Always Ending Up as an Animal Cub

Yue Tong knew that today’s events would not end well, and only one of them could survive until tomorrow.
So before leaving, he made sure to take the little bear warrior and Lily with him.
After the upgrade of the item, the hidden mystical chicken, originally only able to hide Yue Tong, could now hide anything that resembled a little chicken.

The teddy bear crafted two little chicken headsets, along with fake chicken wings and tail decorations.
It and Lily wore the chicken costumes, successfully meeting the item’s requirements. They were judged as little chickens and shoved into the hidden mystical chicken purse.
Yue Tong patted the bulging purse and glanced at the priest in front of him.

The middle-aged man was clearly not his first time doing this, and he was confident. He completely ignored Chen Xi, taking Night Koss’s hand and whispering to him.
The black-haired boy looked at the priest with abnormal fervor in his eyes, and an unhealthy, extreme dependence.
He called the priest “father,” and the middle-aged man seemed satisfied with his reaction.

Yue Tong observed the two closely, feeling that the black-haired boy’s reaction gave him a familiar feeling.
When he was still young and unable to escape his parents' control, he used to make that same expression to please and numb his parents.
Night Koss was the same kind of person as him. They both wanted to get rid of their fathers.

The Earth God, according to the priest’s instructions, forced Chen Xi and the others into the chairs at the center of the arena.
The chair legs and armrests were fitted with glaring chains, specifically used to bind children’s movements.
Apple Jam was just scared, but not stupid.

Her survival instincts overcame her fear of the priest, and she refused to sit down next to the chair.
Chen Xi didn’t move either.
The priest had a mocking smile on his face, his cold gaze flickering between the two before finally landing on Chen Xi’s face.

“I recognize your father, young master. We both studied at the Imperial Academy. However, his health was always poor, so he couldn’t study magic or martial arts. His major was literature and history.”
“I didn’t study anything because I’m not really a student of the Imperial Academy. I worked as a waiter at their cafeteria, and I saw your father every day. His white hair and golden eyes, truly captivating.”
Chen Xi didn’t understand what he was getting at and remained silent behind the chair.
The priest took out a badge from his pocket, a golden emblem engraved with the family crest of Chen Xi’s family.

“Do you know where this came from? I got it from your father’s body. Don’t look at me like that. I’m not gay, I’m just a businessman. I have no interest in your father, but someone else does.”
“To be precise, they’re interested in your family’s rare eye and hair color. Those noble young masters in the town, they’ve lived in a honey jar all their lives. They are a bunch of useless trash, good for nothing but eating, drinking, and playing.”
The priest clapped his hands, and a tightly shut iron door in the audience area slowly opened.

“Your father was beautiful and valuable, there were plenty of people who wanted to buy him. In the end, they not only killed him but also dismembered him to feed to the dogs.”
Yue Tong’s heart sank with an ominous premonition.
Two long-haired nuns stepped out from behind the iron door, lifting something covered in a white cloth, the size of an adult man.

The nuns placed the item next to the priest, and the middle-aged man raised his hand to pull off the cloth, revealing the contents to the onlookers.
It was a naked man, his entire body sewn with black thread, his skin pale, golden eyes slightly lowered, and his long white hair spilling down his back.
The man’s appearance was nearly identical to Chen Xi’s. A glance was enough to see their blood relation.

The once composed little antagonist was now enraged, his eyes turning red. If not for the fairy godmother wrapping around his waist, he would have rushed up immediately.
Yue Tong, who was closely observing, furrowed his brow in suspicion.
He could tell that the priest was deliberately provoking and pulling at Chen Xi, but he didn’t understand why he was doing it.

As Little Chen’s emotions grew more intense, Yue Tong’s small wings began to faintly glow.
When a believer’s strong desire arose, their god could gain the power of faith from it.
The priest’s actions seemed like they were buffing him up.

Could it be that the Phoenix, a creature like that, had some hidden special attribute?
The system’s exclamation broke Yue Tong’s train of thought.
The white-haired man, originally thought to be dead, suddenly moved his eyes.

He raised his head to look at Chen Xi, his pale face showing an expression of disbelief, “Little Xi?”
Chen Xi froze completely.
The man strained to move his lips, but only managed a tired, stiff smile.

