Chapter 16
The morning at kindergarten had exhausted Xing Nuo.
He napped for more than three hours, finally waking up in the late afternoon as the sky blazed with fiery sunset hues.
The bedroom curtains swayed gently in the breeze, and a sweet fragrance drifted in through the crack in the door.
Xing Nuo put on his slippers and padded to the living room. Seeing his dad watering flowers on the balcony, he toddled over and hugged his leg.
“Daddy~”
Shen Wen chuckled, picking up the little sticky bun with one arm, teasing him about being a sleepyhead.
“Our little sleepyhead Xing Nuo is awake! We had a visitor earlier, but you were fast asleep!”
Xing Nuo blushed, his cheeks mirroring the sunset, his ear tips turning pink.
“No, I awake,” Xing Nuo mumbled, trying to defend himself.
His bright, dark eyes darted around, and he quickly changed the subject.
“Who visitor?”
Shen Wen put down the watering can, carried Zaizai to the living room, and showed him the gifts on the coffee table.
“Another one of your older brothers, Shen Yan. These are gifts from him.”
Several unopened gift boxes were arranged on the table, each decorated with popular cartoon characters, thoughtfully chosen for a child.
Xing Nuo immediately recognized one and pointed at it with sparkling eyes, revealing his little teeth. “Super Cat!”
“Go open them and see if you like them.”
Shen Wen put Zaizai down and let him open the presents.
It was Xing Nuo’s first time receiving gifts. Excited, he circled the coffee table twice, then leaned in, his hands on the table, and exclaimed in awe.
Shen Yan, being a monster capable of running a company in the human world, knew exactly what children liked.
He had gotten Xing Nuo a Super Cat plushie, a set of sunflower-themed stationery, a pair of cartoon-themed shoes, and, Xing Nuo’s favorite—
a beautiful, small wooden sword.
The wooden sword was custom-made by a professional craftsman, modeled after the little knight’s sword from Xing Nuo’s favorite picture book, but adapted for a child.
Xing Nuo opened the box, saw the small wooden sword nestled inside, and gasped, his eyes wide with disbelief.
He gently touched it, confirming it was real, and turned to show his dad.
“Daddy, widdle sword!”
Xing Nuo tried to lift the box to show his dad, but it was a bit heavy. He could only tug on his dad’s clothes.
Shen Wen bent down and looked at the small wooden sword, chuckling.
“Your brother certainly knows how to pick gifts.”
Every single gift was perfectly tailored to Xing Nuo’s interests.
The little one was completely captivated, his eyes sparkling.
Xing Nuo nodded vigorously in agreement with his dad, his curls bouncing, reflecting his excitement.
“For Zaizai…widdle sword?”
Xing Nuo loved the gift so much that he repeatedly asked his dad if it was really for him.
After receiving confirmation, Xing Nuo’s eyes lit up like a galaxy, his cheeks flushed with excitement, and he picked up the small wooden sword.
The wooden sword looked sturdy but was actually made of a lightweight material, easy for a child to hold.
The carvings were simple, a miniature version of a knight’s sword, with a small black gem embedded in the hilt.
The silver sword in the picture book also had a similar gem, glittering and seemingly valuable.
The gem on Xing Nuo’s wooden sword was smaller and cuter, a simple black dot.
Holding the wooden sword, Xing Nuo ran around the apartment, his eyes shining, playfully swinging it at everything.
When his brother came home from school, Xing Nuo’s excitement reached its peak. He zipped around Shen Baizhou’s legs like a little top, showing off his sword.
“Big brother, my widdle sword!”
Shen Baizhou looked down at the little one circling his legs, one hand tugging on his pants, completely blocking his path.
He stopped and picked up the sticky little bun.
“Nice sword. Did you buy it this afternoon?”
Xing Nuo, slightly out of breath from running, took a deep breath, touched the sword, and generously offered it to his brother.
“Daddy say…other Big Brother give Zaizai.”
Shen Baizhou, who was touching the wooden sword, froze and looked up sharply, his black hair falling away from his face, revealing a cold, hard expression.
“Who?! Which Big Brother?!”
Didn’t Xing Nuo only have one Big Brother?!
Shen Wen, carrying a plate of sliced apples, took Xing Nuo and sat on the sofa, feeding him, and casually added:
“Shen Yan sent it.”
Shen Baizhou bristled, his eyes narrowing into slits.
