Chapter 29: A Little Kitty’s Dream

The apartment was very small. Right past the entryway was the kitchen, which opened directly into a combined dining and living room, with a bedroom and bathroom further inside.

Though small, every wall was painted with pictures of blue skies, white clouds, rainbows, and sailboats. Painted seashells were strung together by the window to serve as wind chimes.

Ding Ling stood in what counted as the living room and looked at the cat. Were there spirit beasts capable of shapeshifting in this world?

Just as she was about to ask, she saw the cat struggle to stay upright. It sank to the floor, shrinking from large to small.

Only then did Ding Ling see clearly: the cat had not truly transformed into a human form at all. It had merely altered its face, unable even to fully transform its hair and eyes.

That was why it had worn a hat and a long dress, hiding its tail beneath the skirt.

The clothes it wore belonged to a young woman, but its half-human form had looked like an elderly face of indistinct gender. Any ordinary person would have turned and fled at the sight.

The cat wriggled out from the pile of clothes. Remaining in its animal form was far more comfortable for it. Speaking in human speech, it said, “You’re the first person brave enough to come in.”

The previous few people had all run away in terror the moment they got a clear look at its face.

“Did you post this mission in other chat groups too?”

The cat was beautiful in its animal form: a snow-white, long-haired feline with large, round eyes and a fluffy ruff of fur. Its paws rested neatly in front of it in an elegant posture.

The cat answered honestly, “Yes. Every time I scare someone away, I have to switch to a new group.”

It sighed. If no one accepted the request for five hundred spirit stones, it would be out of options.

Humans did not want dried fish or canned pet food, and five hundred spirit stones were all the savings in the house.

“You… want to find another cat?”

The cat licked its paw. “I want to find my master.”

“Where is your master?”

The cat hopped lightly onto the sofa and said sorrowfully, “Master went out hunting and never came back.” On the day its master left, she had opened two cans of food and filled its water bowl to the brim.

“How long has it been?”

The cat did not know. Cats had no concept of time. It only knew that it had been waiting all this time, and its master had not returned.

It glanced at the empty cans stacked in the room. Whenever it got hungry, it ate one. Once all the canned food at home was gone, it went to the bay to beg for fish. The boatmen thought it was pretty, so they gave it big fish.

That was where it met a stray cat.

“Why do you want to find your master? Isn’t being free better?” The stray cat did not understand.

But it insisted on looking for her, so the stray told it that it could post a mission in human chat groups to find its master. The stray had even stolen a phone and taught it how to use it.

“Since you can speak, did you ever try calling the police?”

“I did.” But its voice sounded too young, and it could not explain the time or place, nor could it even describe its master’s appearance clearly. Animals recognized their masters by scent and voice.

The police station had answered a few calls, assumed it was a prank call by a child, and completely ignored it.

Ding Ling was even more puzzled. “Since you have opened your spiritual aperture, can’t you track your master’s scent?”

Even though its spiritual energy was weak and it could only sustain shapeshifting for three or four minutes, it was still a cat with an opened spiritual aperture.

The cat lowered its head. “I’m old. I can’t smell that far.”

It had gone out searching and found a vehicle its master had ridden in, but it could not smell where she had gotten off. In the end, the stray cat had brought it back.

The twelve-year-old was the cat, not its master. It knew it was twelve because its master had just celebrated its twelfth birthday, and the candles were still stored on the windowsill.

Twelve years for a cat was eighty-four years for a human. Its energy was nowhere near what it used to be, and even walking down the long flight of stairs to the bay to beg for food was difficult.

Yet it stubbornly refused to sleep by the bay. It had to go home; it was a kitty with a home.

Its master had even microchipped it for fear it might get lost.

If only humans could be microchipped too, then it could find its master.

“I’m useless.” The kitty whimpered softly and bit its tail. If it were still young and strong, it could go out and search for its master. Now, it could only guard the house and wait for her to come home.

This mission was not D-rank. When posting the task… the cat had hidden the mission’s true difficulty.

No matter how she looked at it, taking this job was a losing proposition.

Ding Ling sighed again. “What is your master’s name?”

The cat lifted its furry face and asked in pleasant surprise, “You’re willing to take it?”

“I’ll take it.”

The cat nearly rolled onto its back to show its belly. Though it had opened its spiritual aperture and could speak human words, it still acted like a cat, a little kitten at heart.

“Mom. Her name is Mommy,” it said happily.

…

No wonder the police had disregarded its call.

Ding Ling sighed once more, crouching down to pat the cat’s head.

The cat let her pet it, even squinting its eyes to prompt her to scratch its chin, purring extremely loudly.

Ding Ling stroked it for a while and said, “I need to investigate.”

She had to look for useful clues in the apartment, such as its owner’s name, age, and how long she had been missing. If she had been gone for too long, she might have already met with foul play.

Ding Ling first opened the refrigerator, took out a carton of milk, and checked the date.

Whenever they shopped at the campus convenience store, Yao Beibei always chose the freshest expiration date. That seemed to be a common shopping habit here.

The production date on the milk was from last month; it had already expired more than twenty days ago.

Ding Ling’s heart sank slightly. Though she had never met the owner of this apartment, just looking at the decorations showed that she was a girl full of hope and enthusiasm for life.

Though she was not wealthy, her twelve-year-old cat was still sleek and glossy.

People often said old cats grew into spirits^[1], yet this cat still acted like a kitten, which showed just how much its owner pampered it.

