"Professor Asher and the others weren't injured, right?", Professor Hubert pulled out his phone again, looking at the message once more as if uncertain, "Hmm..."
Professor Desmond: "?"
'No? Is there a twist again?'
"The message didn't explain in detail, but judging from the wording... they probably did encounter something a bit unsafe in the small secret realm?", Professor Hubert said, not too sure.
Professor Desmond was completely confused.
'What is all this this?'
'We must contact Asher directly.'
'Otherwise, I won't be able to sleep tonight.'
———
After finishing the call with Asher, Professor Desmond's expression gradually turned serious.
Standing beside him, having overheard the conversation with Asher, Professor Hubert also began to narrow his eyes bit by bit.
They really did run into danger?
If it hadn't been for a stroke of luck, a bit of fortune, would they really have not made it out?
The two of them exchanged a glance.
"There should be a summary report about this incident, right?"
"Don't know if we'll be able to see it."
There must be more stories behind this.
That's the one annoying thing about phone calls. Without face-to-face communication, there's always something that can't be clearly conveyed.
"How about we go find Professor Asher later?", Professor Desmond was still young, his brain worked fast.
He quickly came up with a suitable excuse.
"Academic exchange, this is a totally natural thing to do."
Ahem! If other people can use that excuse, so can they.
———
On the other side, as soon as Asher arrived at the Sterling family home, he received concerned phone calls from the two professors.
He briefly said a few words.
After hanging up the phone, Asher noticed the table in front of him was already full of various fruits, snacks, and other food.
Asher: "?"
'I really just made a phone call, not like I have been gone half the day?'
'Otherwise, how do you explain this New Year-level feast?'
"Asher, right?", A gentle-looking middle-aged woman with a side ponytail walked out of the kitchen holding a jug of fruit juice, smiling.
Seeing Asher had put away his phone, she greeted him kindly.
"I'm Prince and Felter's mother, just call me Aunt Mia," As she spoke, she also greeted Freya, and her gaze toward Freya was quite warm.
Freya: *whole body stiff*
From time to time, Freya cast resentful glances at Prince and Felter beside her.
'Such a gentle mom, I want one too.'
Thinking of her own mother... Freya shivered.
'Damn it! Why are all the good moms someone else's?'
"Freya, did you want to eat this? It's all yours."
Facts proved, there was absolutely no tacit understanding between Prince and Freya, their thought patterns weren't even on the same channel.
On the side, Felter, who understood Freya's gaze, covered his face.
Don't ask how he understood, with his EQ.
If you ask, it's because people who wanted his mom to be their mom, he'd encountered way too many since childhood.
Felter didn't even want to have this habit, he was already used to it.
Asher: "..."
'Not gonna lie, the brilliance of maternal love is indeed a bit too dazzling.'
He was illuminated too.
Asher smiled and nodded, casually picked up something from the table to eat.
Tasted pretty good.
Asher ate seriously, even a little tempted to let his pet beasts out so everyone could eat together.
Little Jellyfish: 'That's totally doable!'
Asher: 'Let's put that on hold for now.'
When he came out of the small secret realm, Asher had already put all the pet beasts back into the spirit sea beast-taming space.
The main reason was Little Jellyfish.
Inside the small secret realm, due to the safety issues, the others didn't think too much. More shocked, but mostly just relieved.
But after coming out...
If possible, Asher felt it was still necessary to temporarily reduce Little Jellyfish's presence.
A box jellyfish something-something... really was fearsomely famous.
"Speaking of which...", Aunt Mia looked at Asher and said softly, "This child looks a bit familiar."
Asher: "?"
Old Hank suddenly slapped his thigh, scooted next to his wife, and said with full agreement, "You have that feeling too, right?"
"I felt it too!"
"But I just can't recall."
As soon as he finished, Prince and Felter looked at him simultaneously.
"Alzheimer's?"
"Terminal?"
