Chapter 132
Chapter 132
At first light, Meowmeow suddenly awoke. She shoved past Qi Jiajia in an attempt to leave the box, only to be violently pinned down.
“Where are you going? Don’t you know how dangerous it is outside?” Cheng Miao frowned at Meowmeow. The young woman looked anxious. “I hear her! I hear our owner’s voice!”
Cheng Miao was startled. She listened carefully but heard nothing. When she looked at Qi Jiajia, the young woman shook her head expressionlessly.
The One-Eyed Man stretched, then paused halfway through the motion. “A Spirit Master is looking for someone. Which one of you is named Miwu?”
Cheng Miao bit her lip and thought it over. She told Meowmeow to answer the white cat but not to go outside rashly.
Meowmeow nodded, then shouted at the top of her lungs, “Owner! Owner! I’m here!”
Qi Jiajia and Cheng Miao shared the same thought: Why did that sound so strange…?
The white cat’s calls drew closer and closer. Even Cheng Miao could hear the heavy footsteps now.
At that moment, she finally understood the fear a cat felt when a stranger approached.
The difference in strength was simply too great. If someone harbored malicious intentions toward them, they had no means of resisting at all.
The white cat had discovered all five of her little pets gone the instant she returned home. After arguing with her mother, she went out during the night to search. At last, she heard a faint voice.
Following the sound, she found a shipping box another Spirit Master had discarded. The voice was coming from inside.
The white cat ran over. She saw Meowmeow’s head poking out, with Qi Jiajia and Cheng Miao warily huddled inside alongside two injured people.
The white cat picked up the wildly excited Meowmeow and kissed her again and again. After some thought, she lifted the entire shipping box and carried it home.
The two frightened men stared helplessly outside. “W-what is she going to do?”
Leaning against the cardboard box, Cheng Miao relaxed slightly and half closed her eyes. “Give you a home.”
…
The moment they entered the warm apartment, even Cheng Miao felt as if she had come back to life.
The white cat first prepared several enormous bowls filled to the brim with food, then went to heat water so she could bathe them later.
The One-Eyed Man’s mouth was crammed with fried rice. It looked as though he hadn’t eaten his fill in a very long time.
For no apparent reason, a wave of sadness suddenly washed over Cheng Miao.
By the time they finished eating and bathing, the sun had climbed directly overhead.
Their phones retained the timekeeping function inside this instance. Cheng Miao had checked the time when she first entered.
It had been ten in the morning on March 28. When they woke in the pet store, it was two in the afternoon on March 29, and by the time they arrived at the white cat’s home, it was already dinnertime.
They had been thrown outside yesterday and spent the entire day there. Today was the thirty-first, their third day inside the instance. Tomorrow, they would finally be free.
Cheng Miao sprawled across the white cat and rolled around. Thank goodness. This instance might not have ghosts, but it was far more stressful than a supernatural instance.
They had been lucky enough to avoid any special circumstances. Otherwise, they would have died long ago.
Lin Zhu felt that something was wrong with the male player. Ever since spilling water all over himself, the man had remained huddled in the corner. He even refused the apple Lin Zhu offered him.
“What is this? Since when are apples black?”
Lin Zhu looked at the bright red apple in his hand, and a theory formed in his mind. “Do you… see everything in black and white?”
The male player froze. He raised his hand before his eyes, looked at it, then stared at Lin Zhu. Panic overtook him. “What’s going on? I’m not color-blind!”
Lin Zhu’s lips moved. He found it difficult to say, but seeing the player nearing a breakdown, he finally explained, “I suspect this is punishment. The hint was ‘Be yourself.’ You failed to play your role properly, so the Game is punishing you.”
The male player’s brows knitted tightly together. He had cleared quite a few instances and possessed plenty of Items. This instance might be bizarre, but he wasn’t afraid of it.
It wasn’t until he discovered the problems with his body that he finally grew restless. “What kind of punishment is this supposed to be?”
Lin Zhu sat down beside him and looked at the native on the other side, who never approached the water bowl except to drink. “You’re turning into a hamster.”
The male player stared at him, dumbfounded. “I’m… a mouse?”
Lin Zhu nodded. “Hamsters are afraid of water, and mice are color-blind.”
The male player wanted to laugh but couldn’t. The result was a strange expression on his face. “How does that even punish me?”
Lin Zhu rested his chin on his knees and sank into thought. “Whenever a crisis appears in this instance, it’s usually something we can’t resist. I think the punishment only weakens your ability to fight and teaches you a lesson. But if you still fail to play your role…”
Lin Zhu silently finished the thought. That would be what the exclamation point in the hint was meant to express.
The male player was about to say something when the young hamster suddenly opened the cage again and grabbed him from where he sat.
The player instinctively tried to resist. Lin Zhu hurriedly lowered his voice and warned, “Don’t fight it. Remember the hint!”
While the player was still frozen in surprise, he felt himself being thrown out. He landed on a soft blanket.
Lin Zhu watched the tall, bloodthirsty man by the wall wake up, and his heart sank. This was bad.
It was Qin Musong’s first day at work. His luck was good, and he was paired with Ah Qiang. Two handsome wolfdogs fastened chains around their necks and led them outside.
Qin Musong and Ah Qiang craned their necks to observe the bizarre world. Everything seemed to have been magnified countless times. Watching animals that were normally cute and innocent go about their lives and jobs with human solemnity always felt unreal.
They stopped at an intersection. Ah Qiang remained there, while Qin Musong was led to a place resembling a guard booth.
Qin Musong remembered his training. Thanks to the advantages of his former profession, he stood perfectly straight and received several rewarding pats on the head.
Animals came and went. Several white rabbits and kittens tried to stop and pet Qin Musong or take pictures with him, but the wolfdog refused them all.
Qin Musong automatically supplied the explanation: This was a working dog. No petting allowed.
A commotion suddenly broke out in the distance. A hyena had stolen something, and the wolfdogs stationed over there gave chase with the two natives Qin Musong had spoken with yesterday.
Seeing that his own wolfdog had no intention of going to help, Qin Musong collected his thoughts and continued standing guard.
The radio carried by the wolfdog kept emitting barks. Qin Musong couldn’t understand them, but the situation seemed urgent.
A loud bang suddenly came from the distant neighborhood. Qin Musong’s eyes widened. He knew that sound!
It was a gunshot!
Sure enough, countless animals screamed and fled. Qin Musong followed his wolfdog toward the scene.
He wanted to find out what had happened, but that clearly wasn’t his assignment. The wolfdog led him in dispersing the crowd of animals.
The wolfdog lowered its head and barked several times at Qin Musong. He could vaguely make out a few words: injured, search and rescue, call for help.
Understood. Search-and-rescue dog.
The moment the wolfdog unfastened his leash, Qin Musong shot forward like an arrow. Dutifully, he guided the crowd toward a less congested area.
In the next second, he saw a tiny penguin being knocked back and forth in the crowd. It fell onto its bottom and began to cry.
As Qin Musong hurried over, he complained inwardly. Whose child was this? How could they fail to watch someone so small?