Bian Bian didn’t bother to wonder why a gun had dropped; she had already lumped guns together with apples—both were things that appeared out of nowhere.

She had seen Grandpa use a gun, and she’d seen others use guns; she thought she should pick one up and shoot the monsters away. But even using both hands, she still couldn’t lift the oddly shaped silver gun, only managed to shift it a little.

—For five-year-old Bian Bian, the weight of this gun already exceeded her own strength.

It was too heavy.

Bian Bian furrowed her brow in frustration.

Probably it was the absurd notion that monsters couldn’t get in that dulled her fear; facing this grotesque, ugly ant corpse-beast, Bian Bian miraculously didn’t feel particularly frightened.

“I can’t lift it.” The little girl said to the gun sullenly.

…..

“Lord Jiusi, this should just be a straightforward realistic-style game. Lifelike characters and settings make it easier for players to project themselves into their roles,” explained a young dragonkin, with two dragon horns sprouting from his head, respectfully to the handsome man standing before him in a palace almost entirely constructed from piled gems.

He wore the simplest casual clothes, looking unremarkable, but on closer inspection the subtle patterns on the fabric were all rendered in gem-like motifs.

A high, straight nose supported a pair of black-rimmed glasses; his eyelashes were thick and long, the outer corners of his eyes tilting up slightly, giving off a hint of nonchalant disdain.

Handsome, powerful, proud — this was the only nine-clawed Azure Heaven Dragon, the oldest and strongest of the dragon breeds, whose status among the dragons was second only to the Dragon King.

Projected before them was the scene of Bian Bian’s encounter in the living room.

Some time ago, Nong Jiusi had gone to inspect other planets, which was actually just a trip for leisure. During the journey he came into possession of an NR virtual device. By coincidence he met Xiu Yan and had him keep it for him, so that he wouldn’t bother throwing it away while traveling.

Now that the trip was over and he had returned, Xiu Yan returned the device to its owner, and Nong Jiusi suddenly remembered he still had this gadget. He casually switched it on, intending to test the device’s wonders.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he powered it on, a projection image popped up automatically.

Then there was a stretch of system instructions; only after Nong Jiusi finished reading them did he understand what was going on.

A new game had been added to the device. In the game there was a little girl named Bian Bian whose grandfather had turned into a zombie; she lived alone. As the player, he was automatically bound to Bian Bian in a father-daughter relationship.

In other words, if he wanted to play this game, he would have to provide survival support for his in-game daughter Bian Bian and raise her safely to adulthood.

Nong Jiusi: “…”

Although he was rather bored every day, it wasn’t to the extent that he’d play some idiotic pet-raising game.

He glanced casually, intending to quit that dull game, when unexpectedly a corpse-beast crawled in through the window, and the little girl sitting in the chair didn’t notice at all.

Because of the projection, Jiu Si was standing right beside her, staring at the tiny thing a few more times; almost instinctively he stepped over and reached out to press down on the corpse-beast’s head as it tried to crawl in.

Then the corpse-beast really was held down by him and couldn’t get in.

Nong Jiusi raised an eyebrow, thinking this was rather interesting: a game’s visuals projected outwards, and he stood inside them—unable to truly feel the textures they would normally produce, yet still able to touch them.

Take that corpse-beast for example. He hardly moved, merely pressed down on its head, and the creature seemed as if fate had clamped around its throat—no matter how it tried, it couldn’t break through.

The scene was too lifelike, unlike a game; the characters inside were as realistic as film actors. It felt as if he had stepped into a movie.

Nong Jiusi began to suspect this was a real environment, merely being presented through the medium of a game.

While he did this, his subordinate and assistant Nong Tang watched the whole process. After Nong Tang checked, he confirmed it was just a game.

Nong Tang was quite knowledgeable about technology, so Nong Jiusi nodded. Given his personality, he should have exited the game then and left it at that.

But seeing the little one in front of him clutching the teddy and refusing to let go, as if a real little girl facing a monster attack, if he withdrew his hand she might be swallowed whole by the monster.

The little one was unarmed, with no ability to protect herself. Hesitating, Nong Jiusi opened the shop in the top right corner.