Old Hank: "..."
'Good sons? These are really my good sons?'
'What on earth are they thinking all day long.'
"Because your memory is so good," Aunt Mia chuckled softly. The previously angry Old Hank was instantly happy again after being coaxed by his wife.
"Exactly!", Old Hank lifted his chin, full of confidence, "Anyone I've seen, I can remember."
"Then how come you think Asher looks familiar but can't recall who?"
Family always tears you down best. Just as Old Hank finished, Felter eagerly tore into him.
Old Hank: "..."
Old Hank gave his stinky kid a vicious glare.
'Say one less word and save your dad's life, will you?'
"I recalled everyone I could, and none looked like this kid," Old Hank pouted, a bit disgruntled.
"I'm sure there's no one who looks like this kid, but for some reason, he still seems familiar."
"It's that kind of...", Old Hank frowned, waving his hands trying to explain, but couldn't clearly explain the feeling after all that effort.
Prince nodded: "Got it, I got it."
Old Hank was about to smile in relief, thinking this son might still be redeemable, then heard Prince continue.
"It's that kind of familiar like when you're old and forgetful, but unwilling to admit it."
Double kill.
Old Hank: "..."
Old Hank rolled up his sleeves and was ready to beat his son.
Aunt Mia just smiled watching from the side, not stepping in to stop them, letting this act of loving father and filial sons unfold.
Freya's mouth twitched.
"Aunt Mia, you...", Freya looked at the gentle woman nearby, hesitating to speak.
"It's okay," Aunt Mia smiled and shook her head, "They're always like this, you'll get used to it."
Freya fell silent.
'This kind of thing... is really kind of hard to get used to.'
Asher, Freya, and Aunt Mia sat by the table, enjoying afternoon tea while watching the father-son brawl not far away.
As they ate, Aunt Mia seemed to remember something, looked at Asher again, and after confirming several times, finally said, "Ah, I think I suddenly remembered what looked familiar."
"The eyes."
"It's the eyes."
Asher: "?"
Hearing his wife, Old Hank also stopped chasing his two unfilial sons, turned to look at Asher.
Then showed an expression of sudden realization.
"No wonder."
"Don't keep us hanging, give us the details," Felter had somehow already returned to the table, poured himself a glass of water, gulped it down. Spoke without any restraint.
Old Hank rolled his eyes, sat down, and directly snatched the teapot from Felter.
"The eyes… yes indeed."
Old Hank thought for a moment, seemed like he wanted to say something, but then remembered something.
After Asher became famous, there were online entries about him. Including background information.
Back then, out of curiosity, Old Hank glanced at them briefly.
He originally thought that for Asher to be this capable, it must be due to family legacy, accumulation over generations.
Didn't expect… Asher was an orphan. Let alone background.
Even daily living had to rely on government policies for support.
But precisely because of this, it proved even more, Asher's success wasn't because of anything else. It was due to his own talent and ability. He was born to do this.
"It's okay," Asher immediately saw what Old Hank was conflicted about, and calmly said, "Uncle means someone you've met had eyes similar to mine, right?"
Old Hank nodded.
"But that doesn't necessarily mean there's any connection between us. Unlike facial features, eyes can often just coincidentally look alike, right?"
Except for that super distinctive Rothschild family with their special eyes and lower lashes. Otherwise, it's really hard to tell resemblance just from eyes.
"That's not necessarily true...", Old Hank rubbed his chin, said hesitantly, "I don't know why, but when I see your eyes, I really feel they look like his?"
"Maybe it's not just the eyes?"
Saying that, Old Hank paused and nodded, confirming his own thoughts, "It's definitely not just the eyes. It's also that aura you carry."
"Combined with the eyes, that's why I felt a bit of familiarity."
"Right, dear? You feel the same way," Old Hank turned to Aunt Mia, wanting to confirm if they had the same idea.
Aunt Mia smiled and nodded, "Yes indeed."
