The system remained completely unaware of Xiu Jin’s anger and quickly popped up another message: [Do you choose to help Bian Bian get through this danger?]

Xiu Jin: “…”

Damn, I can’t even spend money—how am I supposed to help?

He glared at the screen. Was he supposed to foolishly pound on the window with his hands to scare the corpse beast away?

[Oh, forgot that Player One and Bianbian don’t have enough intimacy to make purchases. Unfortunately, you can only watch.]

The Seventh Prince swore under his breath, nervously watching the screen as he shouted at the smart butler, “Lin Yisan, get in here!”

The smart butler rolled in, and Xiu Jin said, “Contact Korf immediately!”

Korf was the one who had installed the game for him. Now that the game’s system had become so infuriating, Xiu Jin had to take it out on the person who set it up for him.

Maybe Korf knew this game inside and out.

As for whether Korf learning that what he had fantasized about through the game was not a beauty but a little girl would leave a bad impression of him in his subordinates’ minds, that was no longer within Xiu Jin’s consideration.

Right now he just wanted to give that trash system a good thrashing!

The AI butler acknowledged the order, then said, “Your Highness, Korf didn’t pick up.”

Xiu Jin: “…”

A few seconds later:

[Given Player One’s special relationship with Bian Bian, although the intimacy level is insufficient, in this exceptional situation Bian Bian’s safety is paramount. After careful consideration, you are given two choices.]

[1. Awaken Lu Yu. Let the zombies fight the corpse beasts to resolve this crisis.]

[2. Wait quietly and hope for Bian Bian’s luck to automatically resolve this crisis.]

Two options popped up on the screen — [Awaken Lu Yu] and [Wait Quietly]

Xiu Jin stared at the choices in disbelief: “Can’t I just spend money in the shop to buy weapons?!”

He knew there was a weapons section in the mall; they were all greyed out, but if they were made available, no matter the price he could afford them. It didn’t matter if Bian Bian couldn’t use them — there was Zhu Yuan, and he could.

But the trash system offered these two utterly useless options.

Wait—

“Awaken Lu Yu to restore his sanity?”

[You’re overthinking it.]

[Here, ‘awaken Lu Yu’ means to get him past the metal wall, to gain his freedom.]

“…”

What kind of awakening is that? He woke up Lu Yu, drove off the corpse beasts—who’s going to deal with Lu Yu then?

Zhu Yuan?

This kid gets scared like this without even having met Lu Yu. Expecting him to take on Lu Yu is about as likely as believing a sow will climb a tree.

“There’s no other option?”

The system remained silent.

Xiu Jin shouted at the smart butler, “Keep hitting.”

The smart butler had no choice but to continue contacting Kolf, and still no one answered.

[Please begin selecting. If no choice is made within ten seconds, the first option will be chosen automatically.]

“…”

How could Xiu Jin really let Lu Yu come out of the metal wall? He could only grit his teeth and select [Wait Quietly].

[Since you made a very correct choice, intimacy +5.] Knowing this would be infuriatingly cheeky and would make Xiu Jin fly into a rage, the system kept its presence to itself after that.

Xiu Jin: “……………”

After Zhu Yuan had settled Bian Bian, he went into the bathroom, used the hot water left from Bian Bian’s bath to rinse off, and took the clothes Bian Bian had soaked for him, washing them clean and hanging them up to dry. After finishing all that, he was ready to go back to his room and rest.

Just then, his ears twitched and he heard a strange vibration.

Those with abilities have hearing unlike ordinary people, and on such a quiet night any tiny sound can be infinitely amplified in the stillness.

Something is outside!

Zhu Yuan wasn’t sure what it was; he listened carefully and could feel it crawling along the walls.

Zombies don’t climb walls.

A guess surged in his mind. Thinking of the gun that had fallen downstairs and disappeared, Zhu Yuan felt a chill and his gaze grew wary.

The house had been reinforced by Grandpa Bian, which provided good defense, but Zhu Yuan still held a candle and hurried to Bian Bian’s bedroom. He hesitated slightly, then gently opened the door.

As soon as he entered, he was surprised to find that the little girl he thought was asleep had already sat up on the bed. In the dim light, Bian Bian held up her little finger to her lips and made a “shh” gesture toward him.

She was the first to sense the tremor and woke from her sleep. That sound was very familiar to Bian Bian; in these past few days she could hear it every morning.

After a while, once the shaking stopped, everything would be fine.

Zhu Yuan set the candle on the bedside table and sat at the edge of the bed, preparing to comfort the little girl wordlessly.

Sszz—

A harsh sound like nails scraping stone came from outside the tightly shut window. Zhu Yuan hurriedly picked up Bian Bian and stepped back a few paces, gathering a swirl of wind in his other hand, his gaze fixed on the window.

“Uncle Zhu Yuan.” Bian Bian wrapped her small hands around his neck, her voice threaded with a little fear.

“Don’t be afraid, Uncle’s here.” Zhu Yuan gently patted the little girl’s back.

Bian Bian nodded, tightening the arms around Zhu Yuan’s neck, not forgetting to press her little face against the teddy bear.

