It Looks Just Like You

"Did you remember what I told you?" In the luxurious Hall Family villa in Empress Borough, Audrey tucked a Rubik's Cube-sized package into the leather pouch hidden beneath Susie's long golden fur and asked uneasily.

Although it was Mr. Sedes's work, it was still the cheapest of all Audrey's bags. Well, after weighing her options, she could only apologize to Mr. Sedes.

"I know. Bury the package in the woods, then hide nearby and see who comes to pick it up." Susie nodded obediently and repeated Audrey's instructions.

Audrey nodded gently at Susie's words, then emphasized:

"The other party most likely knows Extraordinary Animals exist, so you need to act as much like a dog as possible."

"But I am a dog." Susie found Audrey's words rather difficult to understand, like suddenly hearing someone tell you to disguise yourself as a human as convincingly as possible.

"Mm, then that's that. Be careful." Audrey was briefly at a loss for words, because she did not know exactly how one could act more like a dog.

So she could only trust Susie!

"Good luck!"

From a concealed little hole in the outer wall of Earl Hall's luxurious villa crawled a large golden retriever. It had to be said that not only cats—dogs, perhaps, could also squeeze through holes that looked far smaller than their bodies.

With her ears pricked, Susie looked around cautiously. Though it was not her first time, she still surveyed the surroundings vigilantly before trotting away from the secret exit.

Though Audrey had made it sound serious, Susie's adventure was unexpectedly easy. About five minutes later, she arrived in the grove where she often took walks. Like other dogs, she quickly dug a hole and tipped the small package from the leather pouch into it.

After finishing everything, Susie carefully covered it back up with dirt. Still not reassured, she stepped on it a few times before trotting into the nearby bushes.

Only a pair of dog eyes showed through the gaps in the leaves as she quietly waited for whoever came to collect it.

If Audrey had known Susie was staking it out like this, she probably would have demonstrated the instant-fainting technique she had learned from her etiquette teacher. But in Susie's understanding, this was how dogs observed things in secret. If Audrey had not told her to hide, she would probably have simply sat by the roadside, basking in the sun while she waited.

Although she was supposedly lying in wait, Susie's covert observation did not last long. Around ten minutes later, her nose twitched lightly, and a black figure entered her field of vision—

"Heavens, it's actually a cat?"

Susie nearly cried out, but immediately covered her mouth with a paw. The Black Cat that had entered her sight noticed nothing, striding with elegant steps as though a king inspecting his domain.

At first, Susie wondered if she had been overthinking things and assumed it might merely be a stray cat passing by. But soon, she saw the cat arrive at the spot where she had buried the package. After sniffing it lightly, it dug into the soil with an elegance completely different from a dog's.

For a moment, Susie felt as if her mind had been shaken. So digging holes could be this elegant too?

Susie remained crouched in the bushes, quietly watching the Black Cat fish the package out of the hole without getting much dirt on herself. However, just as she pawed the small package free, she suddenly turned her head and shot Susie a glance that seemed filled with contempt.

"It noticed me!" Startled by Lily's gaze, Susie immediately turned and fled toward the Hall Family villa. Lily, meanwhile, let out a disdainful cry, picked up the package in her mouth, and ran west.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

In the music room of the Hall Family villa, the piano melody was graceful and pleasant. Yet just as the piece was nearing its climax, a string of discordant barks disrupted the music.

Audrey, who had been practicing the piano, abruptly stopped both hands. Her beautiful brows furrowed slightly as she looked at Susie, who was sitting at the door with her tongue hanging out, and revealed a helpless expression—

"Susie, interrupting someone while they are practicing the piano is not something a lady should do!"

"But I'm only a dog." Susie said somewhat aggrievedly. Audrey was immediately left speechless. She looked around, then beckoned to Susie. "Well? Did you get a clear look at the person who came for it? What did he look like?"

"I didn't see a person. The one who came for the package was a cat." Susie described what she had seen today in somewhat strange grammar, and Audrey's little mouth opened in a very unladylike fashion, wide enough to reveal her small tongue.

However, she quickly realized her loss of composure and immediately closed her mouth. Somewhat astonished, she said:

"You mean the one who collected the package was an Extraordinary creature like you? No wonder Mr. Devil reacted differently from Mr. Hangman last time when I asked about pets drinking potions..."

"I don't know if it was an Extraordinary creature, but I think it noticed me. And that cat looked a lot like you."

"How could a cat look like me?" Audrey was somewhat confused by Susie's rather poor grammar, but Susie shook her head.

"Not its appearance, but the feeling... Oh, right, like you said, that cat was like a lady..."

"A cat like a lady? What pathway could it be?" Audrey felt a little curious and even entertained the idea of discussing experiences in raising Extraordinary pets with Mr. Devil.

Meanwhile, Lily had already returned to Sno's home with her Sequence Eight Potion Formula, wearing an almost humanlike expression that said, "Praise me already."

This was her first "independent" mission. Even though a trace of Sno's will still accompanied her, she was quite proud that she had received no commands throughout the entire operation.

"You did well." Sno withdrew the Mental Imprint, placed Lily on his shoulder, and scratched the little fellow beneath the chin with his index finger. Then he opened the package, placed the Extraordinary Materials inside a tin box, sealed them with spirituality, and stored them in the basement. Although Lily relied on mice every day to act as an Assassin, she still had a long way to go before fully digesting it.

"Meow~~" Watching Sno busy himself, Lily suddenly let out a somewhat haughty cry, then deliberately rubbed her head against Sno's cheek.

Sno froze slightly before finally realizing what she meant.

"Got it. I'll give you a bath later. You didn't catch mice again today... Honestly, I've never seen a cat that loves bathing as much as you do..."

"Meow!" Hearing Sno's words, Lily immediately showed a disgusted expression, twisted around, and jumped off his shoulder. She even deliberately brushed his earlobe with her tail.