Looking at how harmonious the family seemed, President Robb gained more trust in the character of Langdon and Lisa.
A child who cares for and values their parents is always better than one who only thinks about themselves.
President Robb was also especially glad that he arrived quickly.
Otherwise, who knows what kind of state the children would have been tormented into.
"I've come on behalf of NY City. Inviting you to join NY City means we'll be responsible for all aspects of your life."
"That includes your parents."
"After you join NY City, we will immediately handle the hospital transfer procedures for your parents and have specialized doctors come to examine them and develop follow-up treatment plans..."
The message was clear, benefits and treatment, all arranged. Langdon and Lisa no longer had any hesitation.
"We'll go!"
"We agree!"
President Q's expression turned even darker.
"No! They—", Before President Q could finish his sentence, President Robb cut him off.
"I agree, their parents agree, what kind of demon are you to be blocking the way?", While speaking, President Robb glanced at President Q with utter disdain.
"Let go," President Robb couldn't be bothered with nonsense and pointed to the people still holding onto the girl's arm.
They were staff members from the Satbury City Beast Tamer Alliance.
Hearing this, they hesitated slightly.
They didn't care when it came to Langdon and Lisa.
But President Robb...
"Be careful, or I'll report you. This kind of forced restriction of personal freedom is—", Before President Robb could finish.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
They let go.
Terrifying! Just one look at President Robb's expression made it clear, he wasn't joking.
They couldn't afford to take this.
If not for President Robb's arrival, Langdon and Lisa might really have been forced to follow President Q's wishes under pressure and temptation.
Unfortunately, President Robb just had to show up.
Now, no matter what plans President Q had in mind, he couldn't act openly.
He couldn't even keep the Q siblings around.
Under President Robb's arrangements, all procedures were handled swiftly.
Just like President Robb said.
Whether it was Langdon and Lisa themselves, or their parents, they had all agreed, President Q had no way to interfere with the process.
In less than half an hour, the so-called talent settlement was completed.
Langdon and Lisa's registered residence changed from Q City to NY City.
Father Q and Mother Q were also properly arranged, currently being transferred to Radiant City for treatment.
President Q's expression was pitch black.
Did President Robb care? Not at all. He even smiled brightly.
"Hehehe," President Robb's smile wasn't lewd at all, but the wide grin and eyes squeezed shut was still enough to infuriate President Q once again.
President Robb: *Proud*
'As expected of myself.'
"Thank you, President Q, for your cooperation."
"Hopefully next time, we can cooperate just as happily."
President Robb spoke while smiling, stretching out a hand to President Q.
Just short of openly warning him—
'What? Trying to ride on our Asher's fame? Go ahead and try if you dare.'
'If you really have the skills, then poach him.'
'If not... heh.'
President Q felt a chill down his spine.
With those eyes always staring at him from behind, all of President Q's schemes couldn't be carried out.
Even a Beast Tamer Alliance president couldn't fake talent reporting and recommendations.
A single report would hit the mark.
Back then, among the Beast Tamer Alliance presidents in small cities, who hadn't secretly tried to anonymously report President Robb?
However... Asher's abilities were the real deal.
Totally different from the imagined half-fake credentials, this was the kind of solid talent with not a drop of falsehood.
After meeting Asher in person, they even felt those rumors were too conservative.
Professor Asher could easily be promoted to a Level 1 researcher.
It would be fine if just one or two people thought so. But in reality, anyone who interacted with Asher basically came to the same conclusion.
Thinking of this, President Q couldn't suppress his jealousy of President Robb again.
'Damn it!'
'Why is this guy so lucky?'
If only he had met Asher, if only the Beast Tamer Alliance on their side had a Asher.
Seeing this, President Robb gave a dry laugh.
"Alright, stop dreaming of impossible things."
"Professor Asher is the treasure of our NY City."
After speaking, President Robb waved his hand and left without looking back.
While taking Langdon and Lisa with him, President Robb's brain was spinning quickly.
'Hmm, still need to find a way to get this old guy off his current position.'
Otherwise, having someone constantly lurking in the shadows watching Asher, always thinking of secretly biting Asher from behind... it made President Robb very uncomfortable.
'Better to find a way to resolve this once and for all. Just get rid of this guy,' President Robb quickly came up with a plan.
No need to specifically set him up.
Just looking at President Q's usual conduct made it clear, he must have done plenty of shady things in private.
Just pay a little attention.
Catch some dirt.
A single report would hit the mark.
Thinking this, President Robb nodded in satisfaction.
'Great, let's proceed with this plan.'
———
Day broke in the secret realm.
Asher woke up early and crawled out of the tent with a few crooked-looking pet beasts.
There were three other tents beside his.
"Morning, Professor Asher," The person sitting by the nearly extinguished campfire greeted Asher.
Asher: "?"
Asher paused in his steps, looking at the person with puzzled eyes, "...Brother Sterling?"
Prince chuckled, "Yeah, it's me!"
Asher fell silent.
How to put it.
After all, they had come to a strange and dangerous unknown place.
Prince had a big heart, but Freya did not. So they still arranged normal night watches.
Because both Asher and Felter weren't particularly strong, at least compared to Prince and Freya, they were excluded from the night watch rotation.
Having Freya and Prince on duty was simpler.
Freya took the first half of the night.
Prince took the second half.
If they got tired, they could take a nap during the day.
But Asher never expected to see such a purified, dust-free version of Prince first thing in the morning.
No flashy accessories on him. Even his "Killer Mat" hairstyle had collapsed, replaced by normal bangs draped over his forehead.
