Chapter 6: granddaughter worries

Vermilion Bay Garden.

This was a neighborhood that seemed quite ordinary. The buildings were shabby and aged.

Carlton walked with his hands clasped behind his back. He was in a superb mood. He walked the sacred flame raven back to the neighborhood, leisurely and carefree. Along the way, he met some old friends, some with their pets, or with their better halves. They were also strolling in the neighborhood park.

"Old Cal, you're walking that silly bird again…"

"You're walking your better half as well…"

"Pff, you're walking your better half!"

"Old Cal is old but still licentious. Let's go…"

An old couple hurried away.

Carlton laughed once their bickering was done. He took the scared flame raven back to his building; then he took out his keys and opened the door.

He stepped into the elevator and rode to the sixth floor.

He lived in room 621.

As soon as he opened the door, Carlton could tell that someone else had arrived. The most obvious mark was that the several sets of dirty clothed he threw by his door were gone!

"Was it a burglary?"

Carlton did not panic; rather, he was quite calm. He changed his shoes in the foyer and headed to the living room. He saw two people sitting there and smelled some delicious dishes coming from the kitchen.

"Grandpa, you're back." The two young people sitting on the couch stood up at once.

From their reactions, the girl was livelier. Her eyes glowed as she saw Carlton. She ran over cheerfully and said, "Grandpa, we've been waiting for you for a long time."

Carlton smiled and patted the girl's head. "How come you have time to visit me today?"

"I missed you, grandpa," The girl said with honeyed words.

"Well, aren't you sweet?" Carlton pinched her nose.

The other young man that was standing by the couch smiled fatuously. "Grandpa, didn't you say that your Sacred Flame Raven had no appetite and would not eat? I asked someone in my team to get something birds of the fire family love. I'm here to deliver them to you today.

"Thank you for your trouble." nodded.

"You're welcome. This is what I should do." The young man scratched his head, smiling quietly.

The girl ran to the side of the living room and took out a metal case. She waved at the Sacred Flame Raven. "Bentley, come here. These are all for you."

She opened the case and over a dozen varieties of pet food were revealed, including flowers, fruits, grasses, and even sealed cans with worms in them. All of it was food favored by birds.

Carlton threw a look and said to the Sacred Flame Raven behind him. "Come on and take a look. Someone brought you some nice food."

Being a gold rank pet, the Sacred Flame Raven was quite intelligent. It had been showing a lack of interest and only stepped over reluctantly after Carlton had said so. The Sacred Flame Raven stuck out its head and took a look at the goods, then it turned around right away. Its eyes were filled with laziness. The bird nestled on the ground, not intrigued at all.

"Well…"

The girl was surprised. She didn't foresee that the Sacred Flame Raven would ignore her like this. How come it wasn't interested when there were so many delicacies?

The young man standing next to her was stunned as well. He felt the situation was awkward.

Carlton, on the other hand, was not taken aback. He tried coaxing the Sacred Flame Raven into eating several of the treats the young man had brought but none of them worked.

"Grandpa, your bird is not coming down with something strange, is it?" The girl couldn't help but consider the possibility as she saw the Sacred Flame Raven lying on the ground, low-spirited.

Carlton raised his eyebrows. He would have had the same idea on any other day. However, he was convinced that it was because of the food, after he witnessed with his own eyes how happy the Sacred Flame Raven was when it enjoyed the food in the Farm Shop.

"It has been losing appetite recently and will not eat any of the usual food. I suppose it will be better after some time." Carlton answered calmly and sat down on the side to rest.

The young man's eyes flickered. Building on what Carlton said, the young man proposed, "If so, grandpa, why don't you bring it uptown with us. We have the best hospitals for soul Pets there and where they can be cured. Problems should be solved timely to avoid things going wrong in the future. It will be quite convenient."

Carlton snorted. "I already said my piece, I'm not going anywhere."

1The young man expression's changed. He said nothing else.

"Grandpa, you don't want to go but you have to consider it for Bentley's sake. It won't last long if it continues to go on a hunger strike like this. You cannot simply wait for it to starve to death and do nothing about it!" The girl tried to persuade him from another perspective, using a different way to solve the problem.

