Jiang Xiaoya’s main food was still formula. But as her daily crawling increased, drinking milk was no longer enough to meet her everyday needs, and she would very easily wake up hungry in the middle of the night.

At noon, she put down the bottle, crawled over to the swamp monster, and began chewing the air beside its hand, chew chew chew.

The swamp monster said nothing and looked at her.

It handed over a small piece of meat from a crocodile’s belly.

Clearly, Jiang Xiaoya’s treatment had improved quite a bit, from eating leftover crocodile tail to the belly.

But Jiang Xiaoya couldn’t eat raw meat. She ingratiatingly rubbed against the ghost mother’s hand, trying to babble “ah ah” to express that she wanted cooked food. Unfortunately, her baby talk was understood by no one.

Seeing that Jiang Xiaoya wouldn’t even eat the crocodile belly.

The enormous creature slapped the ground, a little irritable and impatient: such a tiny little human, could it be that she wanted to eat an entire crocodile?

This was a provocation. Practically snatching food from a tiger’s jaws!

The swamp monster was extremely powerful and could obtain plenty of food. It could swallow water ghosts with the swamp and become even stronger; but compared to that method, it preferred eating directly. Reluctantly, the enormous creature handed the entire crocodile to her.

Jiang Xiaoya spun around anxiously, circling the swamp monster and chewing the air, hoping the swamp monster could understand her body language. In her panic, she bit down on the swamp monster’s big hand.

The enormous creature went quiet. It sized up the tiny Jiang Xiaoya: she actually wanted to eat him.

The irritability and impatience vanished. The enormous creature slowly sat up straight. It leaned closer and examined this cub with completely new eyes. Suddenly, it finally discovered the problem: the little human had grown a few very tiny teeth.

When it was first born, it already had a mouthful of extremely sharp teeth with tremendous biting force. But the little human’s teeth were only a tiny bit big, white, like grains of millet.

At night, Jiang Xiaoya was so hungry she couldn’t sleep, her stomach gurgling as if she had swallowed a frog. But there was nothing edible anywhere nearby, so she could only go toward Mama. The enormous creature looked at her and didn’t make a sound. Jiang Xiaoya didn’t know whether Mama had understood her meaning or not.

Sometimes, the swamp monster was very clever and keen—for example, when it discovered Jiang Xiaoya trying to escape, it would appear extremely intelligent, not only encircling her from three sides but also using feints to hunt her down; but at other times it seemed completely lacking in human understanding. Jiang Xiaoya lay beside Mama and sighed. Like a little water kettle with a leak.

Mom, I’m going to become a savage!

—She planned that if she really couldn’t endure the hunger anymore, she would try drilling wood to make fire, to see if she could cook Mama’s crocodile meat and gnaw on it.

The next day was another day of torrential rain. In the boundless swamp, reeds swayed. The swamp monster left this prison very early. Usually, after Jiang Xiaoya crawled three laps around the prison, Mama would be back. Sometimes dragging prey like crocodiles, and conveniently handing Jiang Xiaoya a baby bottle from who knows where.

However, Jiang Xiaoya had crawled five laps at home and Mama still hadn’t returned. From morning to afternoon, the little beagle lay on the window for a long time, rain pattering down onto her head, as she kept staring longingly at the distant swamp.

Partly from hunger, partly from fear that something had happened to Mama, like a little dog with drooping ears.

Suddenly, far away, Jiang Xiaoya saw a tall shadow!

She happily crawled forward, propping herself up against the wall to stand—normally the swamp monster did not allow her to leave the prison’s range or approach the swamp, but at this moment, seeing Mama, the child had already forgotten all about that, wobbling as she ran toward Mama.

Mom, is there something good to eat!

But halfway there, Jiang Xiaoya realized something was wrong. Although the back looked somewhat similar, the dark figure in the distance was shorter than Mama, thinner and shriveled, with strangely slender limbs, its build far less strong and imposing than Mama’s. She saw the black shadow by the reeds turn its head—

That was a real, high-ranking water ghost.

Jiang Xiaoya was terrified. Unable to run fast, she dropped to all fours and crawled with all her strength.

Jiang Xiaoya crawled on all four limbs, as fast as a tiger or a lion.

But how fast could a child possibly be?

Because that brutal swamp monster stayed in the prison, the water ghosts kept far away from the area. Today, however, it had left for a while, and Jiang Xiaoya had crawled outside the prison’s range—danger naturally followed. It was a high-rank water ghost that had just devoured many of its own kind; in rainy weather, its speed became extremely sharp and swift.

It lunged toward the child, wanting to drag her into the space between the lake water and the swamp—

“Bang!”

That high-rank water ghost was violently grabbed by the hair, lifted up, and slammed against the wall.

The swamp monster appeared. It let out a rumbling, heaving sound toward Jiang Xiaoya, its appearance terrifying and dreadful, as if questioning why she had run out. It lifted the water ghost, and in the swamp, with just a few movements, smashed it to death.

The swamp monster had never been this angry. The anger even made it seem a little larger in size, the swamp beneath its feet seeming to come alive. It was an extremely horrifying scene. After killing the water ghost, it slowly turned its head; its green pupils turned into snake-like vertical slits as it walked toward her.

