Have My Cats Turned into Spirits Again?

Chen Lin carefully put the Taiyin Breathing Technique back into his storage ring.

Its value was immeasurable.

Next, he turned his attention to the other books.

There was an Introduction to Alchemical Recipes, a Compendium of Ten Thousand Herbs, and several texts on medicinal principles and properties.

Their contents were far too abstruse, filled with theories about principal, supporting, assisting, and guiding ingredients. Reading them made Chen Lin's head spin, so he simply swept all the books and unidentified herbs into his storage ring.

As for the remaining porcelain bottles, they felt quite heavy in his hands.

He pulled out the stoppers and found a dozen or so round pills inside, each giving off a different medicinal fragrance.

Unfortunately, the bottles had no labels. Chen Lin had no idea what the pills actually did, so he could only seal them again and wait for a chance to identify them the next time he entered the transfer station.

He had just finished putting everything away.

When he turned around, he discovered that the two kittens had slipped out at some point. They were crouched on the floor, their tiny pink tongues busily licking something.

Chen Lin followed their movements with his eyes, and his scalp instantly prickled.

They were licking the few drops of dark red blood that had dripped from the half-carcass of the Crimson Moon Fox!

"Don't lick that!"

He barked the warning, but it was already too late.

The two kittens had licked up every last drop.

The next second, something suddenly changed!

"Mrow-!"

A piercing cry of agony shattered the silence.

The two tabby kittens went rigid and crashed to the floor, their limbs convulsing violently as they struggled. The sight made Chen Lin's heart clench.

"Fuck, are they going to mutate?"

Chen Lin was shocked and anxious. He had been careless this time.

Faced with something so supernatural, he did not dare rush forward.

Their writhing looked exactly like the prelude to a zombie transformation in a movie.

Fortunately, the painful process did not last long.

A few minutes later, the kittens gradually stopped struggling. Their cries faded, and they lay quietly on the floor, motionless.

Chen Lin relaxed a little.

Thank goodness. It was not what he had feared.

He was about to go over and check on them when both kittens stood up at once.

They shook their furry heads, turned in perfect unison, and fixed their gazes on Chen Lin.

Without warning, a chill shot from the base of Chen Lin's spine straight to the crown of his head!

What kind of eyes were those?

Scarlet!

Pure, unadulterated scarlet, roiling with indifference, brutality, and bloodthirsty madness.

Those were no longer the eyes of pets, but of two vicious beasts that had crawled out of the depths of hell, ready to devour anyone they chose!

Their bone-chilling killing intent seemed to lower the temperature of the entire living room by several degrees.

Chen Lin felt as though his blood was about to freeze. Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

Had they been possessed?

Just as Chen Lin's mind went blank and he stood there at a loss-

The scarlet quietly faded from the kittens' eyes, restoring their obsidian purity and lively sparkle.

"Meow~"

"Meow~"

Two soft little cries broke the deathly silence in the living room.

They leaped lightly into Chen Lin's arms and rubbed their furry heads affectionately against his chest.

Chen Lin let out a long breath, feeling utterly drained.

With mixed feelings, he lifted the two kittens and stared into their eyes for a long while, but found nothing unusual.

"Maybe... I should release you into the wild?"

He muttered to himself.

This was far too uncanny. Keeping them around felt like living beside a ticking time bomb.

"Ow! What the fuck!"

The words had barely left his mouth when a sharp pain shot through his finger.

He looked down to find one of the kittens in his arms indignantly biting his index finger with its tiny baby teeth.

A bead of blood seeped from his fingertip.

Before Chen Lin could react, both kittens leaned in, one on either side, and gently licked the bead of blood with their little pink tongues.

A strange tingling sensation spread through him, and the sting of the wound vanished instantly.

Chen Lin raised his finger. Its skin was as smooth as before, without even a tooth mark.

"What's going on? It was definitely bleeding just now..."

He was completely baffled.

"Master!"

"Master!"

Without warning, two soft, clear, sweet little-girl voices rang out in his mind.

Chen Lin stiffened all over and whipped his head around.

"Who's there? Who's talking?"

"Master, we're in your arms!"

"Yes, yes! We're in your arms!"

Chen Lin lowered his head as though he had seen a ghost, staring hard at the two little bundles of fur blinking their big, innocent eyes up at him.

"You... you two..."

For a moment, he could not get a single word out.

The kittens affectionately licked Chen Lin's hand.

"We don't know what happened either. After we licked that blood, lots of scattered memories appeared in our heads."

"Those memories told us that if we bonded with a master through blood, we could talk to our master through our minds!"

"And! It seems we can heal wounds!"

Chen Lin's mouth fell open and stayed that way for a long time.

Good heavens! My cats really have turned into spirits!

Huh? Actually... maybe this isn't so hard to accept?

After all, something like the Myriad Worlds Garbage Transfer Station existed. Talking cats hardly seemed that outrageous.

