262: This is Su Duo's home, and also his home.

"There is a product menu inside the train; welcome to browse."

Lin Feng had originally intended to promote the New Healing Pill, but the Spirit Water Winged Beast had already bought one from him last time. If it wanted to buy another, it wouldn't need him to promote it. The New Upgrade Martial Pill was useless to it, and the New Advancement Pill was somewhat redundant. The train exclusive water had sold out in the morning... After much thought, the only new item on the menu was steamed bun.

Lin Feng now knew the purpose of mantou because earlier in the day, Ximen Chuifeng and his group had used the mantou Gu Mingzhu bought to smash a dent into the train's floor.

Others might not know how strong the green train's defenses were, but Lin Feng certainly did!

Even a tenth-tier fierce beast couldn't break his defenses; let alone smash a hole, it wouldn't even cause any damage if it just touched it.

Although everything in the train would be renewed as long as he maintained it for sixteen hours a day, that single dent still greatly shocked Lin Feng.

This indicated that the mantou the system made him sell wasn't for eating, but for... well, as a brick?

Ahem, in any case, he'd try promoting it.

"Squeak squeak? (Menu?)" The Spirit Water Winged Beast's curiosity was indeed piqued. Every time it boarded the train, it was always in a hurry, so it had never looked at the menu on the table.

With Lin Feng's reminder, it finally noticed that there was indeed a menu placed on the table next to the train door.

Opening the menu, there were only two items: train exclusive water and mantou.

The price... was a bit hard for a beast to accept.

"Squeak squeak squeak squeak? (What are the effects of the train exclusive water?)" The Spirit Water Winged Beast believed it could afford water that cost seven hundred low-grade spirit stones, so it chose to ask about the train exclusive water.

"The effects of the train exclusive water vary from individual to individual. The effect of drinking it is different for each person or fierce beast, so an accurate answer cannot be given."

In short, it had benefits.

The Spirit Water Winged Beast seemed to have gone through some internal struggle before asking, "Squeak squeak squeak. (Then I'll buy a bottle of train exclusive water.)"

"The train exclusive water is limited to three bottles per day. VIP carriages can purchase one additional bottle per day. Today's train exclusive water is sold out."

Spirit Water Winged Beast: "..."

Why was this train teasing fierce beasts??

If it was out of stock, why ask if it wanted to buy it?

It had just made up its mind to spend seven hundred spirit stones to try it!

It was truly infuriating.

So the Spirit Water Winged Beast immediately placed the menu back on the table, then jumped off the train door and left without looking back.

Lin Feng's mantou promotion plan was declared a failure.

Lin Feng knew that the Spirit Water Winged Beast didn't even bother to ask about the mantou's effects because of its exorbitant price.

High prices certainly deter many people... Outside the 155 Fortress, at the Guild.

Xiong Mao and Ximen Chuifeng supported Zhuang Sanming from left and right, respectively, as Zhuang Sanming struggled to walk, cradling Su Duo in his arms.

Xiao Shen and the others followed behind, step by step, with no one leaving midway.

Zhuang Sanming hadn't spoken a word the entire way until—

"We're here."

He gently raised his head, looking at the ordinary building before him.

This was Su Duo's home.

It was also his home.

Now he had brought Su Duo back, but Su Duo was... It was very late now. Zhuang Sanming hadn't checked the time, but he estimated it was around eleven at night.

The lights were on inside, indicating that Father Su and Mother Su were still awake.

Zhuang Sanming stopped at the entrance of the building for a long time.

He seemed to be waiting for the lights inside to go out.

No one made a sound. Even the few girls who were crying only shed tears silently, without even a whimper.

They knew Zhuang Sanming shouldn't be disturbed now.

Inside, a half-asleep woman sat on the living room sofa. She rested her cheek in her right hand, and due to holding it for too long, a red mark was left on her face.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, she was startled awake.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" The man sitting beside her instantly sobered up.

"It was a dream..." Mother Su let out a heavy sigh. She turned her head to Father Su, somewhat helpless, "I just dreamt... dreamt that Xiao Duo she..."

"Alright, alright, dreams aren't real, don't think about it." Father Su stroked Mother Su's hair, comforting her.

He didn't need to hear Mother Su finish to guess what she had dreamt.

But those words were unlucky... she shouldn't have said them.

Mother Su sighed, looked at the dark night outside the window, and said, "It's so late and Xiao Duo isn't back yet. Usually, by this time, she'd be asleep in her own room."

Mother Su had been feeling uneasy all day. Although she had carefully reminded Su Duo in the morning, she was still very worried while working at the Mall.

For this, she specifically asked her manager for half a day off and came home at eleven in the morning.

Father Su knew Mother Su was in a bad mood, so he also took a leave. Both of them had no appetite at noon, didn't cook, and only ate a couple of pieces of bread.

"It's just an occasional late night, nothing big. Maybe Xiao Duo was having too much fun outside today and just stayed at a friend's house?" Father Su thought for a moment and offered this reason.

But even he didn't believe this reason.

Mother Su fell silent.

Normally, Su Duo should have returned by nine o'clock. That was the latest she had returned in those days.

They had waited here for a very long time, so long that they had fallen asleep...

"No, I have to go find her." Mother Su suddenly stood up, grabbed a coat, put it on, and was about to leave.

"Hey, wait a minute." Father Su quickly went to stop her, "Do you know where to find Xiao Duo?"

"This..."

Mother Su gritted her teeth.

She didn't know where Su Duo was.

Although it was hard to admit, there seemed to always be an uncrossable chasm between parents and children.

Even though they weren't harsh on Su Duo, and even somewhat permissive, they also hadn't been as concerned about Su Duo as they could have been.

Too much concern turns into control, and too much permissiveness leads to situations like this.

Like many parents, they also struggled to find the right balance.

In comparison... Zhuang Sanming was actually more like the child they had hoped for: diligent, sensible, good at housework, and caring.

When they were both at work, the person who spent the most time with Su Duo was Zhuang Sanming.

Rather than saying he was a cousin taking care of his cousin, it was more like an elder brother acting as a father.

It was precisely because they had Zhuang Sanming as an older brother that Father Su and Mother Su could be so at ease about Su Duo.

Mother Su felt some guilt towards Zhuang Sanming, her nephew, after all, she wasn't Zhuang Sanming's biological mother and couldn't treat him the same way she treated Su Duo.

However, Su Duo seemed to have filled Zhuang Sanming's void for family on her behalf.

"Let's wait a bit longer. Maybe Xiao Duo will be back soon? If we go out now and miss her, what if she comes back and doesn't see us and gets worried?"