Everyone knows about in-game microtransactions. Buying a little guy a weapon for self-defense is at least honoring the chance that brought him into this game.

To Nong Jiusi’s surprise, every option in the shop was grayed out and unavailable for purchase.

“Is it reasonable for the game to be set up like this?”

The two horns on Nong Tang’s head twitched as he shook his head and said, “Not very reasonable.”

As everyone knows, the purpose of a game developer launching a game for players is to get them to spend money — every game follows this model so the developers can make a profit.

Never heard of a game that has a paid area but no payment channel; the “channel” is greyed out and unclickable.

Only when Jiu Si clicked on the weapons tab did she see the only icon that had lit up: a silver gun that required one hundred star coins.

After the purchase succeeded, the gun clattered and dropped to the ground.

Nong Jiu reacted and could clearly see the little one flinch at being frightened by that voice.

“…”

If Nong Tang hadn’t confirmed this was a game, he would have thought it was really happening.

Or perhaps… the reason it felt so real was because of the NR virtual device?

Seeing the little one couldn’t lift the silver spear, Nong Jiusi grabbed a piece of hard shell from the ant-corpse beast’s head and shoved the corpse beast out the window.

Then, the scene disappeared.

At the same time, Xiu Jin logged into the game.

Nong Jiusi turned back and asked Nong Tang, “What’s going on?”

Nong Tang thought for a moment and said, “Sir, maybe… you got disconnected.”

That was indeed the truth. After Xiu Jin logged into the game, he had taken Nong Jiu Si’s slot and caused the disconnection, but neither of them knew that.

Nong Jiu Si pushed up his glasses on the bridge of his nose, then picked up a cup of coffee and took a sip, not really bothered—just a game, after all. “Too astringent, get me another cup.”

He set the coffee down.

“Yes.” Nong Tang acknowledged and took his leave.

*

As soon as Xiu Jin entered the game, she received a system notification: [Intimacy +20]

???

What happened? I hadn’t logged in for just a few hours, and as soon as I came back my intimacy rose by 20. While it’s something to be happy about, it all feels strangely uncanny.

Could their precious daughter already know he was her daddy?

Bianbian, surprised the monster had foolishly thrown itself down the stairs, let the last bit of fear for the creature vanish. She gave up picking up the silver spear, clicked the chair to the window, stepped on it and looked down.

The corpse-beast lay there dazed from the fall, constantly shaking its head as if to confirm nothing was pressing on it anymore.

Then, finally certain it could move freely, it looked up; its blood-red eyes fixed on Bianbian, who was peeking out the window.

It began to climb up again, determined to eat this prey it had already chosen long ago.

Xiu Jin hadn’t yet come down from the joy of suddenly gaining 20 intimacy points when he was jolted by a corpse beast attacking toward the edge; he quickly used his hand to press down on the crawling corpse beast, stopping it from climbing up.

But his press only slowed the corpse beast’s movement — it couldn’t make it stay still.

Xiu Jin: “…”

“Biānbiān, move—quick!” At that moment, Zhu Yuan, having heard the voice, rushed back.

He had been cautiously searching nearby for signs of the corpse-beast, not daring to stray far. When the corpse-beast fell from the building and he heard the noise, he realized something was wrong—the beast had sneaked away.

Worried about Biānbiān, Zhu Yuan immediately returned and soon saw a grotesque corpse-beast climbing up to the third floor. The little girl was still standing by the window, curiously peering down, not the slightest bit afraid.

Zhu Yuan’s heart nearly leapt out of his mouth. Using his ability, he darted toward the corpse beast and sent several wind blades flying at it in rapid succession.

The wind blade sliced across the corpse beast’s carapace, producing a sharp “ching” sound, leaving not the slightest trace.

“…”

Such a hard shell!

As he got closer, Zhu Yuan suddenly noticed the corpse beast’s climbing movements were very odd. The ants moved quickly; recalling how fast the corpse beast fled when Lu Yu had frightened it earlier, it was clear the beast’s speed wasn’t constrained by its body.