The worst-case scenario of possession had not happened. From the looks of things, the kittens had obtained some sort of bloodline inheritance from the Crimson Moon Fox's blood.

He put his tangled thoughts aside and rubbed the kittens' heads.

"Do you have names?"

The two little-girl voices sounded in his mind almost simultaneously.

"Nope!"

"Master, hurry and give us nice names!"

Chen Lin, who was hopeless at naming things, once again sank into deep thought.

After a long while, he tentatively said, "How about... Clear Wind for one of you, and Bright Moon for the other?"

"Yes!"

"Yes! I have a name now!"

Clear Wind and Bright Moon rolled happily in Chen Lin's arms, brimming with excitement.

Chen Lin asked them more about the memories that had appeared in their minds.

Unfortunately, those memories were only incomplete fragments. Apart from the blood-bonding method and that miraculous healing gift, they contained no other useful information.

It was already well past midnight. The shocks coming one after another had exhausted Chen Lin both physically and mentally, leaving him with no energy to study the Taiyin Breathing Technique.

He returned to his bedroom, flopped down, and fell asleep.

Clear Wind and Bright Moon obediently followed him in and settled quietly on either side of his pillow.

The next day, Chen Lin woke naturally. He took out his phone and saw that it was already ten in the morning.

He stretched, feeling refreshed and clearheaded.

After getting up and washing, he left his room. Clear Wind and Bright Moon were nowhere to be seen; who knew where they had run off to play.

On the living room table sat a small pot of millet porridge, several plain steamed buns, and a dish of pickled vegetables.

He touched the side of the pot. It was still warm.

Warmth welled up in his heart. His second uncle and aunt must have come to call him over for breakfast, then brought it here especially for him when they found him still asleep.

Chen Lin ladled himself a bowl of porridge and dug in.

Before long, he finished breakfast, pushed open the back door, and went outside.

Beside the fishpond, Chen Guofu stood with a cigarette between his lips, directing three or four villagers as they busily built the fishing platforms. The sounds of hammering and banging rang out nonstop.

Chen Lin walked over and greeted his second uncle and the villagers.

He examined the two platforms, which had already begun to take shape, then stepped onto one to test it, stamping his feet hard.

The platform did not budge. It was exceptionally sturdy.

Even with Chen Lin's seventy-kilogram weight on it, he could not feel the slightest wobble.

He nodded in satisfaction.

Chen Guofu came over too, patted the solid railing, and said proudly, "These platforms were built to hold four hundred kilos. Even if young Zhao came and danced on one, it wouldn't shake!"

"Uncle Chen, are you making fun of my weight behind my back again?"

He had barely finished speaking when a wounded voice came from the back door.

Zhao Jie's enormous frame was squeezing through the doorway.

Chen Lin burst out laughing. Speak of the devil.

Zhao Jie had not come alone. He had brought several people in work uniforms from the advertising company.

Chen Lin directed them to install two elegant wooden signs reading "Farmhouse Courtyard," one by his front gate and the other at the entrance to Chen Family Village.

The final sign, the largest and most eye-catching, was installed beside the busy road a kilometer away.

By the time everything was done, it was already noon.

For lunch, Liu Shuqin cooked right there in Chen Lin's house, preparing a whole table of dishes.

The most conspicuous dishes were a plate of steamed fish and a plate of red-braised fish.

Both were made with the Super White Bream Chen Lin kept in his water vat.

The moment the fish reached the table, its overwhelmingly rich, savory aroma filled the entire house.

"Lin, what kind of fish is this? Holy shit, how can it smell this good? Did you load it up with chemical additives?"

Zhao Jie stared suspiciously at the fish on the plates, even as drool unwittingly trickled from the corner of his mouth.

"Jie! This is Farmhouse Courtyard!" Chen Lin looked speechless. "Using chemical additives at a farm-stay restaurant? Wouldn't that ruin my own reputation?"

Zhao Jie had no self-control when it came to food. Faced with something delicious, moderation meant nothing to him.

Still half doubtful, he picked up a piece of snowy-white fish and put it in his mouth.

His chewing stopped instantly.

The next second, an astonishing gleam burst into his eyes. It was as though someone had hit fast-forward: he tore through the food, his chopsticks moving so quickly they left afterimages.

Watching him eat, Chen Lin almost felt his own teeth ache.

Good grief, Jie, no wonder your weight reaches a new level every year. Those bowls are huge, and you can put away four bowls of rice in one sitting?

Liu Shuqin and Chen Guofu beamed as they watched Zhao Jie eat.

Judging by this reaction, once word got around, they probably would not have to worry about business at the farm-stay restaurant.

As Zhao Jie wolfed down his food, he called out indistinctly, "Lin! Your fish... is incredible! Once you open, you've got to reserve a fishing spot just for me!"