Always Ending Up as an Animal Cub

Yue Tong’s provocative words didn’t manage to deceive Chen Yanli.

The man, his face flushed, finished typing and then continued to press him, demanding to know what exactly he was.
Yue Tong didn’t like it when Brother Chen was so serious.
Clearly, playing dumb would have been better for everyone, but he insisted on getting to the bottom of it.

The antagonist, by nature, was cautious, and with the harsh environment at the Grand He Guangming Temple, he had been tricked too many times by those around him. Now, Fa Chen was almost on edge, seeing everyone as potential assassins.
Looking at the question on the phone screen, Yue Tong clung to the man’s arm, blinking his big eyes, trying to play innocent.
Chen Yanli was nothing like those fake monks outside; he wasn’t buying it.

After being pressed for a few more questions, the little rabbit’s paws waved helplessly, and he lowered his head, looking aggrieved.
Chen Yanli picked up the phone, hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to type.
The little white rabbit had just said he was a rabbit spirit, and that his whole family were rabbit spirits.

But his family was gone, and only he was left.
He had finally found a fated lover, and yet, his lover didn’t trust him.
If he wanted to harm him, when the old monk had checked his ears before, he wouldn’t have risked his life to help.

For some reason, Chen Yanli felt that, rather than complaining, the little rabbit seemed to be whining for comfort.
This feeling was strange. He had lived for twenty years, but had never encountered anyone like this.
Yue Tong, while covering his eyes with his big ears and humming, was secretly looking outside through the system’s view.

Seeing that the man’s aggressive aura had faded, he seemed somewhat confused and helpless.
Seizing the opportunity, Yue Tong used a special item: “I can’t do that because I’m just a little white rabbit.”
This was his first time using an item, and he wasn’t sure what effect it would have.

The moment the item took effect, Chen Yanli visibly froze, indicating that he had just been mentally affected.
Looking down at the little rabbit in his hands, the man’s brows furrowed slightly.
After a long silence, he put the little rabbit on the table and rummaged through a drawer, pulling out an incense burner and three sticks of incense.
He asked the little white rabbit’s name through his phone, but after watching the rabbit’s paws gesture for a while, he still couldn’t figure out what characters they meant.

He opened a webpage to search for the Hundred Family Surnames, scrolling through the screen and holding it up to the rabbit.
When he saw the surname “Yu,” the rabbit raised its paw and pressed it against the screen.
With some inexplicable mental connection, Chen Yanli guessed the pronunciation of the last character.

He helped the rabbit find the character "Tong" among a pile of homophones.
Chen Yanli closed his eyes, forming a seal with his hands, and silently chanted an incantation.
Yue Tong didn’t expect Chen Yanli to react this way after using the item.

It was clear that the antagonist wasn’t a real monk; his actions and expression now had nothing to do with Buddhism.
Chen Yanli picked up a prepared wooden board and quickly carved the characters “Yue Tong” onto it.
At first glance, it looked just like something cut with a knife.

Yue Tong was astonished by this.
The way the system portrayed those immortal dramas never showed anything like this.
It was such an interesting move; he wanted to learn it too.

Once the characters were carved, Chen Yanli placed the wooden board down, lit the incense, bowed to it, and then inserted the three incense sticks into the incense burner.
Yue Tong stared blankly at this scene.
The system had been searching the internet for a long time, but couldn’t find any information on what he was doing.

“He grew up in the Grand He Guangming Temple, so what he learned might be the wild teachings of a fake monk. Plus, this is a world generated by a novel, so it’s not the same as reality.”
“So stop looking at me with such hopeful eyes. I can’t find anything useful.”
Chen Yanli kept staring at the incense.

Yue Tong curiously watched from the side.
As Chen Yanli approached, the white smoke rising from the incense suddenly changed direction, flying toward him in a way that defied the laws of science.
As the smoke entered his body, a strange sensation rose from within Yue Tong.

He looked at his paws, then at the floating white smoke, and a question mark appeared in his mind.
On Chen Yanli’s usually expressionless face, a hint of surprise appeared.
He stared at the little white rabbit for a few moments before pulling out his phone and typing quickly.

“You’re not a little rabbit demon; you’re a little rabbit immortal. The talismans my master uses can only detect demonic energy, but you don’t have any.”
Yue Tong fell silent for a moment and looked at the system, which had an innocent expression.
“So now I have an identity?”