The priest roughly yanked at the man’s long hair, “I heard your father was killed, and I rushed to buy his body. After making him into a puppet, I summoned his soul from hell and sealed it in this body.”
“Now your father is alive. Are you happy? Too bad, he’s already been reserved by a collector. Tonight, you two can have a brief reunion, but in a few days…”
 

Before the priest could finish his words, Yue Tong's body suddenly became bright.
He emitted a blinding golden light, far surpassing the intensity of the surrounding lights, as if he had become a miniature sun.
It seemed that he had been in this form for some time, as Chen Xi’s father remained unusually calm.

He looked at his angry son, then at the glowing chick light above his head. The man’s pale lips parted as he hesitantly spoke, “A Phoenix?”
Chen Xi nodded.
The white-haired man paused for a moment, and his gaze suddenly sharpened. “After the Phoenix is reborn from the flames, the chick will…”

He didn’t finish his sentence before the priest roughly shoved a cloth into the man’s mouth. The two nuns dragged him away, quickly retreating behind the iron door.
The unexpected turn of events left both Chen Xi and Yue Tong in shock.
The next moment, a single thought arose in both their minds.

A god with a master has intelligence and emotions akin to humans, with an incredibly tight bond with their followers.
The little bear warrior, to take revenge for Lily’s mother’s tragic death, ran out to avenge her. The water droplet warrior would stay at the place where the little boy had died, fantasizing that he would come back for it.
The fairy godmother knew her follower was timid, and as soon as Apple Jam started trembling, she immediately wrapped her up in a cocoon.

Since the priest intended to claim the Phoenix for himself, how could he dare to harm his follower in front of him and even try to gouge out Chen Xi’s eyes?
Unless he had a way to make the Phoenix forget its follower.
What the white-haired man had been about to say was that the Phoenix chick, after being reborn from the flames, would forget everything from before its rebirth and would have to be retrained in its emotions. If the priest found this opportunity, Chen Xi would lose his god.

This explained why the priest had been provoking Chen Xi so persistently. He needed to confirm his suspicions through the changes in the little chick.
Once Yue Tong truly exhibited characteristics of the Phoenix, the priest would target him in battle, specifically using fire-based magic.
If he could set the chick on fire, today’s plan would be considered a success.

Yue Tong wasn’t worried about losing his memory, thanks to the system in his head.
Little Chen, however, didn’t know this.
Realizing that the priest was trying to ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) steal his Phoenix, he grabbed Yue Tong and tried to stuff him into his pocket. After a few pecks from the little chick, he gradually calmed down.

Seeing Yue Tong’s increasingly radiant golden glow, the priest’s smile grew wider.
He pointed to the restraining chair in front of the two children. “Sit down.”
Chen Xi covered the chick and stubbornly resisted.

Apple Jam whispered into his ear, promising they would help him soon.
Under the priest’s control, the Earth God flew to stand behind him. The enormous eye spun rapidly, its gaze fixated on the two children.
Exposed to the vision of the giant eye, Apple Jam’s expression instantly went blank. Her limbs became uncontrollable, and she walked toward the cold restraining chair, slowly sitting down.

The fairy godmother twisted in the air, desperately trying to break free from the mental control.
Chen Xi struggled for a few seconds, his face turning dazed.
Seeing that the little antagonist had also been mentally controlled and sat passively in the chair to be at the priest’s mercy, the system began to panic.

Yue Tong’s soul fled into the system’s space to seek refuge, the system shaking his shoulder back and forth. "Little Yue, little Yue! Don’t just stand there! Think of something!"
Yue Tong remained silent, crossing his arms and coldly smiling.
The system trembled at his smile, feeling a deep sense of unease, as if the host was scheming something.

Just as it was about to ask, the system suddenly recalled something.
Chen Xi seemed immune to the control. He could resist mental attacks.
Oh!

The little antagonist was pretending to be the priest.
In the gladiator arena, the two children were bound by chains, sitting obediently in the chairs.
Their gods failed to break free from the control, their heads hanging limp beside their followers.

Convinced that the situation was fully under his control, the priest walked over to Chen Xi, lifting the small yellow chick that had fallen onto his lap.
Having absorbed the strong faith energy from his followers, the Sun God had already grown from a palm-sized chick into a large chicken the size of a basin.
The Earth God had yet to retract its mental attack, and the Sun God’s body was still trembling slightly.

