The Promise and the Short-Tempered Old Man

But soon, Xiao Xiao's expression turned serious, and he fell into thought.

Taking everything that had happened into account, he considered it for a moment before settling on a guess. "Do you have a friend trapped in that old man's house?"

"Meow~"

"Meow, meow, meow~"

The cats nodded excitedly.

Some even spun around in circles.

"Really?"

Xiao Xiao was a little surprised.

He had almost given up on that guess, because "the old man just said he didn't have any cats."

He could tell that the old man hadn't been lying.

He really did hate cats.

His dislike and loathing were obvious whenever he spoke of them.

Why would an old man like that keep a cat?

But the old man hadn't lied.

And the cats had even less reason to lie.

What was going on?

"Meow, meow~"

The cat with yellow eyes grabbed Xiao Xiao's pants with a paw. Its meow was urgent, and it nodded and shook its head.

Xiao Xiao watched it for a while, then suddenly had a flash of insight. "You mean you have a friend trapped inside—"

"But it isn't a cat, right?"

"Meow~"

The cat with yellow eyes let out a loud cry. Joy burst through its round, wide eyes like fireworks.

"I see."

Understanding dawned on Xiao Xiao's face.

"Then what is your friend?"

"A dog?"

"No?"

"Then... a little bird? A rabbit?"

"A turtle?"

Xiao Xiao guessed one thing after another, but the cats rejected them all.

He had barely solved one mystery when another problem appeared.

"That can't be—"

Xiao Xiao frowned in thought. He had named nearly every common small animal he could think of, and even some unlikely ones, like snakes and toads, but none of them were right.