Xiu Jin stared at the second option, wondering if there was something wrong with his eyes, or if this trash system was sick.

He leaned toward the latter.

[Please choose. If you do not choose within ten seconds, the system will automatically select the second option for the sake of Bian Bian’s safety.]

Knowing full well this damn system was capable of such a thing, Xiu Jin had no choice but to quickly pick: [Let nature take its course]

Even though it was a game, he couldn’t casually decide someone else’s life or death, especially when nothing had happened—why would he kill Zhu Yuan?

Without Zhu Yuan, who would take care of the baby girl’s daily life and needs?

“You can’t keep quiet unless you’re being scolded, can you?” Xiu Jin said sullenly. “Using the pretense of doing everything for Bian Bian’s good to have me carry out murderous deeds. If you have the guts, don’t let the corpse-beast out to scare my daughter!”

System: [No ability.]

Xiu Jin: “…”

“I knew Your Highness would be here. It’s been so long since I last saw you—I really missed you,” a sweet, cloying voice said, and then a pretty, coquettish woman walked in. Seeing Xiu Jin, she twisted her waist even more enticingly.

Because of her sudden appearance, Xiu Jin had to exit the game and stared expressionlessly at the flirtatious woman who had turned toward him.

“Your Highness, when you look at me like that, my heart races.” Facing Xiu Jin’s gaze, the woman said coyly.

“How did you get in?” Xiu Jin asked.

The woman lifted her red lips and raised her long legs, saying suggestively, “I just walked in like this.”

Xiu Jin uttered an “oh,” maintaining his royal gentlemanly composure, smiled slightly, pointed toward the entrance, and said, “Then leave in a different way—gracefully roll out.”

The radiant smile on the woman’s face froze.

Her name was Chu Xinran; she was a niece from the current queen’s natal family, and could be considered nobility.

The current queen was not Xiu Jin’s biological mother. Although the empire practiced monogamy, the emperor—concerned about future heirs—had taken another wife.

This later wife had no official status and could never surpass the queen, no matter what.

The Empress and the Emperor had been childhood sweethearts. The Empress’s health had been poor since she was young; after giving birth to the Eldest Prince and the Third Prince, her condition declined further, and not even technological means could restore her.

Later, the Empress became pregnant with the Seventh Prince and insisted on giving birth to him; not long after the delivery, she passed away.

Another consort naturally became the current Empress.

After the Seventh Prince was born he lost his birth mother; the Emperor, pitying him, inevitably favored him, so much so that when the Seventh Prince grew up and went into commerce, the Emperor let him do as he pleased, as long as he was happy.

Thus, from childhood to adulthood, apart from occasionally being bullied by the Third Prince, Xiu Yan, Xiu Jin received careful consideration from the other princes, including the three princes born to the current Empress.

—The Sixth Prince was stillborn.

The current Empress treated Xiu Jin well too, but Xiu Jin greatly disliked this nominal “stepmother.”

Besides the innate aversion toward his stepmother, there was also—

The current empress, citing Xiu Jin’s not-so-young age and that he should have a girlfriend, introduced her niece from her natal family, Chu Xinran, to Xiu Jin.

She even whispered sweet suggestions into the emperor’s ear. After meeting Chu Xinran, the emperor thought the girl was nice and that she suited Xiao Jin well, so he suggested giving it a try.

With the emperor’s endorsement, Xiu Jin had no choice but to set aside time to meet Chu Xinran. He didn’t like her, but she was ardent toward him; even after being rejected by Xiu Jin, she wasn’t discouraged and insisted that if she persevered, His Highness would surely fall for her.

Xiu Jin: “…”

He wanted to call him an idiot, but his status as a prince forced him to keep up appearances; he couldn’t utter coarse words.

Afterwards, Xiu Jin avoided Chu Xinran—out of sight, out of mind—but it was useless. Chu Xinran knew where his company was and would deliberately go there; knowing he disliked it, she wouldn’t enter the building, she would just wait outside.

Xiu Jin was furious. Instead of going after the queen, he went to see the Fifth Prince. Not long ago the Fifth Prince had become engaged to a noblewoman; Xiu Jin deliberately took him to places of indulgence, had all kinds of pretty girls play with the prince, and then arranged for that noblewoman to be brought there to see it with her own eyes.

An engaged man cavorting openly despite being betrothed—no matter that he was a prince—was utterly scandalous.

The whole incident caused quite a stir, and the queen was reprimanded by the emperor. After that, Chu Xinran stopped bothering Xiu Jin.

She hadn’t expected to run into Chu Xinran here today.

With no one around, Xiu Jin couldn’t be bothered to be polite; not having the woman dragged out immediately was already giving her face.

Chu Xinran’s expression quickly recovered, tears brimming as she looked at Xiu Jin: “Your Highness, I mean nothing else. I just thought you were here, and since it’s fate that we meet and it’s been so long since I last saw you, I came in.”

