The little cub was so soft and cute, completely unaware of his right to refuse. What would he do if he encountered a bad person?

The more Tao Shushu thought about it, the more she felt affectionate toward Nan Yuan.

Seeing the little lion happily eating the green fruit, she picked up a handful of them and placed them in Nan Yuan’s arms.

Nan Yuan, helpless, held the pile of fruit in his embrace.

He knew it—she had already noticed.

This time, Tao Shushu observed that the fruits had subtle differences; some were round, while others were flat.

The little lion especially liked the flat ones, so Tao Shushu also picked out flat fruits and stuffed them into the cub’s mouth.

He was being fed. 

Nan Yuan instinctively took a bite—it was sweet.

His ears grew a little warm. He knew the little lion couldn’t see and wasn’t sentient, yet he still felt a guilty sort of embarrassment as he took the fruit and ate it himself.

That person had fed him directly. 

He wasn’t a child anymore, so why was this so intimate…

The warmth in his ears never faded.

After this little episode, Nan Yuan quickly accepted the “outdated autonomous driving system” that Tao Shushu had found.

He had no idea where she had found this driving system. She wasn’t familiar with the current flavors of fruit, yet she knew so much about this soon-to-be-obsolete autonomous driving system.

Maybe… She really was a ghost from many years ago.  

With the new system in place, the little cub could finally take a break and didn’t have to drive nonstop.

Tao Shushu watched as the cub lay down to rest, then got up to wash up. 

Nan Yuan didn’t know what was happening to him.

At first, it was just his ears burning, but later, even his head felt a little dizzy.

He thought sleeping for a while would make it better.

As soon as he closed his eyes, he was plunged into a bizarre and surreal dream.

Perhaps it was the sight of the little lion desperately searching for the great lion’s remains that stirred something in him—Nan Yuan dreamed of his parents.

Back then, artificial intelligence had just rebelled. Humanity, overly dependent on AI, was caught completely off guard. The Legion, humanity’s main fighting force, suffered the brunt of the attacks. 

Nan Yuan’s father, the leader of the Legion, was ambushed and wounded by AI at the very start of the battle. 

Despite his injuries, he forced himself to appear unaffected, maintaining control over the situation while making arrangements to send Nan Yuan and his mother away. 

At that time, Nan Yuan was only a few days away from adulthood. Because of his age, he had yet to join the Legion, which inadvertently spared him from the crisis within.

Nan Yuan loathed his own weakness—he could do nothing but flee like a coward, far from the capital star, far from his family.

But before their ship could even arrive, the devastating news came.

After his father was injured, his once-loyal adjutant seized the opportunity to stage a coup.

Nan Yuan’s older brother was forced to resist but became infected with the zombie virus in the process. 

Nan Yuan could only watch helplessly as the final recorded images of his father and brother played before him. He hadn’t even had time to grieve before the adjutant’s subordinates on the ship turned on him and his mother, launching a massacre.

In that desperate moment, Nan Yuan awakened his light-based abilities, shielding his mother from harm.

But the adjutant’s ship and the AI-dispatched warships remained in relentless pursuit.

Veering off course, Nan Yuan crash-landed on this desolate planet.

He still had to protect his mother. He had to fulfill the mission his father had entrusted to him—to reverse the actions of artificial intelligence.

But how could he reverse it? Nan Yuan had forgotten. He struggled to recall, but all he could remember was his father in a military uniform, calling him over and telling him that he was about to come of age—that he was a man now, and he had to take responsibility.  

His father had given him something. What was it?

Nan Yuan felt as if his head was about to explode.

Suddenly, he realized that his father was walking away through thick smoke. He tried to chase after him, but no matter how hard he ran, he couldn’t catch up.

Turning back to find his mother, he saw her making a resolute decision—she piloted the ship straight into the enemy pursuers. 

Amidst the sky full of fiery explosions, he saw the smiling faces of his father, mother, and brother.

Nan Yuan ran toward them with all his strength, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t run fast enough…

—

Tao Shushu finished her bath and picked up her phone. 

The moment she turned it on, she panicked.

The little cub—what was happening to him? He was drenched in sweat, his limbs twitching, and his face burning hot. His lips were slightly parted as he muttered in his sleep, completely trapped in a nightmare.

Encrypted symbols kept popping up in the dialogue box. 

Tao Shushu glanced at the little lion. It was curled up at Nan Yuan’s feet, trembling, but it didn’t look like it had been poisoned by the fruit.

She couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the little cub—was he running a fever? Poisoned?

This broken system didn’t even give a proper warning!

In a hurry, Tao Shushu rushed to the system’s store and bought a life potion, immediately using it on him.

But after using it, Nan Yuan’s convulsions only grew worse.

The life potion… didn’t work.

Panicking, she pulled up his status bars and saw that both his health and stamina were maxed out.

Then why was this still happening?

His face was growing redder by the second, and Tao Shushu was on the verge of losing her mind with worry.

In the apocalypse, any infection or poisoning could be fatal.

She was terrified that the little cub wouldn’t make it through this.

While frantically searching the system store for medicine, she reached out and rubbed his ears.

Nan Yuan looked like he was trapped in a nightmare. If he stayed stuck in it for too long, he might really not make it.

The usually smooth system store chose this moment to freeze.

Tao Shushu cursed, “Stupid system! Why isn’t it giving me a mission now?”

With no other options, she spotted some water in the vehicle and quickly grabbed it, trying to feed it to the little cub.

But trapped in his nightmare, Nan Yuan didn’t react at all. The water wouldn’t even go down.