However—

This corpse-beast was now climbing upward at a speed completely opposite to the speed it had shown while fleeing, like a snail, dragging its heavy shell and crawling slowly.

It’s Bian Bian!

She was using her psychic power to suppress the corpse-beast.

Zhu Yuan’s eyes lit up; he immediately seized the opportunity and, while the creature’s movements were slow, delivered a killing blow.

However, his supernatural power could not inflict substantive damage on the corpse beast whose whole body had evolved a hard shell.

Zhu Yuan’s gaze swept over to an abandoned cart nearby; a huge wind vortex wrapped the cart and slammed it brutally at the corpse beast.

Bang!

Smoke and gunpowder scattered, the cart turned to debris, and the intense flames, cut off from their fuel supply by the impact, gradually died out. The corpse beast’s upward-climbing motion finally stalled; it shook its head again, then slowly turned, its crimson eyes no longer fixed on the edge of the building above but aimed at Zhu Yuan not far away.

The corpse beast’s original target was Bian Bian; that pure, untainted flesh kept luring it, making its already gnawing hunger crave the filling of meat and blood even more.

Even knowing there was a being one level higher than it here.

But once it realized that being couldn’t get out and posed no threat to it, it could no longer hold back.

Still, for safety’s sake the corpse beast didn’t intend to alert that threatening presence, so this time it acted quietly. What enraged it, however, was that what it had expected to be an easy feast—finally devouring the prey it had watched for days—turned into an encounter with something utterly inexplicable.

At that moment another Zhu Yuan popped up. After weighing his options, the corpse beast immediately turned its head, choosing to eat the larger prey first and leave the smaller, tastier one for later.

Seeing the giant ant lunging at him with a burst of speed—the pace utterly different from climbing—Zhu Yuan’s pupils tightened; he realized Bianbian’s power could no longer suppress the corpse beast.

He used the terrain, nimbly dodging the bristled jointed limb the corpse beast thrust at him.

With a soft “pfft,” the thing easily pierced the concrete slab; Zhu Yuan rolled away. In the brief skirmish, he felt the terrifying pressure radiating from a third-tier corpse beast.

A third-tier corpse beast corresponds to a B-level ability user, a full rank above him.

He and Du Mingyu had joined forces and fought desperately to kill one injured third-tier zombie whose combat power was greatly reduced. Now the third-tier corpse beast chasing him was at its peak; he stood no chance and could only use the terrain to flee.

If only he could reach B-level, Zhu Yuan wiped the blood leaking from the wound on his forehead and bit his lip. Even if he had to give his life today, he would make sure this corpse beast never returned!

Seeing the corpse beast chase Zhu Yuan out of the screen’s view, Xiu Jin couldn’t hold it on the screen and had to give up. He looked at his precious daughter and breathed a sigh of relief.

For a moment he couldn’t tell whether his precious daughter was brave or timid.

If brave—she had been frightened to tears by him at first.

If timid—when the corpse beasts attacked, instead of hiding safely in her room, she had the nerve to drag a little stool and peer outside out of curiosity.

What on earth was going on in that little head of hers!

Luckily he arrived in time; otherwise, with the corpse beast’s furious speed chasing after Zhu Yuan, wouldn’t it have swallowed her in the blink of an eye?!

Just the thought sent chills down his spine.

He had only been raising his precious daughter for a few days—he certainly didn’t want her to suddenly be gone.

Bian Bian finally understood that the monster’s earlier series of strange actions weren’t because it was stupid, but because someone had been secretly helping her, just like that gun that had appeared out of nowhere.

Another thought occurred to her: could it have been the same villain she had earlier thought was trying to fatten her up to eat her?

He wasn’t trying to eat her — he was helping her.

So after she fell asleep, he quietly sewed up Huihui’s arm, gave her an apple, had just given her a gun, and even threw the monster out.

Now the monster has gone to chase Uncle Zhu Yuan — has that person already left?

“Are you… are you still here? Did you come to help Bian Bian?” Bian Bian clenched her little fists, nervously looking at the empty living room.

Xiu Jin: “!!!”

What does this mean!

