Doomsday Cat City Lord - Chapter 8

The animals, who hadn’t quite snapped out of the lingering adrenaline of battle, immediately jumped to their feet upon hearing the news. They hurriedly sprayed themselves with air purifiers, threw on their oversized pet raincoats, and scurried along the suspension bridge woven from honeysuckle roots to enter the adjacent warehouse.

Inside the vast, empty commercial shipping bay, a single medium-sized white business yacht sat quietly in a semi-dry canal. There were visible signs of repair on the bow and the left side of the hull; the workmanship was professional and the joints were seamless, though they hadn’t yet been spray-painted to match the original color.

The yacht measured 25 meters in total length. Above the deck were two floors of living space, containing six fully furnished rooms, an office zone, a conference area, and a dining space large enough to host small banquets. Below the deck, the hull had been retrofitted into three large storage bays. The cold-storage zone was packed to the brim with frozen meat, fruits, and vegetables, while the other two warehouses neatly held military-grade compressed rations, standard-issue weapons (excluding pulse rifles), light armor, compact military medical devices, and rapid-acting military wound medicines.

The cat squad and the two Haskorgis took some food to the dining area to rest, while Mi Miaomiao and Cheng Ningye stepped into the cockpit.

“This particular yacht model has been on the market for twenty years since the first unit rolled off the line. Just the year before last, netizen polls rated it as the most cost-effective business yacht of the century. The intelligent control system integrated inside can handle 90% of the operations on board. For example… voice commands.”

Cheng Ningye refreshed the data system’s database, establishing himself as the new owner of the vessel.

“Open the warehouse doors, release the floodgates, and set sail immediately. Destination: Lehai City East Estuary Pier, Warehouse 173.”

“Major General Gu Jing, are you absolutely certain that you cannot re-establish contact with the Prophet who sent that email?”

Gu Jing, dressed in full military uniform, stood up facing the video display screen. He executed a flawless, textbook military salute, his gaze unfaltering as he looked directly back at the three individuals on the screen. He declared in a resolute tone, “I am certain. I swear it upon my medals and my honor as a soldier.”

The video call was split into four viewports. One showed a solemn, majestic military conference room; another displayed a clean, minimalist shipboard command center structurally identical to Gu Jing’s own environment; and the last showed a messy, noisy military tent. In every frame, numerous personnel in military uniforms and combat gear could be seen gathered tightly around their respective leaders.

The Commander of the Third Army Corps had been critically wounded by two transformed family members at the very beginning of the apocalypse and remained in a deep coma. The Commanders of the other three Army Corps were currently scrutinizing Gu Jing with heavy stares.

Their auras were steady and razor-sharp, their expressions varying from stern to mild. What they shared was an age of over fifty, a history of massive structural contributions to this planet during their youth, and a bloodthirsty, martial vigor that had been thoroughly reawakened after many years away from the front lines.

No one would possess the sheer nerve to look them in the eye and lie.

Gu Jing quietly endured their scrutiny.

Observing the young man’s unyielding features and unwavering gaze, the Commanders instantly recalled Gu Jing’s track record since joining the military. He had enlisted straight out of college at age 18, participated in space campaigns against insurgents, and wiped-out dozens of rebel factions deep within the planet’s interior. Not only did he possess brilliant military achievements, but he was also an unshakeable Earth Loyalist, entirely untangled from the Space Force.

Consequently, their stances naturally softened. Gu Jing’s direct superior, the Commander of the Second Army Corps, even cast an approving look his way. The three seniors concluded their private interrogation after a brief inquiry regarding the coastal environmental shifts and safety hazards during troop migrations.

The island cluster where the Alliance Headquarters was located had suffered a succession of catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis, leaving the majority of Alliance officials dead. The actual operational impact that the various continental coalition governments could provide in a disaster of this scale was inherently limited; those who truly possessed the raw power to deploy operations were the three Corps Commanders on this call.

They were incredibly busy. The Prophet was important, but with that exhaustively detailed email on record, they knew the individual was likely safe and well; there was no pressing structural need to smoke them out into the open.

“The connection between Earth and outer space is gradually severing. The primary factor is that the Space Force is actively cutting off communications.”

The moment those words left his mouth, the conference room plunged into a suffocating silence so profound that a pin drop could be heard.

On paper, the Space Force was the Fifth Army Corps of the Coalition Government. However, as political friction between the regional continental factions grew increasingly frequent, outer space had transformed into their new political theater, and the development of the starry skies became a stage for padding political resumes.

