Chapter 156
Lang Ze stopped in his tracks and turned back to look in the direction of the pool.
Then, he lowered the little cub, Zheng Xing, off his back and slowly walked to the edge of the pool. He gazed down at the water, which shimmered faintly with a reddish hue.
The surface of the pool was utterly still. Despite the simulated breeze in the greenhouse, the water remained smooth, like a mirror, undisturbed by even the slightest ripple.
Lang Ze’s reflection appeared on the water’s surface.
Gradually, his shadow began to shift. Behind him, two figures emerged.
One was unmistakably “Su Ci,” and the other…
The second figure was a woman clad in a battle suit. Her expression was stern, exuding an air of strength and valor. Her battle suit was damaged, her hair disheveled, and her face streaked with sweat and blood, as if she had just endured a grueling fight.
Lang Ze’s eyes widened, his pupils contracting slightly.
His gaze fell on the woman, and it was as though he was transported back to that day…
The day when the space pirate who had raised him lost a bet and, drunk, tied him up with a dog chain. Not only did the pirate smash a bottle over his head, but he also whipped him, calling him a useless stray who wasted food and vowing to one day kill him and make soup.
Beaten within an inch of his life, Lang Ze had thought he was going to die. Just as he was about to lose consciousness, someone kicked open the pirate’s door and stormed in.
That person took the pirate down in a swift and decisive manner. Then, she walked toward him, crouched down, and carefully administered first aid.
“It’s okay now, child.”
Before sinking completely into darkness, he heard her say those words. It was the first time anyone had spoken to him so gently…
After that, he never saw her again, except in dreams. But now…
She stood behind him, smiling softly, her warmth dissolving all his defenses. Even as she placed her hand on his shoulder, he didn’t flinch.
On his other side, Su Ci also raised a hand, resting it on his right shoulder.
Together, they made a forward-pushing motion…
In Dormitory 303, A-Yan, who had already gotten up and was folding his clothes, suddenly felt a strange sensation.
With a casual wave of his hand, a work manual from Dormitory 302 flew into his grasp. He opened the page that had been updated yesterday and quickly added a new rule.
“Splash—”
The little wolf cub fell into the pool. With his eyes closed, he didn’t struggle but sank straight to the bottom.
“Lang Ze!”
The other cubs rushed to the poolside. Lu Jiao, who had lagged behind, grabbed Zheng Xing and held him back, preventing him from running toward the pool.
The other children anxiously called out for Lang Ze. Xue Wei, who had learned to swim, was about to jump in to save him when—
The little wolf cub, previously immersed in his dream, suddenly opened his eyes. Thrashing in a dog-paddle style, he struggled to swim upward and broke through the surface of the water.
Seeing this, Xue Wei let out a sigh of relief.
“Lang Ze, are you okay?”
Rong Heng shouted as he used his telekinetic power to pull the little wolf’s clothing, dragging him toward the shore.
Having swallowed several mouthfuls of water, Lang Ze emerged coughing. Thanks to Rong Heng’s telekinetic pull, he was finally brought to safety.
Xue Wei helped pull him out of the water, while Rong Heng and the others patted his back to help him catch his breath.
“Cough, cough, cough—”
Finally able to breathe again, Lang Ze plopped down on the ground, gasping for air.
“Ah! Thank you all. I thought I was done for!” He sighed with lingering fear once he managed to calm down.
“Lang Ze, what just happened?” Lu Jiao, who had already let go of Zheng Xing, looked at the little wolf cub with a hint of reproach. “Why did you suddenly jump into the pool to swim?”
Zheng Xing squatted beside Lang Ze and nodded his little head in agreement.
“I don’t know either!”
Lang Ze scratched his wet hair, feeling equally baffled about what had just occurred.
He thought he saw Su Su and the female warrior who had rescued him from the space pirate. Then… they pushed him into the water.
But how could that be?!
Not to mention that lady—even Su Su—if they really wanted to take his life, they wouldn’t have needed to go to such trouble. So just now… it must have been some sort of hallucination caused by falling into the water and losing clarity.
Still…
Recalling the image of the female warrior he saw underwater, Lang Ze couldn’t help but break into a silly grin.
After being rescued from the space pirate base, he had never seen her again. He didn’t even know her name, where she was from, or which country she belonged to. Over time, he’d even forgotten what she looked like.
And now, he had remembered!
Though the chances of seeing her again were slim, just recalling her made Lang Ze genuinely happy.
