Doomsday Cat City Lord - Chapter 25

At night, the ant guards also patrolled from high altitudes, allowing everyone to sleep with more peace of mind.

“Knock, knock, knock!”

There were no dreams throughout the night. At the first light of dawn, the knocking woke Feng Lu up. He yawned as he pulled back the curtains, revealing Cheng Feifei’s fair, pretty little face behind the glass.

“Brother, get up quickly! Cat City Lord is back. It built a training room on Platform 3, and right now, it’s building a school for us!”

“A training room? What’s that for?” Feng Lu felt a jolt of energy and, after a quick wash, pushed open the wooden door of his small cabin. His grandfather had left a message saying he had already gone to take a stroll along the city walls with the other old men and women at the break of dawn.

“I heard the adults say that it’s a place for everyone to exercise and learn martial arts! It will even teach us how to fight monsters!” Feifei handed two large steamed buns to her brother and tugged him toward the west.

The two children, one big and one small, dressed in matching yellow hoodies and blue jeans, made their way through the lush cornfield. Feng Lu saw that small corn husks had already begun to grow on the stalks.

According to the City Lord, time had to be left for the land to recover its fertility, so they could only stimulate growth once every 10 days. In another 15 days, they should be able to eat fresh, tender corn.

Platform 1 was the central platform where the stone temple was located; Platforms 2 and 3 were on the same level. The No. 2 platform on the left was used for growing vegetables and fruits.

At this moment, in the center of the vacant No. 3 platform on the right, a spacious and heavy stone courtyard had appeared. From the open gate, one could see many rooms inside, as well as several flat, large courtyards.

On the other side of the construction site, work was in full swing. The City Lord’s honeysuckle branches were moving lumber in mid-air, while Uncle Deng Huai simultaneously operated 3 crane cables to move giant boulders. Several strength-type animals, along with the uncles and aunts, were personally moving stones, piling them layer by layer to form the foundation.

[Level 2 Training Camp: 10 training rooms, 10 training grounds, 10 types of cold weapon training programs. (Level 3 Training Camp can choose from the following upgrade directions: 1. Increase training rooms to 20 and training grounds to 20. 2. 36 types of cold weapon training programs, 30 types of general firearm training programs. 3. Holographic virtual monster combat training.)]

Pushing open one of the training rooms, there were already three or four people inside. It was a 100-square-meter large open room. One side of the wall was largely inlaid with floor-to-ceiling windows, and the other side was covered with weapons: clubs, long swords, short swords, daggers, brass knuckles, long whips, short whips, long axes, short axes, spears, and crossbows. There were ten types of cold weapons in total, with three different styles for each to choose from.

“This is too expensive, isn’t it? It says 1-on-1 video teaching can you really learn anything?” A middle-aged man gripped the hilt of a long sword, his face pained. He spoke of it being expensive, yet was reluctant to let go.

Feng Lu stepped forward and grasped a triple-shot automatic crossbow at the bottom. A small display screen on the buckle beneath the crossbow lit up:

[Weapon: Triple-shot Automatic Crossbow Category: Remote consumable cold weapon Estimated teaching time: 12 hours (Getting started), 72 hours (Beginner), 360 hours (Proficient), 8,760 hours (Master). Teaching fee: 10 points per 3 hours (Please pay at the entrance.)]

It was indeed a bit expensive, but Feng Lu’s eyes grew brighter. He was a Level 1 evolver. When he had saved up enough points to go to the City Lord for ability testing, he was told his physical fitness was poor and there was no clear direction for evolution for the time being.

Compared to his grandfather’s basic strength-type ability, he had simply stopped getting sick, and his physical strength and endurance had increased slightly; it was extremely difficult for him to kill even a Level 1 monster.

Now with this training room, he could increase his skills. With a crossbow in hand, he could attempt ranged attacks. As long as he could kill monsters, whether water orbs or crystals he could grow stronger quickly, and then protect his grandfather and younger sister.

He still had 23 points in his hand. Feng Lu sent a message to his grandfather and turned to pay at the instrument by the door:

[Payment successful. Weapon usage time: 3 hours. For remote weapons, please head to outdoor training grounds 6-10.]

“Brother, I want to learn the whip.” Cheng Feifei tugged at the corner of Feng Lu’s hoodie, looking longingly at the red leather whip on the wall.

“You’re still too young, little girl; don’t waste the points Mom and Dad worked so hard to earn.”

The middle-aged man finally put down the long sword in his hand and turned to leave. He shook his light screen at the two children, saying with a tone of relief: “Besides, there are so many tutorial videos online. Once the network recovers in a few days, just save them and follow along. There’s no need to waste money here. 10 points could feed you for three days!”

The little girl’s mouth pursed into a pout. She snorted softly: “These are the points I saved up myself from growing vegetables!”

