A huge thanks to Katy for the Kofis. Enjoy the bonus chapters!

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

“Qin Zhou.”

From outside, his father’s knocking sounded.

Qin Zhou paused his gaming. He sat silently in front of the computer, listening to the noise coming from the door.

“Open up! We need to talk.”

A deep male voice rang out, and eleven-year-old Qin Zhou slowly stood up.

He moved to the door and opened it just a crack.

The face, so strikingly similar to that of his recently deceased wife, made the man pause slightly; his dark eyes held little light. Whether physically or emotionally, the child before him seemed unable to emerge from that nightmare.

“……” Father Qin sighed. “I know you’re… very sad because of what happened to your mother. But Qin Zhou, you’re still a child. You should go to school. Your mother would want you to be doing well, not locking yourself up at home like this. Your teachers are worried about you, too.”

Qin Zhou looked up, gave him a quick glance, then spoke slowly: “I’m not going.”

“Qin Zhou, you…”

Qin Zhou: “When I feel like going to school, I’ll go.”

There wasn’t much sympathy in Father Qin’s eyes—mostly just frustration. “The teacher came to the house. Aren’t you going to see him?”

“No.” Little Qin Zhou left those words behind, turned, and went back into his room.

Qin Zhou’s father was about to lose his temper, but when he caught a glimpse of Qin Zhou’s teacher standing nearby out of the corner of his eye, he held his tongue. “I’m sorry, teacher. Qin Zhou’s mother passed away, and it’s been a huge blow to him.”

The teacher looked sympathetically at the tightly closed door and sighed. “It’s all right.”

“Since you’re here, let’s talk about Qin Zhou taking a leave of absence. Given his current state, it might not be appropriate for him to go to school right now.”

“A leave of absence? But Qin Zhou is still so young…”

“Mr. Qin, why don’t you think it over again?”

“The thing is, I’m away on business trips all the time and can’t keep an eye on Qin Zhou.”

“I’m suggesting he take a leave of absence to rest at home for a while. Once he feels better, he might be willing to go back to school on his own.”

The voices outside gradually faded into the distance. Little Qin Zhou leaned back against the wall, his eyes filled with silence. Then, little Qin Zhou walked over to the desk, folded up all the perfect-score test papers on it, and put them in the drawer. At that moment, a soft “ding” sounded from the computer. 

Qin Zhou turned his head to look. The child in the avatar looked just like him, and a few words popped up in the chat box—【Village Head? Village Head? Why aren’t you talking?】

Little Qin Zhou sat back down at the computer and typed, “I’m here.”

【What should we do now?】

“Let’s go gathering.”

Little Qin Zhou looked at the small mountain village background on the computer screen, and his heart suddenly felt much lighter. His character was significantly older than Lu Yi, who was only ten.

Little Qin Zhou controlled his character, took Lu Yi’s small hand, and slowly walked toward the village exit.

He thought, Lu Yi was just as pitiful as he was.

From now on, they were both children without parents to love them.

Little Lu Yi seemed to sense something; he ran off, then scampered back, holding up a small bouquet of flowers he’d picked by the roadside—

【Village head, here’s a little flower for you】

【Received a small flower from the character ‘Lu Yi’ x1】

“Thank you.”

Little Qin Zhou held the flower, leading Little Lu Yi further and further away, yet his heart felt strangely much better.

“Lu Yi, after we finish gathering today, we still have to dig the ground when we get back.”

Little Lu Yi: “……”

“Lu Yi, you’re pretending not to hear me.”

【Then give me my flower back!】

Qin Zhou put the flower in his backpack. “Time to go gather.”

【We have to gather every day…】

Little Lu Yi hung his head, muttering to himself as he ran into the mountains.

While Lu Yi went gathering, Qin Zhou wasn’t idle either, mechanically clicking the mouse to harvest. The gathering process included some rather complex mini-games that required using the mouse to clean the roots and stems of the spiritual herbs.

Completing the mini-games wasn’t difficult, but achieving a perfect score every time requires a certain knack.

Qin Zhou took it very seriously.

Before he knew it, the sun had set. 

He logged out of his character and stood up, just as he was about to summon Lu Yi back.

【Village Head! I found a baby!】

Little Lu Yi was holding something in his arms and rushed toward Qin Zhou in surprise.

