The strange uncle

Everyone was startled to realize that someone had entered the lounge while they were away.

"What's going on?" Potts asked in alarm.

She remembered it perfectly. Worried that Qiqi might accidentally wander out, she had specifically checked before leaving. There was no way she had forgotten to close the door.

Besides, the lounge's access card had never left her possession. How could someone have gotten in, especially before Tony himself had arrived?

Unless... Potts's brow twitched as a possibility struck her.

This person's target hadn't been Tony at all, but Qiqi, who had been alone in the room!

At that thought, a cold glint flashed in Potts's eyes.

"What's going on here?"

Tony had noticed the problem too, and looked at Potts in confusion.

"Someone broke into the room!"

Potts spoke through gritted teeth. Everyone froze at her words, not expecting her to say that.

"I'll go check the security room."

With that, she headed out of the lounge.

Qiqi didn't understand why everyone was so angry. That uncle had only watched the little ducks with her for a while and talked to her.

But she could no longer remember what he looked like. All she remembered was that he seemed to say funny things.

While Qiqi was lost in thought, the door opened.

Qiqi turned her head, then relaxed when she saw that it was Potts.

"The security footage was tampered with. Everything after that person entered the room is blurry."

Potts felt a lingering fear. Thankfully, nothing had happened to Qiqi this time, or she would never have forgiven herself.

"It looks like this intruder came prepared. There was no way to stop him."

Yinsen tried to comfort Potts.

Tony wasn't surprised that something like this had happened. Since his return, all sorts of shady characters had crawled out of the woodwork. They could come at him however they liked, but they had actually dared to target a child.

He would never let them get away with it!

"I've already called the police," Potts said.

Yinsen nodded, approving of what she had done.

Tony wasn't so convinced. If that person had the nerve to pull something right under their noses, the police probably wouldn't find anything.

"Let's leave it at that. We've wasted enough time here."

"Are you hungry, Qiqi? Come on! Let's go home and eat!"

Tony didn't want to waste any more time here. What kind of lousy place was this? It wasn't fit for Qiqi to stay in at all.

"...Okay."

Qiqi nodded.

With Potts leading the way, the group left the lounge and entered the elevator.

Coulson, who had been watching their movements, turned and left as well. The agent following him was none other than the "intruder" Potts had been searching so desperately for.

Coulson and the agent went outside, got into a car, and headed straight for their destination.

A little over ten minutes later, the two were seated in a S.H.I.E.L.D. office.

"It looks like Colonel Rhodey lied. He really did conceal information about that little girl, Qiqi."

The agent couldn't sit still even in Coulson's office. He picked up an ornament from the desk and casually toyed with it.

Coulson knew this agent well and couldn't be bothered to stop him. Whatever ended up in the man's hands only held his interest for a few minutes anyway.

Just as Coulson had expected, the male agent lost interest in the ornament as soon as he had examined every nook and cranny.

He produced a drink from somewhere, intending to give it a taste.

"Where's the straw... Let me see... Oh! It's stuck to the back."

The male agent pulled the plastic straw off the packaging, stripped off its wrapper, and jabbed it in with a pop.

"Mmm, tastes good."

The male agent took a sip, looking thoroughly pleased.

Coulson was somewhat speechless. They were both senior agents; had he been too lenient with this man? Couldn't he rein in his habit of eating on the job?

Seated behind his desk, Coulson gave the man a dangerously pleasant smile.

"Barton."

"Okay, okay. I thought the girl seemed pretty normal, except that her skin was a little pale, her body temperature was a little low, and her reactions were a little slow..."

Barton bit down on the straw and drained the drink.

"Mmm... She seemed pretty normal. Could you be overthinking it? Or maybe that female medic was lying."

Coulson shook his head. He had no time to waste on this man's nonsense.

"If that were the case, Colonel Rhodey wouldn't have needed to go to all that extra trouble, silencing people and altering records."

Barton nodded and stopped arguing the point.

"That's true. That little girl, Qiqi, seemed pretty innocent, and she was very well-behaved. All I did was watch cartoons with her for a while, and she even gave me a present before I left."

"A present?"

Coulson was a little surprised.

Barton shook the empty drink carton in his hand.

"Here, this Coconut Milk. It tasted pretty good, though the packaging is interesting."

Coulson held out his hand to Barton.

After taking the empty carton, he examined the printing on the packaging.

In the center of the black packaging, a girl with two horns struck a pose, surrounded on all sides by Chinese text.

The most eye-catching words were the large "Freshly squeezed!" in the middle.

Then there was the dense advertising copy around it.

