My Cat Tried to Feed Me

After Cheng Han understood what had happened, he decisively recited in his mind, "Deduce a way to deal with... no, to eliminate the extraordinary power within the Gold Coin."

A familiar coolness spread across the crown of his head.

The next instant, his vision lit up.

Cheng Han "saw" an incomparably dazzling sun, radiating endless light and heat, surrounded by strange black clouds that filled the sky.

The sun abruptly swelled, erupting with countless Light Threads. Every thread that struck the black clouds made a portion of them vanish.

In merely a moment, the black clouds ceased to exist.

Only the Great Sun hung in the sky.

As if it had endured since time immemorial.

A prompt immediately flashed before him: "Proficiency +2. Current Proficiency: 58/1000. Spirit Value: 4.3/13.4."

Cheng Han was immensely delighted. "What a surprise. I never expected the Fragmented Imprint of True Flame derived from the sun to happen to counter the extraordinary power of the Gold Coin."

He gazed at the drainage ditch and smiled. "Mr. Heretical God Believer, it seems your luck is rather poor."

More than merely poor.

It was simply dreadful.

Originally, this group of Heretical God Believers had been proceeding with their plan quite smoothly. All they needed was to wait one more day before holding a grand ritual in the Textile Factory.

Unfortunately, a certain middle school student had suddenly appeared and shoved a stick right into the works.

Not only had he caused the ritual to fall short at the final step, the believers had also suffered heavy casualties. Even the Gold Coin hidden so carefully had been sniffed out.

One word: miserable!

Cheng Han raised the Small Shovel and buried himself in work at the bottom of the ditch. Before long, he found the Gold Coin.

He did not dare touch this strange thing with his hands. Instead, he used the shovel to flick it up and toss it onto the grass beside him.

It was a brand-new Gold Coin.

Its surface bore, in relief, a flourishing Giant Tree—the Myriad Radiance Divine Banyan.

The Gold Coin still contained a peculiar power.

From the instant it was dug out, faint, strange mutterings had sounded beside Cheng Han's ears, and his emotions had uncontrollably become restless.

Earlier, those mutterings had been foretold by the skill.

But now, they were real sounds.

Cheng Han did not dare delay any longer. He hurriedly activated the Fragmented Imprint of True Flame. A faint glow lit his fingertips as he forcefully jabbed at the Gold Coin.

At that moment, the Gold Coin seemed to sense that something was wrong and actually gave several bizarre hops.

"Bzz~"

The Gold Coin began to tremble.

The mutterings immediately grew louder.

But it was a futile struggle.

"Clink!"

Cheng Han's finger accurately struck the Gold Coin.

The light at his fingertip instantly became incomparably brilliant, comparable to a hundred-watt lightbulb. The surrounding air seemed affected by the heat radiation, and its temperature rose noticeably.

"Ah~"

A shrill scream came from within the Gold Coin.

After only a moment, the sound abruptly ceased.

The Gold Coin stopped trembling.

Cheng Han quickly carried out a deduction and let out a great sigh of relief. "The Black Mist Ball has been eliminated by the Residual Seal."

Only after relaxing did he realize how badly his head was spinning. When he checked his attributes again, he found that his Spirit Value had fallen to the extremely low level of 0.2/13.4.

In other words, that brief clash had consumed a full 4.1 points of Spirit Value.

Cheng Han rubbed his brow, lingering fear in his heart. "The clash of extraordinary powers consumes far too much mental strength. This little body of mine truly can't take it."

He happily put away the Gold Coin. "My hard work wasn't in vain."

An ordinary person's monthly salary was around twenty Silver Coins. One Gold Coin was equivalent to five months of wages for an ordinary person. This was by no means a small sum.

Cheng Han swiftly cleaned up the scene, then rode away on his Bicycle.

*Inside a Secret Chamber.

A stub of candle burned at the center of the floor.

Its flame was strangely ink-green.

