Always Ending Up as an Animal Cub

After dealing with the Third Prince and his lover, the outside world returned to peace.

Madam Yun and Old Master Su went to observe Old Master Yun, who had entered the body of the Third Prince.
Mr. Wen continued discussing with the doctor how to create something like a nutrient chamber.
Although Yu Tong didn’t know exactly how a nutrient chamber was made, he had seen many of them.

In the era he lived in, holographic game pods were very popular, and almost every normal family had one or two.
Yu Tong’s family wasn’t normal, so they didn’t have a game pod. By the time he grew up, he hadn’t made enough money to buy one, and he passed away before he could.
Thinking about this, Yu Tong suddenly stopped.

Strange, why does he always think of so many game interface screens whenever the game pod is mentioned?
It almost seems like he could have bought one.
The sound of Old Master Yun and Madam Yun talking interrupted Yu Tong’s thoughts.

Madam Yun pulled Old Master Yun to the edge of the crowd and began to whisper.
The system, still happily filming the scientific instruments in the room, didn’t notice two living people stepping out of the shot.
Yu Tong pricked up his ears, listening carefully to the sounds outside.

Madam Yun’s voice was soft, tinged with a bit of coldness, "Darling, your emotions have been very unstable recently."
After entering the Third Prince’s body, Old Master Yun’s originally deep voice became soft and clear.
"I think I’m fine. I really like this body. Madam, from now on, I am the Prince."

"When you faced the Third Prince just now, you shouldn’t have said so much. The more you say, the more mistakes you make. Your situation isn’t right now. If Mr. Wen or Old Master Su comes to talk to you later, tell them to come find me."
Old Master Yun snorted coldly, "You want to stand in for me? Is this house under your control, or mine?"
Madam Yun took a deep breath, "Don’t you think the Third Prince and his lover have become more foolish? Before Mr. Wen bought Su Feng’s body, the Third Prince ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) could go toe-to-toe with the Princess. After he bought the body, his intelligence has been declining, and he’s become increasingly radical."

"From the fact that he came here without guards, only bringing his little lover, I sensed something was wrong. To be honest, darling, don’t you feel that we have changed, too?"
Old Master Yun was completely focused on the Third Prince’s body, responding to her with noncommittal hums.
Madam Yun sighed deeply, lowering her voice to persuade him, "Listen to me today. Let’s find a way to transfer the Third Prince’s body to Mr. Wen or Old Master Su. This is a hot potato, we can’t keep it."
Her words hit a nerve with Old Master Yun, and he started to argue with Madam Yun in a low voice.

Yu Tong listened for a while and gathered that when Yun Mingchen first became the new family head, the resurrected Old Master Yun had tried to take back the position of family head but was stopped by the similarly resurrected Madam Yun.
Having lost the Yun family, Old Master Yun could only watch as Yun Mingchen took control with the little savings he had hidden in a villa.
Since losing the position of head of the family, Old Master Yun lost his confidence.

He feared that Madam Yun would despise him for having no money or status and leave him. He was also worried that Mr. Wen and Old Master Su would look down on him.
Especially lately, with Madam Yun getting closer to Mr. Wen, he dreamt that they were together, and that he was being cuckolded.
Madam Yun covered his mouth, signaling him to stop. Whatever resentment he had, he could express it later. Today, before they went home, they had to return the Third Prince’s body.

Yu Tong’s thoughts aligned with Madam Yun’s.
The soul-switching technology was developed by Mr. Wen and the doctor. This technology, secretly eroding both the cultivation world and the Empire, was also masterminded by Mr. Wen.
Mr. Wen put in the manpower, effort, and brainpower. How could he let others take the victory before him?

Unless the fruit was poisoned.
Madam Yun’s words had no effect; in fact, they completely angered Old Master Yun.
The two’s conversation broke down, and Old Master Yun, losing his rationality, slapped Madam Yun hard.

He then began to publicly curse her, calling her a shameless slut for having an affair with Mr. Wen.
His yelling was loud, and the chaotic noise outside immediately fell silent. Even the system, distracted by the scientific instruments, turned the camera to watch the spectacle with a gossiping expression.
Yu Tong anxiously whispered, "System! System! What are these two going crazy for? Film Mr. Wen, film Mr. Wen and Old Master Su!"

The system sighed and reluctantly turned the camera.
It filmed Mr. Wen for a while before hesitating, saying, "This bastard, why is he secretly enjoying himself?"
"What about the doctor next to him? Is he also laughing?"

