When Xiu Jin took a bath he liked to play with his light-brain; it was a habit of his. Today, when he turned on the light-brain, he found an untitled icon on the screen — the icon was an adorable little girl’s face.

Men sometimes have no resistance to such cute things; even Xiu Jin, the empire’s wealthiest Seventh Prince, was no exception.

So Xiu Jin casually tapped the icon and found it was a game; the little girl in the icon was the game’s main character, Bian Bian.

A long introduction appeared when entering the game

The little girl is called Bian Bian, born in the apocalypse. She was abandoned by her biological parents on a pile of garbage as soon as she was born, but luckily an old man named Lu Yu found her, took her in, and raised her little by little.

Lu Yu was a B-rank metal-attribute esper, very powerful, but his drawback was his age. At seventy, even as a B-rank ability user, his strength was greatly diminished due to limited stamina.

He had originally wanted to find a good family for Bian Bian, so that if his years ran out he could entrust her to someone dependable.

But in the apocalypse, who would unconditionally take in a little girl who knew nothing?

Lu Yu thought it over and over, but couldn’t come up with a good solution.

Go to the base

When he’s gone, people will still bully Biānbiān, and he couldn’t be at ease.

In the end, Lu Yu decided to find a place to settle down. As long as he didn’t encounter anything especially dangerous, with his B-level strength, living another ten-plus years wouldn’t be a problem. During that time, he could teach Biānbiān many survival skills.

He hadn’t taught before because he wanted, even in the apocalypse, for Biānbiān to have a carefree childhood.

The dividing line was five years old.

After five, he would teach Bian Bian how to survive in the end times.

However, plans couldn’t keep up with changes. While Lu Yu went out to look for supplies, he accidentally fell because of a physical issue and cut his hand on a piece of metal.

At first Lu Yu didn’t pay it much mind. Five years into the apocalypse, the virus barely existed outside of the zombies; any virus clinging to other objects had, with the passage of time, lost its terrifying potency.

But he still quickly disinfected it with alcohol; the first two days there were no problems, and Lu Yu relaxed.

However, on the third day, the wound became infected.

Lu Yu wasn’t afraid of dying; he’d lived past seventy and had had his fill, but he couldn’t bring himself to worry about Bian Bian—she was only five, so small. Without his protection, how could she possibly survive in this cruel apocalypse?

He hadn’t even had time to teach her how to survive in the end times.

The virus’s perverse rate of spread left Lu Yu no time to make more arrangements for Bian Bian; he could only hurriedly move Bian Bian up to the third floor and seal off everything above it.

When an esper is infected and becomes a zombie, their strength is directly higher than that of an ordinary zombie. He couldn’t leave himself out there—if he turned into a mindless zombie, he might harm Bian Bian.

Thus, Bian Bian became an orphan.

Xiu Jin tightly frowned as he read through that long backstory: he was born into the imperial family, the youngest prince of the reigning emperor, and was deeply favored.

Not needing to inherit the throne, he was interested in commerce; with a genius for business, he forcefully inserted himself into the empire’s economic lifeline and became the wealthiest high noble.

This kind of plot made Xiu Jin feel uncomfortable after reading it—somewhat stifled.

When the backstory disappeared, what appeared before him was the scene of a little girl carrying food to bring to her grandfather.

The image was very clear; you could see the little girl’s sorrowful expression and the large tear sliding down her cheek.

The tough guy’s heart ached.

Such an adorable little one shouldn’t be cradled and doted on by her parents?

Just as Bian-Bian suddenly stumbled, Xiu Jin was startled and instinctively reached out to stop her, realizing his fingers could pinch and move the girl, which prevented the little one from falling.

“Goodbye,” the little guy looked bewildered, which amused Xiu Jin again; he poked the edge of the small face through the screen.

So cute.

These little mini-games are getting more and more realistic now, hardly any different from holographic network games.

And with holographic network games sweeping the interstellar empire, few people bother with this kind of pastime mini-game anymore.

Usually when a game has been on the market for a while and no one plays it, it gets pulled.

Xiu Jin opened the game, thinking that if he discovered which company had created it, he could simply buy or invest in the company. But he couldn’t find any information about the game developer.

He felt a bit puzzled, but didn’t dwell on it; the company could be very small and the game might have been released anonymously — he could investigate further later.

Leaning closer to the screen, Xiu Jin checked what features the game offered.

When he studied the game, Bian Bian instead reached up to touch her face. Her large eyes, rimmed red from recent crying, were full of puzzlement. She carefully picked up the little bear, brushed the dust from it, and whispered, “Huihui, something seemed to poke my face just now.”

The little bear stared at her quietly and, of course, couldn’t answer.

Bang

A strong impact echoed again through the metal walls. Bian Bian flinched instinctively; the tears she had finally held back threatened to fall once more, but she pressed her lips together and stifled them.

Grandpa used to say that Bian Bian must be strong even when alone; she mustn’t cry at will.

She had already cried several times today; she couldn’t cry anymore.

Sniffling, Bian Bian turned and went inside, shut the door and deadbolted it.

