Jiang Xiaoya was a baby with an indomitable will. Every time she drank milk, she would cling tightly to the bottle and refuse to let go, and little by little, she also gradually adapted amid the wild, storm-like rocking.

Without realizing it, she began to be like a real little baby—what she looked forward to most each day became the regularly refreshed milk bottle. Come to think of it, Jiang Xiaoya had never once heard the sound of Mommy mixing milk powder.

It was just that every time it was time for her to drink milk, Mommy would go out, leave the house, and when she came back again, Jiang Xiaoya would have milk to drink.

Perhaps because she could finally eat her fill, Jiang Xiaoya could now vaguely see some of the outside scenery when daylight came. Through the prison-bar-shaped window, she could see that outside was a stretch of wasteland and marshes.

So Jiang Xiaoya felt a little confused:

Mom, the milk is wild.

However, a baby’s brain capacity was far too small, and her brain overly smooth—confusion always slipped right off her smooth cerebral cortex.

Jiang Xiaoya’s daily life as a little baby was eating and then sleeping, sleeping and then eating. Occasionally, she would also keep her eyes shut and let out a few werwer weird sounds to attract Mommy’s attention. But even though she looked rather dumb, she did have her own goals.

Aside from seaweed, seaweed, she also had to cultivate a relationship with Mommy!

In her previous life, Xiaoya had been an orphan who lost her mother at a very young age. She liked her new Mommy very much and often looked at her with sparkling eyes.

Mommy was a serene and enormous long-haired beauty.

Her back looked like a mountain—exceptionally massive.

However, Mommy never held her, nor spoke to her. Aside from giving her the milk bottle and rocking her, she did not engage in any communication or interaction with her at all.

Yet if one were to say that Mommy didn’t like her, Mommy would often stand motionless above her head, staring at her for several hours at a time.

Perhaps this was what they called maternal love—silent as a mountain.

Jiang Xiaoya wanted to bond emotionally with Mommy, to become Mommy’s thoughtful little padded jacket. After all, she had been picked up—she had to be proactive to protect this hard-won mother–daughter bond. She was extremely warm and enthusiastic, but every time she moved closer, that gloomy great mountain above her head would swiftly move away.

She scooted forward, and the mountain would rapidly retreat backward.

Because there was a wooden crate blocking her, Jiang Xiaoya could only give up resentfully.

Jiang Xiaoya felt that Mommy might be someone whose love stayed in her heart but was hard to express, or perhaps she was rather shy.

Still, she was now struggling to practice turning over. As long as she learned how to crawl, she could scoot over to Mommy!

───♡───

The swamp monster quietly watched the little baby through its long hair.

Its eyesight was very poor; the world before its eyes was murky and chaotic, a blur of indistinct shapes. Hearing was one of the few tools it had to perceive the world. It would carefully capture even the tiniest movement made by the little baby.

Just like, in a silent world, searching for a small flower that could sing.

This swamp monster was ferocious and bloodthirsty. For a very long time, it had been like dark clouds on the horizon, without self-awareness—merely hunting because of hunger, fighting over territory and slaughtering because of instinct. It thought there was no difference between itself and those water ghosts. Only, its body was somewhat larger.

Water ghosts were small monsters.

The swamp monster believed that it itself was a very, very, very—super huge monster.

It could effortlessly tear those high-level water ghosts in half, and it could also swallow everything, even this prison of copper walls and iron ramparts.

But aside from that, its sense of self was no different from dark clouds on the horizon. Of course, it was far inferior to dark clouds. It lacked the virtues of dark clouds, resembling instead a mass of black clouds that could erupt into a torrential downpour at any moment.

It was the most brutal predator in this black forbidden zone. Like those water ghosts, it was filled with violence and a cruel lust for killing, devoid of emotion and humanity. Picking up the baby was, of course, not out of sympathy—but out of a certain kind of curiosity.

The little baby was clearly still in her savoring phase—she only let out a couple of werwer sounds when she was hungry. With big eyes and a tiny body, unable to crawl, she was placed in a corner like a decorative object, not taking up much space.

This prison in the swamp had been abandoned for a long time. Aside from the ceaseless sound of rain, it was extremely quiet.

For a very long time, the only living thing here was the spider slowly weaving its web overhead.

The swamp monster had once captured many high-level water ghosts. It did not kill them, only quietly watched them struggle in the swamp, simply so that amid the endless rain, it could hear some faint rustling sounds.

