Doomsday Cat City Lord - Chapter 9

“Meow!” Time to collect your crystals!

The cats and dogs pancaked in a pile on the ground lifted their heads and untangled themselves, jostling shoulder-to-shoulder. Some yawned, some stretched, and others shook their heads wildly, deploying all sorts of methods to wake themselves up.

The collective movements were incredibly adorable and endearing, though the courtyard air instantly filled with floating fur of every imaginable color.

Cheng Ningye slipped on a face mask and took a brief moment to admire this literal paradise for fluff-enthusiasts. Drawing out the Tier 3 psychic crystal he hadn’t fully absorbed yet, he turned and went back into his room.

Xuanyu cast a glance at the transparent crystal in the handler’s hand before standing up to rub against the white cat. Without a word, he strode off toward the backyard.

Mi Miaomiao lowered its head to detach the pouch from around its neck, counting the water droplets and crystals before storing them separately.

012’s attention couldn’t help but drift back over to the black cat. It clearly observed that although Xuanyu maintained an unruffled expression on the surface, the envy in his eyes when he looked at the crystal in Cheng Ningye’s hand was sharp enough to morph into literal sparks.

The system let out a silent sigh of relief:

It looked like the black cat still hadn’t figured out that his hyper-fixation on the white cat was rooted in affection; he was simply throwing tantrums out of subconscious jealousy.

That also implied Xuanyu hadn’t recovered his memories from the previous timeline.

Xuanyu was an absolute madman. In the previous life, he had witnessed Mi Miaomiao’s death in a spiritual state and subsequently detonated his own soul. By a bizarre stroke of luck, that spiritual self-detonation drew the gaze of a higher-dimensional world consciousness toward the livestream room. The energy siphoned from the livestream bought a singular lifeline for Earth’s own planetary consciousness.

When reversing time, 012 had funneled a lingering fragment of Xuanyu’s consciousness back into the current timeline. The spiritual bodies across both timelines fused. Given Xuanyu’s structural state, under normal circumstances, it should have been completely impossible for him to regain his memories in this life.

Yet, 012 felt a persistent undercurrent of unease. The psychological shadow left behind by its previous host’s obsession was simply too massive.

Right now, the collective stash held 93 water droplets and 15 Tier 2 crystals. Each animal was allocated five water droplets to keep on hand for emergencies.

Perhaps because they were right by the coast, eight of the Tier 2 crystals belonged to the water attribute. Since there were no water-attribute members in the squad, the likelihood of the two Haskorgis completing their second-stage evolution using them wasn’t high, but they could still dump resources into cultivation—allocating one water-attribute crystal to each dog.

Two earth-attribute crystals went to Xiaotian, one fire-attribute crystal went to Ju Dabang, the wood-attribute one was reserved for itself, and a wind-attribute one was set aside for Xuanyu. The remaining two held unique defensive supernatural abilities and were claimed by Grand Bai.

Ever since waking up to discover that the outside world had changed drastically and humanity had vanished, Third Aunt Hua’s mental state had improved visibly. She happily claimed her share of water droplets.

“Miaomiao, don’t worry about your Third Aunt. I feel much better in my body now.”

When it came to the grey tabby’s turn, those golden amber eyes dimmed instantly upon receiving a double portion of water droplets.

Huabi lay flat on the ground, listlessly batting at the tiny water beads. Having experienced genuine life-and-death combat against the monsters, he had thoroughly felt the disparity in power between himself and a Tier 2 variant. That helpless sensation of being pursued and snapped at made the naturally competitive grey tabby crave power far more intensely than any other cat.

“Meow-ow!” Blast it, Xuanyu’s injuries are completely healed. Looks like there’s no chance of overtaking him this time either!

“Haaa~” Halfway through his yawn, a golden crystal the size of a peanut kernel traced a perfect parabolic arc and plunged accurately down his wide-open mouth.

Huabi’s gaze blinked in utter bewilderment. He swallowed the object whole and instantly exclaimed in pleasant surprise: “Thank you, Big Brother!”

“Why aren’t you talking about overtaking Xuanyu at a time like this?” Ju Dabang grinned lazily as he sat pancaked against the wall, his tail swishing back and forth across his belly as his paw cleanly popped the final water droplet into his mouth.

Good things were always safest when stored inside the stomach!

Clatter, clatter! Seven Tier 2 crystals of varying hues rolled into a glass bottle, tipped out from a small pouch held between Xuanyu’s teeth.

Among them were two wood-attribute crystals.

It seemed Xuanyu hadn’t idled for a single second after his injuries healed.

Mi Miaomiao inspected the black cat from top to bottom, leaning in close to sniff intently around his lower back where the wound had been. Confirming there was zero scent of fresh blood, it smiled and said, “Thank you, Big Brother.”

