Cat Demon Raising Manual - Chapter 2

The school had assigned them the task of planting 100 trees. By the time they lugged buckets, saplings, bottled water, and other miscellaneous supplies up to the mountaintop, they were all panting and drenched in sweat.

Zeng Rong, already frail and slender, was flushed bright red, her legs trembling as if she were on the verge of collapsing.

“Take the fast-acting heart relief pills the homeroom teacher gave us,” Wu Wei suggested, fanning her cheeks lightly. The hem of her clothes fluttered slightly, her brown eyes showing no trace of fatigue.

“Your stamina is just too good. I’m so jealous, I can’t go on,” Zeng Rong gasped for breath, plopping down on the ground like a lifeless dog as she shakily took the medicine.

“If you’re weak, you need to train more. If you’re already wiped out from climbing a mountain, how are you going to handle the 800-meter run in the college entrance exam?” Wu Wei lifted her phoenix eyes slightly, casting a disdainful glance.

What could Zeng Rong do? She could only whimper pitifully in response.

Zeng Rong, delicate as a willow, put on an act like Lin Daiyu, reciting the “Burial of Flowers” poem. Halfway through, her voice suddenly cracked, and she pointed excitedly toward a nearby tree, exclaiming, “A big kitty!”

Wu Wei followed Zeng Rong’s pointing finger and saw a large calico cat sprawled on the grass like a pancake. If not for the rise and fall of its snow-white belly, she would have suspected it was a peacefully departed chubby cat.

“So pretty and plump! Does the mountain offer such good food?” Zeng Rong marveled, sneaking closer for a better look.

“Meow!” Hua Wangxuan had heard the human girls gossiping about her from afar. Angrily, she widened her eyes, twitched her ears, and warily watched the rustling direction.

You’re the fat one! Your whole family is fat!

“Be careful, if a stray cat scratches you, you could get rabies. This one clearly has a bad temper,” Wu Wei reminded her calmly.

With her exceptional hearing, Hua Wangxuan swiftly stood on all fours, arched her back, and hissed fiercely at Zeng Rong, baring her sharp teeth like a crafty snake.

She’s super fierce, better back off if you know what’s good for you!

The next moment, the savory aroma of a ham sausage wafted over. Hua Wangxuan’s pink nose twitched involuntarily, and her paw, resembling a mangosteen, twitched forward.

What kind of garbage artificial ham sausage dares to tempt this queen?

Humans are truly wicked. She’d once seen on TV how ham sausages were made from bone paste containing heavy metals and bacteria. Though she didn’t understand the specifics, anything that made humans pale at the mention couldn’t be good.

Hua Wangxuan lifted her head proudly, swishing her tail to express her disdain.

“She noticed us. How can there be a cat that doesn’t like ham sausage? This defies science!” Zeng Rong sighed in defeat, realizing that no matter how she tried to entice the calico, it remained unmoved.

Wu Wei stood casually with her hands in her pockets, idly kicking small stones. Watching Hua Wangxuan ignore Zeng Rong, she frowned slightly and let out a soft scoff.

Why would a stray cat ever warm up to humans who could threaten its life?

Hua Wangxuan darted away in a flash.

Zeng Rong shook her head dejectedly, sighing in disappointment, like a lovesick admitter spurned by an uninterested goddess.

The homeroom teacher distributed the tasks, and the students acted as laborers, one sapling, one hole; a hundred saplings, a hundred holes. Soon, the mountaintop was pockmarked with pits.

Noon was the hottest time of day. Wu Wei didn’t mind hard work but couldn’t stand the heat, and within moments she was drenched in sweat. Beads of perspiration slid along her clean jawline and dripped into the soil.

“Lunchtime!” The homeroom teacher shouted while banging on a bucket as if calling chicks to feed.

Everyone lined up to receive their boxed meals.

When the students saw what they were getting, they groaned in disappointment.

