Chapter 4

The cub sat at a table, his bun-like face extremely serious, lips pressed into a straight line.
The stone table was laden with food. Slices of roasted meat, set against large green leaves, looked mouthwatering, accompanied by bright red and green fruits.
Tao Shushu grew even hungrier at the sight and poked at the fruits on the screen, which looked irresistibly sweet and sour.
A few lines of prompts popped up:
Congratulations, your cub has independently obtained three energy spheres.
Congratulations, your cub has found Bloodsucking Grass’s companion plant, blood-generating flowers x2.
Congratulations, your cub has discovered a cave. He found some machinery inside; it seemed someone had lived here, but now every corner was covered in cobwebs.
Your cub found a map in the cave.
Your cub inspected the cave and determined it’s suitable for staying overnight.
Your cub hunted a mutated rabbit and gathered many wild fruits. He sustained minor injuries.
He returned to the cave and placed the food on the table.
He waited for a while, then roasted the meat.
He served the meat on the table and sliced it.
He arranged the plates.
He adjusted the arrangement.
He adjusted it once more.
He looked toward the cave entrance.
He lowered his head in disappointment.
The meat had cooled, so he roasted some more and replaced the cold pieces.
He roasted it again.
This was his third time roasting the meat.
Tao Shushu was taken aback by the end.
The round little fruit on the cub’s table rolled forward as she poked it.
The cub also looked ahead with a bright, intense gaze.
Tao Shushu paused. Could it be that the cub was waiting to eat with her?
The screen’s perspective was directly facing the cub, allowing Tao Shushu to clearly see the expression on his face and the large cluster of exclamation marks popping up above his head.
Tao Shushu tentatively pushed the fruit on the table again. The cub suddenly stood up and pushed the meat toward the opposite side as well.
So, was the cub really waiting for her?
Instantly, Tao Shushu felt the proud, heartwarming sense of a mother whose child had grown up and learned to be filial.
She pushed the meat back toward the cub, signaling for him to eat.
The cub remained seated, unmoving.
Tao Shushu pinched the cub’s bun-like cheeks, forcibly placed all the meat in front of him, and with some effort, picked up a piece of meat, bringing it to his mouth.
Seeing the cub take the meat and start eating, Tao Shushu finally clapped her hands in satisfaction.
Then, she busied herself gathering the meat the cub had already roasted, planning to warm it up again so he could eat it all.
The screen was dimly lit, and only then did Tao Shushu realize that it was already dark where the cub was.
When she had helped him cook the blood grass, the sun was at its strongest, it must have been noon. But now it was dark. That meant the cub had waited for hours on an empty stomach just to eat with her.
Tao Shushu’s heart ached with tenderness. How could the cub be so considerate? He could have eaten first, there was plenty of meat, but he stubbornly waited all that time.
Nan Yuan’s cheeks felt warm. That person seemed to enjoy touching his head and face.
But he didn’t seem to dislike the feeling.
As he ate, Nan Yuan glanced toward the fire. His face flushed again without him realizing it.
That person seemed to see through everything, even the burnt meat he had deliberately hidden earlier had been found and placed over the fire to warm.
He still couldn’t see that person’s figure, nor did he know their identity.
But he was willing to believe that this person meant him no harm.
Nan Yuan ate a little hurriedly.
It had been a long time since he’d had a proper meal.
He had to stay constantly vigilant, guarding against mutated plants and animals. Only during the peak of solar radiation could he barely find a place to rest.
But today, thanks to the heat-resistant suit that person had given him, he was able to search for shelter while the mutated creatures avoided the sun’s rays, and he even found a cave.
As Nan Yuan ate, a bright red fruit was suddenly placed beside his hand.
He paused, picked up the fruit, and said softly, “Thank you.”
Tao Shushu watched as the cub obediently accepted the fruit, her heart swelling with maternal affection. The cub was just too well-behaved.
Judging by his plating aesthetics and his hurried yet still elegant way of eating, he must have been a well-bred young master from a wealthy family. But now, in this post-apocalyptic world, he was suffering on a desolate planet.
Tao Shushu couldn’t resist ruffling the cub’s hair and noticed his cheeks flushing.
Suddenly worried, she wondered if he was feeling unwell. The prompt had mentioned he had minor injuries.
Through the screen, she gently touched his forehead with her fingertip, though of course she couldn’t feel any temperature.
She opened his health stats: originally at 63, it had dropped to 55 after hunting and exploring, and had now increased to 60 as he ate.
The system didn't indicate any illness either, so she could only wait until after the meal to check again.
Tao Shushu watched with great interest as the cub ate.
Just then, her parents arrived. After greeting them, they all started eating together.
She placed her phone on the table, feeling that dining alongside the cub made the meal even more enjoyable.
Focused on her food, Tao Shushu didn't notice the shifting expressions on Nan Yuan's face. He reached up to rub his ear, pretending nonchalance as he said, "Could you please not rub my face like that?"
Receiving no response, Nan Yuan's heart sank. Stumbling over his words, he added, "I mean... could you not be so sudden about it?"
Nan Yuan sat quietly at the table, lost in thought. What was that person thinking? They must be incredibly powerful. Perhaps they treated him so well because he was the only human on this barren planet. Had his words angered them?
If it was just head pats, that might be acceptable. Though he always felt it was treating him like a child.

Having taken exams all morning and then being tempted by the cub's delicious food, Tao Shushu ended up eating an extra half bowl of rice.
Her mother asked, "Shushu, are you feeling unwell anywhere else? Maybe skip the afternoon exam and let's go to the hospital."
