The guardianship system is literally about having a "guardian."
Living and eating together, with constant supervision.
In order to prevent the Harbingers from launching another suicide attack, the headquarters chose Tang Xunan to be Lu Yan's guardian.
This aligns with Lu Yan's purpose in coming to City A. Since the last incident involving the Divine Realm and the slaughterhouse, the system recommended him to lay low in City A.
Now that the Harbingers have been encountered, the female boss of the slaughterhouse is nowhere to be found.
As for the romantic relationships among the staff, the higher-ups actually tacitly approve, but they won't openly express it to avoid arranged marriages.
If Lu Yan is unwilling, there are other guardians to choose from.
During the discharge procedure, the staff candidly said, "Mr. Lu, we're actually glad you accepted this arrangement."
In the past few decades, Tang Xunan never showed any particular preferences. He continued to diligently fulfill his tasks, but he didn't have many concerns about this world.
Lu Yan's presence seemed to add warmth to him.
Lu Yan was like a child waiting for his mom to pick him up after school, and Tang Xunan led him all the way home.
Indeed, as Ji Wen mentioned, Tang Xunan's home was within the third ring of City A's main city area. Due to its proximity to world-famous attractions, it belonged to the type that money couldn't buy.
Not to mention, the house had three floors with a basement, a parking lot, a swimming pool, and a large garden.
Looking around, it was hard to see what the neighbors were like.
System: [Exactly, the wealth accumulated through hard work for over eighty years. But more importantly, it's riding on the dividends of the times. You know, if you invested in stocks in 2021, it would have multiplied several times by now.]
Lu Yan clicked his tongue: "You're quite sarcastic, System."
The system's voice suddenly heightened: [Sarcastic about what? About being 102 years old with a degeneration level of 94? Or about having wings and a tail?]
The system earnestly advised: [My child, you're only 26 this year. How many men with long tails have you seen? Important matters in life can't be rushed. Some men may look fine on the surface, but their bodies are weak, lasting only three minutes in bed. Would you want someone like that, just ask Zhou Qiming?]
[Of course, if you want to inherit Tang Xunan's fortune, pretend I didn't say that.]
Lu Yan's gaze fell on Tang Xunan's waist.
Today, Tang Xunan wasn't wearing the uniform but commuting attire, a white shirt with a black tie, accentuating his narrow and strong waist.
Lu Yan retracted his gaze: "... I think it's not that serious."
[Not that serious about what?]
"Three minutes."
The system remained silent for a while: [Fine, I won't stop you. Old man is good; old man has fewer affairs.]
This was quite an inappropriate remark from the system, considering that Tang Xunan was merely living a long life, not aging.
It's a good thing Tang Xunan couldn't hear, or else Lu Yan would really be unsure whose side to take in their quarrel.
Tang Xunan handed the keys to Lu Yan: "If you forget your keys, Xiaotian is usually at home. You can ring the doorbell."
He usually didn't need keys to enter; people with wings were a bit whimsical, landing directly from the rooftop. The bedroom was just a flip of a window away, quite convenient.
Lu Yan took the keys and said, "Okay."
Xiaotian knew that Lu Yan was coming today, so it diligently cleaned the entire house.
Especially the room where Lu Yan would stay.
Knowing Lu Yan was particular about cleanliness, it had been detoxifying for three consecutive days to ensure not a single dog hair could be found indoors.
If Tang Xunan allowed, Xiaotian would gladly lick the floor itself with its tongue.
With a bowtie around its neck and a pink rose in its mouth, Xiaotian walked over: "Finally, we meet again. Do you know, during the training at headquarters, Tang Xunan used to sneak into the control room every day to watch you train..."
"Not only did he secretly watch the surveillance, but he also went to the rooftop to enjoy the breeze at midnight, gazing in the direction of the dormitory."
Lu Yan didn't accept the flower, considering it had been bitten by the dog. But what the dog said was indeed things he didn't know.
Moreover, what surprised Lu Yan was that all these things seemed to have happened before going to Luochuan Botanical Garden.
[Yes, he started plotting for benefits way before. These old men are dangerous; their schemes run deep!]
At this moment, the system's demeanor resembled that of a vicious supporting male character who needed a good slap in the face.
Lu Yan looked at Tang Xunan, his expression carrying a hint of inquiry.
