The next day at noon.
Zeng Shen groggily cracked his eyes open. Through the haze, he seemed to see a slender girl with a voluptuous chest, pointed black ears, and sexy black leather clothes, looking remarkably like Zhu Zhuqing, lying obediently beside his bed.
Startled, he snapped his eyes wide open.
An indescribably adorable little black cat with bright, watery golden eyes lay on his side beside the bed. There was no sexy, leather-clad catgirl who looked like Zhu Zhuqing.
"Meow~"
The little black cat gave a happy meow when he saw Zeng Shen wake up.
Looking at Xiao Hei, who had somehow made his way to the bedside, Zeng Shen chuckled. "Sweetheart, when did you climb onto your master's bed?"
"Meow..."
"I never checked properly before, so I don't know whether you're a boy or a girl. Let your master take a look."
As he spoke, Zeng Shen picked up the little black cat and spread his hind legs...
"Holy shit, a girl! When you become a sapient race someday, you'd better turn into a gorgeous woman and serve your master."
Xiao Hei tilted his head, a trace of confusion in his round eyes.
"Since you didn't object, I'll take that as a yes."
Zeng Shen laughed and carried Xiao Hei out of the room.
Xiao Bai, who had been sleeping in his doghouse, sensed him coming out and immediately emerged with his tongue hanging out. He happily rubbed against Zeng Shen's feet, barking, "Woof, woof!"
Zeng Shen scooped him up and spread his hind legs to check him, but Xiao Bai struggled and barked nonstop.
"Woof, woof!"
"Damn, you've got the equipment. A boy, then."
"Awooo, awooo~"
The little white dog struggled and cried even louder.
"Shut up, you dumb dog. Is one look going to kill you?"
After scolding him, Zeng Shen tossed the struggling, yapping Xiao Bai onto the sofa, then took a bag of cat food and a bag of dog food from his backpack slots and poured them into their bowls.
"Meow~"
"Woof..."
At the sight of food, Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai happily began wolfing it down.
Zeng Shen turned toward the bathroom, opening his phone along the way to check the messages Li Yuqing had sent him.
They had been sent at ten thirty that morning.
Li Yuqing: "Morning, hubby."
Li Yuqing: "We talked until past four last night. I only got five hours of sleep before my mom woke me up to go pay respects to our ancestors."
Li Yuqing: "So sleepy. Hubby, I have to go."
Zeng Shen: "Haha, wifey, I just woke up. Get some more sleep after you're done paying respects."
He sent that simple reply.
He waited for ten seconds or so.
When no reply came, Zeng Shen figured she was probably busy and quickly washed up. By the time he returned to the living room, Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai had emptied their bowls.
"Xiao Hei, let's go see your mom."
Zeng Shen gathered Xiao Hei into his arms and headed for the front door.
Xiao Bai followed close behind, but Zeng Shen blocked him with his foot, keeping him from going out as he said:
"Xiao Bai, you kept barking at the abandoned hospital yesterday and scared Xiao Hei's family.
"So this time.
"I'm not taking you to the abandoned hospital. Stay home and guard the place today."
With that, Zeng Shen quickly closed the door on Xiao Bai's puzzled expression, then turned and pressed the elevator button.
Faintly.
He seemed to hear Xiao Bai give a pitiful "woof, woof" inside the apartment.
[With skill comes courage. The host spent a peaceful night resting in an apartment building occupied by a powerful tier-three curse deity and their followers. Survival points +10.] [The host calmly crossed a sidewalk occupied by exotic beasts without disturbing the other powerful deities lingering there. Survival points +10.] [The host boldly traversed a commercial street fraught with danger, moving without restraint and emerging unscathed. Survival points +10.] [The host advanced with caution and courage without provoking the hostility of a powerful tier-three fire deity in the park square. Survival points +10.]
After leaving the apartment building, Zeng Shen quickly passed through the sidewalk, commercial street, and park square.
