Doomsday Cat City Lord - Chapter 21.2

Xuan Yu seemed to have always been watching it, but this was the first time Mi Miaomiao noticed that its gaze actually contained so many emotions: profound, gentle, tolerant, serious, steadfast…

The dark green eyes moved away actively for once; Mi Miaomiao hadn’t had time to discern the emotions hidden even deeper in those eyes that made it tremble.

“Meow.” Start. I’m watching you. If the evolution fails, I won’t let you die as a monster.

[Host-sama, according to system detection, with Cheng Ningye’s assistance, your probability of successfully advancing to Level 4 is 63.7%, and your probability of advancing to Level 5 is 20.1%. You will definitely succeed, come on!]

Mi Miaomiao looked deeply at the one man and one cat present, opened its mouth, and swallowed the crystal.

The muscles along Xuan Yu’s cheeks tightened. Its black wings half-spread, and its front paws couldn’t help but step forward. But seeing the mental energy fluctuation extending from Cheng Ningye, it forced itself to stand back in place, its green eyes filled with determination.

Mi Miaomiao sensed its servant’s familiar, warm mental energy entering its body, followed by the cool energy radiating from the crystal. It was waiting for the pain to erupt, but… the moment the pain truly arrived, it felt… it didn’t really hurt that much?

At least it wasn’t as painful as the mental and wood-element energy tearing at its soul and body when it died in its past life.

The water-element energy was gentle and tolerant. Wood-element energy used the water-element energy as nourishment and grew wantonly, easily breaking through the Level 4 barrier that had imprisoned Mi Miaomiao for so long.

…

Mi Miaomiao felt as if it had entered the deep sea. Before its eyes was transparent water-blue of varying depths, and beneath its feet was succulent, lush cat grass. It rolled around in it at will, able to bite into sweet grass leaves with a single mouthful.

The grass juice was warm, as if it had been soaked in enough sunshine, even the deep sea seemed to be pierced through by the sun warm and glowing like a beautiful dream.

Opening its eyes, Mi Miaomiao first saw the black cat dripping nutrient solution into its mouth, and immediately afterward, saw the bright gold melting at the edges of the black wings above its head.

“The sun is out?!”

Mi Miaomiao turned its head. In the sky, the dark clouds had dissipated, and the dazzling sun shone through the dense branches and leaves, dyeing everything with golden colors. The melancholy, depression, and other emotions that had settled in its heart in the past were like the chill of early morning, dissolving into the light.

“Meow?” You slept for a day and two nights. It is now the morning of the 12th.

Xuan Yu twitched its ears, turned its head toward Mi Miaomiao’s lips, and heard the soft, adolescent voice emit an incredible shriek.

“What, I slept for that long?!”

Mi Miaomiao looked blank, checking its body in a daze. It was now Level 4, with abundant energy in its body not even the energy when it was on the verge of breaking through Level 5 in its past life had been this much.

And there was no sense of limit-reaching bloating, as if it still needed to accumulate for a long time before breaking through to Level 5. This meant Mi Miaomiao’s foundation was built even more solidly, and on this basis, its strength would increase even more when it advanced to Level 5.

“No, I have to get up. I already agreed with Hong Jiaxi and the others to go clear out the monsters in town together today.”

Mi Miaomiao stood up and could feel its body had grown another circle, but it felt even lighter and more nimble when moving. It didn’t have time to experience the changes in its ability and hurriedly walked out of the forest.

The black cat abruptly blocked its path, reminding:

“Miaomiao.” You can speak human language now.

“When… did I!” The smile at the corner of Mi Miaomiao’s mouth stiffened. It lowered its voice in a breakdown: “Why is my voice so childish?”

It was simply like the voice of an adolescent who hadn’t gone through a voice change yet crisp and milky even though it grew up so imposing and handsome!

“This voice doesn’t fit my image at all!” Mi Miaomiao was so angry it rolled back and forth on the ground.

“Miaomiao.” Perhaps you’ll be fine once you grow a little more.

Xuan Yu comforted the cat with a gentle attitude, but it was actually thinking: This voice is very similar to the tone Miaomiao uses when it’s relaxed or acting spoiled. Although Miaomiao wouldn’t admit that it would act spoiled.

“Ahem, Miaomiao!” This voice is still the best fit for me.

Mi Miaomiao cleared its throat, recalled how to use cat language, and tried to see if it could turn into a human, but it didn’t have the slightest clue it would wait until Level 5 to see.

“Meow-aow!” Xuan Yu, the fact that I can speak human language is a secret between the two of us, it can’t be leaked!

“Meow?” A secret even Cheng Ningye doesn’t know?

“Meow.” Yes, not even the keeper can be told!

The black wings behind the black cat suddenly spread out, flapping gently twice. Xuan Yu nodded briskly.

With Mi Miaomiao gone for a day, the engineering work on Mount Muyuan continued as usual.

Cheng Ningye took people to town to collect supplies, while Yue Ya-yun and Deng Huai took the initiative to undertake the task of clearing land on the mountain.

