HSB Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Faced with a little girl who was silently weeping, Ivan opened his mouth but it felt like glue bound his throat together and he couldn’t utter a word for some time.

He knew that though Bambi was still a child, she was smart. She had experienced her grandpa turning into a monster and would naturally be sensitive to this kind of thing. Precisely because she had already experienced it once, Ivan didn’t want her to go through it again.

He would rather leave a bad impression in Bambi’s mind, even make her dislike him.

“Of course not.” Ivan hardened his hard and showed a surprised expression. “Bambi, why would you think that?”

He wiped Bambi’s tears somewhat clumsily. The calloused fingers of a grown man scraped against the little girl’s tender skin, leaving behind a red mark. Seeing this, Ivan withdrew his hand and instead used a tissue.

Bambi pursed her lips and didn’t say anything.

Ivan added, “Bambi, I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t want to take you to the base. I’m seeking revenge and it will be too dangerous to be with him. You will be much safer here. When I’ve sought my revenge, I will come back for you and take you to the base.”

When an adult was determined to lie to a child, it was actually quite easy to do so.

Faced with Ivan’s gentle explanation, Bambi was a little dazed. She turned around and held the teddy bear tightly in her arms. This gave her a certain sense of security, and then she reached out her other small hand and gently touched Ivan’s face. “Your face is so pale and you had a terrible cough… Grandpa was like that before.” Her voice went quieter.

Ivan grabbed her little hand, and at this moment, all the reluctance and resentment in his heart disappeared.

He should have died a long time ago.

The warmth he felt these last few days was merely time stolen by him.

The only thing he should do now was for Bambi not to feel saddened for him.

“Silly Bambi,” Ivan laughed, “Have you forgotten that I was injured before?”

Saying this, he put on a stern face and said deliberately, “Do you want me to become a monster so much?”

“No, I don’t!” Bambi hurriedly shook her head, and at the same time, these words made her believe Ivan’s white lie. Confirming that Mr. Ivan would not turn into a monster, the little girl suddenly relaxed.

Seeing that Bambi believed his words, Ivan’s eyes flashed with relief.

“But…” Without the fear of Mr. Ivan turning into a monster, Bambi had another thing to worry about, and she said urgently, “Can’t you wait until your injuries have healed before you go to the base to take revenge?”

Ivan already knew she would ask this, patted her head, took out the Level 3 wind-type Crystal, and said very naturally, “I now have this, so the injury will be healed in no time. If I’m late one day to the base, he will have a little more chance to leave the base. Then, it will be difficult for me to find him again.”

Bambi didn’t fully understand.

“I must go as soon as possible, find my enemy as quickly as I can, so I’ll be able to take my revenge much sooner.”

Now Bambi understood.

“Are you leaving now?” asked Bambi, in tears all over again.

Ivan looked away from those pure and innocent eyes, and only said, “I promise you that I will come back for you once I’ve taken my revenge.”

The little one nodded obediently and then smiled sweetly at Ivan. When she smiled, it made people want to coddle her, so she wouldn’t be hurt in the slightest.

Ivan’s eyes were hot. The heart beating in his chest began to accelerate, and he knew he had to leave immediately, as far away as he could.

He can’t build a thick metal wall like Hugh to lock himself up, preventing himself from hurting Bambi while protecting Bambi at the same time…his only option was to leave, the farther he went, the better.

The farther away from Bambi, the safer she was.

Before leaving, Ivan took the time to move all the food left over from the supermarket upstairs.

“Bambi, while I’m away if you’re bored, you can practice cultivating at home…as long as you become strong, monsters won’t dare come after you…I put the stove on the chair so you can boil water for cooking, but be sure to stay safe and protect yourself with your powers…”

Ivan’s words came a little jumbled as he spoke, being affected by the virus. His memory had become disordered. He worried about being seen by Bambi, so finally he stopped talking, hugged Bambi, lowered his head, kissed her lightly on the forehead, and turned away.

