I Really Want to Pet My Wife's Cat Ears - Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Twenty-Two Cats

Since these cats entered the safe zone while Shuoyu was offline, their data had not yet been recorded on the “My Cats” page.

Ji Mianmian picked up the confused cat at her feet and introduced her to the woman in the air: “The two orange cats are siblings. Big Yellow is long-haired, with patches of white on his tail and back. Second Yellow is a short-haired orange tabby; all four of his paws have white socks, making him look very polite.”

As she spoke, she squeezed Second Yellow’s front paw; the snowy white paw looked just like a tender mangosteen. Shuoyu used the Greet action on each of them.

Big Yellow Favorability +2, added to Cat Encyclopedia. Second Yellow Favorability +3, added to Cat Encyclopedia.

The Cat Encyclopedia hadn’t been updated in a long time. Looking at the new avatars popping up, Shuoyu felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

Next, Ji Mianmian grabbed the hem of her skirt and pulled the last cat out of a nearby nest: “Little Seashell, come here. This is Sister Shuoyu.”

Unlike the other cats, this one was snowy white with one black and one yellow patch of fur on its “bun-like” mouth. Its first reaction to seeing Shuoyu was to twitch its whiskers, wrinkle its nose, and let out a fierce: “Hiss—”

Hissing is a very impolite behavior for a cat, expressing anger. Before Shuoyu could even ask, Ji Mianmian angrily rubbed Little Seashell’s head twice and hissed back twice to dampen its arrogance.

“Weren’t you just very thankful for Sister Shuoyu’s gift when you were eating the cat treat? Why are you acting like this now?” Ji Mianmian scolded.

Little Seashell was suppressed by her and could only meow angrily, fire flashing in its orange-yellow eyes. A dialogue box above its head appeared in bold, capital letters: “You didn’t say Shuoyu was a human! I hate, hate, hate humans the most! Put me down! Even if I get tortured to death by evil spirits, I don’t want to stay here!”

“There are good humans too. You guys even said I look like a human!” Ji Mianmian retorted.

The rowdy cat squirmed in her hands; Ji Mianmian truly couldn’t hold onto Little Seashell. She helplessly put it down, letting it scramble away behind the bushes. She looked up at Shuoyu, afraid she would be angry because of Little Seashell’s words.

Meeting the girl’s pleading gaze, Shuoyu’s tone softened. She said seriously: “Little Seashell, don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. Look, we’re such a long distance apart.”

Shrinking into a safe corner, Little Seashell’s expression remained very guarded. Hearing this, it raised its head in surprise. Seeing the vast chasm between them, its body finally stopped trembling.

Shuoyu had noticed earlier when Little Seashell jumped down that the fur on its belly was an unnatural scorched red. She paused and asked: “Little Seashell, is your belly injured? Does it still hurt?”

It dazed for a moment, not expecting that a “vile human” would actually care about its feelings. It instinctively meowed in response: “I bled a little while being tortured by evil spirits a few days ago, but it doesn’t hurt anymore…”

It seemed the reason for its resistance toward humans was the same as A-Jin’s; they were both pitiful kittens who had been directly harmed by human-shaped evil spirits.

At this point, Shuoyu didn’t care about saving money or diamonds. She only wanted the cats who came to her safe zone to regain their health. She proposed: “There’s a specialized rescue station in the safe zone. Go get a check-up. And Big Yellow, Second Yellow—you two have been wandering outside for so long and look so thin. How about you get a check-up too?”

“I can!” “Okay!”

Big Yellow and Second Yellow already knew Ji Mianmian. They knew she was a “good cat” who adopted kittens that were hard to raise and even shared food when she had extra. She was a cat to be trusted. Because they had received Shuoyu’s Greet interaction, they had developed a natural trust and liking for her, so they meowed in agreement.

Through these days of contact, Ji Mianmian naturally knew Shuoyu was genuinely good to the cats. She also knew the importance of accepting new cats to gain Meow Power for building the safe zone. After a thought, she walked toward the medical rescue station.

She signaled the other cats to follow while saying: “If Little Seashell isn’t willing to go, then think it over. I’ll take Big Yellow and Second Yellow first. Once they recover and eat cat grass for three days to awaken their talents, they’ll have a chance to counter-attack the evil spirits.”

Hearing this, Little Seashell’s head immediately sprouted emojis of vacillation, hesitation, and interest. It crouched on the grass and meowed with false bravado: “Just because you look like a person, I’m not sure if you’re teaming up to lie to me. But I’m going with you, just in case you hurt Big Yellow and Second Yellow!”

Shuoyu found the scene both heart-wrenching and amusing. She had secretly selected Little Seashell earlier and found that even if it were unwilling, she could forcibly use the Greet skill. And since it had eaten the food she provided, the first greeting would definitely increase favorability.

Shuoyu had drunk a bit of wine today, so her emotions were on the surface and her inner “little devil” was shouting. She had been planning to take a risk and force the cat into her collection, but she hadn’t expected Mianmian to be willing to play the “good cop” for her.

