You are a cat demon

Sakura Village has become almost unrecognizable.

The village still features the typical one-story tiled houses common in this era, uneven in size, yet clearly showing signs of multiple renovations and reconstructions. Moreover, there isn't a single familiar face in the village, making you wonder if you've come to the wrong place.

You transformed back into your black cat form and hid in a corner. The scene, so different from what you remembered, left you momentarily disoriented. You were like a helpless child, unsure of what to do next.

The current village chief of Sakura Village is a young man named Gu Quan, who is the man in black you met last time.

That man is acting very strangely.

You don't know exactly how to describe it, but there's something really off about him. Just seeing his back, you can almost glimpse the heavy history he carries. You yourself have lived for many years, and you can see the vicissitudes of life in his deep eyes, something that shouldn't be possible for someone his age.

Look closely, the thing hanging around his neck is a short bamboo flute, about the length of your middle finger in human form. You don't know why a perfectly good flute would be cut so short, nor do you know why it would be made into a pendant to hang around his neck.

He had an adopted daughter. Five years ago, he found an infant girl in the middle of nowhere and named her Xiao Nian. The girl was very different; her hair was brown, but her eyes were a rare silver color, like a bright moon in the night sky.

That girl reminds you of Wakaba.

Speaking of Wakaba, I wonder how her family is doing. With only a sliver of memory, you try to find their address, but you can't find it anywhere…

You, you should have known sooner!

No matter how long a human lifespan is, it is no more than a hundred years. In the blink of an eye, it is all lost in the long river of time.

You have ultimately failed your humanity.

You are a cat demon, destined to only pass through other people's human world, and other people are destined to only be fleeting passersby in your life.