Xiao Nanzhu had once heard a phrase: “Evil cannot overcome righteousness.” His teacher at the Northwestern Military Academy, Army Colonel Old Man Peng Jiang, often had these words on his lips, and later presented these four characters as a graduation gift to his most respected student, Xiao Nanzhu.

Xiao Nanzhu couldn’t recall the exact circumstances anymore. He only remembered that on the eve of his departure from school, the loud and strong old man forcefully patted his shoulder. At that time, Xiao Nanzhu, dressed in a crisp military uniform, stood ramrod straight and saluted the elderly man who was half a head shorter than him. After saying these four meaningful words, the old man solemnly returned his military salute.

So many years had passed, and Xiao Nanzhu’s personality was naturally no longer as rough and impulsive as before, but those four characters had always remained in his mind. The old man used to say that in this world, justice and evil naturally have their distinctions. As long as one firmly believes in righteousness in one’s heart and maintains justice in one’s mind, there’s nothing to fear from evil ways. Xiao Nanzhu had always believed in this principle, so regardless of what he encountered, he never felt he would be defeated. This seemingly unreasonable stubbornness often made Xiao Nanzhu’s life difficult. And on this night when Twenty-Nine and New Year’s Eve were transitioning, as a blood-soaked and filthy Xiao Nanzhu knelt on one knee wiping his eyes, he witnessed a true portrayal of evil suppressing evil, violence controlling violence, and killing stopping killing.

Before him stretched a meandering sea of blood; everywhere his eyes could see was crimson. If Twenty-Nine slaying evil spirits was like a frost-white blade cutting through the world’s darkness, then when Xiao Nanzhu saw the vermilion robes that nearly burned his eyes, he seemed to witness thousands of formed evils transformed into a blood-dripping long sword through even more bloody methods. Although it slaughtered all the evil spirits that had been surrounding him, it also brought a threat far more terrifying than the evil spirits themselves.

“Very good.”

The cold voice drove the movement of fingertips. The place where his lower lip was touched burned hot. There seemed to be tiny wounds scraped by skin, creating a stinging burning sensation that was very uncomfortable. So when his chin was roughly gripped, Xiao Nanzhu, despite his injured arm, forced himself to support his body on the ground and raised his head to meet those pitch-black pupils. Upon seeing that face at a very subtle distance from his own, Xiao Nanzhu’s pupils contracted involuntarily under the strong color contrast.

To be honest, this was a man so handsome he could almost be called beautiful. Those naturally aggressive features and gloomy pale skin matched perfectly. The red clothes, black hair, and gold armor were dazzlingly exquisite. Such appearance would clearly have a soul-capturing effect on ordinary humans. Perhaps because this feeling of being controlled was truly discomforting, after a moment of being stunned, Xiao Nanzhu wasn’t seduced by this person’s beauty. Instead, he turned his head away from that pale hand somewhat irritably, then stood up shakily, took a breath, and said:

“You are… New Year’s Eve, right?”

The dry, awkward voice made the cold man before him, who was even taller than him, look down at him. This glance made Xiao Nanzhu’s blood and energy unstable again, so he quickly cursed himself silently and averted his gaze. He had never been so polite to any Calendar God before. In the past, he treated Twenty-Four, Twenty-Five, and others as friends he could joke with casually. But instinctively, Xiao Nanzhu felt that New Year’s Eve was different from them. This inexplicable rejection and resistance was something he had never experienced before. Seeing his miserable expression, New Year’s Eve made no special reaction, just stiffly pulled the corners of his mouth a little, then raised his hand and used his blood-stained fingertip to touch Xiao Nanzhu’s deathly pale lips.

“There, blood.”

His voice was dead and heavy, as if it was pressed against his tongue as he spoke. Hearing this, Xiao Nanzhu was stunned, unconsciously extending his tongue to lick his lips. The taste of iron was so dry it was difficult to swallow, making him frown uncomfortably. He didn’t notice that his current action was almost a kind of secret invitation. After doing this and unconsciously looking at New Year’s Eve, he found that New Year’s Eve was still looking at him with that strange and cold gaze.

That gaze was as cold as the ice and snow of the twelfth lunar month. The thirtieth day of the year should be a festive and lively holiday, but New Year’s Eve, who represented and guarded the peace of the year’s end, showed not a trace of warmth in his entire being. Instead, he looked more terrifying and sinister than those evil spirits. This involuntarily reminded Xiao Nanzhu of the many descriptions Twenty-Four and others had given of New Year’s Eve. Now, seeing this special Calendar God in person, the scattered words and phrases in his mind finally connected.

“New Year’s Eve is the most powerful of the twenty-two traditional festival gods. In the past, he was, like Flower Morning, a very cheerful and easy-going character who rarely got angry or furious. He often liked to play harmless jokes with some of the younger Calendar Gods. But perhaps because he guarded the year’s end for too long and accumulated too much killing, the evil spirit clinging to him grew more and more. By the time other Calendar Gods noticed, his personality had completely changed. He no longer joked or spoke much, was full of cold despair, and acted ruthlessly and mercilessly. He was never like this before, but by the time the other Calendar Gods discovered it, it was too late. Fortunately, although his temperament had greatly changed, he still maintained kindness and principles. However, from then on, no one dared to casually joke or interact with him…”

Twenty-Four’s words still echoed in his ears. Xiao Nanzhu thought to himself and gave New Year’s Eve a meaningful look, almost certain that this person must have developed some psychological disorder due to excessive work pressure and long-term lack of relief. After all, it’s all too normal for modern people to have psychological issues—obsessive-compulsive disorder, trypophobia, social anxiety—as if not having a condition or two made you abnormal. However, looking at New Year’s Eve now, besides being sinister and gloomy, everything else seemed fine. As long as he didn’t cause trouble and just worked his day honestly, Xiao Nanzhu had no issue with him. On the other hand, after New Year’s Eve moved his gaze that had been fixed on Xiao Nanzhu, he seemed to have no desire to communicate with him further, and just coldly called out to something not far away:

“Beast, come here.”

As his words fell, a piercing, sharp animal cry immediately sounded. Because his arm was injured, the startled Xiao Nanzhu didn’t turn around in time, but the gun was still in his hand. He frowned, chambered a round, and raised the gun, intending to take down whatever was lunging at him and New Year’s Eve. However, before he could act, that massive presence pressed him to the ground. After subduing the tall and strong Xiao Nanzhu with its terrible weight, this monster—with deer antlers, tiger teeth, golden scales, lion-like mane, resembling a lion with a body like a bell—first excitedly shouted, then wagged its tail obsequiously at the expressionless New Year’s Eve in front of it.

“Woof—Woof woof woof woof woof woof woof!!”

Xiao Nanzhu: “……”