Chapter 21
In the hallway, a glint of golden light flashed briefly in Su Ci’s eyes.
Inside the treatment room, just beyond the wall, Number Four, who had been fiercely glaring at Gu Qingchen, suddenly froze.
A look of confusion crossed the child’s face before his eyes closed, and his body went limp, collapsing into unconsciousness once again.
As shards of glass and jagged pieces of metal flew toward him, Gu Qingchen swiftly crouched down and grabbed a nearby chair, raising it above his head as a makeshift shield.
Clatter—clatter—
Some of the airborne debris lost their force and fell to the ground, while others, driven by inertia, continued their trajectory toward him.
Crash—clang—
Gu Qingchen deflected several glass shards with the chair in his hands. The pieces aimed at his body were stopped by an energy shield that flickered to life around him, sending them ricocheting onto the metal floor.
Even after the chaos had subsided, Gu Qingchen remained crouched, his glasses glinting as his wary gaze swept across the treatment room like a startled bird.
As the only purifier in Base 24, Gu Qingchen was equipped with an automatic energy shield to protect him in case of attack. However, the shield had its limits, and Gu Qingchen wasn’t one to take risks unnecessarily.
For his own safety, he chose to stay vigilant.
What he hadn’t noticed, though, was when the treatment room door had opened. It wasn’t until a pair of black leather shoes stopped in front of him that he realized someone had entered. Startled, he instinctively scooted back.
Looking up, he saw Su Ci standing before him, tilting his head as he studied him with a concerned expression. “Are you okay?”
Not long ago, Gu Qingchen had confidently declared his extensive experience in handling berserk cubs. Now, here he was—
Hiding under a chair in disarray.
“…”
For a moment, Gu Qingchen and Su Ci locked eyes in silence.
After a few seconds, Gu Qingchen finally came to his senses. Forcing a calm tone, he said, “Of course I’m fine.”
Even as he spoke, he avoided meeting Su Ci’s gaze.
His eyes inadvertently swept downward, catching sight of the caretaker’s clean gray-blue uniform trousers and pristine black leather shoes.
“…”
Gu Qingchen, the most valued purifier in Base 24, had never felt so humiliated.
Hastily, he tossed the chair aside and scrambled to his feet, quickly straightening his clothes and tidying his slightly disheveled hair. He adjusted his crooked gold-rimmed glasses with an air of urgency.
Su Ci watched him and began, “Just now—”
“That was an accident!” Gu Qingchen interrupted, a bit too loudly, before realizing his tone was too sharp. He coughed awkwardly and shifted the topic. “Just now, Number Four suddenly went berserk…”
As he spoke, his brows furrowed deeply.
Object manipulation… This was an ability Number Four had never shown before.
According to Number Four’s records, his bloodline stemmed from the Red-Tailed Lion, known for its robust physique and agile speed—attributes that lacked any unique innate abilities.
Could the stimulation from the Blood Mist have caused a bloodline mutation, awakening a superpower? Or was it simply a latent talent within his bloodline, like with Number Two, that had gone undiscovered until now?
Unfortunately, Number Four had already fallen unconscious, leaving no answers for Gu Qingchen.
A sudden thought struck him. Turning to look at Number Two on the other hospital bed, he saw that the other cub had also passed out. No wonder the room had gone quiet.
Gu Qingchen frowned.
For a cub in such an advanced state of berserk frenzy like Number Two, calming down on his own would have been nearly impossible, let alone falling into a peaceful sleep so quickly.
Something about this seemed strange.
Both cubs had inexplicably fallen asleep mid-berserk yesterday as well. Could it be some new phenomenon?
Did simultaneous berserk episodes between the Scarlet Flame Tiger and the Red-Tailed Lion lead to mutual exhaustion, forcing them into unconsciousness?
Gu Qingchen mulled this over, his brows furrowing deeper as he pondered. In the process, he completely forgot about Su Ci, who stood quietly to the side. Unbothered, Su Ci glanced at the time and said, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll get going.”
Hearing this, Gu Qingchen finally snapped out of his thoughts.
Although Su Ci had seen him at his most disheveled, the fact that Su Ci noticed something was wrong, returned, and even showed concern was something Gu Qingchen had to appreciate.
Gu Qingchen nodded. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Su Ci replied.
Gu Qingchen: “…”
He had indeed thanked him… but wasn’t Su Ci being a little thick-skinned? As his gaze landed on the little plastic red flower pinned to Su Ci’s hair, Gu Qingchen took a deep breath and decided to let it go.
At that moment, the treatment room’s metal door opened again, and a team of guards, responding to the alarm, rushed in, fully armed with their weapons trained on Number Two and Number Four on the hospital beds.
“Dr. Gu, are you alright?” the captain asked nervously.
The Blood Rain had just ended, and the base was still in chaos—especially around the medical purification center, where many visitors carried high levels of pollutants.
The influence of these pollutants often caused emotional instability, which could escalate into conflicts. As a result, the guards had been reassigned to maintain order, leaving the cubs less supervised.
They hadn’t expected another incident to occur so quickly. Purifiers were incredibly rare; if anything had happened to Dr. Gu, the consequences would have been dire.
“I’m fine,” Gu Qingchen reassured, shaking his head. “These two cubs are still unstable. It’s best to leave two people here to keep watch and prevent further incidents.”
