Chapter 153: The Genius Youth

The moment the sound rang out, Guo Yunhai was the first to react. He grabbed Zhuge Taxue beside him, dropped straight to the ground, and continuously gestured frantically to Chen Hao.

Chen Hao reacted in tandem, hurriedly imitating Guo Yunhai by pressing down on Gu Mengyan and Fan Yirou with each hand, shoving both of them along with Zhuge Taxue underneath the table.

As for Dong Xin, she didn't even need Guo Yunhai's warning; she had already executed evasive and defensive measures instantly.

Crawling over to Guo Yunhai's side, Chen Hao asked hastily, "What is going on? With a blast that loud, don't tell me that was a bomb!"

Guo Yunhai's expression was exceptionally grim. Seeing his look, coupled with Guo Yunhai's identity as a soldier, Chen Hao instantly realized that his casual guess was probably correct—it really might have been a bomb!

Damn it! Just what kind of abysmal luck had he been having lately that even bizarre and rare occurrences like a bomb attack could happen to him?

Chen Hao was just about to ask further when Guo Yunhai stopped him with a gesture. "Don't panic. Judging by the sound of the explosion, it should be a small-caliber, handheld weapon with relatively low power. We don't know yet whether their target is actually us; perhaps they just misfired and hit the safe house by mistake."

"What the hell! Are you serious, Yunhai? This is a safe house, you know! Kustar is huge; what are the odds of them missing their mark so conveniently and shelling a safe house?" Chen Hao blurted out anxiously, "I am seriously doubting the security index of this safe house right now! Maybe we wouldn't have been attacked if we'd stayed somewhere else!"

Chen Hao was merely venting his frustration rather than complaining or blaming Dong Xin. The moment the words left his mouth, he actually felt a bit of regret. After all, Dong Xin had brought everyone here out of concern for their safety, and she could never have anticipated that even the safe house would come under attack.

Furthermore, when she brought them here, she only knew that an armed group had crossed the border; she never imagined they would actively launch an offensive. But then again, it wasn't even certain yet whether the attackers were those border-crossing armed groups!

Just as Chen Hao realized his mistake, Guo Yunhai and Dong Xin could both understand why his emotions were running so high. For one thing, Chen Hao wasn't a professional soldier like Dong Xin and Guo Yunhai, so his psychological resilience naturally lagged behind theirs.

Secondly, a bomb was likely something Chen Hao, a wealthy young master, was encountering for the very first time in his life. Anyone facing a bomb detonating right beside them would probably be scared half to death, so Chen Hao merely venting his frustration was already quite commendable.

Look at Gu Mengyan and Fan Yirou; they were already completely paralyzed and speechless, trembling as they hid under the table. Zhuge Taxue's performance, however, was somewhat surprising. This girl didn't look flustered at all; instead, the very moment Guo Yunhai pushed her down, she lifted her head right back up, curiously trying to peek at the situation outside through the window. As expected, someone playing the dominant role in a lesbian relationship hits differently!

Originally, everyone expected some imminent danger, but after waiting a while without any follow-up commotion, Dong Xin had just unlocked her phone to contact the other personnel in the safe house when a knock sounded on the door of the safe house.

The voice of the guard on duty came from outside: "Officer Dong, it's me, Little Chen! Sorry for startling you all, um... it's actually a misunderstanding..."

Hearing this, Chen Hao was instantly struck dumb. A misunderstanding? How the hell could a bomb explosion be a misunderstanding? What kind of ghost story is this?

Everyone froze, Dong Xin included. But an instant later, Dong Xin thought of a certain person and a likely scenario, and she couldn't help climbing up from the floor with a wry smile, gesturing for everyone else to get up as well. "Sigh... I pretty much know what happened. Everyone up first and we'll talk!"

With that, Dong Xin gave a pull to Zhuge Taxue, who was already restless and eager to check out the situation, and then opened the door. Looking at Little Chen standing outside, Dong Xin shook her head and chuckled, "Did that brat cause trouble again?"

Little Chen the guard also wore an expression of utter helplessness. "Yeah! That kid was testing a handheld rocket launcher just now, and somehow he mixed up live rounds with blanks and went and fired it. Fortunately, the rocket launcher was pointed at an open patch in the distance, otherwise..."

"Come to think of it, that kid really does have good luck. Although he frequently stirs up trouble, none of it has ever caused any casualties or damage to supplies. You could say he has sheer dumb luck!"

Hearing this, Chen Hao and the others roughly pieced together what had happened. It seemed that an operator inside this safe house had made an operational error, causing that explosion.

However... wasn't this a military safe house? Could there actually be someone in the military who would mix up blanks and live rounds and fire them? What kind of talent is this? How on earth was he even selected for the military?

Dong Xin looked at everyone's curious, speechlessly dumbfounded, yet somewhat indignant expressions, and shook her head with a sigh. "Little Chen, go back to your duties. Everyone else, come on out! I'll introduce someone to you..."