Could this be the change brought on by +20 intimacy points? His precious daughter no longer sees him as the villain and has accepted his presence?!

“Are you uncle?” Bian Bian asked again, concluding the invisible person must be an uncle from the way Huihui’s arm had been stitched up.

If it were an auntie, she wouldn’t have sewn Huihui up so ugly; only an uncle could sew it this hideous.

“I’m your dad!”

That feeling of being acknowledged by his beloved daughter made Xiu Jin soar; it didn’t matter that his precious daughter couldn’t hear his voice.

“Those monsters are so powerful, Uncle Zhu Yuan can’t beat them alone. Uncle, can you help Uncle Zhu Yuan fight the monsters?” Bian Bian twisted her small hands nervously. She quickly ran into the room and took out the box that held the crystal stones. “I don’t have anything else to give you, only these stones…”

Bian Bian looked at the living room with anticipation, but after a while, nothing happened.

Xiu Jin was also helpless. He wanted to help Zhu Yuan, but his perspective followed Bian Bian. She was now in the living room, and he could only act there—he couldn’t perform any other operations.

Another boom sounded outside; the corpse beasts had returned.

Bian Bian hurried to the window, and though he couldn’t see Zhu Yuan’s figure, he saw the corpse-beast continuing to crawl up the building.

“……”

Xiu Jin quickly pressed down with his hand again.

Bian Bian’s eyes lit up — that invisible person is here!

The corpse-beast crawled again at a snail’s pace.

The corpse beast: “…”

So furious!

Covered in dust, Zhu Yuan ran back and once again saw the corpse beast crawling like a snail.

Bian Bian’s ability recovered?

Supporting his knees, Zhu Yuan steadied his heartbeat.

For a moment the scene fell into a strange kind of calm.

The corpse beast had been chasing Zhu Yuan earlier; the prey was too cunning, and after pursuing it for so long without getting it into its belly, the structures obstructed it, its patience ran out, it gave up the chase, and decided to return to eat that most delicious prey.

But to his utter surprise, it again fell into that previous state, as if the building had become a vast swamp; it struggled desperately to climb, yet could only move forward slowly.

The corpse beast, exhausted and starving, seethed with rage inside, but for the sake of food it forced itself to persevere.

Roar――!

The zombie’s howl exploded.

Lu Yu woke up, or rather he felt his dignity being challenged and began pounding violently against the metal wall; the entire building trembled, and dust rained down along the edges.

The corpse beast froze, clearly hesitant for a moment, but remembering that the threat couldn’t get out, it stopped paying attention and resumed climbing.

To fill its belly, even if it had to climb slowly, it would still eat the prey!

With its shell shielding it, no matter how much Zhu Yuan attacked from behind, it was like a mere tickle—utterly ignored.

Xiu Jin had been sitting and playing a game, but seeing the corpse beast determinedly climbing up, he anxiously stood up. However, he couldn’t spend money to buy things for his precious daughter; other than holding down the corpse beast to press it and slow its climb, he couldn’t do anything else.

“…”

The system also played dead, saying nothing.

Xiu Jin gritted his teeth. “What if Lu Yu bursts through the metal wall and comes out? What will we do then?”

Even a third-tier corpse beast was this hard to deal with—Lu Yu, who could frighten a third-tier corpse beast…

Xiu Jin pictured their precious daughter beaming, calling out “grandpa” as she leapt toward Lu Yu, only to be bitten by him.

He hastily shook his head, trying to dislodge those images from his mind.

After some deliberation, the system finally spoke up: “That depends on your abilities as a father.”

Lost in thoughts of his precious daughter, Xiu Jin automatically overlooked that plural particle “men.”

The little creature on the screen suddenly moved.

Xiu Jin hurriedly looked over.

She saw Biandian run into the kitchen, and before long come out carrying half a bottle of cooking oil. She knew the situation was urgent, so she moved quickly, and ended up falling hard on the floor as she emerged from the kitchen.

The pain filled her eyes with tears, but Biandian didn’t cry; she nimbly got up, climbed back onto the chair by the window, and leaned her body out the window.

