Chapter 35: A Cat’s Repayment

Ding Ling spent the entire night on her phone, scrolling through the points reward pool.

A long list of redeemable items was divided into several major categories: spirit pills, spiritual plants, spirit talismans, and spirit artifacts.

She first clicked open the spirit pill category.

To her surprise, there really was the “Eat All You Want Without Gaining Weight Pill” that Yao Beibei dreamed of, along with the “Pre-Date Instant Whitening Pill” and the “Acne Vanishing Pill.” They could be redeemed for just a few points, and their effects lasted up to twenty-four hours.

Clicking open the user reviews, one read: “Good for emergencies. If you take too many, the weight comes right back the next day. The whitening fades back to yellow the next day too, though the acne genuinely never returned.”

Below these pills, there were even guides on how to repackage and resell them to ordinary people.

“The easiest way is to grind it into powder and put it into small paper packets.”

“None of these pills have production or sales licenses. Everyone, be careful when offloading them.”

“Online crackdowns are strict right now. How are you guys selling them?”

The pills that could be mass-produced and traded on the open market were all state-certified, “Immortal”-grade remedies. Dealing in uncertified black-market goods like these would result in severe penalties if caught.

Aside from those, the other pills looked much more normal.

Mind-Restoring Qi-Replenishing Pills, Ever-Spring Ageless Pills, Marrow-Cleansing Bone-Forging Pills, Inedia Pills^[1], Qi-Gathering Pills, and more, available for redemption in ascending order of points.

Clicking into the spirit artifacts category, the very top of the weapons list was occupied by various guns and ammunition.

Bullets were redeemed separately. The most advanced were infused with spiritual energy, capable of piercing a cultivator’s protective barrier; these bullets cost even more than the guns.

There were also spiritual energy grenades that released poison gas, yellow sand, or even binding vines when thrown.

The sandstorm model was said to plunge surrounding cultivators into what felt like a raging dust storm, temporarily blinding them.

Beside this item was a small note: users were advised to use it in tandem with Item No. 328, the “Clear Mind and Bright Eyes Talisman.”

Ding Ling clicked open the instruction manual, which turned out to be a short animation.

In the animation, a little figure slapped a talisman onto its forehead first, hurled the sandstorm grenade, and escaped from the dust storm.

The targeted cultivator lost his bearings and was buried under the yellow sand, while the little figure leapt for joy and shouted in victory.

These animations were quite entertaining.

Scrolling down further, she found flying needles equipped with a built-in homing system. The needles were named “Dare You Answer If I Call Your Name?^[2]” Before launching one, the user had to shout the target’s name at the top of their lungs.

Ding Ling muttered the name aloud, utterly baffled.

The entire advantage of flying needles lay in their lightness and stealth, making them ideal for underwater combat or surprise attacks in the dark. Shouting the opponent’s name before firing would not only expose one’s position, but also put the target on guard.

Yet because of its low point cost, more than three hundred were redeemed every month.

Weapons had the highest redemption volume, followed by spirit medicines and spirit talismans.

Spirit talismans were generally expensive. The bestsellers were Fortune-Swapping Talismans, God of Poverty Possession Talismans, Endless Wealth Talismans, and anti-curse talismans.

Each talisman cost one to two hundred points, with durations ranging from a maximum of one week to as short as two days.

Ding Ling clicked open an item description.

It was another short animation. The little figure in the drawing wore a sly smirk and muttered: Select someone you think has the best luck, get hold of their Eight Characters of birth^[3], and trade away your bad luck, misfortune, and eternal solitude for their good fortune, wealth, and romantic luck…

Purchase tip: The user must possess strong conviction.

The God of Poverty Possession Talisman left one’s enemies destitute. The Endless Wealth Talisman naturally didn’t mean one would have infinite money forever after using a single talisman; rather, financial luck would receive a minor boost during that time.

The reward pool was surprisingly user-friendly, featuring anonymous tips and reviews posted by users below each entry.