“Uncle, thank you for your kind reminder.” Feng Lu pulled Feifei behind him and said calmly: “But with more and more monsters, only if we can learn how to protect ourselves as soon as possible can we alleviate the pressure on you adults, don’t you think?”

The middle-aged man was rendered speechless by the simple, firm gaze of the teenager. He turned and walked away quickly, muttering under his breath: “So what if you learn it now? Where are you going to get a weapon?”

“Since the City Lord built this training room, weapons will appear in the exchange warehouse sooner or later.” Feng Lu ruffled Feifei’s pigtails and led the little girl to the payment area.

[Guest is under 6 years old and has not reached the minimum age standard. The system recommends that the little guest exercise and train her body more daily. You may also observe from the sidelines of the training rooms and grounds this is free of charge.]

“Brother, the AI here is so cute.” Feifei sat on a rest chair beside the training ground. Not far away, Feng Lu was already standing in the shooting position. A light screen immediately appeared beside him, and the instructor on it had a height and weight similar to his own.

Feng Lu only had time to give his sister a reassuring smile before his full attention was focused on the instructor’s movements and words.

Deconstruction of the crossbow structure, the posture for holding a bow and arrow, how to aim, how to shoot every subtle action was pointed out one by one.

Every time an arrow was shot, the light screen would record the data, analyze the problems, and offer correction advice.

Without realizing it, three hours passed. Feng Lu felt full of gains, but his arms, shoulders, and spine were achey and numb. He clicked to save progress with shaking hands.

“Brother, I’ll be six in 3 months. I want to save up points as quickly as possible and run every morning!” Cheng Feifei counted the time on her fingers, her eyes greedy for Brother Feng Lu’s way of learning.

At noon, in the mountain forest near Lushan Town.

The sound of soil being compressed and shifting was incessant. Beams of dazzling light pierced through the leaves, yet there wasn’t a hint of warmth to be felt while standing in the light.

“Can we really survive?” A woman grabbed her boyfriend’s hand in a disheveled state. The two ran into a relatively large patch of sunlight, finally able to catch their breath.

Around them, in other patches of light, large or small, other desperate refugees also stood.

Their gazes landed in the shadows. Between the soil and withered leaves, countless yellow monster-insects the size of human palms were crawling. They crouched outside the light, hiding in the darkness, coveting the flesh and blood of the living.

“Of course, we will definitely survive!” The man bent down, gathered the fallen leaves together, ignited them with a lighter, and kicked them into the shadows ahead. Holding a smoking, damp leaf in one hand and his girlfriend’s hand in the other, he ran toward the large patch of sunlight ahead the moment the swarm of insects retreated.

…

Lu He-tao watched the thick smoke rising in the mountain forest with a depressed mood, standing on full alert. It had been difficult enough to establish a place to settle on the mountain and plant crops, and then he found that there were more and more monsters; the thin courtyard walls of the school simply couldn’t block the increasingly terrifying monsters.

If this continued, in two days, they would probably only be able to shrink back into the teaching building.

“Brother Tao, another group of people has come over. Should we let them in?” Lu Haiye’s face was haggard. He was too young and his mentality wasn’t stable enough; he hadn’t been able to sleep for three consecutive days because of the activity outside.

“That fire on that hill was set by them!” Lu He-tao looked at the isolation zone that had only just been cleared around the school. His anger had reached its limit, and his tone was surprisingly calm.

But when those dozen or so disheveled figures cried out for help, he still opened the gate and let them in.

“Our place is too small to accommodate so many of you. After eating, I’ll send you to Lushan Town; there’s a large base there, and the walls are about to be finished.”

“Thank you, Brother, thank you.” The woman drank the hot rice porridge, moved to the point of tears. Upon hearing this, there wasn’t the slightest dissatisfaction on her face; she only explained: “We encountered a group of insect-monsters in the woods. There were countless of them; if they hadn’t been afraid of fire and light, we probably wouldn’t have survived a single one.”

Lu Haiye’s face was filled with horror. If there were really that many insect-monsters, it probably wouldn’t take long for the entire mountain forest to be occupied by them.

Lu He-tao frowned, falling into a dilemma.

“Meow-aow!” A cat’s cry resounded through the mountain forest. Lu He-tao and Lu Haiye were the first to arrive in the courtyard. A moment later, the burning forest trees in the distance gradually extinguished.

Soon, a giant white beast stepped on the tree branches and arrived before them.

“City Lord, welcome! Thank you for helping us solve a big problem.”

“Meow.” It’s nothing.

Mi Miaomiao lowered its head and typed on the communicator: [The fire is out, and a batch of insect-monsters has been cleared. But without finding the leader, it’s impossible to eradicate them completely. After a period of time, they will regenerate a new tribe.]

“This… is that so.” The gloom on Lu He-tao’s face could no longer be hidden, but he still suppressed his thoughts for the time being, concentrating on communicating with the big cat: “Is there any business for which you’ve come to see us?”