“Hmm... looks like it. Wait, you’re a little rabbit immortal? There’s a little rabbit immortal in the original text too, but she’s female.”
The system opened the original text and found a passage, pointing to it.
“The male protagonist doesn’t have a harem, but he’s very popular with women. Later, he meets a cute, sweet little rabbit immortal.”

“The little rabbit immortal’s family is all dead, and she wanders alone in the city. She’s picked up by the male protagonist and joins the happy family.”
Chen Yanli arranged the little white rabbit, letting it stay still on the table while it burned the incense, hoping its cultivation would improve quickly.
His gay roommate still hadn’t returned, and breakfast time hadn’t arrived yet.

Seizing this gap, Chen Yanli crawled under the bed, starting to examine the messages and prayer beads he had found on the bed board.
Yue Tong’s soul entered the system space, leaving his rabbit body behind to idle.
Together with the system, they went through all the chapters where the little rabbit immortal appeared in the original text.

In the original setting, the little rabbit immortal was the protagonist’s good friend. She often took the form of a cute little loli, her magic wasn’t strong, but she was kind-hearted.
Her rabbit family was very large, and she was the youngest, with many older siblings.
When she was still a baby rabbit, she had heard from her family that their home used to be in a beautiful mountain where many spiritual animals lived.

The place was strange, with both strong yang and yin energies, defying common sense.
Thanks to the unique environment, the little rabbits were able to cultivate quickly, and their family grew larger.
But something happened, and the mountain started to be plagued by ghostly disasters.

The ghosts were very aggressive and attacked anything they saw. The monks down the mountain didn’t come to catch them, and the ghosts ravaged the mountain until nothing could grow.
Although the rabbit family had many little rabbit immortals, they had only started cultivating after moving to this place. They didn’t have much experience and their ancestral techniques weren’t very powerful.
Faced with hundreds of evil ghosts and the undead, the little rabbit immortals were no match. After a few days of fighting, they lost more than half of their family.

In order to survive, the rabbit family decided to flee to northern relatives when the yang energy was at its peak and the yin energy was weakest.
The evil ghosts feared the sun, but the undead didn’t.
The little rabbit immortals were like fresh rabbit meat to the undead, who chased them wherever they went.

During the escape, the rabbit family got scattered.
The unlucky ones were eaten by the undead, and the lucky ones either became lost wild rabbits or were picked up by ordinary people who kept them as pets.
Originally a large family, only a few rabbits were left.

The northern relatives were killed by foxes, and the rabbit family had to settle in a small, abandoned grove. They fell into decline and never regained their former glory.
Decades later, the little rabbit immortal was born.
Before meeting the male protagonist, the rabbit family, plagued by misfortune, was targeted by some strange old monks.

Dozens of rabbits were killed, skinned, and turned into strange props.
The little rabbit immortal was the only survivor of the family.
 

After seeing that the ones who killed the rabbit family were fake monks, the system was quite pleased.
But upon reading further, it let out a regretful sigh, “So it was the weasels, I thought it might be related to the Grand He Guangming Temple.”
Yue Tong flipped through the original text.

“There is a connection. The monks are down the mountain, and the rabbit’s den is on the mountain. Considering the descriptions in the little rabbit immortal’s memories about the landscape of her hometown, the mountain where the rabbit family originally lived should be the back mountain of the Grand He Guangming Temple, where I first appeared.”
“And the ghost disaster, what’s that about?”
“It’s probably related to the things kept in the dormitory of the temple.”

“If the words carved into the bed board are real, then the meaning of the Grand He Guangming Temple’s existence and the Buddhist association’s strange attitude would make sense.”
The seal was broken, and countless ghosts awakened.
According to the little rabbit immortal’s family history, the back mountain suddenly became haunted.

If the evil ghosts and undead came through the sea of people all the way to the back mountain, the experts and strange beings of this world wouldn’t have failed to respond.
With so many monks and Taoists fighting with evil ghosts, the disturbance would have been huge. After such a battle, it was impossible for the ghosts to come to the back mountain unscathed, let alone suppress the rabbit family.
It was likely that the place where the seal was located was in the back mountain of the Grand He Guangming Temple.