“Shen Yan? What’s he trying to do?! Why is he giving Xing Nuo gifts?”
What was the meaning of this, giving Xing Nuo gifts right in front of him, the real Big Brother?
Shen Baizhou had always looked down on Shen Yan, that weak, low-level monster, a pathetic little black blob he could crush with one finger!
As a monster born at the peak of power, Shen Baizhou held a subtle disdain for lower-level monsters.
He sat down with a sullen expression, grabbed an apple, and took a large bite.
“Anyway, Xing Nuo is my little brother!” Shen Baizhou declared seriously.
He had destroyed countless monsters, clawed his way through bloodshed and carnage, even lost a tentacle, to become Xing Nuo’s Big Brother.
What right did Shen Yan have?!
“Did he also lose a tentacle?” Shen Baizhou mumbled, frowning.
Shen Wen, looking at the confused Shen Baizhou, sighed.
So dense.
Shen Yan had sent gifts to their doorstep. What could it possibly mean?
And each gift was perfectly chosen to appeal to Zaizai. He had clearly put a lot of thought into it, attention to detail being the key to success.
But Shen Wen wasn’t in the mood to deal with Shen Baizhou. He carried Xing Nuo, who was sleepy after a long day, to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
Night fell, and everything was silent.
Even the most dedicated night owls were asleep, the neon lights extinguished, the city shrouded in darkness.
In the eastern district of Rongcheng, near the suburbs, yellow and black caution tape had been put up in the afternoon.
The official explanation was road maintenance, temporarily closing off the area.
Shen Yan, having finished his work at the company, sat in the back of his car with his eyes closed, his driver taking him to his suburban villa.
Suddenly, the car screeched to a halt.
The driver’s face paled, his expression stiff.
“Mr. Shen, I think…I hit something!”
There were hardly any cars on the winding mountain roads at night. Although he wasn’t driving slowly, he had been paying attention to the road. There hadn’t been anything in front of them!
Shen Yan slowly opened his eyes, lowered the car window, glanced outside, and then looked away indifferently.
“It’s nothing, just a small rock. Let’s go.”
Outside the car, the small monster that had been hit cowered in the bushes, its strange body shrinking, desperately trying to become invisible.
Oh god, I just escaped from a dungeon, hoping to absorb some human energy, and I run into Shen Yan, that heartless monster!
Shen Yan’s name was infamous among the smaller monsters in the Infinite Flow dungeons.
No monster caught by him could escape his “employment program.”
Shen Yan didn’t like to directly devour a monster’s energy. Instead, he would offer you a contract to work for his company in his dungeons.
Of course, you could refuse…
But those who refused never saw the second day.
The little monster had finally escaped through a spatial rift between worlds. It couldn’t be caught and forced to work for Shen Yan!
Relieved to have escaped, it relaxed its stiff body, then turned and saw a team of human ability users staring at it.
Little monster: “…”
This is where my luck runs out.
The resident from the third floor of Xing Nuo’s building, wearing camouflage pants and black boots, stood among the ability users, sneered, and waved his hand. The ability users swarmed, surrounding the little monster.
They battled the monster all night, the fight ending only as dawn broke.
The third-floor resident, unshaven and bloodshot, dragged himself back to his new apartment.
His mind sluggish from lack of sleep, he stood by the elevator, wanting a cigarette, when the doors opened, revealing a blond father and son, the little one crying.
The little cub he had met before had teary eyes, seemingly throwing a tantrum, refusing to hold his dad’s hand, just clutching his backpack strap.
Xing Nuo wiped his tears, sniffled, and looked up at his dad.
Shen Wen, his expression gentle but distant, deliberately looked away.
Xing Nuo felt even more aggrieved. He sobbed, his shoulders shaking, and refused to leave the elevator.
“Zaizai no go…kindergarten.”
He had to wake up so early, and…Daddy said he wouldn’t go inside with him today.
No way was he going!
The third-floor resident tucked his cigarette behind his ear, amused by the little cub’s sulking.
“Don’t want to go to school?” he asked with a grin.
Seeing the little one’s tantrum, the third-floor resident’s tension from the night’s battle eased, his fatigue replaced by amusement.
Shen Wen rubbed his temples and sighed.
“Didn’t Xing Nuo promise yesterday that he would go to kindergarten every day?”
Xing Nuo, his back to his dad, his little ears perked up, shook his head vigorously.
“No!” he yelled.