Did I Succeed in Redeeming the Villain Today? - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: “Little Cat, What Are You Thinking?”

Punishment?

What kind of punishment?

During the morning self-study, the sound of pages turning in the classroom lightly brushed against Lu Ning’s ears. The girl’s voice was cold and indifferent, existing only within her and Lu Ning’s minds.

The kitten’s ears twitched sensitively. Upon hearing that Mu Qiuyu was going to give her a punishment, a strangely twisted sense of anticipation actually welled up in Lu Ning’s heart.

An animal’s physical structure is different from a human’s; near the base of a cat’s tail are a wealth of nerve endings. A human palm is warm and soft—when it wrapped with heat and patted down, a current of electricity instantly erupted into those nerve endings, surging through the fine channels toward every limb and bone.

When Lu Ning was a child, she had fantasized about what it would feel like to have a tail. She remembered a classmate crying and calling her a monster back then, but now, she thought it felt quite… pleasant.

A numbing, shivering sensation churned and leaped along her nerves, making the cat’s entire skeleton feel like it was about to come apart. Lu Ning buried her head in Mu Qiuyu’s embrace. The rich olfactory cells of a feline allowed her to sniff the faint floral fragrance warmed by the girl’s body.

She felt she was truly taking advantage of being “cute” and becoming shameless, foolishly thinking that if this was Mu Qiuyu’s punishment, she wouldn’t mind a few more hits.

“Little cat, what are you thinking?”

Contrary to her wishes, Mu Qiuyu’s voice soon fell from above. Her eyes were cold and sharp as obsidian, as if she had seen right through Lu Ning’s thoughts.

Lu Ning’s heart gave a jolt. But then she remembered her current identity. She lifted her head, put on an innocent face, and gave Mu Qiuyu a weak, tiny cry: “Meow~”

Even though the kitten’s voice was light, it sounded as if it were pressed right against Mu Qiuyu’s ear. Mu Qiuyu’s downcast gaze faltered for a moment. Her hand was still supporting Lu Ning, who was huddled in her arms—a fluffy ball that seemed to swallow her hand whole.

Mu Qiuyu, calm and rational, realized this kitten was doing this on purpose. Her throat bobbed slowly, but she still said: “Listen well. Do not follow me at noon. That is your punishment. Understood?”

Lu Ning’s gaze froze uncontrollably. She had thought the punishment would be…

But thinking about it, that was fair. For a kitten, a “spanking” was clearly a reward; how could Mu Qiuyu not know that? It seemed she still remembered Lu Ning was her System and was thinking of ways to get rid of her.

The kitten’s eyes couldn’t hide her emotions; her disappointment was written clearly.

Mu Qiuyu watched those crystal-blue pupils darting around until they finally stopped. She then calmly exposed her: “Disappointed?”

Though it was a question, Mu Qiuyu’s voice carried absolute certainty.

Whether out of guilt or because her previous fantasy had been too “over the top,” Lu Ning felt that being seen through by Mu Qiuyu was a lethal occurrence. But so what? The current Lu Ning had become skilled at utilizing her identity. Relying on her kitten image, she tilted her head innocently at Mu Qiuyu.

She was just a poor little kitten. She couldn’t possibly understand the words of these two-legged beasts.

A breeze swept in from the window, shaking the cherry tree and raising a flurry of petals. Mu Qiuyu watched Lu Ning play dumb. Her fingers moved slightly, stroking up along the cat’s spine: “Being disappointed won’t help.”

The kitten’s thick black fur was soft and dense, lending some warmth to the girl’s fingertips. Unlike before, after Mu Qiuyu finished her cold statement, she paused a beat and added: “However, I will be back very soon.”

Mu Qiuyu was a woman of her word. During lunch, Lu Ning was left alone in the classroom.

Although Lu Ning could monitor Mu Qiuyu’s health system in real-time and could fly to her if needed, she was still uneasy about Mu Qiuyu acting alone. After all, the last time they were separated, Mu Qiuyu had been locked in a bathroom stall by the “Bully Trio” and drenched with cold water.

But what could she do now? To build a relationship of trust, she had to be obedient and keep her word.

The kitten’s tail flicked back and forth by the window—not quite agitated, but not exactly relaxed either. Besides worrying that Mu Qiuyu might be targeted by some random NPC, Lu Ning was facing a more pressing problem that made her head ache.

Ever since she became a cat, she had the “feeling of being alive.” In common terms: she was hungry.

She heard that the cafeteria was serving the weekly special Sweet and Sour Ribs and Crispy Pork today. After the last class of the morning, everyone in the class had bolted. Back when Lu Ning was a teacher, she used to sneak out of work early just to eat that.

Hearing the students discuss it made her mouth water. “Crispy pork… sweet and sour ribs… braised pork rice…” Lu Ning muttered to herself, her little paws folded over her chest, looking exceptionally pitiful.

With the classroom empty, Lu Ning found the sunniest window and lay on the sill to bask. But a cat isn’t a mechanical ball; it doesn’t have a solar conversion function. No matter how long she basked, it wouldn’t relieve her hunger. Instead, her stomach growled as visions of food floated through her mind.

Gurgle.

“Kitty?”