“I’m not afraid of you!” The little girl trembled as she tipped the half bottle of cooking oil, pouring it with a splash over the corpse-beast’s head.

At that moment, the corpse-beast, bearing that inexplicable pressure, after relentless effort had its head only about a meter from the window; the oil sloshing off the edge drenched its head completely.

The creature was soaked through and through. It had once been an ordinary, utterly insignificant little ant—one a human could easily crush. After being infected by the virus and mutating into a giant ant, its sense of smell remained, even becoming more acute than before.

The scent of cooking oil wasn’t pungent, but to its sensitive nose the odor triggered an instinctive aversion.

Even, it generated a rare kind of crisis—not because of that threatening presence itself, but—

The next second, Bian Bian pulled a lighter from her pocket; with a whoosh, she flicked it and tossed the lit lighter down.

When the open flame met the oil, with a sizzle the flame leapt up in an instant.

Watching the fire erupt from the monster’s head on the screen as he pressed it, Xiu Jin froze for a moment.

Other attacks had no effect on the creature, so they used fire to burn it—and this method was thought up and successfully carried out by a five-year-old.

Their baby is just too clever!

To think of such a method—he, as an adult, hadn’t even considered it.

Flames rose from the corpse-beast’s head; its carapace shielded its body but couldn’t withstand the onslaught of moisture. It shut its crimson eyes and began ramming its head wildly against the wall, trying to put out the fire atop its head by force.

The scorching heat from the flames was transmitted directly to its brain, causing intense unease on top of the pain; it decided to retreat.

I’ll come back next time!

Several buckets of gas oil were wrapped in a gust and fell from the sky, instantly dousing the corpse-beast—that was Zhu Yuan from downstairs.

Bian Bian’s action gave him inspiration.

The gasoline, combined with the wind, instantly set the corpse beast ablaze.

The searing heat was not limited to its head but encompassed its entire body; it began to struggle in agony. At this moment, it no longer thought of hunting, only of fleeing.

Escape from here was its only chance to regroup and return at full strength.

However, Xiu Jin’s fingers still pressed it down hard; an invisible pressure bore down on the corpse beast. Climbing upward was arduous, retreating downward no easier, and even struggling demanded all its remaining strength.

The corpse-beast raged.

It had never felt so humiliated.

It let out an unwilling roar, unique to the corpse-beasts; its steps left many holes in the wall, balls of fire falling from it along with parts of its body.

The impact sounds from Lu Yu grew much weaker, as if he perceived that the intruder who had broken into his territory had already ceased to be a threat.

Zhu Yuan’s face was ashen. He glanced at the ant-like corpse beasts sprawled across the second and third floors, felt a twinge of fear, and also some relief.

Although Bian Bian’s powers were strong, she was very young and her range of control was limited. From the start, Zhu Yuan hadn’t intended for her to confront the corpse beasts head-on.

He hadn’t even discussed with Bian Bian how to coordinate to kill the corpse beasts, and he didn’t want the beasts to suddenly attack today and ruin his plans.

He never would have expected that, even facing the sudden assault, in the end Bian Bian would become the one to turn the tide.

And he, who fancied himself the muscle of the group, hadn’t really contributed much—aside from those last few cans of gasoline.

Zhu Yuan took a deep breath, then hurriedly used his ability to return to the third floor. He spotted the silver spear on the floor at a glance, didn’t hesitate, bent to pick it up, and went to the window.

“Bian Bian, you can withdraw your power now.” Seeing the girl’s hair at her forehead damp with sweat and her cheeks flushed, worried she might harm herself by overusing her ability, he quickly urged her to stop and pulled her back.

Zhu Yuan’s return relaxed Bian Bian a little, but his words left the girl thoroughly puzzled.

She knew what supernatural powers were.

But the problem was she didn’t have any—so why did Uncle Zhu Yuan tell her to retract her power?

Despite her confusion, Bian Bian still obediently nodded.

Xiu Jin saw a silver spear appear in Zhu Yuan’s hand; he didn’t know where the kid had gotten the spear since he hadn’t used it before. He released the hand pinning the corpse beast, and the creature—surrounded by flames and writhing in agony—fell with a thud to the floor below.

