Chapter 130

Chapter 130

Cheng Miao and the other four had been waiting for hours in the garden beside the apartment building. They had originally waited by the door, but the white cat had chased them away again when she left.

Cheng Miao let out a long sigh. All they could do now was wait for the little white cat to return and hope she would come out to look for them.

Otherwise… Cheng Miao had no desire to live as a stray cat.

Night was beginning to fall, and it was cold outside. Cheng Miao and Qi Jiajia pulled their clothes more tightly around themselves.

Meowmeow and Mimi had been crying the entire time. The boy named Miwu was frightened too, but hunger and cold had swept over him, and he no longer wanted to keep waiting here.

“You can stay if you want. I’m leaving.” The boy rose to his feet. Wiping away her tears, Mimi looked at him and asked tearfully, “Where are you going?”

The boy looked frustrated by her failure to live up to his expectations. “When we were at home, you complained every day that you wanted to see the outside world. Now that you’re out here, you’re afraid of everything.”

His words left Mimi stunned. The boy didn’t want to leave alone either. After growing accustomed to life in the white cat’s home, he had no ability to survive outdoors.

But they had no choice now.

“Well? Want to explore with me? The world is huge. Don’t you get bored staying in that room all day?” Seeing Mimi waver, the boy continued coaxing her.

Mimi was tempted. Cheng Miao remembered that when they first arrived, this was the girl who had grabbed her and talked about how much fun it was outside.

She looked at Meowmeow and took her best friend’s hand. “Come with us.”

Then she looked at Cheng Miao and Qi Jiajia. She was somewhat afraid of Qi Jiajia, but facing the unknown with someone who could fight made her feel safer.

Meowmeow didn’t want to go. She pulled her hand back. “Don’t leave. Our owner will be home soon. She’ll definitely come looking for us.”

“And then what? Won’t we just get thrown out again in a couple of days? No matter how much she likes us, what can she do if this keeps happening?”

Miwu’s question silenced Meowmeow. She didn’t know either, but all her memories were of the white cat’s home. She didn’t want to leave.

“What about you? Are you coming?” Seeing that Meowmeow didn’t want to go, the boy wasted no more time on her. He turned toward Cheng Miao with a somewhat haughty look.

Qi Jiajia tugged on the corner of Cheng Miao’s shirt without sparing him a glance.

Cheng Miao shook her head and offered one final warning. “You’d better not wander off. You have no idea how dangerous it is outside.”

“Listen to you. I’ve gone out with our owner before. Tons of Spirit Masters love us so much they can hardly stand it. We won’t have to worry about food or water. We might even find a new Spirit Master’s home.”

Spirit Master? Cheng Miao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The term was rather fitting.

“It’s true that many peo… Spirit Masters like us, but there are plenty of cases of abuse and killing too, aren’t there?”

Cheng Miao looked at the pair’s less-than-robust builds. More importantly, their identities meant that if they truly encountered a sadist who took pleasure in torturing cats to death, like those in the real world, they would have no hope of escaping.

“Fine, don’t come. Cowards who scare people with alarmist nonsense.” The boy said nothing more. He led the reluctant Mimi into the distance.

Meowmeow wiped away her tears, looking from one group to the other. In the end, she shuffled closer to Cheng Miao and asked between sobs, “Then… what are we going to do?”

Cheng Miao looked up at the darkening sky, her gaze deepening. “We’ll find somewhere nearby to shelter for the night. Anything could happen after dark. But we can’t go too far. If the white cat really comes looking for us, we don’t want to miss her.”

Only half understanding, Meowmeow followed Cheng Miao. Eventually, they found a discarded cardboard box beside the path anyone entering the building had to take. It looked like a shipping box.
The three of them hid inside the box. Only then did sensation slowly return to their numb, frozen bodies.

Honestly, it wasn’t only the animals and plants that were enormous in this world. Even the wind was enormous. Cheng Miao had felt as if it might blow her away.

Grrrgle. Cheng Miao turned her head. Qi Jiajia remained expressionless, but the tips of her ears were red.

She was hungry.

Cheng Miao was hungry too, but they had no idea how long they would be stuck outside, so she didn’t dare take out all their supplies.

She took out three packages of beef jerky and gave one to Meowmeow. Amid the girl’s profuse thanks, the three ate the jerky to take the edge off their hunger.

“Water is going to be a serious problem.” Cheng Miao sighed softly. The water they had bought outside the instance couldn’t be brought in. They could endure without food for a while, but going without water would be troublesome.

What would they do if the white cat never came looking for them? Venture into an area crowded with animals and act cute? Beg for food?

As Cheng Miao’s thoughts ran wild with plans for what came next, she suddenly heard leaves crunch beneath someone’s feet.

The Kun-Bone Dagger appeared in her hand at once. The dagger had upgraded inside [Apartment 444] and was now black from tip to hilt.

Flecks of silver shimmered across the dark blade like shattered starlight. A ring of black vines encircled the hilt and automatically wrapped around Cheng Miao’s hand. Not only did they keep the dagger from slipping free, they also allowed Cheng Miao to perform simple throwing attacks.

After training with Qin Musong for ten days, Cheng Miao handled the dagger much more skillfully. She had yet to fully master throwing it and then using the vines to yank it back, though.

Still, she had no trouble with close-quarters combat.

In the darkness, Qi Jiajia took out Shen Xin’s Long Hair. She had also obtained this Item in the apartment instance, and it was her only offensive Item.

Although the hair had left the instance along with them, it came from the strongest boss in Apartment 444, a female ghost, and remained extremely powerful.

Qi Jiajia didn’t need exceptional fighting ability herself. The hair seemed to possess a mind of its own and would entangle her opponent until they died.

Ordinary blades couldn’t cut through it at all.

The two prepared for battle. Trembling in terror, Meowmeow hid at the very back and covered her mouth, not daring to make a sound.

At last, the footsteps stopped outside their box. Cheng Miao heard a man speak in a gruff voice. “It’s here! The smell is coming from here!”

Cheng Miao silently cursed her luck. A dog’s nose really was sharp.

She signaled Qi Jiajia with her eyes to stay calm, hid the Kun-Bone Dagger behind her back, and stepped outside.

Two tall men stood beneath the streetlight. Their faces and bodies were covered in scars, making it obvious that surviving outdoors hadn’t been easy.

When the two men saw a pretty young woman emerge from the alley, their eyes narrowed. Then they looked at Cheng Miao’s slender arms and legs and roared with laughter. “You little brat, this is our territory! Anything you find here belongs to us!”

Cheng Miao spread her empty hand. “I didn’t find anything.” As she spoke, she cooperatively turned out her clothes and pockets for the pair to see.

The two searched for a long while but truly found nothing. The shorter man, who was blind in one eye, said to the man beside him with a long scar across his face, “She really doesn’t have anything. Looks like they ate it all.”

The Scarred Man spat and snarled, “Then search her body!”