Chapter Sixty-Two: Taking the Cat to Be Stewed in Soup

I stared intently at Wang Chuan, as if determined to pierce through his soul! It was only after a long while that he shook his head, clicking his tongue, and said, "Fine, I'll let you two go and find twenty souls."

Twenty souls?!

My mind jolted at that moment, thinking he’d set an utterly impossible condition! Did he take me for some sort of magical cat, able to produce whatever he wanted just by reaching into my pocket? But no matter how I felt, I couldn’t just rebel openly. It was obvious he was toying with us, perhaps in retaliation for my earlier attempt at negotiation.

I needed to seem gentle.

"But Master..." I lifted my paw and placed it on Wang Chuan’s knee. "Little Yun isn’t capable enough to catch souls. Could you give us a bit more time?"

"But you want her to be the guardian cat," Wang Chuan replied without a trace of mercy. "If she’s to be a guardian cat, she has to show she has the ability. If you can’t even catch souls, am I supposed to keep you around just to loaf?"

Listening to his words, I suddenly felt he made perfect sense, leaving me unable to retort!

So, a little sullen, I withdrew my paw, no longer daring to press it against him.

I looked up at Wang Chuan, full of expectation as I tried again.

"Um... Master... Could we possibly..."

"No."

Before I could finish, Wang Chuan answered, firm and without hesitation. He didn’t even bother to ask what I wanted—just refused outright! Wasn’t that a bit too cruel?

"You don’t even know what I’m about to ask!" I protested, tail bristling.

"You want to lower the number," he replied, not even missing a beat.

"Uh..." I rubbed my nose. Was I really that obvious, so much so that my intentions were visible at a glance?

"Then can we..." I began to propose a second condition.

"No."

Yet again, he cut me off before I could finish—another refusal without even hearing me out.

"You can’t possibly know what—"

"No asking friends for help."

He always managed to interrupt me before I could say what I wanted, rejecting me with stern, uncompromising words.

I was curious how he always knew what was on my mind, but even more frustrated at being repeatedly rebuffed.

No, I had to persist!

"Master—"

"Absolutely not."

After several attempts and still no progress, I left the garden, head drooping in defeat.

"Qian Qian, don’t be nervous. Maybe we can do it! And... Master didn’t specify a time limit, right?"

I kept my head low, seeing shadows flitting about inside the distant house. Xiao Mi and Yu Bao must be having a good time now, and Master forbade us from seeking help. The last time we collected souls, it was thanks to Xiao Mi’s help that we managed so many. What should we do this time?

With a head full of worries, we dashed toward the human world.

I had expected bright sunshine, but the human world was just as gloomy as we were. The sky was covered in clouds, threatening rain, and the streets were nearly deserted, leaving us precious few targets to pursue.

"Where should we look?" I asked, trudging forward under the oppressive clouds, even my paws moving sluggishly.

"Maybe we should try a hotel or something?" Little Yun suggested hopefully, though she was as lost as I was.

Perhaps because I’d been so confident before, readily agreeing to let Little Yun become a guardian cat, only to find Wang Chuan refusing to play along and trapping me with the soul quest.

"Alright, let’s try," I replied, still downcast. But we weren’t searching for fetal souls—what good would a hotel do?

Little Yun just clicked her tongue, swinging her tail and following behind me.

We trudged along, sighing and watching the few hurried passersby.

"Qian Qian, look over there!" Little Yun suddenly cried out, pointing to a bar not far away. "Whoa—look at all that black mist!"

I thought maybe something exciting was happening, but when I looked up, I saw the bar shrouded in swirling black vapors.

If such a dense cloud of darkness was gathering, it was either haunted by malicious spirits or something major was about to occur!

"Is someone going to die there?" Little Yun’s paw trembled as she asked, voice quivering.

"I... I don’t know! But... it looks like something big is about to happen..." I guessed, but my own speculation frightened me into stepping back.

Just as I feared, if a large-scale death occurred in such a big bar, how many people would perish?

"Terrifying. If something happens here, it won’t be just one or two people!"

"But why does the black mist look different? There’s a strange purplish-red hue inside."

I could see, within the shadows, a serpentine swirl resembling a black dragon, its coils tinged with purplish-red.

"I can’t see what you see. All I see is black fog," Little Yun said dully, shaking her head.

I was puzzled that she couldn’t see the purplish-red hue as I did, but the strange aura made me uneasy.

Yet our task was to collect twenty souls, and Little Yun had no ability to catch them. The only one who could was me.

But I considered myself clumsy—not able to catch twenty souls in a short time.

So, encountering a mass death event here was actually a stroke of luck for us. No matter what, we had to go inside!

With that, we raised our paws and bounded into the bar.

Inside, the deafening music thundered, and I could feel the floor vibrating under my paws.

Each beat shook the ear with my stud, giving it a rhythmic tremor.

Amidst the clamor, I searched for clues to the disaster that might claim many lives.

At the same time, I wondered if we should retreat—if it was just a robbery, fine, but if there was an explosion or collapse, nothing—human or cat—would escape!

I didn’t want to end up a helpless soul watching others float away.

"Little Yun, maybe we should leave first?" I turned, whispering to her.

"That’s probably best," Little Yun agreed, her eyes faint with worry.

But then, behind Little Yun, I saw the last person I wanted to see!

"Get down," I pressed Little Yun, forcing us both to crouch low.

Because standing there was the man I could never forget—the one who had chased me all over town last time, Brother Wang.

The one who had fenced me in with electric nets, and shouted furiously after my escape that he’d never let me go!

Talk about running into trouble—rarely did I venture to the human world, and now, drawn here by the black mist, fate had made me relive an unpleasant memory.

But there was nothing we could do but hide, hoping he wouldn’t notice us.

After all, we were just two small cats, easy to tuck away in a corner. The throng of human feet provided cover.

Yet, as we neared the door, some damned security guard suddenly shouted, "There are two stray cats!"

That cry drew everyone’s attention to the ground, and we had nowhere to hide, so we bolted!

But in the crush of the crowded bar, we didn’t get far before a guard grabbed us!

"Meow!" Little Yun wailed, caught by the tail.

I couldn’t escape either.

Wang Chuan had strictly forbidden us from using our soul orb abilities to deal with humans, or from revealing anything supernatural.

So now, like ordinary cats, we could only meow helplessly, plotting how to escape.

"Damn!" Just then, Little Yun scratched a guard, causing him to release her tail.

Taking the chance, I twisted back and scratched my captor as well.

He yelped and let go, and I dropped to the floor, scanning for an escape route, then dashed for the door!

But before I reached it, several big boots blocked my path, and a large net descended!

Little Yuan and I were trapped beneath the net, unable to move, and my worry wasn’t just about being caught by Brother Wang.

He had delayed our escape—if there was a gas explosion or a collapse, how would we survive?

"Where are you running, little cats?" Brother Wang grinned at me, his fleshy cheeks pulled tight.

"Meow—" I hissed, my eyes blazing with terror.

But even my glare didn’t scare him; Brother Wang just laughed, crouching down to tease me.

"Last time you acted so tough. Why not now?"

His hands were greasy, probably from eating something, and as he tried to pet me through the net, I thrust my paw through the mesh and scratched his wrist hard!

"Argh, damn!"

Brother Wang recoiled, blood dripping from his hand, his eyes narrowed in fury.

"Little bastards! Take these strays and stew them for soup!"