By its light, one could see smooth stone tiles covering the floor, engraved with an enormous pattern—also a scene that made one's hair stand on end.

It depicted a Four-Armed Giant.

Where its head should have been was completely empty.

The two hands near its shoulders each held a head, both faces bearing extremely bizarre smiles.

The two hands below its shoulders each gripped a bloody Bone Staff, as though they had just been torn from corpses.

"Thump! Thump!"

Like the sound of a cane striking the floor, a rhythmic knocking rang out.

A thin, Hunched Figure draped in a floor-length robe slowly approached the candle.

He coughed heavily several times, then flicked his sleeve toward the candle.

"Whoosh!"

A large mass of ink-green flame surged from the candle, gathering into an ordinary-looking human face.

The flaming face opened its mouth and spat out a shower of sparks. "Zagu, you failed."

The Hunched Figure answered in a sharp voice, "There was a Mole among us!"

The flaming face spoke calmly. "Where is the evidence?"

The Hunched Figure sneered. "This operation has reeked of strangeness from beginning to end. Our planted agents received no word whatsoever, yet the authorities suddenly launched a crackdown."

The flaming face remained unmoved. "That is a clumsy excuse."

The Hunched Figure suddenly raised his voice. "Hachi's Soul Lamp has gone out. That means the Secret Soul Gold Coin was discovered, and the fragment of his soul that escaped was destroyed!"

The flaming face immediately changed expression. "What?"

The Hunched Figure grew even angrier. "The Secret Soul Gold Coin's concealment is beyond doubt. Without a Mole leaking information, how could the authorities possibly have found it?

"The residual soul attached to the Gold Coin has an extremely unusual form. Only powerful Mystic Adepts proficient in the Soul Domain could detect its existence.

"The soul faction is difficult to cultivate. For decades, not a single Mystic Adept specializing in that faction has appeared in the Tai'an Minor Spirit Realm. If not for betrayal by a Mole, how could the authorities possibly have killed Hachi?"

The flaming face fell silent.

After a long while, it finally said, "I will personally investigate everyone connected to Hachi."

It added heavily, "Everyone!"

The Hunched Figure snorted. "Once you drag out the Mole, I will use Human-faced Worms to gnaw away his internal organs bit by bit."

The flaming face did not respond. It turned into green smoke and dissipated.

*Shanyi Neighborhood.

The instant Cheng Han pushed open the door, he immediately heard a cat's cry.

"Meow~"

The Black Cat sat at the doorway, its pair of feline eyes quietly watching him.

Cheng Han said approvingly, "Not bad! You listened to me and didn't run around outside after dark."

The Black Cat stood up, rubbed against his trouser leg, then lightly ran more than a dozen steps before easily leaping onto a wooden table over a meter high.

Cheng Han's gaze followed it, and he immediately froze.

Because three birds had actually been placed on the wooden table.

Each was far longer than an adult's palm and likely weighed no less than half a pound.

These were clearly the Sheriff's spoils.

The Black Cat raised a paw to pin down one bird, then meowed again. "Meow~"

Cheng Han glanced at the Black Cat's belly and cautiously asked, "Sheriff, is this dinner you brought me?"

The Black Cat swished its fluffy tail, as though affirming it.

The corner of Cheng Han's mouth twitched.

He suddenly realized that this Black Cat seemed to be trying to feed him.

*Over half an hour later.

Dinner was ready.

Cheng Han picked up a bird leg with his chopsticks and took a light bite, immediately nodding again and again.

The meat was firm and springy, and the flavor was quite good! He suddenly felt that adopting this Black Cat had truly been a wise decision.

At the very least, he could eat meat without spending money, couldn't he? The Black Cat sat not far away, watching him eat, and swished its tail once more.

After Cheng Han finished his meal and cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks, he instructed, "I'm going to rest for a while. Stay obediently in the living room, and don't make too much noise, understand?"

"Meow~"

The Black Cat responded, then slipped beneath the cabinet.