"But if that's the case, there probably isn't any connection between Dr. Axel and Professor Asher?"
"Maybe it really is just a coincidence?"
Before Asher could say anything, Felter looked at Aunt Mia in surprise.
"Huh?"
"Dr. Axel? That Dr. Axel?"
"The one Dad always talks about, the young Dr. Axel who saved his life?"
Asher perked up a bit at hearing this, "Sounds like there's an interesting story there."
Old Hank chuckled and gave Asher a brief explanation. Just happened to remember it.
"That was over twenty years ago."
"Back then I was still a gold-digger, no matter how careful, there was still youthful recklessness in me."
Got into conflict with someone in the Red Mill Mountains. The other party was a beast tamer. Not that powerful. But it didn't matter. The gap between beast tamers and ordinary people is just that huge, if you get wounded by their pet beast, you could easily die.
And Old Hank wasn't just lightly wounded. The opponent had targeted him deliberately.
Just because he made more money in this line of work, he got targeted out of envy.
Even though he used his rich experience to hide. Wounded, bleeding, he was unable to get out of the Red Mill Mountains.
Even if he escaped for the moment, he'd eventually die from blood loss or infected wounds.
"That's when I met Dr. Axel," Old Hank smiled lightly, "Guess it wasn't my time to die."
"Back then, though the Red Mill Mountains weren't as convoluted as now, it still had a maze of caves. Yet Dr. Axel, an outsider, happened to run into me."
"And saved me."
Really was a simple story.
"From what Uncle said, sounds like Dr. Axel wasn't that old either?", Asher didn't think much of it, casually chatting.
"Uh... back then, Dr. Axel was probably only eighteen or nineteen?", Old Hank looked up in thought, then nodded in confirmation.
Old Hank looked at Asher, "Eyes kind of similar, and also that... scholar vibe? Genius aura? Anyway, a similar presence."
"That's probably why I found you familiar."
"Eighteen or nineteen and already treating and saving lives...", Asher, who previously thought nothing of it, was now a bit surprised.
As long as you pick the right major, every year is final exam season.
You think that line was a joke? Even in another world, some things don't change.
For example, studying medicine.
Huge workload. Studying and studying endlessly upward, that's already considered normal.
To become an officially registered, on-duty doctor at thirty could already be called outstanding.
Let alone an eighteen or nineteen-year-old doctor.
Did he really study? Or did he just receive the acceptance letter?
"Hahaha! A genius, you know."
Having been saved once, Old Hank didn't think it odd at all, nodded naturally.
"Dr. Axel was someone who loved freedom, liked to travel all over."
"Back then Dr. Axel said his medical skills were passed down in the family, not Western medicine, but more of a traditional style."
"Traveling from city to city, country to country, was to collect more herbs, special resources, and so on and so forth."
Old Hank looked at Asher, "Compared to you, Professor Asher, Dr. Axel's genius level doesn't seem so exaggerated."
Asher: "Ahem!"
'Not the same, not the same. Probably a different premise.'
"Actually, I think, maybe this person really has some connection to Professor Asher?", Prince, listening in, stroked his chin.
Putting on a detective-thinking pose, said seriously, "Dad, you said this was over twenty years ago. That kind of fits Professor Asher's age."
Asher isn't even twenty yet.
Old Hank: "Eh?"
'Now that you mention it... kind of possible?'
"Too bad we don't have Dr. Axel's contact information," Old Hank said regretfully.
Asher: 'Calm down. This is getting more and more ridiculous.'
But suddenly Asher got a little curious.
'This Dr. Axel probably doesn't have much to do with me. But theoretically, I should have had parents, right?'
Asher subconsciously recalled, 'The time World Tree mistook me for its descendant.'
'Hmm... What exactly is the deal with my parents?'
'How could they even be connected to a Tier 9 Beast?'
Asher's thoughts began to soar uncontrollably.
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