Little Doudou in the Real World

"Little Doudou?" Shen Bing called tentatively.

"Meow..." The kitten meowed even more excitedly. Shen Bing could actually feel the kitten's Joy, as though... they were connected by blood.

"Damn it!" Shen Bing muttered. He checked his phone screen again, certain his guess was absurd.

"Mas...ter?" A faint voice suddenly sounded in Shen Bing's mind. To him, it rang as clear as a bell.

Shen Bing looked as if he'd seen a ghost. He wasn't senile; he knew he hadn't imagined that voice. But the whole thing was so bizarre that he began to doubt himself.

He took a deep breath, pushed down his shock and Fear, and whispered, "Are you Little Doudou?"

"Of course I'm Little Doudou!"

Shen Bing shuddered. Goose bumps rose all over his body.

Partly because the voice was so sickeningly sweet, and partly because of Fear.

Yes, it was Fear of the unknown.

Shen Bing knew this wasn't a hallucination. From the kitten's eyes, its movements, and that faint voice, he could tell it had come out of the phone he'd gotten free with a prepaid plan.

The Immortal Realm... the Plague God... Sun Wukong... a Cat Demon...

What the hell is going on?

Was the Immortal Realm game on his phone connected to the actual Immortal Realm? Shen Bing felt as though his head might explode. After more than twenty years of growing up with a materialist worldview, he couldn't accept it all at once.

The kitten was still rubbing against his feet, treating him with the affection it might show its mother... uh, its master.

"Jump into my hand!" Shen Bing stood where he was and held out his right hand, a full meter above the floor.

Without hesitation, the kitten pushed off with its tiny hind legs and landed lightly in Shen Ice's hand.

Cats could certainly jump, but this was a kitten. A normal kitten could barely climb into a cat bed ten centimeters high. Jump a full meter? Impossible.

But the kitten in his hand was no ordinary cat. It was the offspring of a demonic beast, and one from the Immortal Realm at that.

"Actually, Master, you don't have to speak out loud. Just think the words, and Little Doudou can talk to you."

"Then I won't have any privacy!" Shen Bing's mood instantly soured. Everyone had private matters, like jerking off or... well, jerking off.

Little Doudou was remarkably understanding. "Don't worry, Master. Unless you think of Little Doudou's name, Little Doudou can't hear your thoughts."

That was easy enough to understand. If he didn't tag Little Doudou, the kitten wouldn't get the message.

Problem solved.

Shen Bing looked at his phone, his eyes burning with excitement.

I'm going to be rich. I'm really going to be rich, he kept repeating to himself.

Damn it! So what if other people travel to another world or get reborn? The game on my phone is the Immortal Realm. I can control a character and roam all over it. Best of all, I can bring things from the Immortal Realm into the real world.

This wasn't just a golden finger. It was a Golden Thigh—an elephant's Golden Thigh. No, a Tyrannosaurus's Golden Thigh...

Lord Lao's Golden Cores, the Peaches of Immortality from the Peach Garden, the Ginseng Fruit from the Five Manor Temple...

He wouldn't need much. Just one of those would put him at the top of the world.

That was Shen Bing's fantasy, anyway. For now, he thought the most important thing was to study his phone—or rather, the Immortal Realm game on it.

Then Shen Bing remembered that this wasn't the right time. He'd wait until he got back to campus.

After using the restroom, Shen Bing carried Little Doudou back to the dining room.

"Shen Bing, where did you get a kitten?" The moment Wang Bo saw Little Doudou in Shen Bing's arms, he sprang up and backed away in terror.

Shen Bing smiled. "Don't make such a fuss. It's just a kitten. I found it by the restroom, and it seemed smart, so I brought it along. From now on, this little one's part of our dorm. Don't bully it."

Wang Bo's face crumpled. "Ice—no, Master Shen, I'm begging you. Don't keep that thing. Furry animals give me the creeps. How am I supposed to live if it moves into our dorm?"

The other three dormmates also looked down on Wang Bo for slandering a small animal. His objection was overruled. By majority vote, Little Doudou became a member of the dorm.

Wang Bo gave Little Doudou one last fierce glare. The kitten answered with a disdainful look. Clutching his forehead, he wailed that the little creature had to be some kind of spirit.

What he didn't know was that Little Doudou was more than a spirit. It was already a demon—a kitten Cat Demon from the Immortal Realm.

"Waiter, do you have a private room?" a voice called from the restaurant entrance. Shen Bing frowned. He knew that voice—or at least, he'd become familiar with it over the past two days.

A server hurried over. "Sorry, all the private rooms are occupied. Would you like a table in the main dining room?"

