Rulu's expression suddenly became extremely serious. He said very earnestly: "Shari, I have an important matter to ask of you. I hope you can agree."

  "What is it that makes you so serious?"

  "I hope that Shari, you won't tell anyone about seeing me here today."

  "I can do that, but why?"

  "I can't tell you the details. I can only tell you that if you reveal that you saw me here today, Nana and I will be in mortal danger. So you must keep this secret for me."

  Shari was very surprised and said: "Really? Is it that serious? Are you and Nana being hunted by terrorists? If so, you should quickly notify the Sanctuary and have them send people to protect you."

  "Don't ever do that!" Rulu looked at Shari sternly and said: "In short, this matter cannot be known by anyone except you. Even your parents or your best friends cannot be told. Can you help me keep this secret?"

  Shari hesitantly said: "Then... will you continue studying here in the future, Rulu? Will I see you again?"

  "No, I won't appear here again in the future."

  "How can this be..." Shari's eyes lost focus, and she looked very sad.

  Rulu said gently: "As long as Shari, you are willing to keep the secret for me, I will contact you again in the future. But if you tell anyone about seeing me today, then I will never see you again."

  Shari quickly waved her hands and shook her head: "No, no. I will definitely keep this secret for you. I can swear."

  Rulu gave an "mm" and said: "Good, I believe you, Shari."

  Shari looked at Rulu a bit nervously and said: "Then you must contact me in the future, Rulu. Otherwise, I will hate you forever and will never forgive you."

  Rulu smiled and said: "I understand. When I'm not at school, Shari, you need to be careful too. Otherwise, if someone bullies you again, there won't be anyone to help you."

  Shari nodded vigorously. Suddenly, a heavy voice like that of a beast came from the side: "Excuse me, are you finished talking? Can I leave now?"

  This voice startled Rulu and Shari. The two quickly turned around to see Sphinx lying on the ground nearby, looking at them with helpless eyes.

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  "Oh no, I forgot about him," Rulu realized. He had been so focused on talking with Shari that he had forgotten Sphinx was still nearby.

  "Sphinx, you must forget everything you heard just now, understand?" Shari put her hands on her hips and said very seriously to Sphinx.

  "Forget what, Sister Shari? What do you want me to do?" Sphinx looked at Shari somewhat timidly.

  "I mean, if others ask you about what just happened, you should pretend you didn't hear what we just said and didn't see this brother named Rulu. Do you understand?" Shari explained.

  "But I've already heard and seen everything. How can I pretend I didn't hear?" Sphinx looked like he didn't understand.

  "Well... you can lie, you can deceive people."

  "That doesn't seem right. If others find out I'm lying and deceiving people, I'll be kicked out of school."

  "So Sphinx, you're unwilling to listen to me? In that case, if you get bullied again, I won't help you anymore," Shari pretended to be angry as she spoke to Sphinx.

  "Uh..." Sphinx felt very troubled and didn't know how to answer Shari.

  "Shari, let me talk to him," Rulu came in front of Sphinx and said to him, "Sphinx, if I'm not mistaken, your father is human, and your mother is a winged lion. You were expelled from the Sanctuary, right?"

  Hearing this, Sphinx was very surprised: "Yes... yes, how do you know these things, Brother Rulu? I've never told anyone about these things."

  Rulu smiled and said: "The reason is very simple. In the Sanctuary, there are many natural creatures like you. These strange beasts pose a significant threat to the humans living in the Sanctuary. To ensure their safety, the people of the Sanctuary usually either kill these monsters directly or expel them. You're lucky to have left the Sanctuary alive."

  Sphinx said in a low voice: "That was a long time ago. I'm safe here."

  "Do you really think so? Actually, even if you leave the Sanctuary, Sphinx, you won't be accepted by humans. You'll still be eliminated as a monster," Rulu looked at Sphinx with malicious intent.

  Sphinx trembled. He stared at Rulu with terrified eyes and said: "No, this school is good to me. They always provide me with food and let me attend classes with others. They won't kill me."

  Rulu said very coldly: "The reason this school shelters you is because you have value to them. You should know that every so often, a batch of new monsters is sent here, and another batch is sent away. Do you know what happens to those monsters that are sent away?"

  Sphinx swallowed hard and said: "What happens?"

  "Most of those monsters are killed. Their bodies are dissected, their organs made into medicines sold at high prices, or bought by rich people as nourishing food to eat directly. Basically, very few monsters can survive."

  Sphinx was severely frightened. He cried out loudly: "No, they wouldn't do that. No, they wouldn't kill me."

  "Rulu, why are you scaring him like this? That's not right," Shari said in a complaining tone. Seeing Sphinx looking so pitiful, she wanted to stop Rulu.

  Rulu said: "I'm not scaring him. I'm just telling him the facts."

  Shari said: "But Sphinx is different from other monsters. He can speak, read, and write. His intelligence is also high, which is why the school has kept him for so many years. I think the school probably won't treat him the same way they treat other monsters, right?"

  "That's hard to say," Rulu said with a mocking smile. "You should know that humans, for their own benefit, can casually kill their own kind, let alone monsters like Sphinx. They've kept Sphinx for so long, probably just to sell him for a good price and make more profit from him."