Chapter 355 Little Nian Beast and Lin Xingshi (Two-in-one monthly ticket request)
At the gray boundary between the sea and the sky, a huge sun rose slowly, casting a ray of sunlight onto the sea.
"To take over the position of the Nian Beast Lord and gain the command of all the demons on Haifan Mountain?"
At this moment, on a high cliff by the sea, Ji Minghuan crossed his legs and sat quietly on the ground, checking the mission panel of the No. 4 machine - "Little Nian Beast".
Behind him was a tunnel wrapped in thorns and bouquets of flowers, dark and bottomless.
Looking at the content on the main line panel, Ji Minghuan couldn't help but smack his lips.
"Are they going to let me ascend the throne right after I return?" he thought. "It seems that the Nian Beast Lord is either sick, injured, or old. Otherwise, it's impossible for me, a young man who has disappeared for ten years, to take power right away."
He tilted his head. "The initial stats of my 'perfect machine' appear to be about the strength of a top-tier Calamity-grade unit. While not quite as outrageous as a Mythic-grade unit, it's certainly enough to stand out among the demons. I wonder if it can even subdue the Twelve Zodiac Signs."
He then called up the gear panel in the lower right corner of his field of vision and scanned it from top to bottom.
The color scheme of the gear panel of the Little Nian Beast is very unique. Different from the "red and black" of the black pupa, the "black and white" of the chess player, and the "dark blue" of the shark, it generally presents a charming and bright "purple-red" color.
Like a blooming mandala flower.
The UI color of the gear panel is basically the main color of each body, which is highly recognizable.
This also prevents Ji Minghuan from confusing the systems of each body.
"It's time to look at the skills. The skill tree of the perfect-level machine does not need to be developed, and we don't know how strong it is." Thinking of this, Ji Minghuan raised his hand and clicked on the skill tree panel on the panel.
[Note: Unit 4, "Little Nian Beast," has two skill tree branches. As a "Perfect-Class Unit," both "Branch One" and "Branch Two" have been developed to their full potential, with all skills unlocked simultaneously.]
[Introduction: As the son of the Nian Beast, and also the most special Nian Beast, you control the "power of space," an attribute that other Nian Beasts do not possess.]
【Branch 1 (Emperor):
(Note: This branch's skills are only available in the "Nian Beast" state)
1. Nian Beast Form (Learned) (The little Nian Beast can control the magic flames freely in Nian Beast Form.)
2. Demonic Flame Rage (Learned) (The Little Nian Beast charges forward with all its might, transforming itself into an unstoppable stream of flames that attacks the enemy.)
3. Magic Flame Jet (Learned) (The Little Nian Beast ejects a column of flames from its palms or feet, which can be used to burn enemies or propel itself in flight.)
4. Might of the Nian Beast (Learned) (The little Nian Beast lets out a terrifying and intimidating roar, disrupting the enemy's thoughts for a short period of time.) (Limited to species with a lower "species level" than yours)
5. Demon's Presence (Learned) (Branch End) (The Little Nian Beast enters the "Demon's Presence" form, becoming violent for a short period of time. Its entire body is covered in purple-red demonic flames, and its physical strength is greatly increased. The price is that it will temporarily lose its mind.)
【Branch 2 (people):
(Note: The skills in this branch are only available in the "Human" state)
1. Human Form (Learned) (Allows the Little Nian Beast to transform into a human form. In human form, the Little Nian Beast's control over the magic flame will be greatly weakened, but its control over the "force of space" will be greatly improved.)
2. Spatial Perception (Learned) (Gives you a sense of perception, greatly improving your thinking speed. You can fully perceive people within ten meters of you. Their speed will be significantly slowed down in your eyes.)
3. Space Claw (Learned) (Beast claws spread out from the fingertips, tearing open a space crack connecting to the "independent space", which can be used to store items or absorb attacks, and even temporarily trap enemies.)
4. Air Strike (Learned) (Creates a tiny crack in space, allowing your hand or foot to enter it, instantly appearing at a location within 50 meters and striking the opponent.)
5. Firecracker Immunity (Learned) (The "Little Nian Beast" in human form is no longer afraid of the sound of firecrackers.)
6. Space Demonic Flame (Branch End) (Combining the power of space with the demonic flame, creating a demonic flame fireball powerful enough to engulf space. Anyone hit by the fireball will be sent to another dimension, becoming permanently or temporarily lost there.)
"What the hell?"
Ji Minghuan was stunned.
After scanning the circle of skills of the No. 4 machine again, he blinked and confirmed that he was not mistaken.
Then, an idea that was a little too clear appeared in his mind.
"If you can defeat an opponent, just use 'Nian Beast Mode' and rely on your stats. If you can't defeat it, activate Explosion Mode. If it's a perverted creature that you can't even defeat with Explosion Mode, try to use the spatial power of 'Human Form' to send it packing."
