He had just used the Primordial Plain Panel to run a simple check on the skills of his parents and older sister.
Unfortunately, he hadn't found anything unusual.
Still, that wasn't necessarily enough to be sure. He would need to keep observing them. Ideally, he would investigate some of the people he had interacted with before.
Hu Long thought it over.
Knock, knock...
A soft knock sounded in the quiet hallway.
"Xiao Long, are you asleep?"
He Yanling's voice came from outside.
Hu Long's expression shifted slightly. He got up and opened the door.
She stood outside holding a lidded porcelain stew pot. A sweet, delicate aroma drifted into the room with the rising steam.
She set the pot gently on a side table and lifted the lid.
A faint fragrance immediately filled the room.
The broth was clear and bright, with plump ingredients barely visible beneath the surface.
"You didn't look too well, so I made you some Golden Soup Fish Maw Chicken with wild ginseng I'd aged for over twenty years. It's nourishing without being too heating. Just right for you."
Her voice was gentle, her gaze full of concern.
Faced with that look, Hu Long fell silent for a moment.
"Thank you..."
"We're family, Xiao Long. Why are you thanking your mother?"
Though He Yanling said that, she couldn't help wiping at the corners of her eyes, which had grown a little red.
Afterward,
the two chatted briefly.
At last, she reminded him to finish the whole thing before leaving.
Hu Long looked at the closed door and thought for a moment.
Then he picked up the chicken soup and drank it all in one go.
The old ginseng and all those precious herbs that replenished qi and blood certainly lived up to their reputation.
Not long after it entered his stomach,
the efficient metabolism talent kicked in, rapidly digesting and absorbing it.
A warm sensation spread through his entire body.
It felt as if he were soaking in a hot spring, incredibly comfortable.
"It works that well?"
Hu Long's gaze shifted.
The feeling was completely different from what he got after eating ordinary food.
The change it brought to his body was immediate.
Perhaps he could eat more nourishing tonics.
Other people might be too weak to handle excessive nourishment, and taking too much could harm them.
But he didn't need to worry about that at all.
He looked at the bottom of the bowl. The soup was nourishing, but it was still just soup.
Usually, people only drank the broth and left the ingredients behind.
But Hu Long wasn't particular. He tipped the remaining fish maw, ginseng root, hen, red dates, and goji berries into his mouth, then chewed and swallowed them.
They were all good for him.
Sure enough, the heat in his belly grew even stronger.
Noticing this, he stood up and started doing a few push-ups in his room to get some simple exercise.
After all, this body was far too weak.
When He Yanling returned to her room, she immediately spotted Hu Chengwen sitting at the desk, holding their youngest son and playing with him.
Anger flared in her heart.
"Our eldest son just recovered and got discharged from the hospital, and you, his father, can't even be bothered to show him some concern! Who are you giving that sour face to?"
"I was just—ow, ow, that hurts!"
Before Hu Chengwen could finish, He Yanling grabbed his ear and twisted it. He could only plead for mercy.
"Xiao Long's only just recovered. He needs time to adjust. If we fuss over him too much, it'll only make things worse for him..."
He hurried to explain.
Hu Chengwen was a billionaire business tycoon outside the home, but everyone knew he was afraid of his wife at home.
Of course, "afraid" wasn't quite right.
They had always been very much in love. He Yanling always gave him plenty of respect in public, but behind closed doors, she was the one who made the decisions.
"You've got a younger son now, so you've forgotten all about the older one."
He Yanling let go of his ear, her voice still carrying a trace of anger.
"Don't think I don't know what you're planning.
"Neither Xiao Zhao nor Xiao Long has the aptitude. Now you've pinned all your hopes on Xiao Yu, thinking you can use him to get back in with the main family."
He Yanling stared straight at him.
"But I'm telling you, no matter what happens to Xiao Long in the future, he'll always be my child. Don't you dare play favorites."
"Come on, what would a woman know about this?"
A flicker of embarrassment crossed Hu Chengwen's face. She had hit the nail on the head.
After saying that, he seemed to realize he'd gone too far.
He paused, then quickly changed the subject.
"Come to think of it, don't you feel like... Xiao Long's temperament has changed a little?"
He Yanling fell silent.
How could she not have noticed?
A mother's heart was more sensitive than anyone's.
In the past, after learning about Hu Yu, he would have been at least a little upset, and it would almost certainly have shown on his face.
He wouldn't have acted as if nothing had happened, let alone deliberately changed the subject to spare them any embarrassment.
But that only made her feel all the more sorry for him.
"The drug factory's new medicine is at a critical stage of development. Once things settle down, we'll take the whole family on a trip to clear our heads."
Hu Chengwen's tone softened, taking on a conciliatory note.
He drew He Yanling into his arms.
"We'll bring Xiao Long too, and let him really unwind."
"Good. Then it's settled. You can't go back on your word."
He Yanling leaned gently against Hu Chengwen.
She was a clever woman who knew when to set aside her assertiveness and show a little dependence, giving her husband a sense of pride.
That was how their affection had stayed as warm as ever.
Resting in her husband's arms, He Yanling didn't see the strange look that flickered across Hu Chengwen's eyes.
"Looks like my earlier assessment of Xiao Long was wrong. It must've been an ordinary mental illness. If he'd really caught that sort of thing, he couldn't possibly have recovered enough to leave the hospital..."
After exercising,
Hu Long slept soundly.
He didn't know how much time had passed when the faint sound of a rooster crowing startled him awake.
The night beyond the window was still dark. Dawn hadn't come yet.
Hu Long checked the time on his phone.
3:47 a.m.
Outside, the night was pitch-black. The rain had stopped at some point.
He got up and looked in the direction the rooster's crow had come from.
It must have belonged to one of the other villas.
Hu Long couldn't understand why anyone would keep chickens in a villa like this.
But there was no understanding the way rich people thought.
He frowned.
He didn't bother with it. He simply closed the half-open window.
The soundproofing here was excellent.
The moment the window shut, the world fell silent.
But after being disturbed, Hu Long was no longer sleepy.
Instead, he took out his phone and began browsing information about this world.
At the same time, he had another idea. If he could download skills and talents from people, could he do the same with animals? If the idea worked,
the benefits would be unimaginable.
After all, some animals might be weak, but their talents were far beyond anything humans could match.
Time passed.
Over the next few days, Hu Chengwen only went to the company now and then to handle essential business. Most of the time, he stayed home.
As for He Yanling, she stayed by Hu Long's side every day. She tied on an apron and busied herself in the kitchen, not even letting the servants help.
She tried every way she could to make soups and stews, steaming, boiling, pan-frying, and stir-frying, as if she meant to make up for all the years she hadn't been able to look after him.
Watching this made Hu Zhao, his older sister, a little jealous. She said she'd never received this kind of treatment.
But Hu Long wasn't used to this sort of familial affection.
After a few days, he could only tell them to leave him alone and say he wanted to go out by himself. Only then did they finally give in.
During this time, Hu Long also carried out his own experiments. He touched all kinds of animals—those flying in the sky, running on the ground, and swimming in the water.
Unfortunately, so far, the Panel hadn't reacted at all.
It seemed his Panel could only download skills from humans.