This was a cruel, utterly inhuman monster.

Perhaps once it lost interest, it would mercilessly eat her.

But that might take some time yet.

So it held onto a certain strange patience, observing her, anticipating the day it would lose interest.

───♡───

That day arrived very quickly.

On a certain peaceful and gentle evening, Jiang Xiaoya was inside the large wooden crate, ah-ah-ing as she practiced turning over.

Suddenly! She succeeded in flipping over like a turtle. She delightedly discovered that her little arms and legs now had enough strength—she could already crawl out of the crate!

Just as she crawled out of the crate, Jiang Xiaoya heard some familiar sounds.

When she had first started living in the abandoned prison at night, Jiang Xiaoya could always hear the sound of things being torn apart, along with scalp-tingling chewing noises—crunch, crunch—and she could even smell the scent of blood.

After all, this was a world of strange tales; danger was bound to lurk everywhere outside.

Jiang Xiaoya felt that there must be many zombie-like monsters out there. But Mommy was probably a very powerful superpowered individual—inside the house, Jiang Xiaoya hadn’t even seen a single strand of monster fur.

The night deep in the swamp was very dark. Jiang Xiaoya vaguely saw a tall shadow in the distance, with very long hair, and immediately happily huffed and puffed as she crawled toward Mommy.

Not far away, the enormous creature dragged along its dinner. Green blood dripped drop by drop along the way, leaving behind dark stains.

Suddenly, the swamp monster stopped.

It heard some strange movement.

It slowly lifted its chin and discovered that Jiang Xiaoya’s small wooden crate was completely empty.

Its green pupils instantly shrank into thin lines!

The enormous creature looked around, but its eyesight was too poor to see anything. It let out an angry hissing sound. It began to sniff her scent forcefully, and very quickly, through smell, it discovered Xiaoya, who was in the midst of escaping.

There were always prey that tried to flee right under this half-blind creature’s nose.

But the outcome was usually being torn into two pieces by it. Or becoming nourishment for the swamp.

Its footsteps paused, and its figure moved like lightning—whoosh, whoosh—as it rushed toward Jiang Xiaoya.

There was still residual blood on its body, dripping drop by drop as it angrily came before her. It suddenly leaned close, and from its chest cavity the enormous creature let out “Heh… heh…” sounds:

Human.

Little human.

Get back into the crate!

With a casual squeeze, it crushed the water ghost’s head in its hand, using it as a bloody deterrent. Green blood dripped drop by drop, the scene extremely horrifying.

However, Jiang Xiaoya was currently fully focused on taming her own limbs. As a young cub whose cerebral cortex was so smooth that even a fly would slip if it stepped on it, she was wholeheartedly huffing and puffing as she crawled toward Mommy’s long hair.

3 m, 1 m… Jiang Xiaoya finally got close to her target!

Mommy, I can crawl now!

The angry heh-heh sounds in the swamp monster’s chest disappeared.

It slowly lowered its head.

Jiang Xiaoya happily crawled over from Mommy’s feet. werwer!

Happily crawled past Mommy’s feet. werwer!

Jiang Xiaoya crawled all over the ground, expressing her excitement.

When she found that Mommy had no reaction, she ah-ah-ed and stretched out her hands, trying to grab Mommy’s beautiful hair to attract her attention. She eagerly reached upward to feel Mommy’s hair, touching for a long time but never managing to touch Mommy’s head.

Where’s the head?

She touched again and again in confusion.

The enormous creature let out an impatient heh-heh sound.

The little baby’s eyesight was poor, but her hearing was perfectly fine, and she immediately responded enthusiastically to Mommy.

Yes, yes, your child can crawl now.

Mommy, you must also be very happy for your child, right!

“……”

The enormous creature slowly straightened up.

It thought that this cub might be an idiot.

The enormous creature’s pale, restless hands hovering in the air changed positions several times:

It wanted to slap her to death, but she was clutching its hair tightly—slapping her would inevitably tear off a large chunk of its own hair;

It wanted to bite her to death, but Jiang Xiaoya was too tiny. On its body, she was like an ant crawling on an elephant—lowering its head to gnaw for half a day, it wouldn’t even know where she was.

And Jiang Xiaoya was very small. Lying on the ground to bite her to death would also be far too ugly.