The cat followed at Ding Ling’s heels. Wherever Ding Ling stopped, it rubbed its soft, fluffy body against her feet, swishing its big tail back and forth.

After a thorough search, Ding Ling found some information about the girl.

Qian Jingjing, twenty-four years old.

Ding Ling also found a photograph. In it, both the girl and the cat wore birthday hats, and “Happy 12th Birthday Xiaobao” was written in colorful markers.

“Your name is Xiaobao?”

The cat gave a soft “meow.”

Ding Ling moved the low coffee table aside, clearing a large open space in the room.

Truthfully, the person might not even be alive anymore after more than twenty days, but it was still worth a try.

As the cat hopped onto the sofa, Ding Ling took out a dozen hollow crystal pen barrels from her bag, each filled with spirit stone powder.

She uncapped a pen and began drawing an array on the floor.

Seeing the glittering spirit stone powder trace out long circular lines across the floor, the cat really wanted to reach out a paw to scratch and play with it, but it bit down on its paw and held back.

This was to find its mom.

Ding Ling placed an article of the girl’s clothing inside the array, formed a hand seal to activate the formation, and asked the cat, “Once we find her, what do you want to say to her?”

The cat thought about it. “I want my fur brushed, I want to watch TV, and I want to eat Orleans roast chicken^[2].”

The doors and windows were tightly shut, yet smoke rose from the array without any wind. The spiritual energy contained in the spirit stone powder gathered like sparks, gradually condensing into physical form at the center of the formation.

Ding Ling closed her eyes and parted her lips. “Qian Jingjing.”

White light surged, bursting through the window.

Ding Ling breathed a small sigh of relief. Fortunately, she was still alive.

Chi Shuai was slouched on the couch playing games and opening loot boxes, gulping down iced cola while swearing up a storm. “Scrap metal again! Damn it, why is it all scrap metal today? I’m getting a diamond chest today no matter what!”

Gu Cheng walked over and smacked the back of his head.

The slap was feather-light, so Chi Shuai wasn’t scared at all. Opening the next chest, he kept running his mouth. “Fine, fine, I’m not the daddy. You’re the one and only Big Daddy on our team!”

“Cut the lip!” Gu Cheng went to the fridge and grabbed a can of beer. Just as he popped it open to drink, his phone vibrated.

He had intended to set the beer on the table, but seeing Chi Shuai sneak a glance at the can, he moved it out of Chi Shuai’s reach.

Only then did he take out his phone. Seeing the name, his thick brows arched slightly, and he answered immediately. “Hello? I’m here.”

The male voice on the other end hesitated for a moment before words fired off like a machine gun. “In the Black Board mission group, someone accepted the D-rank cat-finding mission. You probably know that several people who took that kind of mission in neighboring cities have already gone missing, right?”

Gu Cheng furrowed his brow. There had also been disappearances in Jiangcheng recently; they just hadn’t been reported on TV or in the papers.

This was police work and hadn’t been transferred to the military yet.

“Is it a friend of yours?” Gu Cheng asked. “Don’t panic. Explain in detail. What else do you know?”

“I… I don’t know them. I spent twenty points to buy that mission.”

Missions on the Black Board could be viewed by anyone, but it cost double the mission’s reward in points.

He only had twenty points to his name. After agonizing over it for a long time, he spent them all in one go to buy the detailed mission dossier.

In 【Mission Group One】, someone soon noticed that the member with the Taiyang avatar had his points cleared.

“How many points did Taiyang have originally? Does anyone know?”

“Around twenty, I think. He only joined the group recently too.”

Spending twenty points all at once, what else could it be for? He definitely bought the details of the cat-finding mission.

“A man of action! He’s already heading out to corner the girl?”

“Where’s Brother Pig? Come out and look! What’s the point of flirting so hard in chat? Look at this guy.”

Brother Pig was the one who had constantly been probing in the group about whether F was a man or a woman. His avatar was a grinning pig, so everyone called him Brother Pig.

Brother Pig posted a chuckling sticker. “Our brother actually has the guts to make a move! Well, how is she? Pretty?”

“Forget pretty, ask if she’s even a girl first!”

“Did they add each other privately? Dropping twenty points without even knowing their gender?”

“His avatar has two suns^[3]. Is it possible that regardless of whether it’s a guy or a girl…”

Slowly saving up twenty points in this group required completing at least seven or eight odd jobs.

The group members were in a noisy buzz, constantly guessing whether Taiyang and F had met yet. Someone even chimed in, “Give us a squeak if you meet up! It’s a happy occasion for our group, so I’ll chip in one point^[4]!”

The words “chip in one point” flooded the screen.

Gu Cheng continued asking the person on the other end of the line, “What’s the address?”

“Qianshui Bay, Daliao Street.”

Gu Cheng thought for a moment. “Xiao Ang, you know this isn’t our job, but since you called, I’ll definitely go check it out. I’ll keep you updated on how it goes.”

He reached out, placed the beer into another squad member’s hand, and said to Chi Shuai, “Shuai, let’s go.”

The squad member holding the beer asked, “Captain, should I come along too?”

“No need. Three people going makes it an official dispatch. Shuai and I are just heading to Qianshui Bay to catch some fresh air.”

Chi Shuai put his phone away and yawned. “I just called you Big Daddy, and right on cue, your godson calls to boss you around.”

Gu Cheng gave him a harder smack this time. “Quit your yapping. Move it.”