Tang Xunan explained, "Don't listen to his nonsense; it's just normal work content."
As the chief instructor, these were things he should do.
However, Tang Xunan had thin skin, and a somewhat not very obvious redness appeared on his ears.
"Don't listen to his nonsense; he..."
Soon, Xiaotian was forced to wear a dog muzzle for talking too much.
"Wu! Woof! Woof!"
Xiaotian felt very melancholic, but at least it had online female anchors to comfort its wounded soul.
Lu Yan's room was on the second floor.
His nose was sensitive, and as soon as he pushed open the bedroom door, he smelled the faint scent of disinfectant.
This smell was very familiar, just like being back in the hospital for work, something Lu Yan liked.
His bedroom had two doors; going out from the other side, it led to an outdoor open-air swimming pool.
It seemed the water was freshly changed.
Lu Yan endured for a long time. Unable to resist, he changed into swim trunks and plunged into the pool.
Now it was September, and the weather had cooled a bit. But he never liked overly hot weather, and at this moment, the temperature was just right.
The water flowed in from the gills on the side of his ear, refreshing.
"When I return to City K, I must buy a mansion with a pool."
The school district house he bought in City S had increased by several hundred per square meter after three months.
Selling it off and getting a large mansion would be just right.
Judging by the continuing rise in housing prices, despite the increasing severity of contamination diseases, society still maintained its proper order.
What the system said, that chaotic and disorderly society, hasn't arrived.
[Don't you notice? Now there are noticeably more foreigners in the Greater Huaxia region. There's already a Guild of Calamity Hunters abroad, and many wealthy people have chosen to immigrate. Oh, sorry, I forgot you're a shut-in who doesn't like to go out.]
[Yeah, if it weren't for you coming to City A, Tang Xunan was about to go on a business trip. On the border of Yunnan Province, there appeared a Pollution Python with a contamination value of 8000...]
Lu Yan pondered for a moment, "Is 8000 high? Why does Tang Xunan have to go?"
When he first awakened, he befriended contamination entities with contamination values exceeding ten thousand. Later, he encountered a bunch of prominent contamination entities, and except for the merfolk in the Fishman Club, none had a contamination value lower than 6000.
Recently, even with just his own efforts, he severely injured the S-level contamination case "True Master," almost turning it into a brain roasting dish.
To the point where Lu Yan had an illusion - advanced contamination entities were not that formidable.
Of course, when faced with one, he had to run.
[Contaminants with the same value are much stronger than Harbingers with the same value. You're a special case. The current leader of Yunnan Province has a spiritual power threshold of only 8600. Look at Zhou Qiming, even as a human, he's in the top one hundred. The hardworking pig butcher, after decades of labor, can't even squeeze into the world's top five hundred contaminants.]
[Anyway, I'm not optimistic about humans.]
Lu Yan soaked in the water for a few hours, and it was almost dark, but Tang Xunan didn't show up.
He floated up from the water, took out his phone, opened and closed the WeChat chat box, and in the end, didn't send anything.
Lu Yan said, "I always feel like I know him and don't know him."
He spent three months with Tang Xunan day and night in his dreams. Saying there's no feeling at all is completely impossible.
Who could resist a puppy dragon that knows how to act cute?
However, Lu Yan indeed wasn't familiar with the current Tang Xunan.
He didn't know what the other went through from the age of 19 to 102 to become the silent and reserved person he is now.
If it were just developing a friendship, Lu Yan wouldn't have to think so much.
System: [Maybe this is the aftermath of online dating turning into reality.]
Lu Yan held the phone, unsure of what to do, so he opened the Tianqi Forum. It showed over a hundred new cases.
The forum's registered users had also increased to eighty thousand.
[In the past year, whether it's the quantity of contaminants or the number of Harbingers, it's been surging.]
In the forum's reward section, there were over a thousand contamination incidents waiting to be resolved.
Lu Yan scanned it, and at least seventy percent of the pending contamination cases were overseas. The situation outside the country was no joke.
No wonder housing prices in Huaxia had been soaring recently.
[When the puppy dragon was young, he often stayed up all night reading the forum. He considered himself too important, initially traveling all over the world. Later, the scope narrowed down to the Greater Huaxia area, but many problems still couldn't be solved. Back then, the puppy dragon often cried out of frustration.]
