Tan Xiao returned with the fruit and was surprised to find that Kong Xuan, who had previously been looking at Aperture with a dissatisfied expression, suddenly seemed to be in harmony with it after coming back.

He even saw Aperture standing next to Kong Xuan with his hands behind his back, while Kong Xuan was pointing and gesturing as if discussing some photography techniques with it.

Everyone else tacitly lowered their heads to drink tea.

Tan Xiao: "Hey, you guys..."

Kong Xuan glanced at Aperture and said in a tone that implied he had misunderstood it before, "I found that its personality is actually quite high-definition."

Everyone: "............"

Oh, high-definition, so Kong Xuan has also taken a liking to photography, right? Tan Xiao put down the fruit and said, "Great God, it's good to have some hobbies. But I definitely can't afford to buy you a set of lenses. You'll have to save up yourself, or borrow Sister Mu's old camera."

Based on its shallow understanding of the Peacock God, Aperture thought that the Peacock God would be unhappy upon hearing the shaman say that he couldn't afford the lenses.

Unexpectedly, he didn't mind at all, and even looked quite relaxed and happy.

Aperture thought to itself, I still have a long way to go in my social cultivation.

Kong Xuan, on the other hand, thought that he only seemed to have a bit of interest in photography, yet Tan Xiao had already thought about buying him lenses. This showed that he cared deeply about the family god.

And what was wrong with not being able to afford lenses? He was just a minor.

"Oh, well, of course." Mu Fei felt that this didn't qualify as being interested in photography at all, but she did have some thoughts. "I just had a more in-depth discussion with Mr. Xu about the situation in Qi Province. It's incredible!"

"What happened?" Tan Xiao was startled. "How many dogs do they have over there to scare them like this?"

Chu Province had at most three dogs appear, which had already stirred up quite a bit of trouble. The chaos in Qi Province seemed to have started even earlier.

"No, you know what, I thought our Aperture was good enough. I told Mr. Xu that if he comes to Nanchu, he can observe our new camera." Mu Fei's eyes were full of amazement. "Mr. Xu said that the Bureau 404 in Qi Province recruited a drone this year!"

Upon hearing this, everyone let out a "wow". This was great.

Those monsters that had existed for a long time had their characteristics explored and recorded in ancient books such as "The Classic of Mountains and Seas". Although the abilities of newborn monsters were unknown, it was conceivable that they were born with innate functions.

"I can't even imagine how happy their publicity staff must be." Mu Fei also felt that Aperture was already great. It was definitely not something the leadership would allocate budget for her to buy. But hearing about other people's fancy daily life, one couldn't help but feel a bit envious.

"Director, the unattainable is always alluring," Aperture said with a pout. "I'm already a flagship model. The drone just looks fancier, but is its base larger than mine? I even have a zoom lens."

Kong Xuan had also heard of drones, but he didn't have a deep understanding of electronic devices, budget allocations, and such. So after listening, he only felt that it could fly, so what?

After a brief exchange with Aperture, he was still quite optimistic about the camera's functions. He said to Aperture, "Its image quality may not be as good as yours, but you can cultivate the ability to fly, which would make you even more useful than it."

Actually, after taking human form, Aperture had never really thought about serious cultivation. As a modern monster, and because of its racial characteristics that allowed it to quickly take human form, it didn't have very high requirements for itself. Lying flat wasn't bad either.

In fact, its understanding of cultivation was quite basic. Aperture asked in confusion, "Great God, Director, as a camera, can I really cultivate into a drone? What kind of firmware update would that require?"

Mu Fei almost spat out the fruit. Back then, she had downloaded some materials for Aperture, and it seemed to have taken this as a form of cultivation.

"Huh, that might not be impossible." Tan Xiao, however, had a wild idea. "The Great God is very good at flying. Can you come up with some flying tips and update Aperture to see if it helps with its cultivation and upgrade? Maybe it will really be able to fly? Oh, downloading some drone information might work too. Maybe it will grow propellers."

Everyone: "......"

This growth path for newborn monsters was quite confusing. They were used to seeing Ah Jin grow arms and a brain, but they didn't expect to see a camera striving to cultivate and grow propellers.

Whether it could grow propellers was uncertain, but there was indeed hope for it to fly. As for when it would be able to fly, that would depend on Aperture's cultivation talent and the effectiveness of this download and update method.

"Let's try it. Trying doesn't cost anything." Mu Fei's heart was finally moved. "If this works, my year-end report will be so impressive!"

......

After finishing the meal and chatting for a while, it was already quite late. Tan Xiao and his companions from the Bureau 404 waved goodbye. As usual, he rode his bicycle back with Kong Xuan.

In the cold night, two silhouettes riding bicycles cast long shadows on the wall beside the street, chasing each other back and forth, sometimes overlapping.

"Did anything interesting happen to you during the New Year?" Tan Xiao asked, turning his head. After reuniting today, there wasn't really any time to chat with Kong Xuan alone, but Tan Xiao was quite interested in this.

Kong Xuan had been thinking that he seemed to have missed out on quite a few things while on vacation at home. Now hearing Tan Xiao ask, he felt as if Tan Xiao might also be regretting not knowing what he was doing.

"It was just like that. The heavens don't really celebrate the New Year. In the past, it was very busy, but now it's not as busy anymore. Everyone has time to attend banquets everywhere, and they all... all asked me how the shaman I accepted was doing." Kong Xuan hardly thought about it before telling Tan Xiao about the things he encountered as well.

"Then I showed them my phone. I'm not very proficient with the phone's functions yet. I said it was because I hadn't had it for long, and it wasn't in my possession before."