Every door and window in the room had been reinforced with metal.

Her stomach growled; Bian Bian was hungry too.

Worried that she might become malnourished and weak, Lu Yu always chose what supplies to look for, and the most important—baby formula—was never allowed to run out.

But formula was hard to find. Before Lu Yu was infected, Bian Bian’s supply had already been depleted. It was while Lu Yu was out searching for formula for her that he accidentally fell and cut his hand.

Of course, he wouldn’t tell Bian Bian any of that.

Bian Bian never was picky—she ate whatever was given to her. But there was one problem: Lu Yu had taken such good care of her, treating her in the apocalypse the same way he would in the normal world, and as a result he had made her stomach very delicate.

Even when it came to instant noodles, Lu Yu would find ways to make them tasty and healthy for Bian Bian.

After Lu Yu was infected, Bian Bian couldn’t eat hot food.

There was a gas canister Lu Yu had procured at home that Bian Bian could use, but Lu Yu, worried about explosions on the stove, had specially modified it to suit his height—out of Bian Bian’s reach. Even if she stood on a chair, she would easily spill the soup.

The first time she used the pot to cook noodles, Bian Bian climbed onto a chair to hold the pot and fell. Fortunately the water was cold; she was merely bruised and suffered no other injuries.

So Biānbiān didn’t dare enter the kitchen.

When she was hungry she ate instant noodles or bread; when thirsty she drank water.

Her stomach was delicate, and at first her body couldn’t handle it—she would throw up whatever she ate. Later she learned to be careful, eating a little at a time, and the vomiting stopped.

But her body wasted away at a visibly rapid pace. When Lu Yu was around, Bianbian had been kept pale and tender, like a little snowball.

It was worlds apart from now.

Grandfather had said that no matter what sound she heard, she must not open the door or go out. Biānbiān was very obedient and stayed in the room the whole time.

Until the food was gone, she only then mustered the courage to, like Grandpa used to, step out of the room to look for something to eat

Bian Bian took out a cute cartoon cup she had washed spotless, picked up the water bottle, placed her small hand on the cap, and twisted for a long time until her palm was a patch of red before she finally opened the bottle.

Opening the cap made the little girl laugh happily. She blew on her reddened palm, then held the bottle and slowly poured into the cup.

She poured two-thirds.

She would save the rest to drink slowly.

She sipped in small mouthfuls, then began choosing between instant noodles and bread.

She liked eating bread; it was soft and fragrant, but bread didn’t satisfy hunger—every time she ate a loaf, she was hungry again before long.

Instant noodles would keep her full for a long time once eaten, but they weren’t tasty.

“Huìhuī, should I eat noodles first or bread?” Whenever she was hungry, the little girl would talk to the little bear and ask for its opinion.

The little girl lifted the bear’s arm and quietly pointed at the bread.

“All right, Huìhuī picked the bread too, just like I thought.” The little girl happily followed Huìhuī’s advice, reached for the bread, tore open the wrapper, and, with sips of water from the cup, ate it in small bites.

Her eyes curved into happy crescents.

The little one clutching the bread and unwilling to finish it made Xiu Jin’s heart ache to the extreme. Instant noodles like that in the interstellar empire were only given to the most vicious criminals as punishment.

As for this kind of rock-hard, nutritionally void bread, the poor wouldn’t even eat it.

Even in the game, as the esteemed Seventh Prince, how could he let his daughter eat such trash food?

Xiu Jin had just been studying the game and noticed there was a shop he could use to buy things. Without a second thought, he opened the shop and found a “Food” section. He clicked in, and his finger froze.

Except for the first “red apple” icon lighting up, all the other icons were gray; he couldn’t click any of them.

Xiu Jin “…….”

What kind of stupid game was this—he couldn’t even buy food for his kid.

Xiu Jin was so angry he nearly smashed the newly bought bathtub, and in the end he could only click the red apple. It was better than nothing; he could at least buy a big basket for his kid.

The “+” under the red apple’s quantity didn’t respond no matter how Xiu Jin pressed it.

He understood then: he could only buy one.

Taking a deep breath, Xiu Jin calmly spent five star coins to buy a red apple. He, who never spent less than ten thousand star coins at a time, stared at the five-star-coin piece for a long while.

This is an insult, do you know that?

After the purchase succeeded, the red apple icon turned gray.

“…”

Alright, you’re impressive.

Xiu Jin quickly placed the apple on the table.

At that moment, a round egg rolled in — it was the smart housekeeper. “Your Highness, you have been soaking for twenty-seven minutes and thirty-four seconds. If you continue, your skin will wrinkle.”

Upon hearing that, Xiu Jin hurriedly reached out and took a look; indeed his skin had already turned pale from soaking. He quickly shut off the holo and climbed out of the tub.

“Are there wrinkles on my back?”

The egg on the floor moved. “Sorry, Your Highness, I don’t have eyes right now, so I can’t see.”

Xiu Jin “…”

Bian Bian was nibbling on bread when she suddenly heard a soft “thud.” She looked up at once and saw a big red apple appear in front of her.

It was as big as half her head.

Bian Bian was stunned.