Jiang Xiaoya very schemingly took advantage of the swamp monster being away to crawl out and observe the surroundings.

Outside, the human buildings were buried halfway. Beneath the boundless aquatic plants of the swamp lurked wandering water ghosts—going out rashly would be courting death. But the clever Xiaoya found dried human footprints among the many traces of water ghosts. This meant that this place was not completely devoid of human activity; she could wait until someone passed by and then call for help!

In short, Jiang Xiaoya had to endure humiliation and bear the burden, waiting for the right moment. The most urgent task was still to practice crawling more—at the very least, when that big thing wasn’t paying attention, she could crawl out like lightning.

After being sniffed at night and frightened into bawling during the day, Jiang Xiaoya’s life grew ever more dire.

This day, while Jiang Xiaoya was practicing crawling like a turtle, she felt that something was not quite right. She struggled to twist her head around and discovered that the swamp monster on the ceiling was staring at her.

Very quickly, the swamp monster twisted its neck with a crack, and suddenly crawled toward her at high speed—like a resting leopard suddenly locking onto its prey.

Jiang Xiaoya immediately twisted her head away, her little arms and legs windmilling like fiery wheels.

She crawled, crawled, crawled!

But the swamp monster behind her was even faster!

Could it be that Jiang Xiaoya was going to die young today, in her infancy?

Just as she felt despair, the swamp monster sped right past her.

Slowly, it squatted back into the swamp.

Jiang Xiaoya: “……”

Jiang Xiaoya discovered that the swamp monster also slept. When it slept, it just stood in the swamp as if dead—very quiet, a big lump in the corner, looking like a gigantic black cat.

She wanted to test how deeply it slept, and plucked up the courage to crawl past it.

No movement.

Just as Jiang Xiaoya was secretly delighted and about to crawl away quickly, the swamp monster, quiet as if dead, suddenly opened its eyes, looked at her for a second, stretched out its ghastly pale big hand, and flipped her over.

Jiang Xiaoya had no choice but to struggle to flip herself back over like a turtle.

After untold hardship, she finally managed a turtle’s turnover!

The enormous creature watched her with interest for a while with those green vertical pupils. Then it flipped her over again, leaving her on all fours with her belly up.

Jiang Xiaoya was so angry she kicked her legs.

Jiang Xiaoya felt that she had become a little toy to be kneaded at will. She dared to be angry but did not dare to speak, and could only wretchedly present her backside to it. That thing—what was it—sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall, three thousand Ya-yas can swallow Wu¹ Sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall (卧薪尝胆) is a Chinese idiom meaning to endure humiliation and hardship in order to achieve future success or revenge. “three thousand Ya-yas can swallow Wu” humorously parodies the historical saying “three thousand Yue soldiers can swallow Wu,”!

Finally, Jiang Xiaoya, who was constantly seeking a chance to escape, waited for an excellent opportunity.

The next day was a bright, sunny day.

Ever since Jiang Xiaoya came to this world, it had been raining continuously; this was the first time it had cleared. The sun pierced through the thin mist, evaporating the moisture in the swamp and drying the damp marshland. The prison that never saw daylight also leaked faint sunlight through its cracks.

Jiang Xiaoya had always felt that she kept falling over because she lacked vitamin D, and living here—aside from worrying about being eaten by the swamp monster—she was also very worried that she would be deficient in calcium and develop osteoporosis at such a young age.

Jiang Xiaoya did not want to become a little old lady, so as soon as the sun came out she immediately huffed and puffed her way out to bask.

But after sleeping beautifully and waking up, the swamp monster that had gone out to hunt baby bottles had not yet returned home.

───♡───

The damp moisture allowed the swamp monster to go anywhere. On rainy days, it was so powerful it was almost omnipotent; but likewise, whenever the sun rose, it became extremely weak. The night passed, and as the first ray of sunlight pierced the clouds, the footsteps of the Swamp Monster walking among the abandoned buildings paused for a moment.

It raised its head, and a wisp of white smoke slowly rose from the top of it.

That was the water vapor evaporated by the sun.

It sluggishly searched for a shaded place, white smoke rising all over its body. The swamp monster hated this feeling—weakness, slowness, as if its strength were flowing away together with the evaporating moisture. Because of the sun’s scorching, it had bled a little, but the air humidity was still high, and the power of this terrifying predator had not yet disappeared.

As if smelling the sweet, fishy scent of the swamp monster’s blood, rustling sounds came from among the swaying aquatic plants. On ordinary days, even high-tier water ghosts in great numbers, traveling in groups, would flee in panic upon sensing that terrifying swamp aura, because the swamp monster was the most brutal, unreasonable existence in this black forbidden zone.

