Doomsday Cat City Lord - Chapter 6

When the torrential rain ceased, Zhang Tao didn’t actually feel much of a difference at first. It wasn’t until something cold and hard suddenly drifted onto her ear, coupled with bursts of exclamations from the people around her, that she finally broke away from her frantic work and lifted her head to look at the sky.

The lights on the ship seemed a bit dim.

No, that wasn’t it the dark clouds in the sky had dispersed. The night curtain hung low, entirely cloudless.

The bright crescent moon shed its silver, starlike radiance.

Yet, that wasn’t starlight either, but rather glowing flakes of snow dancing with light. They were born from an unknown origin, drifting leisurely down toward the mortal realm like the Creator’s final display of affection for His creations.

The snowfall wasn’t dense. The moment a flake landed on a person, it vanished instantly. When they struck the ground, they shattered into even smaller points of light, blinking out and dissipating without a trace a moment later.

This radiant snowfall felt like a massive special effect, or perhaps a collective dream everyone was experiencing. It concluded in about half an hour.

“What exactly was that just now? It couldn’t be nuclear winter snow, right?”

“Probably not. It snowed across the entire world; there are tons of photos online!”

“Waaah, is this a good thing or a bad thing? Could it be a virus? Several snowflakes landed on me just now. I won’t get sick, will I?”

“What if it’s a trigger for awakening supernatural abilities? Maybe everyone who touched the snow will awaken an ability later!”

Following the initial awe, the crowd fell into uniform panic. Some were anxious and worried, some were excited, and others were cheering as they uploaded the videos they had just captured to the internet, showing off to their families and fellow netizens.

For some reason, Zhang Tao felt her skin crawl all over, as if she were watching a swarm of cockroaches—her ultimate nightmare flooding toward her in droves. Instinctively tightening her grip on the wooden clipboard in her hands, she moved a bit closer to the soldier standing by the guardrail.

Her gaze fell toward the lower deck. Rows of fully armed soldiers stood in formation, and the man standing at the very front was none other than the Major General of the Second Army whom she had glimpsed once upon boarding: Gu Jing.

Just looking at that erect, towering silhouette instilled a sense of security from the bottom of one’s heart. Zhang Tao clutched her chest; the panic from before must have been an illusion… right?

Suddenly, horror washed over Zhang Tao’s face. Major General Gu Jing was looking in her direction and he was aiming his gun right at her!

There was no time to dodge, nor was there time to make a sound!

Bang—! A deafening blast echoed as a streak of blue light grazed past her cheek, piercing straight through the brow of a person standing directly behind her.

That is, if a creature whose face split into two from the mouth down, revealing seventy or eighty interlocking sharp teeth growing haphazardly, whose arms had naturally rotted off, and whose blackened skin exuded a foul stench, could still be called a person!

Cold, foul blood splattered all over her neck. It wasn’t until the soldier beside her pulled her behind his back that Zhang Tao finally snapped out of the shock of the scene.

Normally, she should have screamed and wept uncontrollably like the other normal humans around her who were being attacked by the suddenly transformed monsters. Yet at this moment, she was able to analyze the situation with cool, calm logic. Realizing that the soldiers’ firearms possessed immense destructive power against the monsters and that she was temporarily safe, the first thing she did was pull a medical wet wipe from her pocket. Without a single tremor in her fingers, she wiped the foul blood completely clean from the back of her neck.

Without needing to look with her eyes, a danger warning mechanism seemed to activate inside her brain. She could sense ahead of time which person around her might turn into a monster and which person would provide her with a sense of security.

After three of her predictions proved entirely accurate, the soldier beside her began to take her words seriously, keeping her close by his side as the two paired up to fight, keeping her firmly protected…

A day later, the large ship sailed far out from the harbor.

Zhang Tao accepted the military’s recruitment. Following a comprehensive medical examination, she finally learned that her body had evolved a basic ability called “Psychic Perception.”

