Beast World: A Fragile Beauty Blessed with Many Children-Chapter 365 - 364: Imposter
Little Hong nodded hesitantly.
Si Shuo let go of her hand. "Hong, there have to be rules for using any superpower, especially your Mind Reading Technique. If you use it well, it can be a great convenience for you and our little family. But by the same token, if you use it carelessly, you’ll find it difficult to quickly extract key information from the cacophony of people’s thoughts.
Besides, you have to understand when you can listen to people’s thoughts and when you can’t!
For example, you should do your best not to read your Mother’s thoughts. Otherwise, heheh, I’ll tie your mouth shut."
’To think there’s a walking thought-amplifier right next to me... I could die of social embarrassment.’ ’No wonder the little one could always chime in with whatever I was thinking. So I’ve been completely transparent to Little Hong this whole time!’
Having just experienced being unable to speak, Little Hong wilted and nodded. "I’ll listen to Mother."
Si Shuo smiled and ruffled her hair. "When we get home later, I’ll discuss it with your Fathers and see how we should train your superpower."
Little Hong hummed in agreement, nuzzling against her fingers. "Don’t be mad, Mother. Little Hong won’t randomly read Mother’s thoughts anymore."
’The cub is still so young; even if it were me, I’d have a hard time controlling myself. That’s why we have to establish some ground rules for Little Hong’s Mind Reading Technique right from the start.’
’If we don’t handle this well, it would be easy for her disposition to become unstable, and she could be led astray by this superpower. And if her superpower is ever exposed, she’ll be reduced to a pawn in someone else’s hands!’
By the time they got home, it was already evening. The Beast Husbands had also returned from the Beast Soldier Camp, their shops, or the fields.
The family was gathered boisterously in the courtyard. Si Shuo smiled, clapped her hands, and explained Little Hong’s superpower once more.
Ji Liang praised, "Today, Hai Yun Lai Restaurant was hiring staff. Little Ye and Youyou helped with registration, and the charts they drew were clear and easy to understand. They were a huge help to me.
Little Hong’s Mind Reading Technique also helped us weed out some hypocritical Beastmen, avoiding a number of potential security risks and ensuring the quality of service the shop can provide in the future."
The three little ones puffed out their chests and held their heads high. Receiving praise from Father Ji Liang was no small feat. Father Ji Liang was a cold-blooded animal, usually only showing warmth to their Mother while being listless with everyone else.
The cubs were especially interested in the Mind Reading Technique. They surrounded Little Hong, asking her to guess what they were thinking. They even asked Little Hong to "lend" them the superpower so they could listen to each other’s thoughts for fun.
After they had their fun, Si Shuo finally voiced her concerns. Everything was a double-edged sword; the greater the convenience and utility of the Mind Reading Technique, the greater its potential danger.
"Kitty, don’t be anxious. With all superpowers, you slowly figure out the rules and then conduct targeted training to improve them. Little Hong is still young; we can train her bit by bit.
We’ll strive to train her to only pick up useful information... strengthening her ability in areas like the number of minds she can read at once, the duration, and so on..." Zhi Le said with a smile. "Receiving a superpower is a blessing from the Beast God to begin with. Little Hong is so smart, she’ll definitely be able to use it well."
Little Hong listened intently, nodding from time to time.
Xiao Cheng narrowed his eyes slightly. "Si Shuo, I’ve heard of a Female Saint who asked the Beast God for the superpower to hear others’ thoughts. Well, she grew to love prying into people’s minds at all times.
She discovered that all her neighbors had hidden motives when interacting with her, some of which she couldn’t accept. She stopped wanting to associate with people, and in the end, it seems she left the tribe with her Beast Husbands.
Not knowing what’s in people’s hearts makes you vulnerable and impossible to guard against, but constant prying can also expose you to the evil in human nature, causing you to lose your reverence for life and passion for living."
Si Shuo turned her head to look at Little Hong. "Did you hear what your Father Xiao Cheng said? There are some things we can pry into, but you can’t become too reliant on this superpower. The unknown, and a bit of distance, are what make life so full of enchanting color!"
Little Hong nodded vigorously. "I know, I know. Anyway, I can’t pry into the thoughts of family members. I’ll do my best."
"Eagle Cub, not ’do your best,’ it must be ’definitely’," Gong You said, bringing out a plate of small fish. He gave two to the little female and each of the cubs, a smile playing on his lips. "Before we even talk about how you’ll practice listening to others’ thoughts, the first step is to learn how to block them out. You need to improve your focus first."
Si Shuo agreed. "Yes, yes, yes! First, learn the on/off switch. Then directional on, simultaneous on..."
The cubs... ’Mother’s analogies are so simple and easy to understand!’
Wei Ce chuckled. "Actually, it’s not just Little Hong. Every one of us can improve our control over our own superpowers by focusing on the details. We might gain quite a lot.
Our Iron-eating Beast Clan has its own Cangshu Pavilion. The Beast Text inside is all carved on Jade and stored in a well-ventilated, dry place. I’ll copy some of it down later. There’s a lot of content in there about the introduction and Cultivation of superpowers."
Si Shuo slapped her forehead, then took out several books on Psychology she had bought at the supermarket. She placed them into a Storage Ring and hung it around Little Hong’s neck.
"Hong, a lot of the time, you don’t need the Mind Reading Technique. You can figure out some of a person’s thoughts just through observation. The masters of Psychology from your mother’s heritage were all incredible; they could see the big picture from the smallest details.
Combining theory with your superpower should help you control the Mind Reading Technique better," she said, patting the little one’s head with a smile. "Mother doesn’t ask for much from you all. Just one thing: protect yourselves!"
The request wasn’t a high bar, but to meet it, the cubs would need to learn a great deal of knowledge and many skills.
The males exchanged a look. They would have to work even harder to pass on everything they had learned to the cubs.
Sensing a faint fluctuation of Spiritual Energy in the air, Si Shuo’s eyes lit up. She shot to her feet and lunged toward the source.
And so, the moment Xu Chi appeared, he was tackled into a full-body hug by the little female. He hooked the corners of his lips into a smile and held her tightly. Before he could even speak, a childish voice piped up, "Not listening, not listening, lalala, shame on you, AHHH... Covering my ears isn’t working..."
Everyone’s eyes were smiling at Xu Chi’s arrival, the silent joy of reunion filling the entire courtyard, only to be shattered by Little Hong’s incessant muttering.
Si Shuo listened to Xu Chi’s powerful heartbeat, which was thrumming with unabashed joy for her.
She turned her head and saw Little Hong had transformed into a little human baby, covering her ears with a pair of chubby little hands, her face beet red as she shook her head with her eyes squeezed shut.
’So, what in the world was Xu Chi thinking?!’
Si Shuo looked up at Xu Chi, her eyes darting. She pushed him away, ran over to Little Hong, and whispered in the cub’s ear to borrow the Mind Reading Technique superpower.
Her desire to hear Xu Chi’s thoughts was so strong that she subconsciously blocked out everyone else’s voices. And then she heard the inner thoughts of the usually well-behaved and taciturn Xu Chi:
’I finally get to see the little female, but she ran off before I could even hug her for two seconds. Is it because I smell bad from the hunt? That can’t be, I chewed on a Dust Cleaning Talisman...’
’Wanna kiss and hug... The little female smells so good and feels so soft... I wonder what kind of Half-beastman A shuo will turn into to ’bully’ me tonight. I’m so looking forward to it...’
’This... This is definitely not the Xu Chi I know! He’s an imposter!’
