After returning to the factory, Cross was in low spirits, venting his frustration by firing wildly at the human-shaped target. He had tried everything to keep his son away from the whirlpool of assassins, but Wesley still got dragged in and ended up in the hands of the ruthless Brotherhood.

Just thinking of Sloane's sanctimonious face made Cross furious. He worried that Wesley would be persecuted, and if Sloane used Wesley's life to threaten him, what would he do then...

"Are you worried about your son?" Russell came over to Cross, loaded bullets into the magazine, chambered a round, and began shooting unhurriedly.

Cross snorted coldly. What a rhetorical question—what parent could be so heartless as to ignore their child's safety?

After emptying the magazine, Russell said casually, "Actually, you really don't need to worry. As long as you're alive, Sloane won't be able to sleep or eat in peace, and your son will have value to stay alive. I bet at most he'll get a good beating, but he won't be killed."

"I understand what you're saying, but..." Cross sighed in defeat. "Wesley, my son's name—when he was still too young to remember anything, I left him and his mother. On one hand, I didn't want him to be hurt by my enemies, but on the other hand..."

Cross got stuck at this point, and Russell picked up the thread: "On the other hand, he inherited your blood, has the potential to become a top assassin, but you don't want his hands stained with blood. You just want him to live as an ordinary person."

Cross looked at Russell in distress. "How do you know that?"

Russell shrugged. "You know the reason—because my parents were assassins too, and they didn't want me to follow the same old path."

"Alright, I'm a bit of a mess right now, almost forgot about this. By the way, your parents did a good job—they really loved you!" As Cross spoke, he thought of himself and Wesley, and his expression darkened again.

"My parents succeeded for a while, but then you dragged me into this."

Russell retorted, making Cross's old face flush red. He opened his mouth but didn't dare say anything—anything he said would be too hypocritical.

"Stop moping. Instead of playing the brooding, silent uncle, why not think about how to rescue your son Wesley? Leaving him with the Brotherhood is bound to cause trouble sooner or later."

Cross looked deeply at Russell. Maybe because Wesley was in danger, he lowered his guard toward Russell and said bluntly, "A long time ago, I started making an assassination plan targeting the Brotherhood. If all goes well, I can wipe out their lair in one go."

"Then just follow the plan!"

"I want to, but the timing isn't right! There are still quite a few core members in the Brotherhood, and they're all top assassins. Before taking care of them, the plan's success rate is very low. I don't want to do something pointless."

"Then Wesley is in for it. Every time you take out a Brotherhood member, Wesley will be fed an oilfish..." Russell was being sarcastic, but when he saw Cross's fierce glare, he quickly changed his tune: "Alright, no happy gay fish. At most, Wesley gets beaten up every five minutes, or maybe every morning you get a package with one of his body parts."

"Shut up, or I'll kill you! I swear!"

Russell blinked. "Let me say one last thing—I promise you'll like this."

Cross stared at Russell expressionlessly, but the latter was oblivious and started to—no, not spoil, but analyze the situation.

"Have you ever considered another possibility? Wesley inherited your top assassin bloodline. With a bit of training, he'd be full of adrenaline. Sloane might use him against you."

"That's impossible. I'm Wesley's father. Training Wesley to assassinate me would be too stupid!" Cross flatly denied.

"Precisely because you're Wesley's father, Sloane is even more likely to do it. Because you can't pull the trigger on Wesley..." Russell looked straight into Cross's eyes, shattering his illusion. "You're Wesley's father, but who knows? Anyway, Wesley doesn't know. All he knows is that he's never had a father, right?"

Russell's words left Cross speechless. He didn't want to accept this reality and forced a rebuttal: "Still impossible. Wesley isn't that stupid!"

Sorry, but your son really is that stupid!

Russell remembered clearly that in the original story, Wesley—the poor guy—never figured out who his father was. Sloane told him he was Big Slick's son, and that Big Slick was killed by Cross, painting Cross as a heinous villain and using Wesley's desire for revenge to train him into a top assassin who could stand on his own.

At this thought, Russell suddenly froze, because the one who killed Big Slick now wasn't Cross... it was him!

Shit, I've become Wesley's father's killer!?

Russell was dumbfounded. When he killed Big Slick before, he hadn't thought of this. Looking back now, damn, that's exactly what happened.

Realizing he'd become the nemesis of the child of destiny, Russell felt a pang of sorrow in his gut. There's just no way out!