Thinking of this, Ji Minghuan couldn't help but sigh, "These two skill trees are too bad, aren't they several times better than a certain shark?"
He was content with that.
Judging from the text description alone, the skill tree of the Little Nian Beast is completely worthy of his expectations for a perfect-level machine.
And the most important thing is that there is no need to improve it step by step from scratch like the other three machines.
The skill tree of Unit 04 is complete from the start, which just happens to meet Ji Minghuan's needs.
Now he has little time left, and he doesn't know what kind of conspiracy the "prophet" and his mentor are secretly weaving.
Especially since his younger brother has fallen into the hands of his mentor.
Ji Minghuan didn't want to see his mentor use his brother's genes to create a powerful artificial human, like the "Puppet Father".
Therefore, it would be best to get ahead of this incident and defeat the Salvation Society in one fell swoop to eliminate future troubles.
He breathed a long sigh of relief, closed the purple and red skill tree, and the two branches disappeared from his sight.
Then, Ji Minghuan turned to call up the character-specific training system of Unit 4.
"Let me see what this character's training system is. It can't be about eating people to increase attributes, right? I can't afford that." Ji Minghuan murmured, looking up at the densely packed text on the panel.
[Character-specific training system: "Ruler".]
[Introduction to the "Ruler" Training System: As a ruler, the higher your prestige among the demons, the stronger you will become.]
[Prestige levels are divided into three levels from low to high: "Newcomer", "Emerging", and "King's Style".]
[Every time your prestige reaches a new level, you will receive 1 attribute point as a reward.]
Ji Minghuan took a quick look and closed all the panels in his field of vision.
He raised his head and looked into the distance. The sky was already bright. The summer morning light swept over the sky and the haze covering the sea was burned away, and the gray world was also lit up.
Ji Minghuan muttered to himself, "Then it's time to go back and meet the Nian Beast Lord. I wonder if the members of this Zodiac Team are still the same as they were ten years ago."
He shrugged. "Of course. It's been so long now. It might have been iterated several times."
In the little Nian Beast’s memory, when the Nian Beast King was watching the sea with it on the cliff when it was a child, he once told it what the “Zodiac Team” was.
The "Zodiac Team", as the name suggests, is a team composed of twelve demons corresponding to the twelve zodiac animals of "Dragon, Rat, Pig, Rabbit, Ox, Horse, Chicken, Sheep, Snake, Monkey, Tiger, and Dog". This is definitely the most powerful force under the command of Lord Nian.
Each zodiac demon has its own duties, and has been protecting the borders of Haifan Mountain from violation for generations.
In the little Nian Beast's cognition, the operating mechanism of the Zodiac Team is similar to that of Lake Hunting.
It seems that he has learned from the experience of his opponents, so the Lord of the Nian Beast will personally select the most outstanding zodiac demon of the contemporary era from each zodiac demon tribe and grant him the power to become a member of the "Zodiac Team".
The twelve tribes are "Dragon Demon", "Rat Demon", "Mad Bull Demon", "Rabbit Demon", "Rainbow Horse Demon", "Aries Demon", "Divine Chicken Demon", "Green Snake Demon", "Monkey Demon", "Porcupine Demon", "White Tiger Demon" and "Prison Dog Demon".
Besides that, the mountain is mostly filled with rotten fish and shrimp, like lantern demons, lotus leaf demons, zombie demons...
Even the dog would shake its head at the sight of it.
Far from the human world, and living in pampered comfort for years, they were no more aggressive than the demons that dared to hunt in the city. If a real war broke out, I'm afraid none of them would be of any use, at most serving as cannon fodder.
The only one worth mentioning is the "Daytime Wolf" tribe, which is the race of Bai Tanlang.
But the tribe of the Daytime Wolf had been on the verge of extinction a hundred years ago, and Bai Tanlang was the last "Daytime Wolf".
More than ten years ago, the little Nian Beast witnessed with his own eyes that the Nian Beast King ordered Bai Tanlang to leave Haifan Mountain and search for the descendants of the "Daytime Wolf" all over the world to prevent the complete extinction of this demon race.
In the end, Bai Tanlang failed to find other members of his tribe, but he found another shortcut and a way to continue his offspring.
That is to fall in love with a human woman and have children.
The little werewolf "Firio" who is now imprisoned in the Salvation Society is the child born from the union of Bai Tanlang and a British woman.
At the same time, he is also the only demon in the whole world.
If the demons living on Haifan Mountain knew what Bai Tanlang had done, they would probably spit on him. In the eyes of the demons, he would become an indelible stain in the history of demons.