It wasn’t dead yet, only surrounded by agony, tumbling and rolling around as it tried to snuff out the flames on its body.

Seeing the corpse-beast still trying to flee, Zhu Yuan didn’t hesitate and pulled the trigger toward the fireball.

The next second, a flash of light came out of the gun□□.

Zhu Yuan: “?”

What kind of bullet could glow?

The ball of light landed on the fire cluster with a deafening boom; the fireball was split in two in an instant, scattering to either side. The corpse beast’s shrieks vanished, its body twitched a few times, then slowly went still.

Zhu Yuan stared blankly at the silver spear in his hand.

The muzzle of the silver spear had been blown open—obviously the spear was ruined, no longer of any use.

A single-use spear?

Xiu Jin’s face darkened several shades. If Zhu Yuan had a gun with such high power value, why hadn’t he used it before!

He stared at Zhu Yuan on the screen. He had previously thought this man looked honest and straightforward, but the more he looked now, the more displeased he felt.

Playing dumb on purpose?

What was he trying to do?

But Xiu Jin still felt that something was off.

Based on Zhu Yuan’s earlier behavior, if he had had this gun all along, he would have used it already; he wouldn’t be waiting until now.

So where did this gun come from?

Did he pick it up on the way back just now?

“Uncle Zhu Yuan, is the monster dead?” Bian Bian let go of her covered ears. When the corpse-beast began to wail, the little girl felt sick and had covered her ears herself.

Zhu Yuan came back to himself, temporarily shifting his thoughts away from the gun. He scooped the little girl up with one arm, leaned wearily against the window, and smiled, “She’s dead. Do you want to take a look?”

Bian Bian nodded.

So Zhu Yuan held Bian Bian up so she could look down.

With the corpse-beast dead, the street returned to silence, and the pounding from above ceased—Lu Yu calmed down.

Only the flames still burned on the corpse-beast’s body, crackling and snapping.

“I can’t see clearly.” Bian Bian rubbed her eyes; thin black ash floated in the air, blurring the little girl’s vision.

“Let’s go downstairs.”

The corpse-beast’s brain still produced crystal stones; they couldn’t be wasted.

Big and small reached the downstairs; Zhu Yuan remained on guard, watching the surroundings to avoid any sudden scavengers.

Fortunately, after such a fierce battle, even if there were zombies and corpse-beasts nearby, now they’d tuck their tails and run as far as they could.

A strange smell hung in the air, like meat burned to a crisp. The corpse beast’s body was blackened all over; in some places its shell had split open, revealing a charred interior.

Even the hardest shell couldn’t withstand fire.

Zhu Yuan quickly crushed the corpse beast’s skull with his foot, reminding Biandan as he did so to be careful not to trip.

The other half of the body wasn’t as charred; Biandan circled it and smelled a different scent here, like barbecue.

It reminded her of the barbecue her grandfather had made for her last year.

—Lu Yu had caught a wild rabbit; in the apocalypse, finding a normal wild rabbit couldn’t be called lucky, it was a stroke of great fortune.

Too bad there was only one. If there had been two, he could have raised them.

That time Lu Yu made grilled rabbit for Bian Bian, spicy rabbit heads, and dry-fried rabbit cubes—it was delicious.

Now, what Bianbian smelled was like roasted rabbit meat.

“Uncle Zhu Yuan, can I eat it?” She pointed at the corpse-beast and earnestly asked Zhu Yuan, who was searching for crystal stones.

Zhu Yuan was at a loss whether to laugh or cry; he had thought the girl circling the corpse-beast was merely curious, but it turned out she wanted to eat it.

Seeing their precious daughter craving ants, Xiu Jin glared at the food section of the mall—he absolutely wanted to buy every single item in that category for Bian Bian.

However, it was all gray.

“……”

Turning to look at the intimacy value of -10 in the top right corner, he felt relieved. If he put in a bit more effort, he could buy things, buy things, buy things for his precious daughter!

After confirming his precious daughter would be fine, Xiu Jin still had work to attend to, so he logged out of the game.