When he grew up, he would go find her, thank her, and repay her. As for how he would repay her… well, that would depend on what she needed.
The cubs, seeing Lang Ze suddenly grinning foolishly, all wondered if he’d damaged his brain from nearly drowning. Lu Jiao couldn’t help but step forward and touch his forehead, only to have Lang Ze grumble and push him away.
While there was laughter and chatter on the shore, in the pool, the frustrated water demon was fuming.
“Young cubs must not harm each other, nor harm the staff of the nursery.”
The newly added rule struck it like a hammer, and the binding force of the rules firmly restrained it, preventing it from causing harm to any of the creatures on the shore.
Ugh, so annoying!
Why was it locked up here? Why did they have to torment it like this?
Even though it controlled the water resources of the entire mountain range, it hadn’t done anything truly evil other than devouring other water demons. As long as it wasn’t provoked, it never initiated fights with other monsters or humans.
So why were they treating it this way?!
Suddenly, a malicious thought arose as the water demon lowered its gaze toward the purification array at the bottom of the pool.
If it couldn’t harm the creatures on the shore, it would destroy this damned array! The next activation wasn’t far off, and it refused to endure this torment any longer!
But just as it gathered all its strength for a decisive blow—
“Young cubs must not damage nursery structures.”
A new rule was generated, forming a cage that once again wrapped tightly around the water demon. The force it had gathered for its attack was abruptly interrupted.
The gathered energy couldn’t simply dissipate, but it couldn’t harm the creatures on the shore or destroy the structures underwater either. For a moment, the water demon had no target to unleash its attack on.
By the time it thought of attacking the air above, it was too late—the energy exploded inside its own body.
“Blorp—”
The water demon essentially hit itself, inflicting internal injuries. In the end, it fainted, transforming into a crimson water mass that sank to the bottom of the pool.
The once mirror-like surface of the pool returned to its natural state.
The cubs were unaware of the turbulent undercurrents beneath the pool. Once they confirmed that the little wolf cub was fine, they returned to the greenfield. As for Lang Ze, still soaked from head to toe, he had no choice but to go back to his room, change clothes, and then join them.
Room 302.
A-Yan retracted his spiritual sense and let out a slow breath.
Looking at the newly added rules in the manual, he nodded to himself. This time, everything should be in order, right?
Tucking the work manual into his pocket, he returned to the room. After neatly folding his clothes, he cleaned and tidied the entire dormitory.
Even though there were housekeeping robots, A-Yan still enjoyed the feeling of doing chores by hand. It made it feel as though… this place truly was his and Su Su’s home.
Now that he had returned to his adult form, he found these tasks even easier to handle.
Once he finished tidying up the dormitory, he teleported to the greenfield.
With the nursery greenhouse in place, watering and fertilizing the plants no longer required their constant attention. However, the plants previously assigned to the cubs were still left for them to care for.
The cubs surrounded Zheng Xing, asking him how much water and fertilizer each plant needed.
The greenfield echoed with their childish voices and happy laughter. Hidden among the greenery, flowers, and fruits, the scene radiated harmony and joy.
It seemed that the events of yesterday had left no visible mark on the nursery.
The most noticeable change was the absence of Little Fat Chirp’s chirping.
“Good morning.”
A-Yan activated his communicator and greeted the children.
Hearing his voice, the cubs turned in the direction it came from—and froze in place.
“Brother A-Yan?”
What they saw was no longer empty air but a warm and friendly young man, about eighteen or nineteen years old. He was dressed in strange clothing—something that looked a bit like a robe, with long flowing fabric, yet visible pant legs underneath.
Though they had glimpsed A-Yan’s appearance yesterday when he was swept away, he had been surrounded by light at the time and… wasn’t wearing any clothes?
Now, this outfit looked odd but… also kind of nice?
“Are you really Brother A-Yan?” Lang Ze stared at the fluffy ears on top of A-Yan’s head and the large, bushy tail behind him, feeling a special sense of kinship.
Brother A-Yan’s beast ears and tail looked so much like his own!
Could it be that Brother A-Yan was also a wolf?
A-Yan had no idea what Lang Ze was wondering, so he continued smiling. He reached out to pat the boy’s head, gave a soft hum of acknowledgment, and said, “Thank you all for yesterday.”
“You’re welcome!” the cubs replied enthusiastically.
