INHA Chapter 18

Elder Chen asked Jiu Chao to take out the documents from the drawer and hand them to Xu Dongyou. “These are all the materials collected by the chief. You can take a look.”

Xu Dongyou took a deep breath and mustered all his courage to open them.

The documents contained pictures and detailed information. More than twenty years ago, Father Xu and Mother Xu fell in love. But after two or three years of marriage, they still had no children. They weren’t worried until one day, Father Xu came home from work with a baby in his arms.

Father Xu reported to the police, detailing the location where he found the baby and mentioning that the baby had no clothes and was likely abandoned maliciously. It was a bitterly cold winter day, and the baby was almost too cold to cry.

The baby’s forehead was frighteningly hot.

Father Xu and Mother Xu used the money they had saved to buy a house to pay for the baby’s medical treatment.

Miraculously, the baby recovered after about half a month, perhaps due to a strong constitution or some other reason.

However, the police couldn’t find the baby’s parents. Over twenty years ago, surveillance cameras weren’t as ubiquitous as they are now. Since they couldn’t locate the parents, the baby was temporarily sent to an orphanage, hoping the parents would come forward.

The police knew very well that this baby was maliciously abandoned. No cotton jacket in the dead of winter clearly indicated an intent to freeze the baby to death.

The likelihood of the biological parents reporting was almost zero.

During the care of the baby, Father Xu and Mother Xu developed a deep attachment to the child and couldn’t bear to send the baby to the orphanage. They discussed and decided to adopt the child.

Moreover, they wanted to provide the child with a very good environment and didn’t want the child to grow up knowing he wasn’t their biological child, which could cause negative emotions.

The couple gritted their teeth and resolutely resigned from their then-enviable iron rice bowl jobs. They left a contact number with the police and moved to a new city overnight.

In this new city, where they knew no one, they could tell others that the child was born to Mother Xu. They deliberately recorded his age as one year younger when registering his household.

They gave the child a name: Xu Dongyou.

They fooled everyone and none of their relatives or friends knew the truth. They all praised how beautiful Xu Dongyou was.

Even when Mother Xu unexpectedly became pregnant again and had another child, the family continued to live an ordinary life.

Xu Dongyou recalled the bits and pieces of how Father Xu and Mother Xu treated him and his younger brother equally. He wished he could fly back immediately to hug his parents and thank them.

If his father hadn’t found him, if his parents hadn’t spent all their savings to take him to the hospital, he might have died that winter.

So, what if they weren’t his biological parents? At least he grew up in a loving environment.

Xu Dongyou closed the file and handed it back to Elder Chen. “Thank you, and thank the chief for investigating this for me.”

Before Elder Chen could respond, Jiu Chao, who was sitting nearby, couldn’t stay silent. He felt Xu Dongyou might be very sad and hurried to comfort him, “Xiao Dongyou, think carefully. You are a naturally transformed spirit. Your biological parents were probably just ordinary birds. When you accidentally transformed into human form, your parents might not have realized that the baby was you, so it doesn’t count as abandonment.”

After all, the intelligence of real birds is indeed not very high.

Xu Dongyou thought of this, so he wasn’t too upset; his biological parents hadn’t abandoned him.

Moreover, birds typically live only five to eighteen years.

However, over twenty years have passed since then.

Maybe…

Xu Dongyou didn’t want to think further. He said to Jiu Chao, “It’s fine; I can adjust my mood quickly.”

Only then did Jiu Chao stop talking. He took out a small item from his pocket and handed it to Xu Dongyou. “This is a self-defense artifact I used when I was a cub. I don’t need it anymore, so I’m giving it to you as a gift to make up for it.”

“Huh?” Xu Dongyou was confused.

Jiu Chao explained, “I looked at this information without your permission.”

He was simply too eager to learn about the cub’s background and origins. Still, he couldn’t just look without permission, so he decided to give a small gift as compensation.

Xu Dongyou quickly shook his head. “It’s fine. I really don’t mind.”

Jiu Chao assured him, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about this.”

But the demon clan isn’t human.

Moreover, all the demons had already seen the information in advance.

If it weren’t for Elder Bai preventing the demons from leaving freely, they would have rushed over long ago.

What made Jiu Chao even happier was that none of the demons knew how to use modern electronic devices. Plus, they couldn’t waste their powers on long-distance communication, so they couldn’t contact the cub at all.

Thinking of this, Jiu Chao leaned over and asked, “How about we exchange contact numbers? That way, you can reach me anytime if something comes up.”

Xu Dongyou nodded, “Okay.”

Jiu Chao immediately rummaged through his pocket and finally pulled out a small Nokia phone. The black-and-white screen made Xu Dongyou feel as if he was transported back to his childhood.

Noticing Xu Dongyou’s surprise, Jiu Chao said, “Our demon clan is quite homebound and rarely interacts with these things. A nap can lead to decades passing by, plus, humans are developing at an incredibly fast pace. Everyone is trying hard to adapt.”

Xu Dongyou understood; it was like older folks needing some time to learn how to use smartphones.

The two demons exchanged phone numbers.

Elder Chen watched with envy and jealousy, resolving to learn how to use a phone himself.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to contact the cub anytime.

In the following time, Jiu Chao began to teach Xu Dongyou how to use demon power under Elder Chen’s guidance, helping him sense his own specialized attribute.