“Mr. Ivan, I’ll be waiting for you at home.” Bambi ran over to the window. Downstairs, Ivan found a barely usable car, waved at the small figure in the window, stepped on the gas, and the car drove crookedly away from Bambi’s line of sight.

Bambi craned her neck to watch it leave, only to withdraw her gaze after a long time had passed. Her bright eyes were full of reluctance in parting, but after a while, she laughed happily again, shaking the teddy bear’s arm as she said, “Mr. Ivan will come back when he is done with his revenge. He is so powerful. He will be back soon.”

Digesting Ivan’s temporary departure, Bambi turned her attention to the invisible man.

This invisible mister helped her, and she hadn’t said thank you to him yet.

“Mister, are you still there?” Looking around the empty living room, Bambi spoke hesitantly, a little curious and a little nervous.

There was no response.

Bambi bit her little finger nervously, and suddenly pointed to the cup on the table. “Mister, if you’re here, you can move the cup.”

A minute passed, and the cup was still lying where it was before, not moving an inch.

Bambi hung her little head, a little despondent. It looked like the invisible mister was gone too.

The glassy clear eyes gradually dimmed, as if a sparkling crystal had lost its previous luster.

As the sun set and twilight set in, Bambi lit a candle like usual, and then closed the metal curtains, and the light in the room dimmed.

It was quiet. There was no sound, and it was like dead silence.

Bambi touched her little belly. After eating a bowl of fried apples, she wasn’t very hungry.

Before Ivan arrived, Bambi would wash up early in the evening, tuck herself into bed, talk to Winnie, and then close her eyes and go to sleep.

However, after living with Ivan for a few days, Bambi was suddenly not used to returning to her previous lifestyle now that Ivan had left.

She was lying on the bed hugging the teddy bear, her mind thinking back to the appearance of the undead beast during the day. The more she thought about it, the more terrifying it became. The fear she didn’t feel previously suddenly struck her at this moment.

“Winnie, I’m afraid.” In the quiet room, a soft whimper sounded. “I miss Grandpa.”

The teddy bear couldn’t give Bambi verbal comfort, but it’s presence gave Bambi strength.

Hugging the teddy bear as she cried for some time, Bambi lifted her little hand to wipe away her tears, got out of bed, and lit a few more candles in one breath, making the lighting in the room much brighter.

“Winnie, I want to see Grandpa.”

At the mention of Grandpa, Bambi had courage again.

She held the teddy bear in one hand and a candle in the other as she opened the door. The whole staircase was so dark that she couldn’t see her fingers in front of her. After she opened the door, the dim light shone through, and there was a faint light source in the stairwell.

Bambi went to the metal wall and put the candlestick on the ground. When she looked up again, she was pleasantly surprised to find that the bowl full of food inside the hole was empty.

When she went back to look the next day, the meal she brought her grandpa the other day hadn’t been touched.

It meant that Grandpa didn’t eat these.

But Bambi still didn’t give up delivering food to her grandpa.

The last few days when Ivan had been cooking, Bambi would always bring a bowl to the mouth of the opening just in case Grandpa ate it.

Instead of stopping her from wasting food, Ivan was supportive.

Now that the bowl was empty, didn’t it mean that Grandpa ate it?

“Grandpa,” Bambi shouted happily as she held the empty bowl.

Her exclamation of “Grandpa” was very loud in the quiet environment, echoing in the stairwell, followed by heavy footsteps from within the metal wall.

Then came the familiar sounds of impact.

The terrifying impact resounding in the small, dark space would make any normal person go weak-kneed from fear, but Bambi strangely found a sense of security from the impacts.

She felt at ease, at least more than when she went back to her room.

So Bambi sat down along the vibrating metal wall, hugged the teddy bear as she leaned against a corner of the metal wall, curled up, and slept peacefully within the vibration.