Because of this, the Space Force and Earth’s four major Army Corps had long looked down on one another. Yet at a critical juncture like this, everyone present knew exactly what losing contact with the Space Force implied the space stations would close, communication signals would lag, disaster early-warning arrays would fail entirely, and Earth would be completely cut off from external data.

“Hahaha! Well, there is at least some good news. The Changsong Plateau base stations are similarly unable to connect to the space stations, meaning the colony transport starships can’t launch. As long as the torrential downpours don’t stop, the aerospace transports can’t breach orbit either. Nobody gets to leave,” the Commander of the First Army Corps laughed, his teeth practically grinding together.

They had finally deciphered why, according to the prophecies, no information regarding outer space ever surfaced again after Earth’s magnetic poles reversed. They simply didn’t know if being stationed out in deep space still subjected humans to the risk of mutating into monsters.

The meeting dragged on for three full hours. By the time Gu Jing disconnected the transmission, the time was 5:00 PM on September 1st.

The surface of the sea surged in heavy crests as occasional shafts of daylight punctured the clouds. Within his narrow field of vision, the distant black island resembled a mountain mass towering straight out of the water, the mist kicked up by crashing waves and torrential rain cloaking it in a hazy, almost sacred shroud.

The original Shanghe Island had been blanketed in lush trees and year-round blooming flowers. Its pure white beaches and two miles of continuous coral blue waters had previously earned it the title of the most beautiful military island.

Now, in the feed transmitted back by the drones, black sludge flowed across the entire island, and the scorched, greyish-black remnants of mutated flora could be seen everywhere. Two-thirds of its landmass had been swallowed by the rising sea levels; only the island’s central peaks held their ground, and the massive military perimeter walls atop them loomed in absolute silence.

As the drone scaled higher, it revealed zero signs of biological activity within the perimeter. The windows and doors of the slate-grey structures were sealed tight. The level grounds were being scrubbed repeatedly by the driving rain, leaving only the military flags pinned flat against their masts, squirming half-dead in the wind.

“Reporting to the Commander, the Technical Department is still unable to link with the signal base stations inside the island. The moment a drone approaches the center of the landmass, it hits unknown interference and plummets straight down.” The parameters were far too bizarre; there was no trace of monsters, yet all electronic equipment on the island had shut down completely. The adjutant hesitated for a long time before finally appending a personal warning: “Commander, the situation on the island is too anomalous. It might be better if you didn’t personally…”

“We proceed according to the original plan. I will lead the team.” With a single look from Gu Jing, the adjutant immediately shut his mouth in compliance.

The deployment assembled rapidly, comprising three teams composed entirely of evolved individuals with specialized abilities. Gu Jing personally spearheaded a squad made up entirely of raw recruits whose attributes happened to be highly functional for tactical operations.

These recruits had received zero formal military training and were thrown into cooperation with the army on short notice, leaving everyone worried about coordination errors in the event of an emergency. Only Zhang Tao’s expression remained flat; she stared toward the center of the island, noting that her sense of unease wasn’t particularly severe in fact, there was a faint, subtle pull attracting her forward.

She knew Gu Jing shared the exact same sensation. While undergoing evaluations in the medical wing, Zhang Tao had discovered perhaps not altogether surprisingly that Major General Gu Jing had evolved dual basic attributes: Affinity and Perception.

With him anchoring the line, the squad would absolutely never unravel.

Taking advantage of the assembly window, Gu Jing tapped his glowing screen to begin drafting a message.

The adjutant accidentally caught a glimpse of the screen, his mouth popping open in sudden shock. Meeting his superior’s piercing gaze, he pointed at the medals pinned across the Major General’s chest and asked nervously, “The conference started at 2:00 PM, but you were already in touch with the mysterious figure at 1:00 PM… how could you still make such a severe military vow on your honor?”

“The other party contacted me unilaterally,” Gu Jing replied impassively, hitting send to forward the meeting intelligence carefully stripped of classified military logistics—over to the contact.

The adjutant: “…”

The business yacht arrived smoothly at the Lehai City East Estuary Pier. Cheng Ningye’s folded laptop suddenly chimed with the specific alert tone reserved for high-priority notifications.

“Meow!” The sea level has risen again.

Mi Miaomiao leaped onto the mooring dock, its paws submerged mostly in water as it looked back toward its handler.

