Chapter 81 081 The monster held her finger in its mouth and sucked hard...

The palace was in complete chaos; even those who slept like logs had to wake up.

As soon as she heard what they were shouting, Lu Yuanyuan's sleepiness vanished instantly, and she threw off the covers and got up.

She kicked her shoes under the bed and didn't have time to look for them. Feeling a chill run down her spine, she grabbed a piece of clothing and hurried towards the source of the noise.

All the glass lamps were lit, their flames blazing, illuminating the dim inner hall as if it were daytime. Upon arriving, Lu Yuanyuan immediately saw that the massive golden cage's latch was open, the cage door was wide open, and the inside was completely empty, except for a pile of blood-stained, disheveled white cloth.

All the palace servants inside and outside her chambers woke up and knelt around her, trembling with fear.

Lu Yuanyuan gasped, "What happened? Who was the last person to see it?"

A thin, pale-faced palace maid, still kneeling, crawled forward two steps, trembling as she said, "Your Highness, an hour ago I was ordered to change the white cloth beneath it. When I put it in the cage... I probably didn't lock it properly. The patrolling palace maids noticed it was missing just now. I absolutely did not do it intentionally, please spare my life, Your Highness!"

The more he spoke, the more his body trembled, like a bird drenched in rain, his forehead pressed against the cold floor. In his reflection, so close to his face, he saw his own terrified face, soaked in cold sweat. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the princess's legs.

The princess stood barefoot on the ground, her nightgown barely concealing her starkly pale insteps. Her slender hands peeked out from her sleeves, her nails painted with crimson nail polish, and hung down beside her thighs.

These were delicate hands, but also cruel and ruthless ones. He couldn't help but be afraid.

Lu Yuanyuan turned to the head guard and went straight to the point: "Did the guards on night duty see it climb over the wall and leave?"

"Your Highness, I did not see it."

Lu Yuanyuan frowned. The little monster was seriously injured and shouldn't have gone far, so she said, "Everyone, split up immediately and search every corner of this palace, every patch of grass, and every crack between the bricks. Don't miss anything. Also, don't alarm Father and Crown Prince for the time being."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and dispersed, obeying the order. In an instant, only the thin palace servant remained. Before the whip could fall, he looked up blankly, just as Lu Yuanyuan looked down at him.

They looked at each other, and she gestured with her chin at him: "You go find some too."

The palace servants, feeling as if they had been granted a pardon, scrambled out of the palace.

Inside and outside the palace, the lights were bright, and all the palace servants carried lanterns, searching frantically inside and out. They searched the wardrobes, under the beds, under the eaves, on the beams, in the garden pond, on the rockery... but the dark figure was like a gust of wind that slipped into the night, vanishing without a trace.

Lu Yuanyuan slipped on her shoes and stepped out of the bedchamber. Jinzhong hurriedly held a lantern to light her way, saying, "Your Highness, watch your step."

Lu Yuanyuan stood on the high steps, the moonlight outlining her slender back. Her gaze slowly swept over all the busy people in the garden, and suddenly stopped on a stone slab.

—The heavy stone slab covering the well opening.

Compared to daytime, its angle... seems a little off.

A strange intuition suddenly invaded her mind, and Lu Yuanyuan ordered, "Go move that stone slab and give me the lamp."

The crowd gathered around the well, and two guards worked together to lift the stone slab, sending dust and dirt flying. Lu Yuanyuan, carrying a lantern, squatted down by the well, held her breath, and shone the lantern down.

In the dim light of the well, nestled in the mud, huddled a small monster.

Sweat beaded on her hands, causing the lotus lantern to sway. Lu Yuanyuan silently exhaled and said, "Found it."

.

The head guard, secured by a rope, climbed down to the bottom of the well and retrieved the little monster back into its cage. It was the middle of the night, and the commotion must have already been noticed. Having achieved her goal, Lu Yuanyuan told everyone to go back and rest.

The little monster returned to its cage, its body covered in grass and mud, smelling quite unpleasant. Jinzhong rolled up his sleeves and carefully reached his hand into the branches of the cage to wipe the mud off with a cloth. As he wiped, he suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Ah!"

The silt was wiped away bit by bit, and the skin on the little monster that had been eroded by the digestive fluids was completely renewed and no longer bleeding.

