Always Ending Up as an Animal Cub

The first to react wasn't the little mushroom, but the little bear warrior held in Lily's hand.

Chenxi clearly saw that after he said those words, the button eyes of the toy bear moved, and the black-line mouth curved into a mocking arc.
This was the first time the toy bear had moved so noticeably in front of Chenxi.
It was unclear if there was some special connection between Lily and her toy bear.

Suddenly, Lily stopped chasing the little mushroom and knelt down, whispering to the toy bear.
Lily had become quite strange, and the little mushroom visibly panicked.
Seeing this, Chenxi stretched out his hand and stepped forward, “Little brother, come here.”

Looking at Lily, who had just killed the little coal ball, and then at Chenxi, who was smiling gently, the little mushroom couldn’t help but jog towards him.
After running a few steps, he suddenly stopped and nervously asked, “Aren’t you mad at me?”
Chenxi glanced at the bathroom not far away. “Are you talking about when you hid alone in the bathroom and left me outside to feed the monster?”

The little mushroom’s innocent face was filled with guilt.
Chenxi lowered his gaze. “I understand. You did that just to survive. If you hadn’t pulled me down and distracted the monster, neither of us would have made it.”
The little mushroom nodded. “Right, if no one holds back the monster, we’d both be eaten.”

“I’m older than you, and my legs are longer. So between the two of us, I’m the one best suited to attract the monster.”
“That’s true, and you also have a little chicken with you. If we really can’t escape, you could throw the chicken to attract the monster.”
Hearing the little mushroom’s response, Chenxi’s smile became even gentler.

He spoke softly, “Although an older brother should take care of his younger brother, for the sake of our friendship, we should be more fair. This time, I’ll attract the monster. Next time, it’ll be your turn. Is that okay?”
Chenxi set a step for the little mushroom to climb, placing it right at his feet.
Seeing that Lily had finished talking to the toy bear, the hesitant boy quickly ran down the step.

“Alright, next time I’ll attract the monster. Thank you for your hard work, brother. Lily killed the little coal ball, Chenxi, let’s stay away from her.”
As the little mushroom spoke, he ran to Chenxi’s side.
Chenxi tightly grasped his hand and pulled him toward the dormitory door.
Lily, dragging the pillow-sized toy bear, was chasing behind them with her short legs.

“Wait, Chenxi! The little bear warrior says you can’t make up with him. He never considered you a friend! He’s with you just to feel superior to you! That’s what the little bear warrior said, come back quickly!”
“When you weren’t in the dorm, he would also badmouth you to others! When Dafu Tang and Xiao Fang Tang first came to the dorm, they wanted to be friends with you. But to make them hate you, he told them your mother was a ‘fox.’ And he said that only he didn’t mind you and was willing to play with the child of a fox!”
Nothing is more awkward than hearing someone talk bad about you behind your back and having the person hear it.

The little mushroom’s face immediately flushed red, then turned pale.
He nervously looked up.
Chenxi seemed to have not heard Lily’s words, still holding his hand and rushing forward.

Since he was still young, and seeing that Chenxi didn’t hold it against him, the little mushroom sighed with relief.
Lily’s legs were too short and her stamina too poor, so she couldn’t keep up with them.
She placed the toy bear on the ground, straddled it, and rode on its back.

While looking back while running, the little mushroom watched as the toy bear, which had originally been the size of a pillow, began to visibly expand.
In just two seconds, it had turned into a large plush bear over two meters tall.
Lily was riding it, holding a steel knife in one hand.

“Charge! Little bear warrior! Ahh, wah wah wah!”
Little Mushroom: !!!
Chenxi: ?

He turned around and just caught sight of the bear knight, Lily, screaming and charging at them.
Chenxi’s expression twisted for a moment, then he turned to the little mushroom and urgently said, “No, the bear is charging too fast. We won’t outrun it. It’s too late to run out; we need to hide back in the dorm.”
The little mushroom was stunned by Lily’s piercing scream and didn’t react in time.

Wherever Chenxi went, he followed, not even paying attention to the dormitory door number.
Seeing the bear knight, Lily, coming closer, Chenxi still stood in front of the door, hesitating to open it.
The little mushroom, anxious, suddenly tugged at Chenxi’s slightly long white hair, pulling him aside and pushing the door open, rushing into the dorm.

Just as he was closing the door, the toy bear’s furry paw slammed down.
The paw, made of wool stuffing, struck the wooden door, leaving a menacing claw mark.
The little mushroom locked the door and pushed the desk against it to block it.