"No, that mushroom-headed glasses guy just glanced over here and then turned his head. He’s fiddling with the machine, and I see a picture of a little kitten on the display. It looks like in two or three minutes, he’ll start replacing your soul."
Yu Tong raised an eyebrow.
It seemed that Madam Yun’s concerns were not without reason. This soul-switching technology had certain side effects.

It caused a decline in intelligence, impulsive rage, and loss of reason. It likely also led to a gradual loss of humanity.
From the reactions of the people present, it seemed that no one, except Mr. Wen and the doctor, knew about this.
Mr. Wen’s plans were loud and clear.

He had never intended to share the spoils with his allies.
The Empire, the cultivation world, and the ancestral estates of the Yun and Su families, Mr. Wen wanted it all.
The system, excited by the high-tech instruments, enthusiastically described them to Yu Tong.

It said that in its home dimension, before it upgraded to a higher plane, virtual game pods were very popular. People would lie down in them, and their consciousness would enter another world.
Because of the widespread use of virtual pods, they ushered in an era of mass entertainment. Later, due to poor management, many incidents occurred, and a number of people died.
Yu Tong replied that the game pods were also very popular in his homeland.

The system, chatting while recording, said, "Your side developed technology so quickly? I remember when I went to collect your soul, you and your Chen Ge were living in a plain rental house. It didn’t seem like a high-tech world."
"We were poor, part of the lower class, so our house was a bit run-down."
"Oh, oh, so did the virtual game pods cause any accidents?"

"I’ve never heard of any deaths from game pods, but abroad, they’ve been destroying them in large quantities. The internet says that foreign countries are too authoritarian to allow their people to use virtual game pods."
Finally, they found some common ground. The system was eager to continue chatting, but the doctor had already set the machine in motion.
The female assistant walked over, opened the machine, and took out the kitten tightly bound inside. Under the doctor’s guidance, she placed the kitten in the transfer device.

Mr. Wen called Madam Yun over to lie down in the other part of the device, preparing to enter the kitten’s body.
This had been previously arranged.
Madam Yun, giving up on persuading her irrational husband, looked disappointedly at Old Master Yun and pushed past him to go do the actual work.

That one glance burned up Old Master Yun’s last bit of rationality.
In one night, from being the prestigious head of the Yun family, he turned into a social outcast with nothing. He had nothing left and couldn’t even show himself openly.
Old Master Yun blamed all his failures on Madam Yun.

If she hadn’t stopped him from taking back the Yun family, he wouldn’t have ended up like this. If it weren’t for this woman, he certainly wouldn’t have let Yun Mingchen take root.
Old Master Yun growled, "What kind of look are you giving me? Do you wish I were dead so you could be with that bastard Mr. Wen? Slut!"
Madam Yun suddenly turned her head, looking at him in surprise, "What gossip have you been listening to? They’re trying to drive a wedge between us, don’t..."

Before she could finish, Old Master Yun drew out the short dagger that the Third Prince always carried with him and plunged it into her neck.
Yu Tong couldn’t see, but the system reacted with a flurry of exclamations, "Madam Yun’s body... Mr. Wen used a spell to drag her soul and stuffed it into the machine."
"Old Master Su is playing favoritism, blaming Madam Yun for everything, pushing all the responsibility onto her. Mr. Wen is threatening Madam Yun, saying she has no body now, and if she doesn’t obey, he’ll grab her soul and stuff it into a pig’s body to be eaten alive. Once the body dies, he’ll put her soul into another animal, making her suffer forever."

The system sighed deeply, "Tsk tsk, these bastard men sticking together, I suddenly feel bad for Madam Yun."
Yu Tong couldn’t move or speak.
He thought Madam Yun was clever, but she trusted her husband too much.

Mr. Wen and Old Master Su handed the Third Prince’s body to Old Master Yun, effectively pushing him out to directly confront the Princess.
Madam Yun noticed this but didn’t realize that the current Old Master Yun was no longer the man she knew.
Unable to tolerate his own failure, and desperate to protect his fragile male dignity, he vented all his anger on his wife.

It seemed that by suppressing and insulting Madam Yun, he could continue to maintain his lost authority as head of the family.
Yu Tong understood the type of person Old Master Yun was, and what was going through his mind.
Every time his parents encountered difficulties outside, they would come home and beat the family dog half to death. It seemed like this was their way of reclaiming their lost face.

The little black dog, which Yu Tong loved the most, would be beaten. He would also be beaten.
So, as a child, Yu Tong hated the outside world.
He believed that the outside world was full of bad people who made his parents angry and caused him and the dog to get beaten.

