My CEO Harem Cultivation System

Plonk.

The tiny pink salmon dropped from out of thin air and dove into the small glass bowl in Chunhua's hands. Water splashed slightly out of the bowl and even got into the little girl's face, but her lips were curled into a huge grin, before she looked up to him. "It's a fish!"

Li Yang nodded. "Mhmm."

"Look at the fishy go!" Chunhua peered into the bowl and smiled happily.

The CEO had needed much "help" to have her hold the bowl, and so she was now proudly the owner of a salmon. "I'll be entrusting it to you, Chunhua. Can you take care of it for me?"

"I will! Where's the food?"

A long dark seaweed appeared in his hands.. It was actually a bit dry to the touch instead of moist like he imagined it to be, but he offered it to her after she placed the bowl on the table. Salmon naturally ate smaller creatures, like insects, even small amphibians if given a chance—but Li Yang wasn't one to dismiss it as a simple salmon even when the System insisted that it was.

Chunhua tore off a small piece and threw it into the bowl and watched the fish gobble it up. The tiny pink salmon spun inside of the glass to the child's amusement.

"Really?" Bao appeared and looked at them. "You're just giving it to her as…"

The small child looked up to the creature and asked, "As what?"

Whatever inclination the creature held to berate the CEO for his decisions, it stopped itself and paused, somehow even less willing to divulge its nature to the child.

"I'd like to think that she's more than capable of watching over it, and I don't have time to take care of it myself." Li Yang shrugged. "I suppose you wouldn't propose that I give this to Taiga and watch the fish be gone in less than a minute, do you?"

"... To think that a child is more responsible." the creature smacked itself with a paw.

The CEO stifled a chuckle before it eyed the fish swimming. "What are the chances of this fish growing to a size far larger than normal? Perhaps it would become a mount?" In the presence of a child and a creature that was in the form of a panda, it was far easier to give into fanciful musings.

"Really?" Chunhua's eyes could have twinkled like stars. "If I keep feeding Pinkie, she's going to grow as big as a whale?!"

"I hope not." the CEO replied and rubbed his chin. "Albeit, it's probably impossible for 'Pinkie' to grow that much in the tiny bowl."

"Yes, she's going to need a bigger bowl."

His daughter agreed with a nod before turning back to address the fish. "Pinkie, you need to eat a lot to grow and then next time, we'll go to the ocean and meet Mermaids!"

Bao was giving Li Yang a look, to which he ignored. There was something in watching a child be happy and carefree that he couldn't help but simply watch with a hint of relief—this was probably what it meant to have a good childhood. No need for tears or anything like that.

—-

When Chunhua left his home office to show off the fish to Uncle Liang and Aunt Gabi, Li Yang would finally be left to his thoughts and he simply glanced at the screen in front of him.

"A well with flow unfailing… Connla's Well, where nine hazels of Crimall the sage are to be found. Hazels being the symbol of great wisdom would fall into these waters and feed the salmon swimming there, only to be found by Fionn mac Cumhaill who captured a fish. During his preparation, he licked some oil from said salmon and found great wisdom." Li Yang glanced at his shoulder and asked. "What do you think of this?"

"Well, I think—why are all of these stuff found on the internet?" the Panda massaged its furry face with its paws before giving him a look. "Don't tell me that you believe all of this, do you?"

"I'm talking to you, I think I have found a lot more reason to believe what seems unreasonable."

"So what? Are you going to wait for the salmon to grow up and then you'd cook it?"

Li Yang glanced at the screen and rubbed his face. "I've given it to Chunhua, so I don't think it's an easy option to do. However, it is fascinating to understand and connect some of the information. We could say this Vial of Rejuvenation I have to have come from a spring, but what are the chances it also came from this fabled Connla's Well?"

"You're not going to get anything out from me."

"Which means there is something to be gleaned from this." Li Yang watched Bao's face twitch and turned back to the screen. "I am considering feeding the salmon besides the merfolk's seaweed, a variety of other things, perhaps a pearl and some of the royal jelly?"

"These things are meant for the Mermaid, idiot. Where the heck do you not understand the 'Harem Member Gift Set' written on the Charm Shop comes from?"

"I don't think she'd mind."

Bao narrowed its eyes at him. "Do what you want."

It soon faded out from his sight and 'disappeared' but there was no doubt that it was monitoring him as usual. Li Yang sighed and leaned back against his chair, once again feeling a moment of relief at perhaps being alone with his thoughts.

Except there was another thing that still weighed on his mind.

He had previously let it drop, focused on the situation he had around him… but now he had some time to collect his thoughts and assess the item he had received from his VIP Observer: Unofficial System Patch

A patch meant to improve things, but it was unofficial.

Close to a cheat?

"Someone from…" He paused and stopped himself from saying it aloud. There weren't a lot of things he could gather from the notifications that sometimes came, but it was a Being who was 'leagues stronger than him' in the words of 'Dat Peach' and she was someone who called him a ticking time bomb.

She deemed him enough as a threat and even joked about trusting her enough to tell his plans of 'universal domination'—she was a rogue element in this situation.

It was easy enough to sweep this under a proverbial rug and never accept it.

The risks were dealing with an element he could not account for.

And yet he knew that what she gave him could possibly make some tides into his own goals. Would this patch allow him to control the System more? Would it just unlock features currently blocked from him?

What did she want from all of this?

Mere entertainment?

In her own words, 'Dat Peach' could get banned for interacting too much with him, and she still risked it to give him this. How would she possibly gain from someone like him? Li Yang would never take it as merely a 'gift' for being interesting—there was something to be gained from this exchange.

He just needed to know what it would entail.

If this would be worth the risk.

… And he only had one possible contact if he truly wished to gather more information.

—-—-

Author's Note: Our world has interesting myths and lores! Now to see whether we'll actually cook the salmon or not xP Anyhow, thank you for reading today's chapters!