The priest caressed the Sun God’s soft feathers, feeling its intense warmth, and couldn’t suppress a loud laugh.
“The Phoenix, the Earth God, and over a hundred monsters from the orphanage. Just by smuggling them out, they could fetch astronomical prices.”
Night Koss, who had remained silent until then, suddenly spoke softly, “Father, may I touch it?”

The priest, in a good mood after so easily getting his hands on a mythical creature, replied, “Wait, we’ll talk later. Let’s deal with things here first, so we don’t have any long-lasting problems.”
“The Phoenix chick really looks like a little chicken, but you see, the power of faith has allowed it to grow briefly. Its feathers and eyes are now identical to what’s described in the books about the Phoenix.”
After confirming this, the priest placed Yue Tong on the ground and began chanting a fireball spell.

As Yue Tong grew in size, the miniature helmet and small purse he was wearing quietly fell to the floor beneath the chair.
The tiny bear warrior, no larger than a thumb, poked its head out from inside.
The bear’s head was exposed to the Earth God’s sight, and it nearly lost consciousness. Lily quickly covered the bear’s face, pulling it back into the purse.

“Shh, it’s not time yet.”
“I know you’re eager, but don’t rush. The little warrior said we should follow their orders. When they shout, we can attack.”
“Don’t worry, the little bear won’t be burned alive. Are you worried he won’t be your friend after he’s resurrected? Do you fear you can’t defeat him?”

The girl sighed deeply. “Lily is scared too.”
The Earth God vaguely sensed that there were two things still hidden in the arena. But they were out of his sight, and he couldn’t lock onto them.
At the same time, he noticed that Chen Xi seemed not to be under his control.

The boy and the priest were enemies. He wanted to get revenge for his followers, so he had deliberately cast the Nightmare skill on Chen Xi.
But Chen Xi’s expression remained dazed, just like Apple Jam’s beside him.
Realizing that something was wrong, the Earth God decided to have the priest take care of the two children first before moving on to other matters.

Finally, after waiting for the priest to finish chanting the fireball spell, it was preparing to seize the opportunity for communication.
Just then, it heard Night Koss's cold voice.
“Do you really think he’ll still care about you now that he has the Sun God? All the faith you’ve absorbed comes from me. How long has it been since you received any power from him?”

The Earth God was stunned, its dark pupils spinning rapidly as it turned its gaze to the black-haired boy.
The priest turned his head. “What do you mean by that?”
Night Koss, who had somehow gotten his hands on a gun, which he had found during the interrogation of Chen Xi, pointed it at the priest’s forehead. His remaining eye was filled with hatred.

“When you took my eye, you said you’d use it to summon a god, as a birthday gift for me.”
“When you discovered the Earth God’s strength was greater than you expected, you said it wasn’t suitable for me. You claimed I was too young, that I’d have plenty of chances to have my own god.”
Hearing the commotion outside, the teddy bear couldn’t help but poke its head out.

Seeing that the Earth God’s attention was entirely focused on the arguing father and son, the teddy bear grabbed its steel knife and rushed out.
Lily grabbed the bear’s leg and dragged it back into the purse.
“Wait! The little bear warrior hasn’t shouted to start yet!”

The little bear waved its arms frantically.
“Did you hear the buzzing sound? It’s coming from the robots in the audience seats?”
“Oh? You mean the priest might have control over the robots too? What’s this control? Is it really powerful?”

Lily and the bear, barely larger than a grain of rice, were the only ones able to hear the conversation clearly, as it was only Chen Xi closest to them that could faintly capture the words.
His eyes suddenly regained their brilliance, and he subtly glanced at the arguing father and son.
Night Koss, with the gun pointed at the priest’s forehead, shouted, releasing years of accumulated resentment.

“I lost an eye, and you got yourself a god. You threw me into the orphanage, making me starve alongside these kids, living a life that could end any moment!”
“You raped my mother to have me, never loved her, and never treated me as your son. You whipped me and my mother with belts, making us crawl around like dogs. You kept me only because I was a good, obedient slave!”
The black-haired boy grew more emotional as he spoke but didn’t lose his rationality completely.

