Chapter 2: The Villain
Dangling in mid-air, Nuonuo wasn’t scared in the slightest. On the contrary, he energetically flapped his short little fishtail. His tail seemed boneless, so flexible it could be flicked into all sorts of shapes.
“Pa! Ya—”
Fei Zhiyan could barely hold the wriggling little cub with one hand, so he had no choice but to place him on the bed for the time being.
Seeing Nuonuo bend his tail at a ninety-degree angle, hug it tightly with his chubby little arms, and look up at him with sparkling eyes, Fei Zhiyan couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
This tail… it looks short, but it’s quite flexible.
Fei Zhiyan’s fingertips twitched, and he lifted his hand.
System 006 had just managed to fix its garbled code and was about to teleport Nuonuo somewhere else when it looked up and saw the great villain raising his hand.
NO!!
The System was so scared it nearly crashed. It frantically diverted most of the energy from its reserves, trying to protect the tiny ball that was Nuonuo, curled up on the bed hugging his tail.
As the biggest villain, Fei Zhiyan’s power was terrifyingly formidable. The System’s meager energy would be as futile as a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
In that instant, countless photos of Nuonuo flashed through 006’s memory chip. In the two-plus years it had taken to transport Nuonuo, the two of them—one human, one System—had spent countless wonderful moments together.
006 was so grief-stricken its data nearly flowed into chaos.
But before 006’s energy shield could even form, in the next instant, it saw Fei Zhiyan reach out his hand…
…and poke Nuonuo’s tail.
Huh?!
For a dazed moment, 006 thought its eyes were playing tricks on it.
The gathered energy also dissipated with a pop.
After a moment of silence, 006 remembered that it didn’t have eyes in the first place, so how could it have seen wrong?
…That’s it?
The villain didn’t just obliterate Nuonuo?
While confused, 006 let out a massive sigh of relief.
Fei Zhiyan was oblivious to the heart-stopping emotional roller coaster 006 had just been on. He was simply curious…
Why was this little cub’s fishtail so chubby?
His finger poked the blue scales. To Fei Zhiyan’s surprise, the scales, which should have been cold and hard, were actually soft like dough, yielding under his touch.
This texture…
It was a bit strange.
Fei Zhiyan had seen other merman cubs of his kind before. Almost from birth, their scales were as hard as rock, and their tails were powerful enough to easily break a person’s ribs with one swipe.
But this little thing’s scales were like a layer of soft satin. Not only did they lack the most basic sharpness, but they would also indent slightly when poked and even carried a warm body temperature.
He was completely unlike a merman.
For some reason, Fei Zhiyan felt an urge to pluck off a scale to study it.
Perhaps… it’s because this little cub is an unnatural merman?
Tickled by the poke, Nuonuo let go of his tail and flopped onto the bed with a giggle.
Thinking it was fun, Nuonuo also reached out with his chubby little hand and poked his own tail.
“Taiw, ya!”
Nuonuo’s eyes sparkled. The tip of his blue fishtail shimmered like a piece of light gauze, which did evoke the familiar feeling of a merman from Fei Zhiyan’s memory.
A scrutinizing look appeared in Fei Zhiyan’s eyes.
He was certain that this little merman was definitely not a naturally born one. After all, Fei Zhiyan had personally witnessed the death of every single one of his kind.
Besides himself, there could not be a second natural merman in this world.
Mentally slapping a “Product of Scientific Research” label on the little cub, Fei Zhiyan’s killing intent slightly receded.
A laboratory that could create a merman…
Fei Zhiyan’s lips curled. He was actually a little interested.
Still unaware that he had just escaped mortal danger, Nuonuo seemed to have discovered a new game. He would poke his fishtail, roll around laughing, then poke it again, and collapse into another fit of giggles…
“Pa, pway—”
Nuonuo rolled in front of Fei Zhiyan, blinking his sparkling eyes and trying his best to look up at him.
Fei Zhiyan merely glanced at him. Although he had decided to keep this little thing for now, it didn’t mean he was going to play such a silly game with him.
Ignoring Nuonuo’s expectant expression, Fei Zhiyan slowly walked to the window and dialed the butler’s number.
The butler’s eyelid twitched when he received Fei Zhiyan’s call. He quickly asked, “Sir, what are your instructions?”
Fei Zhiyan’s gaze fell on the child on the bed. Seeing his pouting, wronged little expression, his words paused for a moment:
“Please find a nanny to look after a child.”
The butler was inwardly shaken, a hint of astonishment showing on his face. But remembering that Fei Zhiyan was waiting for a reply, he quickly agreed.
Fei Zhiyan lowered his eyes, avoiding the little cub’s pitiful gaze, and said, “Thank you for your trouble.”
The butler quickly wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Not at all, sir. Please continue with your business.”
After the call ended, the butler let out a long breath, his mind racing.
A child? Has Sir adopted another child?
But none of the previous ones had ever needed a nanny. Mr. Fei had always found crying children extremely annoying, so even when he adopted, he would only choose those who could take care of themselves.
However, it wasn’t his place to pry into his master’s affairs. The butler put aside his thoughts and got back to work.
Nuonuo watched his papa’s tall figure, pouted his little lips, and let out a displeased whimper.
Papa won’t play with Nuonuo.
Nuonuo tugged at the tip of his tail with his chubby little hand. Suddenly, the familiar voice of the System echoed in his mind.
