James was walking quietly on the sidewalk, his coat swaying in the gentle street breeze. He was gently stroking the fur of Steaky, who was sleeping on his right shoulder.
As James continued to pet his fur, Steaky swiftly moved his tail and slapped James's hand.
Paam! A light sound echoed from Steaky hitting James's hand.
"What happened?!" James exclaimed, clutching the affected hand with his other and blowing on it! "Steaky, don't act like that... I didn't mean to bother you!"
"Hmph." Steaky swished his tail irritably and didn't reply to James.
Looking back, he saw Xiao Peng following closely behind them. So, he opened his mouth and said, "Hey, street urchin!"
Xiao Peng was distracted when he heard Steaky's voice. "What do you want from me? And also, I told you my name is Xiao Peng! Not 'street urchin'."
Xiao Ping replied irritably,choosing his words carefully because he wasn't used to talking to a cat.
He wanted to build a good reputation, so he wasn't speaking loudly; his voice was low. What if someone saw him talking to Steaky? Even if he told them he was talking, they wouldn't believe him, especially the ordinary humans of this era.
But he didn't know that Steaky had erected a mobile barrier around the three of them that could muffle the sounds between them. No one would hear them, and even if they looked at them, it would be as if they only saw Steaky on his shoulder. They wouldn't hear him talking, as if they were in an illusion.
"Then how will you explain it if you're not a street urchin? Why were you searching in that filthy alley? No... the question here is: why did you enter there?!" Steaky spoke while looking at the boy in front of him.
Xiao Peng raised his eyes from under his hunting cap, and his gaze met Steaky's pale green eyes, which resembled his own pale eyes in the morning. But now, they had been healed by the entity, yet the feeling of hunger had returned...
"I entered by chance!" Xiao Peng replied spontaneously.
'By chance!?' Steaky wanted to tell him about the three people who had been chasing him earlier... and how James had fought them, with Steaky providing some help. But he didn't want to talk about that topic anymore, so he said: "Let's move away from this subject now! I want to sleep on your right shoulder, may I?" Saying that, he looked towards Xiao Peng.
"Huh? You want to sleep on my shoulder? And why?" Xiao Peng paused before continuing: "But you already have James's shoulder?" Xiao Peng was surprised by Steaky's talk with him, especially about sleeping on his shoulder!
"No, James is a fool. He doesn't let me sleep and always messes with my beautiful fur when I sleep on his shoulder!" Steaky moved his body and struck some poses that made him appear beautiful, and continued: "Consider this the most precious thing you'll ever receive in your life from a cat!" His words carried a tone of arrogance.
"And the most precious thing is for a cat to sleep on my shoulder?" Xiao Peng looked nervously at Steaky before continuing: "I don't want it. Keep it for some fool who might find it precious."
"You're interesting, for a street urchin," Steaky replied, sparks flying from his eyes in anger, thinking to himself: 'How dare this street urchin reject my gift!'
Seeing the bickering between Steaky and Xiao, James tried to intervene but was stopped by both Xiao Peng and Steaky... making him pretend he couldn't hear anything and continue walking.
"If you can carry me on your shoulder for ten minutes, I'll give you a lot of money. What do you say, human?" Steaky's eyes shone as he looked at the human. He saw that this person was desperately looking for work, so he made this offer so he wouldn't refuse.
But Xiao Peng's response was not what he expected.
"Keep your money to yourself! I don't want it, so stop bothering me!" Xiao Peng replied coldly, looking ahead.
"Oh ho, is your pride stopping you? I didn't expect you to have pride when you're just a street urchin!" Steaky laughed coldly.
"Maybe! But you talk a lot for a talking piece of fur, you know that?" Xiao Peng replied sarcastically.
"You!" Steaky screeched while immense pressure enveloped the area.
But James moved his hand and pushed that pressure away from the area.
'Did this cat use his pressure on me? He's strong as I expected,' thought Xiao Peng, and the corners of his mouth rose, contrary to expectations. Although the pressure was immense, it didn't affect him much, also thanks to James who protected him from the pressure; he was fine.
"Why did you protect him? Did you see when he insulted me?" Steaky shouted nervously, pointing his claws towards Xiao Peng, who was walking behind.
"Be quiet! Do you want the official power holders to arrest us?" James spoke with a resolute look on his face.
"Hmph! A big fool," Steaky spoke and turned his face away, but he unexpectedly jumped towards Xiao Peng...
Xiao Peng wanted to react to the situation, but Steaky was already sitting on his right shoulder, pointing his claws, which had grown to 15 cm in length, around Xiao Peng's neck.
'Too fast!' Xiao Peng realized he had pushed his luck completely against Steaky, but he could only feel him sitting on his shoulder...
Xiao Peng looked with his eyes at those claws that coldly reflected his own eyes, and saw that Steaky was looking at him, expecting him to be afraid. But he stood firm without moving.
"Oh! This is very good... You can stay calm while someone... the cat you called a piece of fur has you at his mercy!" Steaky expected to see this human begging for his life and being scared... but this human was standing without doing anything.
