It was as if the war that was about to start in ten years was coming, the Year Beast Monarch was no longer content to linger in the deep mountains and chose to go to war with Lake Hunting to reclaim the living environment from humans.

The Year Beast Monarch shook his head, "Tell me, what really happened between you and Lin Xingshi back then..."

"What happened..."

The Little Nian Beast muttered to itself, looked up at the night sky, and reminisced about its last memories with Lin Xingshi ten years ago.

....

....

On August 24th, eleven years ago, the Little Nian Beast confessed its identity at Lin Xingshi's birthday.

She knew that he was actually the offspring of the Year Beast Monarch, and that he didn't call himself Xiaonian, he was the Little Nian Beast. But Lin Xingshi wasn't disgusted by him at all. Something seemed to change between them, yet nothing really did.

Just like that, two more months passed, and snow had already begun to fall in Li Jing.

The city was clad in snow, and every time one opened the window, they could see the snowflakes drifting down. The eaves and tree branches were covered with a layer of snow, and the streets had ankle-high snow. Whenever the Little Nian Beast and Lin Xingshi played and chased each other in the snow, someone would fall.

Unawares, Lin Xingshi and the Little Nian Beast had already lived in this apartment building for half a year.

At this time, Lin Xingshi's hair had grown to her waist, and the tuft of fiery red hair at the back of her head was becoming more prominent, easily drawing attention on the street.

The Little Nian Beast learned the method from books, helping her to tie that tuft of fiery red hair into a braid. Lin Xingshi loved it and asked him to help manage her hair every day.

At the end of November, one day, because they had eaten all the food in the fridge, the Little Nian Beast and Lin Xingshi went out as usual to a nearby supermarket to look for food, playfully calling it "stocking up."

The two walked one behind the other, in the shadows away from surveillance cameras. Lin Xingshi looked up at the Little Nian Beast's back, then turned to see children on the street building snowmen, inserting carrots into their noses.

Their laughter reached her ears, and Lin Xingshi suddenly felt disoriented, thinking how great it would be if she didn't have to hide and could walk openly on the street with Xiaonian, if she didn't have to eavesdrop outside the classroom and could go to school with him.

Just imagining it made her very happy, and she couldn't help but slightly curl her lips upwards.

At this moment, Lin Xingshi's expression suddenly changed. She looked away from the snowman on the street and slowed her pace. The Little Nian Beast turned back to ask her, "What's wrong, Xiaoxing?"

Lin Xingshi was silent, just shook her head and gestured for the Little Nian Beast to go ahead.

The Little Nian Beast paused. Then he stopped at the corner of an alley ahead, pressed himself against the wall, and poked his head out. Like a beast hunting in the forest, he blocked his own aura, secretly observing Lin Xingshi.

"Stop following me." Lin Xingshi stopped in her tracks, suddenly turned her head, and said to the figure behind her.

Moments later, a man wearing sunglasses and a floral shirt with a buzz cut walked over. It was evident that he was the person whom the Little Nian Beast and Lin Xingshi had once teased on the street. Back then, the Little Nian Beast had used Spatial Power to pluck a tuft of his hair.

"Lin Xingshi, we've been looking for you for a long time." The buzz cut man stared at her back and said in a deep voice.

"Don't waste words, tell my father I will never go back." Lin Xingshi said coldly, "I advise you not to meddle with me, you're no match for me, after knocking you out I can leave immediately... I'll leave this city right away, go to a place where you can never find me again."

"Do you know... what has happened at home during the time you left?"

"I don't care, go away." Lin Xingshi almost said word by word, the fiery red long braid behind her head fluttered in the wind and snow blowing against her face.

The man continued, "Year..."

"I won't say it again, I don't want to hear it." In Lin Xingshi's pupils, scarlet flames ignited, and a faint Lion Shadow rippled in the air, covering her head.

But at this moment, the buzz cut man almost shouted, "Half a year ago, the Child of the Year Beast disappeared!"

Lin Xingshi froze suddenly, "Child of the Year Beast?" Hearing this name, she immediately raised an eyebrow, turned curiously, and looked at the buzz cut man.

"That's right... Xiaoshi, right in Hai Fan City, the Child of the Year Beast went missing." The man said hoarsely, "So the Year Beast Monarch was furious! It stormed into Hai Fan City to demand the person! We couldn't produce the person, and said the Child of the Year Beast had already left Hai Fan City..."

Lin Xingshi listened blankly, "And... and then?"

"The Year Beast Monarch didn't believe it. It didn't believe our words, so it stirred up a war in Hai Fan City, where many people died."

The man said to this point, his Adam's apple moved up and down, hesitated, and said, "Xiaoshi, your parents... your parents..."

"What happened to them?"

"To resist the Year Beast Monarch, during that war, they sacr..." The buzz cut man paused, hung his head, not daring to meet Lin Xingshi's eyes, finally squeezed out the last three words hoarsely from his throat:

"Sacrificed themselves."

Lin Xingshi stood still in place, the fiery red long braid blown by the wind slowly drooped down, hanging behind her head. After a moment, she slowly raised her head, stared into the man's eyes, her lips moving slightly, "Sacrifice... does it mean they died?"

The buzz cut man remained silent, his face slightly twitching, not saying anything further. After a while, he bit his lip and nodded forcefully.

Not far away, the Little Nian Beast leaned against the wall corner, listening dazedly to the conversation between the two, he seemed to realize something, slowly sat down.

For some reason, he suddenly felt his body growing cold, very cold. So, he squatted down, gradually hugging his knees.

After a long time, he raised his eyes and blankly watched as the snowflakes in the alley brushed past his nose, spinning and falling down.