Two lions, one large and one small, lay prone at the top of the cliff, raising their heads to silently gaze at the sky and sea. It was dusk, the clouds dyed a translucent brightness by the setting sun, and the backdrop of the sky was a wine-red blush.

"Tell me, where have you been all these years... what have you been doing?" After a long silence, the Year Beast Monarch suddenly spoke, asking slowly.

The Little Nian Beast was taken aback.

This question stumped Ji Minghuan. He had only been loaded into this character’s body for less than a day and hadn’t digested all the memories yet.

He already had to control four bodies every day, and this new body was an added burden for him. To avoid brain overload, he had no choice but to convert most memories into words and pictures, storing them in the library.

Now in his memory library, there was an entire shelf dedicated to the memory records of the Little Nian Beast. This delighted the remnant awareness of Red Dragon Wales; no sooner had he finished reading than the library curator added more.

If Ji Minghuan wanted to browse the Child of the Year Beast’s memories, he could enter the library to check at any time.

But such a massive amount of memories was obviously impossible to manage within such a short time. So he had to make up stories based on known memories to barely appease the Great Monarch. If all else failed, he could cheat by asking the Red Dragon in the library.

Red Dragon, being idle, had certainly read all of the Little Nian Beast’s memories.

"Actually, I haven’t done much." The Little Nian Beast thought for a moment. "Just wandered around, made some friends... But in the end, there are very few with whom I’m still in contact. We didn’t bond deeply, so I thought I’d wander alone to see just how big this world is, rather than staying on this mountain all the time. No matter how beautiful the scenery, it gets monotonous over time."

It paused: "Dad, don’t you ever get bored?"

"Nonsense... I belong here. This is my duty, the mission assigned to me at birth," said the Year Beast Monarch. "If I leave, what will happen to the demons on the mountain? Without me, Hai Fan Mountain would be a chaotic mess, allowing humans to take advantage." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The Little Nian Beast was silent for a moment, "You are as stubborn as one of my friends. She probably thought the same way, which is why she left me."

"Which friend?"

"Let’s pretend I never said that."

The tide had already begun to rise, and fishermen were returning to the port, enveloped in the vast sounds of the tide.

On the sea horizon, a gigantic sunset slowly sank into the sea, taking away the remaining glow scattered across the world. This was the brightest moment of the day, and as twilight faded, the sea in view would only gradually darken.

Amid the sounds of the surging tide, the Little Nian Beast quietly lay on the ground, gazing into the distance at Hai Fan City. As the world gradually darkened, the myriad lights on the mountainside were brilliantly bright; at this moment, its pupils seemed to reflect a sea of stars.

"At the very beginning... where did you go?" After a moment of silence, the Year Beast Monarch continued to ask.

"Where else could I go?" the Little Nian Beast said slowly. "I first went to Hai Fan City, then boarded a smuggler’s boat used by humans to go to Li Jing. After that, I stayed in Li Jing for a long time, almost two months, I think?"

As it spoke, those buried memories in the Little Nian Beast’s mind began to involuntarily emerge once more.

.......

......

Eleven years ago.

Outside, the rain was falling, a pattering rain. Inside the abandoned building was pitch black, two children sat against the wall, leaning together in the darkness.

After a while, the rain quietly ceased, and in the darkness, faint snores could be heard.

"Time to wake up."

A girl’s voice suddenly came from beside him, and the Little Nian Beast slowly opened its eyes, seeing a short-haired girl with some freckles on her face, staring intently at him.

It seemed she was observing his sleeping face, and she had been looking for a while.

"Where is this?" The Little Nian Beast rubbed its eyes, asking groggily.

"Are you a fish?" Lin Xingshi asked curiously.

"Why would I be a fish?" The Little Nian Beast tilted its head, murmuring, "I am a human, not a fish... not a lion, nor a demon either."

"I mean, fish only have a memory span of seven seconds," Lin Xingshi said irritably. "You stole a set of clothes for me from the children’s clothing store, then it started to rain. We got spotted by the shop owner, so we had to hide here, got it?"

"Oh," the Little Nian Beast said, looking at the dress and pants Lin Xingshi was holding in her arms, "Why aren’t you wearing the clothes I stole for you? Don’t you like them?"

"I like them... but I haven’t taken a bath yet, they’ll get dirty," Lin Xingshi said, looking down at the clothes. "Come on, let’s find a place to stay."

"Can’t we stay here?" the Little Nian Beast asked puzzledly.

"At least there should be somewhere to bathe, right?" Lin Xingshi said, "There’s not even a faucet here, and it’s too dirty. If we stay long, we’ll get skin diseases."

The Little Nian Beast nodded.

The two children stood up from the wall and soon walked out of the damp, cramped abandoned building.

They walked down the endless long street, continuously moving forward. Lin Xingshi carried the clean clothes while staying in the shadows at the street corner, while the Little Nian Beast walked beneath the light like a sea of stars.

After a while, they walked from the construction site into a bustling downtown area. By then, the sky had turned completely dark, and the Little Nian Beast curiously gazed around. The electronic signs of restaurants were brightly shining, billboards still playing ads for nutritional drinks, and the roadside cybercafé was full of people.

"What is that?" it suddenly asked, raising its hand to point at the computers in the cybercafé, turning to Lin Xingshi.