Chapter 128
Although Su Ci didn’t place too much importance on the caretaker’s assessments, since it was a task assigned to the younglings, he made sure to check their work periodically. Those who completed their tasks diligently deserved proper rewards.
Additionally, these journals served as an important measure of the younglings’ progress in their writing lessons, which were vital for their future inheritance of knowledge.
Summoning the AI system, Su Ci began reviewing the younglings’ assignments. Since the journals had to be submitted to the monitors, all the entries were scanned and stored in the base’s AI system.
As soon as Su Ci mentioned checking their work, the younglings’ reactions varied. Some were excited and happy, while others—like Zheng Xing—were nervous and uneasy. And he wasn’t the only one.
Lu Jiao felt particularly anxious. The more he cared about something, the more prone he was to self-doubt.
When Su Ci brought up the holographic interface to start reviewing, Lu Jiao quietly moved closer to Lang Ze and whispered, “Lang Ze, how many words do you usually write in your journal?”
“Huh?” The little wolf cub was momentarily confused, scratching his head. “I’ve never counted.”
Thanks to Lu Jiao’s tutoring, Lang Ze had learned to count up to 100, but why would he bother counting words in his journal? It wasn’t like they were Star-chain fruit.
“Oh, okay,” Lu Jiao nodded and turned to ask another friend, “Xing Xing, how about you?”
Zheng Xing kept his head down, silent, fiddling nervously with a metal ball in his hands.
It wasn’t even me who wrote it; Xiao Zhi wrote it for me. How would I know?
Seeing Zheng Xing sink even lower, Lu Jiao realized he had asked the wrong person again. Looking around, his gaze landed on Xue Wei, whom he regarded as the most studious among the younglings.
Besides Brother A-Yan, Xue Wei knew the most words out of everyone!
Approaching her, Lu Jiao asked how she wrote her journal and if he could take a look.
Hearing his request, Xue Wei’s cheeks flushed slightly, and she responded earnestly, “You-You, other people’s journals are private. Even parents aren’t supposed to look at them without permission.”
Of course, Su Ci, as their caretaker and teacher, was an exception since this was his assigned homework.
“Oh, I see.” Realizing he had been impolite, Lu Jiao rubbed his nose in embarrassment and quickly apologized, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
“It’s okay,” Xue Wei replied with a good-natured smile.
“Then… how much do you usually write?” Lu Jiao pressed cautiously. “That’s something you can share, right?”
Xue Wei thought for a moment and said, “I haven’t counted either, but I wrote two pages.”
Hearing this, the little wolf cub beside her puffed out his chest, putting his hands on his hips and boasting, “I wrote more than two pages! I even wrote on the back of the pages too!”
Lu Jiao froze, instantly overcome with anxiety.
He had thought that filling an entire page was already very diligent, but Xue Wei and Lang Ze had written two whole pages! And Lang Ze had even written on the back—making it four pages in total!
The wolf cub’s hard work left Lu Jiao in awe and filled him with shame and unease.
Would his room still get a window today?
Lu Jiao looked at Su Ci with his blue-black eyes full of nervousness and anticipation.
Rong Heng and Li Hua were also a bit anxious.
Having a window opened in their rooms was something all the younglings deeply desired!
Meanwhile, Su Ci had started reviewing their journals on the holographic screen.
He didn’t go in numerical order by the younglings’ IDs but instead selected entries randomly.
The first one he opened was Lang Ze’s.
The base AI system was quite meticulous—it had photographed the handwritten entries and converted them into text. However…
Seeing Lang Ze’s messy scrawls, Su Ci couldn’t help but marvel at the AI’s ability to decipher them.
Lang Ze had indeed filled over two pages, but his handwriting was so large that each character was nearly the size of a fist. One page could only fit four or five characters.
His journal entries were equally simple:
“Today, I ate delicious roasted meat—happy! Brother A-Yan is amazing!”
Then came notes like “Flowers bloomed,” “Learned counting,” “Ate taro,” and “Practiced the flute.”
While simple, it wasn’t incorrect—journals were meant to record daily activities, after all. But his handwriting left much to be desired.
Still, Su Ci didn’t have high expectations for the wolf cub. The fact that Lang Ze wrote something every day showed he was completing the task diligently.
Nodding, Su Ci moved on to other journals.
The next two entries belonged to the lion siblings. Surprisingly, Li Hua’s was more detailed, perhaps due to her love of drawing. Though she had just started learning to write, her handwriting was already neat and delicate.
Rong Heng… Well, his handwriting was slightly better than Lang Ze’s. At least his characters were orderly, and his content was somewhat richer, with added details.
Then came Lu Jiao’s. Despite being the second youngest of the group, he was the most hardworking in his studies. It was evident that he had put great effort into his journal, with no typos or corrections.
He likely wrote a draft first and then carefully copied it.
As for Xue Wei, her work needed no explanation. As a princess raised with royal education, her literacy far exceeded that of the others. Her journal reflected her thoughtful nature, detailing her emotional journey since arriving at the Nursery Facility and expressing her longing for the lady who raised her.
Interestingly, Xue Wei also mentioned her observations about the lion siblings and the possible connection to the lady’s lost child. She had written down the details and reasoning behind her conclusions.
Su Ci noted this information for future investigation.
Then came Ran Lie’s journal, written in his “meow language.” Given the boy’s unique situation, Su Ci couldn’t fault his effort. After regaining human form the previous night, Ran Lie had diligently recorded his day.
He detailed everything he had done, especially his experience fighting the giant spider. His vivid descriptions included reflections like, Those five minutes felt like an eternity, as if my life stretched endlessly within that span.
Skimming through, Su Ci nodded in approval.
