A Sudden Drop in Difficulty

It was half past six in the morning again.

Luo Hongyun's body clock was astonishingly precise. Once again, he opened his front door at exactly that time.

He looked a little unkempt. He probably had not shaved for a while, leaving a layer of stubble on his jaw. He also reeked of alcohol, suggesting he had drunk heavily the night before.

Even so, he still got up at this hour to exercise.

"Maybe this is what self-discipline looks like. No matter how gifted you are, you still have to train to build a strong body."

With a sigh of admiration, Xia Xu quietly followed Luo Hongyun.

Luo Hongyun said nothing either. Just like the previous morning, there was little conversation, but he let Xia Xu exercise alongside him, offering a few reminders whenever Xia Xu reached his limit.

Only after the workout ended did Xia Xu finally use their being neighbors as an excuse to introduce himself properly and exchange names.

"Uncle Luo, you're already coaching me through my workouts anyway. Why not just take me as your student? All I need is a couple of combat tricks I can learn quickly."

Xia Xu tentatively made his request again. Unfortunately, Luo Hongyun still ignored him and went straight home to shower.

"Looks like I still haven't earned enough affection points. There's a long road ahead..."

Shaking his head helplessly, Xia Xu returned to his rented home and collapsed.

The aftereffects of yesterday's training had only really hit him today, leaving his entire body aching. After gritting his teeth through another round of exercise, he felt as though his body was about to fall apart.

Knock, knock, knock! Knock, knock, knock!

He had barely lain down when someone knocked on the door.

Wondering who could possibly be knocking at his door here, Xia Xu struggled to get up and answer it, sucking in sharp breaths from the pain.

When he opened the door, he found Luo Hongyun standing outside, despite having only just gone home. In an icy voice, Luo Hongyun asked, "Is this your little sister, or a relative's daughter?"

"My little sister? Come on, Uncle Luo. Both my parents are dead. I have a house, but no sister."

After denying it, Xia Xu followed his gaze and finally noticed the tiny girl standing beside Luo Hongyun, holding his hand.

She was a little girl in a white princess dress, about four or five years old, with snowy skin and pale golden curls.

Her features, however, were not as sharply defined as those of Westerners. Instead, they were soft and delicate, like an exquisite porcelain doll's. She appeared to be of mixed Eastern and Western ancestry.

[Name]: Louise

[Life tier]: 1

[Fate potential]: [Supporting character: "Night Owl"]

[Talent potential]: Combat (5 stars)

[Special]: None

[Obsession]: To live with her daddy and mommy.

[Affection]: 0

Well, this was definitely Luo Hongyun's daughter from the plot.

One glance at the little girl's status panel made Xia Xu's heart ache.

Was this what they meant by dragons begetting dragons, phoenixes begetting phoenixes, and mice having offspring that dug holes?

After another look at the pitiful one-star combat talent on his own panel, his heart hurt so much he could barely breathe. All he could do was lament that the gulf between two people could be wider than the one between a person and a dog.

"I don't know when she came to my doorstep. She called me Daddy as soon as she saw me."

Luo Hongyun offered this explanation flatly.

"You just said she called you Daddy. Obviously, she's your daughter."

Xia Xu could not quite understand Luo Hongyun's reasoning.

There was no question about it: Louise was the little girl in the "Night Owl" plot who claimed to be Luo Hongyun's daughter. The plot had spelled it out clearly, and her panel displayed a supporting-character fate for all to see. There was no possibility of a mistake.

Besides, five-star combat talent was hardly something you found everywhere. How could it appear so easily, especially in a little girl? Xia Xu would not believe she was not Luo Hongyun's daughter.

"I don't even have a girlfriend."

Luo Hongyun spoke without expression, but a barely perceptible blush appeared on his bronze, almost dark-skinned face.

"Her features really do look quite a bit like yours, Uncle Luo."

Xia Xu shook his head, crouched down to stroke the girl's hair, then looked back up at Luo Hongyun. "Why don't you think back a little? Any one-night stands or unfinished romances? Four or five years ago?"

"Well..."

Luo Hongyun froze.

He had long grown accustomed to being alone, with no family around. So even when the little girl had called him Daddy in halting Chinese, he had assumed she was someone else's lost child, or had simply come to the wrong door while looking for Xia Xu. That possibility had never entered his mind.

Now that Xia Xu had mentioned it, he took a closer look at the little girl whose hand he was holding. Somehow, he felt that Xia Xu might actually be right. Her features resembled his a little, and there was something familiar about her eyes and brows.

Four or five years ago...

"Is your mother Canary?"

Despite his burly, rough-looking appearance, Luo Hongyun spoke fluent, perfectly pronounced Russian.

The little girl answered just as fluently. "My mother is Olivia. She said you're my father, the fiercest man in the world."

"The fiercest man in the world? Not bad, Uncle Luo."

Before transmigrating, Xia Xu had become fluent in English for business purposes, and he could just about understand a little Russian too. At those words, he waggled his eyebrows and grinned mischievously.

"What fiercest man? Don't go teaching a child the wrong things."

Luo Hongyun blushed.

With Xia Xu's prompting and Louise's words, he really did recall some things from his past. He crouched down and carefully studied the little girl who might truly be his daughter.

He reached out as though to stroke her cheek, but his hand froze halfway. At a loss, he withdrew it and simply asked, "Where's your mother? Where is she?"

Perhaps he was trying to lower his voice for fear of frightening her, but his normally booming voice sounded rather strange.

"She left just after bringing me here. She said I should stay with you for a while."

Louise showed no shyness around him at all. She answered Luo Hongyun fluently and even stepped closer into his arms, tilting her sweet little face up toward his. "You really are my father, right? I've always wanted to meet my father."

"I think I probably am, provided your mother isn't cruel enough to deceive a little princess."

Luo Hongyun cautiously put his arms around Louise as though she were made of porcelain. Even his embrace was only a loose circle; he did not dare let his arms touch her dress.

"I never thought you'd be capable of saying something so sappy, Uncle Luo."

Watching Luo Hongyun's awkward, comical behavior, Xia Xu found it utterly at odds with his image, while the sheer sentimentality gave him goosebumps.

As he spoke, he stepped forward and gave Luo Hongyun's thick arms, which looked as though they had been cast from reinforced concrete, a push. Those muscular arms, normally brimming with boundless strength, were now as yielding as drifting fluff. They moved together easily and settled against Louise.

"Heh. Hehehe..."

Feeling the small, soft, warm body in his arms, Luo Hongyun broke into an involuntary grin that he could not wipe off his face.

Affection +1

Affection +1

Affection +1

Xia Xu chuckled too.

"Looks like the difficulty just dropped from cold, hardened elite soldier to goofy, daughter-doting dad. This really undermines my sense of achievement..."