[Zero: Is anyone allergic to animal fur?]
[Jingliu: No]
[Zero: That's good.]
Zero sent another cat meme, ended the conversation, clocked out early on purpose, and went home to bring along that white, blue-eyed long-haired cat.
In the photos Hua had sent him, he had picked and chosen carefully before settling on this one.
The reason was simple, it looked quiet, like the kind of cat that wouldn't jump onto your chest in the middle of the night to throw a dance party.
But the moment he got the cat, it completely changed its face. At their very first meeting, it wasn't afraid at all, it went straight up to Zero and licked his face all over, meowing sweetly and coquettishly.
When they got home, the cat acted like a king inspecting its own territory, head held high, strutting around arrogantly.
Zero originally planned to keep the pet in the courtyard. He placed the cat bed and litter box all outside.
But he didn't expect that the cat would scratch at the door. And in the middle of the night, it would use that raspy voice to howl like crazy.
Zero was jolted awake several times. Half-asleep, he was stunned by the sound, he thought some kind of wild beast had broken into his courtyard.
Worried about the cat he had just brought home, he forgot for a moment that he was living under the watchful eyes of the security-conscious people of Luofu.
He quickly got up, following the direction of the howling, and cautiously opened the door, only to see the cat crouched low, clearly preparing to test its limits by trying to touch the door handle.
The moment it saw him, the cat immediately switched faces, meowing softly and sweetly in a fake gentle tone, then rolled onto its back to reveal its fluffy belly.
Zero, "…"
'What kind of split-personality cat is this? How could it have two faces?'
He stared at the blue-eyed long-haired cat lying on its back, and it stared right back.
Zero tried reasoning with it.
"You can't go inside."
The cat wagged its tail, meowing softly again.
When it saw he wasn't budging, it started rubbing frantically against his pant leg.
…In the end, he gave in.
Only because the cat was too noisy.
But Zero swore he would never give in again.
He would never let the cat onto the bed again.
He thought that firmly as he pinched the cat's soft pink paw pads.
Unfortunately, this cat was persistent. Within a few days, it started scratching at the bedroom door.
Zero bought a cat barrier specifically to keep it out, but it still found ways around it, this scheming little thing.
At this point, Zero was no longer the same person he used to be.
He had thought his emotions were steady enough, but ever since getting this cat, his patience had leveled up dramatically.
The cat would sometimes go parkour-crazy in the middle of the night, sometimes roll and jump on his bed like it was a dance floor, and sometimes knead his face like dough…
The worst part? It would climb onto his chest and stay there who knows how long, to the point he couldn't breathe.
When Zero woke up, he met those glowing eyes shining like spotlights in the dark, and instantly, rage flared in his chest.
He finally understood that saying floating around the internet, the chances of a cat killing its owner are low, but never zero.
He could tolerate ten pounds of body weight pressing on him, sure. But if this cat ever grew to twenty or thirty pounds, he honestly thought it might suffocate him to death.
Zero knew violence couldn't solve problems, only the people causing the problems.
Unfortunately, that trick that had always worked in his past life didn't apply to cats.
Violence didn't work on fluffy little things.
Burning with anger, Zero carried the cat into the bathroom, put it in the sink, and gave it a bath.
Once the long-haired cat's fur was soaked, its true body shape was revealed. It struggled and yowled horribly, not even bothering to meow cutely anymore.
Zero couldn't understand cat language, but he was pretty sure it was cursing him out.
After all, what kind of normal person washes a cat in the middle of the night?
'What? I'm not a normal person? Oh, then never mind.'
After finishing the bath, Zero wrapped the cat in a towel and gave it a good rubdown. Finally, his anger subsided.
The cat finally stopped acting out, no more assassination attempts against its owner.
Now it only went parkouring around the house in the dead of night.
Zero felt mildly comforted.
The adjustment period between man and cat was full of ups and downs, but in the end, they got along decently well.
Zero took out the cat carrier, placed it beside the cat, and threw a few freeze-dried snacks inside right in front of it. The cat lunged forward, charging like a tiny battering ram, straight into the carrier.
Zero could feel the impact, enough to knock over a human.
If it gained another ten or fifteen pounds, it might actually kill one.
Quickly, he zipped up the carrier and headed toward the meeting place.
This time, it was once again on the territory of the Vidyadhara.
The first person he ran into was Jing Yuan. The man seemed to have been waiting eagerly, his eyes lit up when he saw Zero, and he urged him to take the cat out.
"This cat's voice is terrible," Zero warned in advance, crouching down and setting the carrier on the ground.
Jing Yuan cheerfully took the cat.
And right before Zero's eyes, the same cat that had been screeching like a rusty gong at home suddenly changed faces again.
It rubbed affectionately against Jing Yuan, meowing softly in a syrupy, delicate tone.
Jing Yuan gently pinched its soft pink paw pads, utterly charmed, wearing a blissful expression of having been conquered by cuteness.
He stared at Zero in disbelief, dazed.
"You call this voice terrible?"
Zero, "…"
'Good grief, what an actor.'
Jing Yuan, just like him, had been fooled by the cat's fake persona.
Speechless, Zero looked away, and his eyes fell on a nearby dragon statue.
Jing Yuan followed his gaze, still holding the cat, and explained, "That's a statue of the first 'Dragon Lord.'"
"The first Dragon Lord?"
Zero stared at the almost perfectly preserved sculpture, not eroded by time, almost looking newly built, and was momentarily stunned.
If it were anyone else from the Vidyadhara, they'd probably stay vague about why the statue remained so intact. But Jing Yuan wasn't Vidyadhara.
When Tengxiao had dragged him into overtime, he'd gone through plenty of top-secret files, and had learned bits about Luofu, the Xianzhou, and even secrets of the universe itself.
Jing Yuan said, "It was the work of the previous General. He said it was to commemorate his dearest friend, he personally provided the funds and materials, and worked with some Vidyadhara to build it."
Zero, "…"
Well, that figured. The guy could call Aha and Fuli, those two stars who constantly messed with his head, his "dearest friends" just to spite them.
So of course he'd call the Vidyadhara dragon lord of the Xianzhou his dear friend too.
With enough mutual benefit, even he could probably shake hands with "The Hunt" and call them a dear friend.
Before long, Yingxing and Dan Feng arrived.
When Dan Feng saw the cat in Jing Yuan's arms, he raised an eyebrow slightly, gave Zero a brief greeting, and immediately went to play with the cat.
Yingxing, seeing his "divine-tier client," instantly lit up. He eagerly approached to greet Zero. Being the only one who knew the inside scoop, he didn't want others to catch on, so he lowered his voice and asked, "What about the leftover materials? Should we make something else with them?"
"Huh?"
Zero was baffled, he had no idea why Yingxing was asking this.
"You mean the scraps? If they're useless, just toss them."
Yingxing's face instantly changed, as if the words "wasting heaven's treasures" had been branded on his forehead. He was shocked.
"Do you know how many credits those materials cost? Even the tiniest fragment is still valuable!"
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