Chapter 363: Little Nian Beast and Lin Xingshi’s City Life (asking for monthly tickets)
A lion, large and small, crouched on the top of a cliff. They raised their heads and silently gazed at the sky above the sea. It was dusk, and the clouds were dyed transparent and bright by the setting sun, and the background color of the sky was a wine-red.
"Tell me, where have you been these years...what have you done?" After a long silence, the Nian Beast Lord suddenly spoke and asked slowly.
The little Nian beast was stunned.
This really stumped Ji Minghuan. He had only loaded this character less than a day ago and had not yet digested all the memories.
He already had to control four bodies every day, and this new body was even more of a burden for him. So, in order to avoid brain overload, he had to convert most of his memories into text and pictures and store them in books.
Now, his memory library contains an entire bookshelf of atlases of the little Nian beast's memories, which makes the remaining consciousness of the red dragon Wales happy. As soon as he finished reading the books, the director restocked them.
If Ji Minghuan wanted to look through the memories of the Son of Nian, he could go to the library at any time.
But it was obviously impossible to memorize such a huge amount of information in such a short time. So, he had to make up stories based on his existing memories and barely pass it over to the Great Lord. If all else failed, he could cheat and ask the Red Dragon in the library.
The red dragon was bored and must have read all the memories of the little Nian beast.
"I didn't do much, actually." The Little Nian Beast thought for a moment. "I just wandered around and made some friends... but in the end, there weren't many I still kept in touch with. We all just didn't know each other very well. I just wanted to wander around by myself and see how big the world is, instead of staying on this mountain like this. No matter how beautiful the scenery is, I'll get tired of it."
It paused and said, "Dad, aren't you bored?"
"Nonsense... I belong here. This is my duty, the mission I was born with," said the Nian Beast Lord. "If I leave, what will happen to the demons on the mountain? Without me, Haifan Mountain will be in chaos, and humans will take advantage of it."
The Little Nian Beast was silent for a moment. "You are just as stubborn as a friend of mine. She must have thought the same thing, so she left me."
"Which friend?"
"Just pretend I didn't say that."
The sea has begun to rise, and the fishermen have disembarked and returned to the port. The sound of the huge tide has enveloped the world.
On the horizon, a huge sunset was slowly sinking into the sea, taking away the remaining light from the world. This was the brightest moment of the day. As dusk faded, the sea in sight would only darken bit by bit.
Amid the sound of the roaring waves, the little Nian Beast lay quietly on the ground, gazing at Haifan City from afar. The world slowly darkened, but the lights of thousands of homes on the hillside were bright. At this moment, a sea of stars seemed to be reflected in its pupils.
"Then where did you go at the beginning?" The Nian Beast Lord was silent for a moment and continued to ask.
"Where else could I go?" Little Nian Beast said slowly, "I went to Haifan City first, then boarded a human stowaway boat and went to Lijing. After that, I stayed in Lijing for a long time, almost two months?"
As he spoke, the memories buried in the little Nian Beast's mind began to emerge involuntarily.
Eleven years ago.
Outside, a gentle rain was falling. Inside the abandoned building, it was pitch black. Two children sat with their backs against the wall, cuddling together in the darkness.
After a while, the rain stopped quietly and a faint snoring sound could be heard in the darkness.
"It's time to wake up."
Suddenly, a girl's voice came to his ears. The little Nian Beast slowly opened his eyes and saw a girl with short hair and some freckles on her face. She was looking at him without blinking.
It was as if she was observing his sleeping face, and had been doing so for a while.
"Where is this?" The little Nian Beast rubbed his eyes and asked in a daze.
"Are you a fish?" Lin Xingshi asked curiously.
"Why am I a fish?" The little Nian Beast tilted its head and murmured, "I am a human, not a fish... nor a lion, and certainly not a demon."
"I mean, fish only have a memory of seven seconds," Lin Xingshi said angrily. "You stole a set of clothes for me from the children's clothing store, and then it rained. We were discovered by the store manager, so we had to hide here. Do you understand?"