Chanting magic spells took time, and if the priest wanted to kill him, he would have to fight close-range.
Night Koss slowly moved out of the priest’s attack range and turned to the Earth God.
“You’re his god, but he lent you to the ghoul, to me, and to the nobles for fun.”

“He never treated you as a god. In his eyes, you and I are just tools to help him achieve his goals. He never planned to give me the Phoenix chick. Once he gets a more powerful god, he’ll abandon you.”
The priest put his hands in his pockets, expressionless as he observed him. “I had planned to take the Phoenix for myself, but didn’t I tell you before? The Earth God will be yours once it’s without a master.”
Night Koss sneered. “Monsters can devour each other. As long as the Phoenix eats the Earth God, it will gain its power. You’re afraid that I’ll grow up and break free from your control. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to!”

Bang—Bang—
After saying this, the boy fired several shots at the priest without hesitation.
The bullets hit the middle-aged man in front of him, but it felt like they had struck an invisible barrier, unable to harm him in the slightest.

With a few sharp cracks, the jewelry on the priest’s wrist shattered, and his magical defense weakened.
Despite the tense situation, the man’s expression remained calm.
Chen Xi, observing from the side, realized something wasn’t right.

The priest had a trump card. The little bear warrior had been right; he truly had control over the robots.
Yue Tong, seemingly unconscious, lay on the ground, letting the flames burn him.
Even though they knew the Phoenix would rise from the ashes and that they had already devised an assassination plan using the connection between the followers and their gods, seeing the yellow figure engulfed in flames still caused Chen Xi’s eyes to redden.

Before meeting Yue Tong, the fairy godmother had once punished him by pressing a lit match on his shoulder.
A small match caused so much pain that Chen Xi had sweated coldly. The Sun God must be feeling an unbearable pain now, completely engulfed in flames.
Chen Xi struggled to control his emotions, but when he saw the yellow figure burned to ash, the tears that had been welling in his eyes couldn’t be controlled.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, he took a deep breath and kicked the small purse next to him.
The little bear warrior crawled out from inside, rapidly growing in size, becoming a toy bear the size of a pillow.
He signaled the toy bear, and the bear tilted its head in confusion.

Chen Xi raised his chin toward the priest.
The toy bear shook its head, signaling that it didn’t understand.
Chen Xi, who was already deeply saddened, felt a sharp pain in his head at this moment.

Their actions were too obvious, and the Earth God’s attention shifted back toward them.
The toy bear, dressed in the little chick outfit, quickly dove back into the purse.
Chen Xi couldn’t speak and lowered his head to continue pretending to be foolish.

He had realized something—although the priest kept his hands in his pockets, the remote control was hidden in his right-side pocket.
The small controller couldn’t control so many large robots. Its role was likely to activate the robots’ automatic attack or self-destruct functions.
Once it was activated, the Earth God, the largest and most vulnerable, would be the first to be affected.

At best, it would suffer severe injuries; at worst, it would die on the spot.
Such reckless attacks would wipe out everyone in the arena except for the prepared priest.
 

The people in the arena were all busy.
Chen Xi, bound by chains, wiped away his tears as he signaled the little bear warrior, his youthful face contorted in agony.
The toy bear knocked its head, trying to get itself to understand.

Yue Tong, his body burned to ashes, hid inside the system's space, waiting for his body to automatically revive.
The Earth God, whose priority should have been protecting the priest, was now spinning its large eyes back and forth, unsure of who to help.
Night Koss continued shooting, shouting, “The Phoenix is almost burned out! This is our last chance! Earth God, aren’t you afraid of being fed to the Phoenix? That’s a legendary creature. Are you sure you can defeat it?”

The Earth God’s internal balance gradually shifted, its black pupils swirling with dense lines.
The priest fumbled with the controller, finally establishing a connection with all the robots in the audience.
He was about to press the button to launch an indiscriminate attack, to eliminate Night Koss and the Earth God.

“Go, little bear warrior! Go!”
Suddenly, a strange cry echoed through the arena.
Everyone turned to look, and they saw a girl standing beside Chen Xi, one they hadn’t noticed before.

