On the way to becoming the strongest, I first became a popular person.

On the gravel path, surrounded by withered yellow weeds, a group of gray-clad children of different heights were surrounding the youngest child in the middle, chattering and asking questions.

Their thin and pale faces were filled with happiness and their eyes were shining with joy, as if they were overwhelmed by the news that Eleven had just said. They confirmed the news they had just received with her repeatedly in disbelief.

"Eleven, is what you just said true? Today's extra meal, one egg for each person?"

"Hey, Eleven has told me so many times, and you don't even feel tired and keep asking."

"Knowing that Seventeen and Eleven have the best relationship, I only asked you three, no, four times. I was so happy."

"The weather is so nice today." Seventeen looked up at the blue sky. The warm sunshine sprinkled on her body. She felt the warmth for the first time in a long time and said happily, "Winter will soon be over. The director told me before that she will take us to plant flowers in the spring."

"Really? I'm going to plant yellow flowers then."

“I want to grow white ones.”

"What's so good about white ones? I want to grow purple ones."

"You don't understand. White and rice are the same color. Anyway, the same color can represent something. I saw in a book that if you plant flowers and make a wish, it will come true. I hope everyone won't have to go hungry anymore."

“Then I want to grow white flowers, too.”

"Okay, let's go quickly. If we dawdle any longer, Teacher Chen will scold us again. She recites sutras every day and her ears are about to get calluses. I can't stand it." Seventeen saw that several people stopped and stood there talking more and more excitedly, and couldn't help but remind them.

"Let's go, let's go. I don't want to be scolded by her. Last time she scolded One Hundred and Twenty-Three until he cried. She was so fierce."

"He deserves it because he stole other people's food!" someone said angrily.

"Huh? What is that?" The tallest girl pointed to the sky and suddenly asked in confusion.

The others looked in the direction of her finger, and saw a small black dot appear in the blue sky, which was particularly obvious, with a white trail behind it.

"Could it be a shooting star? I read in a book that meteorites occasionally fall from outer space to the blue planet. Oh, and I heard that making a wish to a shooting star is very effective."

"Then let's close our eyes and make a wish to it. I hope that we can live happily together and live well, forever and ever."

"Stupid, the wish won't come true if you say it out loud."

"Well, I'll make the wish again."

Several children closed their eyes, clasped their hands together, faced the rapidly approaching black spot in the sky, with hope on their faces, and made their wishes devoutly.

Seventeen looked around and found that everyone else was making wishes with their eyes closed, except her and Eleven. She reached out and held Eleven's hand, smiling and said, "Let's make a wish together."

I hope she, Eleven, and everyone in the orphanage can spend this winter safely and grow up happily.

"Yeah." Eleven nodded and responded. She looked at Seventeen who had closed his eyes and started to make a wish. She then looked up at the black spot in the sky and prepared to close her eyes.

Just then, she noticed that the black spot was getting bigger and closer to them quickly.

Something seems a little off, what is that... a white tail?

She suddenly opened her half-closed eyes, grabbed Seventeen beside her, pushed him awake, and shouted to the other children who were making wishes with their eyes closed: "Run, run, that's not a shooting star! It's a star beast!"

Her voice was sharp and urgent, breaking the originally quiet and peaceful atmosphere.

Seventeen was startled by her sudden action and opened his eyes, his eyes full of confusion and fear. The other children also opened their eyes, and the smiles on their faces were instantly replaced by panic.

They looked up at the sky in a daze, and saw a white tail drawing a strange arc in the air, approaching them rapidly with a creepy aura. As the distance got closer, the body of the star beast gradually appeared, becoming clearer and clearer. The huge and ferocious black body like a crocodile emitted a faint blue light, like a demon from hell.

The children ran in all directions, shouting and crying.

"Let's go to the protective cave! Teacher Chen said that it can protect us from the attacks of star beasts!" She shouted at the others at the top of her lungs, but the children were already panicking and could not hear her at all. They just ran around in panic, and some even fell to the ground and did not move.

Seeing this, she didn't care too much and just pulled Seventeen and ran for her life madly.

"what!"

The boy who had just proposed making a wish suddenly let out a shrill scream, followed by a "crunching" sound. Along with chewing, the sticky plasma was greedily sucked into the mouth of the star beast, making a "gurgling" swallowing sound, which was creepy.

It tore at the flesh with big mouthfuls, and the "hissing" sound was particularly clear in everyone's ears, and blood dripped from the corners of its mouth onto the ground.

Eleven looked back and saw such a bloody and horrifying scene. She held Seventeen's hand tightly and ran madly towards the protective cave.

The screams of other children continued to be heard from behind. Seventeen's legs were trembling as she struggled to keep up with the figure in front of her. Due to long-term hunger, she did not have much strength to escape. Her legs felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead, and every step she took was extremely difficult. However, fear drove her not to dare to stop for even a moment.

Her breathing was rapid and disordered, and her throat made violent gasping sounds, as if she would collapse from suffocation in the next second. Her tattered clothes fluttered in the wind as she ran, revealing her arms as thin as a stick.

"No, no, Eleven, I can't run anymore, you run faster."

She couldn't hold on any longer, she stumbled, tripped over a stone on the road and fell to the ground. She wanted to break free from the hand of the person in front of her, but she had no strength in her body.

She can't run away.

There is only Eleven, she is born with great strength and speed, she is the one with the greatest hope of escape among everyone.

If it was her, she would definitely be able to escape. Eleven looked at the back in front of him, with a gleam of hope and desire in his eyes, which was the desire for life and the hope to live on.

No, no, she would only be a burden to her. Eleven had almost died because of her once before. She couldn't be so selfish and let Eleven take her away again.

"Don't worry about me, just run away by yourself."

She would definitely not be able to escape with him, Seventeen thought so, restraining his instinct to survive, retracting his longing eyes, and pulling his hand out of the other's small palm with difficulty.

The moment the two hands separated, she felt relieved, but also a sense of indescribable disappointment.

However, the next second, that hand held her tightly again, the two thin hands clasped together, and she heard Eleven say firmly: "I don't want it."

Then I felt my body lighten and someone picked me up.

The slightly older girl was held tightly in the arms of the smaller girl and ran with difficulty towards the protective cave in the distance.

The star beast behind him chewed and swallowed the flesh and blood in his mouth, and his dark eyes with a faint blue light swept over the fleeing children, revealing naked desire, and quickly chased after them.