Mr. Quin

Eager to try out the invention from his dream, Kraft accidentally overlooked the time. It was only when Alice reminded him that the excited Kraft calmed down and let out a big yawn.

"Then I'll go back and take a nap..."

His excitement gone, Kraft's eyelids felt heavy. He listlessly dragged his feet toward his room.

"Wake me up in half... no, an hour."

Ever since he got Alice, Kraft had ditched the screaming chicken alarm clock. Why would he need a screaming chicken when he had a cute, soft robot girl to wake him up?

"Got it~"

Alice replied and went back to the kitchen to continue preparing breakfast.

The nap was uneventful. Kraft was woken up by Alice before he could even dream of those special dreams.

After getting up again and finishing breakfast, Kraft took Alice out to buy pets.

There were quite a few pet shops in Chinatown. Besides the common ones selling mainly cats and dogs, there was also a very traditional flower and bird market, which sold not only various birds but also insects like praying mantises and crickets.

However, Alice wasn't interested in those insects, and they couldn't wear scarves, so Kraft decided to go to a more ordinary pet shop.

According to Kraft's habit, he always tried to recreate everything from his dreams during the first test. Therefore, his first choice was naturally to buy a small black cat. He had even thought of a name for it, a transliteration of Mr. Sakamoto's name from his dream: Sakamoto.

However, when he entered the pet shop, Kraft's gaze was drawn to another creature. He imagined its face with a red scarf and felt an overwhelming sense of familiarity.

Did I own this breed of dog before?

Kraft habitually scratched his hair and then asked the pet shop employee, "Hello, do you have this kind of dog in a gray color?"

"Sorry, little one. Shiba Inus only come in four coat colors: red, black, sesame, and white. There's no gray variety," the shop assistant said, shaking her head and kindly explaining to Kraft.

"Also, white Shibas are rarer, and we don't have any at the moment. The little guy in the cage is a red Shiba. We also have black Shibas and sesame Shibas, but they're not out here. Would you like me to show you?"

"No gray ones?"

Kraft frowned. He had seen Shiba Inus before, and they were indeed mostly this reddish, or rather, yellowish color. He hadn't paid much attention before, but now, connected with the red scarf, he felt it should be a gray Shiba to be just right.

"Never mind,"

Kraft shook his head. There was no point in dwelling on things he couldn't figure out. If there were no gray ones, he'd find a similar color.

"Please show me the black Shibas," Kraft said to the shop assistant.

"This way, please."

The shop assistant led Kraft to the back room, where cages filled with pets were neatly stacked. Their arrival startled the cats and dogs inside.

Instantly, meows and barks erupted, one after another.

"Shush! Quiet down, or I'll dock your food rations if you keep this up!"

The shop assistant skillfully soothed the noisy pets and led Kraft to a cage.

"This is the black Shiba. The one with the messier fur next to it is a sesame Shiba."

"Hmm... it's a bit different from what I imagined..."

The black Shiba's fur distribution was very different from the red Shiba's, and it was also far from the gray Shiba in Kraft's memory.

"Then I'll choose the red Shiba outside."

Kraft wasn't one to dither. Compared to the black Shiba, the red Shiba outside felt closer to the dog in Kraft's memory.

"Certainly~"

The shop assistant, happy to have made a sale, led Kraft back outside. She put the red Shiba into a portable cage, got Kraft its pedigree certificate, a small bag of dog food, and a chew toy that she said the dog really liked.

"Alice, have you picked one out?"

Kraft, carrying the dog cage, found Alice squatting in a corner, petting cats. He tapped her head and asked.

"Ah! These little ones are so cute, I forgot!"

Alice was squatting on the ground, holding three kittens of different colors, looking blissful.

As expected, this one can't be relied on at all...

Kraft sighed helplessly. He scanned the nearby cats and picked out a Bombay cat that resembled Mr. Sakamoto from his dream by about seventy to eighty percent. After asking the shop assistant to cage it, he also got some cat food and pet supplies and went to the counter to pay.

"Let's go!"

Kraft impatiently tapped Alice's head again. He handed her the cage with the black cat and a large bag of pet supplies, picked up the cage with the dog, and pulled Alice along as he walked out.

"Ah~~~ Let me pet them for five more minutes—"

Alice was dragged out of the pet shop by Kraft, looking reluctant.

"Don't you have a cat in your hands? Take it back and cuddle it all you want!"

"Oh! That's right!" Alice suddenly realized. She held up the cage in her hands, gently nuzzled it with her cheek, and affectionately apologized to the black cat, "I'm sorry! I neglected you."

"Right, Brother, we need to give them names first."

After apologizing to the black cat, Alice quickened her pace and came up beside Kraft to remind him.

"Well, let's just call him Mr. Quin."

Kraft raised the cage in his hand and unhesitatingly spoke the name that had suddenly appeared in his mind.

"And what about this one?"

Alice held up the cat carrier, gesturing.