She didn’t look like she intended to leave; she knew that, as a prince, Xiu Jin wouldn’t truly drive her away.

Xiu Jin suddenly asked, “Do you like it here?”

Chu Xinran brightened, nodded, and was about to utter a few words of praise when Xiu Jin stood up and strode out with long legs. “Then stay here and be well; I won’t disturb you.”

He said, instructing the attendants outside, “Go in and keep Miss Chu company. Make sure you stay with her until she’s satisfied—if she’s not satisfied, don’t let her go.”

“Miss Chu, have a pleasant day.”

Chu Xinran immediately wanted to give chase, but a servant who had received orders from Xiu Jin stepped forward to block her.

“Your Highness, I heard you wanted a set of nr virtual equipment?” she called toward Xiu Jin’s retreating figure.

Xiu Jin paused in his tracks.

The nr virtual device was precisely the set of equipment Xiuyan had taken back and returned to Nong Jiusi.

Nong Jiusi got the equipment back, so Xiujin couldn’t go and make a deal with a Nine-Clawed Azure Dragon. Besides, when Xiujin asked around, nobody had this kind of device, so he had to tell his subordinates to keep an eye out—if they found a second nr virtual device, they had to buy it.

How did Chu Xinran know he was looking for an nr virtual device?

Where did that idiot hear that information?

This hesitation gave Chu Xinran an opening. She hurried after him, discreetly studying Xiu Jin’s expression. Knowing her guess was right, she said sweetly, “Your Highness, I know who has an nr.”

“Who?”

Chu Xinran twisted her body to get closer to Xiu Jin. Actually, Xiu Jin’s baby face, which made him look younger than her, wasn’t her type, but he was the imperial family’s most favored Seventh Prince—and so wealthy… That status alone made her heart flutter.

“Your Highness, if I help you buy an nr, how do you plan to thank me?”

“Let me treat you to a meal.” Xiu Jin smiled with composed elegance.

“We’re just having a meal.” Chu Xinran pouted and acted coquettish. “Isn’t there anything else?”

Xiu Jin looked at her with smiling eyes. “What do you want to do?”

“Um… I haven’t decided yet. I’ll tell you when I do, okay?”

Xiu Jin suppressed the goosebumps rising on his hands, and then controlled the furious urge to hit this woman, smiling without saying a word.

Fortunately, Chu Xinran also knew when to stop teasing and didn’t keep it a mystery any longer. She said frankly, “Does Your Highness know the Sanjin black market? The nr you want is there. I happen to know a black market boss who knows who has nr. Do you have time this afternoon? I’ll take you there.”

Xiu Jin thought, you’d better not be lying to me, or else—

It’s time for you to know why the flowers are so red.

Xiu Jin had heard of the Sanjin black market, though he’d never been. He was somewhat curious about the place and figured this was a good chance to take a look.

When they met and spoke with the boss Chu Xinran knew, it turned out the nr seller wasn’t open today, and he had left no contact information.

He had no choice but to return empty-handed and try again next time.

Since Chu Xinran hadn’t lied, Xiu Jin finally bit his tongue and stayed to have dinner with her.

After finally sending Chu Xinran off, Xiu Jin got into the car and drove home.

She opened the game on the way; the screen was pitch black, and the system indicated that Bian Bian was in deep sleep.

I checked the time—no wonder my precious daughter fell asleep; it was getting late.

Baby, Daddy even sacrificed his looks for you.

Thinking that he hadn’t bought today’s apple yet, Xiu Jin entered the shop to purchase an apple, placed it on the bedside table, and was about to exit the game.

Suddenly, he froze mid-action, then clicked back into the shop.

If he remembered correctly, he recalled the system menu had six tabs in total, namely: [Food] [Weapons] [Cultivation Techniques] [Clothing & Accessories] [Medicine] [Daily Necessities]

Now the system bar had changed to five items, and on closer inspection, the “Weapons” slot was gone entirely.

“What’s going on?”

No prompt from the system appeared to explain why.

Assuming it was a system bug, Xiu Jin didn’t think too deeply. After a long, hard day that had especially strained his nerves, he was tired, so he went home, tidied up early, and went to sleep.

In order to help Uncle Zhu Yuan’s wound heal faster, Biānbiān took several wind-element crystal stones out of the iron box and gave them to Zhu Yuan. He hesitated for a moment, then accepted them calmly.

—The urgent task is to heal the injury and restore full strength; only then can one better fight the corpse beasts.

Zhu Yuan went outside to scout for signs of the corpse beasts while Biānbiān stayed at home. She stared blankly at the extra large apple that had appeared on the bedside table, hugged it, and brought it into the living room, placing it side by side with the other large apple on the table.

The two large apples were identical, not even a difference in surface color— as if they had been cast from the same mold.

“Huìhui, don’t you think it’s strange?” Looking at the two identical big apples, Bianbian lowered his head and carefully tugged again at the little bear’s arm, which had been sewn together with red thread.

