The sun was about to set over the city, and with the twilight, light snow began to fall again.
Vincent was returning home and, as he passed the park, he specifically checked the lawn.
The kitten that had been lying there in the morning was gone.
"It's the middle of winter, so good luck, you poor little guy."
Vincent exhaled, felt the ham sausage in his pocket, and walked away, pulling his jacket tighter around him.
However, when Vincent arrived at the bottom of his residential building and saw the open elevator door, a bold horizontal line appeared above his head: "Why are you here?!"
Vincent had a face full of black question marks.
Inside the residents' elevator, a little orange cat was curled up in a corner, having been lying there for an unknown amount of time.
After Vincent appeared at the elevator entrance, the little orange cat seemed to sense him, yawned, rubbed its sleepy little eyes with its paws, and showed a harmless expression... Vincent was a bit dumbfounded.
How did this cat know he lived here? No, this was probably just a coincidence!
Vincent pretended not to see it, walked into the elevator, and pressed the button for his floor. During this time, many other residents also entered the elevator. To prevent the kitten from being stepped on, Vincent chose to stand in front of it.
The elevator started to ascend, with people coming and going.
During this, Vincent secretly glanced at the kitten lying on the floor behind him.
Hmm, it was well-behaved, not making any noise.
Until it reached his floor, the sixteenth.
Vincent hadn't moved yet.
The little orange cat, now fully awake and squatting in the corner, suddenly got up first, stepped through the gap between his feet, and walked out of the elevator.
"No way?" Vincent's mouth twitched slightly. He walked out of the elevator and saw the kitten quietly squatting by his front door.
What was going on with this cat?
..."You're back."
Inside the house, Diana was also stunned to see Vincent walk in with the kitten. She asked curiously, "Did you pick it up?"
"Aunt, I was going to ask you first, you didn't pick it up, did you?" Vincent asked weakly.
"No," Diana shook her head decisively. "In all these years, besides picking you up once, I haven't picked up anything else."
"That's true," Vincent scratched his head, looking at the little orange cat, which had made itself at home, and hesitated, "Aunt, can our family adopt it?"
Since it was already here, and it was a cold winter outside, he really couldn't bear to kick it out again.
"I have no objections," Diana nodded. "However, you'll have to be prepared to take care of it from now on."
"Of course. Actually, I've wanted to get a cat for a long time," Vincent said with a smile, picking up the little orange cat and saying without thinking, "Then from now on, you'll be called 'Little Emperor'."
The little orange cat blinked, completely unaware of how perfunctory the name was.
Aunt Diana, with her full housewife demeanor, smiled and urged, "Go take a bath first, dinner will be ready soon."
"Alright! Then let's bathe together, Little Emperor." Vincent had a sudden thought and simply carried the little orange cat into the bathroom with him.
In the bathtub full of warm water.
The little orange cat was uncharacteristically unafraid of water, lying docilely on the edge of the tub, allowing the naked Vincent to rub shower gel into its light orange fur. In no time, its whole body was covered in white foam.
When he reached its belly.
Vincent turned the little orange cat over, rubbing the soft, whitish fur on its lower abdomen, and couldn't help but mumble, "Little Emperor, you're actually a female..."
"Meow!" The kitten, who had been squinting, suddenly got inexplicably angry and savagely bit Vincent's finger.
Its slightly sharp little fangs pierced the skin, and a drop of blood fell onto the bathroom floor.
"Little Emperor!" Vincent cried out in pain and quickly pulled his finger back.
As if it knew it had done something wrong, the little orange cat looked at Vincent's bleeding finger, displaying a human-like expression of grievance.
"It's alright, it's not your fault. Just be careful next time, you can't bite people randomly," Vincent comforted and admonished it. Looking at his bleeding hand, which was also stained with cat saliva, he was about to clean it with clear water when his body suddenly trembled!
"Wait, this feeling is..." Vincent's eyes widened in alarm as a familiar yet strange abnormality swept over him.
His ordinary human brown pupils suddenly turned into cold, glowing vertical slits!
Lord of the Retinue, activated!
"Vincent?"
Hearing Vincent's cry from inside the bathroom, Diana quickly pulled open the bathroom door.
Almost the instant the door opened.
A hideous, barbed tentacle, like a spear, shot straight at her face.
Diana reacted incredibly quickly, dodging it. Following the tentacle, she looked inside the bathroom and saw the naked Vincent standing in the bathtub. From behind him, several grotesque, violently writhing and extending tentacles had grown, their edges covered in sharp, barb-like teeth.
In the corner of the bathroom, the kitten squatting on the floor looked at Vincent, who had grown strange and terrifying tentacles, its eyes lighting up.
"What exactly happened?" Diana asked, her surprise mixed with uncertainty.
"I'm not really sure. Little Emperor bit me, and my body became like this," Vincent said with a wry smile, looking at the wildly shaking and twisting tentacles extending from his back.
"Is it the blood and saliva acting as a liquid medium, triggering the Lord of the Retinue's ability...?" Diana glanced at the bloodstains on the floor and the little orange cat, still feeling incredibly astonished: "A cat, how could it?"
Whoosh!
The tentacle suddenly instinctively recoiled, like a gaping maw, and bit Diana's back!
Diana's heart jolted. She felt a terrifying suction, like a small black hole, erupting behind her! She struggled hard, her body escaping the tentacle's black hole-like pull, but her clothes were instantly torn to shreds, revealing a perfect body, as if carved from jade!
It wasn't just one tentacle.
Another seven or eight tentacles were also wildly twisting and twitching, devouring towels, shower gel, mirrors, and the water in the bathtub at a visible speed. In less than half a second, they had swept everything in the bathroom clean!
The little orange cat timely leaped into Vincent's arms, escaping harm.
One of the tentacles wrapped around Diana's slender and flexible waist. Vincent could clearly feel a wonderful sensation transmitted from the tip of his tongue.
Wait a minute, why the tip of his tongue???
Holding the tentacle firmly with one hand to prevent it from being swallowed by its inherent black hole, Diana didn't dare to pull hard, so as not to hurt Vincent. After thinking for a moment, she quickly judged, "If this is that cat's ability, then now, it should also be an ability you possess. Vincent, try to control it!"
"I'm trying," Vincent gritted his teeth and closed his eyes.
In the darkness, the sensations brought by the tentacles were even more real and detailed.
Soon, the tentacles extending from his back gradually calmed down, and the tentacle wrapped around Diana's waist slowly loosened!