241 was four years older than 242, and a four-year gap was still very obvious on underage bodies.
Seeing big brother refuse to put little brother down, 242 wanted to take him over himself, but he wasn’t quite tall enough yet. For a moment, he was both angry and anxious, his eyes turning a bit red.
Su Ximu, still held by big brother, noticed second brother’s anxiety and proactively wanted to get down.
But after getting down, before his feet touched the ground for even two seconds, he was picked up again.
242 held the little guy in his arms and walked to the corner of the room, facing inward, clearly not wanting big brother to snatch little brother away again.
Even the other little brother 243, who came close afterward, was pushed aside by him with one hand pressing on his face, leaving 243 frantic.
However, this situation didn’t last long, because the bell rang, and everyone had to head out again.
Su Ximu had now grown accustomed to playing by himself at home. When his brothers left, he even waved his little hand at them.
After passing the initial few days of adaptation, days in the Education Field seemed to return to their previous calm.
During this time, the little guy gestured and drew pictures several times, finally convincing his brothers. Under their watchful gazes, he ran to the neighboring room again.
Neighbor Grandpa was good to him too.
Over time, aside from staying home, frequently visiting next door became another habit for the little guy.
Another two months passed seemingly without incident. During a detailed examination, researchers detected that 243 had fully completed his transformation from ordinary person to hunter.
However, the researcher stubbornly couldn’t detect which aspect 243’s ability leaned toward.
Then, the researchers also tested 243’s two older brothers, 241 and 242. They too had fully completed their transformations.
Unfortunately, just like 243, no one could detect what abilities they possessed.
This left the baffled researchers no choice but to chalk it up to genetic inheritance from the three brothers’ parents.
Because of this, the overseer in charge of that Outer District back then had already been executed by vote.
Due to his negligence, the research lab had lost two highly valuable corpse specimens.
At the same time, the breeding plan targeting 241, 242, and 243 was added to the research lab’s agenda.
They hoped to recreate their parents’ genetic miracle through broad matching.
However, to ensure quality, after a meeting discussion, 241—as the first target—had his experimental plan scheduled for three years later.
During these three years, Education Field 104 needed to bring his condition to peak, both in strength and physical state.
After the meeting, 242 and 243 were sent back to the Education Field, while 241 was taken away.
Amid his little brothers’ anxious waiting, 241 was gone for a full week.
During this period, a half-grown kid, along with a somewhat younger kid and a truly small kid, secretly pried open the drawers in the school management office.
They found nothing useful in the school management office drawers. Driven by familial bonds, the trio expanded their search range, even embarking on their first nighttime excursion into the inner Education Field.
Thanks to the Wasteland World’s deformed development—highly polluted industry but network and surveillance facilities as if they had never existed—the trio clung to railing gaps and sneaked out of the Education Field, beginning their search along the way for white little houses.
According to key information from one team member, he had seen those white little houses before; they were full of bad people in white clothes!
If big brother had been captured, the place with the most bad people was the top suspect!
The other two members deeply agreed and adopted the suggestion.
After sneaking for about ten minutes, the trio soon spotted the target building.
They found a hard-to-spot corner, squatted down, and all three team members pressed their ears to the wall, holding their breath to listen intently to the sounds on the other side.
Su Ximu couldn’t hear clearly and could only vaguely sense people buzzing and talking on the other side.
Meanwhile, 242 and 243’s stamina and sensory acuity had skyrocketed during this time.
Listening carefully, they could roughly make out what the people inside were saying.
Of course, they didn’t understand longer or more complex sentences.
After all, they had only freeloaded two months of Intelligence Opening classes at the Education Field. This result was already impressive.
After listening for a while, 242 shook his head at his two little brothers.
It meant the people inside hadn’t mentioned anything related to big brother yet.
Undeterred by not hearing anything, the three continued eavesdropping outside the wall.
Maintaining the squat with ears pressed to the wall was tiring. But even the youngest, Su Ximu—who struggled most to hear—never complained.
