The room was dimly lit, not particularly bright, but enough for Hongping to feed during the night.
Shen Wang looked at his adorable daughter, truly fond of her, but it was a pity her mother left. Wouldn’t a family be so warm and happy otherwise?
He wondered how she was doing now, if she had found a new lover?
Shen Wang frowned, sighed, and forced himself not to think too much.
Shen Chuxue looked at her father with her big eyes, muttering in her heart: "Is he thinking about that cheap mother of mine again? She gave birth to me but won’t raise me. I won’t acknowledge such a mother."
She waved her hand, trying to comfort her father, making a cute and innocent sound.
"Are you hungry? Wait a moment, sweetheart, I’ll let the nanny feed you after warming your body."
Shen Wang spoke tenderly, suddenly thinking of the Spirit Crystals accompanying the Spirit Pearls, containing pure Spiritual Qi. It would certainly be good to have some near his daughter.
He immediately took out a palm-sized Spirit Crystal from the Storage Pouch and placed it beside his daughter.
The colorful little fish jumped excitedly, seemingly praying to him, also wanting the Spirit Crystal.
"Oh, you’re quite spiritual for a little golden fish. You can sense that this is a good thing from afar."
Shen Wang chuckled, took out a smaller piece, and tossed it over: "Here you go. If you can cultivate spiritual wisdom, you can be responsible for protecting my daughter in the future."
He had considered whether he could cultivate the spiritual little fish, though it might take a lot of time.
After finishing warming and nourishing his daughter’s meridians, Shen Wang smiled and said, "Xue’er, Daddy will come again tomorrow morning. Sleep well, okay?"
Smiling as he left, he instructed Hongping to see the situation and feed his daughter.
Shen Chuxue helplessly looked at the ceiling, wondering why her dad always misunderstood her intentions.
I’m not thinking about eating milk.
She turned her head to look at the crystal beside her, reaching out to touch it: "This thing’s Spiritual Qi is quite pure. Where did this cheap dad get it from? Never mind, I’ll make good use of this Spiritual Qi to refine my body."
Shen Chuxue, or more precisely, Empress Ruo Shui, thought to herself.
The goldfish in the tank was still very excited, occasionally splashing some water.
It swam for a while and then stuck close to the small piece of crystal, its body beginning to glow.
Hongping walked in cautiously, looking at Shen Chuxue and saying, "Miss Xue’er, are you hungry so soon today?"
She walked over, finding that the child probably wasn’t hungry, but she fed her a little milk anyway, then left.
After she left, a blue light suddenly appeared in the room.
A colorful figure appeared—a young girl in her late teens, with short blue hair, light gold pupils, and a pair of protruding purple horns atop her petite ears, her body not clothed, with colorful scales covering some of her skin and bones.
She held a small crystal in her hand, from which all the Spiritual Qi had disappeared.
Ruo Shui stared wide-eyed at the suddenly appearing girl, shocked: "A demon, this goldfish is actually a demon. Is it going to eat me?"
The latter smiled kindly, coming over to Ruo Shui, gently touching her face with a finger: "Little one, don’t be afraid. I’m that little golden fish you watch and smile at every day. We’ve been together for so long; we could be considered friends, right? Friends share with each other."
While saying this softly, she placed her hand on the Spirit Crystal while smiling: "You can’t use so much, so let me have a bit."
With that, she didn’t wait for Ruo Shui to agree and started absorbing the Spiritual Qi from the Spirit Crystal.
The crystal immediately shone brightly, and the light-filled Spiritual Qi rushed quickly into her hand, after which the scales on her body began to disappear one by one.
Ruo Shui pretended to watch innocently, surprised in her heart: "This goldfish doesn’t seem to have just transformed; I didn’t notice any special changes before."
Ruo Shui was somewhat puzzled about the goldfish’s origins, but it was only a brief curiosity since she didn’t know where her dad got it from.
Maybe it had the ability to transform all along.
Ruo Shui was vigilant.
There was a shapeshifting demon right beside her, luckily she was still weak, and her visualization movements were small, or else she might have been discovered.
In the short term, it’s fine, but in the long term, she needed to get her dad to move the fish tank.
Thinking of these things, Ruo Shui reached for the crystal, roughly indicating she didn’t want the other party to absorb all the Spiritual Qi.
Ruo Shui’s intention was translated into baby babble, which no one could understand.
"Are you asking for my name? I’m Dragon Girl Lan Kui. The power in this crystal is related to me, so don’t blame your sister for taking your Spiritual Qi."
The girl talked to herself, revealing her origins.
Ruo Shui was surprised, Dragon Girl? What happened to this guy, turning into this form, fighting for Spiritual Qi with a baby like her?
"Oh dear, maintaining this form is so draining. I’ll put the crystal back in the tank and return it to you in the morning."
The Dragon Girl placed the Spirit Crystal in the fish tank, turned back into a goldfish, and lay on the palm-sized Spirit Crystal to absorb it.
Unable to do anything, Ruo Shui could only cry out loud.
This scared Lan Kui, who quickly put the crystal back, saying in frustration: "Don’t cry, this power in the crystal is really related to me. I’ll return it after I’m done."
She dejectedly hid back.
Jia’Er was pregnant, and Shen Wang did not let her look after the daughter.
He was outside fighting zombies, aware of all the movements, and when he heard his daughter cry, he immediately entered the room.
"What’s wrong, Xue’er, are you still not full?"
Shen Wang went over to hug his daughter, and Ruo Shui’s thoughts nearly exploded at his words.
You careless dad, I’m not just hungry when I cry, couldn’t there be a demon stealing my stuff?
Fortunately, Shen Wang touched his daughter’s belly, which was full and not likely to be hungry.
He checked the diaper too, finding no issues, puzzling over whether she’d been scared by zombies outside.
But that wasn’t possible, zombies couldn’t get in, and his daughter couldn’t see or hear them, so it couldn’t be the reason.
Shen Wang continued to check, finding the crystal beside him wet and suspicious, lifting it: "That’s odd, where did this water come from?"
Ruo Shui pointed to the fish tank, meaning there was a demon inside.
Shen Wang looked over, saw the goldfish facing away from him at the bottom of the tank, like a child who had made a mistake.
The goldfish was agitated before, why wasn’t it moving now, could something be wrong?
Shen Wang thought his daughter saw the goldfish not moving and thought it was dead?
Shen Wang went over to poke the goldfish, which reluctantly wiggled its tail.
"It’s not dead, why are you crying, daughter?"
With a head full of confusion, Shen Wang said helplessly: "If only the kid could talk, I can’t figure it out."
He carefully observed, noticed the shattered crystal in the tank seemed to have lost its luster, and was stunned as he fished it out, sensing it with a change in expression.
"How could this be, there’s no Spiritual Qi left?"
He frowned and looked at the large piece of Spirit Crystal beside his daughter, reaching out to sense it, his brows furrowing deeper.
The Spirit Crystal was from him, and he was sure the Spiritual Qi had noticeably diminished inside it.
In such a short time, something must have changed.