While Zhang Tao’s evolutionary ability was only Tier 1, Cheng Ningye had easily advanced to Tier 3 the moment he made contact with the snowflakes.

Coordinating with the healing-oriented Wood-type ability that Mi Miaomiao had just bound, one treated the cats’ ailments while the other guided their evolutionary directions.

Psychic-type ability users were feared by some and coveted by others precisely because they could do more than just foresee crises; the powerful ones could silently manipulate a person’s willpower.

More importantly, they possessed a complete sense of self and would not lose their way during the evolutionary process. As long as they possessed sufficient capability to obtain crystals, their evolutionary advancements would never fail. Furthermore, they could assist others in advancing. The stronger the psychic user, the lower the probability of failure when assisting someone else’s advancement.

With Cheng Ningye’s full assistance, every single member of the cat squad except for Sis Hua San became an evolved being, with Xuanyu even advancing to the peak of Tier 2 in one fell swoop.

Mi Miaomiao channeled its wood-type life energy to stimulate honeysuckle seeds, using their vitality to replenish its internal healing reserves while contemplating: If Xuanyu’s injuries heal completely, could he advance to Tier 3 today?

The snow in the sky had already stopped. Mi Miaomiao’s current level sat roughly at the peak of Tier 3, requiring just one Tier 4 Wood-type crystal to break through the barrier and become a Tier 4 evolved being. However, at this stage, monsters were generally at Tier 1 or Tier 2. Finding a Wood-attribute crystal, moreover, was a matter of sheer luck and near impossible to come by.

The white cat suddenly felt a surge of urgency. Having a second chance at life, it couldn’t let itself be overtaken by Xuanyu so quickly!

Though it thought this way in its heart, the moment the entire courtyard was enveloped by the honeysuckle vines and its internal healing forces were fully restored, Mi Miaomiao went straight to treat Xuanyu first.

It would take roughly three to four more treatments to achieve a full recovery.

“Meow.” Take a break.

The black cat shook its head, standing up to stretch its limbs. The surface of the wounds on its body had already healed; it simply couldn’t engage in strenuous exercise just yet.

Mi Miaomiao spent the entire night continuously accelerating the growth of the honeysuckle. The moment its internal strength recovered, it expended it completely. Repeating this cycle four or five times, the members of the cat squad were fully restored, but the white cat’s fur was damp with sweat, and its soft pink nose looked a bit pale.

Xuanyu signaled for the white cat to lie down, lowering his head to use the barbs on his tongue to groom the top of the white cat’s head, its neck, and other areas it couldn’t easily reach itself. Then, he used his teeth to meticulously clean the fine fur around its ears that didn’t dry easily.

Mi Miaomiao had long since grown accustomed to this level of exhaustion. It was incredibly happy right now, most satisfied with the fact that during its advancement, it had deliberately compressed its energy within its body, controlling it so its physical size didn’t expand too quickly.

Currently, its body length, including its tail, totaled three meters. Following his evolution, Xuanyu’s physique had also experienced an overall enhancement, reaching a length of roughly 1.3 meters including his tail.

Grooming fur was much more convenient this way!

It wasn’t that the shovel-handler’s grooming skills were poor, but rather that a cat understood a cat’s small habits much better. Xuanyu managed to lick Mi Miaomiao into a state of drowsy slumber every single time.

The sound of vibrating wings triggered Mi Miaomiao’s alertness. It first ushered the cats who had just completed their evolution, or were currently evolving, back into the house.

Cheng Ningye took the time to spray air purifier across all the walls and floors. The honeysuckle outside the house exuded a rich, dense fragrance, which could also isolate the monsters’ sense of smell.

In the early stages of the apocalypse, monsters would instinctively roam everywhere in search of energy-rich flesh due to hunger. They possessed no self-awareness, felt no pain, and harbored no fear of death; once they locked onto a target, they had to either kill the prey or be killed by it.