Inside the metal wall, the Zombie who had been continuously slamming into the wall stopped moving. His gray and gloomy eyes had no emotion in them as he turned mechanically.

Following the glimmer of light coming through the hole, he walked over, stared at the opening for an entire half a minute, then moved away, picked up a bottle of mineral water that Bambi had stuffed in before, unscrewed the cap, and drank the whole bottle after a few gulps.

Holding the empty bottle, he stood there as if he had forgotten what to do next.

He stood there until he felt something when he suddenly became agitated and slammed into the wall again, much faster than before.

~*~

Jellal soaked in a huge hot spring pool, surrounded by countless luxurious jewels embedded in the walls, and the words “richly bejeweled” could hardly describe the luxury of this jacuzzi.

Dragons loved shiny things.

It was in their nature.

Whenever they saw a shining crystal, they would want to collect it. Jellal was even more extreme.

His palace in the Dragon Clan was made entirely of shiny jewels that he “picked” from various planets.

Take the NR virtual reality projector, for example, Jellal had obtained it from the hands of an Interstellar Galaxy thief. He took a fancy to its appearance and how it glimmered in the sight which pleased him greatly.

The intergalactic thief was self-aware of his misfortune having fallen into Jellal’s hands. For his own survival, he took out the NR equipment and praised it to the heavens, making it sound very magical.

Jellal took a fancy to its shiny shell and waved his hand, letting go of the intergalactic thief.

Hence, he didn’t know much about the NR equipment, and after trying it out casually, Jellal quickly lost interest and ignored it after trying out a game and ending up disconnected.

Soaking in the hot spring at this time, he suddenly remembered it, so he had Tobias bring it so he could study it again to see whether it was really as magical as the intergalactic thief said.

As soon as it opened up, a projection automatically appeared before his eyes, displaying the words [Logging in].

Jellal︰“？”

The System: [Thank you for logging in.]

The System: [As a father, please provide a good living environment for Bambi and help her grow up. Keep it up!]

Jellal︰ “……”

So it turned out to be the previous game that automatically logged itself in?

He didn’t have any interest in playing a half-witted cub-raising game. He ignored the system’s prompts and prepared to exit out of the game.

The image before him suddenly changed, and he saw the little child named Bambi curled up in the corner.

Jellal raised an eyebrow.

The candle on the candlestick had burned down two-thirds of the way. A small dirty broken bear lay on the ground beside the child. The red thread sewn on its arm was so ugly that Jellal looked away so as not to sting his eyes.

With another look at the little one whose eyes were closed shut, her face was a little flushed and the hairs on her forehead were wet with sweat, wetly sticking to her skin. She looked like she wasn’t feeling well.

Jellal frowned and crouched down, carefully examined her for a few seconds, and stretched out his slender index finger to poke at the child.

The little one fell over with a touch.

Jellal︰ “……”

A megaphone appeared on the metal wall. He clicked on it, and the sound of impact instantly exploded in his ears.

After a little recall, he remembered the prologue prompt that popped up before the game started. Bambi’s grandpa was infected and turned into a zombie, and then used his metal-type powers to build a metal wall to lock himself up to avoid harming his granddaughter.

From this, it can be concluded that the one who was continuously slamming into the metal wall was the zombie Hugh.

Jellal stared at Bambi.

What was this little child thinking?

To be sleeping out here in the middle of the night? Wasn’t she afraid that the zombie would come out and eat her?

[Player 2, please note that Bambi’s current temperature is 38.9 degrees C, and is in a fever state. Next, you have two options.]

[Option 1: Bring the fever down and ensure Bambi is well.]

[Option 2: Let the fever develop. If the fever continues to 43 degrees, there is a 50% chance that Bambi may awaken powers, and the remaining 50% is death.

[Please decide.]

Faced with the two options of [Bring the fever down] or [Let the fever develop], Jellal casually said, “If I choose the second option and the little girl dies in the end, what will happen next?”

