The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

More and more people are beginning to realize the significance of the person behind the scenes who enabled Chen Siyao to enter another world for a live broadcast.

The number of online users has exceeded 100 million.

The trending topics lists on major online platforms began to fluctuate simultaneously.

The top trending topic on Douyin is: "Chen Siyao's live stream in another world".

The top trending topic on Weibo: "Suspected first human entry into another dimension".

The homepage recommendations on short video platforms are entirely dominated by clips from this live stream.

This May Day holiday is destined to be different from what everyone expected.

Chen Siyao waved to the camera and walked into the depths of the forest.

The photo crystal spun quietly beside her.

Something was moving deep within the bushes.

She stopped in her tracks.

The image freezes.

The comments section was silent for a mere 0.3 seconds—then it erupted at ten times the density.

"What is that???"

"Something's moving behind us!!!"

"Don't go in!!!"

Chen Siyao did not back down.

She stared at the swaying bushes and slowly squatted down.

Through the gaps in the branches and leaves, a pair of round, golden eyes were quietly watching her.

Those golden eyes remained motionless.

Chen Siyao held her breath, maintaining a squatting position with her knees pressed against the blue grass. The camera lens hovered above her right shoulder, aimed at a gap in the bushes.

She saw it clearly.

It was something... she didn't know what to call it.

Its head is round, and its ears are pointed, standing upright on either side of its head, with a tuft of silvery-white fur at the tips. Its face is shaped like a fox, but its nose is short, its mouth is small, and its features are squeezed together, creating a natural "aggrieved" expression.

Its body size is similar to that of an adult domestic cat, but its tail is extremely exaggerated—fluffy, huge, and longer than its entire body, with fur that gradually changes from light gold at the base to snow white at the tip. Its four legs are short and thick, with round paws, and when it lies among the branches and leaves, it looks exactly like a plush toy.

Only one word popped into Chen Siyao's mind—

Cute.

so cute.

She almost forgot she was live-streaming.

The comments section is completely out of control.

"Sniff swipe"

"What is this little thing?!"

"I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead"

"This is confirmed as a new species; it definitely doesn't exist on Earth."

"I'm a PhD student in zoology, and I can confirm that no known species looks like this."

Yang Wanqing squatted down next to Chen Siyao at some point, covering her mouth with both hands, her whole body trembling.

"Yao Yao..." Her voice was lowered to its limit, "Did you see that...?"

"Shut up, don't scare it."

The little creature huddled in the bushes, its round, golden eyes watching them warily. Its large tail was tightly wrapped around its body, revealing only half of its face.

Chen Siyao did not rush to get closer.

She slowly pulled something out of her pocket—half an almond cookie, which Yang Wanqing had given her before she left, and she hadn't eaten it yet.

She placed the biscuits on the grass an arm's length away from her, then took a half step back.

The little thing's nose twitched twice.

The golden eyes moved from Chen Siyao's face to the biscuit, and then back again.

One second. Two seconds. Five seconds.

It moved.

A round front paw emerged from the bushes and carefully rested on the ground. Then came the second paw. Then the entire head.

Its body was even rounder than it had been seen before. Its golden fur shimmered softly in the light, with several light brown stripes along its back. Its large tail trailed behind it, the tip swaying from side to side.

Yang Wanqing felt like she was suffocating.

The little creature moved towards the cookies, taking three steps and then looking back, then two more steps and looking back again. Its gaze swept back and forth between Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing, its ears constantly twitching.

It stopped when it got next to the cookies.

I brought my nose close and smelled it.

Then he snatched the biscuit in his mouth, turned around, and ran.

Three steps.

I ran three steps and then stopped.

It crouched behind a clump of blue grass five meters away, holding a biscuit in its two front paws and nibbling on it. Its mouth moved rapidly as it ate, its cheeks puffing out, and crumbs fell all over the ground.

But its ears were always facing this way.

The golden eyes never left—not looking at Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing, but looking past them into the distance.

Chen Siyao followed its gaze and glanced back.

Xiaoyue was crouching under a tree twenty meters away, staring at the little creature.

"It's protecting Xiaoyue," Chen Siyao whispered.

"No wonder." Yang Wanqing squatted on the ground, not daring to get up. "It has a natural predatory instinct. But it's so smart; it knows we're not a threat, but those two are..."

The little creature finished the biscuit in a few bites, wiped its mouth with its paw, and squeaked in this direction.

A short, thin cry.

Then it darted into the bushes, and its large tail disappeared in the end.

Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing both sighed at the same time.

"That's it? They just left?" Yang Wanqing asked unwillingly, rummaging through the bushes. The bushes were empty.

"Do you think this is a pet store?"

At this point, the comments weren't just scrolling; they were pouring down.

The fluctuating number of online users made Chen Siyao afraid to look at it—because the number no longer seemed real.

Four hundred million.

Four hundred million people around the world watched this live stream.

The reason this number has soared to this level is not just because of that ridiculously cute little animal.

Rather, it's because the small animal itself is the strongest evidence—this isn't a species found anywhere on Earth. It wasn't a green screen, it wasn't CG, it wasn't any known animal that had been modified with makeup.

Its skeletal proportions, fur color gradation, and behavioral patterns do not belong to the biological evolutionary tree of Earth.

Chinese netizens are already in an uproar, but an even bigger storm is coming from overseas.

Special, well-known, familiar, and hard-to-understand—all platforms were simultaneously broadcasting Chen Siyao's live stream. Language barriers couldn't diminish the visual impact. The footage needed no translation.

What kind of creature is that?

Is this real? This is actually true?!

#Huaxia seems to have entered another dimension, and they're even broadcasting live from the scene? ??? I really want to keep this fluffy little guy as a pet.

"Humanity's first contact with an extraterrestrial ecosystem was broadcast live like this??? NASA, what are you doing???"

Research institutions, government departments, and military intelligence systems from various countries—almost all organizations that could see the live broadcast—were mobilizing manpower at top speed to analyze every frame of the footage.

But Chen Siyao couldn't see any of this.

She didn't even look at the comments on her phone; her entire focus was on this new world. The recording crystal moved with her thoughts, faithfully recording everything around her and transmitting it back to Earth.

"Let's go," Chen Hao called out from the front, "Let's take a look into that woods."

Chen Siyao stood up and patted the grass clippings off her knees.