Yet they were also fragile enough, their attack methods simple and direct nowhere near as varied and unpredictable as the Devourer and Fusion monsters that would emerge after evolving down the line.

This period was precisely the prime time to collect “water droplets” and “crystals.”

Mi Miaomiao was determined to elevate the city to Level 2 as quickly as possible. At this stage, there were two methods to accumulate points: one was to recruit a massive pool of citizens, and the second was to utilize the abundant crystals of the early stage to raise the levels of their existing citizens. The former required a specific opportunity, whereas the latter could be rapidly achieved. Furthermore, it served their purpose while lending greater safety to their upcoming long journey. It would also cultivate their initial core team, laying the foundation to forge a fully functional city belonging exclusively to animals.

With its current combat strength, it could be considered invincible against these early-stage monsters. However, it needed to protect its companions who had yet to adapt to the changes in their strength.

The energy fluctuations during advancement were incredibly massive; the flocks of avian monsters in the sky had been drawn over by the energy they had radiated earlier. It was only because the scent of the honeysuckle was too rich and natural that they momentarily lost their bearings.

Mi Miaomiao couldn’t just head out carelessly like this; showing its face would expose everyone’s location.

Looking at the lush, vigorously growing honeysuckle vines, Mi Miaomiao smiled and tossed a handful of honeysuckle seeds outside.

Plant seeds were also a form of life. As the Wood-type energy contained within them exploded without restraint, the rapidly climbing branches radiated energy that mimicked a mutant plant that had just advanced to Tier 1.

Several birds inclined toward becoming Devourers swooped down toward the honeysuckle tree, greedily devouring the increasingly attractive blossoms. They were then ensnared by the roots concealed beneath the flowers and leaves; the more flowers they ate, the faster they collapsed.

Honeysuckle was an excellent remedy for clearing heat and detoxifying. For normal evolved creatures, it could dispel toxins, clear meridians, reduce inflammation, and enhance bodily immunity. Drinking specially brewed honeysuckle tea over a long period could even extend one’s lifespan.

However, all these benefits turned into a fatal poison when facing monsters harboring corrosive bacteria within their bodies. Whether it was rotten flesh or bacteria, to the roots of a plant, it was merely a form of absorbable nutrient.

The monsters had no brains and wouldn’t dodge. As the supernatural energy within the honeysuckle tree dissipated, the flowers ceased blooming. The remaining monsters, leaning toward becoming Fusion types and being more selective with their food, merely assumed that the unpalatable food before them had been entirely consumed and that they could move on to another location to search.

Monsters could no longer be classified by their original species, yet they possessed distinct variations in type.

In the early stage, there were only three types: Tier 1 ordinary monsters, which lacked thinking capabilities, possessed mutated forms, yet remained fragile. They only knew how to search for energy-filled matter to stuff their bellies, with evolved beings being their preferred choice of food.

When monsters evolved to Tier 2, they split into two categories:

Devourers: Lacking brains, they only knew how to consume energy-rich matter. They themselves were clueless as to how many types of genes they had swallowed or which one they had selected as the dominant gene, resulting in bizarre, varied appearances. They frequently consumed corpses and exuded a foul stench.

Fusion Monsters: Possessing small brain capacities but specific preferences, they would choose species with similar appearances to fuse with. For the most part, they only consumed living organisms, and their forms would gradually mutate based on their original foundations, ensuring they didn’t look completely bizarre.

Low-level Devourers and Fusion monsters generally didn’t differ much in appearance, but there was a massive difference in their stench.

Monsters above Tier 5 would experience a massive surge in strength. Built upon the foundations of Devourers and Fusion monsters, intelligent Split-Brains and Monarch-tier monsters would emerge.

Split-Brains: Evolving primarily from Fusion monsters, these monsters focused on evolving their brains. However, they possessed more than one head. Their bodies were incredibly fragile, yet they possessed the capability to manipulate monsters within a small radius. They had many weaknesses and were difficult to catch, serving as the tacticians among monsters.