Hearing this, Carlton raised his eyebrows. Somehow, he felt smug. "It won't starve. I already took it to get quality food today. It's just unwilling to eat this average pet food you brought here. That doesn't mean that it won't eat anything else," said Carlton.

The young man was speechless. The food he brought was considered average? Every item was considered precious pet food!

"You bought food for it?" The girl sounded surprised. "Will it eat other pet food?" There was an odd look on her face.

"Of course." Carlton laughed.

"I'm not convinced." Alexus was still in disbelief. She believed that her grandpa was just making up excuses. After all, in all those years, her grandpa had come up with many strange excuses just to avoid living with them in the uptown area.

Denzel, the young man, was just as baffled after that exchange.

Carlton puckered his eyebrows. He reached into his fridge and grabbed the bag. He opened it and took out one fruit.

"Come here," Carlton called the Sacred Flame Raven.

The Sacred Flame Raven had turned over the moment Fan Shangde opened the bottle.

The fruit was thrown to the Sacred Flame Raven.

1The Sacred Flame Raven caught it with its mouth and swallowed it at once.

This scene shocked the siblings.

Soon, Alexus came back to her senses. She would not believe what had happened. "It must be because the food we brought was placed on the ground and Bentley doesn't find any of it interesting. I've used the wrong way to feed it."

With that said, she took out some fruits from the case and said, "Bently, here."

The Sacred Flame Raven turned over.

A big pile of fruit was forced onto its beak.

Alexus: "…"

Alexus was in a cold sweat as she saw the Sacred Flame Raven about to fly into a fit of rage. Her hair was standing on end; she didn't dare to try again.

"Now you believe me," Carlton said, laughing with satisfaction.

Alexus looked at him speechlessly. She knew that her plan of using Bentley as leverage to persuade him had fallen through.

"Grandpa, what kind of food is this? I've never seen it before. Where did you get it?" Denzel checked the fruit carefully. He was confused. He had the confidence to say that he had been out for many battles so he was well-informed. Yet, he had never seen this bird food before.

Carlton answered casually, "I bought it in a pet store nearby. It's called something like Lava pineapple Fruit."

"Lava pineapple Fruit?" Alexus pondered about the name. The name didn't ring any bells, even though she was a well-versed straight-A student. "I have never heard about this fruit before. Is it real food? I'm afraid that it may produce side effects," she said, wondering.

Denzel nodded. "She's right. Some unethical pet stores will pass some weed off as pet food. There are strict regulations in the uptown area regarding this, unlike here. Grandpa, don't put Bentley in harm's way just because you bought something unknown."

"What?"

Carlton felt nervous once they put it this way.

The Sacred Flame Raven was his baby; it was of great significance to him. He could not imagine what would happen if something were to happen to it.

"I don't think that is the case. I bought it in a formal store. They have a business license." Carlton tried to keep a calm appearance while inside he was fearful and trembling.

Denzel thought about it. "I heard that some criminal shops will mix some special chemicals in the pet food so that the food they sell tastes better and the pet would crave for more. Pets would lose their minds once they can't get such food, but they may suddenly die if they eat such food for a long time, or suffer from other ailments."

Carlton was dumbstruck. He had seen such reports on the news. He became anxious.

"Right. The pet food I brought is the favorite for birds of the fire family but Bentley won't even look at it. It's only interested in the fruit you have, grandpa. This is too strange." That simple smile vanished from Denzel's face as his sister explained. Taking that simplicity's place was something malicious and severe.

"Well, grandpa, how much did it cost you?" Alexus asked all of a sudden.

Carlton was surprised by this question. Out of instinct, he answered, "1500 credits…"

"One bottle costs 1500 credits?" Alexus was shocked. A layer of ice came onto her pretty face. "This is not uptown. There cannot be pet food this expensive. That has to be a criminal shop!"

"Grandpa, where is the store, and what is its name?" Denzel asked directly.

"The Farm goods shop…"