"Steaky, stop right now!" James shouted while turning back. This time he wanted to separate them, and he also knew that... but the words he heard from Xiao Peng were contrary to what he expected to hear from someone in such a situation.
"Do it!" Xiao Peng's voice rang in James and Steaky's ears, causing surprise to appear on their faces.
"Are you sure? You only get one life in your lifetime, so do you want me to take it from you here?" Steaky spoke coldly, looking at Xiao Peng's neck.
"I told you to stop!" James was surprised by Xiao Peng's words, but he regained his composure when he heard Steaky's talk.
"Do it!" Xiao Peng spoke coldly again.
"As you wish!" Steaky ignored James's previous shout and fell victim to Xiao Peng's provocation, so he decided to end Xiao Peng's life.
But when he wanted to slit Xiao Peng's neck, he noticed that someone was holding him.
"I told you to stop for the last time! Do you hear?" James shouted angrily while lifting Steaky into the air by the scruff of his neck.
"Try to calm down!" he said while looking at Steaky, who was retreating in the air.
"Alright! I'll let him live this time! But if this situation repeats, don't blame me for being harsh!" Steaky shot a warning look at Xiao Peng, then slipped from James's hand and climbed onto his left shoulder, closing his eyes and sleeping.
Xiao Peng paid no attention to that cat's words. Instead, he acted as if nothing had just happened. He took his left hand to the hem of his white shirt before opening it.
'Perhaps I wasn't wrong when I chose him as a partner for the investigation!' James praised in his mind because of the scene that happened before him. He saw how Xiao Peng didn't react much and remained calm, which is the best quality an investigator can have when something happens that would confuse ordinary people. But as an investigator of mysteries, there are things to pay attention to when choosing.
But that praise soon faded, and he said: "Peng! Maybe you should watch your tongue in the future, and also, don't overuse your powers. I don't know which sequence you're from, but it seems you're overusing them a lot, so stop this!" Saying this, James stepped forward and tapped Xiao Peng's right shoulder.
'Huh? What's happening?' Xiao Peng was surprised because he saw that Steaky... All he remembered was that Steaky had sat on his shoulder, then he fell asleep and didn't remember anything that happened to him after that.
All he heard was the word: "Just stop this." And this was James's word directed at him, so he just nodded his head in agreement.
James turned his body and continued walking towards the end of the street they were on, but this time he didn't pat Steaky's fur; he just continued walking quietly.
'There's something strange about this new partner! I felt as if he was a different person for a moment when he told Steaky to do it! Truly interesting, I look forward to an enjoyable partnership with him,' James thought while walking.
Xiao Peng was walking behind James, but there were many questions in his mind. 'Is this a reaction from using supernatural power? Why is the reaction stronger each time? Is it because I'm using it incorrectly? Or is this body of mine unable to handle it? Damn it, damn it! Don't tell me I'm losing control over these powers I just got today!' Xiao Peng's thoughts were interrogative, carrying fear and contradiction within himself!
After walking for another four minutes, Xiao Peng saw that the atmosphere on this street was lively, but there were no annoying sounds, vendors' shouts, or human crowds.
Rather, this street was quiet and also carried an air of gloom on the faces of the people Xiao Peng and James encountered on the same sidewalk. But they were hiding it well behind those fake smiles. Although Xiao Peng wasn't using his powers, and even if he wanted to, he couldn't because they were in a calming period... But in his previous world, he was well-read in many psychology books, meaning he was somewhat educated, so it wasn't impossible to see behind the faces of these ordinary people.
But Xiao Peng wasn't interested in seeing behind people's masks.
He saw that there was a group of people passing on the sidewalk on the right side of the street, so Xiao Peng looked at them. They were wearing ordinary Victorian suits, so Xiao Peng knew that all the people here were commoners, except for a few people who were in the same class but slightly wealthier than them.
The men among them carried black canes in their hands and walked slowly with them on the sidewalk pavement, making tapping sounds.
The women were wearing dresses of beautiful colors, and they looked extremely expensive, so Xiao Peng was guessing how much those dresses cost and also the price of the fabric they were made from.
He looked at the ladies again, and they were holding umbrellas in their hands.
They resembled the women who had asked Xiao Peng to step aside earlier, but this time they were more numerous, and the dresses looked more expensive.
'Why are these women holding umbrellas? True, the weather is cloudy due to factory smoke, but that doesn't mean rain is going to fall!' Xiao Peng thought, searching within himself.
There was no one who could answer him, so he thought he must read many books to understand the cultures of this world, which resembled the Victorian era from his previous world, and also to learn writing.
"Peng, we've arrived!" James spoke suddenly.
Xiao Peng looked towards James and saw a street lamp in front of him. It was taller than the other street lamps along the way, reaching a height of 4 meters.
It had two large lanterns, one on each side like a scale, and there were antique decorations around the post.
There was a large sign hanging from chains wrapped around the top of that post, and there were also words on the sign, but Xiao Peng couldn't understand their meaning, so he vowed to himself that he would learn the language of this world.
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End of Chapter ~ To be continued...