CHAPTER 107: CHAPTER 107: WORRYING ABOUT ZERRA

"Zerra?" Alaric sucked in a deep breath when he saw the white fluff tumbling to the door with unsteady steps.

How did his youngest daughter become like this?

When he turned to his wife, the look in her eyes mirrored his. Full of horror. She stuttered, "Zerra... h-how did she b-became like this?"

Alaric took one last look and recognized the snow-white fox in an instant. It was the same fox that had run toward him the moment he woke up.

At first, he thought he was hallucinating. The fox might be Cassias’ pet, which might have gone loose, but the fox’s strange behavior and how it kept looking at him with its clear eyes.

He didn’t understand what her gaze meant back then, but now he did. Zerra was worried about them!

Before Zerra could stumble on her own steps, he hurriedly got out of the bed and scooped her up. He glanced around the hallway, slamming the door shut vigilantly. Then, he brought Zerra to his wife, who was looking at the sleeping white fluff in a daze.

"Is this alright?" Nerith studied the exhausted fox in her husband’s palm worriedly.

Her size was similar to that of a half-grown cat. The fur was very soft. She looked so small that even Alaric was scared he would accidentally hurt her.

"Cassias seems to know about her condition. He might have an answer for this question," Alaric said after a while.

It was unknown whether Zerra was sleeping or unconscious. Her breathing was steady, but her small face showed signs of exhaustion. Why would she be so tired?

The memory of the tentacle falling flashed before his eyes. He remembered. It was Zerra who had brought some sort of weapon and charged forward to cut the tentacle off the octopus monster.

Worried that her condition was unusual, Alaric decided to call Cassias.

"The world is so strange right now. Many weird things appear. Hopefully, Zerra’s condition isn’t detrimental to her," Alaric muttered.

It took a while for Nerith to respond to him. She asked in a hesitant tone, her eyes fixed on the adorable, sleeping fox. "Did you have a fox bloodline from your ancestor?"

"What kind of nonsense–" Alaric stopped himself, falling silent. He wanted to tell her it was nonsense, but the proof was right in front of them. Their daughter had turned into a fox!

"Why do you think so?" He changed his words.

Nerith coughed. "You are as cunning as a fox."

Alaric’s mouth twitched. He didn’t know whether his wife was praising or mocking him. One has to be cunning to survive the apocalypse, but why does it also sound so wrong at the same time?

"Go, go find Cassias," Nerith finally urged her husband when she saw him frowning. They needed to know what had happened to Zerra quickly. Unfortunately, her hands were injured, and she couldn’t hold Zerra. So, Alaric put the snow-white fox on top of a pillow.

Back then, he didn’t understand why Cassias would spoil a fox so much... but the fox turned out to be his daughter. Of course, his mentality changed. His daughter deserved to be spoiled!

"Don’t forget to close the door. Lock it if needed." Nerith reminded him.

Alaric nodded and walked out of the room. It was still surreal. They suddenly saw their daughter transforming into a fox before their own eyes.

He had heard about people gaining superpowers. After all, he was one of them now. However, he had never heard of anyone turning into animals, so Zerra’s case was a bit unusual.

Even with Cassias’ attitude of not revealing Zerra’s secret to her own parents, he couldn’t find fault with him. People were getting more and more lawless. The less people who knew about Zerra’s condition, the better.

He didn’t want malicious people to set their sights on Zerra.

"Cassias, are you inside?" He knocked on the door.

Not long after, the door was opened. "Can I talk to you for a while? It’s something important."

Laziel watched the interaction between his dad and Cassias curiously. Cassias was about to help him practice his water ability and even promised him a high-level crystal core with water attributes.

Cassias immediately nodded, following Alaric to his room.

The moment he entered the room, his pupils constricted upon seeing the white fluff on a pillow beside Nerith. His expression grew serious. "What happened...?"

"We already know this is Zerra," Alaric bluntly told him, holding up the pillow that has Zerra on it.

Cassias’ hand itched, wanting to snatch the pillow from Alaric’ hand. It took a lot of his will not to do what his impulse told him to do.

Alas, Alaric was Zerra’s parent. He could win against her siblings, but not her parents. Now, besides him, there were two more people who knew that Zerra could turn into a fox.

"Is this condition alright? Will it affect her?" Nerith’s question snapped him out of his surprised daze.

"If she fell unconscious, she should have been too tired," Cassias muttered. She must have been too tired to step out of the door. To the point of her parents witnessing her fox transformation.

She might not even realize her parents had found out her little secret. When she woke up and discovered that, Zerra would be in utter shock.

"The fox transformation shouldn’t be dangerous, right? It isn’t some kind of fox spirit attaching itself to Zerra, making her life in danger?" Nerith continued to bombard him with questions.

"So far, it does not have any significant effect on her." Cassias explained. He had scanned her condition and determined there wasn’t any danger every time she turned into a fox. "It also isn’t some kind of fox spirit. The fox is part of herself."

Strangely, even Zerra was much more lively in her fox form, as if she was more used to it compared to her human form.

The parents visibly heaved a sigh of relief when they heard Cassias’ explanation. They inexplicably trusted him, especially after Alaric explained to his wife how Cassias had treated Zerra well. He even spoiled her.

"You can give Zerra to me," Cassias suddenly said. "I will give her something to replenish her energy."

Alaric hesitated for a bit before he handed Zerra over to Cassias, who proceeded to drop some kind of water on Zerra’s little mouth. They watched as her mouth twitched, subconsciously licked the water on Cassias’ small pipette.

"This is...? What kind of water is that?" Alaric asked.

"It’s spring water." Cassias didn’t explain further.

Alaric understood that it might have been Cassias’ secret, so he didn’t press further for details. As long as Cassias wouldn’t harm his daughter.

They both seemed to have become very close too...

Speaking of secrets, in the apocalypse, it was better to keep one’s treasure hidden. The last incident was also caused by people’s greed. The criminals accidentally saw him taking out items from thin air when he and his wife thought no one was nearby.

It ended up getting them into trouble.

The items came from the ring given by Zerra, and besides him, there was no one else who could access it. So, the criminals failed to find the secret even after they tried the ring.

His wife, upon discovering the secret of the ring, was eager to drip her blood into it too. They needed to ask Zerra about those rings when she woke up later.

Somehow, he felt that his youngest daughter had become very mysterious.

After a while, Zerra’s paw twitched, and she clutched the pipette Cassias had used for her to drink. Slowly, she opened her eyes and blinked.

She blinked once.

Twice.

There were still people in this room.

Then, she froze when she realized what had happened.