Kong Xuan recalled the situation at the time. He was still holding a grudge. If Ji Huiming hadn't confiscated his phone, he would have definitely become very proficient with all its functions.

Everyone said, how could it not be in your hands? They didn't quite understand the fact that the Peacock didn't have custody of his own things.

At the time, Kong Xuan said, sigh, it was confiscated by the class teacher... no, swiped away.

Hearing this, the celestial generals and lords were all shocked. The Five-Colored Divine Light was a primordial supreme treasure. Even a sage couldn't swipe it. There was actually someone who could swipe something from the Peacock. What a terrifying person!

Tan Xiao listened and laughed with his head thrown back. "Ah, what a pity. You can't even write this material in your winter vacation journal."

Kong Xuan glanced at Tan Xiao while watching the road. The corners of the boy's eyes seemed to glisten with laughter, making him say the words he originally didn't intend to say. "Also, my mom said, you've worked hard. She told you to keep an eye on my studies more."

"You're already very impressive," Tan Xiao said without thinking. "You're not even considered to be weak in any subjects. You just started physics a bit late, but you've made great progress."

"That's what I said!" Kong Xuan exclaimed loudly. Of course, when he refuted the Primordial Phoenix, his wording was even more arrogant.

The bicycle arrived at the self-built courtyard of the Tan family. Kong Xuan saw the lights on and knew that Tan Chunying had already returned from playing mahjong. As soon as Tan Xiao opened the door, Tan Chunying was eating the offerings - there were too many New Year's dishes and offerings, and they were eating them every day.

Kong Xuan: "..." Sigh, the familiar feeling of speechlessness was back.

"You're back? Come eat something." Tan Chunying said with concern. Recently, she suspected that her son might not be in a good mood, as he was eating less than before.

"Oh oh, okay." Tan Xiao went to the kitchen to get some braised pig's head meat.

This was their family's own recipe. Before braising, the surface of the pig's head meat was burned until golden, removing the hair. After braising, the flavor would be even more fragrant. The meat was braised in a special braising liquid for two hours, with a red, shiny and moist appearance. The meat was soft and glutinous, yet not mushy. The pig's ears had crispy bones, making them soft with a crunch, extremely appetizing.

Tan Xiao stayed in the kitchen for a while, then went upstairs.

When Tan Chunying went back later, she saw that the meat in the pot was gone. "..."

Ah, her familiar gluttonous son was back.

......

Two days later, the school opening day that not many people were looking forward to arrived.

Tan Xiao had already organized all the homework materials that he and Kong Xuan needed to hand in, and went to register with high spirits. Moreover, unlike previous years, after a holiday, Tan Xiao always needed to spend some time adapting to the changes in his classmates.

Some people might have grown taller during the holiday, cut their hair short, or changed seats after the start of school. In any case, it took Tan Xiao a few more days to accurately recognize people. On the day of registration, it all depended on luck.

This year, he went out with Kong Xuan, so it didn't matter even if he didn't recognize anyone...

"Tan Xiao--" Someone rushed over, excitedly calling out to Tan Xiao.

Tan Xiao stared at him for two seconds, thinking of a few suspected candidates. Kong Xuan had already pointed at this person: "This is Lin Yang, your former deskmate."

Lin Yang: "..."

Tan Xiao: "..."

"...How did I end up like this? This semester, I even have to rely on Kong Xuan to introduce people to me." Lin Yang was in a mess. What former deskmate? Has it been confirmed that he will be kicked out this semester?

"Keep your voice down when reminding me." Tan Xiao said to Kong Xuan, then carefully observed Lin Yang. "You changed your hairstyle again?"

"Yeah, new semester, new look." Lin Yang deliberately touched his hair in front of Tan Xiao, but unfortunately, Tan Xiao only stated it and didn't praise him. Sigh, after all, there was a new person now.

"Also, although I already said it on WeChat, I have to say it again in person. Xiao Xiao, the promotional video you shot for Yunmeng is too good-looking! You and that peacock, my gosh, I almost saw CP vibes between you two!" Lin Yang felt that this kind of emotion had to be expressed in person.

It lingered in his mind for the past holiday. Why did people say there were CP vibes between a person and a bird? That's because the official later said that the peacock was wild and threw itself at Tan Xiao.

Kong Xuan said proudly, "Thank you."

Lin Yang: ?

Oh no, after becoming deskmates, he could even say thank you on behalf of Tan Xiao, and he was quite proud of it.

"Back then, I didn't manage to become your agent. When classmates from other classes asked me to pass on love letters, I didn't even dare." Lin Yang said sourly. He saw the teacher coming with one glance and subconsciously sat up straighter and shut up.

Ji Huiming stepped into the classroom and greeted everyone. Since the holiday wasn't over yet, everyone could still wish each other a happy new year.

"Everyone must have had a very happy winter vacation, right? I saw that some students in our class even went to earn money." Ji Huiming was obviously also teasing Tan Xiao, immediately drawing a round of knowing laughter from everyone.

"Next, as school starts, everyone needs to focus. In the past, many students' grades fell behind at this stage. Mathematics' conic sections, derivatives, physics' electromagnetic induction... these will all become key points. You must settle down and study hard in order to get through these challenging times."

Ji Huiming gave his usual admonishments and encouragements, urging everyone to quickly enter the learning state. Next, they went to the sports field to attend the school opening ceremony, listen to the leaders' speeches, and award outstanding students. Tan Xiao also received an award and took a group photo with the school leaders.

After it ended, Ji Huiming called Kong Xuan over. As soon as Kong Xuan saw him, he nervously touched his phone, thinking that it should be fine if he didn't take it out.