Chapter Thirteen: Selfish Motives
"Is the baby awake?"
Hicks immediately saw Anno sitting on the bed, stroking Tuka's tail. Tuka was so happy that he wanted to roll around on the bed.
When Anno saw Hicks arrive, she released Tuka's tail and tried to jump off the bed. She hadn't gotten up all night and now felt the urge to urinate.
Seeing her jump down, Huo Yin caught her and gently placed her on the ground. Hicks watched her walk towards the toilet, looked around her bed, and then remembered that he had forgotten to put a potty for the cub.
He hadn't seen her go to the bathroom all day yesterday, and he hadn't thought of it at all.
The cubs have just been born from the petri dish and probably can't use the toilet on their own yet, even though they've been raised to be two or three years old. After all, they haven't received any training.
He was about to follow Anno inside, but remembering how resistant Anno had been when he took a shower yesterday, he decided to let Tuka go in and check on him.
As soon as Tuka got up, he saw Huo Yin follow Anuo into the bathroom.
She walked over to Hicks and said, "I envy him. He's already exchanged energy with the little one."
Hicks patted her head and said, "The Federation has sent people to pick up the little one. You can come back to the main planet with them. The Federation will arrange a new home for you. You can study hard and grow up. You will also have the opportunity to exchange energy with the Fire Seed in the future."
Tuka looked up at Hicks and said, "Hicks, aren't you coming back with us?"
Hicks smiled faintly and shook his head. "I still have important things to do, so I can't go back with you for the time being."
After saying that, he patted Tuka on the shoulder and said, "Go in and take a look."
Huo Yin followed Anuo inside and saw her climbing onto the toilet. He went over and lifted her up. The toilet was too high and too big for Anuo, and she couldn't even sit steadily on it. He supported her, his eyes fixed on her face.
Anno grew up in the apocalypse and didn't have many rules. After all, emergencies could happen at any time. In order to save water, men and women washed up together through a curtain in her place.
She didn't feel as awkward or wary of Huo Yin, who was only seven or eight years old and still a child.
Tuka watched as Huo Yin helped Anuo finish using the toilet, then gave her a clean towel and filled a basin with hot water, placing it on the floor to wash her face.
Hicks, feeling uneasy outside, peeked in and saw three children squatting in front of the washbasin, looking incredibly adorable.
Anno wanted to wash her face herself, so she took the towel from Tuka's hand after Tuka wrung it out.
Tuka watched as Anno hastily smeared the towel on her face. The large towel contrasted sharply with her tiny figure, which was constantly being swayed by her cute tail.
Tuka wanted to help her wipe her face, but she was faster than Tuka in taking the towel from Anuo's hand and carefully wiping her face again.
Seeing Huo Yin always eagerly taking care of the cub, Tuka pouted slightly. This dragon was really domineering. If she wasn't afraid of not being able to beat him, she would have already given the little cub a good rub.
After Anno finished washing her face, Hicks helped her sit in a chair and gently pried open her mouth to look at her two broken front teeth. The medicine had helped a lot, but her gums were still slightly red.
He thought that after she was picked up by her mother and the others, they found that her tooth was broken because she bit him, and he would be scolded by his mother.
After spraying the medicine on her again, Hicks took her downstairs to eat.
Anno sat at the dining table and watched as they ate breakfast, which consisted mostly of meat, and in very large portions. One child ate three times more than she would have eaten in the apocalypse.
Then look in front of her, there is a bottle of milk.
Hicks also prepared a bowl of something that looked like rice porridge and placed it in front of her, and that was it.
Although the milk bottle in front of her smelled deliciously milky and was quite appetizing, she wanted to eat meat even more.
Watching them eat meat made her very hungry.
Hicks watched the cub staring at their food, and gently stroked her head, saying softly, "You're too small to eat meat yet."
The cubs, who are over two years old, can already eat meat, but since they have just come out of the petri dish, their health condition is unknown. Hicks doesn't dare to feed them meat so frequently, and the cubs' digestive systems are fragile and can't digest meat well.
Anno isn't picky about food; she's happy as long as she has something to eat.
Seeing that Hicks wouldn't let her eat meat, she picked up the baby bottle in front of her.
She tried to unscrew the bottle, but couldn't, so she handed it to Hicks.
Hicks raised an eyebrow slightly. Every action of this sparkling cub was novel and interesting to him. He took Anno's bottle and, knowing that she wanted to unscrew it, he let her have it and unscrewed the nipple.
As soon as Hicks unscrewed the nipple, Anno took the bottle from his hand and drank the milk in a few gulps.
Hicks' heart melted instantly; how could there be such an adorable cub?
In the past, he was the eldest in the family and helped take care of the younger children. They were so naughty that he couldn't do anything about it and had a lot of headaches with his younger siblings. He thought that if he ever started a family, he would never adopt so many children like his parents did; one would be enough.
But seeing the adorable little firefly in front of him, he really, really wanted to raise it.
But now he hasn't even found his other half, and becoming a qualified father seems a long way off.
However, they have one more adoption slot available.
Hicks wasn't without selfish motives, but it was just a thought. There was only one Fireseed offspring, and with so many excellent families in the North River system participating in the lottery, the chance of being selected was as small as the probability of the Fireseed being born.
After finishing the soft, mushy food in her bowl, Anuo kept her eyes fixed on the meat in their bowl.
But Hicks wouldn't let the children give her meat, saying that the cubs had their own food, so the children had to refrain from giving her any.
Anuo turned to look at Huo Yin; she just wanted to take one bite, just one bite.
Huo Yin also wanted to give her the meat, but he understood what Hicks meant when she said she couldn't eat meat right now.
He patted her hand reassuringly: "When you're a little older, you can eat as much as you want."
Anno could only lie on the table and watch them eat. In order not to make Anno envious, the children almost wolfed down their food, wanting to finish quickly, but their eating habits only made Anno envious more.
A small piece of meat was quietly placed into Anuo's bowl; it was given to her by Huo Yin.
Anno's eyes lit up, and he immediately stuffed the meat into his mouth.
Seeing her looking so pitiful slumped over the table, Hicks got up and went to the kitchen to make her some meat porridge.
He said he couldn't give her meat, but even he couldn't help but not give it to her, otherwise he would always feel guilty, as if he were abusing her.
Hicks chopped the meat into small pieces and put it into the pot to stew. Anno had nothing to do, so he just stood next to him and watched him stew the meat.
The children had all finished eating the meat, and she was still wondering if she could sneak some meat from the kitchen.
There was a bowl of fragrant stewed meat on the stove, which was reserved for Mike who was patrolling outside. Anno tried to get some, but couldn't reach it even when she stood on tiptoe.
Hicks smiled and tore off a small piece, handing it to her. "Don't worry, little one, I'm cooking meat for you."
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