“Your Highness, it seems to be getting better. But what are these things…” Jinzhong pulled out the cloth and unfolded it with some confusion. He saw some translucent, gauze-like fragments on the cloth.

Lu Yuanyuan was taken aback. She also stretched out two fingers, picked up one of the fragments, and held it up to the candlelight. Her pupils contracted slightly.

This is a snake's shed skin.

In just a few breaths, it seemed as if countless images flashed through the void.

A monster with injured skin... A story of a snake shedding its skin and being reborn... Things left at the bottom of the well that have the texture of snake slough but, when pieced together, form a human face...

In the darkness, all the fragmented clues were connected and merged into a whole.

—This little monster was just shedding its skin at the bottom of the well!

Years later, the snake molt she found at the bottom of the well was left there by this little monster on that summer night.

This explains why the snake slough she found couldn't be pieced together into the shape of a snake. It was indeed something that fell from the body of this humanoid monster.

Just now, when the head guard came up from the bottom of the well, he didn't mention that he had found a snake's molt. Most likely, the confined space and the unconscious monster in the well put him under considerable psychological pressure. He had no interest in checking what was in the mud at his feet; he just wanted to get this hot potato out as quickly as possible and report back.

As for the original Princess Manjushri, she would never have imagined that such a thing existed in the well. Once the little monster was pulled up, she would have had the well resealed.

And so, those strange snake molts were left at the bottom of the well by some strange twist of fate.

Time flies like an arrow. It wasn't until ten years later that she discovered this long-buried secret while searching for her cat at the bottom of the well.

But why does this little monster have such abilities?

On her first day after she transmigrated, the little monster was covered in whip marks, but it fully recovered overnight. However, there was nothing like a snake's shed skin in the cage that time; it simply healed its wounds normally.

Why did it choose a different method to heal itself this time?

It's clearly not a snake, so why can it shed its skin like a snake?

Lu Yuanyuan's gaze shifted from the snake molt in her hand to the cage.

For no apparent reason, a word popped into her mind—imitation.

It saves itself by mimicking a snake.

In the mountains and forests, before being swallowed by the giant snake, the little monster had seen the snake's shed skin in the snake's nest.

But at that time, it probably didn't understand what that meant.

After this injury, its self-healing ability disappeared, so the wound has not improved.

Time flew by and it was this afternoon. Overhearing her and Yue Hong's story about snakes shedding their skin behind the screen, the little monster finally realized that even after losing its magical self-healing ability, it could still learn the snake's skills by imitating and interpreting them to heal itself.

Unbelievable, absurd, astonished... these feelings bounced through Lu Yuanyuan's nerves like lightning.

If her conclusion is correct, then this little monster can be considered very clever.

It is not an uncivilized, ugly, or ignorant animal.

On the contrary, it has intelligence and it can learn.

Life born from chaos, though weak and imprisoned, seizes every opportunity it can, constantly adapting to the world.

This thing is definitely not an ordinary monster.

Imitating and practicing the habits of another creature is not an easy thing. When Lu Yuanyuan was late for school, she also fantasized about turning into a bird and flying to her destination, but it was just a thought. She couldn't actually grow wings.

She had never encountered anything with such abilities among the monsters.

Besides, if it's really that powerful, why can't it escape this cage?

Lu Yuanyuan murmured in a voice only she could hear, "What exactly are you?"

The candlelight flickered, but all that answered her was silence.

.

The next day, Lu Yuanyuan tragically fell ill.

That's right, the reason is that she walked around barefoot yesterday.

Lu Yuanyuan: "..."

The original owner's body was indeed more fragile than paper; I don't know where he got so much strength to whip people back then.

Due to illness, Lu Yuanyuan was unable to receive guests, and her appointment with Yue Hong had to be postponed for the time being. However, her palace was anything but deserted. The empresses of various palaces, as well as the original owner's brothers and sisters, all sent people to deliver gifts of condolence, which almost filled the front courtyard, demonstrating how powerful the original owner was in the palace.

Although she couldn't go out or receive guests, Lu Yuanyuan didn't plan to stay in bed all day. Since she had some free time, she decided to learn some puppetry techniques.

Taking advantage of her slightly better spirits at noon, Lu Yuanyuan sat down at her desk to begin her reading plan. Grandpa Shen lit a lamp for her and then tactfully withdrew outside.

