"I’m back! Are you little ones hungry?"

  Just as Su Bai was having a staring contest with the little tortoise at his feet, his father's rough voice echoed through the house—Su Bai's parents had returned from work.

  Su Xiaomei, who had been hiding in her room, quickly opened her door and dashed towards her father.

  "Dad, Su Bai bullied your little darling! He even wants to stew your pet tortoise and eat it!"

  Su Xiaomei complained pitifully, as if tears were about to fall at any moment.

  Su Bai, who had just opened his door, was instantly petrified: When did I ever bully you? But I really do want to stew that glutton!

  Su Bai's father, named Su Zihao, naturally knew his daughter's personality. He didn't take it seriously at first, but when he subconsciously glanced at the fish tank where he kept the little tortoise, he found it was indeed missing!

  Su Zihao looked at Su Bai with a hint of curiosity. Stewing it was impossible—Su Bai couldn't cook. He was waiting for Su Bai to explain.

  Su Bai shrugged helplessly and said, "Dad, I awakened as a superpowered individual!"

  "Oh, you awakened a superpower..."

  Initially, Su Zihao repeated Su Bai's words naturally, but the next second, he froze.

  Then, his eyes locked onto Su Bai, filled with disbelief.

  Even his wide-open mouth couldn't stop trembling.

  "What? What did you say?"

  "Say it again?"

  Su Bai sighed, "I awakened as a superpowered individual."

  "What? I didn't hear you, say it again!"

  Su Bai: …………

  "You became a superpowered individual? You're not lying to me, are you?"

  Su Zihao still looked at Su Bai with disbelief.

  The awakening of a superpowered individual was a one-in-a-thousand chance, although Old Su had once dreamed of it.

  But Old Su was a practical man; he knew how ordinary the Su family lineage was, just common folks for generations.

  Awakening as a superpowered individual?

  Isn't that a joke?

  For a moment, the house fell into an eerie silence, with a mix of skepticism and anticipation, everyone held their breath and looked at Su Bai.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Seeing the disbelief in his family's eyes, Su Bai nodded helplessly, "It's true, I've said it so many times."

  After Su Bai's repeated emphasis, the family finally believed him.

  Naturally, his parents were overjoyed beyond measure.

  "Our Su family has a superpowered individual now, hahaha, this is great! Let's see who dares to say my son is useless now! My son, you've made us proud, so proud!"

  No wonder Old Su was so excited. As long as one could become a superpowered individual, they could basically get a direct admission to Martial Academy. After entering, at the very least, they could secure a decent position, effectively elevating them from ordinary folks.

  This was truly a matter of bringing honor to the family!

  The one who found it hardest to accept Su Bai becoming a superpowered individual was Su Xiaomei. Su Bai was just playing around with her moments ago!

  How did he suddenly awaken as a superpowered individual? Do I really have a superpowered brother now?

  Su Xiaomei asked suspiciously, "Why does it still feel unreal? So, what superpower did you awaken?"

  "The ability I know so far is to tame exotic beasts and evolved beasts. Just today, I noticed our little tortoise seemed to be evolving, so I tamed it.

  Although the little tortoise's strength isn't that great, the school just announced today that as long as you're a superpowered individual, you can skip the cultural exams and directly enroll in Martial Academy."

  To get some extra allowance for raising the little tortoise, Su Bai had no choice but to report the truth to his parents.

  Of course, he couldn't mention anything about the system or the Basalt.

  Upon hearing that the little tortoise had turned into an evolved beast, Su Bai's parents and Su Xiaomei immediately clamored to see it.

  Before Su Zihao went to work this morning, the little tortoise was only the size of a fist, but now it was as big as a plate.

  Its size had more than doubled! Its weight had also increased several times, feeling heavy in hand.

  "If it weren't for the unchanged patterns on its shell, I'd suspect Su Bai brought back another tortoise from outside!"