The banyan trees on two of the flats halfway up the mountain had been cleared away. Beside the log cabin, two more identical log cabins had appeared. They weren’t built at right angles; instead, they had a subtle trend of encircling the stone temple in the middle. If all the public buildings were completed, it would be an octagon.

Mi Miaomiao had no objections to this. It went for a turn on the left flat; the black soil mixed with dead leaves clearly showed signs of being loosened. It tried channeling wood-element energy, and crisp, tender green buds emerged from the soft, damp soil.

Identifying by scent, what was planted here were radishes, garland chrysanthemums, and baby bok choy.

It wasn’t until the vegetables in the five patches had all matured that Mi Miaomiao stopped. The energy in its body had only been consumed by one-twentieth. And although it still couldn’t use its water-type ability, the recovery speed of its wood-element ability had increased by one-third.

Its endurance was stronger!

“Wow, City Lord-sama is so amazing! We have a lot of vegetables to eat!”

The children cheered around the vegetable garden. That was when Mi Miaomiao learned that this vegetable garden had been organized by the children themselves.

“Meow.” Harvest all the vegetables; I’ll record the contribution points for you.

Leading the team down the mountain, it met up with Hong Jiaxi and Lu He-tao. Both had brought some people over, with strength either at Level 2 or Level 1 on the verge of breaking through.

Mi Miaomiao inquired about where they each lived now.

Hong Jiaxi: “Yesterday, over a hundred people went north with Peng Wang and the others. The remaining two hundred plus are currently settled on the hill next to the town. We plan to move back in after the town is cleared, build a surrounding wall, and establish a real Lushan Town base.

Brother He-tao, things became like that before because we couldn’t lose momentum while confronting Peng Wang. I apologize to you; you’re always welcome back.”

Lu He-tao shook his head with a shy smile: “Thank you for your kind offer, Sister Hong. I and a portion of the villagers are currently living in the abandoned elementary school in Ludong Village. We’ve already repaired the school’s courtyard walls over the last two days. The old people in the village are more accustomed to the environment there and are urging me to collect seeds to take back, so we can start the autumn planting as soon as possible.”

“There are almost no monsters to be seen there, so there are no plans to move for now. However, the old people in our village have been farming for years; there’s nothing they don’t know about field matters. If you have any questions in this regard, come over to my side anytime.”

Mi Miaomiao nodded. Comparing it to the map in its mind, Ludong Village was about three hills away from the small town, in the completely opposite direction from Rong City, at a distance of about 13 or 14 big mountains.

“Fine. The three of us are all in the same area, which can be considered a combat alliance. If there are any difficulties, let’s solve them together. Mutual aid is the only way to live better; this world is too difficult.” Hong Jiaxi looked at the tree wall erected in the town, then looked at the people fighting monsters in the cordoned-off areas, and couldn’t help but sigh.

Mi Miaomiao nodded in agreement. It didn’t reject the aura of these two humans; they had selfish motives but weren’t heavy, so they could currently be trusted.

It never thought that it could have everyone follow its call, that everyone and every animal would defect to it, and then annex the entire Boyun Province into the Rong City territory.

Rong City’s foundation was still too thin. Now that its strength had improved, it would take advantage of the safe period to properly build up its family fortune and improve the strength of the city residents. Only then would it have the confidence to expand Rong City’s territory.

The wall made of tree branches divided the entire small town into three sections. Each of the three factions hunted monsters separately. After clearing the monsters in one area, they organized the supplies there and moved them back to Mount Muyuan.

The people remaining to clear land and the people collecting supplies rotated. Mi Miaomiao ensured that every city resident killed a monster with their own hands. They couldn’t be blindly immersed in comfort; only by being strong themselves could they truly protect themselves and guard their home.

There wouldn’t be many such opportunities that is to say, with so few people in Rong City now, Mi Miaomiao could do this.

“Monsters are too disgusting! Can’t you just kill it directly? Why do I have to do it myself!”

A beautiful girl around 20 years old sat on the ground, pale-faced and crying in a breakdown after killing a monster: “I only signed up to move supplies! I work every day to earn contribution points, my hands have calluses! Why are you forcing me!”

“Xiao Xuan, if you’re tired, we’ll rest. Look, this is the water orb you obtained yourself. It would take two or three days to exchange for one saving up points.”

The bespectacled boy squatted down to gently soothe his classmate, ignoring the stench, and proceeded to dig out the water orb from the monster’s brain. He rinsed it with his own drinking water and placed it in front of the girl.

“I don’t want it! I miss my mom and dad, I want my mom and dad! Sob sob sob!” Sang Xuan waved her hands indiscriminately, almost knocking off the boy’s glasses.

“Our parents are missing. If you really want to find them, either go die and find them in the underworld, or adapt to this world. Kill monsters, use the water orbs and crystals from their bodies to enhance your own strength, and then travel across this continent. Perhaps they are still alive in some corner.” Ji Yin-ming shook off the filthy blood from his hands, picked up the water orb from Ke Yi’s hand, and stuffed it directly into Sang Xuan’s mouth.

