Pretending To Be A Boss

The next day.

In fact, during these days, Tang Xian was not only teaching Tang Xiaojiu human knowledge but also helping her overcome some traits specific to foxes, such as the fondness for Biphasic Orchids.

As much as possible, Tang Xian hoped that Tang Xiaojiu could lean more towards her human side in her half-human, half-fox existence. Therefore, in the curriculum, besides some human behavioral studies, he specifically sought out Shi Wenbin's "Foxology."

There was a time when Tang Xian always thought Shi Wenbin was Tang Xiaojiu's biological father. After all, apart from himself, it was quite extraordinary to find someone who understood foxes so deeply.

But the timing did not fit. The book "Foxology" was already decades old, and its contents proved to be accurate over time, although it was validated only by Tang Xian himself.

Those who dare to get close to a fox are too few, even fewer return alive, and only one in history has ever impregnated the prospective leader of the foxes, Qing Jiuyun.

Tang Xian was also curious about where Tang Xiaojiu's father had gone, and what kind of status he had in the human world.

These events happened nearly seven years ago, and during all these years, that man seemed to have vanished.

"Tang Xian, what are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about your dad."

Bai Mansheng was stunned; how could someone suddenly insult a child like that?

Wasn't this sentence in human custom akin to saying something like "I'm thinking about your grandpa" or "I'm thinking about your mom"?

"My dad?" Tang Xiaojiu didn't think so far.

But she was aware of the concept of parents.

Although she always regarded Qing as her mother, she never had a father.

"There are many doubts about your father, and I would really like to meet him."

What Tang Xian didn't say was, if he was still alive.

Tang Xiaojiu looked confused; her eyes were full of bewilderment.

Since she was little, no other little foxes wanted to play with her. Occasionally, any that did were quickly carried off by their parents. Tang Xiaojiu was sad, but also envious, as everyone else had parents who wanted to protect them.

Qing was busy and didn't always have time to look after her.

Most of the time, she was an outsider among the foxes, all alone.

But time passed quickly, and she met Tang Xian. Suddenly, everything became interesting. Although she was lonely in the past, she started making more and more friends as she grew up. However, as she became more sensible, the old confusion and hesitations would resurface occasionally—

Where are mom and dad?

As Tang Xian mentioned her father, Xiaojiu suddenly felt a little lost.

Tang Xian rubbed Tang Xiaojiu's little head and said nothing, diverting her attention with food. Kids are indeed easy to mollify.

He was genuinely interested in this man, the first from the world of myriad beasts. In Tang Xian's opinion, such an experience would be hard to completely hide in the human world.

Whether out of pride or disgust or perhaps guilt, it was unlikely that there would be no trace of him at all.

Tang Xian thought about Qing JiuYu's various negative speculations about the man, but those were just conjectures. Perhaps Tang Xiaojiu's father had a completely different kind of life.

He didn't ponder it any further; after all, it was just a guess, even though his guesses were often accurate.

Bai Mansheng didn't let go of the matter so easily. Tang Xian rarely spoke of things that were insignificant; if he mentioned something, it was likely related to his subsequent actions.

She signaled with her eyes to Tang Xian to talk about it, but Tang Xian shook his head and declined Bai Mansheng's invitation.

After a barbecue, Tang Xian started on the next arrangement.

"Bai, you stay here and look after Xiaojiu."

"What are you going to do?"

"Capture Lei Xiao."

"Then why not take me with you?"

"The pressure from an orange-tier creature is too easily detected by them."

Bai Mansheng accepted this explanation. She wasn't too worried about Tang Xian. The treasure-trove youth, who seemed unexceptional but was discovered by Tang Xian, made her think that even she and Tang Feiji might not be a match for Tang Xian now.

Without realizing it, Tang Xian seemed to have transformed from someone who appeared strong but was actually weak to someone who appeared strong and was even stronger indeed.

…

…

It wasn't until nightfall that Tang Xian, along with Zero and Tang began their action.

Zero and Tang were not the talkative types, but the two boys had no issues getting along, and although Zero spoke little, he would occasionally give pointers to Tang during the study sessions with Tang Xiaojiu.

As a quasi-SSS-class experimental subject from the Evolution Zone, Zero's intelligence may not match that of the Son of Order, but it was indeed higher than that of the average person. It was mainly his emotional issues that made his biggest trait seem to be timidity.

Tang was someone whose feelings of gratitude and grudges were extremely clear; he was kind to those who were kind to him.

In the recent days when they were allocating food, he secretly gave more meat to Zero. But only Tang Xian noticed.

Tang Xian didn't point it out—harmony among team members was a good thing.

Tang's somewhat brash personality complemented Zero's overly timid nature quite well; they might get along exceptionally well in cooperation.

Following the scent, Tang Xian discovered the Lei Xiao once more, this time closer to the southeast. Judging from the range of exploration by the Lei Xiao scouts, Tang Xian deduced that they were gradually moving south.

The process of capturing the Lei Xiao was very crisp and efficient.

In a place like the Silvan Domain, where there were many disaster-level creatures, Tang Xian's Soul Crystal always gave off the aura of a creature of the same tier to the beasts. Zero, being human, had an aura that was even less than that of an enhanced-tier creature, while Tang, from a level standpoint, was like a disaster-level boss creature.