It was a pair of eyes that had never been seen by the little girl. The size of the pupil reminded the little girl of the black-faced spoonbill , a rare aquatic bird in Macao. She had ever been a friend of the black-faced spoonbill, so she could recognize their eyes. However, it had been the past, and the “friendship” between them had become a mystery.

    On the other side of the pore, the same curious pupil was blue. Looking carefully, it could be seen that there was the pattern of stone in the eye, which was not exactly like a bird, but more like the eye of the lizard or crocodile.

    At that moment she had a strange feeling that she might be facing more than just a clever bird——who was observing her, too.

    Suddenly, the vibration of the mobile phone surprised the little girl. She thought it was her mother, but it was not. For her, the text on the mobile phone was just like the cold air in the basement……

    “God, finally I get you.”

    “Finally I get a person who is not the adult.”

    “You have no idea how long I have waited in this damn place!”

    “Yes! It’s you. Because few people in this world can keep secrets like you, right?”

    How do you know? That’s this girl’s thought. Soon her instinct told her that no one would answer her, for she was dumb and she could not speak it out.

    “I do know it, for you are mute.”

    The text on the mobile phone surprised and frightened her.

    There was no text or any other tip on the mobile phone this time, and the little girl clearly heard the voice in the human language, “It is not necessary for me to listen to what you are thinking about, for I can clearly understand your thinking.”

    “So…… what are you?” The little girl asked tremblingly in her heart.

    A white light suddenly shone from the gap of the wall, which was more dazzling than the bright sunshine. Then the gap was cracked, and the strange light shone in all directions, completely illuminating the dark basement.

    This “creature” was strange enough. It was like a small monster with a long mouth with sharp teeth. On its head, there was a crest like the cockatoo which was standing curiously in the snow white with orange spots. On the whole, the outline of the small monster’s body was just like the standing small carnivorous dinosaur, but its standing posture was more upright than the dinosaur, so that its posture was much closer to that of the human being. However, it did have a long tail full of feather.

    At the moment when they were seeing each other’s eyes, the feather on the tail of the small monster was unfolding like a peacock……like an invitation as well as a threat.

    “So what are you?” The little girl covered her mouth and asked in surprise, although she could not make any sound.

    “Dinoman! Put it simply, we are a kind of Dinosaur.” The obsidian glittered under the left earlobe of the small monster, and its dazzling light seemed like a magic.

    “Put it complexly, our relationship with dinosaurs is like that between chimpanzees and mammals.” The creature that was just as tall as a penguin beat the ground with its tail, and its tail with feathers shook with brilliant colors in the bleak basement.

    “My name is Zere!”

    “So you are the elf mentioned by the security guard?” The little girl’s hand brushed her ear, in order to make herself calm down. However, in panic, she forgot that she had cut her hair short the day before yesterday, so her trembling fingers just touched her ear in vain.

    “My……my name is Yu Sha……” Her Mom ever told her that being polite was the weapon for ladies.

    “Yes. Aming is a good man, but he wanted to be approved by everyone so he even took the name of a Macao man. ” The “elf” collected its feathers to show its disappointment, and its expression could not be seen clearly in the dark. “But we need you more than the Philippines security guard!”

    “Me?”

    “Yes! But it is only an invitation, and you have the power to choose. Certainly you can say ‘no’. The approaching paw touches the ground and the sound of hitting the ground was like a heartbeat.”

    “If you choose ‘no’, you can continue to chase after the butterfly as if nothing happens today.”

    The eyes of the “creature” became hot at this second, and its jewel-like pupils were like raising a question touching the soul……or accurately, a challenge.

    “You have ten seconds to answer.” That creature was clearly as tall as herself, but the strong emotion made it instantly unfold the crest, just like the cockatoo……Then that “creature” was half a head higher than the girl in an instant.

    “Nine!” Its feathers looked like scattered flames in the snow. Some distant and mysterious feeling made the girl feel cold.

    “Eight!” The voice of the small monster was cold, too.

