Chapter 34
The buzz-cut player was the strongest and most respected among the players.
When she spoke, the others, though still fuming, reluctantly fell silent.
The new female player’s emotions were barely contained, her anger threatening to erupt.
“I risked my life to get this soup from the little master, and offended the cook in the process! Eat it or don’t!”
If the monsters attacked again tonight, and without Wen Xingxue to protect them, she might be the first one torn apart by the monster cook!
Having taken such a risk, she would drink the soup even if it was poisoned!
The male player’s face was swollen, his eyes bulging, his expression twisted and unnatural.
He had been acting erratically for the past two days, offending everyone, seemingly oblivious to his own behavior.
He stood up unsteadily, bared his teeth, glared at the others, and snorted.
“I’m not drinking it! Drinking the soup is just a guess. There’s clearly another, faster way!”
The buzz-cut player, whose arm had been injured by this blue-shirted male player, looked at him coldly, watching him dig his own grave.
The blue-shirted player grinned, his expression sinister.
“Buzz-cut, you took the rose and nothing happened. So the rose is the antidote, right?!”
The buzz-cut player didn’t bother responding. Every player had their own life-saving props; she wasn’t about to reveal her trump card.
The blue-shirted player, taking her silence as agreement, his skin increasingly swollen, his mind clearly unstable, limped towards the door.
“I just saw the castle master and the little master go upstairs. They probably won’t be coming down for a while. Isn’t this the perfect opportunity to pick some roses?”
He paused to catch his breath.
“The servants outside disappear for a few minutes just before nightfall. We just need to take advantage of that time gap. We can definitely get some roses! There are hundreds of them in the garden, would the monsters even notice a few missing?!”
His words were surprisingly convincing.
The players who had suspected the rose had some special properties felt a flicker of temptation.
The buzz-cut player’s unusually calm demeanor after receiving the rose was too suspicious!
A chubby male player opened his mouth, clearly tempted.
But before he could speak, a fellow guild member pulled him back.
The guild member, equipped with a prop to control his emotions, silently shook his head.
The blue-shirted player reached the door, his swollen body making him slightly breathless. He looked back at the others, his lips curling into a sneer.
“Cowards! Afraid of a little flower garden!”
That little brat Xing Nuo had been in and out of the garden so many times; had anything happened to him?
Perhaps the danger in the garden was just a facade put up by the monsters!
The blue-shirted player left alone.
The other players sat in silence, waiting for nightfall. Just before darkness fell, they clenched their fists, closed their eyes, and drank the small portion of soup.
The moment they swallowed the soup, the sky in the instance instantly turned to night.
In the bathroom on the second floor.
Xing Nuo hadn’t been carried upstairs by his dad, but since his dad had held his hand, he decided to be magnanimous and not hold a grudge!
He skipped into the en-suite bathroom and, stretching his small arms, struggled to pull his head out of his shirt.
But his fluffy, curly hair was stuck.
His head covered by his shirt, his vision filled with the light color of the fabric, he flailed his small hands blindly.
“Dad! Help Zaizai!” Xing Nuo cried, shaking his head frantically.
Shen Wen, who had just finished filling the tub, turned around and saw the little one spinning in circles like a headless chicken, his shirt stuck on his head.
Closing his eyes, he sighed and walked over, pulling the shirt off.
Xing Nuo’s vision cleared, and he let out a long breath, patting his chest.
“That was close!”
His head almost got eaten by the shirt monster!
Shen Wen sighed again and picked up the dirty little cub, whom he normally wouldn’t touch, and placed him in the warm water.
The clear water instantly turned murky.
Xing Nuo submerged half his face in the water and blinked, slightly embarrassed.
The warm water made his face flush, his whole body a rosy pink.
Shen Wen chuckled and poked the little one’s warm, soft cheek.
“Now you’re embarrassed?”
Xing Nuo let out a small hum. He opened his mouth and, forgetting he was in the water, accidentally swallowed a few mouthfuls of bathwater.
“Ptooey!” He stuck out his tongue and, gripping the edge of the tub, climbed out of the water.
His wet curls clung to his face and mouth. He quickly brushed them away.
“Dad…Zaizai…drank dirty water…will get sick?”
He looked up at his dad, his watery eyes filled with concern.
Shen Wen, having never raised a human cub before, didn’t know the answer.
“I don’t know. Ask your dad.”