She lifted the pillow-sized toy bear with all her strength and threw it at the priest. “Go, little bear warrior! Go!”
The toy bear rapidly grew in size as it soared through the air, landing directly on the priest, swinging its steel blade to strike. Cracks appeared in the priest’s protective shield.
The sudden turn of events caught both Night Koss and the Earth God off guard.

Night Koss hesitated for a moment, then turned to the Earth God. “Deal with the outsiders first, then take care of me…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Chen Xi’s cold voice interrupted, “Do it!”
Night Koss’s pupils shrank dramatically.

He felt a sharp pain in his abdomen as his stomach began to expand at a visible rate.
His belly stretched to near transparency, and he staggered backward, a sound like rushing water filling his ears.
The black-haired boy covered his mouth, dropping to his knees as he gagged. Streams of water flowed from his mouth, but before they hit the ground, they were sucked back into his mouth.

Night Koss’s skin began to swell, and the water blocked his airways, making breathing even more difficult.
In the end, the boy’s body exploded from within, bursting apart into a mess of blood and flesh.
From Chen Xi’s low growl to Night Koss’s explosion, it all happened within a few breaths.

The Earth God, standing by, was stunned.
It quickly blinked its large eyes, not understanding how its follower had exploded.
As it distracted itself, the weakest fairy godmother broke free from mental control.

The vine-like creature approached Apple Jam to check on its follower. Chen Xi, freed from his chains by Lily, suddenly grabbed the vine and threw it toward the priest.
“Go help the little bear. If the priest doesn’t die today, Apple Jam will!”
The vine twisted in mid-air and gave a thumbs-up gesture.

As someone who could control the entire orphanage, the priest’s strength was extraordinary.
Over the years, he had secretly consumed countless monsters, his body growing strong to such an extent.
The little bear warrior failed to grab the controller from the priest’s hand and even lost an arm.

The fairy godmother, attempting to strangle the priest by wrapping around his neck, was torn into two pieces by the man.
The priest raised a flame in his hand to ignite the vine, and the water droplet warrior, who had been circling the perimeter, arrived just in time to extinguish the flames on the fairy godmother and toy bear.
Chen Xi knew the priest wasn’t easy to defeat, but he hadn’t expected that even three gods together wouldn’t be enough to handle him.

The specially crafted steel knives that could slice through mage shields couldn’t break his defenses. The water droplet warrior couldn’t find an opening to enter his body.
After Night Koss’s death, the Earth God had no choice but to return to the priest’s side.
The priest hadn’t continued using the robots to attack because the Sun God hadn’t yet revived. He didn’t want to accidentally hurt the Earth God, his ally.

Chen Xi knew he couldn’t convince the Earth God and had no intention of winning it over.
He looked over at the pile of ashes on the battlefield, his lips tightly pressed together.
Why hadn’t the Sun God made a move yet?

Had they misjudged it? Could the little chick not revive?
Could he find a chance to take both the chick’s ashes and his father’s puppet with him?
He wanted his father, and he wanted the chick’s ashes.

As Chen Xi began to consider whether there was a way to escape, the dust on the ground suddenly began to rise, swirling on its own.
The dark gray ash spiraled into the air, radiating a dazzling golden light that drew everyone’s attention.
As the golden light faded, a golden bird, the size of an eagle, appeared before everyone’s eyes.

The surrounded priest’s eyes lit up, and he stretched his arm out toward the bird. “Come here, help me kill them, my Sun God!”
At the same time, as the Sun God’s original follower, Chen Xi also stood nearby and shouted, “Sun God, I’m here!”
The golden bird didn’t even glance at the boy, flying up to land on the priest’s arm, nuzzling its cheek against his face.

Seeing the Phoenix, who had risen from the ashes, had indeed lost its memory, the priest sighed in relief.
With both the Earth God and the Sun God at his side, victory was certain.
Just as the joy of victory began to swell within him, the priest suddenly noticed Chen Xi, standing beside the chair, his face showing a mocking smile.

In the blink of an eye, the priest realized something.
If the Sun God truly had lost its memory, how would it know who its true follower was after being reborn?
They hadn’t communicated, so why had the bird flown directly to him?

A sense of crisis surged in his heart, and the next instant, he heard a mocking laugh in his ear.
“You dog, guess which came first in this world, the chicken or the egg?”