“Brother A-Yan was taken away by a monster, of course we had to save you! Because… because…” Little White Deer started but suddenly trailed off.
Why exactly? Brother A-Yan didn’t seem to be a caretaker, and he wasn’t a cub either. So what was Brother A-Yan?
A-Yan looked at the puzzled Little White Deer and then at the other cubs. Their faces gradually mirrored the same confusion, especially Lu Li, who had seen A-Yan’s cub form before.
He stared at A-Yan, his eyes filled with disbelief.
A-Yan couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
When the rules dissipated, everything about “Number One” would gradually fade from people’s memories. In the children’s understanding, he was simply “Brother A-Yan.”
Not wanting the cubs to dwell on the matter, he crouched down and said to them, “What if I became a caretaker here at the nursery? Would you like that?”
Lu Li looked at him, still feeling that this Brother A-Yan was different from the one he had “imagined,” but he still asked, “Like Su Su?”
“Yes,” A-Yan nodded, “like Su Su, I’ll be your caretaker.”
“Yay!” Lang Ze cheered first. “I love Brother A-Yan’s cooking!”
He paused and added, “Especially the meat!”
The other cubs, distracted, chimed in with excitement. Only Lu Jiao furrowed his brows, still pondering. If Brother A-Yan was going to be their caretaker, then what was he before?
A gentle hand landed on his head.
Lu Jiao looked up and saw Brother A-Yan smiling warmly at him. “Would you like some lotus seed soup later?” A-Yan asked.
Lotus seed soup? What’s that?
It sounded delicious just from the name!
Little White Deer’s curiosity was piqued. He voiced his question, and after A-Yan explained, he exclaimed, “So lotus flowers are edible?”
“The seeds are edible,” A-Yan explained. “The leaves can be used for lotus leaf rice, and the petals can be made into lotus flower pastries. Unfortunately, we don’t have any flour.”
Just from the description, the cubs were already drooling.
Little White Deer wanted to ask what flour was, but Lang Ze cut in, “But we already had breakfast! Can we still eat lotus seed soup? Or do we have to wait until lunch?”
“A small bowl won’t hurt,” A-Yan replied.
The lotus seeds they gathered yesterday weren’t many. With eight cubs, each would only get a little taste, making it more like a dessert.
“Unless you’d rather wait until lunch?” A-Yan asked.
“We want it now!” the cubs exclaimed, raising their hands eagerly. Even Xue Wei was no exception.
After all, what cub could resist a snack?
A-Yan smiled and told them to continue with their work. As the cubs ran off, he noticed Ran Lie, the little crimson flame tiger, still crouching nearby, hesitating as he gazed at him.
Come to think of it, Ran Lie was the first cub in the nursery to encounter “Number One.”
Due to Ran Lie’s severe condition and the amount of time he spent in Su Su’s room, he had the longest interaction with “Number One.”
A-Yan walked over and patted the little tiger’s head.
Ran Lie didn’t shy away but looked a bit lost, as if… he had lost an important friend.
“Still unable to revert to human form?” A-Yan asked.
With Ran Lie’s progress in controlling his flame powers, he should have been able to return to his human form by now.
“I can, but it’s inconvenient,” the boy replied honestly.
“Inconvenient?”
“Yeah.” The little tiger nodded and gave a practical answer. “I’m running out of clothes.”
Ran Lie, being the oldest and largest cub, quickly outgrew his clothes. Although the nursery had a good supply of cub-sized outfits, his habit of tearing through one set a day was unsustainable.
When he transformed into the red flame tiger, it was usually because he lost control of himself and couldn’t take his clothes off in time—not that he wanted to strip in front of others, anyway.
So, staying in tiger form was simply easier.
“But when your flame powers run out, you’ll still revert to human form and need clothes,” A-Yan pointed out.
He thought for a moment and unhooked a storage pouch from his waist.
Su Su had made several of these for him, and giving one to Ran Lie didn’t seem like a big deal. It could even be considered a final farewell from “Number One.”
A-Yan taught Ran Lie how to use the pouch, and the little tiger’s eyes lit up with excitement.
“What do I need to do in exchange for this?” Ran Lie asked.
A-Yan thought for a moment. “We’re running low on meat. When you practice controlling your flames, bring back a few giant spiders for us.”
The little tiger nodded vigorously.
Now that his flame control had improved, he no longer reduced the giant spiders to ash. He could capture them whole and store them in the pouch.
This way, they’d never worry about running out of meat again!
