Punishment: Turned into a Cat

System 615: [Beep, beep-Host, you will be punished if you don't do that.]

Shen Yangge clenched his back teeth and refused resolutely. I can't back down!

If he sought Shen Zhi's help now, even verbally, Shen Zhi would believe that his severing ties with the Shen Residence had been nothing more than empty words.

That would give Shen Zhi leverage over him, allowing him to extract information about the Crown Prince.

Although he desperately wanted the Crown Prince to execute him, he didn't want to end things this way.

System 615: [Host, I'm sorry, but the system can't help you.]

[Warning! Warning! For breaking the original body's character, you will be punished in one hour!]

[Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Punishment generated!]

Beep-

Shen Yangge felt something explode inside his head, and his ears rang.

Blood trickled from his nose.

Then from his ears and the corners of his eyes.

The sight of him bleeding from all seven facial orifices gave everyone a fright.

The woman was caught completely off guard, too. "Hey, you bastard, don't play dead! I didn't do anything to you!"

"Hurry up and take him to the authorities."

Mother Shen sobbed her heart out. "Yang'er, Yang'er..."

Shen Yangge desperately wanted to force a smile and reassure Mother Shen that he was fine, but the moment he opened his mouth, blood spilled out.

Shen Yangge had thought he was at death's door, but once he reached the government office, he realized that apart from the bleeding, he had no other symptoms.

There was no pain or discomfort.

He entered the government office with his face covered in blood and nearly scared the magistrate into fainting.

No matter how they questioned Shen Yangge afterward, he refused to admit to any crime. The magistrate could only lock him up for now and look for solid evidence to force a confession.

It was Shen Yangge's first time in jail, so he had no experience. Fortunately, his cell held only him and an enormous, fat rat.

He and the rat stared at each other. A moment later, the rat scurried into its hole and, to Shen Yangge's astonishment, dragged out half a steamed bun. It hauled the bun over to him, then quickly ran away.

Shen Yangge: ??

Has this rat become a spirit or something?

[Thirty minutes until punishment.]

Shen Yangge sat cross-legged and asked, "What kind of punishment is it?"

System 615: [The system isn't really sure, either. Punishments from above usually bypass the system and are applied directly to the host (ಥ_ಥ). But most previous hosts received electric shocks.]

The system sounded a little subdued, as though it was unhappy. Although it hadn't known Shen Yangge for long, he was its favorite host.

Shen Yangge sighed. All he could do was wait.

Time ticked by. In the final minute, footsteps sounded in the jail. Before they could draw near, Shen Yangge felt his entire body burning up.

Then waves of white light radiated from his body.

After a dazed blur, he opened his eyes again and found that the bars of his cell door had grown larger. So had the gaps-large enough for him to escape through.

[Punishment has begun. Punishment duration: fifteen days.]

What's going on?

Before Shen Yangge could make sense of it, the system immediately warned him.

System 615: [Host, hide quickly! You've turned into a kitten. If anyone sees you, they'll treat you as a monster!]

What?

He'd turned into a kitten?!

Shen Yangge unleashed a torrent of curses, but nothing came out of his mouth except tiny, babyish meows.

-Fuck, fuck! Wasn't I supposed to get electric shocks? Why isn't this what I expected?!

-Aaaah!

The footsteps drew closer and closer. With no other choice, Shen Yangge had to find somewhere to hide first, but the cell was so bare that anything out of place would be obvious at a glance.

Where could he hide?

He searched around without finding a hiding place. Finally, his gaze settled on the rat hole.

His eyes brightened slightly.

"Meow..."

The kitten pushed off with all four legs and charged toward the rat hole, his head bobbing.

The rat hiding at the entrance looked terrified.

The fur all over the rat's face stood on end.

Stay away from me!

The kitten plunged headfirst into the hole. It was fairly roomy, and since he was the size of a real kitten, the only restriction was that he couldn't move around freely.

As for the rat... it had fled the moment the kitten pounced into the hole.

System 615: [Host, are you all right? Those people should have left by now. It's not safe for you to stay in jail like this. Why not leave first?]

-What about my mother if I leave? Won't the authorities think I broke out and arrest her for questioning?

System 615: [They won't, Host. The male lead just proved your innocence. Those people were here to take you out.]

-He proved my innocence? It hasn't even been an hour since all this started...

System 615: [The male lead has always kept informants around you. Whenever anything happens to you, he learns about it immediately.]

Shen Yangge asked, "Then, by your logic, does he know I've turned into a cat, too?"

System 615: [No, Host. The male lead doesn't know.]

The system's answer let Shen Yangge breathe a sigh of relief.

The kitten rested his head on his paws, his few slender whiskers twitching. His little tail lay limp on the ground, and his ears drooped, too.

The whole cat looked utterly depressed.

He couldn't keep going like this. Shen Yangge shook his little feline head, stood up, and burrowed farther into the rat hole.

That rat was so big that the tunnels it had dug surely had an exit beyond the jail.

With the system occasionally giving him directions, Shen Yangge finally made it out.

Then he discovered that seeing the world through a cat's eyes was truly strange. Everything looked especially tall and enormous.

"Meow~"

He stretched his short little legs and couldn't help shaking his paws. Quite a bit of dust had stuck to their flower-shaped pads.

Who knew where his rat brother had gone?

Shen Yangge mused that no matter how small a cat was, it was still a rat's natural enemy.

Huh? Where is this...?

"Mother, there's such a pretty kitten over there!"

A little girl tugged at a woman's sleeve, pointing excitedly.

The woman looked over and immediately hurried to make her daughter close her eyes. "Sweetie, don't look. That's a 'little master' that ran out of the palace. Come on, let's go. If anything happens, we'll be in more trouble than we can handle."

"Mother, it's so pretty! Did it really come from the palace?"

"Shh..."

A few beggars nearby scoffed. "What bullshit little master? It's just an animal." With that, one of them lashed out with his foot and kicked the kitten hard.

The kitten let out a scream.

Then he scrambled to his feet, scratched the beggar several times, and fled with all his fur standing on end.

"Fuck! You'd better not let me catch you again, you damned beast!"

The curses gradually faded into the distance. Shen Yangge hurt so badly that his fur was soaked with sweat. He found a secluded spot and hid.

Perhaps it was because he had turned into a cat, but he actually stuck out his little tongue and licked the place where he had been kicked.