With no one watching her, Lu Yuanyuan quietly retrieved the puppetry manual from the system panel. While studying it on her own, she leisurely ate the pastries sent by the imperial kitchen—lightly flavored Tibetan flower cakes, crispy and soft walnut and sesame shortbreads, and steamed buns drizzled with goat milk…

As expected of a royal chef, he can make so many different kinds of pastries, even making sick people have a good appetite.

Lu Yuanyuan swallowed two pieces of Tibetan flower cake, then reached out and touched another one. Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly noticed something moving.

She looked up and saw that the little monster in the cage had woken up. It seemed to want to sit up, but it was still a little weak and could only prop itself up. Its beautiful eyes on its ugly face looked over quietly.

It was that kind of gaze that made it impossible for her to discern joy or anger, or to reflect any emotion.

Since he couldn't predict when it would wake up, Jinzhong didn't put any food in the cage.

It must be starving by now.

Lu Yuanyuan thought to herself.

Lu Yuanyuan glanced at the Tibetan flower cake on the table, picked up a piece, walked closer to the cage, squatted down to look the cage in the eye, and showed it the Tibetan flower cake: "Are you hungry? Do you want to try something other than raw meat?"

Undeniably, the snake molts from last night piqued her curiosity about the little monster.

This curiosity, like a tiny flame, burned silently, without a direct spark.

If she could, she would like to talk to it and find out what it is.

The little monster's gaze fixed on the food.

Can you talk?

Lu Yuanyuan waited for a moment, then felt dizzy from squatting, so she changed her posture and sat down cross-legged, the piece of Tibetan flower cake in her hand moving slightly.

The little monster swallowed, its eyes following the movement of her finger.

I was indeed hungry.

It doesn't answer. Is it because it hasn't learned to speak yet, or does it not want to speak?

Lu Yuanyuan pondered.

Well, she had no intention of learning the ways of a circus animal trainer. Even if it didn't respond, she would still feed it.

Besides, it's normal for it to be wary and hostile towards her after the original owner abused it so many times.

Perhaps we should first send out some friendly signals.

Lu Yuanyuan handed the Tibetan flower cake to the upright of the cage: "This is food, would you like to try some?"

"..."

Lu Yuanyuan understood, withdrew her hand, broke the Tibetan flower cake in half, put one half into her mouth, chewed and swallowed it to show that it was not poisonous. Then she used the same trick again, handing over the other half: "Here you go."

Unexpectedly, just as she placed her hand in front of the cage, the little monster suddenly crawled forward and bit the Tibetan flower cake in her hand.

Its teeth were sharp and even; when it opened its mouth, it instantly bit down on her fingers, as if it were starving.

Lu Yuanyuan was startled. Fortunately, she didn't feel any pain. It seemed that the little monster wasn't trying to bite off her finger, but was just eating the pastry in her hand.

Lu Yuanyuan calmed down and looked down at it.

The little monster lay down in front of her, its tongue deftly snatching the half-pastry from her fingertips, then swallowed it with a flick of its throat.

But it didn't give in. For a moment, Lu Yuanyuan had a strange feeling—the monster seemed to be sucking on her finger.

Was it because the taste of pastry lingered on her fingers?

"You... give in first, there's plenty of food over there."

Seemingly realizing that no matter how much it sucked, it couldn't get what it wanted, the little monster drooped its eyelids slightly, loosened its teeth, and its reaction was unpredictable.

Lu Yuanyuan quickly withdrew her finger, unable to bear the wet feeling, and wiped it on her clothes. The small bloodstain from the thorn in her finger from the last time she'd been pricked by a twig was still there, thankfully it had scabbed over. Otherwise, where would she find a rabies vaccine in this era?

This time, she's not going to hand-feed him.

Lu Yuanyuan brought over several kinds of pastries and placed them on the floor in front of the steamer.

The little monster glanced at her, as if judging whether she would swing her whip at any moment. After a long while, it reached out, grabbed a piece of pastry, and stuffed it into its mouth.

This time, it ate quickly and without any of the previous sucking and savoring motions.

Lu Yuanyuan waited until it finished eating before tentatively asking, "You're covered in mud, would you like to wash yourself off?"