Thinking of the little chick who had run away with his older brother, Xie Chiyuan's face darkened even more. He gritted his teeth and said, "You heartless brat, all those days of fooling her have been for nothing."
The heartless brat leaned against his beloved older brother, hugging his favorite cat, feeling utterly satisfied as if he had reached the pinnacle of life.
He said to his older brother with a smug look on his face, "Big brother, Meow Meow and I will take care of you from now on!"
Chiu Chiu felt no guilt whatsoever about taking away her older brother.
Xie Chiyuan always sneaks kisses on his older brother when he's not paying attention, and Qiuqiu hears it all. Xie Chiyuan even wants his older brother to sleep in a separate room from him!
This was a huge mistake for Chiu Chiu.
Things will be different if I live with Meow Meow from now on. Meow Meow definitely won't compete with him for the position of older brother!
Chiu Chiu was overjoyed to start his new life. He even leaned close to the big tiger's ear and whispered, "Meow Meow, will you sleep with your big brother in your arms?"
A05 said calmly, "No."
When he was a child, he was held and slept by his older brother, and this crybaby didn't exist yet.
The tiger ran on, while Yu An looked utterly dejected.
He had figured it out: the tiger cubs and Chiu Chiu wanted to take him away. The mutants' thinking was different from humans'; even his little angels like Chiu Chiu were quite dependent on and possessive of him.
Humans understand and share, but mutants find it difficult to learn these skills; it's in their nature.
Yu An hugged Qiu Qiu tightly, thinking that she could only talk to the tiger cub slowly after it stopped.
He looked back and saw a bottomless jungle behind him, with no one in sight.
I don't know how long I ran.
Chiu Chiu was sitting on the tiger, but it wasn't very comfortable.
He struggled in Yu An's arms for a moment, then tugged at the tiger's fur: "Big brother, Qiuqiu doesn't want to ride the tiger anymore."
The tiger felt uncomfortable after sitting for a long time.
Yu An patted the tiger, finally making it stop.
They had already run out of the forest, and the tiger's route was different from when they came, so Yu An had no idea where they were now.
After Yu An and Qiu Qiu came down, the tiger let out a low growl.
Yu An couldn't understand the roars of other tigers, but he could understand his own tiger cub's. The cub said, "Go get him some food and water."
"No need."
Yu An stood on the ground, patted the tiger's head, and smiled, "I'm not hungry. There should be some nutritional paste in Qiuqiu's pocket."
"Big brother, the nutritional paste is finished!"
Because Chiu Chiu wanted to eat, the tiger cub ended up hunting himself. He brought back some local wild game and some brightly colored berries.
Yu An lit a fire and roasted meat over it.
The group sat around the fire, and Yu An moved slowly, intentionally stalling for time: "Tiger Cub, where are you living now?"
Tiger Cub pondered for a few seconds, then, without mentioning A01, simply said, "I wander around aimlessly, I don't have a fixed place."
Upon hearing this, Yu An hurriedly said, "Then you can come live with me in the West District. Sixth Child, Eighth Child, and Ninth Child are all in the West District. Dr. Ruan in the West District has developed a nutritional paste, so you can eat whatever flavor you want in the future."
Tiger Cub shook his head and said, "Big Brother, I plan to go to the East District."
The East District is Zhai Man's territory, and Yu An visited it not long ago.
He asked blankly, "Why do you want to go to the East District? The boss of the East District is currently advocating for the legal manufacture of mutants. What if you go there and get researched?"
No, it won't.
The tiger cub said in a low voice, "No one can do anything to me unless I want to."
As he spoke, he suddenly asked, "Brother, don't you think it's a good thing that there are more mutants in this world? Right now, whether it's humans or zombies, they all have a stronger presence than us."
Yu An opened his mouth: "Their strong presence has nothing to do with us? The birth of mutants is accompanied by pain, and their lives after birth are mostly bad. If that's the case, why let them be born?"
Furthermore, zombies are the result of human infection, and humans have always been the most numerous species in the world.
The tiger cub lay prone on the ground, its eyes fixed on Yu An: "Big brother, only when there are more mutants will we not be threatened too much."
Yu An disagreed.
As the number of mutants increases, so too will the conflicts between them and humans over their interests.
If this continues, no one will be able to live in peace.
The tiger cub didn't say much, only exchanging a few words with his older brother before moving on to the topic. He reminded his brother, "The meat is ready."
Yu An quickly turned the meat over.
Tiger Cub watched his older brother's flustered movements, a dark glint flashing in his eyes.
As expected, 01 was right; the current leader yearns for peace. He believes that if they do nothing, the world will be at peace.
No.
Humanity may one day find peace, but the mutants will never experience it. If it were the former Big Brother, perhaps he would have ended up like them…
The tiger cub suppressed his emotions, letting certain thoughts dissipate.
Big brother is doing just fine as he is now, safe and happy. He also has a clingy little chick to keep him company, so he probably won't be too bored.
"Tiger cubs."
Yu An finished flipping the grilled meat and began to mention Xie Chiyuan: "I... I came with Xie Chiyuan. If I leave like this, Xie Chiyuan will worry."