He knew he couldn’t understand the local language well or hear the voices from the other side clearly, so he switched spots with Third Brother. He listened while keeping watch for anyone approaching the corner.
In this way, the resilient trio stubbornly squatted outside the wall for half the night.
Finally, 242’s eyelids twitched, and he reached out to pat 243 beside him.
On the other side of the wall, the night-shift overseer watching the samples yawned sleepily while forcing himself to chat with colleagues. “How’s Hunter No. 241 doing?”
“Just so-so.”
“Starved him for days, then tossed in three meat citizens, but it didn’t trigger his ferocity. Had to send him into the monster world to challenge monsters there. Tsk, so hard to anger—maybe his ability is related to emotion control?”
“Don’t know, but talking about this monster world always gives me the creeps.”
“Those big shots must have miscalculated. That’s no new world waiting for us to conquer with its magical power. Clearly, the monster world is the one devouring ours bit by bit!”
“District 4, District 9, District 11—they’ve all fallen, turned completely into a paradise for monsters. How long until our District 13?”
When the topic hit this point, an overseer panicked and cut in. “Stop talking! What if someone hears?”
“Hears us and so what!” The interrupted man grew heated. “It’s the truth! Those big shots are all fat and stuffed. If not for the Education Fields under them churning out batches of hunters to prop them up, they’d have been hanged long ago!
There are clearly two paths to gaining the monster world’s power. But because the inner district lacks manpower, we have to abandon one?! Why not fully open Intelligence Opening to the Outer District folks? They have such a huge population base—even one smart one in ten thousand would do!
Since we’ve already decided to let them die for us, why not pursue both paths instead of the hardest one: beating monsters with raw strength?”
“You’re insane? Keep it up, and I’ll report you! Don’t drag me down!”
Outside, 242 and 243 got the gist.
They barely reacted to the part about starvation, focusing instead on big brother still being alive—just temporarily sent somewhere, which was why he couldn’t return.
Alive was enough.
As the sky began to lighten, the trio quietly made their way back.
They returned home without incident.
During the day, 242 and 243 attended classes as usual, while Su Ximu slept at home.
In the evening, the trio set out again, heading back to squat at the wall corner.
After three straight days, they finally pieced together big brother’s situation.
Big brother had been sent to fight.
He could only return if he won.
Huh?
He seemed to have won.
He could come back tomorrow.
Satisfied with the news, the trio departed.
But they didn’t actually see big brother until the next day.
When 241 returned home, he bore no visible wounds.
His body was now one of District 13’s precious assets. To peak his ability, dangers were inevitable—death was even possible.
But as long as he returned alive, the research lab wouldn’t leave any external injuries untreated.
Thus, 241 came home only after his wounds were healed.
During this, following what he had learned from the textbook over the past two months, 241 expressed gratitude to the researcher treating him and gifted the candle he had obtained as a trophy from defeating a monster.
The researcher—and the overseer standing behind him—were clearly pleased.
Finally, after twelve days apart, 241 reunited with his brothers.
He snatched their smallest brother from the other two little brothers’ sides again, holding the little guy in his arms, lost in thought.
Back in the research lab, that had been his first time applying textbook knowledge to real life.
Receive help, express thanks—or, more intimately, convey closeness and emotion.
With the door now tightly shut, 241 glanced at the little guy in his arms. He spaced out in a daze for a good while before finally extending his currently empty left palm.
What followed was like magic.
A delicate, small candle with intricate carved patterns gradually materialized in his originally empty palm, finally solidifying into reality.
241’s hunter ability: Replication.
When replicating an item imbued with special power—and lacking sufficient power to fully support it—he could opt to produce a replica that felt identical but carried only a fraction of the original power’s aura: a counterfeit.
The counterfeit could still be used, though its effects were greatly diminished.
【Weird Item: Little Prince’s Birthday Candle
Grade: B-Grade Item
Usage: Light the candle
Effect: The one who lights the candle will receive a birthday cake from the Little Prince~】
241 had given the shoddy fake to the researcher and the genuine article to his precious little brother.