[I want to find tree saplings or tree seeds, preferably fruit trees or nut trees. I wanted to ask if you have any here? I can exchange them with supplies, and I can also help you drive away monsters.]

“Yes, please follow me.” Lu He-tao was astonished for a moment, then quickly reacted, leading Mi Miaomiao into the sports lounge behind the teaching building.

“Fruit trees are generally grafted or transplanted; cultivating them directly from seeds is very difficult, and the variety cannot be fixed. But under the current circumstances, being lucky enough to retain seeds is fortunate in itself. The fruit tree seeds currently in existence are all picked out from rotten fruit or moldy seeds. They have already been treated, frozen with peat moss, and are prepared for sowing next spring.”

Mi Miaomiao looked at the neatly arranged seeds of different varieties in the freezer, knowing these were all obtained through their painstaking efforts. Furthermore, the people here were indeed as Lu He-tao had said before, very good at tending to plants. These seeds basically all retained their vitality.

But next spring would be very difficult to reach!

[You know I’m a wood-type ability user. These seeds are indeed all alive. I want to catalyze all these seeds and return the surviving plants to you when the time comes, or provide more new seeds.]

Lu He-tao pondered for a moment and asked: “Can Rong City grow so many trees?”

After asking, he shook his head first: “Sorry, the mountains have the most land; my question was redundant.”

The gold and blue cat eyes lingered on Lu He-tao for a moment. When he couldn’t help but become nervous, the big cat nodded.

[I’ll help you isolate monsters first.]

Honeysuckle branches climbed onto the courtyard wall. In less than half an hour, the security of this small school had increased by 3 meters; it looked very secure.

Mi Miaomiao still hadn’t found the Level 1 peppermint it was satisfied with, so planting peppermint was quite troublesome. It first catalyzed one plant; once its roots sprouted and divided, it would dismantle the plant, continuously dividing and dividing again. It was busy for the better part of the day before it shallowly covered this little hill.

[Try to isolate scent leakage in your daily life, and definitely don’t return while bleeding.]

Looking at the school that now felt very secure, and then sensing that the subtle movement in the soil gradually disappeared after the peppermint was planted, the thought that had just arisen in Lu He-tao’s mind was temporarily suppressed. He thanked Mi Miaomiao with utmost sincerity.

Then, he led the big cat to another cultivation room: “This is a mushroom mycelium bag we just cultivated. As a token of gratitude, I’d like to tell you the production method.”

If Hong Jiaxi had helped them, Lu He-tao would only have sent them some mushrooms as a gift of thanks. But facing Mi Miaomiao, Lu He-tao subconsciously felt that giving the mycelium culture was more appropriate.

Mi Miaomiao’s gaze only stayed on the mycelium bag for a moment, but its heterochromatic eyes were fixedly staring at the heated brick bed (kang) laid out in the room.

“Haha, these white mushrooms grow at 14-16 degrees. The current room temperature is almost zero degrees, so the elderly came up with this traditional method of keeping warm.”

[Are you interested in doing a deal with Rong City?]

“Please speak.”

Mi Miaomiao sighed deeply that it still didn’t understand humans well enough. The most energy-efficient heating method a cat could think of was simply huddling together and pressing against other animals.

[Help Rong City build heated brick beds, and… do you also know how to make charcoal? If so, I’d like to ask you to help burn charcoal.]

“What will you trade with?”

[Food, winter supplies.]

Lu He-tao couldn’t wait; there was no need to consult with others at all, and he agreed completely: “Deal.”

[Honeysuckle and peppermint can block monsters for a while, but it’s not a long-term solution after all. The number and level of monsters are both increasing. If you want to settle here, you must either thicken the courtyard walls or increase the number of evolvers. And you must exceed the monsters’ evolution speed.]

Lu He-tao sighed long and hard, silent. How could he not understand this principle?

[Go take a look at Rong City; my invitation still stands.]

Mentioning the recruitment of new city residents, the first people Mi Miaomiao thought of were Lu He-tao and Hong Jiaxi. Both had management talent, minds that were sufficiently clear, and natures that were essentially not bad.

Seeing that Lu He-tao was already wavering, Mi Miaomiao quietly transferred the supplies it wanted to bring back to Rong City into the warehouse, and then took a trip to Lushan Town.

Most monsters were not afraid of water; tsunamis and great floods could only harm them, or trap them in the water. As long as monsters could still move, they would always gravitate toward places with energy and life.

Recently, these survivors fleeing from the sea understood this best.

They had originally stayed on mountain peaks or the tops of buildings to escape the tsunami. After the tsunami completely subsided, some mountain forests in the water were very suitable for settlement. The land could be planted, there were no monsters around, and large quantities of supplies could be collected from the water.

