Chapter 53

Tomorrow, I need to remind cub to get a haircut, Tao Shushu thought.
The cub was like a lucky charm; every night they exchanged goodnights was especially sweet.
After a good night's sleep, Tao Shushu, as usual, opened the game as soon as she got up. A beautiful day started with teasing the cub.
However, as soon as the screen lit up, Tao Shushu was once again struck by the cub's stunning appearance.
Nan Yuan was in the middle of reprimanding someone, his gaze sharp and cold, his nose bridge straight, his lips parting and closing as he spoke.
Tao Shushu, who had just woken up, stared blankly for a moment. It wasn’t until Nan Yuan finished speaking that she realized she had been mesmerized by his striking looks.
This time, Tao Shushu was fully awake.
On the screen, Nan Yuan was talking to a tall, thin man and a man with a scarred face. Tao Shushu frowned.
These two troublemakers were bothering her cub again.
She placed a finger on their shoulders, and they immediately bent over under the pressure.
"Don’t kill me, don’t kill me, I beg you! I’ll tell the truth, Lin Wei did say there’s a stash of weapons hidden on an uninhabited planet. He said it’s the military’s reserve planet," the tall, thin man wailed.
Tao Shushu let out a surprised sound. Her intimidation had unexpectedly yielded some useful information.
Nan Yuan, who was interrogating the two, suddenly smiled.
The coldness on his face melted away, and his bright eyes blinked as if greeting her.
Her cub had noticed her.
For some inexplicable reason, Tao Shushu’s cheeks grew warm.
The tall, thin man and the scarred man were still pleading for mercy, their backs bent so low their faces were nearly pressed to the ground. Naturally, they couldn’t see the expression on Nan Yuan’s face.
Only Tao Shushu saw his smile and instantly understood what it meant to be captivated by beauty.
Tao Shushu abruptly released her hold. "Cub, you’re busy with serious matters. I’ll come find you later."
She tossed her phone aside and rushed to wash up.
Splashing her face with warm water, Tao Shushu finally calmed down. After all, her cub couldn’t see what she was doing on her end, so why was she worried about being caught "succumbing to beauty"?
After breakfast, Tao Shushu didn’t want to face her cub’s dangerously charming face first thing in the morning. Instead, she sought out the golden-maned lion and began petting it.
Since she was too embarrassed to ruffle her cub’s hair now, she could only settle for stroking the lion’s mane.
The golden-maned lion had grown a lot larger. Tao Shushu leisurely combed its fur.
After a while, she and the lion fell into a silent standoff. She gathered the fallen golden fur into a ball and stared at the now-bare lion, both of them at a loss.
Nan Yuan tiptoed in and crouched beside the sulking lion. "It’s shedding again recently."
His pale complexion, contrasted with the golden lion, looked flawless like cold jade. He tilted his head slightly, a smile in his eyes.
"Didn’t it just finish shedding?" Tao Shushu asked.
"It’s eaten a lot of energy spheres lately, triggering a second evolution," Nan Yuan explained. "So, Shushu, you can keep ruffling my hair for now. The lion’s fur still needs time to grow back."
Tao Shushu instinctively reached out her hand, but just as she was about to touch Nan Yuan’s black hair, she changed direction and covered his irresistibly charming face instead. "Cub, your hair has grown longer. You should get it trimmed."
"Alright, will you help me, Shushu?"
Tao Shushu quickly shook her head. Trimming his hair would require her to focus intently on his head, and she wasn’t sure she could handle that.
"I can’t do that. By the way, what did those two troublemakers say earlier?"
"Some things related to my family," Nan Yuan lowered his gaze, thinking for a moment, a rare hint of vulnerability showing on his face.
"Ah." Her cub rarely mentioned his family. Tao Shushu gently patted his shoulder.
Nan Yuan tilted his head and glanced at his shoulder. "My father is the leader of the Second Legion. He and another faction believe the galaxy might face destruction, so they’ve hidden weapon caches in secret locations."
To prevent theft by space pirates, weapon depots are typically located on polluted planets that are difficult for humans to access.
And near, the Trash Planet happens to be one of them.
"Depending on the situation, we might change course to retrieve those weapons later," Nan Yuan said casually.