Watching the cats walk into the building, she couldn’t resist secretly using Stroke on Ji Mianmian. She petted the top of the girl’s head a spot she was accustomed to. Ji Mianmian instinctively wanted to stand on her tiptoes, narrow her eyes, and rub her ears against the transparent palm. But with so many unfamiliar cats watching, she was a bit embarrassed and restrained herself. She just quietly waved her hand behind her back, telling the woman not to touch her randomly.

Inside the station, Shuoyu opened the One-Key Rescue system. Big Yellow and Second Yellow underwent scans together. Since the two siblings looked out for each other, they could usually find food and safe spots. When they were unlucky enough to be dragged into a spiritual space by an evil spirit, the other would voluntarily be sucked in to help bear the torture. Therefore, the check-up showed no major issues.

Because Big Yellow was long-haired, his fur was knotted in several places and needed a good grooming. Aside from severe malnutrition, there were only a few scabbed-over old wounds to treat. After paying 2,760 Cat Coins and 6 Cat Diamonds, the two cats were guided into the treatment rooms by robotic arms. The side of the room facing the others was transparent, allowing them to clearly see the robotic arms trimming fur and applying medicine.

“They are malnourished and need to eat more. I’ll prepare the food first. I’ll have to trouble my baby to help feed them when I’m not around.”

Leaving those words, Shuoyu switched her view to the cat food vending machine next door to purchase food according to the list provided by the rescue station. The robotic doctor had prescribed a week’s worth of dietary suggestions; it took Shuoyu ten minutes to buy everything.

When she returned to the medical station, she was surprised to see Little Seashell sitting obediently on the scanning platform. Seeing her return, its tail flicked unnaturally. Then, it voluntarily propped its limbs on the ground and looked at her timidly. It meowed with a hint of grievance: “I saw it. You didn’t hurt Big Yellow and Second Yellow, so I’ll believe you for now… you can pet me…”

Shuoyu had been prepared to continue persuading the cat, but it had already successfully convinced itself. She curled her lips into a warm smile and immediately selected Little Seashell to use the Greet interaction. Perhaps because it was the first time it had felt the gentleness of a human hand, the cat’s stiffness was obvious.

Little Seashell Favorability +5, added to Cat Encyclopedia.

With the system prompt, Shuoyu deeply felt the cuteness of the “tsundere” attribute. Although Little Seashell’s recruitment was roundabout and difficult, its initial favorability was actually the highest!

Soon the results came out. Little Seashell’s injuries were indeed the most severe. It had been sucked into a spiritual space by an evil spirit during its early pregnancy… consequently, without its knowledge, it had suffered a miscarriage.

Shuoyu was faced with two paths: one was to spay Little Seashell to ensure its lifelong safety. The other was to retain its reproductive function, but the fragile uterus not properly cared for after the miscarriage had a very high probability of developing future complications.

Thinking of real-life cats facing the same choice, Shuoyu felt her temples throb. She truly hadn’t expected Cat Island Diary to include this kind of plot. Spaying a real cat is good for the owner, the environment, and the cat itself. But the cats in the game were so human-like; their cries could be translated into text to communicate with her. Shuoyu wanted to choose spaying, but she worried that Little Seashell’s hard-won favorability would drop to freezing point.

She closed her eyes slightly and spoke with difficulty: “Mian-bao, go and call No. 001 over for me.”

Shuoyu noticed that when No. 001 entered the room, “happy,” “expectant,” and “pious” emojis popped up over all the cats’ heads. She explained the difficulty to this special cat and then asked: “No. 001, what is your suggestion in this situation?”

No. 001 did not answer directly. It flew to Little Seashell’s side and touched its head with the golden halo. Then, a look of struggle appeared on Little Seashell’s face; its ears folded back as it fell into thought. Soon, it raised its orange eyes with determination and meowed: “Then please, Shuoyu, help me with the spaying. Thank you…”

The survival space for cats on the island was being constantly compressed by evil spirits, and food was limited. Furthermore, kittens had to be driven away to wander once they reached four months old. Little Seashell didn’t want to bring its children into the world to continue suffering.

Shuoyu was very moved. Facing the list of treatments costing 20 Cat Diamonds, she had no choice but to tearfully buy a 128-yuan gift pack containing 36 Cat Diamonds.

The next morning, before Shuoyu even got out of bed, she received a call from a courier. She groggily put on a house dress and ran to open the door. Looking at the palm-sized cardboard box with the Cat Island map on it, she realized instantly that this was the single-ear stud sent by Cat Island Diary.

“I just filled in the address yesterday and it’s already here. This is too fast!”

Shuoyu was suddenly wide awake. She flipped to the waybill page to see where it was sent from, only to see that aside from the name “No. 001,” the phone number and address were all asterisks.

Marveling at the security measures, Shuoyu hummed a tune as she fetched scissors to open the box.

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