The food looked utterly unappetizing: wilted, dehydrated greens, pale and bland shredded potatoes, and chicken legs that carried a distinct raw meat odor.

“Good thing I brought plenty of snacks. This is even worse than my dad’s cooking,” Zeng Rong remarked with a pained expression, unable to hold back her criticism.

Wu Wei simply found a patch of grass to sit on, picked up her meal box, and took several large mouthfuls of rice mixed with the shredded potatoes and spicy strips. Her naturally striking face showed no sign of discomfort, not even a furrowed brow.

“No way, Sister Wei, you must really be starving,” Zeng Rong said, nibbling on a small cake while watching Wu Wei expressionlessly swallow the dry rice from the boxed meal. She couldn’t help but scrunch up her whole face.

“Is it actually tasty?” Zeng Rong doubted her own judgment and glanced again at the discarded meal box beside her.

“Edible,” Wu Wei chewed and replied succinctly. She couldn’t in good conscience call it delicious.

“I just took a peek at what the teachers are eating. Tsk tsk, it’s clearly a whole level fancier than ours,” Zeng Rong half-covered her mouth with her hand, whispering conspiratorially. Her eyes then lit up. “Wow, Teacher Shen seems to have brought her own lunch.”

Wu Wei glanced in Shen Qingyan’s direction and, just as Zeng Rong had said, the woman stood out like a scene from a different world.

In front of Shen Qingyan was a simple camping table set with her own glass lunch containers: poached shrimp, fresh cauliflower stir-fried with shredded pork, and tomato egg soup. She sat comfortably on a soft folding stool, holding silver-patterned chopsticks, every movement graceful and refined like a well-bred lady from an esteemed family.

“Did Teacher Shen make all this herself?” A teacher from another subject, drawn by the scene, couldn’t resist coming over to make conversation.

Shen Qingyan pursed her lips slightly, gently wiped the corners of her mouth with a wet wipe, and let her gaze drift leisurely toward the speaker. “Yes, I’m quite picky and prone to allergies, so I only eat what I prepare myself. It helps avoid a lot of issues.”

“Teacher Shen, you don’t seem like the type to step into a kitchen. Who would have thought you’d be so domestic? Whoever marries you will be lucky,” the visitor effused, failing to notice the faint shadow that passed over Shen Qingyan’s face at the remark. Then, a slight curve touched her lips.

“There’s an aesthetic to life found even among pots and pans. Those of us in the arts sometimes draw inspiration from daily life,” Shen Qingyan said before withdrawing her gaze. She picked up her chopsticks, selected a piece of poached shrimp, and lowered her head to chew slowly and deliberately.

“Ah, is that so? How unique!” The visitor laughed awkwardly and, seeing Shen Qingyan absorbed in her meal, decided not to disturb her further.

Hua Wangxuan had climbed high into a tall tree, her gem-like cat eyes narrowed to slits as she quietly observed the baffling humans below.

Watching them each holding their boxed meals, Hua Wangxuan, who had only managed to scavenge a few scraps earlier, felt her stomach rumble like thunder.

So hungry… If only she had eaten that sausage the human girl offered her earlier.

With an almost human-like gesture, she patted her empty belly, crouched on the thick branch, and stared longingly at the food in the humans’ hands.

Some male humans harbor a twisted, ugly desire to abuse or kill adorable cats. Some may appear refined and respectable on the surface, yet they are more terrifying and brutal than wild beasts, employing extremely cruel methods to torture cats.

Hua Wangxuan had encountered abused fellow felines in her former territory. At the time, she was so enraged that she felt like dragging all of humanity into an explosion. But she had also witnessed kind-hearted female humans taking sick animals to veterinary hospitals and caring for them with meticulous attention.

Thus, in Hua Wangxuan’s eyes, the likelihood of female humans being good is higher than that of male humans, and it is also easier to obtain food from female humans.

Hua Wangxuan blinked her eyes, hesitated for a moment, then leaped down from the branch, locking onto a target.