"Nice, nice. Forty survival points in the bag."
"I'll keep it up today, win over all these stray cats, then visit some places I haven't been yet to earn more survival points. Let's aim for a second ten-pull."
Planning his itinerary for the day, Zeng Shen looked toward the nearby abandoned hospital and hurried over.
But just as he reached the hospital's front gate and was about to climb inside, an unfamiliar alert suddenly rang out.
[Warning! Warning! A vicious tier-two demon deity is active in this area. Host, please lead your followers out of this area immediately. If discovered, you will have no chance of survival.]
"What? A tier-two demon deity? Wait, does that mean someone's inside the abandoned hospital?"
Puzzled, Zeng Shen quickly climbed over the iron gate and ran toward the hospital's shattered glass entrance with the little black cat in his arms.
When he was seven or eight meters from the shattered entrance, frantic, agonized meows rang out from the hospital lobby.
At the same time, a young man's shrill voice rose in gleeful, mocking laughter.
"Guys, look! These strays are getting restless again. They want to get close to these five kittens and rescue them."
"Guys, spam some 666s for your streamer! I guarantee not one of these annoying strays is getting away today."
Zeng Shen focused his gaze on the hospital lobby.
Right then, in the middle of the lobby.
A thuggish-looking young streamer in a patterned jacket stood with his back to Zeng Shen, holding a phone mount and eagerly shouting at his phone screen.
In his other hand, he held a two-meter bamboo pole.
Five cords were tied to the pole, with a kitten bound by its hind legs to the end of each one.
Around him, Xiao Hei's mother, Big Black Cat, and ten other strays, including the white cat with black spots, arched their backs in anger and yowled at the young man.
But the young streamer ignored them, lifting the bamboo pole with a grin instead.
In an instant.
The cords tugged the five kittens up by their hind legs, leaving them dangling in the air as they cried out in terror and pain.
At the sight, Zeng Shen's anger surged. Clenching his fist, he charged straight toward the hospital lobby.
"Let them go!"
A furious roar burst from Zeng Shen's mouth.
Immediately afterward.
He rushed into the hospital lobby, leaped up, and drove a vicious kick into the young man's back before he could react.
The young streamer in the patterned jacket heard a sound behind him.
He was just about to turn when the sudden kick sent him stumbling to the ground. Before he could get up, Zeng Shen grabbed his clothes and slapped him hard across the face.
"You think this shit is fun?"
Seeing that the person hitting him was about his own age, the young streamer struggled to punch Zeng Shen while shouting furiously.
"Who the fuck are you? How dare you hit my face..."
"Don't you know I make my living with my..."
Smack!
Zeng Shen slapped him again and roared:
"You're abusing my cats, and you're asking who I am?"
"You make a living with your face, huh? Then let me give it all the attention it deserves."
Smack, smack...
Zeng Shen pinned the young streamer firmly with one hand while raising the other to rain slaps across his face. He slapped him until his head spun, and finally the young man began sobbing and begging for mercy.
"Stop hitting me! Stop hitting my fucking face!"
"I won't do it again!"
"Please don't hit my face. I make my living with it."
After more than a dozen slaps, Zeng Shen glared viciously at the young streamer, whose face had swollen like a pig's head and become unrecognizable. Only then did he stop, grab him by the neck, and throw him out through the lobby entrance along with his phone.
"Get lost. Every time I see you, I'll beat you."
Clutching his badly swollen face, the young streamer picked up his phone from the ground and fled the hospital lobby in utter panic.
[The host overcame a stronger opponent, subdued and defeated a tier-two demon deity, and successfully rescued the Bastet cat tribe. Survival points +3,000. Gained the favor of the entire Bastet cat tribe.]
Hearing the system notification, the furious Zeng Shen froze briefly. Then he calmed himself, focused, pressed his lips together, and opened his status panel to check his survival points.
"Holy shit!"
"It really gave me three thousand survival points!"