Doomsday Cat City Lord - Chapter 21.1

“Meow.” Let’s put the underwater shops aside for now. I’ll cordon off a safe area in the town, and you all can go move the supplies.

Mi Miaomiao drew a light circle on the map of Lushan Town with its paw. When it had passed through the town just now, it had noticed that the supplies in many shops were still well-preserved. Presumably, no one had entered since the town was sealed off.

Mi Miaomiao rested for half an hour; both its physical strength and ability energy had largely recovered. It led the way into the small town. Before the monsters could rush before the group, they were entangled by grown honeysuckle branches and dragged into corners.

Humans and animals followed closely behind with bags and sacks. Successively, they found a grain and oil store, a mountain bike rental shop, a retail store selling household appliances and hardware together, and a shop selling local mountain specialty dried fruits and ornaments.

The grain store’s warehouse still had about half its inventory left: 120 bags of new wheat that hadn’t yet been ground into flour, 60 bags of last year’s cornmeal, and 43 bags of rice, millet, and soybeans combined. Mi Miaomiao had Deng Huai help check the grain hullers and flour mills in the store, and they moved all the machines that could be dismantled onto the ships.

Bicycles were excellent things. Even if the electronic components on the handlebars for speed adjustment were damaged, it didn’t affect normal use; the key was that they didn’t consume fuel. When half of the bicycle shop had been moved out, Hong Jiaxi arrived with five people, slowly pulling a small boat to a stop beside the Rong City fleet.

“The supplies in town are basically ownerless whoever finds them can take them.”

Hong Jiaxi knew that she couldn’t monopolize the town’s supplies. She nodded friendly toward the team moving supplies, went straight to the big cat that was clearing out monsters, and said calmly: “City Lord, after discussing with my team, we’ve decided to take you up on the condition you promised earlier, in exchange for you joining forces with us to clear out the monsters in town.”

Looking at the countless bottomless pits on the ground of the small town, Hong Jiaxi could imagine how that tentacle monster had previously sneaked into the small town and used the monsters there to grow rapidly. Her voice was slightly hoarse as she added: “Continuing to seal off the town is just fostering monsters, but we can’t let these monsters run wild either; otherwise, no matter where everyone lives, they won’t be at peace.”

“Meow.” Fine. Whoever kills the monster keeps the crystal.

“Done. Let’s make it the day after tomorrow, then.” Hong Jiaxi had no objections to this. The strength of all her people combined probably didn’t equal this big cat’s.

Mi Miaomiao took out its communicator and added Hong Jiaxi as a contact. The communicator’s built-in signal device could receive signals within two kilometers even without a network; it was better than nothing.

Just as all the ships were fully loaded with supplies and about to leave, two medium-sized ships sailed over from the distant water. Peng Wang stood on the deck, looking down at the group of people. When his eyes landed on those evolved animals with glossy fur and powerful auras, his eyes were filled with naked longing, alongside wariness he couldn’t hide.

That battle yesterday had lasted too long and caused too much of a commotion. Even if Peng Wang and his group had sailed their ships a distance away, they still saw it.

At the time, Peng Wang had been thinking: what was the point of recruiting human evolvers? If he could have an obedient evolved animal by his side, that would be truly impressive. But these evolved animals before him were too powerful; they weren’t someone he could easily provoke.

“Sister Hong, aren’t you going to introduce us? Such terrifying monsters popped up yesterday; staying in these mountains isn’t safe after all. Does this Cat Leader not want to settle down in a safer place?”

Hong Jiaxi crossed her arms, watching coldly. There were too many conflicts between the two of them; not targeting Peng Wang was already out of consideration for him not causing trouble yesterday.

The big cat ignored the subtle jibes between the two humans. It tucked in its hind legs, lowered its shoulders, and let out a yawn, jumping nimbly onto the specially cleared barge.