Xuanyu stood completely motionless, doing his absolute best to endure the discomfort of warm breath brushing against the sensitive area of his lumbar spine. His black ears, flashing with a red tint beneath the light, twitched violently. Hearing Miaomiao use the exact same honorific as Huabi, he opened his mouth to correct: “Xuanyu.”

“Alright, Xuanyu. You’re incredible!” Mi Miaomiao happily picked out two crystals and slipped them into the tiny pouch around its neck.

“It’s been so long since I received a surprise. I’m going to hide these away!”

“The tier of these crystals is too low. I’ll bring you better ones in the future.” Xuanyu was slightly puzzled by the white cat’s opening statement he had literally gifted it glass marbles three days ago. Perhaps he needed to bring gifts more frequently going forward?

The black cat tail settled gently right beneath the white cat tail, buffering the distance between the fluffy white fur and the bare ground.

012 half-squinted its optical field as it observed the interaction between the black and white cats. Things had already gotten this ambiguous! How could both cats still fail to notice anything amiss?

Or was it normal for regular felines to entwine tails for amusement and groom each other’s necks and cheeks?

Since its host hadn’t thrown it into solitary confinement, 012 watched openly and legitimately, even snapping a few photos to preserve as souvenirs.

Rumble—!

Clang—!

Violent, screaming gales tore through the structural gaps between the buildings. The air was inundated with the chaotic din of clashing metal, alongside massive, muffled booms produced as ocean waves laden with rubble hammered against steel-and-glass towers, interspersed occasionally with the slurred roars of monsters!

Across the sky, evolved seagulls, pigeons, and airborne monsters fled northward in wild, chaotic swarms, the driving rain laced with a rain of bird feathers and the blood of monsters and avian mutations alike.

A drone hovered low against the rooflines, gradually navigating toward the highest vantage point of the residential compound. The living room wall projected real-time feeds of massive tidal walls rolling over the city landscape further out.

The animals watched while pulling on their pre-fabricated animal storm jackets, securing location trackers and metallic protective collars around their necks.

Every animal was equipped with a modified pet backpack containing a single day’s rations, a small plastic bottle of water, a compressed thermal blanket, and a laser knife scaled to their exact ideal handling length.

The storm jackets and backpacks had been retrofitted with a buckle system across the chest; pressing down hard during combat would trigger an automatic release, ensuring their mobility wouldn’t be compromised.

Mizhang County backed into massive mountain ranges, its topography scaling gradually higher from east to west. Tsunamis typically made landfall from the east, and this instance was no exception. The two vessels moored within the western architectural clusters would temporarily remain insulated from the tsunami’s frontal surge.

“The catastrophic vector of a tsunami isn’t the water itself; it’s the debris the water carries ashore once it hits land telemetry towers from the sea, coastal aquaculture rafts, maritime vessels, structural wreckage, utility installations from city streets, vehicles, and even entire blocks of buildings.”

“A tsunami is a sustained event. Just when you assume everything has concluded after the first wave passes, subsequent surges will roll through in relentless, continuous successions. That continuous force acts exactly like a noose tightened around the neck it won’t cause instant death, but by the time you register that it’s lethal, you can no longer extricate yourself.”

Cheng Ningye expended his utmost effort to ensure these animals comprehended the structural hazards of a tsunami within a compressed window.

By this point, the initial tsunami surge subsided, and the sea levels within Lehai City stabilized upward once more. Standing just past the perimeter of the residential compound, one could already witness the water lines starting to recede.

“Just like the waves on a beach one recedes and another rolls right back in.” Ju Dabang, who frequently hit the coast to forage for seafood, was the first to grasp the mechanism of a tsunami.

“Precisely. Strip it down to its core, and a tsunami is simply a wave scaled up countless magnitudes.” By now, the avian swarms had vanished past the horizon. Cheng Ningye piloted the drone higher, revealing a distinct “white line” materializing across the distant surface of the ocean.

Cheng Ningye checked the time, then dug up a few documentary clips detailing extreme polar weather to play for the animals.

The communication networks hadn’t been compromised yet, allowing Cheng Ningye to stay updated on current events elsewhere.

Populations had been driven out of their homes by the “Great Flood,” only to crash directly into a rampant horde of monsters. A massive cross-section of the population had already hit mental breaking points; the text logs and media feeds being uploaded radiated absolute despair at a glance.

Some captured footage of monsters lurking right below their apartment blocks or outside their yards, holding out hope that the military or civilian extraction teams would come for them. Conversely, many had already cataloged structural shifts within their own physiques, testing their hands at hunting the beasts and genuinely harvesting water beads or crystals in the process.

As the volume of civilian hunters scaled up, a collective revelation surfaced the monsters did not belong to a contagious vector like zombies.

Consequently, rhetoric urging citizens to step past their front doors and actively purge the monsters began to trend across the networks.