“Biānbiān, this is monster meat, you can’t eat it,” Zhu Yuan said.

At the very beginning of the apocalypse, those who couldn’t get food turned on the corpse-beasts; some of the corpse-beast meat was rotten, some was not, and this unintentionally created a false impression that such meat was normal.

After people ate it, ninety-nine percent were infected and became zombies; the remaining one percent gained supernatural abilities.

“Can I give it to grandpa to eat?” Bianbian asked again.

That actually stumped Zhu Yuan.

Zombies eating corpse-beast flesh—logically it should be possible, but it seemed no one had tried it, and for a zombie, if it could eat fresh flesh and blood, why would it bother with corpse-beast meat?

Besides, the hole in the metal wall was too small to fit anything through, and the corpse-beast’s body carried a virus; if you accidentally cut a finger, infection was highly likely.

He looked at Bianbian apologetically.

Bianbian was a little disappointed, but smiled: “It’s okay, we’ll find something else for Grandpa later.”

Zhu Yuan finally dug the crystal from the corpse beast’s head; when the crystal was unearthed, the energy within it automatically cleansed its surface.

“Uncle Zhu Yuan, it’s a cyan stone, you can use it,” Bian Bian exclaimed, jumping up with joy.

Zhu Yuan’s eyes were filled with rapture.

Although he had secretly hoped for wind-type, when he actually unearthed a third-grade wind crystal, it felt unreal.

He hadn’t suffered any serious injuries, and yet he obtained a three-attribute crystal stone? And it was of the same attribute as his.

With a crystal stone, he could break through his bottleneck—maybe even rank up to B-tier!

Zhu Yuan’s heart raced uncontrollably; he took a deep breath to suppress his joy and said, “Bian Bian, this isn’t just Uncle’s—there’s a share for you too.”

The Spirit attribute had another special trait: every type of crystal stone could be used for cultivation; none would be rejected.

The small box of crystal stones must have been what Grandpa specially left for her cultivation.

Bianbian thought for a moment and said softly, “Then I’ll give you my share.”

Zhu Yuan was slightly stunned; a trace of emotion crossed his dust-smudged face. He raised his hand and gently ruffled Bianbian’s hair, saying earnestly, “Thank you, Bianbian.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Let’s go home.” Zhu Yuan reached out his big hand; Bian Bian stretched out her small hand and took it. A bright smile appeared on Zhu Yuan’s face.

Just as the two—one big, one small—turned to leave, Zhu Yuan suddenly staggered.

“Uncle Zhu Yuan, are you okay?” Bian Bian stopped and looked up at him with a worried little face.

Uncle Zhu Yuan’s expression turned very ugly, and she felt uneasy.

“I…” Zhu Yuan’s voice trembled a little. He lowered his head to look into Bian Bian’s concerned eyes, took a deep breath, and smiled at the little girl, “Uncle is fine.”

Back in her room, Bian Bian didn’t tell Zhu Yuan about the person who had helped her, because Uncle Zhu was resting now; by the time he woke up his injuries would be fully healed, and she would tell him then.

Bian Bian looked around the house, wondering whether that unseen uncle was still there.

Zhu Yuan didn’t ask Bian Bian about the origin of the gun either. After returning home, he went straight into the bathroom.

Thinking Uncle Zhu Yuan might be tired, Bian Bian opened a bottle of mineral water, poured it into a cup, then sat on the sofa, waiting for Zhu Yuan to come out of the bathroom.

Half an hour passed, and Zhu Yuan still hadn’t come out.

The little girl looked worriedly at the bathroom door; she felt Uncle Zhu Yuan had been washing for a long time, and there had been noises at first, but now there were none.

“Huīhuī, do you think Uncle Zhu Yuan might have gotten hurt fighting that monster and passed out?”

Little Xiong couldn’t respond to her.

The more Bianbian thought about it, the more worried she became. She hurriedly stood up and went to the bathroom door: “Uncle Zhuyuan, are you done washing?”

After a moment, Zhuyuan’s hoarse voice came: “Uncle is shaving, I’ll be done washing soon.”

Bianbian immediately felt relieved.

