Jin Liwei’s vision turned red and he was already in front of Nikolai grabbing and shaking the man’s collar before he even realized what he was doing. "Your family tortured my wife?!"
"Liwei, stop! Please don’t fight! Big Brother, please!" Iris also arrived not long after and tried to squeeze her small body between the two n.
Lu Zihao pried Jin Liwei’s hands from his collar, ripping the top part of his shirt in the process but not caring about it, before pushing the other man back with a casual-looking but powerful force. Jin Liwei staggered backwards but quickly regained his balance. Iris hugged him while placing herself in front of him to prevent him from coming for her brother again.
"I was just stating a fact," Lu Zihao said in an emotionless voice. "That was how we, the Vetrovs, lived."
Fury flooded Jin Liwei until it was all he could feel. "You didn’t do anything to protect your sister?! You allowed them to torture her?!"
"Please stop, Liwei!" Iris cried and tried to force him to look at her. "Don’t bla Big Brother! He was tortured, too! It was training, that’s all!"
Finally, Jin Liwei looked at her with a face filled with furious disbelief. "That’s all? You call torture ’that’s all’?"
"He tried to protect . He really did! He suffered more than I did when he tried to protect —"
"Evelinka, that’s enough!" Lu Zihao interrupted her in Russian. "No need to explain to him that part and try to defend . Let him believe what he wants to believe. I don’t care. He already thinks that I’m the devil anyway."
She ignored her brother and continued explaining to Jin Liwei as much as she could. "He was still a teenager that ti and I was only a little girl, so Big Brother couldn’t do anything—"
Jin Liwei was horrified and held her tightly. "The torture began when you were still a little girl?! What the hell, Evelina?!!"
She also ignored him, too caught up in finishing in her explanation. "But Big Brother eventually grew stronger and he was able to protect ! He really did! I didn’t have to undergo the torture training as much when I beca a teenager because of Big Brother’s interference."
"Not always," Lu Zihao whispered. "I had to fulfill my duties, so I was often out of the estate, leaving you there all alone to fend for yourself."
She couldn’t say anything to counter what he said because it was true. Although she reigned as one of the supre hackers in the cyberworld back then as the legendary Fantom, she was still the weakest in physical combat among the Vetrovs. She couldn’t always avoid being forced to undergo the Vetrovs’ harsh basic training regin which was a requirent for everyone in the family. There was only so much that she could do to resist whenever they literally dragged her away despite her protests and threw her into training.
However, it was also true that her brother went through much worse than her. The only difference was that he accepted his fate whereas she rejected hers. Slowly but surely, her will to live crumbled inside her gilded cage.
A wave of dizziness washed over her. She swayed a little on her feet. The two n reacted in an instant. Jin Liwei who was right in front of her caught her while Lu Zihao rushed towards her on instinct but stopped himself mid-stride upon rembering that she couldn’t take his scent.
"Father, Uncle Zihao, both of you are upsetting Mother too much," Bacon’s cold voice suddenly interrupted them. "If the two of you are unable to control your tempers, please get out of the room and cool off separately sowhere far away. If sothing bad happens to my mother tonight, Bacon will never forgive the two of you even if you’re my father and uncle. No amount of high salary will tempt to change my mind."
"Wuwuwu! Mommy, please be okay! Don’t faint again. Ketchup is so scared! owuwuwu!"
Bacon and Ketchup’s sudden interruption broke the volatile atmosphere between the three adults. Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao felt chastised by the AI child but couldn’t retort anything because they also had the sa attitude as Bacon. They would never forgive those who brought harm to Iris. This interruption managed to calm down the two n enough to rember that they both needed to control their own emotions so as not to upset the pregnant Iris.
"I’m fine." Iris’ voice sounded weak and exhausted.
Jin Liwei assisted her back to the couch so she could rest. Lu Zihao wordlessly grabbed a bottle of water from the mini-fridge and threw it. Jin Liwei caught the bottle and uncapped it before offering it to Iris. She took a few sips before her pale complexion regained a bit of colour. Not much but enough for the two n to feel relieved that she no longer looked like she was going to faint.
"Yes, that’s right! Daddy and Uncle Haohao should always cooperate with each other like basketball teammates and not fight like savages because we’re one big happy family! Right, Mommy? ow~"
"Right," Iris replied with a faint smile on her pale lips.
"See? The cute and mighty Ketchup is right! Mommy said so! ow~"
"Of course, Mother is always right," Bacon agreed.
Iris chuckled weakly. "Thank you, Ketchup and Bacon, for your concern for . But please leave us, the adults, to finish our discussion first."
Ketchup made a whining sound to express her worry.
"Understood, Mother," Bacon replied. Then he addressed the two adult n. "Father, Uncle Zihao, Bacon is watching you. Please don’t upset my mother again."
"Ketchup, Bacon, I’ll be fine," Iris repeated in a firr tone.
The two cat AI finally listened and withdrew from the conversation. However, they still made sure to continue monitoring their mother’s condition.
Iris released a big sigh of relief and took a few more sips of water. Then she looked at the two n who both looked much calr now. However, she could still sense the turmoil of intense emotions emanating from them, especially from Jin Liwei.
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