[As for the "God-Making Plan" of the First Laboratory, headquarters actually tacitly approved it. Because many times, Tang Xunan almost completed missions in a suicidal manner... and headquarters had to consider how to deal with advanced contaminants after Tang Xunan's death. At least, there had to be some negotiation capital. Weak countries have no diplomacy. This principle has always applied.]
[It's just that the plan eventually deviated from its direction. Their original idea was to give many useful talents to one person, then create the perfect experimental subject. Subject 01 was a good candidate, 07 was also acceptable. Unfortunately, due to the selfishness of the researchers, the one who sacrificed for the sake of others froze to death in the wind and snow.]
Lu Yan liked listening to the system's stories.
He remembered the burning contaminant he saw in the consciousness space and couldn't help but feel a bit emotional.
"Where is Subject 07 now that he has become a contaminant?"
[Also in City A.]
As the heartland of the Huaxia region, City A had strict monitoring of contamination values.
And according to the information the system provided earlier, Lu Cheng was also in City A.
Lu Yan was surprised, "So many contaminants are in City A? Doesn't the Disease Prevention and Control Center react?"
[Among the people accompanying this time, there is a contaminant with a talent called "World," which can construct a separate spatial area. The mermaid island before was his masterpiece.]
From the tone of the system, it seemed that quite a few contaminants had come.
Lu Yan's expression instantly became serious, "What are these contaminants doing in City A?"
The system said, [To blow up the First Laboratory.]
So, Lu Yan lay back down and started thinking about what to eat tomorrow.
The system laughed, [It seems you dislike the First Laboratory more than I thought.]
Lu Yan said, "I understand some of their thoughts. But as a Harbinger, as the side that will be studied, I really can't sympathize with their plight."
He looked at the moon overhead, "If Professor Qiao were still alive and saw the current First Laboratory, he would probably be disappointed."
Lu Yan soaked in the bath all night.
Because his body was good, he didn't catch a cold. When he woke up, he looked radiant and felt good.
Lu Yan usually didn't have many hobbies and didn't like going out. At home, the most time-consuming things were cleaning and cooking.
He took the elevator to the kitchen on the first floor.
Lu Yan originally thought he would see an empty refrigerator, but unexpectedly, there were still quite a few ingredients inside.
It's just that these ingredients looked a bit strange, not like something a normal person would eat.
Lu Yan casually took out a string of vegetables that looked like grapes. The white fruit on top looked like quail eggs.
"What is this?"
[Agricultural and sideline products researched by the Seventh Research Institute. Headquarters has always had a human base plan, thinking about a future world occupied by contaminants. In the case of a sharp decline in population, how to maintain the yield of food crops.]
[The researchers at the Seventh Institute injected the genes of contaminants' queen ants into ordinary grapes. These white grapes are actually ant eggs. According to sampling analysis, this fruit has abundant protein content, tastes like beef, and falls under the category of plants. However, it hasn't been widely planted, and the yield is not high. The institute sent some to the puppy dragon.]
Special Operations Department's Harbingers occasionally received care packages from headquarters.
Mostly, they were agricultural and sideline products developed by the Seventh and Eighth Research Institutes, promoted for trial tasting.
[This kind of thing is very expensive outside. The bunch of grapes in your hand is more expensive than gold per gram. Many auction houses use "eating it might awaken talents" as a promotional slogan.]
Contacting a contamination source might awaken talents, so the auction's slogan of ripping people off wasn't technically violating advertising laws.
Lu Yan thought for a moment and asked, "Is it tasty?"
[Some are okay.]
From this, it could be seen that not all the Institute did was hindering humanity.
Lu Yan started cooking.
Although the ingredients were a bit strange, mostly genetically modified, and some genes were modified extensively, cooking them in a familiar way surprisingly resulted in good flavors.
Lu Yan spent an hour and made three dishes and a soup.
After all, he was staying in someone else's house, and it seemed impolite to eat alone.
So, Lu Yan opened the chat box with Tang Xunan.
Lu Yan: Are you having dinner?
The response came quickly, "Okay."
Since the successive deaths of his parents and relatives, the concept of "home" had become vague for Tang Xunan.
He had lived for too long and met too many people.
Only Lu Yan.
Even if he didn't do anything, just throw him into the house.
Tang Xunan felt that this was what a home looked like.
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