In the backyard of the Rong family’s villa, a little boy with ear-length black hair and wearing overalls sat seriously under a tree, reading a book. This grand tree was a spiritual tree that Rong Fu had specifically transplanted from the deep mountains. Although it had not yet awakened its spiritual awareness to take human form, it naturally gathered the spiritual aura of heaven and earth. Staying around this tree made Bai Ze feel as comfortable as a human staying in a natural oxygen bar.

Stretching comfortably, Bai Ze shifted his posture and unconsciously glanced back at the villa behind him. Rong Fu’s roars and the slightly sharp voices of the children could be faintly heard from inside. Bai Ze’s ears twitched as he recognized Bi Fang’s angry cursing within the din—likely having lost another fight. His gentle black eyes involuntarily crinkled into a smile.

Ever since Qiong Qi returned, the villa had been noisy and clamorous every single day, with rarely a moment of peace. Several times, Bai Ze had been so disrupted that he couldn’t read his book at all, forcing him to come out here to seek refuge in the quiet. Yet, as noisy as it was, it was a type of bustle that made one feel warm and at ease.

It felt just like… home. Bai Ze did not dislike it.

“Mount Zhong is our home, and I will protect it with all my might.”

An unfamiliar voice suddenly flashed through his mind. Bai Ze froze slightly but couldn’t remember who had said those words. His memory seemed to be covered by a veil—blurry, sometimes distant and sometimes close, always leaving him with a feeling of being unable to see it clearly.

Mount Zhong… must have been destroyed in the great war long ago, he thought blankly.

“Big brother, big brother.”

Amidst Bai Ze’s daze, a little girl dressed in a pink princess dress was leaning against the railing. Her chubby little face pressed tightly against the bars as she spoke to him through the gaps: “My balloon flew inside. Can you help me pick it up?”

Following her finger, Bai Ze looked ahead and indeed saw a Pikachu-shaped balloon caught in the branches of the greenery bushes.

“Wait a moment.” Seeing her anxious look, Bai Ze put down his book and stood up to untangle the balloon from the branches. The balloon’s string was wrapped around the branches a few times, and a stuffed rabbit toy was tied to the bottom of it; he had no idea how it had flown in.

After untangling the balloon, Bai Ze originally wanted to hand it to her through the gaps in the railing, but he found that the balloon was too large to fit through, and the wrought-iron wall was too high to easily toss it over.

“Wait a moment, I’ll come out and give it to you.”

Holding the balloon, Bai Ze scanned his fingerprint to exit through the side door and handed the balloon to her.

Seeing him come out, the little girl immediately pounced forward happily to take the balloon. “Thank you, big brother!”

She held the recovered rabbit plush toy as if she couldn’t bear to part with it. After being excited for a good while, she affectionately took hold of Bai Ze’s arm, raised her hand, and pointed to a European-style small villa not far away. “Big brother, you must be new here, right? My house is that one over there. Can I invite you to my house to eat cake?”

“Thank you, but no need.” Bai Ze rejected her politely. Although he had reverted to a juvenile state, it was impossible for him to truly play together with a human child. Advising the little girl to go home early, Bai Ze pulled his arm back and prepared to return.

“You’re not allowed to leave.” The little girl pulled him coaxingly and refused to let go, hanging onto him like a large doll. Seeing that Bai Ze refused to go, she even covered her face and looked ready to cry.

Having no choice but to be entangled by her, and unable to use force against a human cub, Bai Ze looked left and right and saw no adults around. He could only compromise: “Stop crying, I’ll walk you back.”

Hearing that he was willing to go home with her, the little girl immediately stopped her tears. Holding the balloon in one hand, she pulled Bai Ze toward her house with the other.

The little girl’s house was just two villas away from the Rong family’s house, separated by a small grove of trees in the middle. The little girl pulled him straight through the cobblestone path of the grove, and they quickly arrived at the entrance of the European-style villa they had seen earlier.

