The Difficult Problem

Shen Xing pulled over a wooden stool and sat down, while Feifei stood in front of him, holding his hands.

It seemed that only by standing by Shen Xing's side at this moment could she feel secure.

Gazing into the little girl's clear eyes, Shen Xing said, "From now on, there will be no more men with the surname Guan in this world. He got what he deserved! You don't have to keep remembering him."

Lin Feifei nodded, "I've actually been feeling much better these past few days. Mom meets a lot of people, many of whom I don't recognize. You know she often comes home very late, and sometimes I worry so much I can't sleep..."

Shen Xing didn't want her to dwell on it, so he interrupted her and asked, "Have you transferred schools after arriving at the orphanage?"

Lin Feifei, who was seven years old this year, was currently in the second grade.

Her school was not far from the Ivy Apartments, at the Old City First School. If this little girl were to enter the orphanage now, her studies and life would all be completed here from now on.

Feifei shook her head, "Sister Xiaoyu said she's still processing my school transfer."

As she said this, she frowned slightly.

Shen Xing comforted her, "This is a big family. I see that Sister Xiaoyu treats you very well, and there are so many little companions. You all eat and live together. Don't think about anything else now, study hard, and play well with your friends..."

Before he could finish speaking, Feifei hugged Shen Xing again. This time, because Shen Xing was sitting, Feifei's head rested on his shoulder.

Soon, a soft sobbing sound could be heard. It was so quiet that if they hadn't been so close, Shen Xing wouldn't have been able to hear it.

Feifei cried softly, whispering, "I'll only cry this once, the last time. Feifei won't cry anymore!"

Hearing these slightly stubborn words, especially the tone that sounded like a little adult, Shen Xing sighed in his heart. He said nothing and pulled her into his arms.

He decided to financially support Lin Feifei in the future and visit her at the orphanage often.

The image of Ye Ting flashed in his mind. If this woman hadn't disappeared, perhaps they would already be engaged, and in a few years, they would have a child as well-behaved and sensible as Feifei.

"Feifei, don't be sad, don't be sad. Uncle Shen will come to see you every week from now on and bring you delicious food..."

"Uncle..." Shen Xing's words were suddenly interrupted by Lin Feifei.

She sobbed softly and said word by word, "I've been thinking these past few days, Mom is gone. The only person in this world who cares about me is you. And here..."

She looked up and glanced around. "It feels so strange, so strange to me. So I've been thinking, can I..."

Leaving room 307, Shen Xing was still processing Lin Feifei's words.

"Adopt?"

He found it somewhat unbelievable.

After all, he was currently unmarried, and his girlfriend had even gone missing. To suddenly adopt a child in the second grade, what about his future life?

If his parents, who lived out of state, found out, they might break his limbs, not knowing how familiar he was with Feifei.

In fact, putting aside the interaction and understanding between him and Feifei, they had a certain tacit understanding. Adopting Feifei wouldn't make Shen Xing completely unable to accept the idea.

It was just that the matter was too sudden, and he needed some time to adapt.

Shen Xing remembered the laws of Earth before his transmigration. Regarding adoption between people of different genders, it seemed that the age difference between the adopter and the adoptee had to be more than 40 years, otherwise the adoption application would be rejected.

However, there was no such thing in this world. The current laws had no such provisions.

As long as the two parties were familiar with each other, willing, the adopter was mentally healthy, had no criminal record, and had the conditions to provide convenience and a growth environment for the adoptee, they could submit an adoption application to the City Hall.

Looking at it this way, the world before his rebirth felt full of malice and had to be guarded against, while this world was much simpler!

Well, perhaps the laws of this world were not perfect.

Shen Xing considered his financial situation. To be honest, he had been like this since graduating from university. When he was with Ye Ting, they had saved some money.

Later, it was all spent on searching for the missing Ye Ting. Now, he basically had no savings.

However, to Shen Xing's surprise, Feifei's money, or rather, the money her mother left her, was revealed by Feifei to be nearly a hundred thousand yuan!

Now that he was adopting her, it was hard to say who was getting the better deal. Of course, this money could only be used for Feifei's living and growth expenses.

Shen Xing walked out of the room. As he closed the door, Feifei immediately climbed onto a chair near the window again, knelt on it, and looked out the window at the children chasing and playing.

Her quiet demeanor indeed made her seem much more sensible than other children her age.

At this moment, volunteer Song Xiaoyu was standing in the corridor outside the door, constantly scratching her head. The bun she had tied was already undone, and her sharp nails made a friction sound as they dug into her scalp.

Seeing Shen Xing come out, she lowered her hands and gave him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I don't know why my head has been so itchy lately, and I have a lot of dandruff. I've tried several shampoos, but none of them worked."

While explaining, she quickly tied her hair back up again.

Shen Xing casually replied, "Your situation can't be solved with just shampoo. You might need to buy medicated shampoo from the pharmacy. It could be due to seborrheic dermatitis."

Song Xiaoyu was stunned for a moment. She clearly hadn't thought of this. She immediately thanked him, "Thank you. I'll go to the pharmacy to take a look after work today."

As they went downstairs, Shen Xing also took the opportunity to ask about the procedures for adopting Lin Feifei.

Song Xiaoyu was very pleased that Lin Feifei would have a good home in the future, so she answered very carefully, including submitting an adoption application to the Civil Affairs Office of the City Hall, providing a copy of her ID card, proof of income, proof of assets, proof of no criminal record, and so on.

Song Xiaoyu saw Shen Xing all the way to the entrance of the orphanage before saying goodbye and turning back.

Shen Xing mentally reviewed the materials needed for the adoption. He looked back at Song Xiaoyu, who was returning to the building of the orphanage, and noticed that she had started scratching her hair again.

Back at his rented apartment, after dinner, he took the Blood Pupil Wood Carving from his workbench. While examining the shadowy figure of the blood pupil within the wood carving, he began to work on the latter half of the carving, the part corresponding to the eye nerves, carefully carving out the neural pathways.

During this process, Shen Xing kept recalling the moment the blood pupil, supported by the eye nerves, leaped onto his arm like an octopus, and a feeling of nausea would occasionally arise in his heart.

Yet it was precisely this sensation that allowed him to be more meticulous and fluid while carving these ocular nerves; every line of the nerve structure seemed to come alive, resembling wriggling tendrils of flesh.

Approaching one in the morning, the wooden carving titled "Blood Pupil" was finally complete.

Shen Xing gazed at the Blood Pupil for a long while with eyes full of doting affection, as if looking at his own child, before finally climbing into bed to sleep.

It was at this moment he discovered that his Mental Antibody level had maxed out, reaching the highest rank of 5. The progress bar no longer grew, instead turning into a solid black bar.

With this level of Mental Antibody, Shen Xing felt confident in facing any anomaly he might encounter.

Of course, this only applied to the purely mental aspect; if an anomaly possessed powerful physical attacks, he would need to rely on his own transformed Physical Strength and the eerie power within his hands to cope.