Everything was ready. As the doctor pressed the button, the machine started operating.
Yu Tong felt his consciousness slowly becoming fuzzy.
Before his awareness completely faded, a strong sense of embarrassment and anticipation was transmitted to him through the heart-to-heart device, replacing the earlier feelings of sadness and anxiety.

At the same time, a series of notifications came through from the system.
The character deviation value, which had been gradually decreasing, suddenly began to rise and eventually stabilized at 45 points.
Yu Tong sighed deeply.

It seemed that Chen Ge had noticed the message he left on the wall.
He wasn’t sure how much time passed, but when Yu Tong opened his eyes again, the environment around him had changed.
He wasn’t in the laboratory anymore but in an entirely unfamiliar room.

The system explained that his soul had entered someone else’s dream through the machine.
As for his body, Madam Yun had taken over. Mr. Wen's subordinates had placed Madam Yun in a cat bag and sent her back to the Yun family mansion.
The system was curious about whose dream this was, but the machine didn’t display any information, and Mr. Wen and the others didn’t make any explanations either.

Yu Tong had a vague suspicion in his mind, but he couldn’t confirm it yet.
He sat up from the unfamiliar bed and looked down at the luxurious silk pajamas he was wearing.
"System, why am I wearing these clothes?"

【I have no idea.】
"Why don’t I have any underwear?"
【Ask the person who dreamed this.】

Seeing that the system didn’t know either, Yu Tong walked around the room, finding a large mirror.
In the reflection, he saw a young man, about 1.7 meters tall, with a baby face that looked only sixteen or seventeen. His big, clear, innocent cat eyes made him appear especially gentle and harmless.
Yu Tong recognized this face immediately—it was his own.

It seemed that entering the dream didn’t change the appearance of his soul; only his clothes changed according to the dream’s scenario.
Now, Yu Tong was only wearing a black nightgown. His delicate collarbones and long legs were exposed.
The deep V-neck, the high slit—his upper and lower body were fully visible when he bent over or lifted his leg.

Yu Tong uncomfortably tugged at the hem of his clothes, tightening the belt to prevent the nightgown from slipping off.
The system, still filming, couldn't help but comment, 【You look really good in this outfit, it makes your legs look really long, and your waist seems even thinner than before. I’m taking a few photos, and if you need them later, I can send them to you as a memento.】
The system was so excited that Yu Tong became a little curious.

He took the system’s phone and looked, only to see a bunch of pixelated images.
The system muttered quietly, 【How could you trigger privacy protection just by wearing clothes? You’re only showing a big white leg, come on.】
‘How could you tell from all this pixelation that it’s a leg?’

【Well, look at all that blinding white pixelation. Isn't it obviously a leg? So white, so enviable. Unlike me, I'm born a yellow ball, not at all clean.】
Yu Tong: ...
Thanks, system, for showing him what "appearance reflects the heart."

Since this wasn't Chen Ge’s dream, and there were more than just his soul trapped in it, Yu Tong wasn’t planning to stay dressed so provocatively.
At least he needed to wear some pants, otherwise, how would he defend himself if danger came?
The place Yu Tong was in was a particularly lavish bedroom. Along the right wall, there were four or five large wardrobes neatly arranged.

He walked over and opened the one closest to him.
But, to his surprise, the wardrobe was empty.
He opened the second wardrobe, and although there were clothes inside, they looked strange, missing arms or legs.

He opened all the wardrobes, only to find a single shoe inside.
The shoe kept changing, turning from a leather shoe to a sports shoe.
Yu Tong wrapped himself in a bedsheet, staring at the ever-changing shoe in disbelief.

The system, puffing on its cigarette, explained, 【Last time, when Chen Ge’s mental state was stable, his dreams were relatively normal. Do you remember? The first time you entered his dream, it was chaotic and kept changing.】
【At that time, he hadn’t broken free from his parents' control, and his mind was tightly wound. The more anxious he got, the more chaotic his dreams were. The person who owns this dream you’re in is probably very anxious, which is why the dream is so illogical.】
Hearing this, Yu Tong felt slightly better.

There were many people trapped in dreams by Mr. Wen and the others, and they were all dressed unusually, so he didn’t feel as out of place.
Still, he didn’t find any proper clothes. Yu Tong reluctantly wrapped himself in the bedsheet and walked out of the room.
The owner of the dream must be rich—servants and guards filled the hallway.

But the dream’s owner seemed unfamiliar with their own servants, as the servants and guards in the dream all had no faces.
Yu Tong walked around the mansion, and finally, in front of a door, he saw two people with human faces.
As he got closer, he recognized them.