    “Definitely it will be no good to make this promise. My Mom will worry about me. If I fail to go home on time, my Dad will accuse my Mom of not being qualified to raise me……This will never end!” The little girl made an assumption in her mind. “The ‘creature’ can hear my words.”

    “Seven! Again, I am not a ‘creature’! I am a Dinoman……” Its tail beat the ground, so it was obvious that the “creature” really could hear her!

    A dinosaur with feathers on its head and tail? With her knowledge, Yu Sha could not believe that, for dinosaurs had been extinct for a long time.

    “Six! Of course, if you help us with this matter, it won’t be completely no benefits for you.” The small monster leaned its head as if thinking, and then he smiled slyly.

    “We have observed the human being for a long time and found that humans are animals that are used to instant gratification. Therefore, if you help us, you will get what you want……what we can give……” The Dinoman looked up at her and winked, luring this little girl who was classified by him as a greedy race.

    Yu Sha was still hesitant, but she became smart this time, for she hid her voice in the bottom of her heart, lest the little monster hear her.

    “Anything you want, anything the human beings want, is not difficult for us at all.” It spread out its hands with sharp claws, and its feathered tail wobbled like a curious cat.

    “The most luxurious toy? Or simply a children’s paradise for yourself? Or food without any repetition and with unlimited supply?” This sound exactly like a boasting adult, and even the voice of this small monster sounded like a greasy adult at that moment. But some instinct told herself to be vigilant against this “creature” which looked like an adult……

    “So, come on, what do you want?”

    “What do I want?” This became a problem of this little girl. Yu Sha seemed to lack nothing since she was a baby girl, but in fact it seemed that she did not get anything……

    “There are only three second left! Make your choice!” This small monster urged her impatiently……

    This reminded the little girl countless times when she wanted to “say” something, but what she always got was a pity expression from someone else——she remembered that once she wanted a bowknot in a shop window, but her absent-minded father who only focused on his call, just bought her a crystal hairpin next to the bowknot.

    When she passed the shop again on her way home, that bowknot was no longer there.

    From then on, Yu Sha never thought about what she wanted.

    “Two!” The urge of the small monster woke Yu Sha from her memory.

    “Why am I here? Why should I make such a ‘boring’ choice?” But the answer was not out of reach, so the next second she recalled the scene of her parents fighting for her custody——broken vases, broken porcelain bowls……and the court, which eventually got into her life.

    “One and a half seconds!”

    It was obviously that the small monster was delaying the time. It wanted a positive answer, and some instinct was telling itself that it wanted a positive answer. The indication of the answer meant that it must be more exciting that any other existing one——Yu Sha liked sprinting to run, and she ever ran for countless times, and then stopped suddenly at the narrow corner of streets in Macao, only to abandon the trouble she met with before running……

    “One!” There was a sense of pity in the voice of the small monster. Would the voice that could be communicated for the first time in the life disappear now?

    “I promise!” The little girl closed her eyes to accept the fact, but that courage was fleeting.

    “My condition is to make my parents divorce quickly. Don’t drag on. I cannot stand another second of such life.”

    Silence suddenly arrived, and the eyes staring at the girl made her feel ashamed. For a moment she even felt it was not bad that she could not speak in her whole life.

    “Maybe you can think twice……You can change your request……After all, you know what you expect……h(huán)ow complicated!” The expression of the small monster was like kicking the iron plate.

    “I will explain to you in details——everyone has his own choice. Based on the principle of ‘Eta to Zen’ for the Dinoman, we cannot force other species to make a choice.” This sounded more like the tone of the human——being uniquely sophisticated like an adult. Although it dragged a long tail like a crocodile, with a pupil like a lizard and feathers of a bird and even he called itself the Dinoman, he spoke just like an adult.

    “Great! You say ‘yes’, right? If you make up your mind, I will tell you our mission. We Dinomen……”

    “It’s useless to tell me your ultimate goal. Take one step at a time.” At this moment, Yu Sha had been unable to gather more courage, “You just told me that I had the right to choose? What principle of ‘Eta to Zen’ ?”

    “You just tell me what you need, and I will make the choice……”The little girl was afraid that the final “event” would frighten herself. “But now you must tell me why me? Why you choose me?”