All of this mapped closely onto the previous timeline. The single divergence was that the military command possessed advanced intelligence in this life; even a head start of a single day allowed the armed forces to mobilize stabilizing operations that carried immense, structuring weight right now.

The top three slots on the trending boards were all military updates pinned to the peak.

First: The four northern provinces of Yongji, Beilin, Pingrong, and Gangbai had been jointly secured by the First and Second Army Corps. The military was currently concentrating forces to clear the urban monster pockets before radiating outward, vowing to wall off a massive Safe Zone within the central continent.

Simultaneously, the corps issued conscription notices whether individuals enlisted in the core northern forces or local auxiliary branches, their families would receive tier-one priority benefits.

Second: Auxiliary corps units stationed across various provinces were actively deploying, using their limited personnel primarily to clear primary transit arteries and guarantee unobstructed logistics.

Third: Effective midnight on September 1st, Earth had officially transitioned into a state of war, executing wartime legislation across all sectors. The revised legal provisions introduced clear constraints governing evolved individuals and legally classified the monsters outside the boundary of the human species.

Additionally, a comprehensive official survival dossier had been released, cataloging monster classification Tiers, anatomical structures, identification methodologies, and standard protocols to prevent monster proximity. It also detailed the nomenclature and handling blueprints for the various evolved abilities manifesting among humans.

These three trending topics communicated to those who could still access the network that societal order hadn’t completely collapsed. Any individual harboring malicious intent would have to think long and hard before making a move.

Juxtaposed against the rapid militarized response, the officials of the Central Alliance branch occupying the Changsong Plateau had no choice but to follow suit under the scrutiny of public opinion and the massive influx of refugees gathering before them.

Regardless of how they intended to reshape the Safe Zone down the line, right now, they were expending every resource to salvage human lives.

Cheng Ningye thought to himself that he simultaneously hoped Cui Liang would die early in this life to prevent him from ruining others, while also hoping he would survive long enough for himself and Miaomiao to exact their personal vengeance.

Half an hour later, the tsunami settled completely. Cheng Ningye drove his vehicle out past the estate gates, trailing four fully extended tow-behind mobile cargo pods behind the chassis. Each pod measured 3 meters in height, 3 meters in width, and 5 meters in length practically clearing out their entire household inventory.

If the cargo pods hadn’t been equipped with independent automatic braking features, Cheng Ningye would never have possessed the nerve to pull four units simultaneously with a light vehicle. Even so, the transport convoy moved at a literal snail’s pace.

“Miaomiao, our gear volume is simply too massive. Even adding the medium yacht won’t fit everything,” Cheng Ningye called out through the car window, checking in with the massive cat keeping pace alongside him.

“Meow!” I have a mechanism for that. Don’t worry about it, just focus on driving.

The rear passenger seats were packed flat with food supplies and emergency kits. The two puppies, Grandfather Bai, and Third Aunt Hua were crammed entirely within the front passenger seat in a comically tight fit.

The black cat and the remaining members of the squad executed their standard street-patrol formation, advancing forward in a defensive delta cluster, though their scanning parameters had scaled up to include both the airspace and the subterranean level.

Rats, snakes, insects, and earthworms along with various minor monster variants could manifest from the topsoil or sewer grates at any given moment.

Mi Miaomiao anchored the rear guard, using the honeysuckle root system to scrub the subterranean channels at regular intervals. Because the residential compound hadn’t developed structural monster hives, the convoy cleared the estate’s western flank smoothly.

“Woof, woof, woof, wah!” Mi Miaomiao, you absolute blockhead! You actually tracked down humans to sabotage me?!

A familiar canine roar arrogant, yet entirely nonsensical in its accusations.

The white cat’s brow furrowed. It had caught the scent of familiar human elements lingering in the air, its instincts screaming of imminent danger. It alertly tore up the stone paving beneath its paws and planted a honeysuckle seed straight into the earth.

In the next instant, the erupting green vines rapidly coiled around the structural joints of the cargo links, shielding the fragile components under a layer of dense armor.

“Quack, humph, humph, humph!”

A bizarre animal vocalization echoed from a distance. Mi Miaomiao processed the acoustic profile for a moment before decoding the meaning: Get out of the way, don’t block the path! Scared the life out of me, take a left hook from me, and take another!

“Quack, quack, quack, quack!” Left hook, right hook, uppercase hook—ah, missed!

As they drew closer, the Husky Taiyang, the Border Collie Dongfeng, a completely unfamiliar adult human male, and a brownish-red Red Panda were locked in a chaotic brawl against eight humans who looked distinctly unsavory.

Having already identified those eight individuals as the culprits who had vandalized their warehouse locks earlier that morning, they should have maintained absolute tactical focus. Yet Mi Miaomiao’s attention was still stolen for a split second by the Red Panda.

Because at a single glance, it discerned that this Red Panda’s basic attribute was also Gigantification!