Intelligence and Speculation / The Cat's Journey

If given a choice, Rope would rather starve than become a stranger's lackey, because not only would he lose his freedom, but he also wouldn't be able to ascertain the other person's character or his future treatment and experiences.

But clearly, she seemed to have no choice at the moment, so she chose to agree for the time being, intending to feign compliance with Pardofelis and then find a chance to slip away later.

"My name is Pardofelis. You can call me Pardofelis or Felis, whichever you prefer."

After briefly introducing herself, Pardofelis looked at the item handed to her, hesitated for a moment, and then thought of Senti before suppressing her urge to take it back. With a pained expression, she only retrieved her empty wallet, saying:

"As for... never mind, give me the wallet, you can keep the money. Consider it your bonus for this month. You'd better work hard, Rope."

"Bonus...?"

After hearing Pardofelis's words, Rope was slightly stunned, and then a question mark slowly appeared above his head.

Miss Purple Rabbit really doesn't understand what Pardofelis is doing now...

She could tell the person in front of her was heartbroken at losing the money, but that only made her more confused. What value did she possess that made him so reluctant to part with his money?

Rope believed she had almost nothing, and aside from petty theft, she didn't know many other skills. In her eyes, there was really nothing worth plotting...

As for her as a person...? How much is an infected person worth anyway?

After racking his brains without finding Rope could only silently categorize the person before him into the same "eccentric" category as the previous Herrscher of Reason. After all, could she really possess some extraordinary talent?

"I already told you, you won't regret following me, I..."

"Gurgle~"

Before Pardofelis could finish speaking, a discordant voice suddenly rang out between the two of them, silencing her.

"... It's my fault for not noticing. Come on, let me take you to get something to eat first." Pardofelis, realizing what had happened, scratched her head awkwardly and then invited.

"Um, it's such a small matter..."

"Hey! Stop nagging, we're treating, hurry up and get this over with! We have things to do at noon, after we're done, I'll take you to buy a couple of outfits."

Unwilling to listen to any more of her rambling, Pardofelis interrupted Rope and pushed her towards the alleyway's exit.

Although Pardofelis initially only intended to help Rope and teach those who stole her money a lesson, since she later agreed to Senti's suggestion to mentor her and teach her some skills, Maomao naturally wouldn't treat her unfairly.

Inside a tiny, fly-infested restaurant in a slum--

"Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you. How's the food at this restaurant?" Pardofelis asked, resting her chin on her hand as she watched Rope wolfing down his food across from her.

"Hmm... I was just worried about taking up Miss Felis's time. As for the taste, it's alright." Upon hearing this, Rope quickly swallowed the food in her mouth before replying.

Rope hadn't quite figured out how to get along with Pardofelis before, started to have a better understanding after spending some time together, having more conversations and observations. So, her usual smile reappeared on her face.

"I do have something to do at noon, but there's no rush. Take your time eating. If you're not full, there's another meal at noon."

"Uh-huh."

After listening to Pardofelis's instructions, Rope nodded slightly and obediently slowed down his eating speed, beginning to chew slowly and carefully.

Pardofelis watched as Rope slowly chewed and ate, a hint of satisfaction flashing in her heterochromatic eyes, before she continued the conversation:

"Speaking of which, have you been living in the slums lately, Anso?"

"Well, but not just recently, I've actually been staying here almost all the time. When I have money, I find a hotel; when I don't, I find a safe place to stay. What's wrong?" As she spoke, Rope couldn't help but raise her head and cast a curious glance at Pardofelis, waiting for her to continue.

Miss Purple Rabbit did not choose to hide these little things about herself, but told them the truth.

After all, there's no point in hiding this kind of thing; if someone were interested, they could easily find out by asking around or investigating.

Moreover, given that Pardofelis is an "oddball" who immediately revealed her name and information, there was no point in hiding anything...

"It's nothing, just asking casually. Have you noticed anything unusual or gathered any information around here in the last few days?"

Upon hearing this, Pardofelis gently shook her head and then explained.

"Unusual activity...? Aside from the recently infamous [Lungmen Phantom Thief] and the series of events triggered by his gift-giving, there doesn't seem to be anything else."

"Etc..."

P. S.: This chapter was supposed to be revised, but it was actually rewritten, which took quite a bit of time. This is from yesterday; there will be more tonight, but I don't recommend waiting.