In the end, those terrifyingly pale hands with fish-like webbing contracted and spread, turned once, lifted her up, and roughly stuffed her back into the large wooden crate.

The enormous creature’s vertical pupils stared at her intensely:

Behave yourself and stay there!

───♡───

And so Jiang Xiaoya once again narrowly escaped death.

In such a thrilling plot, zero people were frightened.

After Jiang Xiaoya learned how to crawl, very quickly, her range of activity was no longer limited to the wooden crate. She began to crawl out and explore the world. Because her strength was too small and her stamina insufficient, she often got stuck upside down between the crate and the ground, unable to get up, and would let out werwer sounds to call Mommy to come save her.

When she flipped over and got her head stuck under her bottom and couldn’t get out, she would also call Mommy to save her.

However, compared to crawling around in the abandoned prison full of danger everywhere, what she liked crawling the most was her own Mommy.

She often started climbing up Mommy’s body as soon as she touched Mommy’s hair. Even when she was roughly and savagely yanked down, it never dampened her enthusiasm.

A little beagle was a small animal that persevered relentlessly. After a short while, she would once again excitedly climb toward Mommy.

Only when she was stuffed back into the crate would she be quiet for a bit. But very quickly, she would wriggle out of the crate again, poking her head out like a gopher.

When the enormous creature let its guard down even a little, she would seize the chance and whoosh out.

Pata-pata, she continued exploring the world and harassing Mommy.

Perhaps because her activity level had increased, that night, Jiang Xiaoya was woken by hunger.

The moment she opened her eyes, she saw a huge black shadow looming overhead, vertical pupils emitting a green, ferocious dim light.

The little beagle poked her head out: Mommy, hungry, food.

The enormous creature did not move at all.

When cubs were little, they were very cute—picked up, fed some milk occasionally, and they would just keep making noise. Very worry-free.

But now she was jumping around, crawling all over the ground, werwer-ing noisily.

It extended its pale fingers tipped with sharp claws, clearly intending to strangle her.

But just as its hand reached over, the little beagle immediately, warmly and skillfully, hugged its finger prpr¹“prprpr” is an onomatopoeia borrowed from Japanese internet culture, often used in Chinese web novels to represent rapid, enthusiastic licking or nuzzling, usually in a cute, clingy, or overly affectionate way..

No way around it—she had lost her mother since she was little. Even when kindergarten had parent meetings, she could only look on enviously as others were held by their moms. Being a bit more enthusiastic toward Mommy now was only human nature!

The enormous creature’s vertical pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints.

It whooshed as it retracted its claws and fangs, letting out an even more terrifying, incredulous heh-heh sound.

The enormous creature wanted to shove its face forward and roar at her—but was afraid she would lick its face.

It hesitated, carefully backing a little farther away from her, letting out an even angrier sound: “Heh… heh…”

But now, Jiang Xiaoya could crawl!

She enthusiastically crawled out of the crate.

Her little head butted upward toward the black shadow overhead, moo-ing like a cow.

“……”

The enormous creature scuttled away from the ceiling on all fours at high speed.

───♡───

Life-and-death moments played out every day, but Jiang Xiaoya had gotten chubbier!

At the beginning, the little baby had been carried by that small team, enduring the elements along the way. Malnutrition had caused delayed visual development. Now that she was eating and drinking well, she had grown much rounder, and her eyesight had developed along with it.

But compared to the spiders in the prison and the boundless water plants, what Jiang Xiaoya most wanted to see clearly was Mommy’s appearance.

In her previous life, Jiang Xiaoya had lost her mother from a young age, and she felt full of goodwill toward this time’s Mommy. There were no lights where they lived, and it was always raining outside; the light was very dim. The little baby also slept a lot, so she missed many chances to properly look at Mommy.

Soon, the prison encountered a rare day without rain, and the daylight was very bright.

The little baby was extremely happy, ah-ah-ing as she tried hard to open her eyes wide, crawling out of the crate and poking her head out, finally seeing Mommy’s appearance clearly.

The swamp monster was towering beyond measure, casting a gloomy and massive shadow before the little baby.

The little baby craned her head, trying to see Mommy’s front, and let out ma-ah baby talk, calling for Mommy to turn around.

Sure enough, the enormous Mommy turned around.

Long, eerie black hair swung over.

Still long hair.

Jiang Xiaoya plopped back into the crate with a thud:

Watashi Mama-chan.

Why is it the same from the front and the back.