    “A big bird ever told me that you were special……” The small monster answered honestly.

    “A big bird told you?!” Another amazing thing.

    “Black-faced spoonbill, you humans give this name to it. It is one of the few birds that can talk, of course, in the way of the Dinoman. After all, we are not much different from birds.”

    This event did exist, and that was a “stupid” one when she was a baby girl, at least now she was thinking so.

    When Yu Sha was only six years old, she always loved to go to the mangrove forest on Taipa Island  to see the black-faced spoonbill——a white water bird with long feet and long beaks. Yu Sha herself ever saved a little bird that fell down the tree, and then it could bow to Yu Sha after growing up. Little Yu Sha was so happy that she bowed to the bird in return. Some person filmed the bow between Yu Sha and the bird into a short video. She became instantly famous in the cyberspace, for the adults thought that the girl who was born dumb had a strange talent to communicate with birds. However, in fact, later Yu Sha consulted the encyclopedia to find out that the bow of the black-faced spoonbill is just out of its instinct to stretch its cervical vertebra. It was just a coincidence for the curious person to catch the moment for her.

    Sometimes, adults were more willing to believe fairy tales than children. Such a stupid thing was not completely useless. Yu Sha became popular in an unexpected way, and she became the image spokesperson of Macao Black-faced Spoonbill Reserve. She had even been funded by an casino enterprise, so her family moved into a nice house.

    Now it seemed that the black-faced spoonbill could be the spy for the Dinoman. It was so incredible.

    “We began to observe you since then, and you are our perfect choice.” The praise of the small monster certainly included her “talent” of being unable to speak, so the girl silently managed a smile.

    “So finally the fact chooses me! Just like the film with a hero, I want to become the mater of fate.” Tentatively said the girl.

    “No, no one can be the master of fate, while you are only in a proper position, by the temporary call of the fate……In fact, we are all small individuals in the world, with no right to choose.” The sigh made the feathers on the head of the small monster “wither”. “Of course it is just my own opinion, not representing all the Dinomen, otherwise we will not have the naive principle of ‘Eta to Zen’!”

    “Yes?” She was supposed to say no, but finally she hid the voice in the bottom of her heart. “Do you remember how I have promised you? Mr. Dinoman, I said taking one step at a time, which means……”

    “I can say ‘no’ any time, so it means I always have the right to choose……” The little girl thought proudly, with a sense of triumph.

    “What a strange girl!” said the Dinoman in some surprise.

    “Now can you promise me the first thing? We need to be under the sun again. My friend is running out of electricity, so it urgently needs solar recharging.”……

    There was the sound of the rubble, and a strange guy crawled out of the damaged wall——a small robot with orange horizontal stripes. This creature looked just like a dinosaur egg with a dragonfly tail. The creature was so unanimated that its limes made of steel helplessly hang there. However, undoubtedly it was also wise, and the only one “big eye” on its head was weakly looking at the world.

    “Things are getting really messy……”

    However, Yu Sha agreed at last, and she took the Dinoman and his robot friend  out of court to the parking lot.

    “When a car passed by, please hide yourselves. If you are discovered by the adults, it will not be interesting.” Yu Sha said in her heart, for she was sure that the small monster who called itself the Dinoman could hear her words.

    The Dinoman shook its tail to show that he could understand her meaning, and he pushed the weak robot near it and then the little robot made a dull noise. Yu Sha wanted to take this opportunity to touch the tail of the small monster, but she finally took her hand back for fear of being discovered.

    An electric car passed by her with low moving sound but high speed. At that moment, Yu Sha felt it was too bad, for these two monsters must be found.

    But when the little girl turned around, nothing could be seen! Only the manhole cover was shaking, for the passing-by vehicle or some other reasons. The driver stopped, lowered half of the window and shouted at her, “ Little girl, don’t play in the parking lot! How dangerous!”

    The driver left after saying that. Looking at the world where something seemed missing, and at a loss, Yu Sha fell into contemplation.

    “Is everything just an illusion?”