[The host calmly walked along a sidewalk occupied by exotic beasts without disturbing the other powerful deities lingering there. Survival points +10.] [The host boldly strode through a shopping street fraught with danger, emerging unscathed. Survival points +10.] [The host advanced with courage and caution without provoking the hostility of a certain powerful deity in the park square. Survival points +10.]
After quietly walking past a group of elderly men and women doing their morning exercises in the park square, Zeng Shen heard the system notification. He stopped, turned around, walked out of the park, and circled back again.
[Warning! You are about to approach a group of enslaved humans. They have been stripped of their divinity and reduced to cheap labor for a tier-three fire deity. Your presence may provoke this deity's hostility. You may even be enslaved, stripped of your divinity, and reduced to an ordinary human.]
Ignoring the system's warning, Zeng Shen quietly walked past the elderly people exercising in the square again.
[The host advanced with courage and caution without provoking the hostility of a certain powerful deity in the park square. Congratulations.]
"No reward?"
"Looks like I guessed right last night. Whenever a danger notification pops up on a sidewalk, shopping street, or park square, I can farm survival points there repeatedly, but the first time gives the most."
"And there's only one chance each day to get those survival points again. If I double back another time, I might still get a danger notification, but no survival points."
"And here I thought I could exploit a bug."
A trace of disappointment crossed Zeng Shen's face, and he continued toward the abandoned hospital.
[Warning! A group of intelligent beings occupies this location. One of them possesses combat strength far beyond what the host and the host's pets can overcome. Please leave immediately. If discovered, they may enslave the host and use every means at their disposal to extract the divine energy within the host. Once stripped of the divinity within, the host will be reduced to a breeding tool.]
As he climbed over the abandoned hospital's iron gate, Zeng Shen heard the familiar system notification from yesterday.
But it seemed a little different this time.
Yesterday, it had said he would be enslaved if discovered. This time, the notification said he might be enslaved.
"Haha, looks like feeding them yesterday helped quite a bit."
"Then as long as I keep it up, these stray cats will all become my believers soon."
At that thought...
Zeng Shen grinned happily. "Bastet cats, your god is back."
Carrying the little black cat and the little white dog, Zeng Shen stopped in front of the hospital's shattered glass entrance.
The abandoned hospital was silent.
Zeng Shen set the little black cat and the little white chow chow on the ground, took out five cat bowls, and arranged them in front of him. Then he took out a bag of finely crumbled kitten food and filled all five bowls.
Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai had both eaten their fill that morning before Zeng Shen carried them out. Besides, Xiao Bai had no interest in cat food, so he sat on the ground wagging his tail.
The little black cat, on the other hand, caught the scent of cat food, plunged his head into a bowl, and happily began eating.
Zeng Shen reached out and lifted him away from the bowl. "Xiao Hei, go call your brothers and sisters over to eat."
At Zeng Shen's words, the little black cat gazed longingly at the food with his bright eyes. Then he meowed and obediently darted into the hospital.
A short while later...
Faint meows drifted out from deep in the hospital corridor.
Then...
Zeng Shen saw the little black cat run back and bury his head in a bowl again. Five more kittens stood near the corner where the corridor met the hospital lobby.
For some reason, however, all five kittens were too timid to approach.
"Woof!"
A sudden bark rang out beside him, and the five kittens shot back into the depths of the corridor.
"Damn it, you dumb dog. Who told you to bark?"
Zeng Shen turned and scolded Xiao Bai, then picked him up and tossed him into an abandoned car nearby.
"Stay here and behave for your master."
Thrown into the abandoned car yet again, the little white dog gave Zeng Shen a pitiful look.
"Woof, woof, woof!"
"Shut up. Bark again, and I won't take you out next time."
"Whimper..."
After dealing with the little white dog, Zeng Shen turned and walked toward the hospital's glass entrance. When he was three meters away, he stopped and went no farther.
By now, stray cats were scattered throughout the hospital.
A big black cat and the five kittens from earlier were eagerly eating the cat food at the bowls.
As for the little black cat?
He had his head raised and was nursing from Big Black Cat.
When Zeng Shen appeared, the six kittens continued enjoying their food, but Big Black Cat stopped eating and raised his head to stare at him warily.
"Looks like he must be the little black cat's mother, and the mother of these five kittens too."
With that thought, Zeng Shen looked past Big Black Cat and surveyed the hospital lobby.
A group of large stray cats watched him just as warily from inside the lobby. Their eyes kept straying toward the five bowls brimming with cat food, a hint of longing in their gazes, but they seemed afraid of Big Black Cat and did not dare approach.
"Could Big Black Cat be the leader of these strays?"
"If he could give birth to a kitten as gifted as Xiao Hei, it makes sense that he'd lead the group. I wonder what his aptitude is."
"I happen to have twenty faith points now, so I can check their aptitude information."
At that thought, Zeng Shen looked at Big Black Cat, focused his mind, and activated the Eye of Observation.
[Intelligent race: Bastet cats] [Aptitude: lord (ordinary, elite, lord, king, epic, legendary, mythical)] [Tier five: 0/100000] [Name: unnamed.] [Skills: unawakened.] [Believer status: no faith] [Mood: wary, confused] [Analysis: the patriarch of the Bastet cats, descended from the Bastet bloodline. Brave in battle, exceptionally intelligent, and wild by nature, he is difficult to tame. Although giving birth to a litter has weakened him, the feline authority he has built up over time remains beyond the challenge of the other cats.]
"Sure enough, Big Black Cat is the leader of these cats, and the kittens' mother."
"Looks like once I win him over, I'll have all the other strays in the bag."
Zeng Shen then looked at the five kittens beside him, curious about what surprises they might have in store for him.
"Eye of Observation."
He called out softly.
Faint virtual panels that only he could see shimmered into view above the five kittens' heads.
[Intelligent race: Bastet cats] [Aptitude: ordinary] [Tier zero: 0/100] [Name: unnamed.] [Skills: unawakened.] [Believer status: no faith] [Mood: happy] [Analysis: a Bastet kitten descended from the Bastet bloodline. Bold and combative by nature.]
[Intelligent race: Bastet cats] [Aptitude: elite] [Tier zero: 0/100] [Name: unnamed.] [Skills: unawakened.] [Believer status: no faith] [Mood: happy, content] [Analysis: a Bastet kitten descended from the Bastet bloodline. Lazy by nature.]
[Aptitude: ordinary] [Analysis...]
As he read the information on the panels...
Zeng Shen froze in stunned disbelief.