Chapter 1 The Rainy Season

May, a season prone to rain.

The pattering rain fell continuously, like a hazy curtain descending from the sky to the ground. On this blurred stage, the entire city seemed to lose its color, transforming into a silent oil painting composed of black, white, and gray.

In the oil painting, everyone walked by in a hurry, hurrying past the shop entrances, hurrying past the subway exits, hurrying through the streets and alleys, hurrying past every place that was irrelevant to them.

Before the subway station exit, a long-haired girl with a guitar sat quietly in the corner, plucking the strings intermittently, humming a melody that no one had ever heard. The melody had no lyrics, only waves of sounds that no human voice could ever produce.

One hurried footstep after another passed by the girl, and no one stopped to listen to this overly slow and boring song. Wuyue stopped strumming her guitar, lifted her eyelids, and looked at the gray sky.

In her vision, the rain seemed to freeze, and the speed of the entire world slowed down. In her field of vision, the entire black, white, and gray city instantly turned into a colorful still frame. In this still frame, her eyes shimmered with a faint light – in the infrared vision of a Siren, everything became clear and distinct.

After a moment, Wuyue blinked, the falling rain began to fall again, and the walking pedestrians began to move again. In front of the gradually deserted subway exit, she murmured, "Almost two months... I can leave this city."

Several pedestrians left the subway station exit. A couple walked past Wuyue with their two children. The little girl grabbed her mother's hand and shook it vigorously: "You promised we'd go to the zoo today! You promised we'd go to the zoo—"

"What zoo can you go to in the rain?" the mother said, holding an umbrella, scolding her daughter. "Don't kick the water—your skirt is getting wet!"

The little girl seemed dejected. The father, walking beside her, bent down and patted her hair. "Be good, listen to your mother—I'll definitely take you next week..."

They gradually walked away. Wuyue watched the backs of the family from afar, and after a moment of loneliness, she revealed a faint smile: "How nice..."

She stood up, slung her guitar over her shoulder, and flicked a small drop of water in the direction of the family: "Don't forget your promise to your child."

After doing this, she straightened the hem of her clothes, looked up at the raindrops that were still falling, turned around, and prepared to leave this place.

However, after she turned around, she saw an unfamiliar little girl standing blankly in front of her.

"Hmm?" Wuyue tilted her head in confusion. "What's wrong? Little one?"

The little girl just stared at her. After a few seconds, she suddenly burst into tears without warning: "Wah—Mama..."

"Hey, don't cry! Don't..." Wuyue immediately became flustered, clumsily and at a loss, trying to comfort the little girl who was suddenly crying. "I didn't bully you... I don't know you!"

As she spoke, she looked around in a panic, trying to find the little girl's family, but there was no one nearby. She only heard the little girl still crying: "I'm looking for Mama... Mama..."

Wuyue paused for a moment, then turned to look at the little girl's face. "Did you get lost from your Mama?"

The little girl just cried, not answering her question at all.

Wuyue became troubled. She frowned, and after a few seconds of hesitation, she raised her hand. Some raindrops falling from the sky outside the rain shelter immediately floated in. These raindrops quickly gathered at her fingertips, and in a moment, they condensed into the shape of a crystal clear little goldfish.

The little girl stopped crying in surprise, watching Wuyue hand her the crystal goldfish.

"Don't cry now," Wuyue said, patting the little girl's hair. "Sister will do a magic trick for you."

The little girl took the goldfish in surprise and exclaimed happily: "Wow—"

"Be good, don't cry—did you get lost from Mama?"

"Mmm."

"Then..." Wuyue looked up at the sky again, then lowered her head. "I'll take you to find your Mama."

"Mmm... but Mama said, you can't go with strangers."

Wuyue was stunned for a moment, then revealed a wry smile. "...Mama is right... Then how about we wait for Mama here together?"

The little girl thought hard for a moment, and then, seemingly finding no problem, she nodded slightly: "Okay!"

Wuyue took the child to the place where she had been resting before, sat down again, let the little girl lean on her, and she took out her guitar and plucked the strings casually.

Just like that, she didn't know how long had passed. The originally dim sky outside had already darkened.

The little girl blinked her eyes. She fiddled with the little goldfish in her hand, and after fiddling for a while, she suddenly asked curiously, "Sister, you have a nice smell."

"A nice smell? What is it?"

"Like rain," the little girl said, thinking, and then suddenly giggled, "Sweet!"

"Rain?" Wuyue felt that she really couldn't understand a child's thinking. She stretched out her hand, and some raindrops that should have fallen outside the rain shelter of the subway exit floated and landed on her hand. "Is rainwater sweet?"

However, the little girl leaning on her suddenly said something seemingly nonsensical: "But birthday cake is very sweet!"

"Birthday cake?" Wuyue had no idea what this child was talking about. "Where did the birthday cake come from?"

"You get it when it's your birthday," the little girl said happily. "It's my birthday today! Mama went to buy me a cake..."

The little girl suddenly stopped.

She seemed to suddenly think of her Mama again, and her eyes quickly turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye. However, Wuyue, who was beside her, suddenly paused.

Birthday... buying a cake... lost while buying a cake?

Such a small child can't run very far... is there a cake shop nearby?

She suddenly raised her head and looked in a certain direction across the street.