On the left: [Cocogoat Coconut Milk]

On the right: [Authentic coconut milk]

At the top: [114514 years of dedication, using fresh coconut flesh in Liyue Harbor]

At the bottom: [We promise no coconut cream and no added flavoring]

At first glance, it seemed fairly normal, but was "Liyue Harbor" where this coconut milk manufacturer sourced its ingredients?

Or was it the name of some region in China?

As Coulson considered this, he handed the drink carton back to Barton.

"Look into this coconut milk's manufacturer, and find out who the spokesperson on it is. We might be able to learn where this little girl came from."

Coulson's approach was sound, but it was doomed to yield no results, because this Coconut Milk was nothing more than a playful stunt by miHoYo, a game developer in Lin Ze's world.

It was a collaboration with a certain coconut juice brand to celebrate Genshin Impact's eighth anniversary. At the players' enthusiastic request, they had printed Ganyu, the spokesperson for Qiqi's favorite Cocogoat milk, on the packaging.

After so many years of paying licensing fees, the Transmigration Management Bureau had received countless anniversary products like this from miHoYo. They would only gather dust in a warehouse, so they had simply all been repurposed as items for the characters to use.

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s efforts to find the people and places on the carton in this world would all be in vain.

Just then, someone suddenly knocked on the office door.

"Come in."

Hearing the knock, Barton and Coulson called out in unison.

A beautiful woman entered, her striking red hair complementing her gorgeous features. She had a voluptuous figure and snow-white skin, and her tight black outfit outlined her perfect curves.

"Natasha? What brings you here?"

Coulson asked in some confusion.

"I came to deliver this."

The woman waved the report in her hand, then passed it to Coulson.

"You were right. Qiqi really is unusual."

"This is..."

Coulson began leafing through it.

"Did you think I really went there just to play with a kid?"

Barton was a little exasperated. He did enjoy spending time with children, but he wouldn't neglect his actual job.

During his chat with the little girl, he had secretly pocketed a piece of candy Qiqi hadn't finished.

"Qiqi's cellular activity is far higher than an ordinary human's-not a few times higher, but dozens of times. Strangely, though, the proteins needed to sustain basic human life have practically no survival rate."

Natasha pulled out a chair and sat down, her knuckles unconsciously tapping the desk, a habit that surfaced only when she was thinking.

"Do you remember what that female medic said at the beginning?"

"She said Qiqi claimed she'd died once and was a zombie."

Coulson put down the report and pondered.

"Even if a little girl invented an identity for herself out of imagination, she wouldn't call herself a zombie, would she?"

Natasha shook her head.

"Maybe it's just a genetic mutation. Before mutants were discovered, ordinary people described those with superpowers as things like demons and angels too."

"Maybe Qiqi should go to school. She's just the right age for Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. When it comes to mutants, Professor X is the expert."

Barton had a very good impression of the little girl. She was obedient, considerate, polite, and as cute as a Barbie doll. Tony Stark clearly didn't know how to look after children. How could he shut a child in a room without even a guardian present?

Having quietly become a father himself just this year, Barton strongly disapproved of Stark's actions.

"We can discuss school later. Right now, Stark is keeping a very close eye on the child. Besides, we still don't have a complete picture of Qiqi, and if she really is a mutant, we'll need Professor X to assess whether there's any risk of her losing control."

Coulson thought for a moment. "If possible, I'd still suggest contacting Stark first. Or perhaps we can do both at the same time."

"Professor X is giving lectures at New York University over the next couple of days. We can ask him to help while he's here."

Lin Ze, who had become Qiqi, had no idea that he was now one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s persons of particular interest.

At that moment, he was drowning in Tony's overwhelming fatherly affection.

"Kiddo, this is your home from now on. What do you think? Do you like it?"

On the top floor of Stark Tower was the Princess Room that Tony had specifically ordered renovated in a hurry. Its dreamy pink decor featured lace and bows everywhere, plush toys filled the entire room, and even the furniture was all the same Barbie pink.

The vivid colors flooded Qiqi's vision, and she couldn't help reaching out a little hand to touch the Little Bunny Plush on the bed.

"Are these... all for Qiqi?"

Qiqi asked uncertainly.

"Of course. They're all yours," Stark said with a smile.

"From now on, we're family."

"..."

Ah... my chest... feels tingly.

Qiqi lowered her head and clutched the Little Bunny Plush. She was puzzled: her heart, which no longer beat, seemed to hold a warmth called joy.

Qiqi raised her head and gazed intently at the man, who was smiling as he waited for her response.

She watched him for a long time, as though trying to etch his face deep into her heart.

"Like it... Qiqi... likes it."

The girl slowly and earnestly voiced her feelings.

"Can we... stay together forever?"