Its snowy-white long fur danced lightly in the drizzle. If one ignored its massive size, it looked just like a pampered, pretty pet. But observing its calm posture, and the clarity in its gold and blue eyes, one could see a wisdom and understanding not found in ordinary animals.

Even when just sitting quietly, it possessed a terrifying, majestic divinity.

The tree walls on the streets of Lushan Town gradually parted, and monsters burst out from within. Ai Yuan stepped forward, red flames surging around his body. Under the extreme heat, Level 1 monsters were burned to ashes on the spot, and Level 2 monsters let out painful, struggling roars.

A scalpel was plunged into its throat. Wen Yushuang, wearing a white lab coat, followed in her brother’s footsteps off the ship.

“Mr. Peng, nice to meet you. We have two ships heading north; I wonder if we could join your team?”

Peng Wang’s hand gripping the railing tightened. A fire-type ability user, a doctor with decent combat power, he smiled and welcomed the siblings onto the ship: “Of course, you’re welcome. The journey north is long, and we may face danger at any time. One more person is one more helping hand.”

One hand grasped the other’s. At the point of contact between their bodies, a wisp of white steam rose up.

Estimating that Ai Yuan’s strength was slightly lower than his own, the smile on Peng Wang’s face became more genuine.

In the Rong City fleet, two small boats were separated from the main group. Xiao Quan looked at the keeper, then at its companions, and couldn’t help but seek out the big cat City Lord. The two giantized animals huddled together, whispering for quite a while.

Peng Wang was just about to have the fleet turn around when he saw a reddish-brown giantized red panda run over to them, stretch out its short, chubby front paws, and hug Ai Yuan.

“Ying-ying-ying.” Keeper, this is a gift for you. Take care.

Ai Yuan couldn’t understand Xiao Quan’s words, but he could see the reluctance in its eyes, understanding that they were destined to part ways. Thinking of the details of how he and Xiao Quan and the others had spent the last three years together, and the way they had looked out for each other along the way since the apocalypse, the six-foot-tall man from the grasslands couldn’t help but feel his eyes redden.

“Xiao Quan, stay well in Rong City. Cat City Lord is strong and can protect you all; this place is probably the friendliest place for evolved animals on the entire continent. Take care of yourself. If I have the chance, I will definitely come back to see you.”

“Squeak-squeak-squeak!” Don’t be sad, Keeper, you can’t afford to keep me anymore! I’ll come find you after I get stronger.

Its paw pads patted the keeper’s head. The red panda lowered its head, licking and scratching at the hairiest part of the human’s head, ruffling Ai Yuan’s hair into a bird’s nest, and then smiling as it stuffed a large backpack into his arms.

The fleets on both sides gradually separated. After Peng Wang learned that Ai Yuan was a professional keeper, his attitude became even more amiable; he specifically cleared out two rooms for the siblings on his large ship.

“Meow.” Don’t worry about the keeper anymore. You took so many supplies; it was agreed that you’d pay me back double.

“Ying.” Okay, I’ll work hard.

Xiao Quan was too sad, and subconsciously wanted to bury its face in the big cat’s neck, but a shadow flashed, and its nose bumped into cold wings.

“Meow!” Don’t hit, you’ll capsize the boat.

Mi Miaomiao lowered its head to report the collected supplies to Cheng Ningye on the system panel, adding that reminder without even looking up at the commotion.

It didn’t know why, but Xuan Yu and Xiao Quan were always at odds with each other.

Mount Muyuan:

The distance from the mountainside to the road at the foot of the mountain was 600 meters, but following the stairs downward, there were 4,018 steps.

Cheng Ningye, with 18 humans and 21 animals, spent a full day and more cleaning up the stairs and the banyan tree roots near the stairs, chopping down 163 trees.

Banyan trees grow into forests from a single tree; Cheng Ningye actually couldn’t distinguish whether these trees were individual entities from the intertwined roots. He could only count based on the tree trunks they chopped down.