“Nuonuo, it’s me! Don’t make a sound, okay? I’ll gather some energy and get you out of here!” 006 said, trying to comfort him.
The memory of the earlier scene sent a wave of fear through 006.
Fei Zhiyan! He’s the most ruthless villain in this world! He’s not someone to be trifled with!
If it weren’t for 006’s bad luck, it would never have been assigned to this world for a mission.
Due to some sort of anomaly in this world, Fei Zhiyan’s youngest and only biological son, Fei Nuo, was never born. To steer the world’s timeline back on track, 006 had to use advanced interstellar reproductive technology, extract Fei Zhiyan’s cellular DNA, and gestate Nuonuo in an incubation pod.
But teleporting from a future interstellar timeline to this world had consumed ninety percent of the System’s energy and taken over two years just to deliver Nuonuo.
According to the original plot, Nuonuo was supposed to be teleported into the ocean. Only when he turned three, developed his spiritual power, and formed a bloodline connection with Fei Zhiyan would he be discovered and brought home.
But now, due to a targeting error, Nuonuo had been teleported directly into the great villain’s bedroom!
Without that yet-to-be-awakened bloodline connection, Nuonuo was nothing more than a stranger of unknown origin to Fei Zhiyan.
006 recalled Fei Zhiyan’s extreme indifference and ruthlessness when his own kind was being exterminated. It felt like he could raise his hand and obliterate Nuonuo at any second.
No, I have to get Nuonuo out of here, quickly!
With Nuonuo appearing so abruptly, Fei Zhiyan’s suspicious and overthinking nature would have surely made him doubtful already!
“Nuonuo, wait for me to gather enough energy, and we’ll leave this dangerous place!”
Sitting on the bed, Nuonuo was about to excitedly babble and tell the System he had found his papa. But the next moment, he heard the System say it was going to take him away.
“No, no ya—Pa!”
Nuonuo has found Papa, he’s going to stay with Papa from now on!
In all the educational cartoons Nuonuo had watched, babies were supposed to live with their papas.
006 was frantic, wanting to explain that Fei Zhiyan was not a good person at all. But then it suddenly remembered all the lies it had told to comfort a lonely Nuonuo in the transport pod… all those tall tales about his papa…
006’s core froze.
It wanted to go back in time and completely erase the data of its past self, the one who had sworn up and down how much Fei Zhiyan loved and looked forward to Nuonuo’s return!
One lie must be covered by a thousand more. 006, a system, was now experiencing a very human vexation.
“Ahem, your papa is busy with things. Let’s leave for now and come back after a while.”
Having no other choice, 006 could only continue to fool the child.
Nuonuo pouted and turned his head away, expressing his refusal with his actions.
He rolled over on the bed and, wiggling his little tail, quickly crawled in Fei Zhiyan’s direction.
006 was panicking, but it had no physical form. It could only exist as energy attached to Nuonuo’s brain, completely unable to stop Nuonuo from approaching the great villain. Its energy still needed time to recover. If Fei Zhiyan decided to strike, it wouldn’t even be able to deploy a protective shield!
While 006 was going crazy, Nuonuo had already crawled at high speed to the edge of the bed. He reached out his chubby little hand and grabbed the corner of Fei Zhiyan’s suit.
“Ba-yaya!”
Fei Zhiyan felt the weight on his clothes, his brow furrowing slightly. He turned and took a step back.
Fortunately, he knew there was only a little cub in the room, so the spiritual energy he had gathered in his hand was not released at the first instant.
The corner of the suit slipped from Nuonuo’s little hand. He tilted his head and looked at his empty palm in confusion.
But he was forgetful. Looking up and seeing Fei Zhiyan staring at him, he immediately wanted to happily lunge forward again.
Nuonuo was already at the very edge of the bed. With this lunge, half of his little body was left hanging in the air. The distance between them was a bit too far. Instead of landing on Fei Zhiyan, Nuonuo tumbled head-first towards the floor.
006 jumped in fright, desperately wanting to help, but found that the piddling amount of energy it had recovered was useless for even tickling someone.
Just as Nuonuo’s little head was about to have an intimate encounter with the floor, Fei Zhiyan reached out and grabbed the little cub by the scruff of his neck.
With a slight effort, Fei Zhiyan lifted the child.
Looking at Nuonuo dangling in mid-air, his expression dazed and his eyes full of innocent confusion, Fei Zhiyan couldn’t help but narrow his own eyes.
“Why are you moving around so much?”
Nuonuo was still babbling foolishly. Hearing his papa speak, he got so excited his tail started to wag.
“Pa—hwug, hwug ya—”
Solely focused on getting a hug from his papa, Nuonuo stretched out his little hands, twisting his chubby body in mid-air.
Fei Zhiyan’s brow furrowed as he tossed the child back onto the bed, about to warn him not to crawl around the room anymore.
But when he looked down and saw the little merman sitting on the bed, wagging his tail with a wronged and confused look, the words died on his lips.
Forget it. He’s just a child.
Fei Zhiyan rubbed his temples, a slight headache coming on as he tried to sort out his thoughts. In the silence, he heard a gurgling sound coming from the little cub’s stomach.
Nuonuo heard it too. He let out a confused “ah,” swished his little tail, and tilted his head, curiously trying to find the source of the sound.
“Pa—sound ya…”
Hearing the child’s words, Fei Zhiyan’s gaze shifted away from the little cub.
This must be a silly fish.