The captain saluted. “Understood!”
With that resolved, Gu Qingchen led Su Ci out of the treatment room and walked him to the elevator. Once the doors closed, Gu Qingchen was about to return to his office for a break when his communicator buzzed.
Seeing the nickname on the display, Gu Qingchen pressed his lips together before activating privacy mode and answering the call.
The voice on the other end was urgent. “During the Blood Rain, Number Two and Number Four were in the medical pods but still went berserk?”
“Yes,” Gu Qingchen confirmed.
“Was the data preserved? How are the two cubs now?”
“They’re unconscious. The medical pods were destroyed, so I’m not sure if the AI managed to back up the data.”
“They’re unconscious? They calmed down so quickly after going berserk?”
“So it seems. They both fell asleep simultaneously,” Gu Qingchen replied honestly, knowing the surveillance footage would eventually reach the caller anyway.
“Object manipulation? If I recall correctly, Number Four’s bloodline is from the Red-Tailed Lion?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent! I’ll send someone to retrieve the two damaged medical pods shortly.”
Noticing Gu Qingchen’s lack of enthusiasm, the caller softened their tone. “Don’t worry. The application for two new medical pods has already been submitted. We’re processing it through the research institute, so replacements should arrive soon.”
Gu Qingchen pressed his lips together again before finally agreeing. “Alright, send someone to collect them.”
He was about to hang up when he hesitated, then asked, “By the way, regarding pollutant detection instruments… does the size of a wound affect the pollutant readings?”
“In theory, no. Why?”
Gu Qingchen frowned but ultimately said, “It’s nothing.”
It might just be a coincidence. He decided to observe a few more cases before drawing any conclusions—after all, that caretaker would undoubtedly frequent the medical purification center in the future.
*
After leaving the medical purification center, Su Ci saw a hover bus pulling up at the station. He boarded it with Number One and headed to the logistics office building.
At the entrance, the hover bus that had been damaged by the giant spider had already been removed. Whether it had been scrapped or sent for repairs was unclear, but a repair team was busily working on the damaged protective metal outside the building.
Su Ci entered with Number One in tow.
Inside, the logistics staff bustled about, fully occupied. Those uninjured worked with focused urgency, and while a few nodded in acknowledgment of Su Ci’s presence, none stopped to engage with him.
Su Ci went straight to the window where he had previously collected nutrient solutions. Following Shi Yijiang’s instructions, he swiped his ID card through the slot.
[Welcome, Trainee Caretaker Su Ci.]
[You have already collected your allocated supplies for the month. Through this device, you may select the following services:]
- Exchange materials with points
- Monthly home delivery service for supplies
- Procurement order reservation
Selecting the first option, a materials exchange list appeared. It was almost identical to the one Luo Shengfei had shown Su Ci earlier that morning, though some quantities had noticeably decreased—likely already exchanged by others.
Su Ci first selected five boxes of nutrient solutions, then scrolled to the bottom of the list to find two types of fertilizer.
[Items selected: Nutrient Solution (21 servings) × 5, Solid Mixed Fertilizer (250g) × 1, Multi-Purpose Nourishment Liquid (200ml) × 1. Total: 200 points deducted. Remaining balance: 74 points.]
[Preparing materials…]
[Materials ready.]
The supplies were dispensed directly from the window, and the 200 points were deducted. Thanks to the points he had traded with Luo Shengfei earlier, he still had over 70 points left, enough to exchange for another seven boxes of nutrient solutions.
Su Ci casually stored the nutrient solutions and fertilizers into his space button and left with Number One.
This time, he didn’t opt for the hover bus. Instead, he walked to a teleportation platform. However, before the identity verification could complete, Su Ci’s figure disappeared from the platform.
[Identity verification failed.]
The light screen scanned an empty spot and then went silent. To an outsider, it appeared as though Su Ci had teleported away. Unless someone checked the teleportation records, no one would notice anything unusual.
*
In front of the nursery.
Number One followed Su Ci as they stepped off the teleportation platform. His eyes were wide with curiosity as he alternated between looking back at the platform and glancing up at Su Ci.
So this was what teleportation felt like?
Amazing! Now he could use the teleportation platform too!
As they entered the nursery and walked past the courtyard, Number One’s gaze instinctively drifted to the back of the building. He remembered the small patch of dirt and the little creature in the soil that had spoken to him.
However, seeing that Su Ci didn’t stop, he suppressed his curiosity and followed him into the building and toward the activity room.
Contrary to Gu Qingchen’s earlier concerns, the activity room was calm and quiet. There were no signs of the cubs, nor were there any traces of destruction.
Number One stood at the doorway, peering into the room with curiosity.
Su Ci closed his eyes briefly. When he reopened them, he turned and led Number One toward the kitchen, where they finally found 4586 busy with chores.
“Su Su, you’re back!”
The nanny robot’s cheerful voice was as lively as ever, no different from when Su Ci had left earlier.
Su Ci felt a twinge of doubt. Outside, the Blood Rain had thrown the base into chaos, yet the nursery seemed unnaturally calm.
He thought about the child’s laughter he had heard at the logistics office. Could the source of that sound really have been one of the nursery’s cubs?