Because I haven't had perfect attendance this month, and I've been quite busy lately, in order to maintain quality, the update schedule will definitely be a bit unpredictable. You might stay up all night waiting, only to find out I'm updating the next day.

Chapter 30 Intelligence and Speculation

"Wait, that could be considered intelligence, right..." As he spoke, Rope seemed to suddenly remember something and muttered softly.

"Um?"

Although the last sentence Rope very softly, it was still heard by Pardofelis, who was sitting opposite her. She looked over curiously, waiting for what was to come.

"It's something that has nothing to do with us nobody else... no, it seems to have something to do with us..."

A Rope, who had been muttering to himself, looked at Pardofelis, who was becoming increasingly curious because of his words, and decided not to keep her in suspense any longer, continuing to explain:

"Miss Felis, I see that you are very well-informed. So you should know about the incident that started with the gift from that chivalrous thief, and how it escalated into something that everyone rejected and resisted, and even resulted in someone injuring Lungmen Guard Department officer, right?"

"Okay, I know. And then?"

Upon hearing this, Pardofelis raised an eyebrow slightly and then continued to inquire.

"Then what happened this morning, which I only found out about recently. Last night, that chivalrous thief went to the slums and posted a lot of notices to reassure everyone."

"Although things seem to be going well now, in my opinion, the actual results are far less successful than they appear on the surface."

At this point, Rope couldn't help but shake his head, a hint of regret appearing on his face.

"..."

After hearing Rope's evaluation of the announcement she had sent out, Pardofelis's heterochromatic eyes showed a hint of surprise, but she did not rush to say anything, instead curiously waiting for what would follow.

"As for why I say this, it's because that announcement only appeased those who were incited and manipulated, but these people weren't the real troublemakers at all. The real culprits, hidden deep within, don't care about such things at all."

"Not only will they not care, they might even be enraged by this announcement and become even more ruthless."

After giving a brief explanation, before Pardofelis could ask any more questions, Rope quickly picked up his chopsticks and shoveled two more mouthfuls of rice into his mouth.

She realized that her "boss" seemed very interested in this matter, so to avoid the food getting cold before she answered, she decided to sneak in a few more bites.

Noticing her Rope movements, Pardofelis waited quietly until she finished her two bites of rice before speaking slowly and deliberately:

"What kind of people are those? And Rope the relationship you mentioned earlier... Wait, those guys aren't the ones who robbed you, are they?"

"Cough... cough cough..."

An Suo, who was quietly drinking water and listening to Pardofelis's words, was so startled by Pado's sudden Rope of topic and guess that she choked.

"Hey, how could you be so careless?"

Completely oblivious to what she had said, Pardofelis shrugged lightly, then stood up and walked behind Rope to help her catch her breath.

"Cough... I'm fine, so Miss Felis already knew about this?" Having caught his breath, Rope waved his hand and quickly said.

Perhaps because Pardofelis's guess was too accurate, even with the precedent of asking before, Miss Purple Rabbit couldn't help but begin to suspect that the person in front of her already knew and was just asking to amuse herself.

"Oh dear, how could that be! If we had known earlier, we wouldn't have gone to ask you about the money! We were just guessing."

"But judging from your reaction, I think I guessed right?"

After hearing Rope's words, Pardofelis blinked innocently and explained.

"..."

After Rope observing the innocent-looking cat for a while, An Suo resignedly admitted, "Yes, my money was indeed stolen by those people."

"Those people are all infected individuals with extremely abnormal personalities who are extremely hostile to non-infected people... Honestly, in my opinion, they are all crazy!"

"They complain about this and that all the time, using the excuse of injustice to cause trouble and bully others in the slums... even though most of those they bully are the weak infected."

Although Rope lowered her voice when she spoke to Pardofelis, even her soft voice couldn't hide the anger in her words.

"And there's more..."

"..."

After listening quietly to all of Rope's complaints and waiting for her to calm down, Pardofelis leaned closer to her with a sly expression and whispered, "Rope, do you want revenge? We can help you!"

Although, given her cat-like nature and preference for peace and quiet, she normally doesn't like to take the initiative to resolve other people's problems. However, this is only under normal circumstances; this time... is an exception.

Since Pardofelis originally intended to target those who still planned to cause trouble after the announcement, she didn't mind helping her Rope as well, considering it payment for the information they received from her.

This saves the cat the trouble of investigating or waiting for those people to come forward on their own.

"Huh? Revenge? You... you're not kidding, are you?!" Upon hearing Pardofelis's words, Rope's expression changed drastically.