"Oh oh." The little Nian Beast said, glancing at the dress and pants that Lin Xingshi was holding in his arms, "Why don't you wear the clothes I gave you? Don't you like them?"
"I like it...but I haven't showered yet, so it'll get dirty." Lin Xingshi glanced down at his clothes and said, "Let's go find a place to stay first."
"Isn't it possible here?" The little Nian Beast was puzzled.
"At least there should be a place to shower, right?" Lin Xingshi said. "There's not even a faucet here, and it's so dirty. We'll get skin diseases if we live here for too long."
The little Nian beast nodded.
The two children stood up from the wall and soon walked out of the damp and cramped abandoned building.
They walked on a long street with no end in sight, walking forward and forward. Lin Xingshi walked in the shadow of the street corner, holding clean clothes, and the little Nian Beast walked under the star-like lights.
After a while, they walked from the construction site to the bustling downtown area. By then, it was completely dark. The little Nian Beast looked around curiously. The electronic sign of the restaurant was shining brightly, and there was a billboard advertising Nutri-Express. The black internet cafe on the roadside was full of people.
"What is that?" He suddenly raised his hand and pointed at the computer in the Internet cafe and asked Lin Xingshi.
But when he turned around, he found that Lin Xingshi was walking far away and was not standing with him at all.
"Why are you hiding so far away?" asked the little Nian beast, blinking his eyes.
"You go on your way." Lin Xingshi said silently with his mouth and wrinkled his nose at him.
The little Nian Beast nodded, not daring to raise any objections, and walked silently in front of Lin Xingshi.
Lin Xingshi held the clean clothes and looked at his back quietly.
She didn't want others to look at them strangely, like this morning, as if she, a little beggar, had kidnapped a young man.
But... after she changed into a set of clean and beautiful clothes, she could walk with the little Nian beast openly. Thinking of this, Lin Xingshi raised her hand to rub the dirty tip of her nose and gently raised the corners of her mouth.
After walking aimlessly for a while, one after the other, they came to an old apartment building.
The door of the apartment building was locked, and there was a note on the door saying "The owner is not at home, if you have any questions, please contact this number 145xxxxxxx".
"This is it."
Lin Xingshi muttered to himself and looked around, his bright and flying black eyes looking left and right.
Then she took the little Nian beast's hand and walked into the alley next to it and went around to the back of the apartment building.
There was a huge floor-to-ceiling window at the back of the building. Looking inside through the window, she saw a fairly clean kitchen with a refrigerator. The cabinets were filled with ingredients, seasonings, and canned food. An upright fan stood alone in the corner, its blades covered with dust.
Lin Xingshi reached out and pushed the window, only to find that it was locked and could only be opened from the inside.
So, she turned her head and looked at the Little Nian Beast, "Little Nian, we now have two options."
"What method?" asked the little Nian beast.
"One way is to just smash the window and sneak in, but that would be easy to spot," Lin Xingshi said softly. "If someone nearby were to pass by and see the broken window, they might call the police."
"What about the second option?"
"The second way is... you use your spatial ability to unlock the window from the inside, so that we can climb in," Lin Xingshi said, her eyes shining slightly. She also wanted to see the little Nian beast use its spatial ability again.
"Then let's break it! I have never broken a window before." The little Nian Beast said without hesitation, his eyes also shining slightly.
"Didn't you hear me?" Lin Xingshi was stunned. "That would make it easy to be discovered."
"oh……"
The little Nian Beast curled its lips and drooped its head in disappointment. Then it raised its right arm and inserted it into a dark space crack.
At this time, a circular space crack appeared in the kitchen. His right hand passed through the crack and appeared in the kitchen, sticking to the window.
Lin Xingshi was stunned and looked extremely focused.
The little Nian Beast stretched out his hand like a magician, and with a "click", he opened the lock of the floor-to-ceiling window. Then he pulled his hand back from the space crack and pulled the window open.
When he turned around, he found Lin Xingshi raising his eyebrows, looking at him with curiosity and surprise.
