Chapter 5

T/L: Da Guo   E/D: evy - kiskaiya - larkspur 

Ji Xiuyun never expected, his teasing of this white furball would actually be reciprocated with the fluffy cat's  little tummy.

The Marshal paused and, unable to resist, finally reached out for what appeared to be a soft looking belly.

Yue An scratched him off.

“Meow!”

You want to rub my belly without giving me fis.h.!.+

Bah! Keep on dreaming!

The Marshal lowered his head to stare at the blue eyed feline, who was staring right back at his black ones. In the end he acted first, catching Yue An off guard by grabbing the paws still on the back of the Marshal's hand.

He then expressionlessly started squeezing the soft pad on the paw.

It was soft, warm and furry, this feeling was quite comfortable. The Marshal couldn't control himself and continued his attacks.

“Meow!”

Yue An angrily pulled his paws back and turned around to cover his little exposed belly. He then settled on the Marshal's leg while staring at those three grilled fish.

Ji Xiuyun felt the warmth radiated from the angry cat who was sitting on his lap, through his trousers. He was completely silent for a few seconds before suddenly saying, “Let's make a deal, one fish in exchange for a piece of energy stone.”

Yue An looked atJi Xiuyun, unbelievably.

Such arrogance!

Why don't you just mug me off!

Looking at the feline's face full of complaint, the Marshal felt very pleased. Satisfied with his teasing, Ji Xiuyuan brought the grilled fish down and placed it in front of Yue An.

Then with a straight face he continued, "I am just kidding."

Yue An looked at Ji Xiuyun's straight laced face disbelieving and really wanted to scratch it off.

But the bait was too good for him, so the cat chose to yield himself, even though he was in great fury.

The Marshal looked at Yue An, who was engrossed in eating. Seeing this scene made him happy, so he grilled the rest of the four grilled fish and gave them all to Yue An.

The cat stopped before having the last fish, turned around to look at the human who was staring at him supporting his face with his hands.

Mr. Marshal asked, “What?”

Yue An pushed the last grilled fish towards him.

Ji Xiuyun was kind of surprised, he never expected that even after all the teasing, the feline still wanted to spare him some food. He put out a finger and poked the cat on its head, “You can eat it, I am not hungry.”

With supplements the Marshal can go without food for a couple of days, all one fish would do was to satisfy his appet.i.te.

Ji Xiuyun was very glad to see that his barbecue was so well accepted, and he was not a person who would s.n.a.t.c.h away the food from the cat who saved his life.

While watching the Marshal clean the utensils, Yue An finished the last grilled fish. He then went over and rubbed himself against the Marshal's feet before planting his front paws on the Marshal's long legs. This time he abandoned his previous strategy and, controlling his strength, directly climbed up the Marshal's pants.

Suddenly being treated as a tree, the Marshal was shocked. He then put all utensils into the storage bag, reached out to support the cat who had just climbed up to his waist.

“Meow!” Yue An climbed along the human's arm and settled on the man's shoulder. He was not large in size, so he was quite steady on the Marshal's broad shoulders.

The furry feel on his face caused Ji Xiuyun to freeze up for a moment, but he relaxed in a second.

Yue An was feeling lazy and wanted a ride, which the Marshal took to mean that the meal he made for the other had conquered it.

The world of animals is simply innocent and wonderful. The Marshal thought as he walked, when he paused momentarily.

He then realised, this small fluffy cat was not necessarily just an animal.

Just for the record, what is an animal?

Well broadly speaking, it is a heterotrophic organism made up of cells in a body.

However, in the mankind's subjective point of view, animals are those creatures that do not have complex emotional perceptions and wisdom.

The Marshal was shocked to realise that this white cat who had saved him had self-awareness and emotions.

It even… no, not 'it',  should be him.

He can even clearly communicate with me!!

Ji Xiuyun came back to his senses and realised that the cat who was sitting on his shoulder, might not be an animal. It was more likely in the same cla.s.s as the humans – an intelligent being, standing on top of the ecological food chain.

Thinking about what he had done to this feline, he fell into a complete silence.

He might have, while knowing that this… furball was his saviour, teased the other, ruffled his fur, and fed him several grilled fish as if he was a pet. Most importantly, he had shamelessly touched the cat at its most private parts.

No wonder this cat had looked shocked beyond belief.

The Marshal swore, he didn't have any intention of being a hooligan!

He really just wanted to determine Yue An's s.e.x in a scientific and rigorous manner!

After all, in most animals, with the exception of during the special lactation period and during certain growth period, males tend to be more aggressive and territorial than females.

Although this cat was quite friendly, it was important to make sure just in case wasn't it!

