“So that’s basically what happened.”
Lin Suisui briefly explained everything that had happened over there, deliberately leaving out the part where she nearly got hurt while searching for her father.
After all, she was fine in the end.
Telling him would only make Uncle Ge Sang worry for nothing.
Ge Sang looked at the pale-faced boy standing guard beside Lin Suisui, glaring at him as though he could barely tolerate his existence.
“He’s your younger brother?”
“Yes!”
Lin Suisui nodded without hesitation.
Until Lin Sui’an found his real sister, she would be his “sister.”
Sister acknowledged him.
A red fruit instantly grew from Lin Sui’an’s finger in happiness.
Tree: “Could you have a little dignity?”
I personally chose you as my host, and you’re completely won over by a simple ‘yes’?
Lin Sui’an replied:
“What does a tree with no feelings know?”
Tree: “…”
As if you’re not basically a tree yourself now.
Ge Sang looked at Lin Sui’an.
Then at the little cub.
Then back at Lin Sui’an.
Then at the little cub again.
Lin Sui’an asked curiously,
“Uncle, what are you doing?”
Ge Sang raised both hands and gestured a height.
Then he shortened the distance between his palms again and again while pointing at Lin Sui’an.
Lin Suisui puffed out her cheeks.
“Uncle Ge Sang, if you keep making it smaller, Suisui will disappear!”
Ge Sang looked completely confused.
Was she teasing him?
A teenager was calling a cub who had hatched less than half a month ago his older sister.
Lin Sui’an didn’t care what anyone thought.
As long as Lin Suisui accepted him, that was enough.
It really was strange.
Lin Suisui’s little brain started working overtime.
Then she boldly proposed a theory.
“What if my egg age is very long?”
She continued,
“Maybe I’ve actually been born for over ten years and just never hatched.”
Before Ge Sang could answer, Cheng Fifteen spoke first.
“Not very likely.”
“Why?”
Lin Suisui asked.
Cheng Fifteen explained,
“Nowadays, most cubs are born directly in human form.”
“About half a month later, their attributes become known.”
Speaking of which, Lin Suisui still didn’t know what her original beast form was.
Since she wasn’t Hei Yun’s biological child, she definitely wasn’t a wolf cub.
Hopefully it would be something powerful.
That way, when Father grew old, she could protect him.
The little cub imagined herself standing in front of Hei Yun protectively.
The image made her giggle foolishly.
“Sister?”
Lin Sui’an called out.
Realizing someone had witnessed her silly expression, Lin Suisui immediately blushed bright red.
She awkwardly changed the subject.
“But I started out as an egg.”
Cheng Fifteen nodded.
“Only beastman cubs that suffer from insufficient nutrition during gestation are born as eggs.”
She was actually born with a congenital deficiency?
But she looked perfectly healthy.
Hei Yun silently fed another piece of pastry into her mouth.
“Too thin.”
“Too small.”
“Hm?”
Lin Suisui bit into it immediately.
Delicious!
Cheng Fifteen continued,
“A normal newborn Blue Star cub is already around one meter tall.”
“Then, after a few days and with enough nutrition, they’ll grow another thirty to fifty centimeters.”
Meanwhile, Lin Suisui had only grown half a centimeter since hatching.
Her mouth dropped open.
Her eyes widened into perfect circles.
Were these children raised on growth hormones or something?
She walked over to Hei Yun and measured herself against his leg.
Using her hand to compare heights, she discovered a heartbreaking truth.
She wasn’t even as tall as his calf.
Lin Suisui was devastated.
Even the pastry stopped tasting good.
The little cub became depressed after hearing about normal cub heights.
Hei Yun thought for exactly one second.
Then he picked her up and placed her on his shoulders.
“Wow!”
“Daddy, I’m so high up!”
Lin Suisui immediately cheered.
She had suddenly become so tall.
Her sadness vanished as quickly as it had come.
Now she was thrilled.
Was this what the world looked like from Father’s perspective?
Wow.
Everything was visible from up here.
The cub was happy.
A smile appeared on Hei Yun’s usually straightforward face as well.
Ge Sang rolled his eyes in jealousy.
He could carry her on his shoulders too.
“Suisui, Uncle Ge Sang can do that too.”
“But Uncle Ge Sang isn’t as tall as Daddy.”
The little cub tilted her head and delivered a critical hit.
Ge Sang:
Damn it!
What exactly had Hei Yun eaten growing up?
Lin Suisui looked toward Cheng Fifteen.
“Uncle Cheng, please continue.”
Cheng Fifteen, who had been hesitant, resumed speaking.
“Beastman cubs born as eggs are already at a disadvantage because they failed to absorb enough nutrition inside the womb.”
“After birth, they require careful nurturing and dedicated care from their guardians in order to hatch as soon as possible.”
“The longer they remain inside the egg, the lower the chances of hatching become.”
Lin Suisui asked,
“Why?”
Cheng Fifteen replied,
“Because before hatching, a cub’s primary source of nutrition is the eggshell itself.”
“External nourishment only plays a supporting role.”
“As time passes, the nutrients inside the shell are gradually exhausted.”
“If the cub still hasn’t hatched by then, hatching becomes virtually impossible.”
Cheng Fifteen remembered what Hei Yun had once told him.
When Hei Yun first found Lin Suisui, her body temperature had nearly vanished.
Her heart had almost stopped beating.
An egg on the verge of losing all life.
His heart began aching again.
Just a little more…
Just a little more and it would have been too late.
Ge Sang had clearly thought of the same thing.
Both men’s expressions darkened.
Whoever had abandoned Suisui had better pray they were never found.
Lin Suisui suddenly thought of another question.
“Then has there ever been an egg that stayed unhatched for years?”
Cheng Fifteen shook his head.
“Basically no.”
“Blue Star people’s physical constitutions are extremely strong.”
In truth, egg-form cubs like Lin Suisui were already rare.
Even when they did exist, they usually hatched within six months.
“There is one.”
“Hm?”
Everyone turned toward Ge Sang.
Ge Sang said,
“The one from the Lin family.”
Cheng Fifteen immediately understood.
“There really was one.”
“Eleven years ago, Madam Lin gave birth to twins.”
“One of them absorbed too many nutrients in the womb, causing the other to be born as an egg.”
Lin Suisui asked,
“Has she hatched now?”
Ge Sang shook his head.
“No one knows.”
“Nine years ago, a riot broke out in Central City.”
“That egg was accidentally lost during the chaos.”
“It still hasn’t been found.”
Back then, the Lin and Jing families had gone completely mad.
They searched every corner of Central City, inside and out.
For an entire month, nobody was allowed to enter or leave the city.
Eventually, public pressure forced them to lift the lockdown.
Even after all these years, both families had never stopped searching.
But they had never found any clues.
Lin Sui’an lowered his eyes.
For hundreds of years after losing news of his sister, he had existed like a man without a soul.
In endless darkness, he had lost the only light in his life.
Fortunately…
He had finally found that light again.
“Her family must be heartbroken.”
Lin Suisui’s heart tightened.
Losing a child must have devastated them.
She quietly hugged Hei Yun tighter.
“Daddy, Suisui will never run away.”
“I won’t get lost.”
Hei Yun looked at her seriously.
“Won’t lose you.”
“Always stay with little cub.”
He would remain by her side forever.
Even if one day she no longer wanted him around, he would silently protect her from afar without letting her know.
Ge Sang looked at the heartwarming scene between the two of them.
Suddenly, the words he had wanted to say no longer seemed possible to speak.