Once he saw what was inside the small bundle in Lu Yi’s arms, Little Qin Zhou fell silent.

【Village, what should we do! He looks like he’s dying!】

Little Qin Zhou: “……”

He never would have imagined that sending Lu Yi out to gather supplies would result in him bringing back a child.

The tiny infant was only a few months old, his palm-sized face tinged with a bluish hue, his eyes tightly shut—he looked as if he were on the verge of death.

After all, it was a life. At Qin Zhou’s age, he was at the stage where he couldn’t bear to see even a kitten or a puppy die.

Qin Zhou rummaged through his backpack and stuffed a basic elixir he had refined into the child’s mouth.

Just as a glimmer of light appeared, the infant’s complexion began to improve.

This made Qin Zhou and Lu Yi burst into joy.

Games really are great.

Suddenly, the little baby opened his eyes, his bright, watery eyes looking back at him.

【Village head.】

“Mm.”

【Should we take him back and get busy gathering resources?】 Little Lu Yi, despite his young age, had a kind heart, but his mind was filled with nothing but a desire to avoid work.

Little Qin Zhou hesitated for a moment, and the game system promptly popped up a villager invitation prompt.

Clearly, this little baby could be raised as a new villager.

But Lu Yi was already young enough. Raising another baby…

After much deliberation, Xiao Qin Zhou still tapped “Confirm.”

【Please name him】

【Lu Er】

After typing the two characters in the text box, Little Qin Zhou pressed “Confirm.”

Qin Zhou was smart. At least during the long, tedious years of raising Lu Yi and the others, no one knew that beneath his youthful exterior lay nothing more than a child.

After all, he was intelligent, and he didn’t talk much, which inevitably gave people the impression that he was mature.

Twelve-year-old Qin Zhou began to work the spiritual fields on the back mountain, raising ten-year-old Lu Yi and the still-infant Lu Er.

He had a father, but he didn’t want to become someone like his father.

On the days when his father was away on business, he would spend all his time accompanying the villagers.

The village’s lively atmosphere was healing, seemingly gradually soothing the grief of losing his mother.

Since this was a game, Lu Yi and Lu Er grew up quickly.

Qin Zhou never imagined that bringing Lu Er home was just the beginning.

Later, the number of villagers would keep growing.

It wasn’t just baby boys; but little girls as well.

When Xiao Liu was brought back, Qin Zhou and the other five villagers were all stunned.

“Bro, I don’t know how to take care of little girls.” Xiao Si, still just a teenager, hugged the little girl in his arms, flustered and on the verge of tears. He was fine with being called upon to fight, but why was he being asked to look after a little girl?

Xiao Wu and Lu San stood on either side behind Qin Zhou, clutching his legs as they cautiously eyed the little girl in their fourth brother’s arms.

She’s so tiny. 

So soft.

Lu Yi poked the little girl’s cheek. “We can’t just watch her die, can we? She’s so small—how could you bear it?”

Lu Er: “Then you raise her.”

Lu Yi chuckled and scooped the child from Fourth Brother’s arms. “Fine, I’ll raise her.”

Qin Zhou tapped him on the head in silence.

They said they’d raise her, but he was the one actually taking care of all the children they’d brought back from the village.

Lu Yi said with a mischievous grin, “Village head—let’s raise her! We don’t have any little girls in our village yet!”

Qin Zhou sighed.

He moved the mouse and opened the desktop browser.

He began searching—

【How to Raise a Little Girl】

Browser history—

【300 Questions on Alchemy】

【Education】

【How to Treat All Your Children Equally When You Have Many】

【How to Be a Good Dad】

Twelve-year-old Qin Zhou really had a lot on his plate.

Qin Zhou was an excellent student; even after taking a year off and returning to school, he remained at the top of his class.

He could have skipped a grade, but he chose to follow the standard path, naturally earning admission to a top middle school in the city.

To others, his life seemed overly packed and exhausting, but Qin Zhou found it quite easy—he even had time to go home and play video games.

While most teenagers were obsessed with competitive games, Qin Zhou never missed a chance to launch his little farming sim.

Before he knew it.

He was sixteen.

The 400th year of the Zhutian Realm, Lu Yi was 400 years old.