Was it wrong?

Absolutely not!

With this the Marshal found himself an excuse without his expression even changing. He went back in pretending as if he knew nothing, as if nothing had happened. In long strides he crossed the field and returned to the safety cabin.

Inside the cabin, after Yue An jumped from the Marshal's shoulder, the first thing he did was to go bring the half of the Spirit Stone he had placed in the corner with him to wait in front of the hidden cabinet.

The Marshal did not hesitate, unlocking and taking another piece of Energy Crystal out and stuffing it into the furball's arms.

Yue An happily started nibbling on the stones he was hugging.

these two stones took him a whole day to finish.

The next day, when Mr. Marshal opened his eyes, he found a fluffy white ball curled up next to his pillow.

He also found that the cat would follow him everywhere. And if he wanted to do some work, he would be stopped by a very wistful looking eyes.

Even thinking with his toe Ji Xiuyun knew that Yue An wanted to do something in exchange for more Spirit stones.

Sort of like a 'Give and Take'.

But did Ji Xiuyun look like such a stupid human?!

Of course not.

He was not only not stupid, he was in fact quite clever.

So he refused Yue An and said, “The Spirit Stones are being used to power up the safety cabin.”

Hearing this Yue An's ears drooped and it disappointedly meowed.

"I can give you whatever there is left after the rescue arrives." That's what he said.  

Yue An's ears perked up and he looked up at Ji Xiuyun from his spot on the console.

“Little white, you…” The Marshal paused, and asked “Would you like to go with me?”

Yue An turned his head and was just about to agree when he realised the Marshal had not finished what he wanted to say.

Sitting on the console, his vertical pupils that had dilated due to a lack of strong lighting was at the moment round and dark, surrounded by a ring of beautiful blue that made him appear naive and pure.

“You saved me, I should repay to you, but I can't stay here.”

Ji Xiuyun made it very clear, no underplaying or concealment.

“You are very strong. Whether selflessly or selfishly I wish that you would follow me; I will take care of you and give you any amount of Spirit stones you want.”

Mr. Marshal paused. His tone was still very calm and clear when he continued, "If you don't wish to leave, I can arrange for someone to send you Spirit Stones regularly too."

Yue An didn't respond, he never expected to get such a reward.

He could see that Ji Xiuyun had a lot of Spirit Stones, but he also could see that they were very important natural resources.

In other words, they were definitely not cheap.

Yue An actually didn't care much about having Ji Xiuyun.

Losing the tail he had tried his best to keep was not something Yue An didn't prepare for. He still remembered, when he vowed not to make any contact with the humans, so he could be an immortal. The elderly in his clans had looked at him as if he was r.e.t.a.r.ded.

For Yue An losing the tail was as simple as "Destiny should not be violated."

Anyways, for a nine-tailed cat, a new tail grows every twenty years. There was nothing to cultivate, nothing bad he needed to experience. Besides the disappointment, there was nothing in particular he felt about this loss.

The nine-tailed cats' real ascension happened when they cultivated their mind through continuously losing their tail.

At least the elders Yue An had met all a.s.sumed the air of calm typically found by those who had seen through the earthly world and gone through all sorts of hards.h.i.+ps. They exuded divine airs, and it was only when they saw humans did their desire to go beat them up shed upon them some semblance of humanity.

Yue An felt that he was quite lucky.

Ji Xiuyun was willing to repay him and respect his wishes – that was Ji Xiuyun having good character.

Many humans would just make a wish and run away; a few greedy would want to catch a rare nine-tailed cat, keeping it around as if it was their own personal wis.h.i.+ng well.

Humans who sincerely were willing to repay them without thoughts for repercussions typically didn't have bad dispositions.

Even those ancient nine-tailed cat would praise Ji Xuiyun for his n.o.bility.

Staying with such a human, although Yue An was not sure if it would be any good, but he knew it wouldn't be too bad.

Yue An felt that it was very suitable for him to stay with Ji Xuiyun. At some point he could even go back to his clan and show off how good his new owner was.

Yue An, who knew neither the ident.i.ty of Ji Xiuyuan nor how much time had pa.s.sed, looked up at the other, the tip of his tail swaying gently. He straightened and lifted his forelegs.

He made a very common 'hug' pose.

The Marshal was startled, "Are you saying you would come with me?"

"Meow~" Yue An responded and lifted his forelegs up in the air higher.

The Marshal looked at the small forelegs leaning towards him and, after a moment of thought, returned the gesture – he too used his hands and gave the cat a high five.

Yue An: ？？？

Are you a fool?

Who asked you to give me five!

Couldn't you just use your hands and pick up this cute little cat?