She raised her finger and pointed to the hazy rain curtain outside – the fluttering rain silk immediately twisted slightly, and the next second, a water element that was almost transparent and vaguely similar to Wuyue appeared in the air filled with damp mist and drizzle.

The water element bowed slightly to Wuyue, then turned towards the street. Its body melted like wax, quickly merging with the accumulated water on the ground. Then, a ripple that was almost imperceptible to the naked eye quickly floated into the distance along the accumulated water on the ground, the rain mist in the air, and the water flowing on the walls.

The ripple passed through the streets, through the alleys, through the storefronts of shops, and finally stopped in front of a shopping street.

The ripple stopped in a puddle on the shopping street, and a nearly transparent face appeared on its surface, looking at the nearest store:

Little Rain Cake.

The ripple collapsed in the puddle, turning into countless layers of water waves, spreading out from the cake shop as the center, in all places where there was water.

In places where there is water, Sirens are everywhere.

……

A young woman walked anxiously down the street, asking about her daughter's whereabouts at one store after another. Her clothes were soaked and her hair was disheveled, but she didn't care about any of this.

Nor had anyone seen a little girl walk past their door.

The young woman finally stopped at the street corner, and she looked blankly at the hazy city in front of her, her eyes without focus.

The ripple in the water stopped at her feet.

A nearly transparent female figure appeared in the rain curtain behind the young woman. It approached the distraught mother and made a hallucination-like sound, like layers of ocean waves: "Go to the exit of Subway Line 2... she's there..."

……

Under the rain shelter at the subway exit, the little girl, who had already cried another round, finally saw her mother running towards her.

"Mama!!"

The little girl happily threw herself into the young woman's arms, and then, without waiting for her mother to speak, she turned her head, pointed at Wuyue, and exclaimed excitedly: "Sister can do magic! Sister can make goldfish!"

Wuyue stood up and smiled at the embarrassed and frightened young woman. She realized that the other woman didn't look like her at all – but perhaps their backs were a little similar: "Next time, don't stray too far from your child."

"Thank you, thank you..." the young woman thanked her repeatedly, then hurriedly invited her, "Come sit at my house, we have..."

"No need, I should go home too," Wuyue declined the other woman's gratitude and kindness. She had already slung her guitar over her shoulder again and walked towards the rainy city outside. Before stepping into the rain, she turned her head and gave the little girl a bright smile, "Happy birthday!"

In the breeze and drizzle, a page of a calendar that had drifted from somewhere fluttered and landed in front of Wuyue.

Wuyue lowered her head and saw the clear date on the calendar: May 15th.

"I guess I'll stay a few days longer..."

……

In Hao Ren's living room, a group of people sat around a large dining table. Nangong Wuyue sat cross-legged on one side of the table, waving the tip of her tail while waving her fingers: "And then I decided to stay a few days longer – and then I was inexplicably arranged by our goddess, and then I came here... That's all there is to it."

"Wow—" Hao Ren exclaimed, "So many things actually happened before you came here."

"And it's really a coincidence," Vivian also exclaimed. "That day was actually May 15th? Today is also May 15th."

"Who told me my name is Wuyue?" Wuyue laughed, her tail tip swaying in the air. "I have a connection with May."

"After all, May 15th—" Izaax chuckled. "In my hometown, some human kingdoms believe a saying that everyone's fate is tied to the day they were born. The day of your birthday is the day when fate chooses a fork in the road."

"So..." As Izaax's voice fell, Hao Ren and Vivian said at the same time with a smile, "Wuyue, birthday k..."

Before they could finish speaking, Wuyue had already wagged her tail with a strange expression: "But that's not my birthday—hey? What were you trying to say just now?"

"Huh?!" Hao Ren stared blankly at Wuyue, and at the same time, he quickly and inconspicuously stuffed the ribbon cannon he had already taken out from behind him into his dimensional space. "You're not born in May..."

"I celebrate my lunar birthday," Wuyue's tail tip curved. "When I was born, this country wasn't popular with the Gregorian calendar – I've been calculating according to the lunar calendar since I was a child. But my brother is more shameless – he celebrates both the Gregorian and lunar calendars, and scams me out of two gifts every year. By the way, what were you guys trying to say just now?"

"No... nothing..." Vivian said with an awkward smile, while behind her, two little bats were frantically throwing gift boxes into Hao Ren's dimensional space.

Izaax also looked embarrassed – but it was hard to see because his face was too dark: "Ahem, I didn't say anything."

Behind him, the prepared gift box was also thrown into the opening of Hao Ren's dimensional space.

Nangong Wuyue blinked, muttering in confusion: "Why is everyone so strange..."

Hao Ren and the others quickly waved their hands: "Not strange, not strange..."

However, at this moment, the front door of the house was suddenly pushed open.

Under the horrified gazes of Hao Ren and the others, Lily ran in from outside, excitedly. She dashed to Wuyue's side and pulled the trigger on the ribbon cannon: "Happy birthday, Wuyue!!!"

The scene was awkward, still awkward.

"Happy birth—" Lily shouted again, and then finally noticed that the atmosphere was not right. She looked confused, "What's wrong?"

Hao Ren covered his face: "Wuyue, she..."

Vivian took over the second half of the sentence: "Celebrates her lunar birthday..."