【Village head, awake yet?】 

The moment he logged into the game, his character was still lying in bed when Lu Yi’s face was already right up close.

Of course, he didn’t mind this face—he even thought it was beautiful. After all, he’d put a lot of effort into sculpting it himself; it was flawlessly beautiful from every angle.

Qin Zhou asked out of habit, “Did you come here to sleep again?”

【No~】 The four-hundred-year-old youngster looked away, his guilt evident.

“Lu Yi, you’re four hundred years old this year.”

【Oh, you’re going to lecture me again.】 Lu Yi pouted.

“No, I’m asking if, at four hundred, there’s anything you want for your birthday.”

【Birthday present?】 The young man’s eyes lit up instantly.

“Right.”

【Anything at all?】

Since it was a game, and because time flowed quickly within it, the villagers’ birthdays were calculated by Qin Zhou as occurring once every hundred years.

Lu Yi’s birthday was easy to remember. Whenever the save file for the Zhutian Realm reached a round number, it meant it was time for him to celebrate Lu Yi’s birthday.

He never broke a promise—that was one of the reasons Lu Yi liked him.

“Sure.”

【Then let’s go out.】 In the game, he sat beside Qin Zhou, propping his chin up with one hand.

A handsome face, exquisite clothes, and supreme talent. The elegant young master before him seemed to be saying that he had truly raised Lu Yi well.

Qin Zhou, watching from outside the screen, was momentarily lost in thought. He didn’t know when it had happened, but Lu Yi had grown into a slender, well-built young man—no longer the scrawny, frail child he once was. His black hair fell down, scattered across the bed. Though his bright eyes still held a touch of childish innocence, the face he had personally sculpted was exceptionally handsome.

Qin Zhou found himself lost in thought.

It took him a while to snap back to reality and type, “Where to?”

【To fight monsters! To gather resources? Anywhere is fine.】

“Aren’t you going home to celebrate with the family?”

【We celebrate at home every year. This year, I want to go out.】 Lu Yi snorted lightly.

“Alright.”

Qin Zhou had no objections.

Although there was a huge age gap between them, Lu Yi was still the more childish one of the two.

Controlling his character, he walked out of the house into the courtyard. Exclamation marks kept popping up on the interface, signaling messages from the villagers.

Some were chatting idly, others were arguing.

Qin Zhou was already used to this scene; most of the time, he didn’t bother with it. Even if two villagers with clashing temperaments were about to fight, there were always older brothers and sisters around to stop them.

All he had to do was farm for land and materials and take good care of them.

Qin Zhou and Lu Yi had just reached the village entrance when they suddenly bumped into a couple who were getting all lovey-dovey there.

“I sewed this myself. It’s ugly, but I’m giving it to you.”

“Who said it’s ugly? This is the prettiest embroidery pattern I’ve ever seen.”

“I don’t know how to do needlework. I only asked Sixth Sister for help twice and barely managed to stitch two characters onto it.”

Shier traced the characters ‘Shiba’ on the Cosmos Bag, running his fingers over them carefully, but the smile on his lips wouldn’t fade. “Hmm, I like it.”

Qin Zhou stared blankly at Shier and Shiba.

They were probably at that age when one’s eyes were just beginning to open to romance; there were couples in school who dated early, but a male-male couple—this was the first time Qin Zhou had ever seen one.

So… he couldn’t help but take a few extra glances.

Oh no. Lu Yi’s heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly pulled Qin Zhou back. “Haha, I forgot—I still have something to pick up. Let’s go back to the village first.”

Qin Zhou didn’t move, just staring at the pair in the distance, typing, “Those two…”

【They’re just brothers!】 Lu Yi blurted out. His guilty expression made it seem as if he were the one caught by his parents for early romance—or even worse, for something between brothers that should’ve stayed private.

Qin Zhou, watching from off-screen, chuckled.

Brothers.

“Then next time, have Lu Er embroider a name-tag on a Cosmos Bag for you too.” He typed this .

Lu Yi visibly flushed and snapped, 【What would I want that kid’s Cosmos Bag for!】

“You’re brothers, aren’t you?”

Lu Yi, unable to defend himself: “……”

Later, Qin Zhou minimized the game window.

He typed into the browser—

【Sex… 】

And so, sixteen-year-old Qin Zhou successfully acquired some new knowledge.