This was completely different from how it used to tease the child. The enormous creature lifted the child and let out a sharp screech. Its gaze was furious and violent, looking as though it might kill her at any moment.

If Jiang Xiaoya were still just a little pet, the swamp monster would not be angry at her. Raising a small toy meant there was no need to worry whether it lived or died—life and death seemed insignificant. But without realizing it, everything had changed.

It had never experienced such intense anger. Especially at the instant it saw that water ghost about to eat Jiang Xiaoya, a sharp killing intent erupted from it, and it appeared before her at an unprecedented speed.

It killed the water ghost, but the fury still did not fade.

Because it had warned Jiang Xiaoya countless times not to crawl out of that prison.

This terrifying monster, utterly devoid of human emotion and muddled in existence, for the first time truly examined Jiang Xiaoya.

A child with millet-grain teeth could not survive in the cruel swamp. From a very young age, the swamp monster knew that if one was not strong, one would be eaten—this was the swamp’s brutal law.

This little human with millet-grain teeth was not suited to live here.

Then eat her.

Being eaten by it was, at least, better than being eaten by other water ghosts.

This monster, of course, did not understand the word “education.” In this cruel swamp, there had never been any opportunity to teach the weak. Like a mother tiger facing a feeble cub, it would not give special care, but would directly eat it. When the swamp monster was even smaller, it already knew that only by being fiercer and more ruthless could it survive here.

For the first time, meeting those furious vertical pupils devoid of any emotion, she felt an unprecedented fear.

The child understood the meaning in Mama’s eyes.

The torrential rain poured down. The child stared blankly at that terrifying monster on the verge of fury. She knew she seemed to have angered it, because she had not obediently stayed at home and had crawled out recklessly, encountering danger. It was angry. Very angry, very angry.

Treating a heartless, savage, terrifying monster as one’s own mother was a very foolish thing.

She watched the enormous creature draw close, and in fear, hugged her head.

But that terrifying big hand hovered in midair for a long time without striking down.

In the end, it forcefully, viciously rubbed away the green blood splashed onto her face.

───♡───

Jiang Xiaoya still ended up drinking chicken congee.

She was like a little dog drenched by the rain, looking at her mother with a bit of unease.

She quietly crawled over to the swamp monster mother’s side.

After dragging her back, the enormous creature had been squatting in the corner the whole time, furious and cold. It was still very angry, because it had warned Jiang Xiaoya countless times.

Jiang Xiaoya persistently rubbed her way over to its side, lifted the insulated container, wanting to share the food with it. As a result, the swamp monster turned its face away. In the darkness, the green vertical pupils shrank into a thin line, like a cold, vicious serpent in the swamp.

The child drew her head back, her ears drooping, and behaved herself.

The swamp monster was not human. That also meant it was cold and unfeeling, even difficult to communicate with. Explaining things to it was hard; living alongside it was dangerous.

The swamp was very cold. Every night, Jiang Xiaoya would snuggle up beside the swamp monster to keep warm. Its body temperature was low, but its hair was especially long, enough to cover her like a blanket.

Today was the same. Only, when Jiang Xiaoya went to find Mama to sleep, her movements were far more furtive.

Sensing a lump pushing up beneath its hair, the green vertical pupils glanced over.

Beneath the long hair, the pale face turned slightly, looking toward the window.

Pretending not to see.

But soon, Jiang Xiaoya’s small movements turned into big ones. She wanted to hide behind the swamp monster, in the windless spot, burrowing about messily like a little calf. The swamp monster let out a low rumbling sound, grabbed the puppy-like Jiang Xiaoya, stuffed her into its arms, and covered her tightly with its hair. Jiang Xiaoya behaved herself.

The child was a little nervous, because today was the first time she had so clearly realized that the other party was a terrifying monster. She wanted to get close to Mama, yet feared its dangerous side, so her fists clenched tightly in unease.

Between the monster’s chest and its terrifying long hair was a narrow, safe space.

She felt very warm. She also smelled a scent of green grass. Like endless grasslands by the edge of the swamp.

So this is the legendary taste of a mother?

Within that grassy scent, she quickly felt drowsy.

Her cheek fell forward, like soft cotton candy pressing against the swamp monster’s neck, rubbing gently.

Beneath the monster’s long hair was a youthful face that looked as though it had not yet fully grown, not completely mature.

It turned its face away, enduring the child’s warm breathing.

Yet at this moment, that youthful face wore an extremely irritable expression—

The swamp monster was a very irresponsible bad guy. It knew that when it had just been born, the chains on its body had come from humans, so it had once wanted to use the swamp to swallow that city. It was cruel and vicious, utterly lacking anything like compassion. It cared neither for the life or death of water ghosts, nor for the life or death of humans.

In the past, when the swamp monster was alone, it could go anywhere, squat beneath a large tree in the swamp for months on end. But now it had to raise Jiang Xiaoya—come back one minute late, and she would die. Raising a child was very simple: just feed her something; but raising her without killing her was very difficult.

The rainy season was heavy and oppressive. The child’s breathing sounded right by its shoulder.

The youth felt annoyed, very angry.

It twisted uncomfortably.

But all night long, it did not change its posture.