The outdoor meeting plaza of Tianhu District’s Egg Breeding Base was decorated with roses. The crowd was bustling, sitting or standing, waiting for the clock to point to nine o’clock. The clothes used were not for the usual meetings and mingling, everyone here was dressed in clean, sober white doctor’s uniforms or lake-blue nurse’s uniforms, and the organizers did not serve any alcoholic beverages.
Mu CangZhou wore his usual researcher’s white lab coat, with his hair loose and disheveled, his face covered with a white mask and clear glasses to conceal his superior appearance.
He would always disguise himself as a drop in the ocean, as he did today. He was lost in the crowd of people who came to the quarterly meeting of Sky Blue Star egg breeding bases.
Everyone was waiting for Tian Yuan to come out and speak. These egg breeding base personnel and technology, at first, were all distinct out of Tianhu District, and they only later slowly separated. However, every quarter, they would hold a meeting to communicate with each other and think about the future prospects of egg breeding technology.
Mu CangZhou brought a glass of juice and found a place to sit down. The sound of two people chatting came from the side.
A slightly younger woman said, “I wonder if Chief Mu will show up today, I haven’t seen him yet.”
Her companion echoed, “Tian Yuan said Chief Mu comes every time, and I’ve been here every time, but I’ve never seen him. Maybe he’s watching over us in the surveillance room.”
“This year, Tianhu District has researched the technology to cure placenta bacteria, so I guess Chief Mu will come out.”
“Shh, according to the grapevine, Chief Mu has passed away. Currently, it is the robot Tian Yuan who is guiding the work of Tianhu District, maintaining the illusion that he is still alive.”
The young lady exclaimed, “Huh?”
“That’s actually good, Chief Mu is an iconic figure. If we lose him, the people might lose their trust in the egg breeding technology.”
“How can that be? Everyone knows that egg breeding is the safest, healthiest and most convenient means of reproduction!”
“No, no, no, there are still natural births and artificial wombs, but the officials have suppressed the news.”
“…”
Every time, Mu CangZhou heard all kinds of speculation, but this time it was a traceable, half-truth. Mu CangZhou felt a little bored and withdrew his attention. He remembered the most unbelievable gossip he had ever heard, saying that Tian Yuan had killed him, created a database and transformed him into a robot, and now Tianhu District’s Egg Breeding Base was run by two AIs…
The clock struck nine, and Tian Yuan arrived on time. He stepped up to the stage and began his opening speech, [Welcome to Tianhu District’s Egg Breeding Base, this is Tian Yuan. During the past season, Tian Yuan is sure every egg breeding base has received more egg breeding applications than ever before. Once again, Tian Yuan urges everyone to make sure to properly certify the parents’ information and genetics…]
He spoke for almost two hours, reading out the data of all the egg breeding bases.
Those who were interested in the data listened carefully, writing and drawing in their notebooks from time to time, while those who were not interested had already started to wander in their minds, which was the norm.
[Finally, let’s welcome the two newly established egg breeding bases in the last quarter – the representative of the fourth egg breeding base in QingYuan District and the representative of the egg breeding base in FuHe District.]
Mu CangZhou knew that FuHe District had always wanted to establish an egg breeding base. It was just that the economy there was not very good, and the district mayor had been working to improve the GDP to reach the level of building a egg breeding base. Seeing that he finally got what he wanted, Mu CangZhou was also very happy for him.
However… There were already three egg breeding bases in QingYuan District, and the third one was newly built last year. Was it too much to add another one?
Mu CangZhou frowned and turned his attention to the representative they sent.
It was a woman, slender, and also wearing a mask. The exposed areas were very well maintained, and he could not tell how old.
However… he thought he recognized the woman’s eyes from somewhere.
After the meeting, Mu CangZhou slipped into TianYuan’s office through a side door and asked him to collect all the information of the fourth egg breeding base in QingYuan District.
When he saw the words ‘legal person Yan Xiu’er,’ he had a headache for a while.
From the day after the phone call, Yan Xiu’er did not contact him again. He had no idea what Yan Xiu’er was thinking now. What’s more, she had decided to run a mainstream egg breeding base after giving up her previous ideas and figuring out the hurdles? Or was it a deep obsession to give up the black market business and go straight to the right path to do evil things…
Mu CangZhou’s eyes were dark and sunken, and the swirls in his eyes were getting deeper and deeper.
But then again…
Yan Xiu’er knew that he was Chief Mu, but did not leak this news out. Could this be taken as a sign of her having expectations?
“Tian Yuan, let me see the publicly available egg breeding data and late hatchling follow up information for the fourth egg breeding base in the QingYuan District.”
[All the information?]
“Yes.” Mu CangZhou’s mouth was tightly pursed into a line. He removed his mask with the clear glasses, folded his legs to sit on the seat, and proceeded to start looking at the information.
He hoped she… didn’t do something that would go to the bureau and hurt ManMan’s feelings.
Endless waves were lapping at the shore, and if one ignored the outer outline of the door, one would almost think of this as being at the beach. The long green curls of seaweed-like hair tangled with Xiao Shui and pushed towards the shore. But the little medusa didn’t want to get away from the sea and also maneuvered his hair to try to tangle with Risa.
However, who knows how the Five Seasons Hotel did it, the AI projection was able to touch him but he couldn’t touch the AI projection. Xiao Shui’s face was anxious, he buried his face into the water, opened his eyes and looked at the beautiful Risa with a supplicating gaze.
Her smoky voice spoke hoarsely, “Xiao Shui, you can now control the Petrifying Eye, go out and try while the iron is hot.”
Xiao Shui’s lips curled downwards and retorted, “How can I just try this? If I miss, my opponent will be petrified, that’s not good. I need to practice more.”