But now, drawn by the blood, the water ghosts climbed out of the swamp one after another. They would also let out agonized screams from the scorching sunlight, yet still twisted their way out from the water plants, hollow eyeballs flickering with greedy light—so long as they could bite into the strongest predator’s flesh and blood, they would gain even greater power.

The colossal creature dragged its heavy steps, ignoring the water ghosts trying to take a bite out of it, and walked straight toward the direction of that prison. It felt a bit irritable, roaring as it flung away those water ghosts that tried to tear at it. It was far more ferocious than usual; the green vertical pupils were full of impatient irritability as it smashed the heads of several water ghosts. However, because of its weakness, it still suffered some injuries.

The sunlight made its movements extremely sluggish. Under the sun, this monster’s vision was poorer and more chaotic; relying on its sense of smell, it barely found the direction home.

“Heh… heh…”

Disgusting.

Hated.

It hated the sun!

───♡───

Jiang Xiaoya climbed up the prison’s railing and then saw the colossal creature under the shadow of a large tree not far away.

It quietly squatted beneath the shadow of an abandoned building near the prison. The swamp under its feet had been dried and cracked by the sun, and it did not move at all.

Jiang Xiaoya cautiously crawled over and found that it had no reaction; she nudged it once, and it still did not move. Like a stone statue.

She was overjoyed and huffed and puffed her way outward. Great—she could finally crawl away without being eaten! And outside, the sunlight was brilliant; even the usually dangerous water ghosts were nowhere to be seen. It was simply the perfect moment to escape.

However, after crawling out only three meters, Jiang Xiaoya crawled back again.

Today’s sun was very nice, but Xiaoya seemed to have nowhere to go.

Last time she had been an orphan, there was still an orphanage; this time, outside there was only boundless swamp.

The child vaguely realized that in this world, aside from this big monster, no one else would bring her baby bottles or feed her anymore. She would die in this swamp, like a withered little sprout.

The little beagle desperately wanted to have a mother; that longing even sometimes overwhelmed her fear. But if those protections and feedings were only done in passing, and she was overthinking things, and the other party merely regarded her as a little toy or reserve rations, then Jiang Xiaoya would become Jiang Xiaoya.zip. So she always wanted to run outside.

She crawled forward in confusion for two steps, then returned to “Mama’s” side.

In the morning light, the monster squatted beneath the ruins like an abandoned stone statue. Its long hair hung down in disarray; the pale big hand that always frightened her drooped weakly, and beneath its body was a pool of green blood gradually drying up.

The little baby crawled back and used all her strength to butt it with her head, trying to wake this big fellow. Once the sun disappeared, water ghosts could crawl out at any moment, and this big fellow would be eaten!

But the colossal creature did not move at all, as if dead.

Jiang Xiaoya grew a little afraid.

Children, of course, have a fledgling attachment. If possible, Jiang Xiaoya very much wanted to have a mother in this unfamiliar world. She anxiously rubbed against it and nudged it. But now Mama did not move at all, as if dead.

The swamp monster’s eyeballs shifted slightly.

Whenever the sun rose, its mood would become extremely foul, turning from slightly irritable into violently irritable. But at this moment, the beastly agitation in its eyes disappeared, replaced by rounded vertical pupils.

It watched this little person with curiosity.

In this swamp, water ghosts evolved by devouring one another. Low-tier water ghosts would advance toward higher tiers by eating their own kind, and the flesh and blood of the most powerful swamp monster possessed a special allure. It had always thought that Jiang Xiaoya’s intimate actions were merely this overestimating little person trying to seize an opportunity to gnaw on its flesh and blood.

If she were to bite it right now, the swamp monster would definitely slap her to death. But this cub did not. She sat in front of it, vigilantly scanning her surroundings, as if at the slightest disturbance she would immediately butt it awake. This was a posture of guarding.

In the swamp monster’s understanding, weak creatures should know how to protect themselves wisely. The most sensible choice for this cub should have been to hide deep inside the prison, not to stay here. It watched as the little beagle, werwer, went from circling around it to crying anxiously, bawling loudly, tears streaming as she shook it with all her strength.

The swamp monster could not understand Jiang Xiaoya’s anxiety at all, because it would not die—just as rain would not die, wind would not die, and the swamp would not die.

But the little person seemed about to die of worry.

The colossal creature slowly tilted its head and poked her.