Monarch Monsters: Possessing strength above Tier 5, they mostly emerged from swarm-type monsters. Born rulers, they possessed the capability to manipulate massive domains of monster hordes.

In their past life, Cheng Ningye and Mi Miaomiao had been cornered and killed by Tier 5 Devourers led by a Tier 5 Split-Brain. Cheng Ningye had self-detonated to kill the Split-Brain and a portion of the Devourers. Though Mi Miaomiao fought to the death to resolve the remaining monsters, when the human ambushers arrived, it had no choice but to swallow the Tier 5 Split-Brain’s crystal to force an advancement. —Ultimately culminating in its rebirth.

Donning its night-vision goggles to survey the surroundings, there was no trace of monsters within a 100-meter radius on the ground. Only then did Mi Miaomiao disperse the honeysuckle branches coiled around the front gate and slip out silently.

Plants of the Lonicera genus possessed thorns, allowing their branches to act as defenses to block monsters from approaching. The more it looked at the flower branches before it, the more satisfied Mi Miaomiao felt. In its past life, it had advanced to Tier 3 on the battlefield against a monster tide, and its bound primary plant had been the thorn vines prepared by the base.

Once a Plant-type ability user established their anchor plant, further advancements would force the bound plants to align with the primary plant; if it was combat-oriented, it would remain entirely combat-oriented.

Combat-oriented plants served simple functions, unlike healing plants which possessed a broad utility. Plants like cacti and aloe vera could heal and fight, and could even serve as food to replenish moisture. Mi Miaomiao had agonized over which one to choose, eventually realizing that honeysuckle seeds were the most convenient to carry around.

The small pouch around its neck could easily hold thousands of seeds.

The flowers scooped up the “water droplets” from the ground, and the branches slowly extended to deliver them into the courtyard, leaving a gap that could open half the front gate. The remaining areas of the villa, including the underground, were entirely sealed off by the root systems of the honeysuckle branches.

Since it had come out, Mi Miaomiao didn’t plan on heading back just yet. Securing the flower seeds around its neck, it hoisted the empty pet backpack onto its back and ran toward the back mountain.

Most animals in the mountain forests had already migrated. The animals left behind were either elderly or physically impaired; falling into degeneracy as monsters was already considered a relatively merciful end for them.

Plants themselves lacked brain structures, making it highly difficult for them to evolve successfully, but they rarely degenerated into monsters; failure to evolve mostly resulted in direct death.

As far as the eye could see, the mountains were blanketed with the brittle, greyish-black remnants of dead trees and withered debris of flora.

The white cat’s ears twitched slightly, catching a rustling sound of shifting earth beneath the soil. Naked “heads” pushed through the obstacles one by one to breathe the fresh air, their teeth arranged spirally within circular mouthparts, aligning with Mi Miaomiao’s direction with every breath.

Earthworm monsters clearly lacked eyes, yet they gave Mi Miaomiao a bizarre sensation of being stared at from all directions, as if an invisible giant beast were looking at it with the gaze of inspecting food, a scarlet tongue dripping thick saliva downward.

Mi Miaomiao frowned, a flash of loathing crossing its eyes.

Earthworm monsters they were a horde and also a collective entity. You could never discern which part was its main body and which part was a decoy it had severed. The underground was their domain; even a Earth-type evolved being couldn’t locate the main body of an earthworm monster within it.

What was even more annoying was that its individual segments lacked brains, yet fusing together granted them Monarch-tier potential, with their innate skill being hallucination. Entering their territory, evolved beings would unconsciously inhale the toxic dust exhaled by the earthworm monsters, only to be buried alive and devoured within illusions.