“I urge everyone not to use fortune-swapping talismans lightly.”

“Pretty sure I gave my good luck away to the other guy instead.”

“Garbage talisman ruined my love life!!!”

Trying to find something useful among this pile of bizarre rewards was like panning for gold in sand.

Ding Ling scrolled all the way to the last few rows before finally spotting swords and blades.

Smaller items were more or less loaded with gimmicky functions, but the swords and blades had none of that nonsense, relying entirely on the wielder’s cultivation.

There were only three swords in total, and not a single one had ever been redeemed.

After seeing all those strangely named rewards earlier, Ding Ling was mentally prepared; she assumed the names of these swords wouldn’t be particularly serious either.

The first was called the “Peerless Sword^[4].” Clicking open the demo animation revealed a man with a head of curly hair brandishing the blade.

Ding Ling played the video twice to check the length and weight. It was a heavy greatsword, which didn’t match her fighting style.

This Peerless Sword required 998 points. After finishing his sword dance, the curly-haired man turned to face the viewer with a brooding profile: “Only 998.”

…

The cheapest sword had the most ideal length and weight, and lacked an eccentric name.

It was simply called “Sword.”

This suited Ding Ling just fine, but the redemption cost was 666 points.

She only had 305 points.

Should she save up and wait to redeem the sword? Or spend 150 points first on a “Guaranteed Not to Explode Alchemy Cauldron^[5]“?

While she hesitated, a rhythmic tapping came from the window.

Phone in hand, Ding Ling kept her eyes fixed on the “Guaranteed Not to Explode Alchemy Cauldron.” It was guaranteed not to explode because it consumed very little electricity and ran on spiritual energy input.

She had just walked over to the window and was about to reach out when she suddenly remembered: this room was on the third floor.

The tapping sounded again from outside. Ding Ling gathered spiritual energy at her fingertips and pulled open the curtains with a sharp rustle.

Outside on the air conditioner’s exterior unit sat a black cat, paw raised and poised to knock once more.

“I’m Xiaobao’s friend,” the cat introduced itself.

The black cat looked much smaller than Xiaobao and was likely still quite young, but its voice was more mature. It had a sleek, agile build and looked remarkably strong.

Ding Ling slid the window open, and the black cat leapt lightly inside.

It prowled around the room in a circle on patrol before jumping onto the desk. “I’ve come to repay your kindness.”

Ding Ling remembered it well. It was the one who had the sense to teach Xiaobao how to call the police, and when that failed, it stole a phone for Xiaobao and taught Xiaobao how to post a commission.

If Xiaobao was still in preschool, this cat was smart enough to be in college.

“How are they doing now? Did they get home safely?” Ding Ling didn’t have Qian Jingjing’s contact information and couldn’t just rashly seek her out right now, but she planned to find an opportunity to go check on them.

“They’re doing great.”

The black cat licked its paw. It had known the moment Xiaobao and its owner arrived home.

It had originally intended just to check on whether Xiaobao was all right, never expecting Xiaobao’s owner to welcome it so warmly.

Living alone while caring for an aging cat, Qian Jingjing was very capable. As soon as she got home, she cleaned the place inside and out. Seeing that the cans of cat food were all open, she even asked, “Xiaobao, did you open these yourself?”

Xiaobao tilted its head. As Mom cleaned, it followed right at her feet, never leaving her side.

It would never leave Mom again.

Qian Jingjing had already realized that since Xiaobao could lead someone to rescue her, it certainly wasn’t an ordinary kitten, but it was still her kitten.

She rubbed Xiaobao’s little head. “We’re going to celebrate properly today!”

Celebrate her rescue! Fortunately, Sister Lian really had paid her a large sum of money, and the military hadn’t told her to hand it over, so she simply feigned ignorance.

After finishing the cleaning, Qian Jingjing went to the boats by the entrance and bought two large crabs.

Tonight, she and Xiaobao would have a crab feast. Half the crab legs would be boiled and half grilled, and the crab shells would be used to steam egg custard.