“Crying is the most useless thing. We all have to accept reality.”

Ji Yin-ming looked at the metallic luster appearing on his arm, turned his head to look at the big cat standing on top of the tree wall providing shelter for all city residents, and said coldly: “Don’t let down the City Lord’s good intentions. If the three of us were truly trapped in a monster group, let alone getting a water orb, we’d meet again in a monster’s stomach in five minutes.”

“Pfft.” Ke Yi was amused by Ji Yin-ming’s cold-faced joke.

Sang Xuan didn’t cry or speak anymore; she wiped away her tears and gulped down two mouthfuls of water, swallowing the water orb.

The three of them had grown up in the same building, attended the same university, and had lost contact with their parents on the same day. Ke Yi and Ji Yin-ming stared at the monster whose feet were tied with branches, one raised a fist while the other picked up a brick and moved slowly closer.

Sang Xuan still didn’t dare get close to the monster, but this time she restrained her emotions and made no sound.

Mi Miaomiao withdrew its gaze, staring with total concentration at the activity below. With over twenty people acting together, it could only try its best to ensure no one died.

In three days, all monsters in town were cleared away, and the supplies were split evenly among the three parties.

Mi Miaomiao returned to Mount Muyuan after three days apart. Looking at the five additional large warehouses, and the city residents who had a significantly different mental outlook, their eyes no longer filled with confusion and their actions more resolute, it was in a very good mood.

Finally, it had spare time to study the system panel:

[Host: Mi Miaomiao Race: Cat Clan Evolution Level: Level 4 Evolution Skills: Basic Ability Giantization (Strength-type), Wood-type Ability (Awakened) Identity: City Lord Available Points: 5,152.6]

It could upgrade the city to Level 2. The next step was to go further away to collect supplies it was precisely the time when the warehouse needed to play its role.

Mi Miaomiao called out 012.

[Detection complete. You meet the upgrade requirements. Do you want to use 5,000 points to upgrade the city level to Level 2?]

“Meow.” Confirm.

[Updating data… Data update complete. Congratulations, your city has been upgraded to Level 2. Rong City is currently ranked 1,760th (Total participating cities: 2,313).]

[Please choose the Level 2 city rewards. Pick two from the following system functional buildings, or choose to upgrade existing functional buildings?]

[Level 1 Walls…, Level 1 Hospital…, Level 1 Training Ground…, Level 1 Canteen…]

Mi Miaomiao browsed through them roughly; there were over 30 functional buildings in total, but the most practical at the current stage was definitely the upgraded warehouse.

“Meow.” I choose to upgrade the warehouse to Level 3.

[Level 1 Warehouse: 500 square meters, possesses automatic organization functionality, implements temperature regionalization, and maximizes the preservation of items.

Level 2 warehouse can choose from the following upgrade directions: 1. Increase warehouse area. 2. Enable remote storage permissions. 3. Enable remote retrieval permissions.]

“Meow.” Level 2 warehouse enable remote storage permissions, Level 3 warehouse enable remote retrieval permissions.

[Updating data… Update complete. Your warehouse has been upgraded to Level 3. (Level 4 warehouse can choose from the following upgrade directions: 1. Increase warehouse area. 2. Increase warehouse area.)]

“Meow?” Can the warehouse only be upgraded to Level 5?

[Yes, Host, existing system functional buildings can be upgraded to a maximum of Level 5.]

Mi Miaomiao nodded, checked the warehouse authorization on the system panel; there were now two warehouse manager positions. It was a pity that the system warehouse had become even more mysterious, and the recruitment requirements for this position were raised once again.

For the time being, the warehouse usage permissions remained only with Mi Miaomiao, Cheng Ningye, and Xuan Yu.

Mi Miaomiao opened the city management panel home page:

[City: Rong City Current Area: 1,300 square kilometers Current City Residents: 94 Animal Residents: 52, Human Residents: 42, Plant Residents: 1 (Pending Confirmation).]

Mi Miaomiao widened its eyes in confusion, pointing to the words ‘Pending Confirmation’, and asked the system:

“Meow?” What is going on with this?

This was the first time the system had seen such a situation, so it immediately began a self-check. A moment later, its tone was embarrassed:

[Host-sama, this city resident is the gift left for you by the world consciousness. You never asked about it, so I forgot about it too. Its status is special and requires you to wake it up yourself before it can become an official city resident. Of course, it also requires your permission; if you are unwilling to have it join Rong City, the world consciousness will have it leave the Rong City territory.]

The boundary lines in the mountain forest weren’t clearly demarcated, but Mi Miaomiao had still taken the time to patrol the entire Rong City territory. The only living plants on the surface were banyan tree forests everywhere that were half-dead. It was filled with confusion: “Meow?”

There aren’t even living weeds around, so what evolved plant is there?