It was a little after five in the morning, Xia City time. For the first time in a decade, He Donglou had dragged himself out of bed at this hour. Well, it was also because of last night's family dinner; it was rare for him to stay home overnight, and he naturally could not linger now. After tidying himself up, he quietly headed outside.
The house where He Donglou was staying belonged to his grandfather, General He Chong, the former commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Force. After retiring, the old man had remained at home, conducting all sorts of incomprehensible research and practically never leaving the house.
The old man thought this arrangement was quite good. It was only hard on the more active grandchildren like He Donglou, who were dragged back once or twice a week for a lecture. Whenever they wanted to do something big, they had to look before and after, which was thoroughly unpleasant.
He had grown used to it over the years, and as he got older, He Donglou had learned how to make adjustments:
One had to learn restraint before release in life, hold it in before letting loose, and regulate one's own excitement threshold. That way, he could fly free again for the next week...
"Five minutes out."
After messaging Lao Si, his bodyguard, He Donglou yawned again and headed downstairs along his predetermined safe route.
The house was silent. Turning the corner, he found the corridor overlooking the courtyard connected to the yard itself, gathering in both the courtyard lights and the extremely faint dawn at the horizon. They blended with the light spilling through the crack beneath a door on the other side, forming distinct patches of color.
What the hell?
He Donglou abruptly stopped. At that moment, continuous vibrations in the