Of course, everyone knew that the person Dong Xin was going to introduce was the culprit behind this absurd blunder, and they couldn't help feeling curious. Just how stupid must someone be to commit such an error?

Seeing everyone's expressions, Dong Xin knew what they were thinking. After all, this kind of situation hadn't happened for the first time; similar incidents had occurred when she brought others here previously. It was just that none of them had been exaggerated enough to cause an explosion before, and she had no idea what novel idea that brat had conjured up while working this time.

Filled with curiosity, the group followed Dong Xin out of the room, only to see a young teenager, only in his teens, standing in the open space outside holding a rocket launcher and staring blankly in a daze.

Everyone stared in utter astonishment at this visibly underage child. This kid was the mastermind behind the bomb explosion? The anger that had previously filled everyone's chests was instantly extinguished; a child this young made it impossible for anyone to bear the heart to reprimand him.

Enlisting in the military at such a young age—could it be that his family was facing some hardships? Unconsciously, everyone, including Guo Yunhai, wore expressions of sympathy.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Dong Xin became amused. However, she didn't explain the specifics. Instead, she walked over to the kid, grabbed one of his ears with one hand, and shouted loudly right into his ear, "Zhao Xiaolong! You've caused trouble for me again!!!"

The teenager called Zhao Xiaolong was startled so badly by Dong Xin's thunderous roar that he stumbled, almost losing his grip on the rocket launcher and dropping it directly to the ground.

"Holy shit!" Guo Yunhai jumped in fright, but fortunately, Dong Xin was quick-witted and caught the rocket launcher in time. While advanced weapons like this generally wouldn't discharge automatically upon hitting the ground, it was still best to be careful just in case.

Chen Hao covered his forehead. "Who on earth put this careless kid in charge of testing such a dangerous weapon? Isn't this pure sabotage?"

Dong Xin replied helplessly, "Although the kid is a bit careless, you have to admit he is genuinely a technical talent. No, 'talent' doesn't do him justice—he's a complete genius! You have no idea, he joined the military at age twelve and is in charge of researching and developing the most advanced weaponry. On top of that, he's a computer genius; a lot of the professional skills I learned to qualify for Illusion Corporation were actually taught to me by him!"

"Good grief! Is he really that impressive?" Chen Hao looked at the child in utter surprise. "He doesn't look like it! So much of a genius, why is he so scatterbrained when doing things?"

"Could this be what they say: when God opens a door for you, he closes a window?" Zhuge Taxue touched her chin and muttered thoughtfully.

After chatting for a little while, Chen Xiaolong finally seemed to snap out of his daze. He blinked blankly at the crowd gathered around him, "Huh? Officer, you're back?"

Dong Xin's forehead was covered in black lines. So after all this fuss, this kid was only just noticing her presence!

Dong Xin grabbed him by the ear again. "Chen Xiaolong! Did you forget my instructions before I left? I told you to stay put in the room, and if you wanted to run any experiments or tests, to wait until I got back. Did you treat my words as wind blowing past your ear?"

Watching Chen Xiaolong's grimacing, painful expression, Chen Hao involuntarily started worrying about Guo Yunhai. Dong Xin really was a tomboy—and a violently aggressive tomboy at that. If Guo Yunhai married her in the future, would he end up suffering from domestic abuse?

With profound meaning, Chen Hao patted Guo Yunhai on the shoulder. "You have a long and arduous road ahead of you, comrade! I believe in you, keep it up!!!"

Dong Xin naturally caught the subtext in Chen Hao's words and rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Alright, Chen Xiaolong, get your butt back to your office right now. You are not allowed to come out without my orders, and no experiments of any kind! Do you understand?"

Chen Xiaolong wore an expression of profound regret. "Sigh... The she-dragon is here to meddle again!"

"What did you say?!" Dong Xin instantly blew a fuse and slapped Chen Xiaolong right on top of the head. "If you've got the guts, repeat what you just said."

"From a theoretical standpoint, having 'guts' is an objective fact, but since I am still a minor, those guts haven't matured yet, so I can't exactly take them out for you to see..." Chen Xiaolong delivered a heaven-shattering remark, plunging everyone present into a state of petrification.

Chen Hao looked at Chen Xiaolong with absolute admiration. The kid wasn't even an adult yet, and he was already a seasoned player...

Seeing that Dong Xin was on the verge of a complete rampage, Chen Xiaolong hurriedly changed the subject. "Officer, I know, I'll stay obediently in the office."

Having said that, Chen Xiaolong suddenly seemed to remember something. "Oh right, officer, the items you asked me to prepare before you left are ready. Do you want them now?"

With that, Chen Xiaolong pulled a bizarrely shaped garment from the backpack behind him and handed it to Dong Xin...