"My memories of that lonely time are not very complete. After all, hundreds of thousands of years have passed. The only thing that remains in my memory from that period is loneliness and the feeling of solitude."

"That feeling made me feel incredibly close to any living mythical beast I encountered later. I've made friends with many mythical beasts and divine creatures, including the Vermilion Bird, the Old Turtle, the Tiger, the Qilin, and the Phoenix. The Old Turtle was probably the first aquatic mythical beast I befriended."

"However, those mythical beasts and strange creatures eventually distanced themselves from me because I could transform into a human. They stopped being friends with me, and some even became enemies. In my hazy memories, I have experienced many betrayals and almost died several times, my soul scattered."

"But it seems that every time I'm on my last breath, there's always a gentle voice that wakes me up, gives me a little spiritual power, and helps me keep living. But when I'm fully awake, I can never remember who saved me."

"Later on, it seemed that I started to go through a cycle of sleeping and waking up, sleeping for a hundred years and then living for another hundred years. As for why that happened, I don't know. Gradually, I interacted with humans more often, and I learned about human civilization and how to control my own form."

"Unless it's those bad people who make me smell things that make me nauseous, or inject me with things that make me feel uncomfortable, I won't lose my mind. They even draw my blood. It's like I've been in a state of lucidity and slumber several times in a row, and I always encounter those situations."

“When you and your grandfather were watching over me in that big iron cage, I must have been captured by them shortly after I woke up from my deep sleep. That time, the medicine they injected into me almost turned me into a monster completely, and I could no longer maintain my human form.”

"Deep down, I told myself that I am human and I cannot hurt humans, otherwise I would become a traitor to humanity and be disliked by humans. The beasts don't like me either. If humans don't like me either, I will be even more lonely."

"So, unless I'm forced into a corner, I won't fight back. You said you could see another form of me back then, probably because your eyes are different from those of adults, so you could see the form I was about to take."

"When you first met me, you probably didn't notice that I looked different, did you?" Zhou Quan asked her, looking down at her.

Li Mai thought for a moment, nodded, and hummed in agreement.

Indeed, when she first saw a handsome older brother in the iron cage, he was just a handsome older brother; she didn't see anything else about him.

"When they drew my blood again and injected the medication, I finally lost control. I was already losing control of myself. I'm sorry, I've hurt you and your grandfather..."

Zhou Quan couldn't continue speaking.

Li Mai reached out and ruffled his hair, saying softly, "Keep telling the story. Don't say sorry. You haven't wronged anyone. My grandfather was a scientist. In his research, he also harmed many alien beasts and human lives. These are things they couldn't escape."

“Because they want to save more humans and more alien beasts by studying one or two research subjects. You should understand the huge difference between alien beasts and mutated beasts, right? Although it’s only a one-word difference, they are completely different.” After Li Mai finished speaking, she looked up at him.

Zhou Quan nodded in agreement, "I might not have understood before, but after experiencing those years as a teacher, I do. That's why I often take on missions to hunt down mutated beasts. Those mutated beasts, which were originally ordinary wild animals turned into mutated beasts through drugs, have no humanity or reason. Their goal is to devour any living thing that appears in their sight."

"But strange beasts are different. They are the offspring of ancient divine beasts, ferocious beasts, and spirit beasts, and ordinary people or wild animals. They are wild animals with supernatural genes, which are much more powerful than ordinary wild animals. Through thousands of years of cultivation or absorbing a large amount of spiritual energy, they can also cultivate into spirit beasts or divine beasts. Some even have great fortune and can cultivate into immortal bodies and enter the ranks of immortals."

Upon hearing him mention his mission with the mutated beasts, Li Mai suddenly remembered to ask him, "So, you really did lose your life during that mission?"

Zhou Quan nodded. "Yes, after what happened to your grandfather, I fell into a deep sleep again. When I woke up a hundred years later, I hadn't been walking around the world for long before I was taken to that base. My abilities were also much weaker than before. Because of the drug I took a hundred years ago, I also lost my memories, but I can still feel that feeling of being very lonely and isolated."

"Although I lived in a human base and worked as a teacher, I always felt that I couldn't integrate into other people's lives and couldn't open up to them. Actually, at that time, I envied those children who could live happily and go out on missions with their teachers."

"When I got into trouble, I had already eliminated all the mutant beasts in that mission. Later, I received news that there were mutant beasts and mutant zombies attacking human settlements in another area, so I went there. I chased the group of mutant beasts to a mountainous area before finally eliminating them. But by then, I had been fighting for three days and three nights straight and was extremely exhausted."

"Unexpectedly, at that moment, the Qilin appeared and attacked me directly, destroying my body. I had a grudge against the Qilin before, so it was a form of revenge. My body died, but my soul became a ghost and lived in the world for two more years."

As he said this, he looked down at her, his mind filled with memories of her persistent search for him over those two years and the way she cried.

It turns out they already had a bond, but neither of them remembered what happened a hundred years ago.

He didn't recognize Li Mai as the little girl from that time, and Li Mai didn't remember that she was the person in the iron cage a hundred years ago.

Upon hearing this, Li Mai sat up abruptly and stared at him in the darkness.

"Where were you wandering for those two years?" Li Mai asked in surprise.

Zhou Quan reached out and pulled her back into his arms, whispering, "Beside you, after I realized that I hadn't been taken to the underworld even after I died, I went back to the base, back to my class, and visited every student. In the end, your unusual behavior attracted me, so I followed you on every mission."

"Actually, even though I had lived in the human world for so many years, I still couldn't truly feel what human love and emotions were like."

"So, at first I didn't understand why you were so desperate to take on missions. It wasn't until I saw you crying and calling my name again and again, asking if I was dead, if I had left this world, that I slowly understood that you liked me."