The man on the left, wearing a maid outfit, was the same male cultivator Yu Tong had met during the fog incident.
The woman on the right, dressed in men’s clothing, was the missing Xian Qiu Meng.
It seemed that after realizing the Shan Zha Mei Mei bait was no longer effective, Mr. Wen and his group had taken action against Xian Qiu Meng.

Hearing Yu Tong’s footsteps, the woman disguised as a man turned around cautiously, "Who are you? A newcomer?"
Seeing the young man with a clueless expression, Xian Qiu Meng sighed, "Another one. How many people have been trapped in this dream?"
The male cultivator fiddled with his fingers, "Exactly the 100th."

Yu Tong didn’t speak and began observing the two of them discreetly, unsure whether to reveal his identity and tell them he was from Yun Mingchen’s side.
Xian Qiu Meng stared at him for a few seconds, then snorted disdainfully, "That dog of an emperor really isn’t a good person. Most of the people who enter his dream don’t have a single decent piece of clothing."
The system, watching from the sidelines, was stunned, 【Dog Emperor? Is this the old Emperor’s dream?】

Yu Tong calmly hummed, ‘I thought of that possibility too.’
The Princess had mentioned that the old Emperor had been plagued by nightmares for a long time, but recently, his condition had worsened.
The old Emperor lived in the palace, surrounded by many people who took care of his safety, food, and other needs. The Third Prince was close by and could observe his condition at any time. He had been in a long state of sleep and could dream for extended periods.

His conditions were perfect for Mr. Wen and the others’ needs.
What made Yu Tong suspicious was that although they had already used the Third Prince’s body to act against the old Emperor, they hadn’t followed through by replacing the old Emperor’s soul and secretly taking his place.
This didn’t make sense unless they had another agenda.

Now that Yu Tong was sure the dream’s owner was the old Emperor, he pieced together what had happened.
At the time, the Third Prince was still in his right mind. He didn’t want anyone to take over the old Emperor’s body. He wanted to become a cultivator, not an old man without use.
So, Mr. Wen and his group suggested trapping the old Emperor in a nightmare. This would cause chaos in the royal family, and the Third Prince would have an opportunity to rise.

The Third Prince thought it was a good deal, but he didn’t know that Mr. Wen and his group were secretly creating monsters.
By deceiving the Third Prince into attacking the old Emperor, Mr. Wen took advantage of the situation and hid the monster army in the old Emperor’s dream.
When they found someone who could control the monsters, they would use the Third Prince’s help to bring the machines into the palace and use them to release the monsters from the dream, controlling them to slaughter everyone in the palace.

This was far easier than directly fighting the army.
The male cultivator, full of enthusiasm, led Yu Tong to his room and helped him change into a maid outfit.
Xian Qiu Meng, crossing her arms, stood with her back to them while speaking to Yu Tong.

She was probably trying to gather information, asking who brought him out of the school and who he had provoked before coming here.
Yu Tong lowered his head, looking shy and weak.
His eyes seemed innocent and pitiful, and with his youthful face, Xian Qiu Meng couldn’t bring herself to continue deceiving him.

The two chatted for a while, and Yu Tong picked up some clues from Xian Qiu Meng’s words.
The monsters trapped in the dream were indiscriminately attacking the souls imprisoned here. Souls that were eaten by the monsters would be completely destroyed.
Currently, the palace was the only relatively safe place, and everyone was hiding there.

However, there were a few exits to the outside world hidden in the dream, and they would open at certain moments. Monsters near the exits would escape the dream.
As for what they would do once they left the dream, Xian Qiu Meng didn’t know either.
Though the outside world was dangerous, Xian Qiu Meng thought they couldn’t just wait idly.

To find a chance to escape, she had been joining the adventurer groups made up of cultivators, going out every day to search for the hidden exits
in the dream.
Once the exit opened, they planned to escape before the monsters arrived and tell the outside world the truth.

She mentioned that she had been lucky once and managed to escape.
Unfortunately, the exit didn’t lead to streets or the academy as she imagined, but to a high-tech laboratory.
There, she saw many scientific instruments she couldn’t understand, with intricate soul-switching and dream-entering arrays on the machines.

She had only managed to escape with her soul; without her body, she couldn’t go far.
Thankfully, among the machines, she found one labeled "Dream Entry."
Xian Qiu Meng figured this machine could allow her to enter someone else’s dream.