Struggling, Tao Shushu used two fingers to pinch his cheeks slightly open while using another finger as a cushion to lift his head just a bit. Slowly, she managed to get two cups of water down his throat.

Then, she poured some water into her hands and wiped his face.

But his skin was burning like a furnace, and the little bit of moisture evaporated almost instantly.

She needed a wet towel to cool him down.

Unfortunately, after searching the entire vehicle, Tao Shushu couldn’t find any fabric other than the cotton-filled quilt, which would fall apart if torn.

Gritting her teeth, she tore off a corner of the little cub’s shirt.

In the process, she accidentally poked his stomach.

Startled, she quickly rubbed his belly to soothe him before soaking the makeshift towel in water and gently wiping his forehead and cheeks. His ears were burning red, so she carefully wiped them as well.

She kept busy—replacing the wet towel, giving him sips of water to keep his throat moist, and constantly monitoring his condition.

It was exhausting.

After more than ten minutes, the little cub finally calmed down.

At that moment, the lagging game system suddenly popped up with a new mission: 

[Please complete Side Mission 3: The evolving cub’s energy is about to run out. Help the cub safely evolve to Light System Level 2. ]

Mission Rewards: 100 Gold Coins, 1 Memory Fragment, 1 Advanced Sobriety Card.

Evolution?

So the little cub was evolving!

Tao Shushu smacked her forehead. Nan Yuan had always relied on a particle gun as a weapon and had never shown any supernatural abilities, so she had assumed he was just an ordinary person without powers.

It wasn’t until she saw Side Mission 3 that she remembered—when she first started the game, it had mentioned that Nan Yuan’s ability was light-based.

Thinking back, it made sense. He always seemed to be able to see clearly at night.

Since it wasn’t poisoning, she let out a tiny sigh of relief.

But if the system was being this generous with a 100-coin reward… It meant that evolution was going to be dangerous.

Tao Shushu carefully observed the little cub again. 

His face was still burning, and his limbs twitched occasionally, but at least he had stopped murmuring in his sleep.

She dipped the towel in fresh water and wiped his forehead and head again.

Remembering how she had accidentally poked his stomach earlier, she lifted his shirt for a look—sure enough, a bruise had formed.

Feeling a little guilty, she bought some injury ointment from the system and gently massaged it onto his bruised skin.

After waiting a bit longer, Nan Yuan suddenly started convulsing violently again.

His health bar was steadily dropping.

Panicking, Tao Shushu quickly purchased several life potions and forced them down his throat.

But the evolving little cub was like a gold-devouring beast—within seconds, his health bar would drop back to zero.

Tao Shushu frantically bought over thirty bottles of life potion, pouring them down his throat before his breathing finally steadied.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the little lion curled up beside them, trembling yet lifting its head to sniff the air.

The life potion’s energy was incredibly pure—not only had the lion caught the scent, but far away, a group of people had also noticed the high-purity energy fluctuations coming from this area.

She poked the lion, then glanced back at Nan Yuan’s health bar, which was depleting again. Without hesitation, she bought another bottle of life potion and used it on him.

At last, he finished absorbing the energy, and his health stopped dropping.

Tao Shushu let out a sigh of relief and reopened the system store. 

Earlier, she had torn his shirt, and now she spotted new clothes in the store—just in time to replace it.

Perhaps the system had listened to her complaints, because now there were plenty of clothing options.

She first tapped on a pre-matched formal suit. 

Imagining Nan Yuan dressed in it, she felt her heart skip a beat.

But formal wear wasn’t practical for combat, so she had to give up on it.

Then, she spotted military uniforms. Judging by Nan Yuan’s fighting style, he seemed to have some military background, but since she didn’t know his exact unit yet, she decided to wait before purchasing one.

The store also had extravagant court-style outfits, ancient robes… a dazzling selection.

Then she saw the prices and fell silent.

In the end, she settled for a simple, everyday cotton-linen hoodie and sweatpants, plus a specialized set of waterproof, stab-proof, and bulletproof clothing. The total cost was 30 gold coins.

She placed the clothes beside Nan Yuan. 

A game notification popped up: 

[Congratulations on completing Side Mission 3! Rewards received: 100 gold coins, 1 memory fragment, 1 advanced sobriety card. Your cub is now Light System Level 2! Wherever light exists, he can see and hear.]

Tao Shushu finally understood—Nan Yuan’s ability to see clearly at night before must have been his light-based vision. This time, his ears had been burning red throughout the evolution process, which meant he had been upgrading his hearing. 

After this, both his vision and hearing would reach top-tier levels. 

Wait—something wasn’t right!

Closing the system notification, Tao Shushu did the math.

She had bought 37 bottles of life potion, spending 74 gold coins.

Clothing had cost 30 gold coins.

The injury ointment for the bruise she caused? 3 gold coins. 

Total spent: 107 gold coins—more than the 100-coin reward the system had given her!

This damn system… She had lost money! 

Fuming with frustration, Tao Shushu angrily rubbed the little lion’s ears. Still unsatisfied, she turned to Nan Yuan and started rubbing his ears too.

But just after a few rubs— 

Nan Yuan’s eyes snapped open.

He suddenly sat up, staring blankly ahead.

Nan Yuan looked down at his hands, then his ears twitched.

Someone was approaching—quite a few people—but they were still far away.

So, he ignored them for now. Instead, he clenched his fists, feeling the surge of power coursing through his bones.

He had evolved again. 

Then, he noticed a cool sensation on his abdomen.

The fabric there was torn!

---

TN:

more updates soon, either tomorrow or next (⁠✿⁠^⁠‿⁠^⁠)