Cheng Ningye jumped down from the vessel and was caught cleanly by the massive white cat. Treading through the water, they advanced steadily toward a warehouse positioned on slightly higher ground, with Cheng Ningye quickly scanning through the lengthy email en route.

“Gu Jing and his people have already made landfall on Shanghe Island. Also… the communications between Earth and outer space have been severed. The conditions out at sea are completely unmonitored right now; a massive number of telemetry signals from the floating buoys have gone dark. Going forward, we probably won’t have any early warning data for earthquakes or tsunamis.”

Mi Miaomiao didn’t have much of a reaction to this intelligence. Ever since it understood the root cause of the apocalypse, it knew better than to place any expectations on the human elite. Becoming strong through one’s own efforts was the singular blueprint for survival.

The complex array of expressions across Cheng Ningye’s face ultimately flattened into absolute numbness. He had initially assumed the army corps would play a much larger, anchoring role in this apocalypse; he hadn’t anticipated that he would instead uncover a segment of the grim truth behind the previous timeline’s collapse.

The Space Force was the political playground of the Alliance’s regional factions, and every soul on Earth knew this Fifth Corps was perpetually at odds with the other four. Yet he still found it hard to believe that the Space Force would actively kill its signal array to Earth the very moment the disaster struck. The actual culprit behind the erratic signals during the early stages of the Great Magnetic Storm turned out to be humanity itself…

However, this was far from the final bad news they would receive today.

As the man and cat stood before the doors of Warehouse 173, the heavy lockset that had been perfectly intact during their morning inspection was now covered in brutal signs of hammering, crushing, cutting, and grinding unmistakable indicators of human vandalism.

“Meow!” There’s a scent of blood!

Mi Miaomiao leaned in to sniff it, the fur along its spine instantly exploding outward.

“There are no human tracks nearby, nor are there any bloodstains.” The structures surrounding the warehouse area were low-slung, and most of the neighboring warehouse doors stood wide open, offering a completely unobstructed line of sight. Cheng Ningye retracted his psychic sweep, his tone laced with worry: “Regardless of what happened, let’s secure the boat and supplies first.”

Cheng quickly swiped his magnetic card key to pop open the three solid master locks, letting out a sigh of relief: “Thank goodness this warehouse doesn’t have windows! Otherwise, the boat and the gear would have been cleared out by now.”

“Meow.” The blood scent is mixed, but it isn’t foul. It belongs to multiple living humans.

Cheng Ningye’s gaze turned icy as he accelerated his movements to organize the cache, rapidly piloting the yacht out of the bay.

At a juncture like this, those who still hadn’t evacuated generally fell into three archetypes:

1. Those who had simply suffered logistical delays.
2. Those similar to Mi Miaomiao’s group, who possessed an independent destination and intended to evacuate via private means.
3. Exploitative criminals convicts who had broken out of prison following the disaster; thugs who committed crimes inside the shelters and fled legal consequences; or individuals who committed offenses on the evacuation ships but chose to jump ship rather than face confinement.

The first type wouldn’t leave behind the heavy scent of fresh blood that the cat had caught, while the second type would have secured their transport tools long in advance. Only the third category required absolute vigilance against being targeted.

The smaller boat slid into the sea along the warehouse canal channel, secured firmly to the yacht via heavy steel cables. The larger vessel pulled the smaller craft along, rapidly leaving the harbor limits behind.

Inside a commercial high-rise directly opposite the harbor, a man tracking their movements through a pair of binoculars witnessed the entirety of Cheng Ningye’s operation.

“Boss, your hunch was spot on! There really was a boat stashed inside that warehouse!”

“Follow them. It’s just one person and a massive cat,” Zhang Qu said, lowering the binoculars. He swung a casual fist into the air, the compressed wind force blasting a deep crater straight into the floor.

“Damn it, that bastard Gu Jing salvaged and confiscated every single fixable boat along the coastal waters. I’ve never seen an army corps so pathetic and starved for gear!”

Exactly half an hour remained before the earthquake’s arrival.

The dense, heavy clouds overhead rolled violently, obscuring even the faintest glint of starlight. The weak structural lighting within the city limits vanished completely, plunging the night into a pitch-black ink where one couldn’t see their own hand before their face.

The wind turbines could still generate power as long as the gales blew, but certain monsters harbored an intense aversion to light and would actively seek out and destroy illumination sources.

