On the other side, in the Weird World.
Dudu cried on and off for several hours once she started.
One could only say that Weird truly had something extraordinary about it. If this had been an ordinary person crying like that, they would have either cried themselves dehydrated or gone hoarse.
Finally, once her emotions had completely settled, Dudu belatedly felt a bit embarrassed as she looked up. She had cried for so long, and Xiao Mu Brother had stayed with her the entire time without leaving.
In the middle, when she had gotten a bit tired from crying, Xiao Mu Brother had even gotten her some fruit to eat.
From the looks of it, Xiao Mu Brother was actually a very good big brother to her.
It was just a bit regrettable that Xiao Mu Brother had his own family, and she couldn’t beat Xiao Mu Brother’s brothers or Ox Grandpa, so she couldn’t get Xiao Mu Brother to come live at her house.
Feeling like she had already bothered Xiao Mu Brother for long enough, the little girl sniffled her red, puffy nose and said goodbye. “Xiao Mu Brother, I’m going home now.”
Upon hearing this, Su Ximu thought of the current situation at Dudu’s house. Qianqian and Xiao Ming were both Players and had already left this place.
Dudu’s mom and dad seemed to have found new places to go as well.
Dudu’s little brother Teng Teng still hadn’t been found.
In the entire house, aside from the previously hired nanny, there was only Dudu, just one little child, when all was said and done.
How could it not be lonely?
If Dudu had been an ordinary little friend, Su Ximu definitely would have invited her to stay at his house for the time being right then, and they could figure out what to do later.
But Dudu was different. After her parents had stepped aside, she was the master of the house. She needed to have her own territory, a place that belonged to her, where she could build and protect her own home.
For many Weird, having their own territory and creating their own world was a lifelong pursuit.
So, in the end, Su Ximu just crouched down and instructed the little Weird in front of him, who looked just like a little girl. “Dudu, if you ever feel bored at home in the future, come find big brother to play. And make sure to keep the Glass Bottle big brother gave you safe. If you run into any danger, it can take you to big brother’s Dungeon, so you won’t get hurt.”
Dudu nodded. She hadn’t figured out yet how to tell Xiao Mu Brother that after breaking free from her mom and dad’s control—and even starting to absorb their power in turn—she could already grow into a big kid.
She just lowered her head to look at the Little Hamster still nestled in her palm, then held it up in front of Xiao Mu Brother and asked, “Xiao Mu Brother, can I borrow this Little Hamster to take care of for a bit? I promise, I’ll take good care of it and fatten it up nice and plump.”
It was only then that Su Ximu clearly saw what Dudu was holding in her hand.
It was Little Silver.
He had named the Silver Little Hamster Little Silver.
At this moment, Dudu’s palm was fully open, and Little Silver was just lying there in it, occasionally shifting positions as it lay, looking like it got along very well with Dudu.
Su Ximu thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement. “Sure. Then Dudu, let’s go back to the house together to grab the stuff Little Silver will need. And the hamster care manual too.”
Dudu, having gotten permission, was fully satisfied. She cradled the Little Hamster in her left hand and held Xiao Mu Brother’s hand with her right as she slowly went back home with him.
The little girl thought to herself that this wasn’t so bad after all.
She would wait a bit longer before growing up.
She wanted to be a little kid for a while more.
Like what big brother and big sister had said before—a truly happy little kid.
Things at the Du Family had come to a temporary close. As for the whereabouts of Dudu’s little brother Teng Teng, Su Ximu had asked his eldest brother, second brother, third brother, and Ox Grandpa to keep an eye out.
During dinner that evening, Su Jianglou speculated that this matter might be related to the “Beast Tamer.”
That is, the Weird that was still fighting the Old Man for control of his body.
Ever since he learned that the Old Man had given Xiao Xi a life-saving item back in the day, Su Jianglou hadn’t said anything about it, but he had been paying close attention to the Old Man’s situation deep down.
Over this period, he had gathered quite a bit of information related to this “Beast Tamer” through various channels.
And sure enough, it was a tricky one.
The Weird World could currently be roughly divided into five major blocks.
Take Tanzhong City as an example: Tanzhong, Tandong, Tannan, Tanxi, Tanbei, plus the nearly endless Gray Mist region surrounding the five cities. All these areas together made up one of the five major districts of the Weird World.
The five major districts were very far apart, more like isolated islands that didn’t interfere with each other.
The region headed by Tanzhong City was considered a rising star in the Weird World.
And that “Beast Tamer” had come to Tanzhong City after failing to compete for district chief in one of the other regions and getting injured in the process.
From the information Su Jianglou had gathered from the other regions and Tanzhong City, he inferred that this Beast Tamer possessed some kind of ability that could fundamentally alter the form of a Weird’s existence.
However, the ability probably had limitations and couldn’t be used freely.
Combined with his title of Beast Tamer, some guesses could be made.
For example, that missing Little Weird had actually been nearby the whole time.
The reason no other Weird had noticed might be because, in the eyes of all Weird, things were supposed to be that way.
“I observed before that during the time the Beast Tamer emerged, the Old Man’s perception of the outside world was in a pretty fuzzy state. Because he needed to use all his power to suppress the Beast Tamer again. You could think of it as a kind of split personality.”
“So, Xiao Xi, why don’t you just check all those animals in the Old Man’s courtyard? You might find that Little Weird called Teng Teng.”
“But turning that Little Weird back will probably take some effort. You’ll have to wait until the Old Man completely grinds away the Beast Tamer.”
