Chapter 692



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Minutes later . . .

Nora had never thought that Trueman would actually send a gift.

The butler in front of her also had a grave look on his face. He said, “It was delivered by a letter carrier. We looked into it: he’s an ordinary letter carrier, who has been delivering mail here for many years. Besides, the package was sent from New York.”

From New York…

Had Trueman returned to America?

I was alarmed.

Truth be told, since Xander had grown up under Trueman’s care, his personality had long ago developed to be like Trueman’s. Thanks to Trueman’s care, his moral compass had also strayed a bit off the right path.

gⱯlnσν𝒆𝓁s․com is where dreams unfold Trueman was not a good man. Besides, from what Xander had said, you could tell he wasn’t treating him all that well either.

Besides, hadn’t Xander left his side precisely because Trueman had taken him away?

One couldn’t have gratitude towards a human trafficker just because he didn’t kill her son.

Therefore, Nora didn’t want the two of them to have contact again.

Besides, as she saw it, Xander was nothing more than Trueman’s pawn. Judging by Trueman’s attitude toward Ruth, one could tell that the man was quite insensitive….

He looked at the gift box in his hand and slowly opened it.

When he saw the contents, a look of surprise formed in his eyes and he slammed the lid shut. She thought about all the events of the past, as well as what Caleb had told her, and her heart began to pound.

“What’s wrong?”

Just when she was a little nervous, Justin’s deep, deep voice came from the background, calming her down a little.

She looked behind her and narrowed her eyes. Just as she was about to speak, someone standing nearby noticed Justin and came over to talk to him.

Nora fell silent.

Justin said, “Uncle Ian is in the upstairs parlor, why don’t you go up there? I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Okay.”

Nora’s fingers around the box tightened, apparently very afraid that the box would fall and shatter. She took a deep breath and went upstairs.

Before she entered the living room, a startled cry was suddenly heard from downstairs.

Nora looked down and saw a few people holding cages. Inside the cages were some rabbits, as well as cats and dogs.

Xander was circling around them in joy and surprise. “No. 6! No. 3! And rabbit No. 5! Why are they here?”

Nora: “?”

It was again the butler who had brought the cages. He had only brought them after consulting Justin.

In the midst of Nora’s hesitation, Justin had dismissed the person who approached him with just a few words. He approached her.

Nora was silent for a while. Then, she asked, “Are these Trueman’s gifts, too?”

“Yes.”

Justin said, “I allowed the butler to bring them here when he asked me to. Since Trueman has sent them to Xander by air transport from a great distance, they are probably very important to him.”

Earlier, he had neglected Xander badly when they couldn’t be sure of his identity.

They were both dying to give Xander everything he wanted to foster in him a sense of belonging. In fact, it was beyond their expectations that Trueman would send the animals here.

After all, with the animals here, Xander would probably no longer have any longing for that basement overseas, would he? Besides, with the company of these animals that had grown up with him, maybe he wouldn’t be so hard to get along with anymore.

The two of them stood in the doorway and stared at that little nook downstairs.

Some people just loved having cats and dogs around, so it didn’t surprise them when someone gave them to Xander. The butler put them in the corner and said to Xander, “Mr. Xander, these animals need to be checked for diseases. We didn’t know you had so many pets. Do you intend to keep them with you or do you want us to reserve a special room in the garden for them to stay there? If it’s the former, we’ll have to merge your room with the one next door so it’s big enough.”

Xander replied without hesitation. “They’re not my pets, they’re my friends! Of course they’re going to stay with me!”

The butler looked a little worried. “But this would mean they might have to stay in a guest room during the renovation.”

Xander was very happy at the time for the animals, so why should he care about all that? He immediately waved his hand. Just as he was about to say he was fine with that, Pete said, “Why don’t you stay with me for the time being?”

Xander was a little surprised. Then, he smiled and asked, “Aren’t you afraid I’m going to beat you up in the middle of the night?”

Pete sighed. “So be it, if that’s the case. Don’t worry, I won’t retaliate. After all, you’re my little brother.”

Xander: “???!”

“Get lost! I’m the big brother!”

Pete shook his head helplessly. “Okay, okay, you’re the big brother, is that okay with you?”

Xander: “?”

That way of talking… Why did it sound so much like he was giving in to him?

When he thought about what Pete had just said about how a big brother should give in to his little brother, he understood immediately. It was like an adult standing up to a child’s inordinate demands and saying, ‘Is that okay with you?’ in a spoiled way. That was exactly what he felt!

Xander suddenly felt quite frustrated.

How was it possible that he couldn’t assert himself when confronted by Pete?