Hearing the sounds of furniture moving inside, Chenxi called out in surprise, “Little mushroom!”
The little mushroom gritted his teeth and shouted through the door, “It’s okay, Chenxi. She’s after me, not you. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine!”
“But we agreed, next time you…”

“This time doesn’t count. She never intended to hurt you! Just help me stall her, please, Chenxi. I’ve always seen you as my brother. I really trust and rely on you. In my heart, you’re the best brother.”
The wooden door was still shaking as Lily continued to shout outside.
“The little bear warrior says you can’t trust him. You’re a child, you should listen to adults. The little bear warrior is an adult. Ahh, wah wah wah! If you want to be friends with Lily, you have to get rid of the little mushroom, or he’ll get Lily killed, ahh, wah wah wah wah!”

Chenxi didn’t speak; he might have been crying.
The little mushroom didn’t understand why he was crying.
Both of them were children caught in the orphanage. He was dressed in rags, his face pale from hunger, not even ten years old, and his hands were black and rough.

Chenxi, even during the escape, could wear a clean, refined suit, his skin fair and delicate, with slender, white hands. He had never experienced hardship and had never done manual labor.
He was handsome, and every time a new child entered the dormitory, they would naturally get close to him.
As the son of a noble family, he could play the piano, the violin, draw, and dance. He could easily understand rules that others found difficult. Chenxi could do everything.

He was noble and graceful, like a white swan, and he was the ugly duckling beside it.
He could sit by the Day God and play the piano, receiving apple pie as a reward from the nuns. He could help the priests with portraits in exchange for a small piece of chocolate cake.
That was a soft cake, something the little mushroom could never even imagine. He didn’t know how many beatings or how much hardship it would take to get a small piece of soft candy from the nuns.

Now, the crazy Lily had become Chenxi’s friend. The first chick he found had also become Chenxi’s little chicken warrior.
He had nothing.
Hearing Lily’s screams and watching the door tremble, the little mushroom silently clenched the knife in his hand.

This world is so unfair. It would be great if Lily could attack Chenxi.
Just now, Chenxi forgave him, and the little mushroom was deeply touched. He still wanted to be friends with him.
He just hoped Lily could scratch Chenxi’s face, make him ugly, break his fingers, so he could never play the piano again.

Then, he and Chenxi would be equal.
The little mushroom suddenly thought of the time when Chenxi helped the little yellow chicken steal a notebook from under Lily’s bed.
If he told Lily about this, would she be angry at Chenxi?

The little mushroom hesitated for a moment, then shouted at the wooden door, “Lily, Chenxi stole…”
Just as he spoke a few words, the little mushroom suddenly felt something was wrong.
Why was his voice so muffled, as if something was blocking his mouth?

The cries from outside and Chenxi’s sobbing gradually became blurry.
The little mushroom, confused, touched his ears, but his hand was covered in blood.
He stood frozen in place, suddenly remembering the rule that Sister Ai told him: “You can roam freely during leisure time, but you cannot enter any door.”

He had broken the rule.
The little mushroom quickly moved the desk blocking the door and tried to open the lock, wanting to run outside.
But the old wooden door seemed welded shut, no matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn’t budge.

Grabbing the doorknob, he nervously looked around.
The dormitory was empty; no monsters.
Just as the little mushroom was about to breathe a sigh of relief, his eyes caught sight of a bed. His body stiffened, and the blood in his veins turned cold.

The bed was covered in dust, with neither people nor monsters.
But the arrangement of the bed was particularly familiar to the little mushroom.
He hadn’t always been Sister Ai’s pet since entering the orphanage.

When he saw other children using pets to avoid being beaten, knowing more detailed rules and having the privilege of getting candy, the little mushroom envied them.
He didn’t care about dignity; he wanted to be a pet too.
Sister Ai was the only one who showed him kindness and was willing to take him as her pet. But she already had a pet.

A blonde, blue-eyed noble boy, dressed like a peacock, even though he was a bastard, he was much more outstanding than the little mushroom.
Sister Ai only wanted one pet.
To become her pet, the little mushroom secretly killed the blonde boy.

Because he was too weak, he had to stab him several times before the blonde boy stopped breathing.
Without competition, the little mushroom became Sister Ai’s pet and ate the soft candy he had dreamed of.
The little mushroom thought Chenxi would return to their dormitory, but instead, he went to the next door.

He didn’t know if it was his fear creating illusions, or if there was really a ghost in the room.
He saw the bed, which had been empty, suddenly have a blood-covered blonde boy on it.
His closed eyes slowly opened, and the boy’s hollow blue eyes stared at him, a twisted smile spreading across his pale face.

