Chapter 10: 10

Chapter 10: The Film Star Encounter

His kitty was nothing like those stray cats others took in — this one had way too much self-discipline. The cat dragged Lin Ning around on their strolls as if he were the pet. Lin Ning was never familiar with the area to begin with, but even after a few days passed he still couldn’t navigate the streets the way that kitty could. His cat didn’t even pee or poo around the streets like other cats — it used the toilet obediently at home. Lin Ning had never had to put his shovel and plastic bags to use. Ever.

The people on the streets seemed to be very curious about the cat, too. The duo were frequently spotted whenever they went out. It was probably because they’d never seen a cat well-behaved enough to allow itself to be dragged out of the house for a walk with its owner. That left people speechless. Good thing Lin Ning kept his face well-covered. So far, no one had been able to recognise him.

He worked hard to keep himself lowkey, but never once paused to consider the fact that there were only two kinds of people in the world who’d ever walk around in public with their faces wrapped up like glutinous rice balls: 

One, public figures. 

Two, Interstellar outlaws.

Obviously, the chances of him being the second option was lower than a limbo bar in hell. Lin Ning wasn’t aware that in this small area, people were already discussing what his occupation could possibly be. After all, this was a guy who walked his cat every single evening looking like a mummy. Besides, his cat was humongous. They were way too eye-catching.

As they reached the man-made lake, the two of them stopped walking. Lin Ning loved watching the scenery here. The lake’s surface glittered under the warm bath of evening sun, its water clear as crystal. The tranquility it brought was a breath of fresh air from the mechanized, cold city.

The human and the cat marveled at the view, gazing into the distance. Lin Ning hugged the kitty as he settled onto the ground.

The cat hated being touched at first, squirming uneasily in his embrace, but after feeling the warmth from Lin Ning’s palm seeping through its fur, it stopped. Being hugged ruined its strong, heroic image, but Lin Ning’s plant-based healing power had been a huge help to its healing process lately.

It closed its eyes, feeling the searing pain in its mind dull away as Lin Ning let his powers melt in bit by bit until its body relaxed, its guard completely let down as Lin Ning petted its head. It couldn’t be denied, Lin Ning had excellent petting skills. From time to time the cat even rubbed against Lin Ning’s palm to show approval… Although, that was probably just an inert body instinct. Its heart still remained very haughty and cold. Probably. 

“Say, kitty, we’ve been living together for a while now, but I still don’t know what to call you,” Lin Ning mumbled to himself. “You’ve never had an owner before, right?”

Lin Ning had been paying close attention to pet communities, looking out for any missing pet notices. But no matter how he searched, he couldn’t find any of them looking for a lost Siberian cat. Well… that probably meant it really was a stray cat, which explained why it was so hostile the first time they met, why its whole body was wounded, why it secretly followed him home only after he proved that he only harbored good intentions, and why it was so obedient when eating and on toilet breaks. What a pitiable, mature, good little kitty.

The cat’s eyes almost crossed with pleasure as it received its massage. Since he was now a cat, and couldn’t speak human language, he might as well pretend he couldn’t understand what Lin Ning was saying.

“Kitty, what do you think I should call you?” Lin Ning rambled on, “If you’re gonna be staying with me, we’ll be a family. So I should give you a nice name.”

The cat opened an eye, a bad feeling rising up its chest.

“How about I call you Xizai?!” A lightbulb lit in Lin Ning’s head. Man, he’s a genius! Since the kitty was probably a Siberian cat, he’d just call him Xizai for short!

“Meowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeow—” the cat protested vehemently, arching its body in disapproval.  

“What’s that? You’re saying you love the name Xizai, and you’re thanking me?” Lin Ning smiled and asked, tugging softly at the kitty’s ear so that it lifted up.

“Meow!!!” The kitty slapped Lin Ning’s hand away, although it made sure to keep its sharp claws retracted.

“Hahahaha! That’s your name, then! Xizai!” Lin Ning laughed, his head was clouding with joy. He didn’t notice the cat’s ears suddenly perking up.

“Meow!!!” The kitty sprung up suddenly, snarling menacingly in a direction. It growled, as if it had its territory violated, even positioning itself in front of Lin Ning as if to protect him with a fierce, defensive stance.

Lin Ning rushed over to take a look. By the roadside, a man crouched beside his car, his face scrunched in pain. There weren’t any other pedestrians nearby, so Lin Ning was the only one who’d noticed. He ran over, crouching down beside the man.

The man’s sunglasses clattered onto the ground, revealing a set of attractive phoenix-shaped eyes, bulging veins on his forehead, and beads of sweat dripping down them. His teeth gnawed at his thin lips, his face pale from pain. The man was handsome in an infuriatingly gorgeous way. The white suit clad on him accentuated his elegance, but Lin Ning didn’t have the heart at the moment to admire him.

But on the man’s head a pair of canine ears unfurled, and a fluffy tail curled out from his back. His entire aura switched within a second, and now he kind of looked like an Alaskan dog.

Lin Ning was so surprised, he toppled back on his butt, mouth gaping wide. Even though he’d been in this world for so many days, this was the first time he’d ever seen someone “transform” in front of him.

The man noticed Lin Ning, too. He looked as if he’d realized that staying here any longer was going to be bad for him, and struggled to crawl back into his car.

It quickly dawned on Lin Ning that he’d been incredibly rude. In the future world, many people had animal-based powers, so it shouldn’t have been weird that a person would suddenly grow out animal ears or a tail. His reaction was probably really hurtful.