She obediently kept silent, so as not to disturb Uncle Zhu Yuan.

The noises outside kept probing, circling without leaving, as if they had confirmed there was “food” inside, scratching repeatedly and making a grating sound, trying to get in.

Neither the large nor the small one noticed the dim corner, and a chair floated up.

After thinking it over, feeling the chair was too light, Xiu Jin switched to the wardrobe instead—wardrobes are much heavier than chairs. If the monster really broke in, they’d use the wardrobe to smash it back out.

An hour later, suddenly, a massive crashing sound came from upstairs, followed immediately by an inhuman roar.

Then the vibration outside the window went from near to far — that was the sound of the monster running away, very fast.

The surroundings fell silent again.

A few seconds later, Bianbian said, with evident experience, “The monster ran off.”

The little girl said there had been vibrations every morning these past few days. After hearing it, Zhu Yuan couldn’t help feeling a little frightened; even Xiu Jin almost swore.

According to Zhaobian, that third-tier corpse beast had shown up long ago; it wasn’t just passing through, it was probing. It had spent several days testing things, confirmed people lived here, and so tonight it came for prey.

If Lu Yu hadn’t just made that noise to scare it off, that corpse beast wouldn’t have left so easily.

Xiu Jin saw this and finally understood why the system said his choice to “wait quietly” was correct. Lu Yu was a high-level zombie—though he no longer had his wits, he still had territory instincts. If a member of his kind trespassed on his land, of course he wouldn’t allow it.

Only one tiger can occupy a mountain; that’s the point.

Earlier, Xiu Jin had simply thought Lu Yu sealed off the third floor to prevent her from having any chance to hurt Bian Bian. Now it seemed that, beyond that floor, he was still protecting his granddaughter in his own way.

Even if he had already become a zombie.

Even if he had lost his mind.

Before he mutated, he had already arranged everything.

Xiu Jin had just started raising a little one; as a new father, he couldn’t fully empathize with Lu Yu’s behavior, but that didn’t stop him from finding inspiration in it.

The crisis was temporarily averted, and Zhu Yuan began to think.

Grandpa Bianbian’s oppressive aura still hung over the place; no zombies had come to fight over territory. That fleeing zombie beast—judging by the noise it made when it fled, it could be identified as a zombie beast, though its exact level was uncertain.

However, that zombie beast dared to brave the pressure and come in to probe and hunt, which meant its level wasn’t too low—lower-level beasts wouldn’t have such nerve.

Since the beast had taken Bianbian as prey and was scared off by Grandpa Bianbian tonight, if it doesn’t give up, the next time it probes and finds Grandpa Bianbian trapped upstairs and unable to get out, it probably won’t hold back.

The higher the level of a zombie or corpse-beast, the more its brain will evolve and become intelligent, even if it lacks consciousness.

It’s hard to make them give up food.

In other words, they were now being watched by a corpse beast and could encounter it at any moment.

As long as that corpse beast wasn’t level three or higher, Zhu Yuan was confident he could kill it.

However, the intuition he’d honed over years of scraping by between life and death told him that the corpse beast they just faced was very likely Level 3.

If it had been Level 2 or below, there was no way it would have dared run in under Old Man Bianbian’s pressure.

“Uncle Zhuyuan, it was grandpa who scared the monster away just now.”

The soft child’s voice pulled Zhuyuan back from his wandering thoughts. He pushed aside the various uneasy speculations in his heart and laid Bianbian on the bed.

Meeting the little girl’s bright, sparkling gaze, he patted her head and said, “Grandpa is really amazing. We should thank grandpa.”

The little girl was very happy, and her joy was contagious, easing Zhuyuan’s heavy mood considerably.

Even if the enemy is stronger, how can I be afraid before the fight even starts! I wasn’t like this before!

Being so cowardly and clinging to life, how can I go and take revenge on Du Mingyu.

Zhu Yuan cursed himself sharply in his heart and suddenly felt refreshed. Even if the corpse beast is Rank-3 and he is C-rank, don’t forget that Bian Bian is a psychic-type ability user — if they work together, self-protection will definitely be fine.

“Uncle Zhu Yuan, you look so tired. You should go to sleep.” Bian Bian worriedly reached out his small hand to push Zhu Yuan. Uncle Zhu Yuan is injured; the more he rests, the sooner he’ll recover.

“I’m not afraid by myself.” She gently shook the little bear and burrowed under the covers, “Huihui is with me.”

After confirming the little girl didn’t need him to stay, Zhu Yuan left the bedroom. But to make Bianbian feel more secure, this time he didn’t blow out the candle.

Bianbian rolled over onto her stomach, propped up her face, the candlelight making her eyes especially bright. After a while, she whispered to the little bear, “Huihui, from now on I’ll be braver, so if something like what happened just now happens again, I won’t be so scared.”

She still pressed her little finger against the bear as it nodded, showing that Huihui was cheering her on.

Bian Bian closed her eyes contentedly and, by the dim candlelight, fell asleep once more.

Although the little girl felt sorry for the candle, after the earlier incident the lit flame did make her feel safer.

It was precisely for that reason that she felt the urge to be braver.