Jiu Chao gathered a small red flame in his palm, saying, “I prefer fire. My demon arts take on a fiery form. Although I can use other types of demon arts, I’m still better at using fire.”

Xu Dongyou was immediately amazed and tried to gather a mass of white mist in his hand, curious, “So what does this white one represent?”

This white mist didn’t seem quite like water.

It was the first time Jiu Chao had seen this kind of attribute. He instinctively looked at Elder Chen.

Elder Chen also leaned in to take a closer look and said, “I can’t determine what it is, but it’s normal for demons to have different abilities. Producing some uncommon abilities is also quite usual. You’ll have to explore this ability yourself.”

Xu Dongyou nodded a bit dejectedly but quickly perked up again because Jiu Chao was going to teach him a relatively basic demon technique called “Water Evasion¹避水; 避 means to avoid, to flee, to escape, to evade, keep away from, prevent; 水 means water.“.

This technique was best suited for feathered animals and demons that couldn’t swim.

Jiu Chao carefully taught Xu Dongyou the technique’s incantation word by word. Once Xu Dongyou had it memorized, Jiu Chao started to explain how to fully integrate the “Water Evasion” technique.

However, due to insufficient conditions and the need to practice transformation, Jiu Chao suggested, “Why not transform back to your original form and practice Water Evasion in the basin?”

Xu Dongyou hesitated for a while, but his eagerness to learn the demon technique prevailed. Moreover, Jiu Chao was right; if he didn’t learn how to quickly revert to human form, it would be troublesome if he were ever scared back into his original form.

Xu Dongyou hid behind the screen, took off his clothes, and neatly folded them. Then, following Jiu Chao’s instructions, he carefully mobilized all the abilities within him, which meant tapping into his demon bloodline power.

Xu Dongyou closed his eyes and felt for quite a while before finally transforming into his original form. However, since he hadn’t learned how to fly yet, he was hopping and flapping his way out, his little tuft of hair wobbling on his head.

His tilted, dazed appearance was especially adorable.

Jiu Chao almost wanted to reach out and pet him. But he didn’t want to scare the cub, so he reluctantly suppressed that thought and quickly called out, “Come on, let’s start practicing.”

Jiu Chao placed a prepared basin on the floor, specifically using warm water to prevent the cub from catching cold.

Although demons had much better physiques than humans, considering they hadn’t had any cubs for many years, being cautious was definitely wise.

Just as Xu Dongyou was about to flop into the basin, the round ball ornament on the table suddenly erupted with red light, flashing rapidly.

It inexplicably brought a sense of unease.

Xu Dongyou stumbled a bit. Fortunately, his wings supported his body, preventing him from actually falling.

Otherwise, it would have been quite embarrassing.

Elder Chen and Jiu Chao’s expressions turned extremely serious and urgent, especially Elder Chen, who quickly scooped up the little long-tailed tit, ignoring Jiu Chao’s frustrated reaction. He moved forward while saying, “The sealing array is under attack.”

Xu Dongyou chirped nervously; could this be related to Zhulong?

Elder Chen nodded gravely, holding the cub up to his eyes. “Dongyou, you’ll have to go in and calm Zhulong again. Remember, try to keep it quiet and stop it from attacking the array.”

Now, he could only pin his hopes on this cub who shouldn’t be burdened with saving the world.

Although he also felt heartbroken for the cub, once Zhulong broke the array, everyone, including this world, would be doomed.

Xu Dongyou puffed up his small chest, chirping passionately.

Elder Chen took the opportunity to poke Xu Dongyou with his finger, his expression still serious. “I believe in you.”

Jiu Chao looked at Elder Chen with disdain in his heart.

Xu Dongyou felt as if his tiny body had grown larger, shouldering the responsibility of saving the world. Just thinking about it made his heart swell with excitement.

The captain and the chief of the handling bureau quickly went up to the top floor. They didn’t even have time to speak and hurriedly took another route to the entrance of the sealing array.

Xu Dongyou immediately flapped his wings vigorously, chirping urgently towards the screen.

His clothes and phone!

Jiu Chao quickly understood and said to Xu Dongyou, “I’ll go get them.”

Only then did Xu Dongyou obediently quiet down.

Fortunately, the energy of the sealing array was still sufficient this time, which did not affect the handling bureau above. So far, aside from the chief, the captain, and a few others, the other staff knew nothing and continued with their tasks.

This was Xu Dongyou’s first time seeing the chief like this, who seemed to have a less powerful aura than the captain and looked more like a knowledgeable school professor.

Last time, when they came to the sealing array, they had used the door at the end of the first floor, which required a long descent down the stairs.

This time, they went directly through the array gate on the top floor, arriving at the entrance to the sealing array in an instant.

The array gate was placed in a very hidden corner. Its surface resembled stone walls, making it nearly impossible to notice without careful observation.

Even standing at the entrance of the sealing array, where almost ninety-nine percent of Zhulong’s pressure was suppressed, the slight leakage of that pressure was enough for humans and demons, including Xu Dongyou, to feel how terrifying the impending pressure was.

Zhulong was violently slamming against the ancient array, and the chains wrapped around its body made a clattering sound.

After transforming into his original form, Xu Dongyou seemed to sense the pressure of his bloodline more acutely. His previously puffed-up little chest deflated with a pop.

He felt a bit timid.

And a little scared.

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  避水; 避 means to avoid, to flee, to escape, to evade, keep away from, prevent; 水 means water.