"Ummm..." With Mr. Quin's name already decided, Sakamoto, which Kraft had considered earlier, didn't seem quite right anymore. "How about Mr. Bane?"

"But... this one is a girl."

"Uh... then let's call her Bea."

Kraft hastily took out Quin's pedigree, glanced at the gender marked on it, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It was a male dog.

Then he wouldn't have to change the name, which saved Kraft's obsession with perfection.

The two brought Mr. Quin and Miss Bea to Kraft's private workshop. He handed the two pets over to Alice to look after and then dove into his studio.

Unlike when he made Alice, Kraft couldn't understand any of the technology used to create the [Talking Scarf], so he didn't mess around. He faithfully replicated the steps from Dr. Dongyun's dream, mechanically.

Because the manufacturing difficulty wasn't high and didn't require Kraft to think, the scarves were made quickly. By the time Alice had lunch ready, Kraft had finished making both scarves.

"Can they really talk?"

Alice stared expectantly at Quin and Bea, who were still unaware of what was happening.

"They should be able to..."

Kraft wasn't very confident, though. Compared to Alice, the robot, the scarves that made animals talk felt more like items from the mystical side rather than scientific products. So far, none of the mystical creations Kraft had replicated had been successful.

"Let's just try it. It's just a scarf, it won't hurt them."

As Kraft spoke, he handed one scarf to Alice, and together they tied them onto the two pets.

"Can, can you talk? Bea-chan~"

After tying the scarf onto the little black cat, Alice eagerly asked.

The little black cat, Bea, first pawed at the scarf around her neck, then shook her head vigorously twice.

"You tied it too tight, you idiot!"

A slightly sharp female voice came from Bea's mouth.

"Ah, s-sorry! I'll loosen it for you right away!"

Alice flusteredly adjusted Bea's scarf for her.

"Is this okay?"

"Mmm, much better~"

Bea stretched, wagged her tail, and said. Her previously sharp voice had become lazy.

"Shocking!"

Quin, who had been staring blankly at Alice and Bea's interaction, suddenly jumped up.

"You can talk!"

Then, belatedly, he jumped again.

"Shocking! I can talk too!"

"Uh... does this dog's IQ seem a bit low..."

Kraft rubbed his nose and quickly took out his phone to start searching.

"Dog intelligence ranking... Shiba Inu... outside the top 79... even lower than the three sled dog idiots..."

"Slander! This is blatant slander!"

Quin shoved his nose against Kraft's phone screen, wrinkling his nose and revealing his sharp white teeth.

"Hahaha, silly dog."

Bea couldn't help but burst into laughter when she heard Kraft's announcement.

"Do you want to fight?!"

Quin quickly shifted his angry gaze to Bea.

"Don't bully Bea! She's a girl!"

Alice immediately rushed to Bea's side to back her up.

"Big brother! They're bullying me!"

Quin's speed in finding support was truly unlike a dog ranked outside the top 79 in intelligence.

Looking at the dog wagging its tail furiously at him, Kraft twitched his mouth. But after all, he was the one who chose this dog, and it had come to him for help, so he should help.

Kraft tapped a few more times on his phone.

"Bombay Cat intelligence... one of the three dumbest cats..."

Kraft's mouth twitched again. His pet selection skills were really something else, picking up two creatures with questionable intelligence.

"What?! That's impossible! I'm super smart!"

Bea wasn't having it either, shrieking as she lunged for the phone in Kraft's hand.

"Stop messing around!"

Kraft quickly raised his hand, dodging Bea's lunge.

"Hahahahaha! Didn't expect that, did you? You're dumber than me!"

Quin stuck out his tongue and laughed gleefully, only to be slapped on the nose by Bea, who had turned around.

"You dare sneak attack me! You beast!"

Naturally, Quin, having been attacked, wouldn't back down. He turned and lunged to bite Bea.

"Take this! RUA!"

"Aaaah! You can't fight! Please stop fighting!"

Alice was frantically trying to break up the scuffle.

I have a feeling... it's going to be lively around here from now on...

Watching the chaotic scene unfold before him, Kraft's mouth twitched uncontrollably.

I decided to make the protagonist a transmigrator, largely because of this dog. When I was looking for various inventions for the protagonist, the moment I saw Mr. Sakamoto's scarf, I thought of Mr. Quin. The slice-of-life plot of this book basically relies on "slice-of-life" interactions between one person, one cat, and one dog.

Regarding the Mr. Quin and Da Qin Hua (Great Qin Speech) meme, even if you don't understand it, it shouldn't affect your reading. I won't do much more explanation. If you're interested, you can search it on Baidu or check meme encyclopedias.

Also, regarding the Shiba Inu and Bombay Cat, I decided on the breeds first before checking their intelligence. I didn't intentionally choose these two "idiots."

And that online ranking, the one for dogs might be more authoritative, but the one for cats seems a bit questionable. So, it's really just for fun.