Tao Shushu shook her head. "I'm not uncomfortable, I just missed you."
"Let's get checked anyway, we'll go on Saturday," her father said.
Tao Shushu held her parents' hands. "I'm really fine! I just missed you. And I had a feeling the contract you were signing today wasn't quite right, so I wanted to see you."
Tao Shushu often came up with business insights, and her parents weren't stubborn traditionalists. "Now that Shushu mentions it, there were indeed some red flags."
"Right, we got a call first thing this morning. Suddenly your mother and I couldn't think straight, our minds were completely fixated on signing that contract."
"It was like we'd lost our minds. We didn't even consider why a multi-billion dollar order would be so urgent, or why they wouldn't let us bring lawyers."
Her parents reached the same conclusion: they must have been hexed the moment they received that call.
Tao Shushu comforted them, "Mom, Dad, let's not be so superstitious."
But her parents were visibly shaken. "Thank goodness you called us and brought us back to our senses."
"There won't be anyone coming to scam you again," Tao Shushu said, cracking her knuckles with a cold glint in her eyes. A female protagonist who sought wealth through deception, she absolutely had to take her down.
Checking her watch, Tao Shushu saw it was getting late. She still had an English exam in the afternoon and needed to see whose English scores Su Momo had set her sights on this time.
Grabbing her bag, she said, "Mom, Dad, I'm heading back to school. Take care."
After Tao Shushu left, her parents discussed, "Whatever happened, we can't let ourselves be manipulated like that. We can't have our daughter worrying about us, we shouldn't burden her."
Having been in business for years, Tao's parents had considerable connections. They immediately began planning how to teach the company that tried to scam them a lesson.
Returning to the classroom, Tao Shushu didn't see Su Momo.
Her friend Li Anyu called from across the room, "Shushu, you're back!"
Li Anyu ran over to her. "Shushu, the Su family is holding a welcome banquet for their daughter this Sunday. Let's go buy pretty dresses together!"
"I heard the Su family's daughter transferred to our school this morning. After the chemistry exam, she ran off crying. Not sure if the banquet can still go on, but buying new clothes doesn't need a reason," Li Anyu said.
Tao Shushu gave Li Anyu a tight hug. In the female lead's storyline, the Tao family ended up as cannon fodder with a pitiful fate, and Li Anyu, for helping her resist the female lead, was brutally humiliated.
"Sounds good," Tao Shushu said. How could she miss such an occasion to give the female lead a little surprise?
After chatting with her friend for a while, Tao Shushu picked up her phone and found a corner where she could see the school gate and also block the female lead's inevitable path. She continued playing her game.
The cub had finished his meal and tidied up the cave neatly.
He spread some dried grass by the fire, creating a place to rest.
Beside the dried grass was a pile of bright red fruits, exactly the kind Tao Shushu loved at first sight. The fruits still had droplets of water on them, showing that the cub had carefully washed them.
This could be considered the cub's gift to his "old mother." Though she couldn't eat them, Tao Shushu happily took a screenshot to commemorate it.
Meanwhile, the cub was setting up traps at the entrance to guard against wild beasts.
Tao Shushu watched intently as the cub toddled on his short legs, huffing and puffing while digging. When she saw him moving the large rock blocking the cave entrance, she reached out to help lighten the load.
"Are you here?" Nan Yuan asked.
No matter how he tested earlier, he got no response. Nan Yuan had no choice but to accept that the mysterious person had left.
But now, he was absolutely certain the mysterious person had returned.
This time, Tao Shushu saw clearly: after the exclamation mark above the cub's head, a row of ****** appeared, as if it were a heavily encrypted scene.
Tao Shushu tapped on the row of *******.
"Want to know what the cub is saying to you? Voice pack limited-time special offer: 1,000 gold coins. Purchase now?"
Tao Shushu expressionlessly tapped "Reject." She only had three gold coins left, and the damn system didn't allow recharging.
Damn the incompatible currency systems preventing recharging, Tao Shushu had no idea how to earn more gold coins.
As if on cue, a task popped up on the screen: Main Task 2, On the night of the full moon, the beast tide will rage. Before the next full moon arrives, help the cub find a base capable of withstanding the beast tide. Task reward: 500 gold coins, Spaceship X1, Primary Clarity Card X1.
A task with generous rewards also meant high difficulty. Tao Shushu closed the task and cursed the garbage system that couldn't be recharged.
[Player, I can't solve the issue of the currency system, but recharging is possible through energy conversion.]
[Oh?] Tao Shushu asked.
A agreement popped up on the phone screen, the kind most people blindly agree to when registering for software.
The system continued: [Simply put, the female lead’s system drains energy from this dimension. Since her system is a 'Academic Genius System,' correspondingly, as long as you, the player, study hard, you can also gain a certain amount of energy. This way, you can recharge and exchange for Awakening Cards.]
The system subtly reminded: [The player’s Awakening Card has only two hours of validity left.]
Tao Shushu pulled up the agreement from her album. [But how come I see in the clause about "Explanation of Foreign Systems in the Dimension" that as long as I, the target of the plunder, become more of a study god than the female lead, I can counterattack her system?]
[This morning, I made Su Momo fail the chemistry exam, so she won’t have protagonist aura for 24 hours, right?] Tao Shushu thought to herself, no wonder her parents returned to normal after the exam.
The system fell silent for a moment. [The text in that agreement is so small, how did you manage to read it all?]
[Because I took a screenshot.] Tao Shushu replied, zooming in on the image a bit more.
Author’s Note:
Shushu: I’ll just become a study god to raise my cub.
Cub: Here, have a treat~