Chapter 1247 - 550: Animal Protection Expert_2

Chapter 1247: Chapter 550: Animal Protection Expert_2

Though Qu Wanqiu said if the two of them came early, she could just leave halfway through the meal.

But Lin Li said it wasn’t necessary. After all, it’s New Year’s Eve dinner, and there’s plenty of time in the evening. She could eat slowly and contact them when she was almost done.

Lin Li and Bai Bufan also didn’t wait upstairs for the same reason; dealing with the adults’ enthusiasm was somewhat uncomfortable.

"Let’s go to the small shop. I want to see if I can find a firecracker I used to play with." After going downstairs, Bai Bufan nodded towards Lin Li.

"Sure," Lin Li had no objections.

The night wind carried a chill. Winter nights come early, and though it was just after six o’clock, the streetlights had already turned on, casting a glow on the street.

"Meow—"

Lin Li and Bai Bufan were banteringly discussing what to buy later when a piercing and persistent meowing came from not far away.

Bai Bufan didn’t pay attention, but Lin Li raised an eyebrow.

The sound was sharp, carrying not the tone of mating calls but a hint of fear.

Being the big boss of Xiling’s cats, dogs, and birds, Lin Li was a bit reactive.

"This cat sounds miserable, Bufan. Since we’ve decided to be animal protection activists, we can’t ignore this today."

Lin Li didn’t forget the task on his task panel. With a slight mental turn, he naturally put an arm around Bai Bufan’s shoulder, adjusted direction, and headed that way.

It wouldn’t take much time to take a look, anyway.

Though Bai Bufan was puzzled, he followed along without much care, but slightly frowned, pondering,

"But, Hajimi’s meat is hard to sell, is it within our map?"

The reason Bai Bufan said this was that the two of them had once sworn by the Luo River to become animal protectors, striving to protect animals.

They had even thought of a method.

Use an eight-two scale.

So every pound of pork sold saves two ounces of cute little piggies, every pound of dog meat saves two ounces of cute little doggies, and so on.

Bit by bit, countless animals would escape misery.

Salute to oneself, the greatest reverse walker.

But... indeed, they hadn’t heard of many people being interested in cat meat?

Bai Bufan thought this contradicted their animal protection philosophy, which is why he raised the question.

Lin Li turned his head, looking deeply at Bai Bufan, speaking word by word:

"Hajimi, North and South, Mung bean."

Bai Bufan immediately adopted a serious expression:

"Asahi, Coconut Jelly, Milk Dragon."

The two nodded, said nothing more, and continued toward the source of the cat’s meowing.

Don’t ask what kind of inexplicable depth the two just expressed.

They didn’t know themselves.

The reason Bai Bufan quickly responded was purely because his base code of "Flash when someone plays a kill" triggered.

Soon, the two walked to a corner of the residential area.

From a distance, they could see a little boy about six or seven years old near a trash can, holding a lit little firecracker with a mix of curiosity and mischief on his face, attempting to throw it into the corner.

In the corner, an orange stray cat, not particularly plump, was curled up against the wall. Its fur was fluffed, making it look larger, and fear was evident in its amber eyes.

Perhaps too scared to flee, it could only scream sharply in vain.

Several pieces of exploded red paper littered the ground, indicating it had been "bombed" several times already.

"Whoosh—"

The little boy was proudly aiming yet another lit firecracker at the shivering cat.

"Stop!"

Lin Li gave a low shout, not loud but full of commanding aura, instantly cutting through the clamor and screeching of firecrackers, reaching the young boy’s ears.

The little boy was startled by the sudden shout, his hand shook, and the just-lit firecracker slipped out, but its direction was off, falling more than a meter away from the cat and exploding with a pop, causing the cat to shiver violently again, its cries growing more miserable.

The little boy turned around, seeing two tall, meddlesome adults standing there. The mischief-induced excitement on his face quickly faded, replaced by panic and a hint of stubbornness from being caught doing something wrong:

"What, what are you doing? Playing with my firecrackers, what’s it to you?"