A black Audi was parked at the villa’s entrance. A middle-aged man in a suit and wearing glasses stepped down from the car. The little girl immediately pulled Bai Ze and rushed toward the man excitedly. “Dad! This is the new friend I just made, he walked me home!”

The man glanced at Bai Ze and smiled at him amiably. “Thank you for walking our Minmin back.”

Bai Ze frowned, feeling an unexplainable discomfort toward this smile of his. Therefore, he declined the invitation from the two, turning around to head home.

Watching his departing figure, the man looked left and right. Using the car as cover, he took large strides forward and tapped Bai Ze on the shoulder. “Wait.”

“What is—”

Before he could finish his words, a handkerchief was unexpectedly shoved onto Bai Ze’s face. He had no idea what was sprinkled on the handkerchief, but a wave of intense dizziness hit him, and his body went limp, falling downward. The man caught him. In his dazed state, Bai Ze vaguely saw the man giving him a cold smile. He could only use his remaining strength to grab the man’s arm and struggle. The man held him down with increasing force, pressing the cloth even tighter. Bai Ze’s divine power was currently waned; after struggling for a brief moment, he quickly failed to resist the drug’s effects and fell completely unconscious.

“Dad, are we going out to play now?”

The little girl held the rabbit plush toy in her arms. A Pikachu balloon was tied to the toy’s right paw, bobbing up and down with her movements.

After putting the unconscious Bai Ze into the back seat of the car, the man said to her, “Stop playing around. Change his clothes.”

The little girl’s smile froze, and her expression revealed a hint of sinister coldness. Placing the balloon on the passenger seat, she still spoke in a tender voice, “Then Dad, make sure to look after Minmin’s balloon.”

Having said that, she climbed into the back seat, took out a princess dress that was identical to the one she was wearing from her cartoon backpack, and quickly changed Bai Ze into it. She then put a wig hat on him and arranged Bai Ze into a posture where he appeared to be sleeping while leaning against her. She said to the man in the driver’s seat, “Dad, we can set off.”

The man took a glance through the rearview mirror, started the car, and drove toward the main gate.

…

After several children had gone missing in a row, the neighborhood’s security had become even stricter. Normally, outsiders were not allowed to enter alone, and the residents inside the neighborhood also had to swipe their cards to be cleared for exit.

A black Audi stopped at the gate. The window rolled down, and the man swiped his card on the barrier machine, casually greeting the security guard, “Has the security been stricter than before lately? Nothing happened, right?”

The case had not yet been solved and was still in the confidential stage, so the security guard could only smile and say, “It’s an instruction from the higher-up leadership, requiring strengthened security to provide residents with a more secure living environment. Are you taking the children out?” The guard vaguely saw two little girls in the back seat, so he asked casually.

The man smiled, “Yes, the two kids were clamoring to go to the amusement park. I couldn’t win against them, so I could only take them out.”

Hearing this, the little girl in the back seat immediately became displeased, shouting crisply, “Clearly it was Dad who promised us!”

The man revealed a helpless expression and coaxed the little girl with a few words. Right at that moment, the road barrier had already lifted. The man nodded to the security guard, started the car, and drove away.

Rong Sui finished cooking the meal and called out loudly to his old father and the cubs, who were still bickering, to come downstairs for dinner.

Bai Tu helped him bring out the dishes and serve the rice. Seeing the cubs who were still making a racket even while coming downstairs, he let out a long sigh and said to Rong Sui, “Why do I feel like they are even more rambunctious than before?”

Rong Sui thought to himself: Isn’t it obvious? Now that their identities are exposed, they naturally have no restraint left. Each of them reverted to their original forms, flying up and leaping down inside the house, and now they even had an old kid leading the chaos; they were just a step away from tearing the house down.

To be fair, Rong Fu was already up there in years, but sometimes he acted just like a child. Ever since Rong Sui told him last time that he should make the cubs call him Grandpa, he had been triggered by something. He no longer spent his days plotting to beat people up; instead, he changed to calling every cub “dear grandson, dear grandson” whenever he saw them.

