Talulah, I'm still a child.

Talulah, I'm still a child. (Author: Fourfold, No Cooking Today)

Introduction:

As a rather unqualified fox spirit, Mei Xue, who has forgotten her own age, has many titles, such as "the cutest beast of the Reunion Movement," "the hungriest beast of Rhodes Island," "Talulah's Genji," "Kal'tsit's little lover," "Amiya's fiancé," "42's personal body pillow," and "Frostnova's reserve food," etc.

But even Mei Xue has his own troubles, such as how to persuade his sister-in-law Chen Huijie not to try to force her brother-in-law back to get married.

Persuade the rosemary not to try to lock him in a dark room; persuade the awakening insect not to cling to his tail all day long.

Of course, the most important thing is to avoid being crushed to death by Skadi climbing into the bed in the middle of the night; the little fox can't stand that kind of oppressive feeling.

"Such a small fox, if you punch it, it'll cry for a long time, right?"

"Yes, and then you can expect to get completely destroyed by the entire Terra, and you might even get knocked into the ground by the moving cities."

"But I'm not someone you want to eat."

"Nonsense, you're planning to sell him anyway!"

Looking at Mei Xue being chased and forced to wear the ring in the distance, and Warfarin and Clovis hanging on Cambridge with envious expressions, you mean Talulah? Oh, she's in jail with Inspector Chen.

Prologue: The Boy Who Was Raised

A village, a village that seemed out of place in Ursus. Talulah looked at the smoke rising from the chimneys and saw smiles on the faces of everyone living there. It was strange that there was such a seemingly happy village in the snowy plains of northern Ursus. Talulah even wondered if she had come to the wrong place.

The people in this village were also strange. They all had rosy complexions and looked very energetic, completely different from the people in other villages that Talulah had seen before. In the past, whenever she went to exchange food, the people in those villages were basically emaciated and struggling to survive. How come this place seemed like a paradise?

"Do you have any food here? I'd like to make a trade..."

"No! We have nothing here!"

Before Talulah could finish speaking, the people at the village entrance immediately refused. She found it strange; they seemed to be worried about something. Yet, she clearly saw a woman carrying a basket of meat out of the warehouse.

"Please don't worry, I'm not from the disciplinary team. I just want to exchange for some food. I still have plenty of flour and vegetables here."

“I said no, and that means no. You should go to another village.”

"……OK then."

Seeing the other party's firm attitude, Talulah stopped insisting. However, she refused to believe this nonsense. The place seemed to be bustling with activity, as if a banquet was still going to be held. How could that be? It was hard enough to survive on the snowfield, let alone hold a banquet. There must be something strange behind this. And the attitude of these people was too xenophobic, as if they were afraid of being discovered.

With this in mind, Talulah's intuition told her that she couldn't just leave like this. She went around to the edge of the village and observed for a while, and discovered the most suspicious thing.

Where did they get so much meat?

Meat, lots of meat. Talulah saw people constantly going in and out of the warehouse, each time taking out a full basket of meat, along with some silver fur. It looked very fresh, as if the prey had just been slaughtered. But this was winter in the snowy plains, how could they possibly have so much prey to catch? Moreover, Talulah could see very clearly that there were only three to five hunters in this village, it was impossible for them to get so much food.

With that in mind, Talulah quietly climbed up a tree behind the warehouse, burned a small hole in the wooden board sealing the window, and then peeked out to see how much food was in the warehouse. If all else failed, she would secretly take some, and leave the vegetables and such for them, to return later when she had the chance.

To Talulah Medical's surprise, there was no food in the warehouse, only one person: a silver-haired Volper boy, his hands and feet bound by chains and completely naked. His eyes were dull and lifeless, his face expressionless, and his three snow-white tails drooped limply behind him. His silver fur was stained with blood, and there were large patches of dark red under his feet. He looked like he was dead, but his ears twitched from time to time, proving that he was still alive, just too weak.

(What happened?)

Before Talulah could process everything in her mind, the warehouse door was suddenly opened, and a man carrying a basket walked in and casually picked up a knife hanging nearby.

"There's a banquet tonight, so I'll have to trouble you."

Without a second thought, the man raised his knife and, to Talulah's astonishment, sliced ​​off a palm-sized chunk of flesh from the boy's leg. The silver-haired boy couldn't even cry out; his eyes were filled with numbness, though tears still streamed down his face. His limbs twitched in pain, but this did nothing more than cause his joints to bleed.