  "In just one day, it grew so much. If it keeps growing and becomes a moving little mountain, then Su Bai's superpower is really impressive!"

  "Since Su Bai became a superpowered individual and Little Eight also evolved, it's a double blessing. We must keep it!"

  As the family excitedly discussed, Su Bai scratched his head and said, "Dad, Little Eight has a flaw—it's a big eater. Raising it might cost a bit more... ahem..."

  Su Zihao dismissed it, saying, "How much can a tortoise eat? Don't worry, I'll cover the cost!"

  With that, Su Zihao pulled out his wallet and took out all the thousand yuan inside, slamming it onto the table with a loud thud.

  Su Bai awkwardly coughed.

  He discreetly pocketed the thousand yuan and continued watching Old Su without saying a word.

  Old Su also felt something was off, "This thousand yuan should be enough for a year's worth of food. Even if it's an evolved beast and eats more, it should still be enough."

  Su Bai suddenly felt a bit sorry for Old Su, "It finished all ten pounds of feed you had."

  Su Zihao laughed, "It's just ten pounds of feed, not much!"

  "And it also ate the piece of pork and leftovers in the fridge."

  Su Bai's mother said, "It's okay, pork isn't much either."

  "And twenty pounds of rice, five pounds of flour, a bag of vegetables, and all the bread, all gone."

  Su Zihao fell silent.

  Su Bai's mother also fell silent.

  It had eaten everything edible in the house!

  A big bag of feed was only about two hundred yuan. For the sake of their child's future, the Su family could grit their teeth and afford it.

  But adding up everything Su Bai mentioned, the total value was no less than five hundred yuan!

  The combined daily wage of Su Bai's parents was just over three hundred yuan!

  Su Zihao took out a cigarette and slowly lit it. He rarely smoked in front of the kids, but at this moment, he felt immense pressure.

  If the child had no talent, it would be fine. After all, Su Bai was always sleeping in class. After he graduated high school, Su Zihao could take him to work in the factory and earn a bit more.

  But since the child had awakened a superpower, essentially guaranteeing admission to Martial Academy, how could he, as a father, let his own lack of ability hold back his child?

  After exhaling a smoke ring, Su Zihao asked, "Wife, how much savings do we have left?"

  "A little over thirty thousand. Xiaomei is about to start high school, and her grades are good. We were saving this money for her cram school."

  After weighing the options, Su Zihao said, "Take out ten thousand. Tomorrow I'll go to the feed wholesale market and see if buying in bulk gets us a discount. I'll figure out the money for Xiaomei's cram school later. We can't delay Su Bai's matter."

  The Su family was originally quite poor, and seeing their parents so torn over his situation, Su Bai felt a bit guilty.

  "Dad, this thousand yuan is enough. I've done some research on raising tortoises.

  It doesn't necessarily have to eat feed. We can buy some cheaper things for it to eat. A thousand yuan will last a long time.

  This creature is tough; it's not that picky!"

  In truth, Su Bai himself didn't know what to feed Little Eight to make it grow fast and save money, but he decided it would be better to find a way to fund Little Eight's upkeep himself.

  If raising Little Eight ended up delaying his sister and placing such a burden on the family, Su Bai wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

  With that, the matter was settled with his family.

  ***

  The night passed without incident.

  The next morning, on his way to school, Su Bai was deep in thought about how to feed the little tortoise.

  From the feeding last night, Su Bai clearly noticed that the little tortoise's appetite seemed limitless.

  And as the tortoise's size continued to grow, so did its food intake.

  This thing was practically a bottomless pit!

  Who knew how much it would cost to feed it in the future!

  Just as Su Bai was contemplating whether he should just stew it, he caught sight of a rather unreliable-looking advertisement on a utility pole a few hundred meters from the school.

  "High prices for exotic beast bones, blood, fur. Interested parties, contact: 137xxxxxxx..."

  Su Bai's eyes lit up immediately!