He knew that the little one and the players came from a different timeline.
The “Dad” the little one referred to was his future self.
But Xing Nuo, his eyes reflecting the shimmering water, tilted his head in confusion.
“You are…Zaizai’s Dad!”
The scent, the appearance, the touch, the skin…it was all his familiar Dad!
Except for the bad memory!
Shen Wen paused and rubbed his forehead.
“I…”
He wanted to say he wasn’t his dad.
His real dad was probably in the future, in a different timeline, but it wasn’t him.
Shen Wen wouldn’t raise a child.
The responsibility was too great. He was just a monster, without a real heart, how could he bear such a burden?
He looked down at the cub’s clear, innocent eyes, and the words he was about to say caught in his throat.
Forget it, they would only be together for a few days anyway.
“Take your bath. It’ll be dark soon.”
Shen Wen picked up the bottle of bath gel the butler had prepared, removed the cap, and squeezed out a large amount, not quite familiar with the process.
Xing Nuo, sitting in the tub, kicking his little feet, his eyes wide, warned:
“Dad…not so much…too many bubbles!”
He made a large circle with his hands.
“Bubbles…will eat…bathroom…Zaizai…and Dad!”
Shen Wen, looking at the globs of bath gel in his hand, frowned and clicked his tongue.
“Human bathing is so troublesome.”
He poured some of the bath gel back into the bottle and looked up.
“Is this okay?”
Xing Nuo nodded and let out a small “Wow,” resting his cheek against the edge of the tub, his eyes reflecting the light.
“Dad…so amazing!”
Xing Nuo, always eager to praise, swung his little feet in the water and leaned closer to his dad.
“Dad…help Zaizai…wash…very clean!”
Shen Wen’s lips curved into a smile, suppressing his amusement, his light-colored eyes crinkling slightly.
“Little dirty cub.”
Xing Nuo protested softly. “Soon…little fragrant cub~”
Shen Wen walked over, no longer arguing, and started washing Xing Nuo.
Having never bathed a human cub before, his movements were clumsy, and he accidentally got some water in the little one’s eye.
Xing Nuo squeezed his eye shut, trying to wipe away the water, but it only made it worse.
The uncoordinated pair finally managed to finish the bath.
Shen Wen, looking at the finally clean little cub, let out a long breath, feeling more exhausted than after inspecting his manor.
He wrapped the little one in a large towel and placed him on the bed.
“So demanding.”
It had taken him a considerable amount of effort to complete this task.
Xing Nuo, wrapped in the towel, smelling the fragrant scent of soap on his skin, giggled happily.
He rolled around on the bed, then coughed slightly, his weak body not quite accustomed to the sudden change in temperature.
The flush on his cheeks hadn’t faded, either from the warm bath or the cool air.
Shen Wen sighed, exasperated, walked over, and pinched the little one’s cheek.
“Why are you so troublesome? Don’t tell me you’re getting sick again after just one bath.”
He knew human cubs were fragile, but he hadn’t expected them to be this fragile!
Xing Nuo, his mind still slightly foggy from the bath, his previous energy gone, mumbled, his face against the bed:
“Dad…Zaizai…no sick…”
If he was sick, Dad would give him bitter medicine, and that unfamiliar doctor would poke his bottom with a needle!
Shen Wen looked at the little one’s flushed cheeks. The temperature under his fingertips, pinching Xing Nuo’s cheek, was slightly higher than usual.
He frowned, thinking this little one might actually be sick again.
His heart sinking, he considered the situation, completely at a loss as to what to do when a human, especially a human cub, was sick.
He wrapped Xing Nuo in the blanket and said:
“Humans…take medicine…when sick…I go downstairs…check…be good…don’t run around…”
Xing Nuo gave a small, muffled hum, his face buried in the blanket, and mumbled:
“Zaizai…always good…”
Shen Wen’s cold, aloof expression softened slightly upon hearing this.
That was true. He wondered how his other self had managed to raise such a well-behaved little cub.
Although he looked frail, easily getting sick after just one bath.
But the light in Xing Nuo’s eyes was brighter and warmer than the sun.
Shen Wen lowered his gaze and, unconsciously, reached out and gently stroked the little one’s head.
Xing Nuo, feeling the warmth and tenderness in his dad’s touch, smiled sweetly.
He knew Dad had remembered Zaizai again!