"The recovery seems a little slow. Could it be because it hasn't eaten enough? I already fed it the day before yesterday, tsk... eat this."

He roughly shoved a handful of chaff into the boy's mouth, then poured water down his throat to make him swallow. Watching the cut wounds grow back with new flesh, the man nodded in satisfaction, then picked up the knife and began cutting other parts of the body.

Talulah understood now; these guys were eating people. She felt nauseous. Watching the silver-haired boy being tortured and crying, flames burned in her chest. Seeing the man's smiling face as he raised his butcher's knife, she felt a surge of anger. For the first time, she had the urge to burn everything to ashes.

"Oh, and this tail, it has such nice fur. Anyway, it'll grow back, so I can probably peel it off... By the way, why is it a little hot?"

The surrounding temperature was rising, but the man assumed it was because he had been exercising too vigorously. He wiped his sweat and then planned to cut off the three tails. This wasn't the first time, and he didn't care what effect the pain would have on the boy. After all, it wasn't him who was in pain. In their eyes, this wasn't a human being at all, but just livestock that could constantly bring food, just like that ever since they found him.

"Fire! Firefighting!"

The sudden shouts made the man put down his knife. He frowned, but ultimately decided to go out and help put out the fire first. Anyway, the boy couldn't escape now, so they could continue whenever they wanted.

Red flames coiled at Talulah's feet. With a gentle wave of her hand, the flames followed her guidance, climbing up the houses and igniting the entire village in an instant.

"You...you all deserve to die!"

Suppressing the urge to vomit, a voice kept telling Talulah that this was the right thing to do: burn these lowly, inhuman beasts to death, turn them into ashes under the snow. She herself agreed with this approach. She never imagined that anyone would actually do such a cruel and inhumane thing. Looking at the meat drying on the fires in each household, the horrific scene of the boy from earlier subconsciously appeared in her mind.

"A monster! She's a monster too!"

The surrounding villagers were terrified. It was the first time they had ever seen flames that could devour everything. They drew their bows and arrows and charged at Talulah, but the stones and arrows were blocked by the walls of fire around her. The moment they opened their mouths, flames rushed into their mouths and noses and burned them all to ashes.

Talulah didn't feel guilty. She didn't like killing, but she also didn't think the villagers were human. They had lost their conscience and morality, so they couldn't be considered human. From this perspective, she felt much better.

The entire village was destroyed; from the elderly to the children, everyone was reduced to ashes in the flames. Talulah arrived at the warehouse and burned the gate to ashes as well. A stench of blood hit her, causing her to vomit.

"..."

Wiping the stomach acid from the corner of her mouth, Talulah stepped towards the boy, her steps growing heavier as the uncongealed blood slowed her progress. She walked slowly but resolutely. She reached out and severed the boy's shackles, then exhausted all her strength and knelt on the ground. The air around her was thick with the smell of decay and blood, making Talulah feel nauseous.

"are you hungry?"

This was the first sentence the boy uttered. It was a little hoarse, but very beautiful, more beautiful than any voice Talulah had ever heard. She looked up and saw that the boy was holding an apple in his hands. She didn't know where he had taken it from. He put the apple in Talulah's hands and reached out to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes. She cried as he wiped them away.

"Eat if you're hungry, don't cry, everyone will have food... no one will go hungry anymore."

A golden bell hung around the boy's neck. He looked at the stunned Talulah, thought for a moment, and then extended his hand to her. A complex emotion flashed in his numb eyes.

"Are you going to eat me too?"

"……May I have your name?"

"Mei Xue, that should be her name."

What does "should" mean?

"I only remember these two words. If I get eaten, my memory will be gone."

Talulah struggled to her feet, reached out and gently pulled Mei Xue into her arms, trying to warm him with her own body heat, then gently nuzzled his face.

"It's alright, it's alright, there won't be any more people eating you, I've chased them all away."

"...Thank you, sister."

Perhaps due to extreme weakness, Mei Xue fainted immediately after saying these words. Talulah covered him with her cloak and set the warehouse on fire. She had no intention of taking anything from the village except Mei Xue. Looking at the sleeping child in her arms, she hoped he would have a good dream.

Chapter One: This child is a treasure!

"So you brought him back, but what about the villagers?"

Bozokasti's eyes were sharp. He glanced at Mei Xue, who was curled up asleep on the bed, and his tone unconsciously became harsher. Talulah, who was being scolded, could only listen obediently. When she heard that the villagers were mentioned, she lowered her eyes and chose to remain silent.