Clearing away a few stray monsters drawn in by the acoustic profile of their movements, Cheng Ningye moored the vessels inside a deep-water street closest to their home. The narrow alleyway was flanked by walls on three sides, and Mi Miaomiao had sealed the exit and the overhead canopy completely airtight using dense layers of honeysuckle vines.

Cheng Ningye lay flat across Mi Miaomiao’s back. Inside the cat carrier strapped to his shoulders, Xiaotian and Huabi were squeezed tightly together, while the fat orange cat’s hind legs straddled his neck, its front paws wrapped securely around his forehead. Being enveloped from all quadrants by thick, dense fur kept the torrential rain and wild gales completely at bay, though the collective mass was proving slightly suffocating!

“Meow?” Miaomiao, I think I hear human voices. What if they cut through the vines?

Xiaotian peered back anxiously, her hyper-attuned ears catching what sounded like the faint respiration of humans echoing beneath the masking sound of the downpour further out.

“Meow meow!” The honeysuckle vines left behind are anchored to my bonded main plant; if they take heavy damage, I’ll feel it instantly. Running at full throttle from the house to this spot takes me exactly two minutes. To chop through all these reinforced branches and secure our boats within that window unless that person is a Tier 3 Strength-evolved individual, do you really think it’s possible?

The three cats had experienced the terrifying capabilities of a Tier 2 monster firsthand today, fully understanding that Miaomiao’s present power was in an entirely different league. Hearing this, Huabi, Xiaotian, Ju Dabang, and Cheng Ningye shook their heads in unison: “Absolutely impossible.”

Yet regardless of whether the vessels and supplies were structurally secure, Mi Miaomiao and Cheng Ningye would absolutely never leave any animal behind to watch the boats.

In the apocalypse, humans were far more dangerous entities than monsters. Mi Miaomiao would forever remember the glint of ravenous, deep-seated greed in the eyes of the starving crowds during the second year of the Great Drought, as well as the evolved beasts that had died agonizing deaths at the hands of the very humans they trusted.

After a moment of deliberation, Mi Miaomiao pinged the system: “Meow?” 012, those two boats are technically counted as assets belonging to Rongcheng City now. Do you have a mechanism to take over their surveillance programs?

【No, I can only interface with functional buildings manufactured directly by the system ecosystem. However, Host, I can submit a formal development request to Headquarters to have them code new functional system equipment.】012 volunteered eagerly, terrified that its host would find it completely useless even though, at this current stage, its functional utility was indeed quite minimal.

“Never mind then,” Mi Miaomiao replied, not particularly disappointed.

The moment they stepped through the front door of their home, the ground beneath their paws began to shudder violently. Waves of intense vertigo washed over their brains as every object within their line of sight began to warp and sway!

The earthquake would immediately be followed by a tsunami; the displacement wouldn’t be minor, and the duration would drag on for a considerable length of time.

【Host, diagnostic scans complete. The seismic activity measures at Magnitude 5; the dispersing energy waves will not cause structural failure to the surrounding buildings.】

The anchorage point where the two vessels were hidden was extremely safe, leaving no room for concern about them being swept away, nor any risk of thieves attempting to pirate the boats mid-tsunami.

Ever since its rebirth, Mi Miaomiao had been working tirelessly without a single moment of rest during its waking hours. Now, collapsed inside the black cat’s embrace, it didn’t want to move even a single muscle.

The white cat rested its head against the black cat’s belly, its paw pads gently shoving aside the two small puppies who insisted on gluing themselves to its body, while its eyes watched the remaining members of the cat squad huddled tightly together in a pile.

【…】 Fine, 012 had already grown accustomed to being completely ignored.

Being ignored was actually quite nice; at least it didn’t have to go to the study hall! It swore the last time it had studied this intensively was when it was preparing for the System Graduation Certification Board!

As the tremors subsided, a serene quiet settled over the courtyard floor where everyone lay. The cat squad had been running ragged rescuing survivors earlier, followed by wound recovery, adapting to their newly evolved physiques, and occasionally being dragged by Xuanyu to learn human literacy to help catalog the household inventory. The cats and dogs were thoroughly exhausted, and within this peaceful atmosphere, they quickly drifted off to sleep.

While Mi Miaomiao’s gaze drifted lazily around the courtyard to unwind, the system’s processor couldn’t help but lock its attention onto the black cat. Though its host remained entirely unaware that it was withholding data from the previous timeline, the system itself was plagued by a guilty conscience!

Particularly with the previous host and the current host positioned in such close physical proximity, it honestly didn’t even know which direction to point its internal cameras anymore!