The evil ghosts had been sealed by some powerful being. The back mountain not only contained treasures that could restrain demons and evil spirits, but there were also countless evil ghosts.
That was why there was an imbalance of both strong yang and yin energy.
Yue Tong didn’t understand much about this.

He speculated that the rabbits had misunderstood.
They thought that the energy they absorbed while cultivating was pure yang energy, but in reality, it was the aura coming from the treasures that sealed the evil spirits.
It was possible that the small animals in the mountain that gained intelligence had drained the power from the treasures.

Maybe the seal had lasted too long, and its expiration date had arrived, requiring someone to come and deal with it.
Or perhaps someone had deliberately destroyed the seal.
In any case, the current situation was that the seal had broken, and countless ghosts had escaped.

Knowing the truth, the Buddhist association had locked the ghosts up in the Grand He Guangming Temple to ensure they wouldn’t harm anyone.
The fake monks in the temple all knew that there were ghosts locked in the dormitory. That’s why they were so tense when they entered the dormitory after.
Now, Chen Yanli, for some reason, had let a little boy out.

Yue Tong wasn’t sure if the boy was a ghost, but the fake monks believed he was and that he would bring disaster to the world.
The system let out a long “Oh...” and said, “No wonder the monks outside could tell there was heavy yin energy here. The high-ranking monks from the Buddhist association said everything was fine, but in truth, they know what’s going on with the Grand He Guangming Temple.”
“They know what’s going on with the temple and just pretended the checks were real. They started to shut everyone else up after they got the information.”

Yue Tong nodded.
The system «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» thought for a long time before hesitatingly asking, “Little fish, I don’t understand something. Since they can lock the ghosts in here, why don’t they just drag them out one by one and kill them?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have an answer for now.”

“So, are the Bodhisattvas in the Grand He Guangming Temple real?”
“Fake. The monks and Bodhisattvas are fake. I don’t know what’s up with the Grand He Guangming Bodhisattva, but from the words on the bed board, it seems like the monks here are likely locked in here as punishment for some reason.”
“The antagonist didn’t grow up in the temple?”

“That’s right. I really don’t understand why he’s here. According to when they entered the temple, he should be the elder brother of the fat monk.”
“Maybe the Grand He Guangming Temple follows age hierarchies?”
Yue Tong wasn’t sure.

He was still thinking about what the Shura Field mentioned on the bed board meant, and how it related to the Shura field the weasels were preparing to make.
The original text mostly described how the male protagonist killed the weasels, while only briefly mentioning the Shura field.
It was just said that the people inside the Shura field would be endlessly jealous and fight with each other, unable to break free from the cycle of reincarnation.

The words carved into the bed board with nails were the first time Chen Yanli had seen something like that.
But the prayer beads emitting a warm aura, he had seen before.
Three years ago, a middle-aged monk had arrived at the Grand He Guangming Temple. He wasn’t sure how, but he became one of the newly recruited monks.

He found Chen Yanli, who hadn’t been cursed with the silence spell yet, and asked him some strange questions.
“Do conflicts happen often among the monks here? Are there monks who always get beaten?”
“Has anyone seen the real Grand He Guangming Bodhisattva?”

“Are there any strange people in the back mountain?”
These questions were odd, and Chen Yanli, being cautious, had given vague answers.
The middle-aged monk seemed disappointed and quickly left after thanking him.

Chen Yanli didn’t know where he went after that, nor did he expect the monk to hide in his dormitory.
Was it pure coincidence? Or was it intentional?
From the quality of the prayer beads and the aura they emitted, it was clear that they hadn’t been created by the middle-aged monk himself. They were most likely given to him by his master or elder brother, or he had bought them for a large sum.

Such an important item, how could it be left behind?
But if it really had been left for him, why hadn’t the monk left any useful information on the bed board? Only this cryptic message?
As the time approached for breakfast, the faint sound of footsteps echoed in the corridor.

The roommate could come back at any time, so Chen Yanli put the prayer beads away and crawled out from under the bed.
The little white rabbit was still obediently lying on the table, absorbing the incense he had just lit.
Chen Yanli didn’t expect his little rabbit to be an immortal rabbit.

When he was young, his master had told him the difference between rabbit immortals and rabbit demons.
Both types of rabbits started out by absorbing the energy of heaven and earth to become spirits, but their cultivation methods were different.
The former could only improve by accumulating merit, absorbing spiritual energy, and receiving offerings from others.