The System: [You will lose the right to raise Bambi. Bambi will die and the game will end.]

“Can’t I re-choose?”

[No.]

Jellal considered this for two seconds, then decisively got up from the bath, wrapped a bath towel around his waist, tied it tightly, and walked toward Bambi through the projection.

A high fever of 43 degrees with half the chance of awakening powers…The chances were actually very large, but it wasn’t necessary.

Most importantly, looking at the little one’s look of discomfort from up close, it seemed all too real, making Jellal unable to choose [Let the fever develop].

In case she didn’t awaken her powers successfully, wouldn’t he be forced to watch the little one being “burned” to death by a high fever?

Even if it was a game, he didn’t want to see that.

Staring at the tiny blob, Jellal had on a strange expression when he finally picked Bambi up stiffly.

Lord Jellal, who had never held a child, was forced to hold a child in the game. This feeling was very strange to him.

His first time was actually given to a game.

Jellal was like a puppet as he walked to the door of the third floor, holding the child, but he was stopped by an invisible force that prevented him from entering.

Because Bambi was on the stairs and not in the living room, he couldn’t get inside the apartment.

“……”

He lowered his head. The little body trembled in his hand, and her little face burned redder than before.

He turned to go downstairs, and when he walked down to the next floor, he was still blocked by an invisible force, unable to penetrate through it.

Jellal’s piercing eyes narrowed slightly. It wanted him to lower the little one’s fever but refused to let him enter the apartment or leave the building. He could only stay on the third-floor staircase. How was he supposed to lower the little one’s fever?

Take off her clothes?

Dragons were powerful from birth, and the word “sickness” didn’t exist in their dictionary, but Jellal still had basic common sense.

If a human had a fever, undressing to lower their temperature wasn’t any help.

What about medicine?

He automatically clicked on the store, which was all grayed out.

[Please note that Bambi’s temperature has reached 39.1 degrees. You picked “Lower the Fever.” If you don’t take any effective measures, once her temperature reaches 40 degrees, it will cause irreversible damage to Bambi.]

Jellal decisively returned to the third floor, facing the door with deep-furrowed eyebrows.

In the next second, he changed his hold on Bambi from two hands to one. His freed right hand clenched into a fist and flicked towards the invisible barrier on the door.

the action of holding Bambi with both hands was changed to holding it with one hand, and the free right hand was clenched into a fist, and it fluttered towards the invisible barrier at the door.

[Static—]

[System failure…]

[System is being repaired…]

[System repair successful.]

Retracting his hand, the invisible barrier disappeared, and Jellal entered the room with Bambi in his arms.

System︰ [……]

In the end, it didn’t say anything else, seemingly acquiescing to Jellal’s action of breaking the restrictive barrier with his punch.

Facing the cramped, dim house that didn’t possess a hint of beauty, Jellal’s eyebrows tightened, and his expression showed unconcealed disgust. He placed Bambi on the couch, moved his left wrist a little, and a few seconds later, Tobias, who had received the summons, hurried in.

“My lord.”

He wasn’t surprised to see Jellal standing within the projection wrapped in a bath towel.

Jellal pointed to Bambi. “The little one has a fever. How do you bring her temperature down?”

Tobias was surprised at how serious his lord was about a character in the game, yet he didn’t dare neglect his duty, but dragons truly knew nothing about bringing down a fever.

He rubbed his dragon horn and hesitantly said, “Soak her water?”

Jellal thought Tobias had a point, so he filled up a basin with water and put little Bambi in like planting a carrot.

Shocked by the cold water, Bambi woke up in a muddled state and unconsciously muttered something after feeling much better.

Seeing the megaphone icon popping up on the little one’s head, Jellal raised his hand and clicked on it.

“Daddy…” A soft and sweet voice rang in his ears like a feather gently brushing across the tip of his heart.

The nonchalant expression on Lord Jellal’s face froze.