Five young men came in. Shen Bing knew one of them well: Lin Zijian, the young master who had wanted to pursue Wang Yanxi yesterday.

Lin Zijian's face darkened. "Do we look like people who sit in the main dining room?"

The server looked troubled. All the private rooms were taken; she couldn't conjure up another one.

A young man in a black baseball jacket beside Lin Zijian said, "Zijian, the main dining room is fine."

"All right," Lin Zijian replied at once. "Hurry up and get a table ready."

The last remark was directed at the server. Lin Zijian then turned to the man in black. "Brother Yu, I was going to treat you at the Imperial Hotel, but you insisted on coming to this little place. I..."

"Enough. I loved eating fish here when I was in college. I don't get back often, so of course I wanted to try it again," the man in black said.

"You're as sentimental as ever, Brother Yu," Lin Zijian said, his tone faintly ingratiating.

Lin Zijian scanned the room for a good seat, wearing an air of superiority that was hard to stomach.

Before he found a table, he spotted Shen Bing. His face twisted, and he muttered, "What's that bastard doing here?"

Brother Yu was standing beside him and caught part of it. "Zijian, what's wrong?"

Lin Zijian suddenly broke into a grin, all trace of displeasure gone. "Nothing. I ran into a romantic rival, but I'm confident I'll win."

"Who is he? Who's qualified to be your rival? You're the Tianxiang Group's third young master," Brother Yu said with a laugh.

Lin Zijian kept his eyes on Shen Bing and sneered. "You're right. I misspoke. That bastard doesn't seem qualified to be my rival."

The two weren't speaking especially loudly, but they weren't quiet either. Shen Bing and his friends heard every word.

Wang Bo and the others had seen Lin Zijian looking at Shen Bing as he spoke. They weren't fools; they knew he meant their friend.

The hot-tempered Wang Bo immediately stood up. "Who are you talking about? Looking for a beating?"

That big oaf knew only one way to solve a problem: his fists.

Lin Zijian gave Wang Bo a disdainful glance and couldn't be bothered to answer.

A man of his standing had no reason to trade insults like a fishwife. And if it came to a fight, would Young Master Lin need to do it himself?

Wang Bo was about to argue further, but Shen Bing tugged him back into his seat.

"Ice..."

"Wang Bo, you know I'm single. How could I be anyone's romantic rival? If you argue with an idiot over a stupid question, you're putting yourself on his level. Why bother?" Shen Bing looked perfectly calm, though his right hand slowly stroked the kitten's back.

Lin Zijian could no longer keep his composure. He didn't know why, but the sight of Shen Bing like that made his anger flare. He glared at him. "Kid, you ought to know your place before you speak. There are some people in this world you can't afford to cross."

"For once, you've said something sensible. I agree," Shen Bing replied.

Lin Zijian felt as if he'd thrown a punch at empty air. Frustration churned inside him.

Brother Yu suddenly laughed. "Zijian, you're slipping. Arguing with a few nobodies? You're spoiling our evening. Come on, let's find a table. I didn't come all this way just to watch you quarrel."

Lin Zijian immediately swallowed his Anger and smiled. "Sorry, Brother Yu. A few flies distracted me. There's a table over there. Let's go."

Watching the group leave, Wang Bo snorted. "Damn. What a piece of work."

"Forget it. Don't get angry. Let's eat," Shen Bing said with a smile, seemingly unbothered.

Then Wang Bo and the other two turned to Shen Bing. Sun Li asked first, "Shen Bing, what was Lin Zijian talking about? Why did he call you a romantic rival? I get the feeling you've been hiding something from us."

Seeing their faces, Shen Bing knew he couldn't keep it from them. He gave them a brief account of what had happened the night before.

Just as he expected, the three showed him no sympathy. Instead, they looked thoroughly aggrieved—and plainly envious of his luck with women.

After they finished envying him, the three finally returned to the point.

"So Lin Zijian had something to do with your failed interview this morning? What a rotten thing to do, throwing his weight around..." Wang Bo was about to launch into a righteous denunciation.

"Power's no good if you don't use it, right? Besides, what goes around comes around. Do enough bad things and sooner or later you'll pay for them." Shen Bing grinned, an odd note in his voice.

"Since when did you become a Buddhist?" Wang Bo and the others gave him a strange look.

Shen Bing merely smiled and put a slice of fish in his mouth.

Little Doudou, Shen Bing called silently.

Master?

You saw the guy who argued with me just now, right? Try your Plague God Possession on him. I want to see what it does.

Don't worry, Master!

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