The pink cat that fell into an art book
Su Bai casually turned off the overhead light on the balcony.
Only a small, yellowish nightlight remained on in the living room, illuminating the messy lunch boxes on the coffee table.
Xia Ning tiptoed back into Su Xiaoxiao's bedroom, the door closing with a soft click.
Su Bai slumped onto the worn-out fabric sofa, sinking into the hardened foam cushions.
A faint light flickered at the collar, Kabi slowly floated out.
"The way you were fooling that little girl just now was even more skillful than Deep Space demon."
Kabi floated in mid-air, the pages of the book rustling.
"What do you know? This is called building corporate culture."
Su Bai put his arm behind his head, his eyes were very clear.
"Our Magical Girl needs to grow bigger and bigger in the future. I can't do it alone. We must find new high-purity contractors as soon as possible."
Kabi yawned. "There are very few people in the entire Xinghai City who fit the idealistic resonance."
"We'll have to try our luck."
Su Bai tossed it a small, low-quality fragment of the abyss Abyssal Core, about the size of a fingernail.
"Take the projector and go out to scout locations. I need to see the shortlist before dawn."
Kabi his mouth, swallowed the crumbs, and they transformed into a wisp of purple-gold light that shot through the wall.
The Xinghai City Third Children's Welfare Institute is located next to an abandoned railway in an old industrial area.
The gray cement wall was covered with withered ivy.
This is the largest marginal shelter in the city that houses orphans of extraordinary disasters.
Eighteen-year-old Bai Jingxuan sat alone on a rusty swing.
Her figure appeared somewhat thin due to years of malnutrition, and a faded old coat hung on her shoulders.
The girl had an old hearing aid with a lot of static plugged into her left ear, and the casing was covered with transparent tape.
Her fair face lacked the childishness of her peers as she quietly gazed at the rusty railway tracks in the distance.
Her right leg suffered permanent nerve atrophy due to being attacked by Monster in her childhood.
On rainy days, the atrophied muscles would twitch violently, causing excruciating pain.
This is also the root cause of why the three middle-class adoptive families withdrew from the adoption program overnight after receiving their medical examination reports.
Those respectable people want a healthy and docile adopted daughter, not a burden who constantly requires large medical bills.
Although the social workers at the Welfare Home sympathized with her, none of them had time to stop and take a second look at this disabled girl who walked with a limp, when faced with hundreds of orphans crying for food.
The afternoon cicada chirping was drowned out by the heavy industrial fumes.
The air was filled with the pungent smell of engine oil and rust.
Bai Jingxuan habitually pulled out a yellowed anime picture book from her old schoolbag.
That was her only pastime, which she had saved up over three months using aluminum cans.
The pages of the booklet were worn and frayed from being turned so often; it was printed with heroes wearing magnificent battle dresses and holding scepters.
She lowered her head, her fingers smoothing out the creases on the pages.
Snap!
A palm-sized, pink, cat-shaped creature suddenly fell from a dead tree branch overhead.
The pink, fleshy blob landed squarely in the center of her open sketchbook.
Tiny purple-gold sparks even lingered around it, burning two tiny black dots onto the pages.
Bai Jingxuan was so startled that her wrist trembled, and she instinctively tried to close the book.
Ouch! I'm going to fall and die!
The creature suddenly rolled over and began to speak human language.
It rubbed its round belly, complaining incessantly.
"This projected body consumes too much Magic Power; I get hungry after just a few steps."
After saying that, it let out a burp that tasted like sweet water, completely lacking any decorum.
Bai Jingxuan stood frozen on the swing, her breath catching in her throat.
She subconsciously reached out and patted the old hearing aid in her left ear.
The crackling static echoed in her ear canal, proving that she hadn't been hallucinating.
This pink, chubby cat that fell from the sky is indeed talking.
"Are you... Monster?"
Bai Jingxuan's voice was very soft, her right hand gripping the cold iron chains on both sides of the swing tightly.
Although she was afraid, there wasn't much of the panic that one would expect from someone her age.
Growing up in Welfare Home, she witnessed far too much cruelty.
The cat spirit shook off the dust and plopped down on the character illustration in the picture book.
"Just call me Kabi, no need for 'sir' or anything like that. I'm not some standard familiar working for the Monster Hunting Bureau."
Kabi two short paws tucked under its hips, and its large, obsidian-like eyes darted around.
Bai Jingxuan blinked, her wariness lessening slightly.
She reached out her slender fingers and carefully touched its furry ears.
The soft, warm touch traveled from my fingertips, so real and genuine.
Kabi shook his head and then sat down in her palm.
"Little girl, don't touch me like that. It'll cost you five hundred Federal Coin each time."
I have no money.
Bai Jingxuan obediently withdrew her fingers, her voice hoarse.
"I only have two yuan and fifty cents on me, and I need to save it to buy steamed buns for tomorrow."
Kabi rolled his eyes in disdain.
"You poor wretch, just like that homeowner who's always calculating the utility bills."
"Who... is your master?"
Bai Jingxuan listened with a puzzled look through the intermittent static from her hearing aid, trying to discern the words.
"A heartless boss, let's not even mention him."
Kabi wagged his chubby tail, his tone suddenly becoming smug and lively.
"However, the people standing behind me are far more powerful than those incompetent government officials."
"Is he even more powerful than the Enforcer of the Monster Hunting Bureau?"
Bai Jingxuan pressed for an answer in a low voice.
In her limited understanding, the gun-wielding, trench coat-wearing Enforcer of the Monster Hunting Bureau were already the most imposing people in the world.
"Enforcer is nothing!"
Kabi made a huge circle in the air with his two paws.
"My purple-gold Magical Girl can tear apart a 2,000-level Lord-Class Monster as easily as shredding a piece of paper."
"Just a few days ago, in front of dozens of desperados, they looted all the top-grade Origin Stone from Skysea Treasury."
"The authorities investigated for half a month but couldn't even find a trace of her. She's incredibly arrogant and domineering!"
Bai Jingxuan listened quietly, her left hearing aid occasionally emitting a piercing whistling sound.
She looked at the old sketchbook in her hand, then at the boastful pink creature in her palm.
"Robbing a bank vault... that's a bad guy, isn't it?"
Bai Jingxuan raised her question earnestly.
Kabi was taken aback and tapped her wrist in an annoyance.
"That's called robbing the rich to help the poor! Don't you understand what the redistribution of spoils of war means?"
"Those thugs robbed the bank, so we robbed the thugs in return. That's called doing justice and getting a little commission along the way!"
Bai Jingxuan couldn't help but let the corners of her mouth turn up slightly.
That was the first time she had smiled in months.
The swing swayed gently in the breeze, the iron rings creaking and groaning as they rubbed together.
Kabi suddenly stopped boasting, his obsidian-like eyes fixed on the girl's chest.
Within its extraordinary vision, a crystal-clear light emanated from the very center of Bai Jingxuan's heart.
That was not the muddled thoughts of an ordinary person, but a highly condensed Wishforce that remained pure despite being tormented by years of intense pain and isolation.
That was Flawless Flame of Prayer.
This is also the perfect embryo that the Mentalist Path most desires.
Kabi grinned, revealing two sharp little fangs.
"Little girl, you must be in a lot of pain every day dragging this useless leg around."