138: The peacock is about to return home

[Yes,] the System answered her as expected.

[Why didn't you tell me at first?] Tu Nan seized the opportunity to continue asking.

[Your state when you first arrived was not suitable.]

Tu Nan recalled when she had just woken up in this world. She trusted no one, living falsely and fractured.

At that time, if the System had told her about the concept that Children need to be nurtured with love to grow, she would have merely sneered. Instead, a simple and direct goal was what she could believe in and execute.

The System saw right through her, which made her very unhappy.

[Then can you explain the other goals now?] Since that was the case, Tu Nan thought they could continue the conversation.

[No.] The System remained uncooperative.

[My energy is insufficient, and the energy required to cross authorization levels is too high —neither of us can afford it.] It finally revealed a bit. [Trust me, this is the optimal process derived from comprehensive calculation. This is the method with the highest chance of success, and you are the most suitable one...]

The System seemed to have said too much, sounding like it was forced to shut down.

Tu Nan... she almost couldn't maintain her expression.

Forget it. In any case, she had already reached this point, and she would find a way to continue forward.

Lance finally digested all the information. She tremblingly asked Tu Nan, "How many samples do you have to prove this point? This is really important to the Foster Mother Society."

Tu Nan held out a finger, and then, under Lance's wide eyes, pointed to herself.

"Just me. Doesn't this rely on you doing the research now?" Tu Nan looked at her like-minded partner, who was willingly buying into the vision she painted. "Oh... wait, it also relies on your mother, and... the base."

Tu Nan blinked.

"I feel like relying on you alone to do this will be too slow. Go beg your mother and add some people.

Get some results out as soon as possible. Can you publish a few papers quickly? I'm still waiting to use this to demand a little more effort from Kong Jiamu... If love isn't enough, intimacy will do."

Lance pointed at Tu Nan, very angry!

"It's truly unethical for you to rely solely on me, one fish."

Tu Nan looked at Lance, feeling a bit sad and nostalgic.

"But I only have you..." She looked out the window, searching for the person who had already vanished.

"My friends always happen to be Foster Mothers." Tu Nan thought of Ji Yu.

Kong Jiamu finally had news after being gone for more than half a month.

A frontline action team unexpectedly found him while wiping out a Star Worms nest. He survived, protecting the only remaining teammate.

He wasn't seriously injured, just severely thin.

Tu Nan knew all this because, on the starship returning home, the day after he was rescued, he placed a video call to Tu Nan... and Hain.

In fact, as soon as he got on the starship, he reported the operation to His Majesty the Emperor and then immediately passed out. Upon waking up, worried about Tu Nan's safety, he immediately dialed Tu Nan's video call.

Hain received the news from the Emperor and was sharing it with Tu Nan when Kong Jiamu's video call came through to Tu Nan's device.

Tu Nan... looking at Hain's calm black eyes, pretended to accidentally hang up the video call and prepared to leave. But then Kong Jiamu immediately called Hain instead.

Hain answered, and Kong Jiamu's excited yet slightly anxious figure crowded the screen between Hain and Tu Nan.

"Hain! I'm so lucky to be alive, that was really close! Oh, have you seen the report? Where's Pearl? She didn't answer my call. Is she still at my place? Have you solved that case?"

His face was much thinner, and wearing ill-fitting clothes, he rattled off a long string of words.

Half of which were about Tu Nan... Hain clenched his hand.

It might not be suitable to tell him now. Let him recover slowly, nurse his body, and wait until he returns to Xiuyin Star.

That's right, Hain still wanted to be direct with his brother. He didn't plan to reveal Tu Nan's identities or her opinion of Kong Jiamu; that was between her and Kong Jiamu, and he wouldn't interfere.

But... regarding himself, he believed he should confess to his brother about his feelings for Tu Nan.

He thought this with a slightly less than honorable heart.

If Kong Jiamu hadn't discovered his own feelings for Tu Nan, Hain would never point it out. And if Kong Jiamu could yield Tu Nan, wouldn't that just prove he didn't care enough?

He stared intently at Tu Nan... In that case, he should be the one entrusted with caring for Tu Nan and bringing her home.

Tu Nan, forced, stepped forward to express concern for this Male Beast who was finally coming home.

"Jiamu, you've lost a lot of weight. I've been waiting for you."

Kong Jiamu's eyes instantly lit up. Hain noticed that he immediately tried to pull his hair forward, a common courtship gesture for Bird Beastmen to display their feathers.

But Kong Jiamu immediately realized his hair was dry, lacked luster, and was chopped up haphazardly, so he sheepishly threw it back behind him.

"Have you been staying at my house?" He looked at the familiar study, realizing he had asked a silly question. But for the same reason, he became even happier.

"I have many treasured ancient texts in my study. Have you seen them? Did Hain show you? Never mind, I'll point them out when I get back."

Tu Nan's brow twitched.

"Ancient texts..." She thought of the line from Lance, the source of which she herself couldn't remember. "Which section? I want to see first."

Before Kong Jiamu could point them out, Hain directly pointed to a corner of a bookshelf. "Here. Which book are you looking for?"

Kong Jiamu was slightly annoyed but didn't dwell on it. "Yes, that section. Which book are you looking for? I've read them all."

Tu Nan didn't want to prolong this strange conversation and was eager to hang up the communication.

"Let's talk when you get back. Rest well on your journey."

She signaled Hain to hang up, and Hain immediately made Kong Jiamu disappear from the study.

This was too awkward. Tu Nan now only hoped that Hain would leave before Kong Jiamu returned. She would leave future problems for her future self to worry about in a year.

She really couldn't handle so many things at once.

Tu Nan practically rushed out the door, while Hain silently watched her retreating figure.

Several secretaries had already been working in the study. With Kong Jiamu found, there were many more clues, and their workload suddenly increased.

Seeing Hain's expression was wrong, one of them hesitated, greeted his colleagues, and a few of them nodded and left first, leaving the study to him and Hain.

"Sir." He respectfully moved closer and dutifully reminded, "The symptoms Young Miss Pearl has been showing for the past few days are quite similar to those my wife had when she was pregnant."

Not daring to look up at Hain's expression, he continued.

"Do you think there's a possibility that Young Miss Pearl is already carrying Colonel Kong's Children? As his friend, shouldn't you remind Colonel Kong, or perhaps... prepare some related items to congratulate him?"

In short, please don't get involved... that wouldn't look good, the secretary worried.

Hain's expression was shaken. "What... did you say?" He instantly crushed a corner of the desk.

"Pearl is pregnant with Children?"