So, she took the risk, fiddled with it, and successfully entered Shan Zha Mei Mei’s dream, passing on the message.
Yu Tong hesitated, "Why didn’t you go to someone else’s dream? Like a teacher or the Empire’s Princess?"
Xian Qiu Meng gave him a strange look, "I couldn’t use that machine properly. I ended up in my own dream by accident. And a lot of what I wanted to say couldn’t be said in the dream. Now that I think about it, maybe I wasn’t lucky, but someone used me to create a trap."

Yu Tong nodded but didn’t press further.
Through their conversation, he learned that the lives of the cultivators trapped in the dream were very harsh.
Their role seemed to be to attract and suppress the monsters.

As long as the souls of these cultivators were in the dream, the monsters focused all their energy on how to eat the souls hidden in the palace. This left them little time to wreak havoc in the dream.
The danger didn’t only come from the monsters outside but also from the old Emperor within the palace.
The old Emperor was indeed a good ruler, beloved by the people, but he wasn’t a good person.

Perhaps due to the immense pressure, he often threw tantrums in the dream. He would randomly chop off people’s heads, seeing everyone as enemies.
What’s worse, he had a strong libido. After throwing his tantrums, he would look for someone to entertain him for pleasure.
It was said that before Xian Qiu Meng and the male cultivator entered, the dog Emperor had forcefully assaulted a male cultivator trapped in the dream. Afterward, he fed that person’s soul to the monsters outside.

The cultivators trapped in the dream had gathered together to figure out how to kill him.
They feared that if they actually killed the old Emperor, the palace in the dream would vanish, and they would be exposed to the monsters’ claws.
Yu Tong was a bit confused, "Male cultivator?"

Xian Qiu Meng nodded, "When the old Emperor was young, he liked women, but as he grew older, his tastes changed, and he began to prefer young boys."
She turned around and sized up Yu Tong, "You’re the type he likes. The last male cultivator who was killed was very similar to you."
The male cultivator suddenly covered his face, "I knew it. Your nightgown looks so familiar. The male cultivator who died when he first entered the dream was wearing the same outfit. Could this be some kind of signal, indicating that you’ll be targeted by the dog Emperor too?"

Yu Tong wasn’t nervous at all. In fact, his eyes lit up.
Didn’t this mean he would have many opportunities to get close to the Emperor for an assassination attempt?
Could it be this easy?

The system, seeing the expression on Yu Tong’s face, knew exactly what he was thinking.
It couldn’t help but advise, 【Little Yu, stop thinking about seducing the old Emperor. Treasure your own body more.】
‘I don’t think that way.’

【Oh, you do. You’re definitely thinking about how you just happen to meet the old Emperor’s preferences. If there’s a need to assassinate him, you’ll use your looks to seduce him and approach the Emperor openly.】
The system took a deep drag from its cigarette.
【Don’t even mention whether your old lover, Chen Ge, will be mad, or if I’ll be upset about your ship. You should focus on yourself, don’t listen to your foolish parents’ misguided logic. Only garbage like old prostitutes say nonsense like, ‘The more people read a book, the better the book is.’】

The system had guessed one of the family’s industries. Yu Tong coughed awkwardly.
Fortunately, the Heart-to-Heart Tool, which had been silent for a while, suddenly reacted.
It was Yun Mingchen in the dream, dreaming of his little kitty.

At the same time, Xian Qiu Meng invited Yu Tong to join the "all cultivators unite to fight the monsters and the dog Emperor" victim group.
The Heart-to-Heart Tool was flashing red, and Yu Tong feared that if he waited any longer, the little kitty in Yun Mingchen’s dream would disappear.
He wasn’t sure just how strong Chen Ge’s control over the dream was—could he dream anything he wanted at will, or could he only make small changes?

Yu Tong didn’t have time to explain much to Xian Qiu Meng. He only managed to leave a quick message, "I have something to do, I need to leave for a while."
The system, before the little kitty disappeared from Yun Mingchen’s dream, pressed the tool’s activation button.
Yu Tong felt a blur in front of his eyes, and a series of exclamations came from the other two people.

The next second, he vanished in a flash.
Looking at the maid outfit scattered across the bed, Xian Qiu Meng and the male cultivator exchanged confused glances.
Xian Qiu Meng hesitated and asked, "Where did he go? Did he leave?"

The male cultivator shook his head in confusion, "Didn’t the real Su Feng, who’s been trapped in the dream, say the only way to leave the dream was through hidden exits?"
He paused, then covered his face in panic, "My God, could it be that the dog Emperor took him? Is this really the old Emperor’s dream? Can he now take people from a distance?"
Xian Qiu Meng fell silent for a moment before looking thoughtfully at the nightgown.

Perhaps...
They should go see the dog Emperor?