In the bathroom

Zhu Yuan, shirtless, supported himself with one hand on the washstand while holding the level-three crystal with the other.

The mirror reflected his ashen face and the look of pain in his eyes.

He hunched over, panting like a trapped beast, veins bulging at his temples and neck as memories flashed rapidly through his mind.

Zhu Yuan came from an ordinary family: his father was a police officer, his mother a teacher, and he had an older sister. He himself did very well in school and got into his ideal university. After graduating he was supposed to find a suitable job, then marry his girlfriend and start a family.

But an unknown virus swept the globe, the apocalypse arrived, and only he awakened supernatural abilities—yet he couldn’t protect all his family.

In the end, only he remained.

He once sought refuge at a base in a southeastern city, where he met his girlfriend, but she had already attached herself to another powered individual. He tried to take her away; she refused.

After that, he survived alone on the streets, fighting to live while improving his powers, until he met Du Mingyu and then Bian Bian.

He thought his luck had turned, that his future was finally looking up. He had even made plans: with that same-type level-three crystal, he’d push for a B-rank breakthrough. If he succeeded, he could take Bian Bian to the base.

Although B-rank wasn’t especially powerful among espers, it was enough to count someone among the strong. He would protect Bian Bian and raise her…

He could give Bian Bian a home, and with Bian Bian, he would have a home too.

But he never expected Heaven to play such a colossal joke on him.

Zhu Yuan smiled silently; from the strain his eyes slowly grew red around the rims, and the whites of his eyes took on a faint bluish tint.

At his waist, there was an inconspicuous small wound.

At this point, the wound had turned a dark bluish color, ominous veins extending upward from the cut along the muscle lines.

Like Lu Yu, Zhu Yuan had been infected.

He didn’t even know how the wound had come about.

Perhaps it happened when he was dodging the corpse beasts and accidentally scraped himself on something.

Zhu Yuan slowly turned his head; the frosted bathroom door reflected a small shadow, that little girl who looked like an angel.

A tickle rose in his throat and Zhu Yuan couldn’t help coughing violently. Biandan heard it, was startled, and knocked on the door, saying, “Uncle Zhu Yuan, what’s wrong?”

Zhu Yuan swallowed the tickle, quickly changed his clothes, wiped his face, opened the door, and walked out.

“I’m fine, uncle.” Zhu Yuan said, then met the little girl’s anxious, uneasy eyes—she seemed terrified of something.

Zhu Yuan fell silent for a moment.

Thinking of Biandan’s grandfather, perhaps the little girl had sensed something.

“You’re hungry, right?” Zhu Yuan said, “We killed the monster and got a level-3 crystal stone — it’s a great occasion, so we should celebrate… Want to eat a fried apple?”

Zhu Yuan didn’t waste time wondering where the big apple had come from; while he was still clear-headed, he made a meal for little Bianbian.

He moved quickly. There was flour at home; he sliced the apple into thin pieces, dusted them with flour, and fried them in oil.

Fortunately, there were several barrels of oil stored at home—plenty to spare.

Bianbian obediently stayed by Zhu Yuan’s side. She wanted Uncle Zhu to go rest, but he wouldn’t listen to her.

“Is it good?” Zhu Yuan handed a plate of freshly fried apple slices to Bian Bian to cool.

The little girl took a bite and her eyes lit up immediately; crunching, she said, “Delicious.”

Half an hour later, the apple slices were finished frying. Zhu Yuan turned off the heat, then took out the steamed rice from the other pot and placed each bowl on the table.

Bianbian climbed onto the chair and realized Uncle Zhu Yuan had no intention of sitting down.

“Bianbian, I’m leaving.” Zhu Yuan half-squatted. Facing Bianbian’s puzzled expression, he said softly.

Bianbian instinctively asked, “Why?”

“Uncle is going to the base to take revenge on the people who hurt me before.”

Bian Bian said, “Then… could you take Bian Bian along?”

“No.” Zhu Yuan slowly shook his head.

Bian Bian’s two small hands twisted together tightly, and tears fell drop by drop.

“Uncle Zhu Yuan, are you going to become a monster like Grandpa?”