He bared his teeth at Pete and acted as if he was going to pounce on him and bite him. At the sight of him, the animals in the cages howled at Pete as well.

In fact, Butterscotch, puppy #6, prepared to pounce on him.

Pete didn’t panic. Instead, it was Xander who was startled. He immediately tried to calm them down. “Stop that, Butterscotch!”

Only then did the little dog stop. He gave Xander a puzzled look, probably asking himself, ‘Doesn’t the master hate that guy too much?’

As if sensing his hesitation, Xander rolled his eyes. He looked up at the ceiling and said smugly, ‘He’s my little brother. Even if I don’t like him, I’m the only one who can bully him. got it?”

“Whoa! Whoa!”

Butterscotch let out a couple of barks. Although there was no way of knowing if he had understood Xander, it was certain that he was no longer barking at Pete.

“This cat is so cute!” said Princess Lucy as she pointed to an apathetic little cat in the cage.

Cherry had also squatted down next to the cage. She reached out her chubby little hand to touch the animals in the cage, but when the cat saw her hand stuck in the cage, it shrank back and stared at her with its green eyes. Cherry’s heart melted at the sight. “Xander, this cat is so cute! Can you give him to me?”

“Hey, no way! Esmeralda isn’t a pet, I can’t just give her away like that!”.

But after Xander said that, he added, “Unless you recognize me as your big brother.”

“Big brother Xander!” Cherry shouted without hesitation, taking Xander by surprise. Cherry rushed over to him and said, “Big brother Xander! Big brother Xander! You’re the best, yeah!”

Xander: “!!!”

Could the girl have a limit to how low she could go?

The corners of his lips twitched a little. “I can let Esmeralda stay in your room, but you mustn’t bully her.”

“Okie-dokie! I promise. No problem!”

Cherry and Lucy looked at each other and both let out a secret giggle. Lucy then asked, “Can we sleep with her tonight?”

“Of course!”

Without Nora and Justin’s permission, Cherry had agreed to Lucy’s request for a sleepover!

Besides, the reason she had cheerfully acknowledged Xander as her older brother was that she was pretty sure she was the youngest! Her mother had said so.

Her mother had said that then, after regaining consciousness, she had only managed to save her last child.

As for who was the oldest between Pete and Xander, it was hard to tell. After all, Nora didn’t know which of the two children, who had been taken out of the room, Trueman had taken….

Cherry looked back at Xander and looked him up and down.

Xander was a little flattered by her look. “Are you looking at that your big brother is better looking than Pete?”

Cherry replied, “… No. I was just thinking that it’s fortunate that you treat these animals very well. Otherwise, I’d think you were the psycho little friend I’d met online!”

Xander: “???”

Cherry explained, “I met a little psychopath on the internet. He’s very annoying and also very foul-mouthed, he’s basically just like you. He also has a bunch of pets… but he’s always performing psychotic experiments and bullying those little animals every day. However, you’re not like him. You love and care for animals so much that you would never bully them, right?”

The corners of Xander the little psycho’s lips twitched a little. He replied quietly, “… No!”.

He vowed he would never let Cherry know in his life that he himself was that same little psychopath!

The two adults upstairs were oblivious to the children’s conversation. The two looked at each other and walked into the room.

Ian was sitting on the couch. He looked at Nora when he heard the door open.

He wanted to ask her about her aunt – in other words, about Queenie – and ask her how they had met, and also what kind of person she was. But unexpectedly, when he looked up, he saw instead a very grave and solemn look on Nora’s face.

Ian immediately abandoned his thoughts and asked, “What’s wrong?”.

In a split second, a sharp and forceful feeling had already crept into his voice, and he sounded as if he was ready to fight the person who had bullied his daughter.

Moreover, after he spoke, he looked at Justin.

Justin was speechless.

In an attempt to explain himself, he was quick to ask, “What did Trueman send?”

Nora clenched her jaw.

She looked at Ian and then at Justin.

In the past, she had always carried everything by herself when she ran into trouble. But now she had a father, as well as a partner.

Nora didn’t push herself beyond her means. Hearing the question, she immediately opened the gift box in her hand.

Inside the box was a small vial of serum.

The serum was kept in a small glass bottle, and there was only a very small dose. However, on the note next to it was his name: “Genetic Serum”.

For a while, the three people in the room were silent.

Justin stared at the serum. Suddenly, he sighed. “I knew it. It was only a matter of time before we eventually figured it out. So why would Trueman send the kid when he could have used it to threaten us? So this was it.”

Ian frowned. The man, who wasn’t privy to the ins and outs of what had happened, asked, “What do you mean?”

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