Tao Shushu rubbed the cub's head. "Cub, I support your decision."
She wasn't good at comforting others. She knew the harshness of the apocalypse, and with the fragmented memories and other clues, she vaguely sensed that Nan Yuan might have no other family left.
"No matter what you want to do, I'll follow and protect you," Tao Shushu said.
"Okay, thank you, Shushu," Nan Yuan smiled. "By the way, I thought of a use for the lion fur."
Nan Yuan gathered all the lion fur and attached it to the lion plushie.
The golden-maned lion howled at his feet but didn't dare to resist.
At a glance, the plush lion had more fur than the golden-maned lion, which amused Tao Shushu.
Tao Shushu also noticed the other two plushies. It was the first time she observed the plushie representing herself in its original quality.
Her heart skipped a beat. She didn't know how Nan Yuan managed it, but the resemblance was as high as 80%. The plush girl had curved eyebrows and was patiently listening with her face in her hands.
Tao Shushu couldn't help but say, "Nan Yuan, my hair is a bit longer than this plushie's, and I wear a ponytail."
"Hmm?" Nan Yuan picked up the plushie. "What else?"
"My eyes are bigger too."
"Okay."
As Nan Yuan was earnestly taking notes, Tao Shushu suddenly snapped back to reality. What was she doing? Just because the plushie didn't look quite like her, she couldn't resist asking Nan Yuan to change it.
Why did it need to be so similar?
Tao Shushu blurted out, "I have a small mole on my left ear," and quickly logged off to go to school.
"A mole," Nan Yuan curled his fingers. "Shushu, I'll remember it."
He didn't know what had changed about Shushu, but he keenly sensed that her attitude toward him had shifted slightly. He needed to figure out what had happened as soon as possible.
In the end, Tao Shushu convinced herself: that plushie was meant to represent her, so what was wrong with correcting the features that didn't resemble her?
Strangely, she didn't know why she had gotten so nervous that she ran away.
It must be because Nan Yuan's face was too captivating.
But 10,000 gold coins was just too much. The cub was about to return to the interstellar center, and spending all 10,000 gold coins just to switch the display effect at this moment seemed utterly impractical.
Maybe if she looked at it more, she could get used to the cub's face.
Lost in thought, Tao Shushu caught a glimpse of someone a few meters away and shifted slightly to the right.
That person shifted again, deliberately blocking Tao Shushu's path.
Tao Shushu looked up and saw Wang Tianba.
"Shushu." Wang Tianba stood stiffly, his movements awkward.
"My name is Tao Shushu," Tao Shushu said. She didn't think she had any connection with Wang Tianba, was he here to seek justice for Su Momo?
Wang Tianba opened his mouth, speaking in a wounded tone, "Shushu, I was misled by Su Momo before and misunderstood you. I'm sorry."
"I think... you're prettier than her," Wang Tianba said, his gaze shy and awkward.
In that moment, Tao Shushu understood everything.
She instantly felt that even watching the 2D characters in her game blush was more interesting than looking at Wang Tianba in real life.
"Stay away from me," Tao Shushu raised her fist. Wang Tianba instinctively flinched back, and she seized the chance to slip past him.
Wang Tianba jogged to catch up. "Shushu, I know I did a lot of wrong things before, but I'll change. What I mean is, many people were charmed by Su Momo before, it was like they were under a spell. Now, everyone is going to investigate her family's company properly. You don't have to worry about anyone hurting you anymore."
Hearing this, Tao Shushu smiled. In the original plot, the Su family had swallowed up several minor families, and their business was thriving. Now, it was time for them to taste the bitter consequences.
Tao Shushu shook off Wang Tianba and returned to the classroom.
She had spent too much time gaming today and arrived just as the English teacher was already in the classroom.
As soon as Tao Shushu entered, the English teacher waved her over. "Shushu, you're just in time. The school has invited Angus, an astrophysics expert who won the Dirac Medal this year, to give a lecture. Since you're good at physics and your spoken English is fluent, the principal has decided that you'll be the student representative."
This wasn't mentioned in the original book.
The lecture was scheduled for the next afternoon, open to all students, and the Yancheng Science and Education Channel would be there to record it.