Su Ximu nodded thoughtfully at his third brother’s words.
If it weren’t for the fact that Ox Grandpa couldn’t fully control himself when the “Beast Tamer” emerged, Ox Grandpa wouldn’t have specifically warned him not to go looking for him early in the morning.
At the same time, he harbored no other thoughts toward Ox Grandpa.
Because wasn’t Ox Grandpa also a victim of the Beast Tamer?
It was just that Ox Grandpa was powerful now.
However…
Su Ximu picked up the napkins in front of him and rolled them into three small balls, placing them before him.
He couldn’t help but think: up to now, was there really only the one “personality” called the Beast Tamer inside Ox Grandpa’s body?
When the Beast Tamer fused with Ox Grandpa, the Beast Tamer had been badly injured, and Ox Grandpa hadn’t been as strong as he was now. Overall, back then, Ox Grandpa had actually been at a disadvantage.
So, during these years of struggle and contention with the Beast Tamer, could there be some chaotic region that had always existed?
There probably was.
He could feel it.
Just like when he and Ox Grandpa first met in this world, when “Ox Grandpa” had held Little Ah Huang and told him that this was a real little dog.
Su Ximu hadn’t paid much attention to those words at first.
It was only today, after third brother brought up the detailed info on the Beast Tamer, that the words suddenly resurfaced in his mind.
After dinner, with this new lead, Su Ximu naturally went straight to find Dudu.
He went to her house and told her that the Little Hamster might be Teng Teng. He had arrived at this conclusion with relatively high certainty based on his own analysis.
But unexpectedly, Dudu didn’t react with much surprise. Instead, she said she wanted to go ask Ox Grandpa how to fatten Teng Teng up so much.
And regarding changing Teng Teng back from being a Little Hamster, Dudu didn’t seem particularly urgent about it either.
In her words, Teng Teng was still young, and the past events at home had left a pretty big impact on him. Psychologically speaking, there might actually be some issues.
So, letting Teng Teng stay as a Little Hamster for a while longer wasn’t bad. It could count as recuperating from the trauma of his “original family.”
Right, original family.
That was a term big brother and big sister had taught her.
Anyway, he seemed pretty happy being a Little Hamster right now.
A happy childhood could heal a Weird for life.
She was creating a happy childhood for Teng Teng right now.
For the first time, as the possibly older big brother, Su Ximu was left stunned by Dudu’s words.
Even on the walk back home, his head was still a bit dizzy, full of Dudu’s “happy education” theory.
Little Weird, Little Hamster.
Little Hamster, Little Weird.
Happy education… Was this right?
Was this how you used that term?
That night, Su Ximu didn’t sleep very soundly.
One moment, he dreamed of a big fat hamster lounging there with its legs up, watching TV and munching on chips.
The next moment, he dreamed that the grandfather he only had one of suddenly went “bang” and turned into three, then back into two.
Dreaming could be tiring sometimes too.
Early the next morning, the teenager, looking a bit fatigued, shuffled down the stairs in his slippers.
Su Xuanxiao, Su Wuzi, and Su Jianglou were already waiting by the dining table.
When he saw Xiao Xi coming downstairs, Su Jianglou immediately waved. “Xiao Xi, after breakfast, big brother, second brother, and I will take you to school together.”
A summer vacation had flown by in the blink of an eye, and today was the day before classes started at Tanzhong University, when registration happened.
For Weird, something like registration naturally didn’t need to be so troublesome.
But ritual was everything, after all.
Tanzhong University still opened its school gates today amid much bustle and excitement.
“Mm, okay. Then I’ll eat now.” After Su Ximu sat down, he rubbed his eyes with his hand, nodded, and reached for a sandwich in front of him to eat.
As he ate, his spirits gradually lifted, and his posture straightened a bit more than before.
After finishing breakfast—and since the school hadn’t distributed textbooks or anything yet—Su Ximu changed his shoes at the door and opened the front door with empty hands.
Outside the door sat a large gift box, with a greeting card on top.
Su Ximu bent down and picked up the card on the box.
【Grandpa can’t go with Xiao Mu today, but happy first day of school to our Xiao Mu.】
The teenager pursed his lips as he held the card, then lifted his gaze to the villa next door.
Su Ximu couldn’t bear to put Ox Grandpa’s back-to-school gift in the living room. Instead, he directly loaded the gift box into the car.
That way, he could properly open the gift on the way back from school.
On the way to Tanzhong University this time, eldest brother didn’t bring a driver. Instead, third brother drove up front, while he sat in the back row with second brother and eldest brother.
Along the way, eldest brother and second brother occasionally pointed out some of the buildings they passed.
The car drove for a long time, and even in the middle, third brother used his power to take the car down a pitch-black stretch of road before they finally arrived at the entrance to Tanzhong University.
Su Ximu had originally thought that opening day at Tanzhong University would be pretty much like the ones he’d seen before.
But the very next second after he opened the car door and got out, a fierce gust of wind suddenly whipped up above the school gates.
He instinctively looked up and saw a helicopter buzzing straight over his head before circling the campus a few times and landing on the helipad atop the school building.
Below,
The students who had been going through the opening procedures went absolutely wild the moment they saw the helicopter, like they had spotted their lifelong idol. They all screamed and surged toward the helipad.
At the same time, Su Ximu heard students shouting:
“F4!!”
“They actually came today too!”
“Young master, my young master! Quick, quick, let’s go!”
With his windswept bedhead sticking up, Su Ximu continued looking up curiously.
What, what four?
What was everyone shouting about anyway?