"What's the matter?" asked the little Nian beast.
"I just think you're amazing..." Lin Xingshi shook his head. "This is the first time I've met such an amazing person my age."
"Is Xiaonian very powerful?"
"Yeah, other boys are so weak in front of me, which makes me look more like a boy than them."
"That's good, Xiaonian can protect you."
"No, it was me who kidnapped you. It must be me who protected you." Lin Xingshi said seriously.
"No, boys have to protect girls."
Lin Xingshi was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing. She hummed and said:
"I think you're more like a girl, especially when you sleep."
After saying that, she hugged the clean dress and walked into the French window without looking back. She entered the kitchen first, then turned around and called for the little Nian beast to come in quickly. If she was discovered by others, she would be doomed!
Like a little lion hunting in the forest, the little Nian beast crawled into the kitchen on its hands and knees. Then it turned around and carefully closed the French window.
Lin Xingshi pulled the curtains shut. Then, using the scattered moonlight, he pressed a button on the circuit board with a click, and the kitchen was suddenly illuminated by warm yellow light.
At this moment, their bodies seemed to go limp, like thieves who had just stolen a rare treasure. They plopped down on the ground, leaning against the cabinet in a daze.
After a long time, they turned their heads and looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Will we be okay?" the little Nian beast asked softly.
"It'll be fine," Lin Xingshi hummed. "We'll live here from now on. It looks like there's plenty to eat."
"Have you finished eating?"
"Then...then let's go to the supermarket to get it."
"Didn't you say you can't steal?"
Lin Xingshi was stunned for a moment, then said seriously, "You are a person with special abilities, and I am an exorcist. We can both become useful people to the country in the future, so that we won't owe them anything."
"But... Xiaonian can't be a useful person." The little Nian beast tilted its head.
Lin Xingshi was silent for a moment. "What a coincidence! I don't want to be a useful person either... I wish I were just an ordinary girl. I could wear a little skirt, have long hair, and have a girlish name. I wouldn't have to practice boxing every day, get injured all over my body, and no one would feel sorry for me."
"But you are a girl." Little Nian Beast shook his head, "You can wear a skirt and have long hair... Little Nian will feel sorry for you, and you don't have to practice boxing every day."
Lin Xingshi sniffed and her eyes suddenly turned red. She bent her knees and buried her head in them.
"It's so kind of you."
She was silent for a moment. "You know what? When I went to school before, the boys all called me a tomboy, and then... I stopped going to school. I really wanted to go to school. I begged my family for a long time before they let me go."
Her voice gradually became lower and lower, until at the end, she was almost whispering.
The little Nian Beast stared at her blankly. It was hard to imagine how much grievance this girl had hidden. He suddenly felt very sad. She must have been very lonely all these years. It was because the loneliness was unbearable that she ran away.
Just like when he was in the mountains, everyone was in awe and afraid of him because he was the son of a maharaja. No one really wanted to make friends with him. He felt so bored and lonely that he ran away from home.
"Why don't you go to school?" he asked softly.
“No one likes me.”
"Then I don't like them either." The little Nian Beast said angrily, "Besides, you are very beautiful, not a tomboy at all."
"Really?" Lin Xingshi asked softly.
"Yeah, you are the cutest human child I know." The little Nian Beast said, and added silently in his heart, although you are the only human child I know.
"Human child, what's that?" Lin Xingshi was stunned for a moment, then laughed again, "You're so funny."
"Don't you like your name?"
"They all said I had a boy's name... said I had boy's hair and freckles."
"But I think your name is nice, your hair looks nice, and your freckles look nice."
"How can a girl choose a name with 'lion' in it?" Lin Xingshi lowered his eyes. "I know you want to comfort me..."
The Little Nian Beast interrupted her, "There are female lions too. I thought my mother was a very gentle and beautiful female lion, but she died... My father was very sad, and I was sad too, but he was so busy and usually ignored me."
"Who says their mother is a lioness?"
"My mother is a lioness."
"Oh, then you are a little lion."