Yin Zhuzhi and Long Ya, the two mature ones, knew they were staying under someone else’s roof and absolutely couldn’t beat him right now, so they just pretended not to hear it. However, Bi Fang and Pi Xiu both had fiery tempers; they would throw a fit every time they heard it. Yet, they couldn’t beat Rong Fu either. Every time they threw themselves into the fray, they ended up pinned beneath Rong Fu’s belly, wailing and howling.

Hun Dun, who couldn’t figure out the situation, also joined in, climbing onto Rong Fu’s head and excitedly shouting “Grandpa!”

The three-story small villa was practically shaken by the noise.

Rong Sui said, “Do you think all ancient great demons are this rambunctious?”

Bai Tu pondered for a moment and said, “Bai Ze is quite well-behaved. I guess it depends on the person?”

Rong Sui deeply agreed. Noticing that Bai Ze was not among the cubs coming downstairs, he asked casually, “Where’s Bai Ze? Why didn’t he come down?”

Rong Fu looked back. Indeed, there was no sign of him, so he said, “He’s not upstairs. Did he go down already?”

“Bai Ze thought the house was too noisy, so he went to the yard to read.” Long Ya had seen him go down, so he said, “I’ll go call him.”

He went to the backyard but didn’t see Bai Ze; he only found the books neatly arranged under the tree where Bai Ze always liked to stay. Long Ya thought he had gone somewhere else, but after searching the yard for a full round and still failing to find anyone, his expression finally turned grim.

“I’ve searched everywhere in the yard, and Bai Ze isn’t here. Did any of you see him go out?” Long Ya returned to the house and asked. The adults and cubs were all accounted for, but uniquely, Bai Ze was missing.

Everyone looked at each other. They had all been inside the house and no one had paid attention to the yard; they had absolutely no idea when Bai Ze had run out.

Rong Sui recalled what the security guard had told him about several children going missing recently, and his face grew increasingly pale. “Dad and I will go out to look. Bai Tu, you and Aunt Wang stay at home to watch over them, don’t wander around.”

He briefly explained the matter of the missing children, then hurriedly grabbed his phone and went out the door.

Receiving the news from Rong Sui, the neighborhood security guard hurried over to search within the neighborhood along with him. Meanwhile, Rong Fu concealed his form, tracing Bai Ze’s scent to search from the air.

Inside the villa, Bi Fang looked as if his bottom had been singed by fire. “I’ll go look for him.”

Bai Ze was an auspicious beast, known for his vast knowledge and understanding of all things, but he was not adept at fighting—he possessed the lowest combat capability among the few of them. Now that all the divine beasts’ powers had waned, their strengths were vastly different from the past. Those like Yin Zhuzhi and Long Ya might still have the strength to fight, but if it were replaced by Bai Ze, he could likely only be left at the mercy of others.

Yin Zhuzhi swept a cold glance at him. “What use is it if you go? Are you going to keep Bai Ze company?”

Bi Fang choked, sitting back down resentfully.

…

The room had no windows on all four sides; there was only a ventilation window opened high up on the ceiling and a locked iron door. The concrete floor was somewhat damp, and the air was filled with humid moisture. The water tap in the corner seemed not to be tightened properly, and water droplets fell onto the floor, making a “tick-tock, tick-tock” sound.

Bai Ze opened his eyes weakly, carefully observing the surroundings. His hands and feet were tied up. It wasn’t hard for him to untie them; the difficulty lay in how to escape after untying them. For the time being, he didn’t want to expose his identity and bring trouble to Rong Sui.

Right then, two sets of footsteps approached the door. Bai Ze hurriedly closed his eyes, flattening his breathing to pretend to be unconscious. The two sets of footsteps drew closer and closer. Immediately after, the rusted iron door let out a strained “creak,” and a man’s voice, carrying a regional accent, drifted inside.

“Have the other few been found? Make absolutely sure to watch this one closely, he cannot be lost again.”