“I’ve found you, little mushroom.”
Yutong had followed Uncle Gil, but by the time he rushed back to the storage room, Chenxi was no longer inside.
Strange noises kept coming from the first floor. Yutong was startled and flapped his wings down the stairs.

The corridor was in chaos, with Lily riding the toy bear, smashing the dormitory door. Chenxi was kneeling nearby, sobbing.
Through the broken, yet still intact dormitory door, the little mushroom’s screams and a strange boy’s sinister laugh could be heard.
“You’ve come, little mushroom. You’ve come, little mushroom!”

“Ahhh!”
“Wah wah wah! Charge!”
The various voices mixed together, creating an unsettling noise.

The system covered its ears and asked irritably:【Damn, so noisy! What are they doing?】
Yutong originally wanted to say that Chenxi used the rule of not being able to enter doors to work with the ghost on the next bed, and to kill the little mushroom.
But thinking of how his system was a good system, and his task was to turn the villain into a sunny, cheerful young man, Yutong silently changed his words: “His younger brother is in danger, and he can’t help. He’s really upset.”

【Is this for real? The little mushroom just used him to block the monster, and now he’s still considering him a friend?!】
“He’s young, so his conscience is still alive and kicking. It’s normal to be soft-hearted.”
【Ugh! Kindness and dumplings are two different things! Damn, why is he crying, don’t cry!】

Yutong: ...
He thought the system would be happy, but his thoughts were really complicated.
The dormitory door, which had been tightly shut, was finally smashed by the toy bear. The room was in disarray, with blood everywhere. The little mushroom, once a whole individual, was now shattered into pieces, scattered across the floor like a broken puzzle.

Even the demon-slayer, little Lily, was so frightened that her face turned pale.
Chenxi sat motionless on the ground, tears streaming down his face as he muttered the little mushroom’s name.
Hiss—

Hiss—
The battle was over, and the giant bear beneath Lily let out a deflated noise. Its body shrank rapidly, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} returning to the size of a pillow.
The toy bear turned its head from side to side, first glancing at the dazed, sweet-looking Chenxi, then at the little yellow chicken, who seemed capable of fighting.

It tilted its head and whispered something to Lily, and the two of them began speaking in hushed tones.
Yutong raised an eyebrow in realization.
Oh, they were putting on a show for the little bear warrior to see.

Before leaving the storage room, Yutong secretly whispered his suspicions about the god and the followers to little Chenxi.
No matter whether Chenxi became a follower of the little yellow chicken or not, his relationship with Lily remained a competitive one.
The more he acted like an innocent, kind person, the less of a threat he was to Lily.

Reducing the little bear warrior’s vigilance against him would make cooperation smoother.
Yutong couldn’t help but admire Chenxi as he patted his ankle.
One side subtly scheming against Lily, the other side subtly scheming against the little bear. Not bad, my little Chenxi.

There was an hour of free time between theology class and dinner, and the children were wandering around the orphanage after class.
The cafeteria was far from the dormitory, and the children, afraid of being late, rarely ventured toward the dormitory unless there was something special going on.
Chenxi stood in front of the door, calling for five or six minutes before a few children came over and worked together to move the door bolt.

Lily was a well-known figure in the orphanage, so when the buzzcut boy saw her covered in blood, he wasn’t too surprised.
“Went to kill demons again?”
Lily nodded.

The boy waved at his friends, intending to walk into the dormitory.
Before he could even step inside, Chenxi blocked the way. “The rules say during free time, no one can enter any doors. The nuns didn’t provide examples, so the dorm door might be considered part of the rule.”
The buzzcut boy thanked him for the reminder, pulled out a dry, crumbled piece of bread, and handed it to him before turning back to continue whispering with his friends.

Yutong, perched above Chenxi’s head, craned his neck to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“Scared me half to death. Glad I didn’t go in. You guys didn’t even stop me from entering the dorm!”
“I forgot too. We almost went in just now.”

“Forget it, can we steal eggs today?”
“Not sure. The rules didn’t say we can’t.”
“Then we can steal them. It’s unsafe outside, and if someone steals them, we won’t have any to eat. Xiao Shuzi, where’s your small oven?”

“It’s still in the dorm. How about we eat dinner and then take the eggs back?”
“So many eggs. What if we break one by accident? Let’s go back and steam them in the dorm first. That way, we can eat them before the lights go out.”
The children finished their discussion and looked around cautiously.

Lily was playing with the bear, and Chenxi was playing with the chicken. The boys secretly bypassed the two of them and ran to the back of the dormitory.
Not long after they left, a small yellow chicken and a toy bear sneakily followed behind them.
After deciding to ally with Chenxi, the little bear warrior stopped pretending. It was hopping around and running everywhere.

