Chapter 5: Are You Still Pretending?
"...'
Xue Jing's expression turned slightly awkward.
This cat must not have learned how to meow like a normal cat. How could it sound so strange?
"What are you pretending for?" Xue Jing asked as he placed his hands under the cat's front legs and lifted it up to eye level.
The cat wore an innocent expression, resembling an ordinary kitten.
"...'
"You can speak human language, right?"
Xue Jing decided to be frank and have a heart-to-heart conversation with the cat. He wanted to know what kind of creature it was, why it could speak, what the platinum ring on its tail was about, how he could find a similar one, and why a mysterious cat with the ability to speak had ended up in the precarious situation of almost being harmed by stray cats.
However, the cat in front of him wore an expression of feigned ignorance, as if it had no idea what he was talking about, pretending to be an ordinary cat without any special qualities.
"Meow~~"
"Stop pretending. I heard everything. Now, talk," Xue Jing said.
"Meow?"
"Just speak up. Tell me how many dried fish snacks you want, and they're yours," Xue Jing offered.
"Meow~"
The cat licked its paw nonchalantly, unaffected by the offer.
Xue Jing's eyebrows furrowed. "Are you still pretending?"
He placed the cat on his lap and held it by the back of its neck with one hand while reaching for its tail with the other.
This was one of the most sensitive areas on a cat's body, and most cats loved being stroked there, often arching their backs in pleasure.
Xue Jing's fingers skillfully scratched the base of the cat's tail, and the little black cat's eyes widened instantly.
"Meoooow!!!'
It let out a nearly pitiful meow, its rear end involuntarily arching high into the air. Its legs began to struggle, but Xue Jing firmly held its neck, immobilizing it. The cat could only continue meowing incessantly.
After a while, Xue Jing stopped, and the cat, having given up on struggling, lay on Xue Jing's lap, completely limp. It stuck out its tongue, rolled its eyes, and panted, looking thoroughly exhausted from the 'play.'
However, despite the intense 'torture,' it still didn't utter a single word, maintaining its pretense of being an ordinary kitten from start to finish.
Xue Jing began to doubt himself.
Could it be that the divine essence absorption from the skill panel had absorbed its ability to speak? Had it truly become an ordinary cat?
If not for that extremely strange meow when it first woke up, Xue Jing might have believed it.
But he truly had no idea what else to do with the cat.
As long as it didn't want to communicate honestly with him, he couldn't force it. He couldn't very well subject it to actual torture to make it talk.
After all, he had just helped it, and his moral compass, flexible though it may be, wouldn't allow him to do such a thing.
Xue Jing shook his head and said, "Alright, let's leave it at that for now. Are you hungry?"
The cat meowed weakly.
Xue Jing took that as a yes.
He placed the cat on the sofa and stood up. He went to the kitchen, grabbed a large bowl, and returned to the table. He opened the supermarket bag and took out the cat food, tearing open the package and pouring some into the bowl.
Xue Jing placed the bowl filled with cat food in front of the cat, expecting that a cat that had likely endured hardships in the world of strays would pounce on the food immediately.
Unexpectedly, the cat merely glanced at the food, made a disdainful sound, and turned its head away without another look.
"Hmm?"
Seeing this, Xue Jing's heart skipped a beat.
This reaction... something was amiss.
It didn't seem like the reaction of a picky eater rejecting unappetizing food. Instead, it was more like... the food before it wasn't even on its radar as something edible.
A light bulb went off in Xue Jing's mind, and he suddenly understood.
He might have misunderstood from the very beginning.
He recalled the words the cat had spoken earlier.
"I never thought... the world of stray cats... would be so cruel."
This sentence contained two possibilities.
The first was that it was a house cat that had never roamed the outside world and was, therefore, unfamiliar with the harshness of the stray cat life.
It was this sentence, along with the cat's apparent weakness that led Xue Jing to subconsciously believe that it was inherently a cat that had, for unknown reasons, learned to speak human language.
"..."
Xue Jing narrowed his eyes, not saying anything further as he turned and walked into the kitchen to start preparing dinner.
After he left the living room, the cat, unaware that Xue Jing had deduced a lot from its unintentional actions, jumped down from the sofa.
It padded silently across the room and reached the corner leading to the kitchen, stealthily poking its head out to confirm that Xue Jing was indeed cooking. Only then did it breathe a sigh of relief.
'I didn't realize he heard me speaking earlier.'
The cat frowned, its tail twitching as its gaze fell on the ring at the tip of its tail.
'GOD-1391, Cat Tail Ring... That jerk took all that money and didn't even explain the effects of this divine artifact clearly! Now I'm stuck in this form and can't change back!'
The cat's face twisted in a very human-like expression of frustration and anger.
After a moment of futile rage, the cat shook off its negative thoughts and surveyed its surroundings.
'This is a good hiding place. The security company guys won't think to look for me here, a cat in the home of an ordinary person.'
Recalling its harrowing experience of being chased and bitten by the stray cats, it shuddered.
'I'll just stay here until I get used to this divine artifact and can change back. Then I'll leave.'
The cat made up its mind.
'But... to keep this kind-hearted boy out of danger, I'll just pretend to be an ordinary cat.'
It knew that if it interacted with this kind person who had taken in a strange talking cat, they might develop an emotional connection, which could easily drag him into dangerous situations.
Therefore, it wanted to cut off any potential attachment from the start.
Without any interaction, there would be less involvement, and when the time came, it could just leave without a trace, ensuring they never crossed paths again.
'Even though he heard me speak, it doesn't matter. He can just think it was his imagination, that he's an animal lover who's so obsessed with cats that he's hallucinating.'
'As long as I don't admit it and keep pretending to be an ordinary cat, no one can expose me!'
Having made up its mind, the cat nodded in satisfaction, its tail standing erect and swaying happily.
...
Xue Jing spent a long time in the kitchen, preparing three simple yet delicious home-cooked dishes: spicy stir-fried beef, bitter gourd with eggs, and tomato meat soup.
【You have completed a dish, Cooking Experience +20】
【You have completed a dish, Cooking Experience +21】
【You have completed a dish, Cooking Experience +20】
【Cooking Lv2 (318/500)】
Xue Jing opened the fridge, took out yesterday's leftover rice, and served two bowls, heating them in the microwave before bringing them to the dining table.
Without saying a word, he picked up one of the bowls and started eating.
The cat, who had been starving for two days and was resigned to forcing itself to eat cat food, stared at the mouthwatering dishes on the table, its eyes glued to the food.
The aroma wafting through the air was like an enticing hand, tugging at its nose and drawing it closer to the table, to the extent that it didn't even notice it had knocked over the bowl of cat food.
When it finally snapped out of its trance, it found itself sitting on the dining table, with a bowl of white rice right in front of it—the same kind that Xue Jing was eating.
It turned its head awkwardly and saw the handsome boy eating his meal with a smile playing at the corners of his lips as he looked at the cat.
As if to say, 'Are you still going to pretend?'
...
(End of Chapter)
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