Chapter 38: The Truth of Those Years

Wen Qian and the Little Black Snake lived together for a long time. During this period, the number of animals that engineered run-ins with her gradually decreased.

But Wen Qian didn’t mind. She figured those other animals would eventually leave her, unlike A Mian. Losing him and getting him back twice made her feel as if it were destiny.

Having experienced so many partings, her feelings for the Little Black Snake were more than just friendship.

She relied on him, and she trusted him.

These happy days continued for a long time, until her adoptive parents, who had been on a business trip for over half a year, suddenly returned.

Her adoptive father happened upon Wen Qian and the Little Black Snake playing together, but he said nothing, only affectionately stroking her head.

The Little Black Snake seemed very unhappy. He reared up in front of Wen Qian, on high alert as he faced her adoptive father. No matter how Wen Qian tried to persuade him, he refused to retract his sharp fangs.

He maintained this combative stance until her adoptive father left.

She didn’t think much of the incident at first, but to her surprise, that very night... the Little Black Snake disappeared.

He didn’t show up in her bedroom as promised.

Wen Qian searched every corner of the room, but there was no trace of him.

She crouched by the flowerbed, sobbing quietly, her eyes red and swollen. Finally, a rabbit hidden deep among the flowers couldn’t bear to watch any longer and hopped out in front of her.

Wen Qian was stunned when the rabbit with a red heart-shaped mark on its ear came into view. It looked identical to the one she had adopted two years ago; even the orientation of the heart on its ear was the same.

Wen Qian had raised that rabbit for three months, until one day, her adoptive mother told her the little rabbit had left the villa to find its own mother.

She was overjoyed to have it back, but her happiness was quickly overshadowed by the sorrow of losing the Little Black Snake. She immediately scooped the rabbit into her arms, her sobs shaking her body as tears soaked its soft fur.

The little rabbit nuzzled her face with its fluffy head. After a while, as if it had made a decision, it struggled out of her embrace.

It headed straight for the underground garage, looking back every few hops to signal for Wen Qian to follow.

Only then did Wen Qian realize this little rabbit seemed to be injured. The once-nimble creature now hopped with a limp.

The autumn wind was a bit chilly. Wen Qian crossed the gravel path and went all the way around to the back of the villa.

She had never been to the underground garage before, making it a completely unfamiliar place to her.

She followed the path downward and stood on her tiptoes to flip on the garage light. In the wide, open space, more than one car was parked. She blinked, surprised and a little uneasy.

She followed the little rabbit to a gray sedan. It glanced at Wen Qian before suddenly leaping up and throwing itself against the car door.

Then a second time, and a third.

Puzzled, she stepped forward. Under its expectant gaze, Wen Qian stood on her tiptoes and slowly peered through the car window.

In the dim light, she saw a black snake lying motionless in a metal cage. The cage was so small it forced the snake to coil itself into a tight ball.

Clamping her hands over her mouth, Wen Qian stared at the scene inside the car in disbelief. She knew, without a doubt, that this was the A Mian she had been searching for.

In a daze, an ominous premonition washed over her. She didn’t run off to confront her adoptive father. Instead, she waited until after dark, found the car keys, and secretly freed the Little Black Snake.

Later, Wen Qian would learn that the man who had captured the Little Black Snake was her own adoptive father.

After that, more truths came to light. It wasn’t just about A Mian, but also about the other small animals that had followed her... A Mian told her that all the little creatures from those "engineered run-ins" were Beastmen.

Her adoptive parents never brought up the Little Black Snake’s disappearance, and Wen Qian asked no questions. She had her suspicions, but she knew that even if they were true, she was powerless to change anything.

So when her adoptive father claimed he had hidden the snake away just to surprise her on the right occasion, Wen Qian simply smiled and agreed.

She didn’t believe him but was too afraid to question her adoptive father. All she could do was hide the Little Black Snake in an even more secluded spot.

As more time passed, the presence of Beastmen in the villa grew stronger. They both knew this was a bad omen, for mingled with that presence was the heavy stench of blood.

One night, Wen Qian and the Little Black Snake made their way to the villa’s basement.

A horrifying scene met their eyes.

The dark, damp dungeon held countless Beastmen, all on the verge of death. They had been injected with some substance that forced them into their animal forms and were being subjected to inhuman torture.

The once-lively villa had become deathly quiet. Wen Qian tried time and again to save the Beastmen, but she could never find the keys.

「Another pitch-black night.」

The sound of voices woke Wen Qian. She peeked out the window and saw two familiar silhouettes.

It was her adoptive parents.

Driven by curiosity, Wen Qian went to the back garden the next morning, waiting until the couple had left.

She carefully examined the ground, looking for disturbed soil. She began to scrape away the fresh dirt... revealing the body of a cat Beastman.

An image of the battered, wounded Beastmen flashed through her mind. Her eyes reddened as she began to dry-heave.

So that was it. Her adoptive parents were burying the bodies of the Beastmen in the back garden, using them to make the beautiful flowers grow even more lush and vibrant.

Wen Qian was distracted and on edge for the next few days. Her adoptive parents seemed to have noticed something; new cameras were installed in the basement, and her adoptive father started frequently glancing at her sleeves.

’They must have found the Little Black Snake.’

Wen Qian was terrified. She was afraid the Little Black Snake would be tortured and killed by her adoptive parents like those other Beastmen, or taken to a research lab to become a scientific experiment.

That very day, she sent the Little Black Snake away. Afraid he would come back, she said many hurtful things to him.

She told him she hated Beastmen more than anything. She was terrified of their transformed shapes and afraid that his presence would ruin her relationship with her adoptive parents.

She told him to leave and never come back.

And so, for a very long time, Gu Mian truly believed that Wen Qian was terrified of Beastmen and that she dearly loved her family.

When she returned home, her adoptive father tried everything he could think of to pry the Little Black Snake’s location from her. But not only did Wen Qian refuse to tell him, she demanded that he release the other Beastmen.

For the first time, the little girl lost her temper with her adoptive parents. Her previous timidity was gone, replaced by an undeniable resilience in her eyes.

Her adoptive father instantly flipped the table over, shedding his usual gentle and refined demeanor. Ignoring her cries, he grabbed her by the arm and hauled her into her room.

Those jumbled childhood memories now began to fall into place. She realized that as a child, she hadn’t stayed in her room willingly. Her adoptive parents had locked her in...