Low-Level Anomaly

The fish tank sat on the little desk. What Fu Yunting had not expected was that the butterfly koi, which had looked half-dead when they bought it, had actually recovered.

It was swimming around in the little tank now.

Of course, it was still ugly.

"It actually survived."

He crouched down halfway, staring thoughtfully at the fish.

"Never mind. Keep it if you like it."

He had originally planned to throw the fish away once it died, but he had not expected it to be such a survivor.

He would throw it away whenever it died.

"Uncle, the fish doesn't have anything to eat."

Qin Yan remembered that they did not seem to have bought any food.

What did fish eat?

Fu Yunting said, "I'll have someone deliver some."

"Okay." Her response was soft and sweet.

The little tot handed the phone back.

"Grandpa wants to talk to you."

He took the phone and heard the old man telling him to buy Qin Yan a children's smartwatch.

A phone was out of the question. It was not good for a child so young to start using one too early.

Fu Yunting said, "Got it."

The video call ended.

It was getting late, and Fu Yunting still had plenty of things to deal with.

Going shopping with Qin Yan earlier had already been a rare chance to relax.

Hmm... as for asking how the little one knew about the Fu Family's affairs, that could wait until they were a little closer. What if he scared her and she stopped clinging to him?

After telling Qin Yan to play on her own, he took his laptop to the study. He had a video conference to attend shortly.

Qin Yan followed beside him.

"Uncle, can I have a tiny patch of land?"

She quietly made her request.

"It doesn't have to be big. Just a little patch."

Fu Yunting gave her little nose a pinch.

"Why are you being so cautious? You can be much greedier than that. We have plenty of land."

He said, "Have the butler go with you. Plant wherever you want. You can use any part of the garden."

"Remember, from now on, ask for bigger things. It's not like our family doesn't have them."

Qin Yan nodded, her eyes sparkling.

"Then I want a really big patch of land."

The little lion made a big demand.

Fu Yunting was satisfied. "That's more like it."

After he went to the study, Qin Yan went to find the butler.

The butler took her out to the garden.

"Sweetheart, just tell me which patch you want, and I'll dig up anything in the way."

Even if those things in the way were extremely valuable flowers.

To the Fu Family, those things were merely optional.

The little tot chose a small, inconspicuous patch.

Holding the little hoe the butler had found for her, she dug up the soil and pulled out weeds bit by bit.

She had grown sunflowers and some vegetables in the blind granny's courtyard. The blind granny loved sunflowers most.

She liked them too.

"Gone?"

"Yes. The detector shows traces of a contamination source here, but not much. Most of it is attached to those ornamental fish. It isn't very harmful to people. Spending more time in the sun should be enough."

At the bird-and-flower market Qin Yan and Fu Yunting had visited that noon, several people were investigating something with devices resembling phones in their hands.

"This is the last place the contamination source stayed."

They eventually arrived at the place where Qin Yan had bought her fish.

A red-haired teenage boy among them walked inside.

"Sir, has anything unusual been happening with your fish lately? I heard the fish around here keep getting sick."

The owner eyed them warily.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, we specialize in selling medicine for sick pets. We heard quite a few fish around here have been getting sick lately, so we wanted to see what was going on and whether our medicine could help."

As he spoke, he took out a vial of medicine.

"Do you have any of those sick fish? We'd like to buy some to take back and study."

The owner relaxed a little. "Oh, that. I don't know what's been going on lately, but quite a few fish really have died of illness. Even several of the butterfly koi I'd raised died."

Just talking about it pained him.

After that little girl bought the butterfly koi that looked like it was about to die, he had planned to buy some medicine to disinfect the tank. But before he had the chance, seven butterfly koi died in succession!

It scared him so badly that he hurriedly scooped out all the remaining fish and put them in another tank.

Touching on his sore spot, the owner poured out the whole story, going over it again and again.

Someone went over to inspect the butterfly koi.

Then they shook their head at the captain.

"Sir, do you still have those dead fish? We'll take them back and see if we can develop some medicine, so more fish won't die and cause everyone financial losses."

"As a matter of fact, I do. I haven't thrown them away yet."

In the end, they took all those fish away.

An examination back at their base revealed that the fish did indeed carry traces of a contamination source, but not much.

"We've identified it. It's a parasitic anomaly called a Many-Eyed Ciliate. A low-level anomaly that likes to infest fish and absorb their vitality."

An image of a Many-Eyed Ciliate was projected.

It was a somewhat translucent worm with many eyes growing on its body and numerous writhing tendrils along its sides.

The mere sight of the worm was enough to drain anyone's sanity.

"Many-Eyed Ciliates are anomalies of the lowest level. They generally only infest aquatic creatures, and small ones at that. They don't have much effect on humans, but prolonged proximity will affect people a little too."

The captain immediately said, "Send two people to keep investigating that area. Capture it immediately if you find it. If you don't, confirm that there are no contamination sources left in the area before coming back."

"Yes, sir!"

Evening arrived.

After planting both the sunflowers and the peanuts, Qin Yan returned to her room and washed herself clean.

Then the housekeeper called her to come have some fruit.

She glanced at the little fish still in the tank, took out some fish food, and dropped it in.

The little fish slowly began to eat.

Only then did she head downstairs with Tuantuan in her arms.

"Has Eldest Uncle's been delivered?"

After eating a piece of mango, Qin Yan fed Tuantuan a strawberry.

"We haven't taken the eldest young master's up yet."

Qin Yan drank the last bit of milk in her cup.

"I'll take it." The little tot volunteered.

Her tiny figure carried the fruit platter up to the third floor.

Fu Yunting's study was on the third floor.

She could take the elevator up, so it was not tiring at all.

Tuantuan lay on top of her head.

When they reached the door, the butler was the one who knocked.

Her hands were full, after all.

Only when a voice from inside told them to enter did the butler open the door.

Qin Yan walked inside, one step at a time.

"Uncle, have some fruit."

Only at the sound of the child's soft, sweet voice did Fu Yunting turn his attention away from the video conference.

"How come you brought it?"

Qin Yan said, "Yanyan wanted to bring it to Uncle."

The little one looked at him with her big eyes, trying hard to express what she wanted.

Cute.

Fu Yunting had wanted to stroke her hair, but then he saw the jelly-like slime occupying the little one's head.

Better not.

He set the fruit platter on the table beside him.

Fu Yunting said, "Play on your own. Uncle still has a meeting."

Qin Yan nodded obediently.

Rather than leave, she stood where she was and looked around the study curiously.

The study was spacious, with a huge bookcase against the wall filled with books, documents, and similar items.

A majestic golden pixiu stood in the middle.

Clearly, Fu Yunting really liked pixiu.