in his throat.
The heavy muscles in Jackal’s face twitched.
He was a crude man, but after following Shen Yu through life and death for so many years, he understood rules better than anyone.
At Black Wolf Base, the emblem determined rank.
And that gold-embroidered wolf represented Shen Yu’s will.
To see the emblem was to see the leader himself.
Jackal’s face twitched again. Gritting his teeth, he forced down his resentment.
He was an untamable troublemaker who submitted to no one but Shen Yu. Bowing his head to such a little girl was more painful than death.
Even so, he immediately brought his feet together and straightened. Facing the fragile girl beside Shen Yu, he raised his right hand in a flawless Black Wolf salute.
“Salute!”
At his roar, the men behind him snapped to attention and raised their hands in perfect unison.
The sudden display startled Xia Zhiyao. Instinctively, she retreated and backed into Shen Yu’s arms.
The terrifying man before her had once wanted to make a lantern from her skin. Now he saluted her with such respect. The contrast left her at a loss.
She raised her head toward Shen Yu in silent appeal.
Shen Yu gently steadied her shoulder and indicated with his eyes that she should acknowledge them.
Xia Zhiyao swallowed and exhaled softly. Imitating what she had seen on television, she awkwardly but earnestly bowed.
“H-hello.”
Her voice was soft, sounding strangely out of place among the rough men.
Shen Yu looked down at her timid, inexperienced manner and smiled faintly.
Then he turned to Jackal.
“Have you finished organizing?”
Jackal went rigid. He might have been crude, but no one reached his position without learning how to read a room.
He instantly understood the dismissal hidden behind the simple question.
Their boss had brought his new wife to display his wealth. Naturally, unnecessary people needed to disappear.
Whatever Jackal thought, he would never antagonize Shen Yu to his face.
“Reporting, Boss! Every item has been inventoried.”
He delivered the report loudly, then efficiently turned and waved to the dazed men behind him.
“Everyone withdraw! Move to Zone C!”
The group retreated like a receding tide, swift and silent, demonstrating exceptional discipline.
Jackal left last. The moment he crossed the threshold, he perceptively pressed the control switch on the wall.
With a deep hydraulic rumble, the twenty-inch-thick steel blast door slowly closed.
Only Xia Zhiyao and Shen Yu remained in the vast underground space.
“Frightened senseless?”
Shen Yu turned and looked down at the girl beside him.
Xia Zhiyao still stood stiffly, staring in the direction Jackal had disappeared.
Under the cold white industrial lights, her small face was nearly translucent. The dark green uniform closely enclosed her slender body, making her resemble an orchid growing between slabs of steel.
Only at Shen Yu’s voice did her soul seem to return. Her lashes trembled.
“I’ve… seen that man before.”
Shen Yu raised a brow, indicating that she should continue.
Xia Zhiyao remembered Jackal’s predatory eyes beside the heavy truck and his threat to skin her and make a lantern. Her body trembled involuntarily.
Summoning her courage, she continued in a small voice, unmistakably telling on him.
“I met him when Dr. Anya showed me around. He said I was a spy and that he wanted to… make me into a lantern. Fortunately, Dr. Anya was there. She even drew her gun. It was terrifying.”
Shen Yu leisurely watched her aggrieved expression, privately amused. Yet he offered no comfort and deliberately deepened his voice with a scoff.
“That’s what happens when you disobey and follow other people around while I’m gone.”
Xia Zhiyao’s heart tightened. Afraid of another punishment, she immediately lowered her head and apologized.
“Mr. Shen… I won’t do it again…”
Shen Yu continued,
“Jackal is my blade and my most loyal guard. His duty is to suspect every living creature that approaches me.”
Despite the words, interest flickered through his eyes as he regarded her meek, aggrieved face.
He did not tell her that she now bore his mark.
From this moment forward, even a blade like Jackal would have to return to its sheath before this little girl.
“Enough. Raise your head and look.”
Shen Yu walked to a nearby rack and picked up a touchscreen remote.
With a rush,
a chain of high-powered lights ignited in the distance, racing toward the depths like falling dominoes.
The previously dim underground space became bright as day in an instant.
Xia Zhiyao instinctively narrowed her eyes. Once they adjusted to the brilliance, she opened them again.
Then words abandoned her.
Only astonishment remained.