As he said, he finished learning how to master the Petrifying Eye, but he was not done yet.
If the one in the water now was Risa herself, maybe she would also be compassionate, let this not a month old little guy stay with her a while, and consolidate the newly learned skills. But the sad thing was that “Risa” was just an AI projection.
She was programmed to say that the task was complete and couldn’t wait to see the results, not even for a moment. Xiao Shui was eventually banished to the beach, which was the farthest distance she could control her hair.
“Go ahead and try it, just for me.” The seductive, smoky voice lingered all over the room, but unfortunately the object was a tiny little child who didn’t know what style was all about.
Pushed to the beach, Xiao Shui was also very aggrieved Daddy and his father had managed to prepare a happy room with water everywhere for him, but Aunt Risa wouldn’t let him in the water at all. He paced back and forth on the beach, only to have the long green curls follow him around, ready to push him out at any time.
Xiao Shui looked indignant, picked up a small conch and threw it into the water as if in anger. Then, he stood up and patted the gravel on his body, stood on his tiptoes and stretched his hair long enough to reach the door handle. He was ready to go to Daddy, but then he thought about it and went into the room where ZhiZhi was staying.
He remembered that there was also a pool here, although it was not comparable to the whole sea, but it was barely enough for him to lie down…
When Jing Man completely relaxed, he found that Brother Mu had left.
A note was left for him on the table – ManMan, I went to a meeting, the probability of not returning in the evening. If you want to see me, remember to find Tian Yuan.
He grunted, “Obviously, just sending a star message is fine.” However, the smile at the corner of his lips betrayed him.
Thinking that it was still early, Jing Man changed his clothes and asked the guest room AI to order breakfast. After that, he went to see how the children were doing. The two eggs, one white and one purple, were lying quietly in the stroller, with no sign of their shells breaking, and no idea how long they would have to wait.
“Where’s Xiao Shui?” He went from room to room to grab the children out, and when he reached the last microclimate room, he was stunned that it was empty except for the sand and the ocean.
Xiao Shui was gone, and so was the medusa projection that had been there before. Jing Man lifted his foot and tried to go to the sea to retrieve someone.
But then a soft and creamy voice sounded behind him, sounding pitiful, “Daddy, I’m here.”
Jing Man turned around and saw Xiao Jin, ZhiZhi, FanFan, Big Bear, but not Xiao Shui!
Where was his Xiao Shui? Where was Xiao Shui with his long and beautiful hair? It was obvious that it was Xiao Shui’s voice, and it was very close, but what was wrong with only hearing his voice but not seeing him?
Xiao Shui’s heart was beating so nervously, lips curled downwards to cry, frantically beckoning.
Just now Daddy went into the treant special microclimate room, grabbed Sibling ZhiZhi who was planted in the soil, carried them away and did not look his way.
He also followed the steps, and yet, he was still invisible to Daddy.
Oh, my God! What the hell did Aunt Risa teach him?
Xiao Shui now remembered that just now he entered Sibling ZhiZhi’s room the same way!
ZhiZhi turned their head to look, but they seemed to see nothing, and complained to Big Bear how the door suddenly opened!
Jing Man looked suspicious and searched up and down, “Xiao Shui, where are you? We’re not playing hide-and-seek anymore.”
“Waaa!” Xiao Shui’s heart was so hateful, he ran over and hugged Daddy’s pant leg, and climbed up with both hands and hair together.
Jing Man felt the weight, he squinted his eyes and fixed his eyes, Xiao Shui turned out to be at his feet! When did he get here? He bent down, picked up the child, and patted him twice to make him stop crying. After that, he softly asked, “What’s wrong, Xiao Shui baby?”
Xiao Shui hiccuped and buried his face into Daddy’s chest, and took a while to tell the story.
“Aunt Risa asked me what I wanted to learn… Hiccup, I want to learn how to control the Petrifying Eye… Auntie taught me the most powerful kind, others will not be petrified… The kind that doesn’t even feel my presence…”
This… It seems to be a bit too much.
Jing Man’s head was blank, and his expression was difficult to help Xiao Shui wipe away the tear stains. He said with difficulty, “Baby is not crying anymore, so how are you learning?”
“I’m learning very well, especially well. Aunt Risa said I’m a once-in-a-century medusa genius…” The expression on Xiao Shui’s face turned cloudy here, a little embarrassed.
With a click, Jing Man felt something break in his heart.
His child had been taught by the AI to go from being afraid to touch people and being careful of hurting them to the point where no one could even see him spin and jump in front of them? He would rather go back in time! At least in the past, Xiao Shui and family members got along without obstacles, now the invisibility attribute was really an indiscriminate attack …
Thinking seriously for a long time, Jing Man put the four children on the ground and said with difficulty, “Xiao Shui, let’s try to see if we can find you…”
The moment he hit the ground, Xiao Jin exclaimed, “Brother is gone!”
Hearing these words, Xiao Shui cried again with a whimper. The three remaining children were also very surprised, looking back and forth, trying to find their brother. At this point, Brother Mu was not there, and Risa was nowhere to be seen.
Jing Man didn’t know if the matter could be resolved or not.
In order to calm Xiao Shui and the kids, he said, “Let’s play hide and seek today, Xiao Shui hide, but you have to make a sound so we can find you. By the way, you must not go to dangerous places.”
Mu CangZhou spent a day checking all the information of the fourth egg breeding base in QingYuan District.
Fortunately, the information seemed to be qualified, no strange data, and no unqualified information. However, unfortunately, it was also this point, as a newly established egg breeding base, their accounts and data backup… It was too beautifully done. After dropping his eyes in thought for a while, he took the initiative to contact Yan Xiu’er.