"...Do you hate lions?"
"I don't hate it. I've been learning lion dance since I was a child."
"What is that?"
"It's a traditional culture, dancing with a lion head. Why do you look so scared? It's not a real lion head, it's a fake one, something you put on your head... Are you stupid? You actually thought someone would dance with a real lion head."
"Oh oh oh."
"I'll show you my skills someday when I'm free."
"Uh-huh."
"I'm going to take a shower."
"Xiao Nian wants to take a bath with you."
"No, boys and girls don't take showers together."
"Okay, then Xiaonian will wait for you here." The little Nian beast waved to her.
Lin Xingshi stood up, clutching the clean dress, and quickly walked out of the kitchen. She wiped the dust off her cheeks with the back of her hand and hummed a song as she wandered around the huge apartment building, like a princess wandering in her own castle.
After a while, she finally found a bathroom on the second floor. But at this moment, she suddenly felt that it was not a good idea to leave the little Nian beast alone in the kitchen. It was so quiet downstairs, and he had been very obedient, curled up in the kitchen with his knees hugged.
After hesitating for a moment, Lin Xingshi turned around and shouted to the people downstairs:
"Hello!"
When the little Nian Beast heard her voice, it poked its head out of the kitchen obediently. The two of them stood at the top of the stairs, one leaning on the handrail, and the other standing on the first floor, just looking at each other.
"Let's take a shower together," Lin Xingshi said. "I'd be scared if I were alone."
"Okay." The little Nian Beast nodded and went upstairs.
"Wait for me outside first. You can come in when I tell you to."
"Uh-huh."
Lin Xingshi glanced at him, then walked into the bathroom and closed the door. She squatted beside the bathtub, turned on the faucet, watched the steaming hot water fill the entire tub, and stared blankly at the bubbles rising from the water.
Then, she put the clean dress on the rack, took off the dirty jumpsuit, and stepped into the bathtub. The warm water immediately filled her body, and she buried her head in the water, washing away the dust on her face, and stared at herself in the mirror.
Lin Xingshi squatted in the bathtub, only his head sticking out of the water, his wet hair plastered to his forehead. Then she said, "Come in."
The little Nian Beast pushed open the bathroom door and looked at Lin Xingshi curiously. It was the first time he saw her face so clean. It was dirty and always covered with a layer of dust before.
"What are you looking at?" Lin Xingshi asked with red ears, "Come in and take a bath too." After saying that, she stuck her head into the water, and bubbles gurgled in the bathtub.
The little Nian Beast quickly took off his T-shirt and pants, curled up and hid in the bathtub. Then, imitating Lin Xingshi, he only showed his head above the water.
"Where have you been?" The little Nian Beast was stunned. "Are you playing hide-and-seek with me?"
"No, you can't go into the water!" With a splash, Lin Xingshi suddenly popped his head out from under the bathtub and said to him with glaring eyes.
Two little heads floated on the bathtub and looked at each other. Staring at each other's silly looks, they both laughed out loud, holding their stomachs, and splashing water everywhere.
"This is my first time taking a bath in a bathtub," said Lin Xingshi.
"Me too. I used to bathe in the lake." said the little Nian beast.
"Lake water?" Lin Xingshi was stunned. "Do you live in the mountains?"
The little Nian Beast was stunned, and suddenly realized that he shouldn't say these things. It would be terrible if Lin Xingshi knew that he was a demon. She was an exorcist, and he would be driven away.
"No, Xiaonian's family is poor." The little Nian beast lowered his head, "So I can't take a bath at home." He paused, "It's all because my father is so useless! Daddy is a bad guy!"
After saying that, he angrily buried his mouth in the water, gurgling and spitting out bubbles.
"Isn't your father dead?" Lin Xingshi raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah, it's dead." The little Nian Beast emerged from the bottom of the water and suddenly became energetic again, "That's why I left."
Lin Xingshi leaned against the wall of the bathtub and was silent for a long time. "But my family is not dead yet... They are still looking for me. If they find me, I will have to go back again."
