"..."
Xue Jing's expression was somewhat subtle.
Had Miao Miao never learned how normal cats meowed? How could it be so different?
What are you pretending to be?
Xue Jing slid his hands under Miao Miao's front legs and lifted it up to his eye level.
Miao Miao looked utterly innocent, just like any ordinary kitten.
"..."
"You can talk, right?"
Xue Jing was upfront and wanted to have a serious talk with Miao Miao about what it really was, why it could speak, what the platinum ring on its tail was about, how to find a similar one, and why a speaking divine cat ended up almost crushed in the stray cat world.
However, Miao Miao's face showed an 'I have no idea what you're talking about' expression of innocence, looking just like a normal cat.
"Meow~~"
"Stop pretending, I heard everything, just talk properly."
"Meow?"
"Just speak up, and you can have as many dried fish as you want."
"Meow~"
Miao Miao licked its paw, completely indifferent.
Xue Jing raised an eyebrow, "Still pretending?"
He placed Miao Miao on his lap, one hand pressing down on the back of its neck while the other reached towards the base of its tail.
This was one of the most nerve-dense areas on a cat's body, and most cats loved being petted there, arching their backs involuntarily from the pleasure.
Xue Jing's fingers skillfully scratched the area at the base of the tail, and the little black cat's eyes immediately bulged.
"Meow!!!"
It let out an almost agonizing cry, its buttocks involuntarily raised high, its limbs struggled, but Xue Jing firmly held down the neck, rendering it immobile, only able to continuously cry out.
After a while, Xue Jing stopped his actions, by which time Miao Miao had given up struggling, lying weakly on Xue Jing's thigh, panting with its tongue out, eyes rolling back, a look of complete defeat.
Yet, even subjected to such brutal treatment, it never said a word from start to finish, maintaining the appearance of just being an ordinary kitten.
This even made Xue Jing doubt himself somewhat.
Could it be that the Divine Absorption from the Skill Panel, had absorbed its ability to speak? Had it really become a regular kitten?
If it wasn't for the extremely tense 'meow' when it woke up, Xue Jing would have believed it.
But Xue Jing really had no way to deal with it.
As long as Miao Miao didn't plan on having a frank and open communication with him, and kept pretending, he surely couldn't really resort to torture to force it to speak.
Having just benefited from its help, Xue Jing's moral standards, however flexible, would not allow him to do such a thing.
Shaking his head, he finally spoke, "Alright then, let's leave it at that for now, are you hungry?"
Miao Miao responded with a listless "meow."
Xue Jing took it as a yes.
He placed Miao Miao on the couch and then stood up, went to the kitchen to get a large bowl, opened the supermarket bag at the table, took out the bag of cat food, tore it open from the opening, and poured it into the bowl.
Putting the bowl filled with cat food in front of Miao Miao, Xue Jing thought that as a cat that had suffered a lot in the stray cat world, it would start eating immediately.
Unexpectedly, Miao Miao just glanced at the cat food in front of it, then clicked its tongue and turned its head away without hesitation, not even giving it a second glance.
"Hmm?"
Seeing this, Xue Jing suddenly had a thought.
This reaction… didn't seem quite right.
It wasn't the response of a picky cat displeased with the taste of the food, but more like… the thing in front of it wasn't even considered food at all.
A lightbulb went off in Xue Jing's mind as he suddenly understood.
He might have misunderstood from the beginning.
He recalled the words the cat had spoken earlier.
"I never imagined... the world of a stray cat... could be so cruel."
This statement hinted at two possibilities.
The first possibility was that it was a domestic cat that had never been outside wandering, so it was unfamiliar with the world of stray cats.
It was also because of hearing this statement and thinking of this point, coupled with its vulnerability to the extent of being bullied by stray cats, that Xue Jing subconsciously felt it was essentially a cat that, for some unknown reason, had learned to speak human language.
But there was another possibility... It was unfamiliar with the world of stray cats and the reason it could speak human language was that it was not a cat at all, but some creature capable of speaking human language that had taken on the appearance of a cat.
The most likely possibility was... a human.
Xue Jing squinted his eyes, didn't say much else, turned around, and entered the kitchen to start preparing dinner for the day.