The latter, aside from normal methods, could also absorb human yang energy or even eat people. Their cultivation speed was usually much faster than that of little rabbit immortals.
The rabbit demons were indeed stronger, but the little rabbit immortals were good because they hadn’t done anything bad since they were young.
Their hearts were pure, and they wouldn’t harm others.

Chen Yanli’s gaze toward the little white rabbit softened considerably.
It seemed that the little rabbit hadn’t lied; he was indeed not here to cause harm, just to be cherished and pampered.
The little rabbit immortal was only the size of a palm, clumsy and weak, unable to speak. It would take a few hundred years for him to become a human.

By then, Chen Yanli would have aged and died, and they would have no chance of being together, so he didn’t need to take the little rabbit’s affections too seriously.
When the three incense sticks burned out, Chen Yanli casually waved his hand.
The little rabbit immediately jumped up happily, extending his front paws, asking for a hug.

Recalling how he had helped deal with the old monk’s check earlier, Chen Yanli hesitated for a moment but still walked over to pick up the rabbit.
The little rabbit immortal was indeed as innocent as his master said.
Just by touching its head, the rabbit happily started grinding its teeth and nuzzling him, whining for more attention.

Looking at the soft little white rabbit in his arms, Chen Yanli hesitated for a long time before handing over his phone.
“Do you love me enough to sacrifice yourself to protect me?”
Yue Tong tilted his head and glanced at the screen.

Here it came. He knew Brother Chen must have kept him around for some kind of purpose.
Even after everything that happened last night, the antagonist's deviation value had increased from -17 to -10, but his character hadn’t changed much.
He was still bad, with a little bit of conscience, but not much.

Chen Yanli waited for a long time, only to receive a confused look from the little rabbit.
It seemed this rabbit wasn’t as dumb as he thought.
This was a good thing.

Chen Yanli set the terms, offering that as long as Yue Tong helped him with things, he would make offerings to him and burn incense every day.
The little rabbit shook his head, gesturing earnestly in the air.
Chen Yanli’s ears began to redden.

The little rabbit said he would help him do things if he kissed him until he was satisfied.
Although he had expected such a request, hearing such shameless words made him feel embarrassed even typing them.
This little rabbit immortal was not only unambitious but also very lewd, thinking about making little baby rabbits.

His cultivation was low, and he spoke in a flirtatious manner.
Chen Yanli had been constantly watched by the monks and didn’t have much time for freedom. He needed outside help.
It was an insulting request, and under normal circumstances, he would have killed the person who said it.

But since it was a little rabbit immortal, Chen Yanli really couldn’t get mad.
He pursed his lips tightly and watched as the little rabbit immortal tried to charm him into agreeing.
In the end, Chen Yanli agreed.

He lowered his head and gently kissed the rabbit’s head.
The little white rabbit hummed happily, its front paws holding his face, urging him not to stop.
Chen Yanli kissed him more than ten times, and instead of feeling disgusted, he even felt a little exhilarated.

The little rabbit immortal was clean, without any strange smell, and his fluffy white fur felt nice on his face, relieving his stress.
Yue Tong didn’t know if he was satisfied, but he definitely was.
The little rabbit immortal was easy to use and didn’t require any responsibility, which was harmless to him.

Suddenly, Chen Yanli felt that his face was quite useful after all.
The transaction was complete, and both parties were satisfied.
Chen Yanli asked the little rabbit to go to the fifth floor of the temple dormitory and check what was inside.

He had once seen the old monk from the Buddhist association enter that room with his master.
As far as he knew, the old monk had originally planned to release the people locked in the temple. Then, they would eliminate all the yin energy from the pilgrims.
But after coming out of that room, the old monk had suddenly changed his attitude. Not only did he not stop the actions of the Grand He Guangming Temple, but he also helped them silence the other monks and Taoists.

The room on the fifth floor was definitely suspicious. He needed to know what was inside and whether it would be useful to him.
The door was a large, black double door, with white paper lanterns hanging on either side.
Chen Yanli wasn’t worried the rabbit would get lost. He just feared the little rabbit immortal would die on the way.