“Huahua~”
The sound of the sea tide came one after another. Ji Minghuan slowly stood up from the ground, turned around, and walked back to the dark tunnel behind him. His vision was once again covered by clusters of bouquets and thorns.
He walked in the quiet tunnel, listening to the dripping sound of falling water, and the name "Lin Xingshi" came to his mind again.
Before loading the memory of the little Nian Beast, Ji Minghuan would never have thought that the son of the Nian Beast and the strongest exorcist today would have known each other in that way.
Eleven years ago, when the little Nian beast was only nine years old, it slapped the lotus leaf demon under its butt with its claws, threatening it to take it away from Lingxin Lake, otherwise it would burn it to ashes.
Looking at the purple-red devil flame on the claws of the little Nian beast, the lotus leaf demon dared not disobey. It was like a small boat, carrying the little Nian beast across the huge Lingxin Lake.
The purple-red little lion looked at the tunnel with shining eyes, stepped on the lotus leaves, slowly stood up, slowly stepped onto the other side of the river, and entered the deep tunnel.
And this time, he was gone for ten years.
After passing through the tunnel, the little Nian beast went down the mountain, transformed into the appearance of a human child, and entered Haifan City at dusk that day.
He was very curious when he first saw the human world. The little Nian Beast walked naked on the street.
He was walking through the bustling crowd. Everyone on the street was looking down at a glowing piece of iron. Couples in ripped jeans passed by him.
Under the traffic lights, giant steel beasts roared past.
The little Nian beast even suspected that they were demons.
It first hid cautiously by the roadside and watched for a while, then it mustered up the courage to rush over, turned back into a little lion, and shouted "Yiyaya" loudly to the steel behemoths.
It thought that it could use the power of its own Nian beast to make these steel demons serve it, just like those idiots on Haifan Mountain who were at its disposal.
But no matter how much the little Nian beast roared, the steel monsters roaring through the streets did not stop. Instead, people on the street screamed and took out their phones to take pictures of it, their flashes clicking non-stop.
The little Nian beast ran away in fear.
Later it realized that those steel monsters were not demons, but were called "cars" and were humans' means of transportation.
No matter how powerful the Nian beast was, it could not control cars. Cars only obeyed humans.
At that time, it was almost nightfall, and the setting sun was taking away the afterglow that had fallen on the city. The little Nian beast hung its head in disappointment, and turned back into the appearance of a human child. It walked away step by step, with the light of the setting sun shining on its face.
Everyone on the street was laughing at him because he had no clothes to wear. The little girl covered her eyes and screamed. The little Nian Beast was stunned for a moment, then ran into the alley.
"What are clothes?" he wondered.
At this time, he looked at his naked body and finally realized the difference between himself and other humans. So he found a clothing store in Haifan City, hid outside the clothing store, and reached his hand into the space crack.
His hand passed through the crack and suddenly appeared inside the clothing store. In an instant, he grabbed the white T-shirt and pants on the display stand and brought them back.
The little Nian beast breathed a sigh of relief and put on his clothes like humans.
After putting on his clothes, the little Nian Beast walked back to the street cautiously, observing how others looked at him.
No one would laugh at him now. Some would only look at the tiny strand of purple-red hair on his forehead and murmur, "Dyeing your hair at such a young age?"
That night, the little Nian beast used its spatial ability again to steal some fruit on the road.
In order to avoid being found by the Nian Beast King, the little Nian Beast who ran away from home quietly boarded a human-snake ship.
He squatted in the cabin and sat down shoulder to shoulder with the stowaways.
Everyone here looks fierce, but no one wants to get into trouble. They don't look at each other, but just lower their heads and sit in silence.
The little Nian Beast was very scared and lowered his head. But at this moment, he saw a pair of bright and flying black eyes in the darkness. He slowly raised his head and saw a short-haired girl wearing a tattered jumpsuit. Her face was dirty, like a beggar's.
The girl blinked at the little Nian beast and stared at him curiously.
After a while, the girl suddenly sat down, hugged her knees and was silent for a while, then turned her head to look at him. The little Nian beast also looked at him, and the two pairs of black eyes looked at each other in the darkness.
"Did you run away from home, or were you kidnapped by human traffickers?" the girl asked quietly. "There are a lot of human traffickers on this ship."
The little Nian beast was stunned.
Only then did he realize that he could not speak human language, so he made a babbling sound.
"You don't speak Chinese?" the girl raised her eyebrows.
The little Nian beast seemed to understand and nodded blankly.
"Then do you understand what I say?" The girl frowned.
The little Nian beast nodded.
The Nian Beast's racial talent allowed him to roughly understand the meaning of the other party's words even if he did not understand the language used by the other party.
"Some bad guys kidnapped you, right?" The girl thought for a moment, then asked, "Are they on a boat?" As she spoke, the girl glanced around.
The little Nian beast shook his head.