The sides of his hair even curled strangely, making Asher hallucinate a husky.
"Hahaha, looks a bit weird, right?", Prince also noticed where Asher's gaze landed. He scratched his head awkwardly and said helplessly.
"When I got up for the night watch this morning, I realized my old man seemed to have thrown out all my hair gel and stuff."
"Sigh!", Prince let out a long sigh.
"I really don't know when our country will finally develop spatial folding equipment, like those spatial backpacks or space buttons… That would be so convenient," Prince muttered while tugging his hair.
Without hair gel, he was like a spirited young man without skinny jeans.
Couldn't bring up his energy at all.
Didn't even feel like doing a full matching look for himself.
No longer cool.
Might as well go minimalist and return to the basics.
Asher wanted to say something but held back.
Don't understand, but respect personal aesthetics.
After the brief surprise, Asher started his own morning routine.
Washing up. Took out food from his bag, not much, since they never planned to stay long in the secret realm.
Most of the food was easy-to-preserve and carry compressed biscuits.
"I'm going to see if there's any prey or something on this island," Asher said.
His pet beasts were all huge gluttons.
And one very important gluttonous jellyfish… cough, never mind that.
Better feed the other pet beasts first.
The jellyfish's food problem can wait till last.
"OK," Prince wasn't the nosy or meticulous type.
Asher set off.
Directionless, just relying on instinct.
And he just happened to want to explore the island.
He hadn't forgotten the Lightyear Dragon Rider's resistance to this island yesterday.
Still the same idea, Lightyear Dragon Rider was a Tier 9 Beast.
To make such a creature instinctively reject something, what kind of power must that be?
No matter how you think about it, there was only one possible answer.
Mythical creature energy.
But Asher also vaguely and instinctively felt something wasn't quite right?
"Angel, do you know what's going on?", Asher used the opportunity to ask Angel if it knew anything.
He didn't expect much, just a casual question.
But unexpectedly.
After a moment of silence, Angel actually gave Asher an answer.
"Sea Mirage. Mythical creature branch: Bixi(Dragon-Headed Turtle)."
Asher: "?"
'Huh?'
'Bixi?"
'Good lord.'
'These mythical creature branches really are...'
It was unexpected, yet somehow made sense to Asher.
"The prototype of the Mirage is a type of shellfish-like Beast," Angel continued.
Though it didn't use any adjectives, and the tone sounded purely factual, Asher raised his eyebrows.
'Shellfish?'
Easy to understand. In short, it's a marine creature with a shell on the outside.
But neither the pony form it showed yesterday, nor the pink-golden mist form they described, bore any resemblance to shellfish.
Angel wouldn't lie.
Angel would rather say Asher lacked the authority than lie in these things.
Then the issue must lie with the unicorn, Mirage.
"Interesting," Asher rubbed his chin, "At least when it communicated with us yesterday, I didn't sense any hostility."
"So here comes the question—", Asher paused, expression turning slightly complicated, "Did it deliberately deceive us, or does it truly believe that its original form is like that?"
Asher couldn't help thinking this way.
Because previously the Mirage, well, Asher still preferred calling it by appearance, Unicorn. The Unicorn had told them, there were others of its beast kind on the island.
If Asher and the others really wanted to visit them, and since they were cooperating without conflict, the Unicorn had no reason to refuse.
Whether it's true or not would be immediately obvious.
So would any Beast really tell such an easily debunked lie?
Asher wasn't sure.
He didn't think it was very likely.
But none of this was urgent.
With some interesting intel in hand, Asher felt even better.
Maybe it was his good mood, but Asher quite easily caught two rabbits.
Asher gave the commands, Little Raven and Cat-Worm did the catching.
Easily bagged two wild rabbits on the way back.
Asher even used a talent skill to check.
Not illusions.
Just ordinary rabbits.
"...But this island is weird. Who knows if eating these rabbits will cause any problems... shouldn't be, right?", As he spoke, Asher's expression didn't seem too sure.
But food had to be eaten anyway.
As long as there weren't major issues.
Asher returned with the live rabbits. Felter, who had also woken up, lit up when he saw them.
"I'll handle it!"
Compared to dry compressed biscuits and bottled water, delicious meat was what truly comforted their stomachs.
Even if having barbecue for breakfast felt a little weird?
Well, not the time to be picky.
Having food is enough.
Felter cheerfully went to prepare the rabbits.
Asher sat down to feed his pet beasts breakfast.
Ignore Angel.
But the remaining three, Little Raven, Cat-Worm, and the little white snake... all had pretty big appetites.
"Make do with this," Asher pulled out compressed biscuits, canned cat food, and various flavors of "cat strips" attribute energy bars.
The usually pampered pets looked visibly disgusted.
Little Raven: (￢_￢)
With a disgusted look, Little Raven came closer, took a bite, then another, eating very gracefully.
Cat-Worm and the little white snake?
Heh, these two weren't picky. Food is food.
And the energy bars tasted pretty good, designed to imitate cat treat flavors, precisely tuned to suit their respective...
Little Raven approached with a face full of dislike, took a bite, then took another bite, dining with an especially elegant posture.
Cat-Worm and Little White Snake? These two aren't picky.
As long as there's food, that's enough.
And the taste of the energy bar is quite good. In the end, it's designed to mimic the flavor of cat treats, able to precisely match the taste preferences of pet beasts with corresponding attributes.
Freya woke up to the aroma of barbecue.
"Eating this well so early in the morning?", Freya quickly tidied herself up, then crawled out of the tent, "Leave some for me too!"
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