“I wonder how these banyan trees grow? Why are they so even?” Grandpa Feng measured the dimensions of the fallen trees with a tape measure, marking some of the thinner ones.

On average, each tree was between 0.5 and 2 meters in diameter and 20 to 30 meters in height. The lush canopies connected into a single stretch; looking up, one could barely see the sky.

“The cutting table is ready. Let’s bring over a tree and try it out first.”

Yue Ya-yun and several old men gathered together. Although none of them were carpenters, they had all watched related videos. Making a sturdy, solid workbench based on memory and then fixing a laser cutter onto it created a simple version of a cutter.

Three adults and the old Monkey King carried a tree trunk 10 meters long and 1 meter wide, dropping it heavily onto the wooden table. It took seven or eight people working together to push the trunk straight through the laser cutter.

“It works! Finally, we don’t have to go through the trouble of carrying all the trees up the mountain.” Yue Ya-yun held her notebook, sketching and writing. Cheng Ningye sat on the periphery of the crowd, sending construction requirements to her communicator.

“Try to cut them into square logs as much as possible. The building needs to be cold-resistant and warm, a spacious house big enough for City Lord-sama to roll around in.”

If this request were handled using 3D printing technology, Yue Ya-yun could have built it within a day, but building it manually with raw logs was quite troublesome.

Winters in the mountains were indeed colder. Yue Ya-yun didn’t think too much about it and focused on drawing the blueprints.

Five meters high, eight meters wide, and about thirty meters long, with wooden flooring indoors, it was an open space with a fire pit in the middle and heating pipes installed underground. The slope of the roof should be as close to 160 degrees as possible to facilitate snow removal. Large folding doors and windows were left on both sides, with the plan to connect multiple buildings together later. The central square-shaped garden could have a canopy built on top to plant vegetables in winter using the indoor temperature.

On the design blueprints provided by Yue Ya-yun, the house had snow-shielding corridors on both sides. The internal details and external carvings were grand yet warm, very suitable as public buildings for a city.

Cheng Ningye and Mi Miaomiao passed it unanimously after looking.

The group moved the cutting table to cut the banyan trees into square logs; the logs were 25 centimeters wide and high, making them much easier to transport.

When Mi Miaomiao and the others returned with supplies, the foundation in front of the stone temple had already been dug, and the walls built, just waiting for them to bring back the hoisting machine or for the City Lord-sama to lay the roof.

Deng Huai assembled the slings using tools from the hardware store. Mi Miaomiao climbed onto the rafters, stepping down with one paw, and the mortise-and-tenon structure between the logs and the rafters locked together seamlessly.

That night, the residents of Rong City lived in warm houses with roofs, doors, and windows that didn’t leak.

The wood cut by the laser cutter had its own carbonized texture, and the high temperature had evaporated the moisture in the wood. Now, they could sleep directly by laying down a thin blanket. It was far better than the damp environment in the tents where they had only been separated by a moisture-proof pad.

Above the fire pit, a chimney nailed together from silver-white metal plates went straight to the roof. Buried in the soil were potatoes and sweet potatoes that Mi Miaomiao had just catalyzed using wood-element energy, and three large steamers were set on a metal grill, inside which were steamed buns made from the new flour they had ground themselves.

Every city resident had a stainless steel tray, while the animals had stainless steel basins of different sizes based on their body types.

Deng Huai looked around, feeling that everyone crowded into one big room was actually quite a nice environment at least it was very peaceful. He thought about what he had discovered when going down the mountain over the past two days and suggested:

“Tomorrow, leave more people on the mountain to chop trees. Our boats are too small, and we can’t transport enough cargo at once. We need to build a few more barges… Also, tomorrow we need to collect some glass windows; the windows made of wooden boards don’t let us see outside, and it always feels wrong.”

“Engineer Deng, can you modify the bicycles into tricycles? If we ram the road down the mountain until it’s solid, it’ll be much more convenient to transport supplies back and forth once cars can pass.”