"I understand. I won't judge your behavior, but you should clearly understand what your actions mean."

"I know I won't make any excuses for myself, and I don't regret it."

Talulah understood that even if those people had no moral or ethical bottom line, she still killed them. She didn't want to find any comforting excuses for her actions. She had thought it all through before she took action. Looking at Mei Xue over there, she felt that she had done the right thing.

"His immortality and super-fast regeneration abilities mean he can't be an ordinary person or an infected individual. Do you want to keep him?"

"Let's talk about this when he wakes up."

Talulah picked up her dinner and drank it all in one gulp. Then she took out the apple that Meixue had given her. The apple was big and red. It wasn't the kind of food that could be found on the snowfield. But Meixue had been imprisoned in that village for so long. Where did he get this apple from?

"apple?"

Froststar frowned slightly. She had never seen this kind of fruit before in all her life. On the snowy plains, it was considered good to be able to eat some vegetables, and fruit was a complete luxury.

"He gave it to us; we'll distribute it to the children later."

Talulah put the apple away, then went to the bedside and looked at Mei Xue. He was very insecure and curled up in his sleep. Judging from his furrowed brows, he probably didn't have a good dream. Talulah couldn't imagine what kind of treatment he had suffered. There was still blood on his hair and tail. Ino had helped him change his clothes. The little guy ran away shyly afterward. It seems that Mei Xue's charm is appealing to both men and women.

Are three-tailed Woopers common?

Talulah asked this question to Borocasti. As an elder who was over two hundred years old, Patriot Borocasti's knowledge far exceeded that of ordinary people. To be honest, Talulah had only heard of the Nine-Tails, Vulpo.

“It’s not common. Most Volper have only one tail, while the God’s people have nine. A Volper with three tails… isn’t that strange compared to his body.”

"That seems so, but this tail is huge."

Talulah reached out and poked Mei Xue's large tail. For a Volper, Mei Xue's tail was ridiculously big. He was only 1.5 meters tall, but his tail was almost half his size. Talulah even subconsciously wondered if it would be comfortable to hug him.

"It seems he trusts you a lot."

Seeing Mei Xue's relaxed brows, Bo Zhuokasti and Frostnova came to this conclusion: Mei Xue sensed Talulah's approach and felt safer with the person who had saved him from hell.

"I don't know why he's here. Mei Xue, that sounds like a name from the Great Yan."

"Perhaps he is one of the people of the Great Yan."

Although it's unclear why Mei Xue is here, it's certain he's not a spy or anything. He doesn't even speak Ursus, at least his brief exchange with Talulah was in the language of Great Yan.

"Regardless of how he came to be here, I just hope that this child can live a peaceful life from now on."

Talulah gently stroked Mei Xue's long hair. She realized that she was starting to like him. Perhaps it was out of sympathy, or perhaps it was because of that brief interaction that she could see Mei Xue's kindness most directly.

"As you just said, he encountered something quite bad, so he might find himself in a rather troublesome situation after he wakes up. You'll have to figure it out yourself then."

"...I actually asked someone else to do this for me."

Talulah scratched her face apologetically at this point. She wasn't exactly good at comforting people, so she had to ask a friend for help.

You mean that teacher?

As the leader of the team, Patriot Bojokastie knew that Talulah had a friend who had been by her side for several years. During that year, he would occasionally run into Alina, a very gentle but strong woman who never complained about the present, loved life, and voluntarily took on the responsibility of teaching children.

"Yes, Alina is very good at these things; her emotional intelligence is much higher than mine."

Entrusting this matter to Alina was indeed a good idea, and Bozokastie had no objections. However, perhaps because their conversation was too loud, or perhaps because Mei Xue herself hadn't slept soundly, the little one opened her sleepy eyes and stared blankly at Talulah and Bozokastie, her eyes showing little vigilance, only numbness.

"You're awake. How are you feeling?"

"..."

Perhaps because Talulah subconsciously used Ursus, Mei Xue didn't understand for a moment. Talulah immediately realized her mistake and repeated it in Da Yan language. This time, Mei Xue understood. He subconsciously looked at his body and nodded.

"It's a bit cold."

This surprised Bozokasti and Talulah, because Mei Xue answered in an unfamiliar Ursus language, or rather, an older Ursus language. This clearly did not match their initial guess about his identity, as Mei Xue at least had some basic knowledge of the Ursus language.

"You speak Ursus?"