The voice had that classic "spicy stick" cadence.

"Oi, brat, is it fun to blow up a cat with firecrackers?" Bai Bufan, resting his hands on his head, nodded his chin and asked.

The little boy’s eyes lit up, "Uh-huh, do you want to play too, uncle?"

Bai Bufan: "O.o?"

Lin Li looked at Bai Bufan, "You go ahead. I was already looking for a chance to scold you, and now’s perfect."

"Wait a minute."

"Who really asked you, first, I’m a brother, second, I was retorting you," ignoring Lin Li, Bai Bufan looked at the little boy, annoyed:

"Fun? What’s fun about this? Did it provoke you, why bully it?"

"I, well..." the little boy’s eyes flickered, but he remained stubborn:

"It blocked my way! And it’s so noisy! I just wanted to scare it, what’s wrong with that!"

Ignoring the boy’s sophistry, Lin Li focused on the orange cat.

The cat’s fear was genuine, a pure fear of something it couldn’t resist.

For humans, rain falls in a cat’s world, but the cat can’t handle it.

The task panel was still inactive, so Lin Li quickly approached, avoiding rushing directly at the cat to prevent scaring it further, standing between the cat and the boy, blocking the path of harm.

Then he crouched down, activating Voice of All Things, and tried to soften his voice, speaking to the cat in the corner:

"It’s okay now, don’t be scared."

As with previous uses of this ability, the cat, after a brief panic, accepted it and no longer resisted Lin Li. Though its body still trembled, its shrill cries ceased, replaced by low whimpers in its throat, warily watching the boy.

The cat seemed to have no apparent injuries.

The boy’s popping firecrackers weren’t the dangerous kind, not very damaging, mostly just loud. Real injury would likely require a zero-distance contact, otherwise, his family wouldn’t have allowed him to play alone in the community.

After confirming the cat was fine, Lin Li stood up, sharply eyeing the little boy.

Unlike Bai Bufan, he didn’t directly chastise the boy, instead using a calm yet significantly oppressive tone to ask:

"Do you think it hurts? Is it scared?"

The boy, intimidated by Lin Li’s gaze, involuntarily stepped back but stubbornly retorted, "It... it can’t talk, how would I know!"

But if it did talk, would you like it?

"It can’t talk, but it can cry." Lin Li pointed to the whimpering cat, speaking rather gently,

"Did you hear that sound earlier? That’s it telling you it’s in pain and scared, just like if someone were to throw a firecracker at your feet, exploding and making you jump, you’d scream and be scared too, right?"

The boy pressed his lips together, his eyes seemingly wavering, but said nothing.

"Firecrackers are for play, not for harming weaker lives." Lin Li continued, acting as the childhood "preaching adult," not issuing any so-called "punishment":

"It wasn’t blocking your path; it was just trying to find something to eat here or a place to sleep. All it gets from being blown up by your firecrackers is pain and fear. Do you think that’s fun? Impressive?"

At this moment, Bai Bufan, equally human-like, interjected,

"Kid, bullying an animal weaker and unable to fight back, is that any skill?"

The boy’s face turned red, as if Bai Bufan’s words hit a sore spot.

Looking at the pitiable cat still cowering in the corner, then at the two unfriendly-faced, meddlesome adults, especially the three-parts-cold, three-parts-sarcastic, four-parts-unbothered Lin Li, he finally wilted.

"Understood," the boy’s voice was low, quickly glancing at Lin Li and Bai Bufan, "I... I won’t bomb it anymore."

Bai Bufan nodded appreciatively.

The righteous light shone on the earth.

Bai Bufan felt that after today, when he and Lin Li descend to Hell, they’d endure at least a second less torment.

"Not bad, the child can be taught. Here, big brother will give you—"

"Whoosh—"

Two small firecrackers were thrown at Lin Li’s feet and Bai Bufan’s body, respectively.

"Pop!!"

Bai Bufan: "?"