After he left the living room, Miao Miao, who was unaware that Xue Jing had deduced much information from a casual action of its own, immediately stood up from the sofa.
It jumped to the floor, tiptoed silently to the corner leading from the living room to the kitchen, sneakily poked out half of its cat head, and confirmed that Xue Jing was indeed cooking before finally breathing a sigh of relief.
'I never expected him to have heard me speaking earlier.'
Miao Miao felt troubled, its tail twisted, and its gaze shifted to the ring at the tip of its tail.
'GOD-1391·Cat Tail Ring... That jerk, after taking so much money, didn't even explain the specific effects of this Divine Relic; I can't transform back once I've transformed!'
Miao Miao's face, very human-like, displayed a gnashing of teeth expression.
After raging helplessly for a while, Miao Miao collected its thoughts and looked around the room.
'This is a good place to hide; the security company's people would never guess that I have turned into a cat and am hiding in an ordinary person's home.'
Recalling its own experience of being chased and bitten in the territory of stray cats, it shuddered.
'I'll just stay here until I get accustomed to this Divine Relic and can transform back, then I'll leave.'
Miao Miao calculated in its mind.
'However... to avoid involving this kind-hearted young man, let me just be an ordinary cat.'
It knew that kind-hearted people, who would take home a strange, talking cat, could easily get dragged into danger if they interacted and formed an emotional bond with it.
Therefore, it had to cut off this possibility from the beginning.
Without interaction, there would be no deep involvement; when the time came, it would just leave, disappearing without a trace, and they would never cross paths again.
'Although he has already heard me talk, no worries, it's all his imagination; I just need to make him think he's a cat-loving young man who loves cats so much he is hearing things!'
'As long as I don't admit it myself and stubbornly act like a normal cat, no one can expose me!'
Having made up its mind, Miao Miao nodded satisfactorily, its tail standing erect and swaying due to its buoyant mood.
…
Xue Jing busied himself in the kitchen for quite some time, making spicy stir-fried beef, bitter melon with scrambled eggs, and silky tomato meat soup—three simple home-cooked dishes.
[You have completed a dish, Cooking Experience +20]
[You have completed a dish, Cooking Experience +21]
[You have completed a dish, Cooking Experience +20]
[Cooking Level 2 (318/500)]
Xue Jing opened the fridge, took out yesterday's leftover rice, filled two bowls, heated them in the microwave, and then brought everything to the dining table.
He didn't speak, picked up one bowl of rice, and started eating.
Meanwhile, Miao Miao, which had been starving for two days and was planning to forcibly feed itself cat food, stared dumbfounded at the delicious-looking dishes on the table.
The aroma transformed into a tiny seductive hand, pinching its nose and drawing it involuntarily closer to the dining table, even knocking over the bowl filled with cat food without noticing.
By the time it snapped back to reality, it found itself sitting upright at the dining table, right in front of the other bowl of white rice that Xue Jing had served.
Turning its head awkwardly, it saw the good-looking young man shoveling rice into his mouth while looking at it with a smirking gaze.
As if to say, are you still pretending?
…
Xue Jing's nearly mocking gaze stung Miao Miao's face, and all it wanted to do was jump off the table right away, but its body wouldn't obey.
"..."
After being silent for two or three seconds, Miao Miao pretended it couldn't comprehend Xue Jing's gaze at all and meowed softly, lowering its head to bite into the white rice with a crunch.
It wasn't unheard of for a cat to eat whatever its owner ate. As an ordinary cat, having the same food as its owner was perfectly reasonable and logical, nothing strange about that.
Eating the same food as humans ≠ Being human.
Miao Miao convinced itself and completely ignored Xue Jing's increasingly mocking gaze. Time to show off!
First, it bit into the rice, then flicked out a claw to use as chopsticks, hooking a piece of spicy stir-fried beef from the plate, cooling it with a huff, huff.
Xue Jing watched speechlessly as Miao Miao, wary of the heat due to its sensitive cat tongue, puffed air on the food.
After blowing on it a few times, Miao Miao carefully bit the beef into its mouth.
The flavor spread delightfully across its teeth and tongue, and having not eaten for two whole days, Miao Miao couldn't help but express an incredibly human-like blissful expression.