Admittedly, Miss Purple Rabbit didn't like her "weird boss" and didn't know what kind of ability she had, but thinking about the crazy behavior of those lunatics she had seen before, she felt it was necessary to give them a warning, just for the sake of the money and the meal.

"Don't blame me for not warning you, those guys are real lunatics, they have a lot of tricks up their sleeves. They've done a lot of things to deliberately turn non-infected people like you into infected people, and they even take pleasure in it."

At this point, Rope paused slightly, then turned his face away slightly before continuing:

"If you don't want to end up like me, don't go around astray with those guys."

"There are many ways to become infected..."

Upon hearing this, Pardofelis was not frightened by what Rope said. Instead, she seemed to remember something, and her expression became strange.

The keywords "slum," "methods," and "becoming infected" almost instantly reminded Maomao of the "accident" that led Ch'en and Jiu to become infected.

The cause of that accident...

"Those guys you're talking about don't have ore bombs, do they...?"

Now it was Pardofelis's turn to change her expression when she suddenly thought of a certain possibility. Although she herself wasn't afraid of such things, and could even toss them around like toys,... she couldn't help but feel that others were afraid of them!

P. S.: I stayed up late again. I'm breaking out in patches all over my body, and my stomach hurts. It's so uncomfortable. I've revised this chapter repeatedly, but I still don't think the quality is good enough. I'll try to revise it again tomorrow when I have some free time. The recent plot has also been a bit slow, so I'll try to speed it up.

Chapter 31 The Cat on the Road

The streets and alleys of the slums are always intricate and complex, like graves that can bury people. Even the most bustling streets can only be seen through narrow gaps.

Everyone's actions are always swift and purposeful; those who wander aimlessly are always looked down upon in the slum world.

However, it is clear that there are a few exceptions in today's slums.

Having already investigated the area, the three members of the Lungmen Guard Department were now leaning against a street corner, silently contemplating their next move.

At this moment Swire stared at the trash can with a grim expression, while Chen, holding a notebook, was rapidly jotting down yet another episode he had just witnessed, his expression equally unpleasant.

Hoshiguma, as if returning to her hometown, leaned comfortably against the cement utility pole covered with small advertisements and large printed recruitment documents.

Their investigation in this area went as smoothly as before. However, they also encountered many things they had never seen before in this more chaotic place.

Those experiences made Swire's hair stand on end.

The room reeked of vomit mixed with Originium particles, and a 10-year-old girl struggling to survive with her seriously ill parents... and many other people on the brink of life and death.

Although Swire already knew from written records that the notorious thief had been helping the slum dwellers in his own way, documents are just documents; they are nowhere near as impactful as witnessing it firsthand...

She was certain, at least, that without the bandits' supplies, this family and these people wouldn't have survived for long...

Having witnessed these events firsthand, Swire was momentarily at a loss as to how to investigate the thief's activities... After all, at this very moment, quite a few families here were relying on the thief's charity to survive.

That's why the slums are the place she hates coming to the most...

Standing to the side, Swire had been subconsciously fiddling with a strand of her golden hair behind her ear, suddenly seemed to have made up her mind. She looked up at Hoshiguma and said, "If the Lungmen Thief are caught, how many people will die in this place this winter?"

"Ah?"

Upon hearing this, Hoshiguma was taken aback at first, Swire a strange look before silently organizing her thoughts. She was considering how to describe what she had seen and heard without sounding too cruel.

Before Hoshiguma could speak, Chen Xian closed his notebook, his face cold, and said, "The number of lives lost in Lungmen winters is never small..."

As soon as they finished speaking, Chen and Hoshiguma suddenly exchanged a glance, and then, as if confirming something, each of them Swire, and "guided" her to move.

"Huh?"

Suddenly forced to move by being pressed close and sandwiched between two colleagues, Swire couldn't help but let out a small gasp.

However, neither of them offered an explanation at the moment; their long-standing collaboration had given them an extraordinary understanding.

So after Hoshiguma realized that the "surveillance" behind her had suddenly changed, she began to pass information to Chen and confirm things.

Chen also understood Hoshiguma's message very well, and after carefully sensing it, he confirmed it.

It's fair to say that for undercover investigators, being too conspicuous and drawing attention to themselves is never a good thing. Unfortunately, apart from Hoshiguma, who blended in perfectly, the other two seemed a little out of place.