But after the first monster crawled ashore, everything changed.

…

Lushan Town was very noisy. A pier had been built there, and the tall city walls were almost finished, with the final touches being applied to the main gate and the defensive watchtowers atop the walls.

Mi Miaomiao didn’t get too close, listening from afar to the sounds coming on the wind, knowing that most of these refugees still intended to head to the safer Changsong Plateau and the Northern Military Base. But there were also quite a few who wanted to stay in Lushan Town.

“Meow.” The vitality here is too dense, exceeding the energy radiated by the great banyan tree. The time for the beast tide to arrive will be even faster than Cheng Ningye anticipated.

Sending a text message to Hong Jiaxi, the human and the cat finally met when night fell.

Smelling the杂驳 (motley) and unpleasant odor on the other’s body, Mi Miaomiao’s body subconsciously stood on alert, but it still reminded: “Meow.”

[Be careful to isolate your scent.]

Hong Jiaxi hadn’t stopped smoking; she nodded with a bitter smile: “Most survivors are only staying here temporarily. I have to take advantage of having many people to get the city walls finished as soon as possible. It will be better in a few more days.”

After Lushan Town’s population increased, it faced a severe shortage of supplies. Over these past few days, she had frequently taken people to far-away places to collect supplies, killing monsters until she was numb. At this moment, her mind was still considering how to persuade those few Level 2 evolvers with good potential to join Lushan Town.

Mi Miaomiao could feel the perfunctoriness in this sentence. It nodded: “Meow.”

[I’ve come this time to make a deal with you: please help rescue the animals if you find them in distress. I can trade with the newly matured crops and vegetables from the mountains.]

Hearing this, the first thing Hong Jiaxi thought of was the supplies that Rong City and Lu He-tao had taken from Lushan Town. Then there was the fact that the evolved animals were so powerful naturally, she would try her best to rescue them if she encountered them. Was the City Lord of Rong City asking her to send those animals to Rong City?

Rong City seemed to have never recruited new city residents. Now, the number of evolvers in Lushan Town already far exceeded the number of residents in Rong City. If…

Hong Jiaxi suddenly felt herself enveloped by immense pressure. The chill made her breath tremble. She suddenly remembered the strength of the cat before her, and the 5-level crystal it had taken away.

How high was its strength now?

Why were humans able to produce such great changes in a short period of time? Mi Miaomiao felt puzzled, but it also thought that the human heart was complicated to begin with.

Hong Jiaxi now placed power above all else, but that didn’t prevent her from still lending a hand when humans or animals encountered difficulties.

It was just that it was now the City Lord of Rong City; both parties could engage in cooperation, but they were simultaneously in a relationship of mutual competition.

Once it figured this out, Mi Miaomiao pushed Hong Jiaxi and Lushan Town to the depths of its mind.

The next day, Lu He-tao arrived at Rong City with five people, walking into the tall city walls with awe and envy, taking the public bus to the mountainside, and personally experiencing the scene of animals and humans living in harmony.

On the third day, when he returned to the school with two people, he held a collective meeting. After showing everyone photos of Rong City and introducing the various rules and systems of Rong City, he finally proposed: “Let’s move to Rong City.”

Old Village Chief Lu Jiming stood up excitedly: “Is this all true?”

“Dad, it’s true. It’s so beautiful there that it’s like heaven. The point is there isn’t a single monster in the city. I finally had the most peaceful sleep I’ve had in all these days last night!”

Lu Haiye held his father’s shoulders, glowing with health, and looked at his father’s still-unhealed lame leg, saying earnestly: “Dad, let’s move over. I’ll go save up points and exchange them for a healing-type ability user to cure your leg!”

Lu Jiming looked at the expectant gazes of the old companions around him, slapped his thigh, and said firmly: “Move! Organize our seeds and the newly cultivated saplings move them all over!”

Rong City’s barges were all put into use once again, helping to transfer the supplies from the school to Mount Muyuan.

Old Village Chief Lu Jiming and the elderly in the village who had tended to plants for their whole lives were uneasy about the clumsy young people, insisting on following and escorting them in batches.

Lu Haiye sat on the last bus with his father and several grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, and aunts, and Rong City’s 20-meter-high city walls slowly appeared before his eyes.

“I’m telling you, what I like most in Rong City are the ant guards, and secondly, the training room!”

“Yes, yes, yes, we’ll see it soon.” Everyone stared unblinkingly at the city outline ahead, smiling and fooling the children.

Suddenly, a sharp ringing sound rang out in everyone’s minds. Everyone covered their ears in panic simultaneously.

“In the sky!” Lu Haiye was the first to recover; he stared at the sky in shock and fear.

Black flying monsters were plunging toward the mountain forest like a swarm!

Those piercing bird cries made everyone’s hearts and brains swell uncomfortably!

“Everyone sit still, full speed ahead!”