In its past life, Mi Miaomiao had been tormented by earthworm monsters. Back then, it didn’t possess honeysuckle to neutralize the poison; when it fell into illusions, it could only use thorns to slash open its flesh repeatedly, using pain to keep itself conscious.

Recalling the past, resentment and rage surged back into its heart, eventually transforming into a powerful hunting desire.

Its brain rapidly deduced a countermeasure. As it tossed the honeysuckle seeds toward the earthworm monsters one by one, Mi Miaomiao itself didn’t notice… that a unique aura enveloped a twenty-meter radius around its body.

Deeply buried underground, the earthworm monster’s main body felt a sudden chill, a powerful instinct screaming at it to flee!

But it was already too late!

One, two, three… there were 443 earthworm monster clones, meaning 443 honeysuckle trees grew vigorously. Simultaneously, the popping sounds of thick fluids exploding continuously entered its ears, like firecrackers ignited to celebrate this victory.

Mi Miaomiao panted heavily, continuing to supply supernatural energy to the honeysuckle trees. At the exact moment the earthworm monster perished, its mental state experienced a breakthrough, and at the same time, the energy absorbed by this batch of honeysuckle trees bordered on its limit.

Across the entire mountain, gold and silver petals shifted from full bloom to decay in a mere ten minutes. Stowing this batch of Tier 1 evolved plant seeds into its small pouch, Mi Miaomiao sat on the ground to work on recovering its physical strength, a transparent Tier 3 crystal resting in its right claw.

The harvest from this battle was incredibly rich, making Mi Miaomiao grin even as it bared its teeth in pain.

First, it harvested 3,065 advanced Tier 1 honeysuckle seeds. As for combat power? Multiplying the effect of the battle just now tenfold, with Mi Miaomiao’s current strength, challenging a Tier 5 Devourer remained a bit difficult, but below Tier 5, it feared nothing.

Secondly, this transparent crystal was a Tier 3 Psychic-type crystal with the ability of hallucination—highly suitable for its shovel-handler. Even if it couldn’t elevate Cheng Ningye to Tier 4, it could grant him an incredibly useful psychic skill.

In their past life, the two of them had indulged in the comfortable life of the base sustained by Gu Jing alone. It wasn’t until that massive mountain collapsed that they woke up to the realization that the strength they possessed was the ultimate key to surviving the apocalypse.

In this lifetime, shovel-handler, don’t even think about slacking off!

Finally, and most critically, the mental state breakthrough it experienced was the path leading toward Monarch-tier potential. To become the absolute strongest, what one needed at the very beginning was simply a heart that charged forward without a single shred of fear.

Mi Miaomiao hadn’t noticed during the battle, but once the fight ended, it grasped that sensation. As long as it persevered, the strength increases upon advancing to Tier 5 wouldn’t just be fivefold—it would double tenfold or even more. And its upper limit wouldn’t just be Tier 5; Tier 6, Tier 7… even Tier 10 powerhouses, which had never appeared in its past life, were things the large cat now dared to envision.

“Xuanyu truly is a natural combat fanatic; he had already grasped Monarch-tier potential before the apocalypse.” Mi Miaomiao recalled the first day it returned from rebirth; the chill radiating from Xuanyu back then had frozen a Tier 2 Devourer dead in its tracks.

“No, I absolutely cannot stop my steps toward becoming stronger.” Mi Miaomiao shuddered, quickly using its recovered energy to plant Tier 1 honeysuckle seeds, using the honeysuckle to heal the severe injuries within its body.

Subconsciously, Mi Miaomiao didn’t dare return home with injuries, didn’t want Xuanyu to know it had been severely injured from just one outing, and didn’t want Xuanyu’s strength to surpass its own.

It always felt like things would turn out very badly.

Just as Mi Miaomiao felt the injuries on its body had recovered by seventy to eighty percent, the sound of an explosion suddenly echoed in its ears.

Looking toward the source of the sound, it was a certain pier in Lehai City.

“Meow-oww!” Work is calling~!