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“I’m sorry. I was just a little surprised to see dog ears…” Lin Ning picked up the man’s sunglasses, handing it over to him, face sincere.

Zhang Yiming didn’t think his gastropathy would start acting up this badly even though he’d only skipped his medication for a few days. His body had been special ever since he was a child — it rejected all kinds of Nutrient Doses, so eating was torture to him. Why did it have to be today, of all days, for the gastropathy to flare out to the point of almost making him faint, on the one day he had a sudden errand to run alone? If he was found out- No, he was already found out… He grabbed the sunglasses from Lin Ning, slipping them on quickly.

“Thanks. I’m fine. It’s just that I didn’t eat today, so now my stomach…” Zhang Yiming’s face was already spotted by someone — he was destined to be on the news now. He bet that not long after, the headline “Zhang Yiming Writhes In Pain: Suspected Fatal Illness” was going to be everywhere. But the pain was so great, he could barely speak coherently. “Please, d–don’t say that you’ve seen me before…”

Lin Ning blinked. “Why would I say that?”

That was when Zhang Yiming realized that this cat-strolling boy before him was disguised way more seriously than he, a film star, was — not only was he wearing a cap and surgical mask, he even had a pair of sunglasses hanging on his chest, as if he’d just taken them off. Besides, his face was blank. He had a feeling that this guy really didn’t recognise him.

“I’m fine. Thank you…” Zhang Yiming stood, clutching his car for a moment until he felt better. As he scrambled to leave, a sweet scent, the sort that could drive a person crazy, wafted through the air. 

“Huh?” Canine noses are super sensitive. As the pain passed, he noticed that that man-killing sweet scent was coming from the boy before him. Even the cat by his side carried a scent — like an aftertaste — of the smell.

Lin Ning watched as the man’s eyes brightened, feeling as if he’d seen a face similar to that somewhere before. Wasn’t that the face Xizai put on everyday as he watched Lin Ning cook?! Except Xizai always watched him haughtily, while this dashing, elegant man watched him like a giant, excited dog.

…… 

The mind works well when good things are shared. Lin Ning opened his backpack and pulled out a container of milk cakes and two roasted chicken legs he and Xizai prepared for their walk. Today was the first time he made them, and he brought them along with him right after finishing the livestream.

The creamy little milk cakes were snow white on the outside, cut into triangular portions so that the pale yellow color within was visible. The upper layer was decorated with strawberry slices, which earned a lot of praise from a crowd of girls on the stream earlier. The roasted chicken legs were marinated with Lin Ning’s special sauce and spices, and the scent coming from it that intertwined with a hint of smoke was enough to drive people crazy.

“If you’re hungry, have some of this for now.” Lin Ning took off his mask.

As soon as Zhang Yiming smelled the unpacked meat and milk cakes’ scent, the canine in him — no, the human in him shivered. W–what happened? It was like he was morphing into a dog!

He took the food from Lin Ning with trembling hands, fighting the urge to devour them. He swore, he never felt this emotional, not even on the day he was awarded the title of the “Film KIng”!

Lin Ning joked silently to the System: [Dogs really can’t resist meat and bones, huh…]

The System: [……]

“Where’d you buy this from?!” Zhang Yiming blurted in a surge of emotions. He could eat food like this all day! If only he had this kind of food, he wouldn’t have to suffer ever again.

“Uh, from some streamer guy… If you’re feeling better now, I’ll take my leave.” Now it was Lin Ning’s turn to not want to stick around any longer.

But as he lowered his head, he saw his extra-large cat eyeing the cakes and chicken in the man’s hands. On top of that, Xizai’s face had some sort of emotion rolling across it. Extreme… jealousy? It looked like it was about to explode into a ball of fur. 

???

Xizai, weren’t you supposed to be the world’s most expressionless cat?

Zhang Yiming, upon being glared at by the cat, felt the sudden attack of the feeling that he’d met one of his own kind. Seriously, was this cat really that jealous? But the boy looked as if he had no idea that he was taking care of a human in cat form. He wondered what sort of expression the boy would have on his face if he knew his pet cat was a man.

He laughed, opening the container in his hand. He popped a small milk cake into his mouth, the corner of his lips curving up as he chewed.

This was way too good!

The Alaskan dog tail wagged in malicious delight as he showed off his rewards in front of the cat, gnawing on the chicken leg without a care. For a moment, he could put down his identity as the Film King, and the burden of being a star ceased to exist.

If he could eat food like this everyday, please let him become a pet, too! The kind that can earn money, take care of the family, look handsome, and warm beds!

t/n: The character “西” (xi), West, in “Xizai” (西崽) is also used in the word “Siberia” (西伯利亚, xiboliya) while “崽” (zai) means young animal or son. Separately, those two characters mean something like “Little Xi”, a nickname intended to be short for “Siberia”. But if treated as one word, it translates to “Western guy”, which is also a dated pejorative. The pronunciation of Xizai is also horrible, because if the intonation of the words are altered, it can mean a bunch of swear words (屎仔- shit guy in Cantonese). Don’t name your cat Xizai.

Milk puddings are made with milk, cornstarch, and sugar (to taste). These three ingredients are added together in a pot and mixed under low heat until the mixture turns gooey. The mixture is then poured into a container and refrigerated. After it congeals, the cake can be eaten as is, or rolled in coconut shavings or sugar. The cakes have the texture of really solid pudding.

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