After guarding for too long, her energy bar was completely depleted. Jiang Xiaoya fell asleep while sitting, thudding down onto it.

The swamp monster slowly raised its head above her and saw the little person shrouded beneath its shadow, one very big, one very small.

Around the afternoon, it began to rain.

Pa-ta, pa-ta, nourishing the cracked swamp.

The swamp monster’s fingers resting on the ground twitched. It slowly lifted its chin and lowered its head to look at the little person.

It picked the little person up and stuffed her into its arms.

Slowly, it walked in the direction of home.

With long hair covering her, the child would not get rained on.

───♡───

When Jiang Xiaoya woke up, she found herself inside a wooden box. As soon as she opened her eyes, she met the colossal creature’s green vertical pupils. She knew Mama had picked her back up!

For a small child, today’s experience could be described as extremely perilous. The little beagle looked at Mama happily, her eyes sparkling. But very quickly, she guiltily averted her gaze, because she remembered that she had planned to secretly run away while Mama was injured!

The little baby clearly had not mastered the correct technique for lying. After feeling guilty for a moment, she immediately leaned over and rubbed against it with an unusually enthusiastic air. One had to know that ever since she had clearly seen what Mama looked like, the little beagle had never dared to be so unrestrained again.

The colossal creature lowered its head and sized her up with its vertical pupils.

As if it had seen through her oddness. It lowered its head and drew closer to her.

It seemed to want to use its nearly half-blind vision to see the guilt on the child’s face.

The pressure on Jiang Xiaoya was immense. Under that gaze, her psychological defenses collapsed. Panicking, she scrambled and crawled all over the ground.

Jiang Xiaoya heard the whooshing wind behind her, and the heh-heh, terrifying roars.

Jiang Xiaoya stuck out her butt and crawled, crawled, crawled.

Jiang Xiaoya had always been very afraid that Mama would eat her, which was why she so desperately wanted to escape.

Sure enough, this day finally came!

She hid behind the abandoned gate and narrowly escaped disaster. When the commotion outside faded away, she cautiously stuck her head out and did not see Mama’s figure. Just as she let out a breath of relief, she turned around and met a pair of green vertical pupils.

The colossal creature let out a roar, clacking clack clack as it leaned in, about to bite her to death.

Jiang Xiaoya burst into loud sobs.

Jiang Xiaoya thought Mama was so ferocious that she would definitely bite her in half. Heartbroken, she squeezed her eyes shut and wailed loudly, as if all the nightmares of these days had come true. She often dreamed that Mama would toss her cold, dip her in sauce, and eat her—chewing her up like lotus root!

Suddenly, she realized something.

Her arms seemed to still be on her body.

She opened her eyes—the colossal creature was clearly just clacking clack clack at empty air, not biting her arms at all.

She looked at it suspiciously.

The colossal creature: clack clack clack clack!

If the other party truly wanted her life, Jiang Xiaoya would be very pitiful; if the other party truly wanted to eat her, Jiang Xiaoya would only be even more pitiful.

But now, Jiang Xiaoya leaned over suspiciously and discovered that it had not even bitten a single strand of her hair.

As if sensing Jiang Xiaoya drawing closer, the roaring colossal creature quieted down.

It straightened up as if nothing had happened, as though the scene just now had never existed.

Jiang Xiaoya angrily kicked her legs.

She yelled “aaah aaah aaah” as she crawled over, slamming into the swamp monster like a bull.

Teasing children—the shared guilty pleasure of parents all over the world.

Jiang Xiaoya used her own forehead to violently headbutt the swamp monster’s knee!

───♡───

As on every ordinary night, the colossal creature let out “heh… heh” hissing roars to threaten the child.

Jiang Xiaoya quietly stared at it, big eyes against big eyes, for a while.

Swamp Monster: roaar roaar roaar—

Jiang Xiaoya flipped over and went to sleep.

The terrifying ghastly pale big hand poked her unwillingly.

Jiang Xiaoya turned over and pointed her butt at it.

The colossal creature was still hissing and baring its teeth, trying to bite her.

This time, the long-suffering child finally could not endure it any longer.

She scurried over, looked left and right without finding a way to retaliate, and in a fit of anger, stuffed her head into its gaping basin-sized big mouth:

Go on, bite me—bite me to death!

Footnotes

• 1
  Sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall (卧薪尝胆) is a Chinese idiom meaning to endure humiliation and hardship in order to achieve future success or revenge. “three thousand Ya-yas can swallow Wu” humorously parodies the historical saying “three thousand Yue soldiers can swallow Wu,”