After cleaning up his new room, Xie Tao had to start working right away. Including him, there were only four caretakers in the club, and the manpower was not sufficient.
It was time for the cubs to eat.
Xie Tao was still wondering about what the cubs of other races would look like, and as soon as he walked into the feeding place of the cubs… He saw a group of small fluffy velvet balls.
Only two of them were not fluffy, the muka cub he approached when he walked in and… A mermaid cub that was placed in a small wooden bucket full of water.
A mermaid… For the first time, he could see this creature that, from where he came from, only existed in tales and dreams. He couldn't help but take another look.
It had a fishtail and the upper body of the mermaid cub looked like a two year old human baby. Maybe all mermaids had a racial advantage in looks, because the cub was very beautiful and it was hard to determine its gender. However there was no expression on its face and there was a feeling of being too quiet.
Feeling the stare, the mermaid cub looked over and when he met the blue eyes of the cub, Xie Tao finally reacted and turned towards his colleague he had been introduced to before.
"Does this cub usually stay in the wooden bucket? There's no pool in our branch?" Xie Tao asked this question as he walked over.
When it comes to mermaids, the scene that people most easily associate with should be a blue ocean, but the mermaid cub in front of Xie Tao could only stay in a small wooden bucket. No matter how you looked at it, it really entangled with Xie Tao's impression of the story of the Little Mermaid.
"There is none." Lin Yi did not deny the previous question of Xie Tao, only nodded. "At least no functioning one. Although we have one in the courtyard outside the house, that pool has already been dried up. The bottom of the pool is now full of dead leaves."
After saying this, Lin Yi looked at the human youth next to him that seemed to be lost in thoughts. He couldn't help but ask with a strange expression: "You aren't thinking about cleaning up the pool for this cub? It's useless, that pool's circulation device is broken, even if you clean the pool and fill it with water, you can't change the water later."
Besides, they only get 1800 a month, simply doing their job every day was more than enough. Why bother working harder for others?
Xie Tao did not say what he had been thinking and only vaguely responded.
Xia Qi had said that there were a total of twelve cubs that need to be taken care of in their club. Among them, there were three cubs that were still in their eggs which were currently in the hatching chamber.
There were only four caretakers to take care of the cubs in the club and there were of course many things to do, therefore some cubs had to wait for a long time.
Xia Qi was busy brewing the milk powder and the other two colleagues seem to deliberately ignore the muka cub who was next to Xie Tao. Seeing this situation, Xie Tao understood.
Xia Qi had no time to take care of this muka cub, and the other two were unwilling to care for it and intend to push it away from their hands.
If it were before, the two men would have nudged at each other and avoided it to the end, then someone would have reluctantly prepare food for the muka cub. But now, Xie Tao took the initiative to do it.
In the past, he had to wait until the end to eat. The muka cub didn't really think much about this. He was usually watching the caretakers prepare food and feeding the other cubs while waiting.
For economic reasons, the food they provide to the cubs was the cheaper common powder rations, which was mixed with the nutrient-specific packets. The taste was not good, but it filled their stomachs.
After having observed the actions of his colleagues, Xie Tao poured the two powers together and mixed it with water.
The muka cub was waiting peacefully, but because of its large and scary exterior it always looked slightly aggressive even if it didn't do anything. Its scarlet eyes looked fierce and cold. But when the dangerous creature looked over at the young man and saw him put a bowl in front of him, his eyes seemed to become a little softer and he instinctively made a low humming sound from his throat.
Looking up at the youth, he confirmed that the food was for him. He then lowered their heads and began to eat.
The serving of food was barely enough to make the muka cub full, but this time it only ate less than half, the muka cub then pushed the bowl to the youth.
Any living resource was invaluable, especially food – this was imprinted in the muka' s instinct.
As a six-month-old muka cub, he obviously did not know how other races survive. Only his innate instinct told him that he had to fight for himself in adulthood in order to live and procure living resources.
But the human youth in front of him had no fighting ability. How would he be able to survive?
Perhaps it was impossible to understand things that were too complicated with the intelligence of lower races, but because of this, their direction of thinking was much simpler–
The cub thought that as long as he divides the living resources obtained into half with the youth, as long as he grew up, he would fight harder to get enough for them both.
Seeing the cub pushing the bowl over to himself, Xie Tao squatted down to take it away but stopped when he noticed that half of it was still left. The large cub lowered his head and made a lower snarling sound than before. Xie Tao suddenly understood.
