Chapter 8 - 8 8 Cats

8: Chapter 8 Cats 8: Chapter 8 Cats Zhang Xiaoman left Pei Laoliu’s house with mixed feelings.

On his way home, all he could do was reflect on the events of the day.

Master Liu’s situation…

The government’s attitude…

All these things combined to give him a bad premonition.

Taking into account what had happened to him yesterday, Zhang Xiaoman could now be fairly certain that some unknown changes were taking place in the world.

This news wasn’t very friendly to him.

After all, he wasn’t the kind of person who thrived on chaos.

Moreover, he had just acquired the System, and his life was about to take off, why would he want this sudden increase in danger and uncertainty?

So, Zhang Xiaoman was indeed very worried about this series of changes.

By comparison, the success in borrowing Sixth Grandpa’s handcart today seemed trivial.

…

At home that evening.

Zhang Xiaoman was learning how to make sushi from his mom.

By his side, a cat and a dog were fighting like there was no tomorrow.

“Woof woof woof!”

“Meow!!!”

The two little creatures were going at it over a bowl of cat food.

They engaged not only in a physical scuffle but also in a fierce verbal altercation, though neither could understand what the other was saying, they were still making quite a racket.

This seemed to have become a daily occurrence at the Zhang Family’s household.

Watching Jin Bao the dog bully the chubby blue cat Xiao Hua while also trying to steal its cat food, Zhang Xiaoman couldn’t help but scold:

“Jin Bao, how can you be so shameless!

You don’t eat dog food all day, but instead steal Xiao Hua’s cat food.”

“Woof woof woof!”

Jin Bao responded a couple of times, continuing to press down on the chubby blue cat and licking non-stop.

Zhang Xiaoman looked at Xiao Hua’s expression of utter despair and couldn’t help but sigh silently:

“It seems that not only humans like to stroke cats, but dogs do too!”

His mom glanced at the empty bowl that once held the cat food and then looked at the overflowing bowl of dog food, resigning herself to say:

“I think we might as well stop buying dog food, our cat and dog might as well both eat cat food from now on.”

Zhang Xiaoman nodded in agreement.

After slicing the rolled-up sushi into small pieces and adding some tomato salad and pork floss, Zhang Xiaoman brushed off a few grains of rice sticking to his hand, looked at his “masterpiece,” and smiled.

“Hmm, not bad, it sort of looks the part.”

His mom appraised his effort.

Zhang Xiaoman picked up a piece to taste and showed an expression of pure enjoyment, saying:

“I don’t think this is very hard, I got it on the first try, is my Talent just too high?”

His mom shot him down, saying, “Sushi is easy to make, but if you want to make it well and add some flair, that’s difficult.”

Seeing Zhang Xiaoman unconvinced, she asked further:

“I really don’t get it, why do you insist on selling sushi?

It’s not like it makes much money.”

Zhang Xiaoman waved his hand dismissively and said:

“Hey, I just thought since you learned it before, why not make use of the resources, right?

I quit my job and am just looking for something to do for now.

As for what to sell, that’s really not important.

Oh, by the way, mom, you should also stop working, commuting so far every day is tiring.”

His mom rolled her eyes.

“I’m not stupid; if we had enough money, why would I still work?

I’m not trying to become a CEO.”

Zhang Xiaoman nodded, it seemed his mom really saw through things.

“Woof woof woof!”

Jin Bao had just run over, the battle between it and Xiao Hua having come to an intermission, with the dog emerging as the grand victor as usual.

Although usually, among similarly sized cats and dogs, the cat would have the upper hand.

But the trouble with Zhang Xiaoman’s blue cat was that it was indeed a bit too fat, many of the basic cat Skills couldn’t be utilized, so it wasn’t strange that it was frequently bullied by the dog.

It seems that obesity is a common problem for all creatures, huh?

Zhang Xiaoman sighed, wanting to pretend he didn’t see his dog’s longing gaze, but the little guy was just too clingy, never giving up until it got what it wanted…

“Alright, alright, go play, go play!”

In the end, Zhang Xiaoman still gave in, saying helplessly:

“Tell me, when do you ever get tired?

You’ve been messing with the cat for half the day, and now you want to go out and play?”

Not sure which keyword it was that Jin Bao understood from his owner’s words, it instantly realized its owner was about to take it out for playtime, whirling excitedly on the ground.

He found the dog leash, tied his shoelaces, and went downstairs with the bouncing dog.

The apartment building where the Zhang Family lived had only 5 floors, so there was no elevator.

And the Zhangs just happened to live on the very top floor.

This meant that when Zhang Xiaoman got lazy, there were ten thousand reasons he was reluctant to take the dog out for a walk.

Jin Bao could only go out to play once a day, so every time it went out, it was as exhilarated as a wild dog off the leash.

Zhang Xiaoman didn’t care how much it squirmed, carrying the leash in one hand and scrolling through his phone with the other, meandering along.

He was browsing a local online forum.

This forum, which he had only recently discovered, mostly centered around supernatural topics; many of the ghost stories were incredibly thrilling, frightening yet enticing at the same time.

“Shocking!

Horrific howls heard emanating from underground in Sheep Village!”

“The story I must tell about the female ghost and me.”

“Your shadow is watching you.”

“Something under the bed…”

“Help, every night wild cats surround my house.”

“…”

Zhang Xiaoman scrolled through one page after another.

The titles of the posts here were all bizarre, ranging from shocking to suggestive, covering all kinds of oddities.

Especially those asking for help, without much regard for logic.

At first, full of curiosity, Zhang Xiaoman clicked into every one of them to read, but eventually, he found that most of these types of posts were just some boring, exaggerated tales.

The posters seemed to wish dearly they had ghosts at home, turning any little incident into signs of supernatural hauntings when they spoke of them.

Zhang Xiaoman remembered seeing a post a few days ago where the poster made a huge deal, but at the end, it was really just about breaking two bowls at home.

The poster actually managed to tie the broken bowls to hauntings and Feng Shui, leaving readers utterly speechless.

“This post, surrounded by wild cats?

I guess they’re probably just two or three stray cats sitting at the doorstep, and now it’s become a ‘surrounding’.”

Zhang Xiaoman shook his head and chuckled, saying:

“These people, wishing for hauntings at their homes all day long, really don’t know what they’re thinking.”

He casually clicked into the post, curious to see what kind of tall tale the poster was spinning.

“Could any expert give me some advice?

My situation has been going on for almost four days now, what should I do?

Urgent!!!”

“I can’t chase these cats away, someone please help me!

I’m allergic to these little creatures, now I’m even scared to step outside at night…”

“Oh my gosh, last night these cats guarded my door all night, it was terrifying…”

“…”

Initially, Zhang Xiaoman browsed the host’s description with an entertaining mind.

But when he saw the pictures posted by the host later, he couldn’t laugh anymore.

In the photograph, outside the window, it was filled densely with wild cats.

Because it was nighttime, the eyes of these wild cats glinted with a disturbing cold light, staring intently here, as if a group of vengeful spirits had arrived.