Had my cats become spirits?

His face felt a little itchy.

Something rough and wet was brushing against it.

Chen Lin frowned in his sleep and instinctively waved a hand, but hit nothing.

The sensation returned.

His eyes snapped open.

The next second, every muscle in his body tensed, and he nearly launched himself straight out of bed.

Holy shit???

Two furry little heads rested on his chest, one on either side.

One kitten had stuck out its tiny pink tongue and was enthusiastically licking his chin.

The other raised a soft little paw and gently patted his face, letting out babyish meows as though telling him to get up.

What the fuck were these things?!

Chen Lin froze completely.

Hadn't the two kittens he picked up yesterday looked barely newborn, unable even to walk steadily?

How had they managed to jump onto his bed, over a meter high, after just one night?

He carefully sat up and picked up each kitten by the scruff, one in each hand.

Both little creatures were noticeably bigger than yesterday. Their fur was glossy, fluffy, and soft, nothing like the filthy, pitiful state they had been in before.

Clear, beautiful Leopard Cat markings had emerged through their formerly dingy gray baby fur.

Most importantly, their previously closed eyes were now wide open, like two pairs of obsidian stones, curiously studying the two-legged creature holding them in midair.

With their size and alert expressions, they looked at least a month old!

Chen Lin's heart began pounding uncontrollably.

The Spirit Spring Water!

It had to be that drop of Spirit Spring Water!

He set the kittens back on the bed. Far from being afraid, they immediately crowded close again, rubbing affectionately against his legs and purring in contentment.

After the immense shock came irrepressible delight.

He spoke tentatively to the kittens. "All right, go down and play. I'll mix up some milk for you in a bit!"

As he spoke, he reached out to lift them off the bed.

But the kittens seemed to understand his instruction and moved before he could.

They leaped lightly off the bed, landing steadily on all fours without a sound.

Huh?

Chen Lin was utterly stunned.

They... could understand human speech?

An absurd yet intensely exciting idea began taking root in his mind.

Immediately intrigued, he cleared his throat and spoke in a commanding tone. "You two, come up here!"

The moment the words left his mouth-

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Two tiny figures sprang up, swift as lightning, and landed squarely on his thighs.

The bolder kitten even scrambled up his arm and onto his shoulder in a few quick movements, tilting its head as it looked down at him.

"Holy crap! You really understand me?"

Chen Lin was dumbfounded. His mind went completely blank.

"Meow!"

"Mew!"

Both kittens cried out together, their tails held high, as though proudly answering him.

Still unwilling to believe it, Chen Lin made the test harder.

"Sit!"

Both kittens promptly sat up straight, front paws together and tails swaying gently behind them in a steady rhythm, looking perfectly well behaved.

This was fucking incredible!

"Roll over! Do a backflip!"

Chen Lin shouted excitedly.

This time, the kittens tilted their heads and stared at him in bewilderment, their eyes full of confusion, as though wondering what nonsense this two-legged creature was spouting.

Chen Lin let out a long breath of relief.

Thank goodness.

He really had been afraid the cats had fully become spirits overnight.

Now it seemed the Spirit Spring Water had merely awakened their intelligence, making them countless times smarter than ordinary cats and able to understand simple instructions.

That was already incredible enough!

"From now on, your names will be..."

Chen Lin thought for ages but couldn't come up with any impressive names.

He simply picked up his phone and filmed a short video of the kittens climbing all over him, adding the caption: "Picked up these two little guys yesterday. Terrible at names-suggestions welcome!"

He opened his Green Bubble Moments and posted it.

He had just gotten up and finished washing when Chen Guofu pushed open the door to call him to breakfast.

"Lin, breakfast is ready."

As soon as Chen Guofu entered, he spotted the kittens circling Chen Lin's trouser legs, and a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.

"These two have lovely coats! So glossy, and they look clever too. They'll be great mouse catchers when they grow up! Where did you get them?"

Putting on his shoes, Chen Lin answered casually, "I picked them up by the old house in the village yesterday. Didn't expect them to look so nice once they were clean!"

"Mm." Chen Guofu nodded without thinking much of it. There were plenty of stray cats in the village, so occasionally finding one or two good-looking ones was nothing unusual.

Breakfast was the same thick, golden millet porridge, refreshing pickles, and plump white steamed buns.

Watching Chen Lin eat with such a hearty appetite, Liu Shuqin smiled affectionately.

Chen Guofu took a sip of porridge, then casually mentioned something as though it had just occurred to him. "Oh, right. Chen Laosan isn't renewing the lease on that little fishpond behind your house when it expires this year."

Chen Lin's parents had leased two fishponds in the village, one large and one small.

The smaller one, about three or four mu, was right behind Chen Lin's old family home. The larger pond near the village entrance covered more than ten mu.

After his parents' accident, Chen Guofu and his wife, who knew nothing about fish farming, lost money and transferred the larger pond to someone else.

As for the smaller pond, since it was right behind Chen Lin's house, they had rented it cheaply to a younger clan relative in the village named Chen Laosan, for two thousand yuan a year.

"Why isn't he renewing?" Chen Lin asked curiously.