Yutong’s short legs couldn’t keep up with the toy bear.
Just after running a few steps, the toy bear suddenly turned around, grabbed him, and stuffed him into its open belly, charging forward with the little chicken.
System: ???

Yutong: ???
It seemed like it wasn’t the first time the boys had sneaked back into the dorm. They were very familiar with the operation.
They first climbed a big tree behind the building and, using one thick branch, made their way to the dormitory window. With a knife, they pried open the glass and jumped inside.

From the sound of the landing, it seemed like the boys had moved a metal cabinet near the window and placed other things on top to increase the height.
Yutong quickly scanned the surroundings and found a dormitory with a broken window. Using Chenxi’s dormitory as a reference, he quickly deduced the room number of these boys.
These kids were pretty crafty. The rules said no one could enter any doors, so they had found a loophole and climbed through the window.

If nothing went wrong, they should survive for a while longer. Unfortunately, tonight would bring an accident.
Outside the dormitory building, Lily was holding a small wooden stick like a wand, dancing around as she bragged about how powerful her mother was.
Chenxi sat by the side, listening carefully to her boast.

When he saw the toy bear return, he peeked behind and his face turned even paler.
He bit his cracked lips and quietly asked, “Where’s my little chicken?”
Lily explained, “The little bear warrior says the little chicken is in its belly.”

Chenxi froze for half a second, his eyes instantly turning red.
He narrowed his eyes and slowly pulled out the knife he had hidden, “Did you eat my little chicken?”
The toy bear waved its hand and lowered its head, rummaging in its open belly before pulling out a chicken.

Chenxi: ?!
When the bear moved, the stuffing inside pressed together, and Yutong was almost suffocated in there.
Before he could catch his breath, Chenxi suddenly scooped him up with both hands and kissed the little chicken’s head.

Yutong was stunned by the kiss.
He heard the boy’s voice, trembling slightly, “I’m glad you’re okay. I thought you were eaten by the bear.”
Yutong raised his chicken claw and gave him an ‘OK’ sign.

Don’t worry, he could respawn infinitely. The bear wouldn’t be able to defeat him.
Then, an idea suddenly flashed in Yutong’s mind. He desperately poked the system. ‘Bage, if I die, can I reincarnate into another chicken body?’
【Huh.】

‘I noticed Chenxi doesn’t seem to get enough food, and he can’t even eat a full meal. What if I repeatedly die and reincarnate, can he just eat roasted chicken every day by picking up my corpses?’
System: ?
【…Damn!】

【Why are you saying such terrifying things so seriously!!!】
‘What’s so terrifying about it?’
【You’re asking your boyfriend to eat your body, how is that not terrifying! You’re so twisted, I’m really scared!】

‘It’s different, it’s just a chick. I have a pain-blocking system, so I don’t feel any pain. Plus, I have an infinite respawning chicken body, so fresh chicken meat can keep appearing. This is such a good deal, why not take advantage of it? You know I’m a practical person.】
【This has nothing to do with being practical! After being educated by Yun Mingchen, I thought you wouldn’t be thinking about using your body for benefits anymore, but I guess you were just waiting for this!】
【No way, that’s too creepy. I don’t agree! Even if you can respawn infinitely, you still need to take care of your body.】

Yutong really thought this was a good opportunity, but he was a little unwilling to give up. He quietly leaned close to Chenxi’s ear and whispered, “Do you want to eat roasted little chicken?”
Chenxi was still staring at Lily’s back, thinking about how to drown her and the bear.
When he heard the little chicken question, he was momentarily stunned and visibly became uneasy.

After a long silence, his voice trembled as he said, “I didn’t know our relationship would be this good in the future, and I thought about eating you. I’m sorry, don’t be mad at me.”
Yutong still wanted to ask, but the boy suddenly dropped a tear.
Strong anxiety and fear were transmitted through the heart-linking tool. The little villain was truly afraid.

Yutong stared at him, hesitating, and asked, “But I’m just a little chicken. I’m edible.”
“You’re not a little chicken.”
“Then what am I? Your friend?”

“No, you’re more important than a friend.”
Yutong stared at him, stunned, unable to recover for a long time.
The system suspiciously asked:【What’s wrong?】

‘When he spoke, the heart-linking tool transmitted a very strong emotion to me.’
【Love?】
‘No, it seems like he’s starting to admire me. He thinks I’m not an ordinary little chicken, I’m a sacred little chicken.’

【Chicken god?】
‘...’