With the first bite igniting its taste buds and awakening its stomach, Miao Miao broke its inner barriers and sped up its eating, alternating between a mouthful of rice and a mouthful of dish, reveling in the feast.
Occasionally, it ate too fast to cool the food and got burned, letting out a 'rua'.
"Eat slowly; I'm not competing with you."
Xue Jing smiled helplessly, watching Miao Miao struggle a bit with its claws hooking the food, so he helped it by placing dishes into its bowl, allowing it to focus solely on eating, and even served it a bowl filled entirely with meat soup.
By the end of the meal, the table was cleared, a third of which had gone into Miao Miao's belly—an impressive amount, considering its size.
Not a single grain of rice was left in the bowl filled with white rice; Miao Miao had licked it clean, lying on its side on the table, belly swollen and rounded as if pregnant.
Xue Jing cleaned up the dishes and wiped the table, then washed his hands before picking up Miao Miao from the table and placing it on the sofa.
Watching Miao Miao lick its paws as if picking teeth like a human, Xue Jing coughed and spoke:
"So, now that you've fully exposed yourself, can we talk?"
Miao Miao's ears twitched, and it stopped licking its paws, looking innocently at Xue Jing.
"Meow?"
Have no idea what you're talking about, as I'm just a harmless little kitty.
"..."
"What, acting innocent after freeloading?"
Xue Jing laughed in exasperation.
He extended his hands and pinched Miao Miao's face, scratching its cheeks with all ten fingers.
This was also one of the spots that cats loved to be petted the most, very satisfying.
"Meow~"
Miao Miao immediately couldn't handle it, squinting its eyes in pleasure and meowing blissfully.
It was resolved to keep up the act.
If it didn't talk, if there was no communication, no problems would occur.
"..."
Seeing that Miao Miao still wouldn't admit anything, Xue Jing was momentarily at a loss.
"Forget it, go take a bath."
Though he had already bathed earlier, he got dirty from holding Miao Miao, and after cooking several greasy dishes, he wasn't exactly clean.
At the thought of bathing, Xue Jing glanced at Miao Miao, who had already smudged the sofa, and twitched the corners of his mouth, lifting it up.
"Come on, bath together with me."
Miao Miao was stunned for a moment at these words, then positioned its paws in a salute like the French military, shaking its head like a bobblehead, ears flattened back.
"Meow meow meow meow meow!"
"Cursing your mom, huh? You're definitely taking this bath, not even Jesus can stop you, I've decided!"
Xue Jing huffed, picking up Miao Miao and heading towards the bathroom.
"Meow!!!!"
...
In the glass shower, Xue Jing brought a small stool inside, sitting on it and squeezing shower gel onto his hands before starting to thoroughly clean the thoroughly wet Miao Miao.
Miao Miao had already resisted, but to no avail, displaying an utterly listless demeanor as Xue Jing's hands traveled up and down its delicate body.
"Meow meow meow meow meow…"
Speaking in cat language, Xue Jing continued his thorough petting unperturbed.
Having no idea what you're saying, after all, I'm just a harmless, terrifying upright ape.
During the process, Xue Jing tried to remove a platinum ring from Miao Miao's tail but found that though it seemed not tightly fitted, it was as if embedded in the tail, immovable.
He didn't force it, cautious not to hurt Miao Miao, but he understood inside that the item was unremovable, evidently a "Divine Substance" recognized by the Skill Panel, its mysterious nature not surprising.
After thoroughly grooming Miao Miao without missing a spot, Xue Jing nodded in satisfaction and turned on the showerhead to start rinsing.
After the rinse, Miao Miao looked comically slim due to its fur sticking to its body from being wet.
"Meow."
Miao Miao began shaking off water vigorously, then was about to step out of the bathroom but was called back by Xue Jing.
"Hold on a moment."
Xue Jing quickly rinsed himself as well, then picked up Miao Miao and stepped out of the glass shower.
Approaching the bathtub, he turned on the hot water, adjusted the temperature to fill the tub.
He then held Miao Miao and entered the bathtub.
"Meow~~" "Ah~~"
The water level rose and spilled over, both the man and the cat emitting sounds of sheer pleasure.