"Ah, fish farming doesn't pay anymore." Chen Guofu put down his chopsticks, lit a cigarette, and blew out a smoke ring. "These past few years, raising those ornamental turtles has become popular around here. Apparently it pays much better than fish farming. The first few families who started made hundreds of thousands, even a million a year. They all struck it rich! Now everyone in the village is following suit, and Chen Laosan's planning to do it too."

Chen Lin's heart gave a heavy thump.

He had slaved away in Magic City all year with barely any savings to show for it, and had nearly been saddled with a thirty-million-yuan mess.

Meanwhile, quite a few families back in his home village were already earning a million a year.

A thought flashed through his mind and instantly took shape.

"Uncle," Chen Lin set down his bowl, his tone more serious than ever, "since no one's renting the pond anymore, let's take it back. I'll raise some fish myself. I've got nothing else to do anyway."

Chen Guofu nodded without saying much.

The village's fish farmers had all switched businesses, so finding another tenant would be difficult. If Chen Lin wanted to take it back and try his hand at it, even if he made no money, catching a few fish for family meals during the holidays would still be nice.

After breakfast, Chen Lin said goodbye to Liu Shuqin, who was washing the dishes, and hurried back to his own house.

He took the precious Spirit Jade Bottle from a drawer, slipped it into his pocket, then excitedly opened the old house's back door.

Outside was a patch of vacant ground, roughly a hundred square meters, overgrown with weeds.

Beyond it lay the three-to-four-mu fishpond.

The water was somewhat murky. Chen Laosan had cleared out the pond before leaving, and only worthless little wild fish remained.

Walking to the edge, Chen Lin could see plenty of finger-length white strips swimming lazily near the surface.

He uncorked the Spirit Jade Bottle, held his breath, and carefully let one clear drop of Spirit Spring Water fall into the pond.

The drop entered the water without a sound.

But less than a minute later, a terrifying sight unfolded.

Within a ten-meter radius of where the drop had landed, the water suddenly boiled with activity!

The white strips that had been wandering aimlessly now swarmed in from every direction, as though they had smelled the most delicious food in the world. They packed into a dense mass, frantically competing for something.

The water churned and splashed, spraying droplets everywhere in a spectacular display.

"Holy shit! That's enough to give me trypophobia!"

The sight gave Chen Lin a fright.

By rights, the Spirit Spring Water should have been diluted beyond recognition the moment it entered the pond. He hadn't expected it to remain so terrifyingly attractive to the fish!

He immediately ran inside and dug out a dust-covered landing net.

He scooped it through the water, and when he lifted it, his arm abruptly sank under the weight.

It was heavy.

The net was filled with wriggling white strips, each as long as a finger, struggling frantically. A rough count put them at several dozen.

Chen Lin rinsed out the large water vat behind the house, filled it halfway, and dumped all the white strips from the net into it.

Perhaps they had spent too long out of water. Quite a few had already rolled belly-up and were floating on the surface, looking close to death.

Chen Lin took out the Spirit Jade Bottle again and added another drop of Spirit Spring Water to the vat.

A miracle happened.

The half-dead white strips seemed to receive an instant recharge. With a twitch, they regained their vitality and began chasing one another energetically around the vat.

Nice. Very nice!

Watching the lively fish, Chen Lin nodded in satisfaction. The first step of his get-rich plan was a success!

He noticed a lone rapeseed plant near the vat. It drooped listlessly, its leaves yellowing. He had no idea how it had managed to survive there.

An idea struck him. He wanted to test the diluted Spirit Spring Water's effect on plants.

He found a chipped bowl, scooped up half a bowl of water from the vat, and carefully poured it around the rapeseed plant's roots.

With that done, Chen Lin dusted off his hands and went back inside.

He picked up his phone and opened Green Bubble Moments. Dozens of new notifications already showed in the upper-right corner.

He tapped them and found they were all comments on his kitten video.

Forever the wild man king: "Holy shit! Finders have to share. I want the one on the left!"

Chen Lin grinned. This was his other best friend, Wang Ye, nicknamed Whoa Bro.

Edgelord girl: "Little Lin! The second I get back for vacation, I'm coming over to take them both! These divine beasts are beyond your right to touch!"

Edgelord girl was his younger cousin, his uncle's daughter Chen Qianqian, who was studying at university in the provincial capital.

Auntie: "@Edgelord girl Mind your manners. Call him your older cousin. Bonk.jpg. Oh, those kittens are adorable! Why didn't you bring them over this morning so I could see them?"

Chen Lin pressed a hand to his forehead. Sure enough, women of any age were helpless against cute pets.

Below that were a whole bunch of comments from his high school and middle school classmates.

"Oh my god, they're too cute! My HP is gone!"

"What breed are these cats? They're gorgeous!"

"Brother Lin, where did you buy them? Send me the link!"

"Are those Leopard Cats? Why does mine look like a mop?"

"I'm jealous. I want to find kittens like these by the roadside too."

As he scrolled through the comments one by one, a furious engine roar approached from outside the courtyard.

It was loud enough to rival a tractor.