Special—and Especially Hungry

"So I'm the weakest one in the whole family?"

Having watched everything unfold, Lin Xuan suddenly felt like he had been played.

His eldest sister, Lin Rou, had always been gentle and quiet, yet she had suddenly transformed into someone with unmatched divine strength. Even their father, Lin Hai, a police inspector, was no match for her.

His second brother, Lin Wu, might have been a little chuuni, but Dragon-Ao-Tian boys his age were supposed to be like that. Yet he could turn around and casually pull out some piece of black-tech equipment.

Even his third sister, Lin Long, who bullied him all day long and usually just seemed quirky, mischievous, and unreliable, had immediately recognized what poison their father Lin Hai had been afflicted with this time—and could easily cure it too.

Not a single one of them is harmless... Lin Xuan sighed inwardly.

With Lin Hai's arm restored to normal, the long-prepared family barbecue feast naturally continued.

Though Lin Hai had failed to remember what day it was, he still gave Ye Hongyu an especially meaningful wedding anniversary gift.

He took out his phone, pulled up a photo from the album, and handed it to Ye Hongyu with a chuckle.

"I was planning to show you once my arm got better. Since today's our anniversary, I'll count it as your gift—"

Ye Hongyu grew curious at that. She took the phone, glanced at the photo, and said in surprise, "This is... they caught all those people?"

Lin Hai nodded. "The reason I came home late today was because of this. We helped Crimson Flame with the dirty work, cornered the remaining animals in an old neighborhood in the west of the city, and caught them all in one sweep!"

"And this injury of yours?"

Ye Hongyu glanced at her husband's arm.

"One of the Mutants wanted to break through from the stairwell I was guarding. How could your husband possibly let him get away? I went straight at him!"

Lin Hai swept a hand through the air. "You have no idea how imposing I was then. I beat him until he ran around like a rat with its head in its paws, all the way until Crimson Flame's people captured him alive."

"Dad, are you sure that was a Mutant?" Lin Rou suddenly asked.

"Hey, brat, what kind of tone is that? Why are you making it sound like I'm bragging?" Lin Hai said unhappily.

"That's not what I meant... But I've seen Mutants before when I was following my teacher. Shouldn't guns be useless against them?" Lin Rou said.

"The ones Big Sis saw may have been low-rank Mutants. The one Dad encountered was probably cannon fodder fused with the Purple Toad Bloodline. It would still be afraid of guns," Lin Long analyzed from the side, her reasoning sound and well-founded.

"Low-rank Mutants aren't completely immune to guns. They're just not afraid of the ordinary pistols issued by the Public Security Bureau. I'll prepare something good for Dad later. Even if he really runs into a low-rank Mutant next time, it'll be enough to make them drink a bitter cup."

Lin Wu's tone carried, as always, a strong Dragon-Ao-Tian flavor.

"..."

The words of the three siblings turned Lin Hai's previously smug face as black as the bottom of a pot.

Before they could continue, Lin Hai said darkly, "No one will take you for mute if you say less. Can't even meat shut your mouths?"

Seeing their father's dark expression, the three hurriedly stopped discussing it.

Ye Hongyu, who had witnessed this from the side, did not join in. She merely smiled and shook her head as she prepared a bottle of milk for Lin Xuan.

"Come on, baby. You can start eating with everyone too." Ye Hongyu smiled as she set the bottle on the tray of Lin Xuan's high chair.

"Yah!"

The instant Lin Xuan saw the milk, he perked up. Hugging the bottle, he immediately began drinking.

"Which bottle is this today?"

Lin Hai could not help asking.

"Seems like... the twelfth?"

Even Ye Hongyu was not entirely sure. After saying it, she herself fell a little silent.

Lin Xuan's bottle held 160 milliliters. A normal baby his age drank, at most, around four or five bottles a day on average.

Some babies with smaller appetites could not even drink that much.

When Lin Rou was little, she had been considered a big eater, yet at Lin Xuan's age, she had only drunk around seven bottles a day.

But with Lin Xuan, it was like feeding a bottomless pit.

He truly drank however much they gave him, yet showed no adverse reaction whatsoever. They had confirmed that again and again.

In the end, they could only attribute it to extraordinary talent.

After all, the family already had three rather special children. Adding one more who was especially good at eating did not seem all that strange.

The only thing they needed to worry about was whether Lin Hai's income could support the addition of a growing big eater to the household.

There was no problem for now, but if this continued, it was hard to say...

"How about I go back to work at the bureau next year?" After a long silence, Ye Hongyu suddenly said, "By then, I can have my mother come help take care of Xuanxuan."

"There's no need for that. I've earned plenty of merit this year, and my year-end bonus will definitely be more than double last year's."

Lin Hai directly rejected his wife's suggestion and lowered his voice. "And let me tell you, an officer over at Crimson Flame thinks highly of me after this operation. Later, I might be specially recruited to Crimson Flame as a field assistant. When that happens, your husband's income will be at least three times what it is now!"

"Really?" Ye Hongyu was pleasantly surprised.

"How could that be fake?" Lin Hai chuckled. "I wasn't planning to tell you this so early. I was going to wait until everything was set in stone, but I don't have a choice now. Otherwise, you'll keep overthinking things all day."

Once the couple got to this point, there was naturally another round of lovey-dovey behavior.

Lin Rou and the other two wore disgusted expressions. Even Lin Xuan simply closed his eyes, lowered his head, and focused on doing battle with his bottle.

Still, the conversation just now made him feel somewhat awkward.

He was not actually an infant, so naturally he understood why Ye Hongyu had suddenly suggested returning to work at the Public Security Bureau.

She was clearly worried they would not be able to afford to feed his ever-growing appetite.

I still need to grow up quickly. Once I'm a little older, at least I won't be like this, knowing only how to eat. Lin Xuan silently thought.

The main reason his appetite was so huge now was that he wanted to develop faster.

If the family really was struggling too much, then he could only restrain himself. He could not truly become an ungrateful wretch.

"Mom, you don't need to worry. I might have some income coming in soon too," Lin Rou suddenly said.

"You're still a student. These aren't things you should be worrying about!"

But Ye Hongyu was unusually stern with Lin Rou.

Normally, she rarely treated Lin Rou like this. Even when Lin Long secretly kept snakes, she had let Lin Rou handle it.

But this time, her attitude was completely different.

Lin Rou had wanted to say something else, but she noticed her father Lin Hai shaking his head at her, so she could only let it go.

Naturally, none of this escaped Lin Xuan's notice.

Though his heart was touched, he drank even faster.

No matter what, he had to grow up quickly before he could talk about anything else.