Xue Jing supported himself with both hands on the sides of the bathtub, lying inside with only his head visible, while Miao Miao was sprawled on Xue Jing's chest, its head resting on the edge of the tub, tail swishing under the water creating ripples.
It comfortably squinted its eyes, purring contentedly.
"Hmph, and you said you're not human,"
Xue Jing spoke casually.
What kind of cat enjoys a bath this much?
"Meow~~"
Miao Miao couldn't even be bothered to pretend anymore, simply striking a pose, and nonchalantly meowed once as a response, completely unbothered.
Lying on Xue Jing's chest, feeling his strong, steady heartbeat, Miao Miao was a bit dazed.
How long had it been... since it last enjoyed this feeling of security?
His body seemed lean when clothed, but quite impressive once undressed, those pectorals...
Perhaps feeling finally at peace, Miao Miao also started to notice that the young man in front of it was quite attractive indeed.
Once this realization hit, it was like a small hole had been bored into a dam of thoughts, and they began to flood in.
Miao Miao couldn't help it and sneakily glanced at the young man's belly.
While soaking in the bath, and wholly bored, Xue Jing suddenly saw a notification pop up on his Skill Panel.
[Someone has developed a fondness for you, Charm Art experience +1]
"Hmm?"
He shifted his gaze to Miao Miao, his expression subtle.
...
After the bath, he stepped out of the tub, first toweling himself off and then wrapped Miao Miao in another towel to dry it.
Then carrying it to his room, he took out a hairdryer and a comb, plugged it in, and began to blow-dry Miao Miao's fur.
While combing smoothly, he carefully dried every corner with the hairdryer, Miao Miao had by this point completely given up resisting and let Xue Jing do as he wished.
"Meow~~"
Since it had come to this, what could it do but let him handle it.
Once the blow-dry was complete, a shiny, well groomed black cat appeared before him.
Emerald vertical pupils matched with slender white eyeliner created an unmistakably refined and charming appearance from that feline face.
Xue Jing nodded in satisfaction, "Factory settings restored~"
At that moment, he noticed that the patches of fur missing from Miao Miao's body... seemed to have all grown back?
And the belly that had been distended from overeating had also flattened.
"Interesting,"
Miao Miao seemed to realize it exposed something again, pretentiously stretching lazily, turned its body away, not letting Xue Jing see its stomach.
"Meow~"
Xue Jing didn't say more, he turned and left the room, heading to the living room.
In a corner on the living room wall hung a plastic dartboard, covered with dense punctures, and the surrounding white walls were also filled with scratch marks and pinholes, clearly a scene of some serious dart throwing.
Xue Jing took several darts from a holder next to the dartboard and walked to the front door, the farthest straight-line distance to the dartboard at nearly five meters.
He picked up a sharp dart, held it with three fingers around the shaft, and aimed for a while.
"Whoosh!"
The dart flew from his hand, fiercely stabbing into the dartboard with a loud thunk, the sound was loud, giving the impression it almost pierced through the dartboard.
It didn't hit the bullseye, but hitting the dartboard from this distance was already a good show of accuracy, quite skilled.
Xue Jing threw the remaining darts in his hand, all hitting the dartboard, with one even getting close to the bullseye.
Over the past week, he had been spending some time each night practicing darts, hoping to develop some sort of throwing skill.
Thuds continued to echo in the living room, during which Miao Miao also sauntered out of the bedroom into the living room, lazily glanced at Xue Jing, jumped onto the couch, stepped on the remote to turn on the TV, and found an animation to watch on the video app.
Having completely given up, aside from not speaking, it didn't even bother to pretend anymore.
Xue Jing merely glanced at it, suppressing the urge to throw a dart at it, and continued the motion of throwing and retrieving darts.
About forty to fifty minutes later, Xue Jing, holding a dart and targeting, suddenly had a strong premonition.
This throw, it would definitely hit the bullseye.
Without any reason, surely it would, easily!
His eyes brightened, and the dart flew from his hand.
Thud!
An unprecedented loud sound startled Miao Miao watching TV nearby, its fur slightly bristled.
On the dartboard, the dart was deeply embedded in the bullseye, right at the center point, piercing through the dartboard.
Xue Jing looked to the panel.
[Conditions met, skill activated: Aiming]
[Aiming Lv1: (0/300)]
...
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