The appearance of the corpse beast made Bianbian forget to tell Uncle Zhu Yuan that there was an invisible villain at home; until today, with one more big apple, because of Zhu Yuan, Bianbian wasn’t so scared anymore.

However, Bianbian began to feel he’d been mistaken.

If there really were an invisible villain at home, and Uncle Zhu Yuan was so powerful, how could he not know?

Originally, Bian Bian wanted to tell Zhu Yuan about this, but Zhu Yuan was busy preparing to go outside to hunt corpse beasts. The little girl saw it and thought she should be sensible and not disturb him, so she didn’t mention it to him.

“Could it be that it’s not a bad guy?” Bian Bian said softly. “In the past, Grandpa had to use lots of stones to exchange for a single shriveled little apple. An apple this big must be valuable and rare.”

“If it were a bad guy, even if they wanted to fatten me up to eat me, why would they use such a precious big apple?”

“But if it’s not a bad guy, then why would they kindly give me so many big apples?”

Bian Bian followed beside Lu Yu, having seen some uncles fight over food and others snap at her for food.

Once Lu Yu saved a family of three; the middle-aged couple’s son was skin and bones, yellow-faced and emaciated. Bian Bian happened to have a pack of snacks Lu Yu had given her — Wangwang mini mantou.

Feeling sorry for the boy, she decided to offer him the little mantou. She stepped up to him, but before she could give it, the boy shoved her away.

He hastily shoved what he had back into his bag, glared at her, and snarled, “I don’t have food, and even if I did I wouldn’t give it to you. Go away!”

Bian Bian felt a little sad, but still mustered the courage to take the Wangwang mini bun out of his pocket: “Big brother, for you.”

Later Grandpa told Bian Bian, “A lot of the food was taken by the powerful uncles at the base; the food that’s left is limited, so many people value it especially highly, afraid others will snatch it.”

Bian Bian half understood, then buried his little head in Grandpa’s arms and muttered, “But I still don’t like that boy.”

I don’t like the way he treated her.

Lu Yu stroked his granddaughter’s soft hair. Of course he knew what she was upset about; she still didn’t understand human nature.

“That boy thought you were going to steal his food. Food is more important to him than life itself, so he snapped at you — it’s understandable… But Grandpa doesn’t like him either; he only likes Bianbian. From now on, when we meet people like that, we’ll stay away and won’t help.”

Bianbian brightened at her grandfather’s words, “only likes Bianbian,” but after a moment she added, “We still have to help. Grandpa taught me that when you can help, you should.”

Lu Yu smiled.

Then she covered her little pocket: “Bian Bian won’t give her snacks to others anymore.”

But the next time the same situation arose, if the little girl’s pocket held snacks, she would still generously take them out.

……

Staring blankly at the two big apples, Bian Bian found herself drawn by their fresh scent. All the images of bad people in her head vanished. She reached out, picked up one of the apples, and carried it to the bathroom to wash it clean.

“I’ll share one with Grandpa, and this one is for Uncle Zhu Yuan.” The little girl didn’t forget to count the teddy bear, “and Hui Hui too.”

This time she didn’t use a knife to slice it, but took a spoon to scoop it out—after all, the apple was so big she could scoop out the skin along with it to bring to Grandpa!

At the same time, a menacing monster slowly crawled up to the top floor.

If you shrank it a thousand times, you could see it was a black-and-red ant. But now, it was a corpse-beast mutated by an infected virus.

A black-and-red ant nearly five meters long.

It climbed onto the rooftop, moved deftly, and reached the rooftop entrance, which was still blocked by a thick layer of metal.

The oppressive aura was emanating from inside.

The corpse beast’s eyes flashed a ferocious blood-red, yet there was an instinctive intelligence characteristic of a high-level corpse beast.

The presence threatening from inside the metal wall could not get out.

It seemed to confirm that.

After a moment, it moved, silently descending toward the third-floor balcony.

Bianbai sat in the chair, slowly peeling an apple. A small bowl sat beside her; she would take a bite herself, then peel a piece and put it in the bowl — that was for Grandpa.

Shadows gradually crept in from the window, blood-red eyes fixed on that small figure bent over, diligently digging for apples with its back turned.

Huh?

Bianbian noticed the light dimming, stuffed the freshly dug piece of apple from the spoon into her mouth, and turned to look back.

A grotesque head had crawled in through the open window, but it was clear the head was desperately trying to push itself inside and couldn’t—something seemed to be holding its head back, making the scene extremely eerie.

“Huīhuī, is that the monster that wanted to eat Uncle Zhu Yuan and me?” Biānbiān jumped off the chair holding the little bear, brandishing a spoon like a weapon, her mouth still chewing an apple out of habit. “What is it doing?”

With a clatter, she watched in stunned silence as a gun suddenly materialized out of thin air right in front of her.

He glanced at the creature that couldn’t get in no matter what it tried, thought for a moment, set the spoon down, and bent to pick up the gun on the floor.

Uh, couldn’t lift it.