I Really Want to Pet My Wife's Cat Ears - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Seventeen Cats

It wasn’t until today that Shuoyu truly satisfied her initial wish of “cloud-petting” cats when she first started playing Cat Island Diary.

Little White and Little Flower were too tiny, with limited areas to touch; petting them just wasn’t satisfying enough. Ji Mianmian, being a cat-eared girl, although she often tilted her head and called herself a cat in a cute voice, Shuoyu still viewed her as a human in her heart. Even with a favorability score over 200, Shuoyu didn’t dare cross the line, only daring to suppress her inner wild desires and give the girl’s head and cat ears a light stroke.

Shuoyu wanted to pet a cat, and A-Jin, overjoyed by her recovery, happened to want to please her. The person and the cat extended the Stroke interaction indefinitely; the tide rose and fell several times, but they didn’t stop.

Ji Mianmian silently took in the scene, feeling a bit stifled in her heart. However, she said nothing, and when Shuoyu finally had her fill of cat-petting and looked her way, she revealed her usual sweet smile.

After a while, Shuoyu finally felt she had petted enough, her body flooded with happy dopamine. She clapped her hands to get the cats’ attention and asked, “I’ve been accompanying A-Jin through her recovery these past few days, so none of you have gone outside the safe zone, right?”

Upon receiving a chorus of affirmative answers, she continued, “The evil spirits and malicious cats haven’t dared to approach Xier Beach since I dealt with them last time, but they won’t just vanish into thin air. They should still be lurking on the island right now.”

Shuoyu’s eyes flickered with a vibrant, rallying charisma: “Compared to other pitiful cats, you can return to the medical rescue station for treatment if you’re hurt. But other cats are still suffering. So, I hope you can stand up and help me—help them. Let’s form a team to drive out the evil spirits. Can you do it?”

Although Little White and Little Flower were abandoned by their mother shortly after birth, Ji Mianmian had protected them well. They had only heard of the evil spirits by reputation and had never experienced the agony of being dragged into a spiritual space to be tortured. At this moment, their emotions stirred by Shuoyu, the “newborn calves” meowed excitedly, unafraid of the tiger.

Dialogue boxes floating in the air translated their meows: Little Flower: “We can do it! Let’s go drive away the evil spirits and take over the food spawn points!” Little White: “I’m a bit scared, but if Shuoyu stays with us to help, I won’t be afraid.”

Shuoyu moved the controller to stroke the two kittens one by one. “Don’t worry. Whenever a battle is initiated, I will definitely be by your side.”

A-Jin had personally endured the torture; her scars had just healed, and the fear of the evil spirits was deeply etched in her mind. Hearing Shuoyu’s passionate appeal just now, instead of becoming energized, she had many dark associations, with images of companions who were abused to death flashing through her head. It wasn’t until she heard Shuoyu’s gentle promise that she wagged her tail and meowed timidly, indicating that if there was no danger, she was willing to join.

Shuoyu felt even more heartache for A-Jin, who was still willing to stand up despite having been hurt. She stroked A-Jin’s back again as a form of comfort. Then, she turned to look at the Cat-Eared Girl standing to the side, clutching her skirt. “What about Mianmian? Are you unwilling to help me?”

“I am willing!” The young girl’s voice was resolute, but tinged with worry and a hint of grievance. “But I haven’t awakened a combat talent…” Ji Mianmian showed the hollow cat-head pattern in her right palm with a dejected expression. She had tried secretly, even enduring the discomfort of eating extra portions of dry cat grass, yet she still hadn’t awakened a talent.

Shuoyu’s gaze softened as she patted Ji Mianmian’s head. “Didn’t we agree? Your hands are your best talent.” Her voice was as pleasant as flowing water: “Among all the cats on the island, only our Mianmian has hands that can grasp things like a human’s.

I’ve made a wooden bow and arrows for you; you can try to see if you can hurt the evil spirits from a distance. If this weapon isn’t easy to use, I’ll make you spears, crossbows, or even slingshots. There are always more solutions than problems.”

As Shuoyu spoke, she took the long-crafted ranged weapon from her inventory and handed it to Ji Mianmian. The wooden bow looked quite simple; Shuoyu felt it was almost too plain to present. She had originally wanted to wait until she could buy more resilient bamboo from the trade shop or until the exploration robot discovered bamboo before upgrading the bow to make it more beautiful for Mianmian.

But what could she do? Her “wife” was feeling a bit emotional. Seeing the girl’s piteous, teary expression, Shuoyu was heart-stricken and quickly brought out the weapon early to comfort her. Generally, the best material for a bow is bamboo, but since she hadn’t found any, she had crafted one from tamarisk wood.

First, Ji Mianmian had been sour about Shuoyu petting A-Jin so much, and then she was sad that she was the only one who hadn’t awakened a talent. To be honest, with all these grievances piling up, Ji Mianmian’s lip was trembling as if she were about to shed “little pearls” (tears). However, the moment she reflexively caught the bow and quiver falling from the sky, her face filled with nothing but joy.

“It’s a bit heavy.” She held the rough-looking bow as if it were a treasure, unable to do anything but giggle foolishly.

Shuoyu, however, noticed something that wasn’t quite right. She quickly placed a target with a red circle on the ground and said, “Practice your archery first. I have something to discuss with No. 001. I’ll be right back.”

She skillfully moved the controller to the trade shop. Before No. 001 could speak, she began to complain, “No. 001! No. 001! I want to provide feedback on two unreasonable game mechanics!”

The haloed white cat immediately assumed an expression of “I’m all ears.”

Shuoyu cleared her throat: “First, it’s completely unreasonable that every time I give Ji Mianmian something, it just drops from the sky. It was fine when the clothes were light, but this time I dropped a set of bow and arrows. What if I hit and injured her? Don’t tell me she’s just a virtual character; I saw her flinch and step back! I strongly request that items be placed directly on the ground or a table from now on!”

Seeing No. 001 nod, indicating this would be adjusted, she continued: “Second, I want to ask: is there ‘friendly fire’ in cat combat? Will Ji Mianmian’s arrows hit other cats who are attacking at close range?”

This point was clearly one No. 001 hadn’t considered. Its four paws kneaded the air kneading, stretching, kneading, stretching performing a prolonged “air biscuit” session. Its halo began to glow brightly even in the daylight, and the snowy white cat flicked its tail and said, “Theoretically, there is no exemption, because everything on Cat Island is real, meow. But now that you mention it, I also think it’s a bit bad, meow.

Tell you what, go back and open the Meow Power Research System. In the future, weapons can be condensed using Meow Power, meow.”

Before Shuoyu could ask, it added, “Meow Power is a power borrowed from the Cat God specifically to deal with evil spirits. Striking other places won’t cause any wounds at all; it will even feed vitality back into Cat Island, meow.”

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