"I don't need to…" It was impossible to say that he did not feel touched at the bottom of his heart. Xie Tao pushed the bowl back and then reached out to affectionately touch the large cub."Baby."
After persuading the cub to eat, Xie Tao moved his gaze to the side and noticed that Xia Qi was putting the white liquid into several small bottles, thinking that he should help, he stood up.
However, after just taking two steps, a white fluffy ball grabbed on to his trouser and made Xie Tao temporarily unable to walk. It was not that he physically could not walk, but the fact that if he moved, he would definitely kick the small cub.
Xie Tao looked down at the ball.
The elliptical ears, thick but not long tail, the fat that made it look like a chubby ball of fluff… Was this really an alien cub? It really reminded him of a…
Although the cub looked like a bunny, it and the rabbits from earth and had nothing in common, actually it wouldn't even eat carrot if offered. Because, despite how unimaginable it sounded, it was feline, a cub of a ferocious wild carnivore specie.
When the young man had said "baby", there had been a feeling of being called and because of the tone of the voice was too soft and not directed at him, it had felt like scorn, like he had been disregarded. The cub had therefore lifted its head and walked to the youth and grabbed onto the other's leg.
Xie Tao didn't know the reason. He only thought that this young cub liked to catch moving objects and he had just happened to pass by.
"This is the cub of the takila race. You can feed it." Xia Qi had turned around and seen the scene. She therefore walked over and stuffed a small bottle into Xie Tao's hand.
Xia Qi had actually been stunned for a second. In her memory, this takila cub did not like to be close to others.
This was probably also related to racial nature. Among the many races among the stars, the takilas generally had excellent individual combat capabilities, which made them more inclined to be independent, even in the cub period. There was no exception.
So this scene in front of her eyes was very strange.
Holding the bottle and squatting down, Xie Tao tried to calm down and not let himself appear nervous. Theoretically, he knew how to feed with a bottle, but how do you actually do it…?
Xie Tao decided to first remove the two small front paws of the takila from his leg, he then sat down with his legs crossed and tried to reach out and touch the fluff on the back of the takila cub.
The fur really was very fluffy and thick. The tip of the hair was very light and at first glance it seemed to have a rough frosty cold texture, but when Xie Tao touched it, he could only feel softness.
The short ball of a tail was lifted up and then lowered. This takila cub, who looked like a baby rabbit, innocently blinked under the touch of the young man and lightly made some sounds of content.
While carefully stroking it, Xie Tao used his other hand to shake the bottle and check its temperature. When he felt that the temperature was right, Xie Tao nudged it lightly again the cub's mouth and it opened and started feeding.
While it fed, Xie Tao continued stroking the back of the cub.
The sounds of the takila cub caused the other cubs to shift their attention towards the youth. He was a stranger that they had never seen before, but seeing the youth's tender touch on takila cub they felt that he wasn't bad. The young cubs continued staring at this picture.
Other caretakers did not do this extra thing when feeding them.
After drinking milk, the takila cub refused to go. He licked the young man's hand with his small tongue and lowered his head to sniff the smell of the young man. After noting down his scent, the cub jumped up on the youth's leg and refused to let go. The cute little tail was moving from time to time and it seemed very content.
The weight pressed on the leg made Xie Tao laugh a little, and when he heard its low hum that was suspiciously close to the sound of a purring cat, he couldn't help but stretch out his fingers to touch the long ears of the takila cub.
The ears were sensitive and the cub moved its body a bit as soon as it was touched, but he did not escape the youth's touch. He just tilted his head a bit and moved his eyes to look up at the slender fingers touching his ear.
In theory, the aloof takila race did not like it when people treated them like this, this applies even to their own parents.
If someone was to force them to be close to them, the biggest possibility would be that they would get attacked and forever be seen as an enemy.
The cubs of the takila race were also the same, and if their personal space were to be invaded, they would definitely not be happy.
Xie Tao didn't know this. Hearing its continued humming/purring, he reached out and touched the head of the takila cub, then its back, and finally he touched the particularly fluffy tail.
There was no resistance during the whole process. If the childcare staff of other nursing clubs saw this scene, they would immediately suspect that there was an illusion in front of them.
This is not a takila cub at all, fake!
_________________
Translator's note:
We finally got to meet some new cubs! *\(^o^)/*
I know that you all have been looking forward to it and so have I.
Be honest now, how many died of cuteness in this chapter? Show of hands.
Haha, well I hope you have more than nine lives, because there are still many cubs to look forward to, as well as interaction with the ones we already met.（≧∇≦）
Now, since the author seemed to have posted a picture, I also have one for you: