Chapter 613 - 616: The Cat

Chapter 613: Chapter 616: The Cat

The calico cat looked scrawny. Its fur, soaked by the rain, clung to its body, making it seem even more skeletal.

It looked like a stray.

Hua Manman felt for her pouch and pulled out two chestnut cakes.

She slowly walked toward the calico cat, intending to feed it.

Normally, stray cats are very wary of humans.

But not only was this calico cat not scared off by Manman, it even stood up and walked right up to her.

The calico cat walked up to her, tilted its small head up, and stared at her without blinking.

Hua Manman bent down and offered it a chestnut cake.

The moment the calico cat saw the food, its eyes lit up.

It bit into the chestnut cake without hesitation and devoured it ravenously.

Hua Manman seized the chance to reach out and give its little head a good pat.

’The little kitty felt nice to the touch, just a bit too thin.’

The calico cat licked its mouth, then its paws, before looking up at the person in front of it again and letting out a meow.

But when the sound reached Hua Manman’s ears, it automatically transformed into a familiar, mechanical voice.

"Host, where did you go? I’ve been waiting here for you for so long."

Hua Manman froze.

’Isn’t that the System’s voice?!’

Her eyes widened as she stared in disbelief at the calico cat before her.

"You can’t be the System, can you?"

The calico cat meowed.

"Yep."

Hua Manman glanced over at Lu Wanqing, who was still focused on searching for clues nearby. When she saw that Lu Wanqing hadn’t noticed, she lowered her voice and continued to talk to the cat.

"How did you turn into a cat?"

Speaking of which, the calico cat sounded quite wronged.

"Your current body can’t bind with a system, so I could only materialize my data into the form of a small animal.

I secretly infiltrated the Main God’s database, found out your transmigration point was here, and rushed over to find you.

But when I got here, there was no sign of you.

I didn’t dare to run around recklessly, so I could only wait here the whole time."

Hearing it say all this, Hua Manman was quite touched.

"After I transmigrated, the System wasn’t in my body anymore. I thought you had already gone back to the Main God."

The calico cat said, "I did return to the Main God’s side, but I escaped again."

Hua Manman grew even more curious.

"Why?"

The calico cat slowly explained the whole story.

"The Main God said I’m not a qualified system anymore, that I can no longer meticulously carry out the tasks he assigns like I used to.

He planned to completely format me.

Once I’m formatted, my consciousness will be completely wiped out.

I’ll go back to being that emotionless system from before, one that only knows how to issue tasks.

I wasn’t willing, so I secretly escaped."

Before, Hua Manman had said it was becoming more and more like a living person.

It hadn’t believed her at first.

But when it heard the Main God say he was going to format it with its own ears, a powerful emotion suddenly surged within it.

It didn’t want to be formatted. It didn’t want to go back to being that rigid system with no capacity for thought.

Humans all have the will to survive.

Now, it too had a will to survive.

This just proved that Hua Manman was right.

It really had become more like a person.

Hua Manman reached out to scratch the calico cat’s chin and asked with a smile.

"So, you’ve betrayed the Main God to come and seek refuge with me?" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

The calico cat didn’t want its chin scratched. It felt it was very humiliating.

But its body reacted honestly. It tilted its head up, stretched its neck, its two green eyes squinted shut, and a purring sound rumbled in its throat.

It said indistinctly, "I can’t find anywhere else to go for now, so I can only follow you for the time being."

Hua Manman said, "You can follow me if you want, but you have to answer a question for me first."

The calico cat meowed again.

"What question?"

Hua Manman pulled her hand back. "Why did you choose to become a cat?"

Seeing that she wasn’t going to keep scratching it, the calico cat was quite disappointed.

’But it immediately despised itself. It wasn’t a real cat, so why was it letting a person scratch it?!’

The calico cat let out a meow.

"Hmph, don’t you like cats a lot? By becoming this, haven’t I perfectly fulfilled your wish?"

Hua Manman didn’t deny that she liked cats.

’I mean, who wouldn’t love a cute, soft, and adorable little kitty?’

The point was, this calico cat in front of her looked exactly the same as the one Hua Manman had raised as a child.

Back then, her father was addicted to alcohol and would hit people at the slightest provocation. Hua Manman lived every day in fear, as if walking on thin ice.

Every day after school, she didn’t want to go home.

Because as soon as she got home, she would have to face her father’s terrifying, demon-like face.

Hua Manman could only do everything possible to delay her walk home.

On the way home from school, she would pass by a gray-white courtyard wall.

A calico cat was often perched atop that wall.

Every time Hua Manman saw it, she would stop, lift her small face, and gaze at it without blinking.

If she had any food on her, she would also feed the calico cat.

After a while, she and the calico cat became familiar with each other.

Sometimes the calico cat would even follow her home.

Hua Manman was afraid her father would hurt the cat, so she wouldn’t let it in. She would even make shooing gestures at it, telling it to stay far away from this house.

Later, her mother left on her own, and her father’s alcoholism worsened.

Every time he got drunk, he would vent all his negative emotions on Manman.

The scars on her body multiplied, and her temperament grew more and more withdrawn.

Eventually, she stopped going to school altogether, holing up in her bedroom all day without going out.

She cut off contact with all her classmates and friends, and the entire outside world grew distant.

Only that calico cat would often slip in through the window to keep her company.

It would stick out its soft tongue to lick her wounds, rub its furry head against her body, and let out soft meows.

During those dark years, that calico cat was her only solace.

Later, her maternal grandparents found her and wanted to take her back to the countryside.

Her grandmother helped her pack her bags and asked what she wanted to bring.

She didn’t take a single thing from that house. The only one she took with her was the calico cat.

The cat lived with her in the countryside for several years, and she even gave it a name: Little Flower.

Then one day, Little Flower suddenly disappeared.

Manman searched everywhere but couldn’t find her.

Her grandfather told her that Little Flower was old and had reached the end of her life. The reason she left home was likely because she wanted to find a quiet place to await death alone.

Manman was heartbroken.

She had originally thought Little Flower would be with her for the rest of her life, but she never expected Little Flower’s life to be so short.

After that, Manman never kept another pet.

She was afraid of goodbyes, unwilling to experience the pain of loss ever again.

Time passed, and many things from those years had already become blurry.

But the image of Little Flower remained deeply etched in the bottom of Hua Manman’s heart.

Now, as she looked at the calico cat in front of her, it was as if the Little Flower from the depths of her memory had come back to life.