"There were bad guys chasing you, so you escaped to the boat?" the girl asked again.
The little Nian Beast nodded. If he didn't leave now, the Nian Beast King would take him back. The bad guys were indeed chasing him.
"Don't be afraid, I'm very powerful." The girl wiped her dirty face and whispered, "My name is Lin Xingshi, and I'm an exorcist. When I was four, I could defeat an adult. Now I'm eight, and those human traffickers can't beat me."
The little Nian Beast stayed silent for a long time and then nodded.
At this moment, he seemed to suddenly understand how to speak human language.
After thinking for a while, he suddenly opened his mouth and spoke the first human language in his life:
"Can you kidnap me?"
Lin Xingshi was stunned, then turned his head and looked at him blankly.
After a moment, she suddenly smiled and said, "Okay."
The two sat down side by side, a little closer. The cabin was shaking, and they could hear the sound of the waves rolling in the night.
There was only a small light bulb above the head, casting a warm yellow light.
The girl's face was still dirty, and her clothes were also dirty. She glanced at the clean clothes on the little Nian beast and moved her shoulders away, as if she didn't want to dirty his clothes.
"What is the exorcist you just mentioned?" the little Nian beast suddenly asked.
"Exorcists are... a bunch of idiots." Lin Xingshi frowned. "I hate my family so much. They all say I'm a genius and treat me like a boy."
"Are you a girl?"
Lin Xingshi was stunned for a moment, and his eyes suddenly turned red.
She opened her mouth but didn't say anything. She just buried her face in her knees and said angrily, "I'm ignoring you."
"You're a girl."
The little Nian beast was at a loss, and finally spoke seriously.
Lin Xingshi was silent for a long time.
"Am I ugly?" she asked.
The little Nian beast shook his head.
"I actually... really wanted to grow my hair long, but they wouldn't let me." Lin Xingshi said softly, stroking the short hair on his forehead. "I hated them so much, I really hated them, so I ran away."
"Run away from home?" This word popped up in the little Nian Beast's mind. He didn't know why, but he suddenly knew how to speak human language.
Lin Xingshi nodded.
"Do you have parents?" she asked.
"Dead." said the little Nian beast.
"How pitiful." Lin Xingshi said.
"How pitiful." The little Nian beast also said.
"Why are you imitating my speech?"
Lin Xingshi glared at him.
"sorry."
"Well... since you don't have parents, no one would object if I kidnapped you."
"Yeah, I have no objection." The little Nian beast nodded vigorously.
Lin Xingshi put his hands behind his back, lowered his eyes and said, "Then you will follow me from now on."
The little Nian Beast was stunned for a long time, and then he nodded seriously and quietly.
"What's your name?"
"Little New Year."
"What a strange name."
When Ji Minghuan came back to his senses from the memory of the little Nian beast, he had already passed through the dark and lightless tunnel.
He came to Lingxin Lake and called out loudly to the huge lotus leaf that was sleeping quietly in the center of the lake.
"He Ye bastard, come here quickly, don't make me wait a second time."
The lotus leaf demon trembled all over, causing ripples on the lake surface.
It moved at high speed, as if a thousand people were rowing on the lotus leaves, and it plopped to the edge of Lingxin Lake and stopped in front of the little Nian beast.
Ji Minghuan curled his lips.
"Sir Nian Beast, if you want to go back to see the Nian Beast Lord, it's best to transform into your original form." The Lotus Leaf Demon said softly, "You know, the Lord doesn't like demons to transform into human form."
"Oh, that's true. With my dad's personality, wouldn't he get furious if he saw me in human form?" Ji Minghuan said, "Let me think about how to change."
The Lotus Leaf Demon was stunned. "How? Lord Nian Beast, you haven't forgotten how to change back to your original form, have you?"
"How is that possible?"
After saying that, Ji Minghuan took off his rock T-shirt and ripped jeans, then activated his human form skill "Space Claws". Suddenly, his five fingers grew out sharp beast claws.
The void vibrated, creating a spatial crack leading to an independent space.
He stuffed his clothes and pants in, and the crack disappeared.
Immediately afterwards, Ji Minghuan silently recited "Nian Beast Form" in his mind, and his naked body suddenly underwent a drastic change.
His limbs gradually grew thicker, sharp claws protruded from his nails, and his tail swept the air, stirring up a strong wind. At the same time, his body naturally leaned downward, and his skin color turned into an enchanting purple-red. A wisp of purple-red flame shot up from his head and swayed in the wind.
When he came to his senses, he had turned into a giant lion 30 meters long, casting a lion-shaped shadow on the lake.
The Little Nian Beast raised its head, looked at the Lotus Leaf Demon who was standing there in a daze, and said in a hoarse voice:
"Come on... take me to see the Maharaja."
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(End of this chapter)
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