When Li Nan came running over, the two little rascals ran even faster, darting around beneath everyone’s feet like mischievous children trying to escape their parents’ grasp.
These two little guys were unbelievably perceptive, almost as if they could understand what Li Nan was saying. They sought refuge beside the other adults.
Li Nan chased them around helplessly, half laughing and half crying. “The doctor said you can’t eat anymore. You’re getting too fat, and it’ll affect your mobility. If you don’t behave, I’ll punish you by making you sleep at the doctor’s place for the next few days.”
Sure enough, upon hearing this, the two little guys immediately came running out, going “Awooo, awooo,” before running back to Li Nan and rolling around at his feet, acting cute in every possible way.
Their reaction to the doctor was practically a copy of Bai Mingxi.
Actually, it wasn’t that they had truly become so spiritually intelligent that they could completely understand human speech.
After all, humans and animals were different. No matter how intelligent they were, they normally judged people through their expressions and tones, sensed human emotions, and combined that with demonstrations of certain actions to understand human intentions.
But at this moment, they really could completely understand what Li Nan was saying.
That was only because of the new ability Li Nan had just acquired—
Beast Speech.
Beast Speech was a rare-type ability.
It wasn’t a language in the conventional sense. It was somewhat similar to a mental-type ability, although its nature was somewhat different.
An ability user who possessed this power could automatically establish a connection with all beasts. No common language was necessary. Linguistic information could be transmitted through the mind, and the beast’s responses could likewise be received mentally.
Quan Xiaoyu said that ability users with this power were called Beast Tamers.
Beast Tamers naturally possessed a favorable affinity with mutated beasts. Through communication, they could gain the beasts’ trust and receive their assistance, or obtain their help through exchanges.
The more powerful ones could even control mutated beasts, although such cases were extremely rare.
Speaking of how Li Nan had obtained this ability, they had to go back ten days.
After that bitter battle, everyone had once again set out on their journey.
Everyone was exhausted and heartsick.
The bond between Yu Ning and Xiaohua had shocked everyone present.
From the intermittent fragments of conversation among the three of them—Chu Tian and the others—everyone had pieced together what had happened.
There were some discrepancies, but the general outline was more or less correct.
When Li Nan slowly woke up, it was already dark.
Everyone had set up a simple camp and was preparing to spend their first night outdoors.
Throughout the journey, Quan Xiaoyu had been holding Li Nan without letting go.
When Li Nan woke up, Quan Xiaoyu was sitting on the grass beside a tire, holding him in his arms.
The sky above them was filled with brilliant stars.
“You’re awake. Have some water.”
Quan Xiaoyu quickly brought a bottle of water to Li Nan’s lips.
It seemed he had been paying close attention to Li Nan’s condition the entire time.
A month ago, Quan Xiaoyu had secretly begun replacing the drinking water of the four of them with water from the spring inside his space.
Aside from helping replenish ordinary physical strength, Quan Xiaoyu hadn’t yet discovered any other functions of this water.
Li Nan’s eyes were somewhat blank.
The unfamiliar surroundings left him dazed for a long time. He mechanically swallowed mouthful after mouthful of the water Quan Xiaoyu poured for him.
It was only after a very long time that he finally remembered everything that had happened that day.
Sister Yu Ning… is dead…
After the overwhelming grief had passed, he was now strangely numb.
There was still a heaviness in his heart, but he could no longer cry out in pain like he had during the day.
He stared blankly at the sky in silence.
Quan Xiaoyu didn’t disturb him.
One big and one small, they simply gazed up at the brilliant stars overhead.
“Sister Yu Ning has become a star in the sky.”
After a long time, Li Nan suddenly spoke.
It was a childhood story adults often told.
They would kindly deceive children by saying that when people died, they became stars in the sky and continued protecting the people they loved.
Li Nan was long past the age of believing in such fairy tales.
But this time, he was willing to stubbornly believe it.
“Mm.”
Quan Xiaoyu nodded.
“She went to a quiet and beautiful place. From now on, she’ll always look down on us with a gentle gaze at night and protect us.”
May there be no pain in heaven.
“When I miss her in the future, I’ll come look at the stars.”
Li Nan smiled, although there was moisture in his eyes.
“She’ll always be with you.”
After softly saying this, Quan Xiaoyu placed a crystal core and a beast core into Li Nan’s palm one after another.
“This is Yu Ning’s. This is Xiaohua’s. These are their final gifts to you.”
The final image Yu Ning had left him appeared in Li Nan’s mind.
She had pointed at her own head and said:
“It’s for you!”
Then Li Nan suddenly froze.
“Xia… Xiaohua’s?”
At that time, Li Nan had already passed out and hadn’t known that Xiaohua had followed Yu Ning away.
“Yes. Xiaohua was afraid Yu Ning would be lonely, so she became a star too.”
Quan Xiaoyu answered softly.
But his tone soon changed.
“Xiaohua was also afraid that Xiaonan would be lonely, so she sent Xiaonan her most precious gift.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Chu Tian appeared at just the right moment.