"Then I'll take you away," said the little Nian beast. "I'll just kidnap you, just like you kidnapped me."
Lin Xingshi was stunned.
She looked up at the little Nian beast, and the little Nian beast also looked at her quietly and seriously.
Lin Xingshi shook his head and lowered his eyes. "No, they are very powerful, even more powerful than me. If they knew about this, they would definitely bully you..."
The little Nian beast was stunned.
Seeing the girl's depressed look, it felt empty inside. For a moment, it hung its head, not knowing what to say. Then, it suddenly got angry, raised its head, and raised its pupils. "If you are unhappy, I will bite them to death and drive them all away!"
Lin Xingshi was silent for a long time, and the ferocity of the little Nian beast gradually faded.
"Are you born in the Year of the Dog?" she suddenly asked.
"I am a lion!" said the little Nian beast.
"It's obviously a dog!"
"It's a lion."
"It's a dog."
"Then I'm a dog..." The little Nian Beast's pupils suddenly contracted, and his voice became gentle and weak again. "By the way, since you don't like your own name, what should I call you?"
"Xiaoxing?" Lin Xingshi thought for a moment and said in a low voice.
"Xiaoxing, why are you crying?" The little Nian beast opened its eyes wide and stared at her curiously, only to see that Lin Xingshi's eyes were red and her ears were the same.
Humans are really complicated, thought the little Nian Beast.
"Is that so...it's obviously bath water." She buried half of her face in the bathtub.
"Don't cry."
"They never let me cry since I was little, saying that I was the heir to the family and had to be strong... Are you like them?" Lin Xingshi spoke intermittently and hesitantly.
"Then you can cry here in Xiaonian." Xiaonian thought for a moment, "Xiaoxing is just Xiaoxing, not the heir."
Lin Xingshi wrinkled her nose slightly, trying hard not to cry, but the next second tears flowed from the corners of her eyes. Little Nian Beast reached out from the bathtub and wiped her tears.
"Can you really take me away?"
"Of course. You kidnapped me, so I'll kidnap you too. That's only fair."
"Well...you promised me."
"Xiao Nian promises you." The Little Nian Beast nodded.
"Then we won't go back... I don't want to go back anymore, never again."
"Well, let's run far away together." The little Nian Beast said, "So, don't cry."
"good."
At sunset, the cliffs were covered with a layer of fading light, and the fur of the two lions was dyed red, swaying in the wind like gold.
"Is that so..." The Nian Beast Lord pondered, "It's really strange that humans can make friends with demons."
"Bai Tanlang can even have children with human girls." The little Nian beast said lightly.
"How do you know this?"
"What I heard has spread all over the world."
"What happened to you and that human child? Did you get separated?"
"What happened later... do you want to hear?" The little Nian Beast thought for a moment, raised his head and asked.
"No... let's talk about this for today. I have things to deal with in the evening." said the Nian Beast Lord.
The little Nian Beast thought for a moment and said, "Dad, be careful of the three demons of the Seven Deadly Sins. I always feel that they have bad intentions, otherwise I would not have come back to see you."
"I don't need your reminder," said the Nian Beast Lord. "I can figure these things out on my own."
"Are you really planning to declare war on Lake Hunter?" asked the little Nian Beast.
The Nian Beast King did not respond, but slowly stood up from the cliff, turned his back to the last afterglow, and walked into the dark tunnel without looking back.
The little Nian beast was still lying on the ground, tilting its head to watch it leave, and then muttered:
"Speaking of which, my Unit 2 is almost ready to be promoted to Level 3. I'm looking for a suitable contracted demon for Unit 2 on Haifan Mountain. It has to be at least a Calamity-level one."
"But, attacking the Zodiac Team would be too conspicuous. Wait, then..." Thinking of this, it suddenly had an idea, "Why not sell the Seven Deadly Sins? I feel that the Rage Demon is particularly suitable to be a contracted demon. It can transform into both a sword and a shield, which is perfect for the Queen!"
(End of this chapter)
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