Tiger Cub already knows that Xie Chiyuan is the cheap father Pei Si mentioned.
He naturally didn't have a good impression of Xie Chiyuan, the man who was known as the natural enemy of mutants. But when he glanced at his older brother's expression, he paused and asked, "Brother, Xie Chiyuan already has a son. Are you sure you want to be someone else's stepfather?"
The tiger cub was referring to his stepfather, not his stepmother.
Just like the kids on the island, they would at most snort at Xie Chiyuan, treating him as a cheap sister-in-law who hadn't yet married into the family.
Yu An was taken aback for a moment, then explained, "Xie Chiyuan doesn't have a son."
Pei Si calls him "Dad".
"He's just calling me that randomly. This 'father'... at most means 'godfather'."
"A godfather is still a father."
The tiger cub's resentment towards the person who had a godson was palpable. Even if their elder brother had taken a liking to some mutant, Xie Chiyuan was, unfortunately, humanity's protector.
His identity dictated that there would be too much instability in his relationship with his elder brother in the future.
“I also brought a lot of cubs with me.” Yu An muttered, “Tiger cubs, Xie Chiyuan is actually a very good person. He knows about my relationship with you guys. Not only him, but also Chief Yin and Dr. Ruan know.”
"After they found out, they didn't do anything to me. Instead, they helped me comfort the baby. I was able to get out this time thanks to Dr. Ruan for comforting Xiao Liu and the others."
Yu An initially had no feelings for these people; he had already decided to find Zai Zai alone. But unknowingly, he has ended up spending time with them.
He liked the people on the island and he liked life on the island.
Yu An's words silenced the tiger cub.
The two remained locked in a stalemate, with the tiger cub refusing to give in and Yu An continuing to defend Xie Chiyuan.
It was Chiu Chiu who broke the deadlock.
He smelled the aroma of the roasted meat, slurped his saliva, and asked eagerly, "Can we eat the meat now? It's going to burn."
Yu An quickly tore off pieces of meat for him to eat.
Chiu Chiu ate his roasted meat, leaning against the big tiger as a cushion. His eyes were narrowed with contentment, and he would occasionally feed Yu An a bite of the roasted meat in his hand.
Besides feeding Yu An, Qiu Qiu also secretly handed the tiger half a piece of meat that she couldn't finish but didn't want to waste to its mouth.
"Meow, here's some to eat."
The tiger looked at the flesh still bearing teeth marks and coldly refused, "I won't eat it."
The meat is chewed up like this and you're still feeding it to him? Do you really think he's just a stray cat that eats leftovers?
Chiu Chiu glanced at her older brother, then at her own little belly.
He simply couldn't eat anymore.
"Meow meow".
Chirp chirped softly against the tiger, pleading, "Just one bite, just one bite will do."
The tiger shifted its body, annoyed, and opened its mouth, saying in a frustrated tone, "I'll eat a bite for you."
She said she'd only eat one bite, but the instant the tiger opened its mouth, Chiu Chiu swiftly stuffed her hands into the tiger's mouth. After all, a tiger's mouth is so big!
The tiger, who had eaten half the meat, was speechless.
He said irritably, "Annoying. Stay away from me and go stick to your older brother."
Chiu Chiu was a little unhappy about being so bluntly chased away. He sullenly approached Yu An and asked, "Big brother, why is Meow Meow chasing me away?"
Yu An patted his head, as if it were nothing new to him.
Back at the research institute, after Hu Zai paid attention to Qiu Qiu once, she often came to play with him. At first, Hu Zai would still respond, but later, for some reason, he suddenly stopped paying attention to Qiu Qiu.
Chiu Chiu buried herself in his arms and cried sadly.
After crying, Ba Zai said that Qiu Qiu was disliked by Hu Zai, and the two cubs started fighting. Xiao Qi helped Qiu Qiu, and the more Xiao Jiu tried to persuade them, the more fiercely they fought.
The scene was a mess. Yu An separated the cubs. Qiu Qiu's eyes were swollen like little peaches from crying, but the tiger cubs only glanced in this direction a few times and did not react otherwise.
A few days later, Bazai was attacked, but according to the Bazai's speculation, it was Little Spider, who lived in Area C, who committed the crime.
After all, Chiu Chiu and Spider-Man are recognized as best friends.
Right now, Chiu Chiu probably doesn't remember that she was already "chased away" by the tiger cub at the research institute, which is why she's unhappy again.
"Be good, Meow Meow just likes peace and quiet, she's not trying to chase you away on purpose."
While thinking about Xie Chiyuan, Yu An also had to deal with the children's emotional issues.
He had his own selfish motives; he was deliberately wasting time.
Xie Chiyuan is definitely not as fast as the tiger cub, so he should be able to wait a little longer.
Little Chiu didn't know what her older brother was thinking. After being coaxed by him for a while, the unhappiness on her little face disappeared. Perhaps because of the comparison with Meow Meow, Little Chiu suddenly felt that Xie Chiyuan was also good to her.
"Big brother."