In his arms were two tiny kittens whose eyes had not yet fully opened.
Although calling them kittens wasn’t entirely accurate.
When the doctor had first seen them during their earlier rest, the first thing he had said was:
“They’re hybrids. They’re not cats.”
So he and Chu Tian had studied them for quite a while.
Their conclusion was that their father might have been a mutated tiger.
They were both felines anyway, so neither of them bothered to investigate any further.
They told Quan Xiaoyu their conclusion, and that was that.
The moment Li Nan woke up, Chu Tian had noticed.
But he hadn’t come over to disturb the two of them.
This was family time, and he wanted to leave them alone together.
It was only when Quan Xiaoyu mentioned the kittens—temporarily treating them as cats—that Chu Tian finally carried the two little guys over.
Ever since his mental power had leveled up, Chu Tian’s hearing had also become extraordinarily sharp. He could hear the slightest sounds from very far away.
So he had heard their entire conversation clearly.
He hadn’t deliberately avoided listening either.
He was one of the people involved in what had happened.
“Look.”
Chu Tian smiled gently and carefully placed the sleeping kittens into Li Nan’s arms.
Li Nan was startled.
The two soft little balls of flesh were warm and delicate, and they felt so fragile that he was afraid of hurting them.
He carefully held them in his arms, not daring to move at all.
Chu Tian amusedly reached out and rubbed Li Nan’s head.
His expression was so gentle it seemed almost capable of melting.
For a moment, Quan Xiaoyu stared.
He really liked Chu Tian when he was this gentle.
He was incredibly handsome.
His smile made one’s heart soften along with it.
Suddenly, Chu Tian raised his head.
His gaze shifted from Li Nan to Quan Xiaoyu’s face, and he was still smiling.
“Looks good?”
Caught staring so suddenly, Quan Xiaoyu felt a little embarrassed.
He hurriedly shifted his gaze away, not daring to meet Chu Tian’s eyes.
There was a suspicious flush on his cheeks.
But he still answered honestly.
“Looks good.”
Chu Tian’s smile immediately widened.
He liked Quan Xiaoyu when he was this honest.
That was exactly what he found so cute about him.
Even when he was embarrassed, he would still honestly answer whatever Chu Tian asked him.
So Chu Tian leaned over and planted a gentle kiss on Quan Xiaoyu’s forehead before saying,
“I’ll let you look at me every day from now on. I guarantee you’ll never get tired of looking.”
“I’ll leave them to you. The doctor and I still have some things to take care of.”
“They” naturally referred to Li Nan and the two little guys.
Quan Xiaoyu obediently nodded.
Chu Tian smiled and got up to leave.
After quite some time, Li Nan finally became accustomed to having the two little guys in his arms.
His body was no longer so stiff, and his voice became cheerful again.
“They’re so well-behaved.”
“Mm. They might be Xiaohua’s children. From now on, you’ll be responsible for taking care of them, okay? Xiaohua entrusted them to you.”
“Okay!”
Li Nan nodded vigorously.
The two little guys had already melted his heart completely.
Now that he had been entrusted with the responsibility of raising Xiaohua’s children, Li Nan seemed much more spirited.
Seeing Li Nan’s condition improve, Quan Xiaoyu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Xiaoyu-ge.”
After a while, Li Nan asked, “Can I absorb Sister Yu Ning’s and Xiaohua’s cores now?”
Just moments ago, Li Nan had already purified the crystal core in his palm.
He had thought about it for a long time before finally gathering the courage to make this decision.
“That way, I’ll be able to stay with them forever.”
There was a hint of guilt in Li Nan’s voice.
Ordinary crystal cores were generally used during battles to replenish depleted ability energy.
Secondly, when an ability reached the peak of a certain level, crystal cores could be used to break through to the next level.
Yu Ning’s and Xiaohua’s cores were both high-level cores.
Under Quan Xiaoyu’s long-term influence, Li Nan already had a very clear understanding of the value of crystal cores.
In this battle, he hadn’t contributed much strength, yet he had received the two highest-level cores.
And now, without any practical necessity, he had decided to use both of them for a purely personal reason.
The kind-hearted child felt guilty about this.
But he still didn’t waver in his decision.
Instead, he secretly vowed that in the future, he would find other ways to make it up to everyone.
“This was yours from the beginning. Yu Ning and Xiaohua gave them to you. Of course you can use them however you want!”
Quan Xiaoyu said.
Everyone felt the same way Quan Xiaoyu did.
In fact, their conclusion was completely opposite to what Li Nan had thought.
Everyone had realized that if Li Nan hadn’t had such a deep connection with Yu Ning, they would have all died long ago.
So when Quan Xiaoyu said that these two crystal cores were meant for Li Nan, everyone thought it was only natural.
Author’s Note:
My body is as useless as ever, and I’ve got a fever again. I almost had to stop updating, but thankfully I didn’t get writer’s block.