He drew a simple map of the dormitory, preparing a list of dangerous locations and escape plans for the little rabbit immortal to memorize.
Yue Tong only glanced at the plans but memorized them in his mind.
In Chen Yanli’s slightly worried gaze, he pretended to memorize them while chatting with the system.

“Big Brother, from what I can see, Brother Chen isn’t planning to tell me anything useful.”
“Why? Didn’t he take you as a tool rabbit?”
“Tool rabbits don’t need to know too much. While his conscience still hurts, I’ll make sure to torture myself until I’m half-dead, then come back to find him.”

“Some of the things he knows might involve his privacy. Our relationship isn’t that close yet, so it’s not convenient for him to tell me.”
The system didn’t want to get involved in these matters.
It was sipping on a cup of milk, speaking with a high-pitched voice, “Big fish, time to take your medicine.”

Yue Tong: ...
“Have you been watching something weird again? You sound strange.”
“Little Chef Lucky and Water Margin, tsk, should we watch Journey to the West? The monkey there is super handsome!”

It was clear that the system especially liked Sun Wukong, as it got excited whenever he was mentioned.
Yue Tong was dragged into this discussion, chatting with the system for a long time.
When he finally left the system’s space, Chen Yanli was looking at the little white rabbit with a complex expression, his eyes filled with undeniable concern.

He pursed his lips and typed on his phone: “It’s been ten minutes. If you really can’t remember, then don’t go.”
The little rabbit patted its chest and motioned for Chen Yanli to pick him up.
Chen Yanli silently looked away.

He had a feeling that he was pushing a fool into a pit of fire, and his conscience hurt badly.
Breakfast that day was still pickled vegetables, steamed buns, and rice porridge.
The little monk at the serving window smiled kindly and didn’t feel guilty when facing Chen Yanli, as though the madman who had been wielding a knife the night before wasn’t him.

The little monk, as usual, gave the little white rabbit a few leaves of vegetables and said the same thing as before.
“Brother Fa Chen, the deadline is the day after tomorrow. Have you found the boy you lost?”
Chen Yanli continued pretending he hadn’t heard, ignoring him.

Yue Tong frowned.
So, Brother Chen dies every three days?
Every time he revives, he can only live for less than two days, and during that time, he’s watched and tested by the monks. No wonder Brother Chen can’t escape from the Grand He Guangming Temple using his own strength.

As time passed, Yue Tong’s earlier suspicions began to be answered.
Chen Yanli’s resurrection had nothing to do with a time loop. The time in the Grand He Guangming Temple was advancing normally.
Every day was different, and everyone’s memory was intact.

Yue Tong couldn’t figure out why Brother Chen kept resurrecting.
Chen Yanli didn’t understand either. Otherwise, when he mentioned it to the little rabbit, he wouldn’t have used the word “maybe” so ambiguously.
After breakfast, the fat monk came as usual to chat with Brother Fa Chen.

He exuded kindness from the inside out and seemed like a completely different person from the madman with the knife last night.
The two chatted on their phones for a while, and the fat monk, like an NPC, started assigning tasks for the day.
“The female benefactor who came yesterday has some conflicts with her roommate. When I went to check this morning, she was crying and saying she wanted to go home.”

Yue Tong: “Isn’t her roommate just a paper doll? How can they argue?”
“The short-haired woman locked in the confinement room attacked the monks guarding her and escaped, but we don’t know where she’s gone.”
The fat monk said that most of the monks had gone out to work. The newly joined monks didn’t know the procedures well.

Whether it was calming down the female benefactor or catching the escaped short-haired woman, both were important tasks.
The fat monk, unable to handle it all himself, wanted to delegate a task to Brother Fa Chen.
Chen Yanli quickly analyzed the pros and cons.

He was about to choose to capture the short-haired woman when he noticed the little rabbit, and his actions involuntarily paused.
The little rabbit immortal was clumsy, and he wasn’t sure if it had memorized the escape routes. Sending him alone seemed risky.
Such a good tool rabbit, it would be a shame if he died.

Chen Yanli hesitated for a moment, intending to send him to the dormitory instead.
Before he could act, the little rabbit suddenly jumped out of his arms and into the fat monk’s embrace, making the choice for him.
The fat monk, flattered, smiled with a flushed face.

Chen Yanli narrowed his eyes.
Tsk, this is annoying.