Accompanying the protest of her stomach, a call came from the back door of the classroom. Lu Ning was keenly familiar with this voice. Her tail froze, and her ears pricked up. The kitten immediately sat up and, sure enough, saw Mu Qiuyu’s desk-mate, Li Xiang, waving at her.

“You really are still in the classroom!” Li Xiang seemed very happy to see her and ran over with big strides.

“I’m so sorry about this morning. I didn’t know that was your… shy place. I brought you some cans and cat treats from the Pet Club. See which one you want to eat,” Li Xiang said sheepishly, pulling out two cans and a handful of treats from her pocket.

Lu Ning’s eyes went round. Heaven knows if she got them from the club or robbed them; she had brought so many. Perhaps it was a feline instinct, but Lu Ning could smell the food from a distance even through the cans. Fish and raw meat were no longer unacceptable to her; they had become gourmet delicacies.

Lu Ning was drooling. She instantly forgot that Li Xiang had “harassed” her during the morning study. She trotted over with a wagging tail and gave a passionate “MEOW!” which meant: I want them all! I want them all!

Her straight, long-haired tail looked like a black feather duster shaking in the sunlight, sweeping through the dust in the air. Li Xiang was thrilled to see the kitten being friendly again and hurried to open a can: “Let’s have the can first, then the treats, okay?”

“Meow~ (Anything is fine, anything!)” Lu Ning couldn’t wait. Her nose twitched as she leaned into the can. Food that didn’t cost system points was the best food. Lu Ning practically buried her head in the can, eating with immense joy.

Li Xiang pulled up a chair to watch. Seeing Lu Ning give her so much “face,” her eyes crinkled into happy slits.

SHUA—

“Where did this stray cat come from? Go away!”

Suddenly, the sound of a window opening and a girl’s disgusted voice rang out simultaneously. Before Lu Ning could react, she felt a force strike her from behind. As a “rookie” cat, she had zero vigilance. Unprotected, she was pushed hard and tumbled off the windowsill.

“MEOW!”

If a real stray cat had seen this, Lu Ning would have been mocked forever. She was a clumsy cat; she didn’t know how to use her paws to right herself and instead met the floor with a heavy thud.

It hurt. Human strength was so great, and a sharp corner of a chair hit her painfully. While Lu Ning was still dazed from the pain, Li Xiang’s voice exploded: “Shi Jin! What are you doing!”

Li Xiang was furious seeing Shi Jin flip Lu Ning to the ground without warning. But the culprit, Shi Jin, felt no guilt whatsoever. She stood there in front of Li Xiang, calmly reaching through the window to place her things on a desk as if it were perfectly natural: “Putting my things away. What else?”

This made Li Xiang even angrier: “Is this your seat?! It’s bad enough you occupy two desks by yourself, but you have to occupy the back ones too?”

“So what? Occupy them yourself if you’re so capable.” Shi Jin was bold despite being in the wrong. She looked at the cat food on the sill with disgust: “I’m not like you, bringing such smelly things into the classroom. You have no public spirit.”

“It doesn’t smell!” Li Xiang retorted immediately. For the sake of the school environment, the Pet Club specifically bought low-odor or odorless freeze-dried cans. Li Xiang felt this person was being unreasonable and was just diverting the topic. She countered clearly: “Even if it did smell, that’s no reason to push her! She was minding her own business, eating…”

“It’s just a stray cat from nowhere. It can eat anywhere.” Shi Jin maintained her indifferent attitude and walked around into the classroom to head to her seat.

But to get to her seat, she had to face the cat she had just shoved off the sill. In the dim shadows, a black ball of fur was huddled. Shi Jin didn’t like the color; her mother told her black cats bring bad luck, and unlucky things must be driven away. Thinking this, Shi Jin raised her foot, making a motion as if to kick Lu Ning: “Hey! Get out, get out!”

“AAAH!”

Just as Shi Jin was bullying Lu Ning, a scream rang out. But the sound didn’t come from the cat’s throat. At that moment, Lu Ning had already arched her back and puffed out her fur, ready to give this selfish, tyrannical girl a lesson from the “Cat Cult.”

The wind suddenly blew through the corridor and into the classroom, making open books rustle loudly. But the room fell deathly silent.

Shi Jin stared incredulously at the floor she was now in close contact with. Pain crawled up from her knees and tailbone. She clutched her elbow in agony, only then realizing she had been suddenly yanked aside. She had stumbled, lost her balance, and landed hard on her bottom.

“Who…”

“And just where did a bastard like you come from?”

Shi Jin sat miserably on the floor. Just as she was about to lash out, a heavy shadow fell over her. Mu Qiuyu’s voice rang out from behind her. In the bright spring light, Shi Jin felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar. The chill of the floor tiles started from her calves and instantly spread through her whole body.

Lu Ning didn’t expect Mu Qiuyu to return so quickly. Seeing her Host’s dark, ominous expression, she didn’t dare approach, but simply looked at Mu Qiuyu and called out: “…Meow (Host).”

The kitten didn’t know that her cry sounded heart-wrenchingly pitiful.

Mu Qiuyu deftly shifted the bag of cans she was carrying to her other hand. She stepped forward and scooped Lu Ning up by the waist: “Sorry. I came back late.”

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