While Ran Lie’s handwriting wasn’t the best, his writing style was unexpectedly good. He had also made excellent use of the base AI’s dictionary function to look up unfamiliar words and carefully copied them.
Unlike Lang Ze, who simply replaced complicated words with circles and crosses.
Lu Li’s journal was decent, though a bit like a stream-of-consciousness list. However, his respect for Xue Wei and curiosity about the ferocious beast bloodline added an amusing touch for Su Ci.
Finally, Su Ci opened Zheng Xing’s entry.
The “journal” was detailed to the point of absurdity, documenting every minute and second of the day, including what was done and said. Su Ci blinked at the sheer volume.
He pondered for a moment before realizing the truth. “Xiao Zhi, you wrote this, didn’t you?”
The base AI replied, “Yes.”
Su Ci nodded. His mechanical control abilities came from Zheng Xing, so it made sense that what the AI could do, Zheng Xing could also accomplish.
Looking at the massive block of text, Su Ci frowned slightly. “Xiao Zhi, your summarization skills need work.”
“…”
The base AI seemed to freeze momentarily. After a pause, its voice came through again, “Is that all you have to say?”
Although the AI’s tone was monotone, there was an almost imperceptible hint of irritation buried within it.
Su Ci raised an eyebrow. “What else would I say?”
“…” The base AI finally replied, “Number Three did not write a growth journal.”
“But you completed it for him,” Su Ci said with a shrug. “It’s just too long. Next time, make it more concise.”
“…”
The base AI fell completely silent.
Su Ci’s lips curved into a slight smile as he sensed the AI’s frustration, finding it quite amusing.
Xiao Zhi is becoming more and more human-like, he thought. Who knows? Maybe one day it will truly transcend its current form and achieve a leap in its existence.
As for Zheng Xing…
Su Ci turned his gaze to the child hiding behind Lang Ze, head bowed.
The moment Su Ci looked his way, the child visibly shrank, looking extremely guilty.
But Su Ci had no intention of reprimanding him.
The child was blind, and expecting him to write was already a challenge. Besides, he had used his own ingenuity to get the AI to help him. How could Su Ci fault him for that?
At least he hadn’t turned in a blank journal, had he?
“It seems you all completed the homework I assigned,” Su Ci said. “So, every one of you will get a window in your room.”
Su Ci had never planned to make the window-opening task difficult. Asking for the journals was more about giving them a little scare and ensuring they stayed on top of their assignments.
Since no one had turned in an empty journal, he decided to consider them all as having passed. After all, the growth journal was more about having something to submit than perfect execution.
As soon as he said this, the younglings cheered excitedly. Even Zheng Xing, after a moment of confusion, broke into a happy smile.
Su Ci walked over and placed his hand on Zheng Xing’s head, giving it a firm, playful rub.
Feeling the warmth of Su Ci’s hand, Zheng Xing’s smile brightened, making him look like a little angel.
Then, he heard Su Ci say, “Xiao Zhi… try not to bully him too much.”
Zheng Xing nervously twisted his fingers.
He didn’t think he had bullied the AI, but he still nodded obediently.
As long as I get a window, I’ll agree to anything the caretaker says, he thought.
When Luo Shengfei finished clearing all the land, he heard Su Ci’s request and froze for a moment. “Are you sure you want to add windows to the younglings’ rooms?”
Wouldn’t that significantly reduce the safety of the rooms?
But as he thought about it, Luo Shengfei realized that with monster incursions becoming more frequent—even though Base 24 had been quiet recently—many other bases had been reporting bad news.
When monsters attacked, hiding in sealed rooms no longer guaranteed safety. In fact, if a room were fully sealed and a monster got in, there would be no way to escape.
Understanding this, Luo Shengfei readily agreed. “The caretaker is always so thoughtful!” he exclaimed.
Su Ci wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but seeing him work so earnestly, he decided not to question it.
The size and height of the windows for each room varied, and fortunately, there were leftover materials from building the greenhouse that could be repurposed for the windows.
Since seven rooms needed windows, Luo Shengfei called in the maintenance team to help with the project.
Thanks to the tea they had been given, the maintenance workers’ attitudes were noticeably warmer compared to before. The younglings, who were highly attuned to detecting kindness and hostility, could naturally sense this shift.
As a result, the younglings were friendlier to the maintenance workers too, sweetly addressing them as “Uncle” and “Auntie” while chatting and laughing with them.
When these younglings weren’t causing chaos or fighting, and instead behaved politely and adorably, it was hard not to like them.
During this interaction, the maintenance workers finally confirmed what they had been suspecting: they hadn’t been imagining things yesterday. The younglings had genuinely become more well-behaved!
This was an incredibly delightful surprise!
They couldn’t help but marvel at Su Ci, the caretaker. How had he managed to make these younglings so obedient? And how had he resolved the bloodline frenzy issue?
This was a problem even the elite nurseries on the capital planets of various nations couldn’t solve! Realizing this, the workers began to see Su Ci in a whole new light.
They couldn’t help but wonder how those elite childcare experts, who had long insisted that beast-blood younglings afflicted by bloodline frenzy required intensive, family-style care, would react to this revelation.
If this caretaker ever appeared on the capital planets, parents struggling with frenzied younglings would likely fight tooth and nail to secure his services.
Su Ci, however, was unaware of the maintenance workers’ newfound admiration for him and wasn’t interested in it either.
When Cen Liang approached him after noticing he had some free time, asking if they could visit the cultivation zone to check on the mutated garlic plant, Su Ci agreed without hesitation. He figured it was about time anyway.
What new abilities would the little spirit garlic manifest after its advancement this time?
Though…
Hopefully, its temper will improve a bit.
Thanks for the chapter!