Xiaobao rubbed against her from time to time, letting out a sweet meow whenever its owner looked over.

The black cat arrived at Xiaobao’s home right at that moment. Xiaobao meowed affectionately, bounded over to the black cat, and rubbed all over it, purring and mewing non-stop.

Qian Jingjing couldn’t understand cat language, but she asked, “Xiaobao, is this a friend you made outside?”

Xiaobao meowed.

“You’re so pretty.” Qian Jingjing reached out to pet the black cat’s head, but the black cat stepped back.

“Were you the one who gave our Xiaobao fish to eat?” She had noticed when taking out the trash that there were complete fish bones in the garbage bag.

In the beginning, the black cat had taken Xiaobao along because Xiaobao was cute. Xiaobao was likely a long-haired mixed breed; while it wasn’t particularly pretty in the eyes of other cats, it happened to have the exact look humans loved most.

Just taking Xiaobao for a stroll around the boats by the bay was enough to get humans feeding them big fish.

Yet it hadn’t eaten for free; it had repaid the favor.

Well, repaid it to a limited extent.

Xiaobao kept nuzzling the black cat and even carried its own portion of crab leg meat over to it.

Qian Jingjing immediately brought over a small plate. She even specifically picked one with a black cat painted on it, shelled thick strips of crab leg meat, blew on them to cool them down, and placed them on the plate.

“Thank you.”

The black cat had intended to remain aloof, but the crab leg meat smelled far too delicious. Unable to resist, it scarfed down two large legs!

Seeing Xiaobao and the black cat eating side by side, even rubbing against each other between bites, Qian Jingjing asked with a smile, “Would you like to become our family’s cat?”

She glanced at the black cat’s rear. “Be sisters with Xiaobao?”

The black cat wore a solemn expression. It wouldn’t be anyone’s cat.

Qian Jingjing understood well enough. “You’re a free cat. You can come over whenever you want. How does that sound?”

She didn’t know if the black cat had agreed, but from then on, she would prepare two cans of cat food on schedule.

“The money Mom made this time is enough for us to eat for half a year!” The military folks had mentioned there might be compensation as well. She didn’t know if that was true, but if there was, they could eat well for even longer!

After finishing the crab leg meat, Xiaobao told the black cat about its ordeal. It wanted to properly thank Ding Ling.

“She looks like she’d like dried fish.”

“That’s what you like.”

Whenever Xiaobao had missed its owner terribly, the black cat had stolen a few pieces of crispy, fragrant sun-dried fish for it.

Since it had eaten the crab leg meat, polishing off two whole large legs in one go, and planned to drop by for free meals from time to time in the future, it had to do some work for this family.

Qian Jingjing cradled Xiaobao. Full and content, Xiaobao sprawled in its owner’s arms, snuggling affectionately.

“How did Xiaobao find her? What’s her name? How should we thank her?”

The black cat pricked up its ears, listened to everything, and took on the job.

Ding Ling looked at this cat, whose intelligence was practically college-level, and asked with a subtle expression, “How did you find me? If you had a way to find me, you could have found Qian Jingjing.”

The black cat lowered its head to lick its paw again. Ding Ling could actually see embarrassment on a cat’s face.

“Cat couldn’t beat them.”

It couldn’t beat the people in the villa.

So Xiaobao’s habit of constantly referring to itself as “Cat” had been learned from this black cat.

“You really couldn’t beat them, but it’s also true that you didn’t want Xiaobao to find its owner.”

This time, the black cat didn’t lick its paw to mask its embarrassment.

It had indeed thought that way before, but it had changed its mind now.

The black cat sat on its haunches. “You are a very smart human. What do you want?”

Ding Ling took the soul-returning herb from her bag. “Have you seen this kind of spiritual plant?”

The black cat tilted its head to sniff it, then turned, leaped onto the windowsill, and walked away across the outdoor air conditioning unit.