“That’s no problem. I’ll try it tonight.”

On the mountain, they didn’t have to worry about monster attacks. People sat close together, and the distance between hearts seemed to shorten. Everyone held their rice bowls, chatting while eating.

“I killed three Level 1 monsters today; I’ve got 50 points. I plan to test my talent first. Next time, once I save up enough points, I’ll be able to exchange them for a compatible Level 2 crystal.”

“You young people should work harder to get stronger. An old man like me still wants to save up more points and exchange them for more land to build a big house.”

“Let’s all build our houses together; it’s more peaceful when we’re close.”

“Back in the city, the houses were built by developers. For once, we can build it however we want.”

Mi Miaomiao munched away at the cat food and grilled meat in front of it, listening to everyone’s words. It felt momentarily that everyone wasn’t just regarding Rong City as a shelter, but as constructing a shared homeland.

“Woof, woof, woof!” The two puppies ran past, stepping on Mi Miaomiao’s belly fur, chased by the panda, Yungu. The little one, having eaten bamboo shoots all night, now had a round belly and shook from side to side as it ran, its ears and belly wobbling.

When the little one ran over its paw pads, it felt quite heavy.

“Maa-maa-maa!” The three antelope cubs followed by the little zebra; the four of them were also well-fed.

Only the little lion looked lethargic.

At the entrance, Luoyun and Xiao Quan held rain-drizzled bamboo in their arms. The two lazybones lay on the ground, using their swollen bellies as dining tables, striping off bamboo leaves and chewing back and forth.

These two had already chosen their living location early on, hiring Mi Miaomiao with all their contribution points to plant nothing but bamboo where they built their house a hundred-square-meter dense bamboo forest enough for them to eat for a long time.

However, the frozen meat was almost gone, and evolved animals were all big eaters. If this continued, carnivores and omnivores would likely become malnourished.

This was a serious survival issue and also an ethical issue. The intelligence of the animals had all been improved; the language barriers between species of the past had vanished. Carnivores and herbivores were, at a conceptual level, all evolved animals, and some might even evolve human forms.

Mi Miaomiao couldn’t bring itself to hunt evolved animals for meat. Did they have to drink nutrient solution every day like in its past life?

“This problem isn’t without a solution.” Cheng Ningye heard Mi Miaomiao’s confusion and opened the detailed map of Boyun Province he had brought back today. He pointed to a city between Lushan Town and Anqing Province: Qitai City.

“This was a famous farming city before the apocalypse. There are a large number of poultry farms and many feed factories. As a meat source, there’s bound to be artificial meat factories.”

“Before the apocalypse, artificial meat and regular meat had a fifty-fifty market share. Meat cultivated solely from animal cells could even have its fat content customized. In terms of texture, taste, and nutritional value, it was almost indistinguishable from regular meat. Before the great geomagnetic storm, if we find the artificial meat factory and process a batch to freeze, we should be able to last a very long time.”

“Meow.” After clearing the monsters in Lushan Town, go check it out. As long as we can survive the winter, it’ll be fine.

Once winter ended and the drought arrived, another kind of edible monster would appear.

·

At night, everyone fell into a deep sleep. Mi Miaomiao toyed with the small white bag around its neck, a blue-green glow faintly shimmering through the gaps in the fabric.

Since its rebirth, every step it took seemed impulsive but was actually extremely cautious. But this Level 5 crystal before it, if it succeeded after paying the cost, it would become stronger and was highly likely to gain the water-type ability it wanted. If it failed…

Mi Miaomiao shook its head, not fantasizing about that possibility, nor would it allow itself to fail.

Waking up its servant, the man and the cat walked out of the log cabin and slowly entered the forest.

“Whoosh!” The sound of flapping wings rang out. The black cat descended from the sky, its figure hidden in the shadows, silent.

Mi Miaomiao couldn’t help but look into Xuan Yu’s eyes, momentarily stunned as it met those green orbs.