If she were braver and not afraid, she wouldn’t have to waste candles sleeping at night anymore—children’s equations in their heads can be strangely simple like that.

“Baby, you’ve been brave enough.”

Xiu Jin pulled the quilt over his sleeping baby daughter. Seeing her sleeping on her stomach, her little face pressed and puckered, she looked so cute he couldn’t help but affectionately poke her with his finger.

When her long eyelashes fluttered from his touch, he quickly withdrew his hand, suddenly self-conscious.

Whether it was his imagination or not, Xiu Jin always felt his baby daughter resembled him in some ways—especially her nose.

Xiu Jin touched his nose, then looked at the edge—she was practically his mirror image.

He suddenly remembered reading somewhere that sleeping face down is bad for your health. For his darling daughter’s sake, Xiu Jin carefully manipulated the screen, lifted the quilt, turned his precious daughter over, and tucked the quilt back in place.

Only after finishing all that did he nod in satisfaction.

If the virtual device were still available, he could be crouching beside his little girl doing all this right now.

Alas…

Sighing in frustration, it was getting late. Xiu Jin had a full schedule tomorrow, so she logged out of the game, did her skincare, and went to sleep.

*

The new day began with inspecting the marks outside the window. After Bian Bian woke, she drew the curtains; Zhu Yuan examined the thick metal drape. It was covered in countless deep claw marks, and the outer wall bore them as well.

It was as if some huge creature had climbed up to the third-floor window last night and tried to pry the metal curtain open with sharp claws.

The reason it was described as a big thing was because it produced a vibrating sensation when it moved, so it was clearly not small.

What could it be?

Zhu Yuan frowned.

While having breakfast, Zhu Yuan thought it over and decided to tell Bian Bian the situation honestly, so the little girl could be mentally prepared.

Although Bianbian was still small, she was very clever, and if a corpse-beast came, he would need Bianbian’s cooperation.

“Bianbian, that monster that Grandpa scared off last night might come back looking for us.”

Bianbian paused, put down the bread in her hand, and she understood Zhu Yuan’s words: “Didn’t Grandpa scare it away?”

Zhu Yuan said, “If the monster realizes Grandpa can’t get out, it will come after us again — we are its prey.”

The little girl whispered, “Is it watching us nearby?”

Unexpectedly, Bian Bian immediately caught the point. Zhu Yuan nodded, “Bian Bian, you’re really smart.”

“Then let’s pull the curtains quickly.” Bian Bian, embarrassed by the praise, hurriedly climbed down from the chair, not even bothering with her bread, “That way it can’t get in.”

“A monster won’t leave until it eats us.” Zhu Yuan had thought about it all night and had hardly slept. Since a corpse-beast likely of Rank Three was targeting them, it wouldn’t be shaken off; you can hide for a while but not forever. It was better to use the terrain and take the initiative to strike.

Bianbian’s eyes lit up: “I know, Uncle Zhu Yuan, you want to kill the monster, right?”

She followed Lu Yu’s side and had seen him kill zombies.

“But you’re injured, can you beat the monster?” The little girl’s delicate brows drooped, and her bright big eyes filled with worry.

When Grandpa used to kill monsters, Bianbian was very worried too, afraid Grandpa would get hurt. But Grandpa was especially formidable and always killed the monsters.

“I can’t do it alone, but with Bian Bian and Grandpa as deterrents, it will be fine.”

Bian Bian hadn’t yet reacted to Zhu Yuan including him when Zhu Yuan asked, “Bian Bian, have you ever helped Grandpa kill zombies before?”

Bian Bian recalled the scene of Lu Yu killing zombies and taking crystal stones; Lu Yu didn’t hide these actions from Bian Bian, and even taught him how to identify the properties of the crystal stones.

Different colors correspond to different properties.

—So after Zhu Yuan fell asleep, Bian Bian remembered the crystals Grandpa taught could heal injuries. Not knowing which color crystal would work for Zhu Yuan, she cupped a handful of crystals and placed them on him; whichever color lit up would indicate which crystal Zhu Yuan could use.

The stones she and Grandpa had taken from monster heads were, to Bian Bian, simply helping Grandpa—equivalent to helping him kill zombies.

So the little girl nodded solemnly, and added, “Killed a lot.”

Zhu Yuan naturally understood that Lu Yu had taught Biandan to use her psychic ability to kill zombies, that she had experience killing zombies, and that there was no need to worry Biandan would be afraid of “taking life.”

Zhu Yuan began planning while healing, first confirming what the corpse beast’s original form was.

Every corpse beast is a mutation of an ordinary animal; only by knowing the original form can one make targeted arrangements.

…..

At noon, finding a moment, Xiu Jin logged into the game. As soon as she entered, a system prompt popped up: [Zhu Yuan intends to strike first and, together with Bian Bian, eliminate the level-three corpse beast.]

[If he wants to die, fine, but dragging Bian Bian along too. Player One, if you don’t want anything to happen to Bian Bian, you must stop him.]

[There are two choices: one, let nature take its course. Two, kill Zhu Yuan.]

Xiu Jin: “??? “