Tao Shushu went to the rehearsal room and saw Qin Rui in a suit.
The suit was well-tailored, the fabric understated yet elegant, her "the cub" would definitely look good in something like this.
Qin Rui walked over to Tao Shushu. "Classmate Tao Shushu, I'm your partner for this event."
The teacher came over to introduce them. "Shushu, since this will be televised, we need students with good looks and fluent English. You two are the most suitable. Qin Rui has more experience, so learn from him."
"Okay, teacher. I'll ask if I don't understand anything," Tao Shushu replied obediently.
After the teacher left satisfied, Qin Rui approached, deliberately adjusting his cuff. "I hope you'll be as professional as you were yesterday, not like Su Momo, who's always thinking about seducing men."
Tao Shushu said, "President Qin, shouldn't we start reviewing the script now?"
Then, she took out her phone and sent a message. "Anyu, didn't you say your family has the design catalog for C's classic menswear? Bring it for me to see tomorrow."
She wanted to prepare some new clothes for her the cub.
Misinterpreting Tao Shushu's actions as her checking him out, Qin Rui's expression stiffened.
Meanwhile, Tao Shushu was already making the most of her time, searching for and reading Professor Angus's research papers and popular science articles. As one of the student hosts for the lecture, there would be a Q&A session, and the teacher had instructed the student representatives to act as "plants," asking questions promptly if the discussion stalled.
The teachers had prepared several questions, but Tao Shushu preferred to handle things herself. If she asked a question and Angus answered before posing a follow-up, she might not understand and end up in an awkward situation. Besides, physics was a field Tao Shushu enjoyed, so spending time reading literature wasn’t a hardship.
After this period of intensive English training, Tao Shushu’s reading speed had improved significantly. Eager for knowledge, she read and took notes simultaneously.
Qin Rui occasionally glanced over to observe Tao Shushu’s progress. Seeing her quickly turn pages and jot things down, he nodded approvingly, her speed surpassed that of many university students who regularly studied foreign literature, though he wondered about her accuracy.
When Tao Shushu suddenly paused to think, Qin Rui realized he had been too distracted, sneakily watching her progress while neglecting to finish memorizing his own script.
Tao Shushu hadn’t noticed Qin Rui’s wandering attention at all.
While waiting for the paper to load, her phone vibrated. Li Anyu had sent a flood of suit photos. Tao Shushu glanced at them, her mind automatically picturing Nan Yuan wearing them. Her face suddenly felt warm, and she gently fanned herself with her hand. Once the paper finished loading, she reminded herself to focus and continued reading attentively.
The newly loaded article came from a magazine and was considered Angus’s most "unorthodox" piece. He proposed that the universe is multidimensional, and higher-dimensional beings could create lower-dimensional civilizations. However, due to dimensional barriers, these higher-dimensional beings might not even observe life in lower dimensions. Only when dimensions resonate could two civilizations interact, but "dimensional resonance" remained theoretical, with no practical examples or experimental proof.
Reading this, Tao Shushu was struck with a sudden realization. From the system, she had learned that she was a cannon fodder character in a book, where the female lead and multiple male supporting characters were the protagonists.
But Tao Shushu had grown up in this world since childhood, the information online was real, her parents’ love was real, and all academic theories were coherent.
She simply couldn’t treat it as just a book.
They were all real people.
Her heart began to beat faster. When the system first appeared, it claimed the game was produced by the "Strongest Holographic Universe Company." The system had mentioned that Su Momo’s system aimed to absorb energy.
And Nan Yuan, her cub, had confirmed that what triggered biological evolution was energy.
So, if her world was real, then perhaps the cub’s world was real too, and the cub’s reactions were genuinely intelligent beyond measure.
On the screen, the words "dimensional resonance" seemed to hold a certain magic. Resonance might allow her to meet the cub.
Tao Shushu instinctively unlocked her phone.
Remembering Qin Rui was nearby, she immediately turned it off and moved it even farther away.
Three meters away, Qin Rui paused, his calm expression cracking. The occasion was relatively formal, and he had applied a bit of cologne before heading out, it shouldn’t be unpleasant. Why was Tao Shushu fanning herself one moment and moving farther away the next?