Chapter 13: I have a marten!

Huh?

Chen Shicheng looked at the anthropomorphized purple marten in surprise and asked tentatively, "Can you understand what I'm saying?"

The purple marten weakly nodded.

Damn, it really can—has it become a spirit?!!!

Chen Shicheng stared at the wobbling purple marten dumpling in his hand, his face full of disbelief.

He quickly realized this was a cultivation game, and animals becoming spirits wasn't really surprising.

But an animal that could understand human speech was too amazing, comparable to his house cat doing backflips, instantly sparking his great curiosity.

What level are you?

Do you also cultivate techniques?

Can you speak human language?

Are you male or female?

The purple marten could indeed understand human speech, but being still in its infancy, its intelligence was at the level of a human toddler; it could grasp simple words, but slightly complex, rapid speech was difficult for it.

So Chen Shicheng's rapid-fire questions left it somewhat stunned; its two black, shiny eyes blinked blankly, and it could only open its little mouth innocently and look at Chen Shicheng.

Forget it, I'll just check myself!

Compared to the previous questions, Chen Shicheng cared most about the purple marten's gender; if this little creature cultivated into human form, that would be interesting.

Marten-eared maiden.

Any new tracks?

He curiously flipped the purple marten onto the bed and began adjusting the gaps in the leather cord with his hand, trying to figure out the little creature's gender without untying the rope.

At first, the purple marten wondered what Chen Shicheng was doing, curling its body and curiously watching his movements.

But when it saw Chen Shicheng actually heading straight for its lower body, the fur peeking out of the leather cord instantly puffed up, and it struggled and twisted with more force than ever, making even the solid wooden bed frame thud 'bang bang'.

"Bleeding and skinning warning!" Chen Shicheng said while his hands kept moving, "You little thing wouldn't want to be made into clothing and hung around someone's neck, would you?"

Hearing that, the purple marten's struggling stopped instantly, and an image appeared in its small mind: soft, smooth fur worn by a human around the neck, reflecting purple light in the sunlight, so beautiful and gorgeous.

Too bad, that fur was its own! Thinking of that, the purple marten shuddered, its puffed-up fur immediately settling, and the whole creature became listless, lying on the bed like a puddle of mud, letting Chen Shicheng do as he pleased.

"Tch, it's male—I thought this was a Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio plot."

Chen Shicheng flicked twice in disappointment, looking at the purple marten covered head to toe with the words "I'm not clean," and said, "You usually run around without clothes, but now you're shy—hungry? Want me to feed you something?"

Upon hearing the two words "something to eat," the purple marten, which had been hungry for two days, immediately perked up, looking at Chen Shicheng and making a cute "squeak" sound, completely losing the shyness from being stared at earlier.

Chen Shicheng shook his head, lifted the little thing onto the table, tore a chicken leg from the leftover Eight-Treasure Chicken from last night and placed it in front of it, while he himself washed his face with the icy water in the nearby bronze basin. After casually wiping his face with the hem of his clothes, he looked back at the purple marten on the table and couldn't help but laugh.

The little creature, possibly starving, saw the chicken leg and began to frenziedly tear at it, but in its vigor it knocked the leg a distance away.

Now it was straining its neck to reach the meat not far away, but its neck wasn't long enough; although it was only less than a centimeter short of the meat, that tiny gap became an unbridgeable chasm.

Looking at the adorable purple marten, Chen Shicheng felt a tug in his heart.

Actually, he had wanted to keep a pet for companionship for a long time, because whenever he rested, aside from the daily news push, his phone received no messages at all.

But considering he couldn't properly care for a pet when coming home late each day, he had kept shelving the idea.

Now that he had quit his job, he also planned to spend a lot of time each day immersed in the game, and raising a purple marten that could understand human speech here seemed like a good option as well.

Thinking of that, Chen Shicheng pushed the chicken leg forward and said in a tempting tone, "Is this chicken leg tasty? Would you want to be able to eat this every day from now on?"

The purple marten also gave face, nodding while wolfing down the food.

"Since that's the case, how about being my pet? Then whatever I eat, you eat—wouldn't that be much better than in the wild, where you'd be full one day and hungry the next?"

Without waiting for the purple marten's response, Chen Shicheng's tone turned grim as he said, "Of course, you can refuse if you want—I don't care—but your fate would be grim. Even if I released you back into the wild instead of selling you to a butcher for skinning and meat, you wouldn't forget what wild life is like, would you?"

"Everywhere are wild beasts; there are definitely some higher level than you. Besides not getting enough to eat each day, you'd have to hide left and right, and you might one day become an eagle's snack—that's miserable."

Chen Shicheng shook his head, looked pityingly at the purple marten, and kept making "tsk tsk" sounds.

After just a few words, the purple marten indeed became frightened, seemingly recalling how its kin had been torn into strips by an eagle before its eyes and swallowed whole; it let go of the chicken leg in its mouth and writhed uneasily.

After merely hesitating a moment, the purple marten made up its mind, its small face breaking into a fawning expression as it tilted its head and began to beg Chen Shicheng for a pat.

Done!

Seeing the purple marten like that, Chen Shicheng clenched his fist in his mind; indeed, such a low‑intelligence but spirit‑endowed small animal is easy to deceive—if it were a real wild cat, even half a month of feeding might not let you get close.

"Then I'll first untie the leather cord on your body—you absolutely must not run or bite me, understand? Otherwise I'll never trust you again!"

Chen Shicheng gave the purple marten a small reminder, then swiftly stepped forward and untied its cord.

The newly freed purple marten shook off the fur clinging to its body, turned twice on the table, stretched out, raised its tail high, lowered its front half, extended its forelegs as far as possible, and gave a satisfying stretch.

Then it hopped over to Chen Shicheng, rubbed its head against his hand on the table to leave its scent, and only then ran back to the chicken leg to feast heartily.

"Since you're already my marten, I'll give you a name from now on."

Looking at the purple marten's long, soft body, Chen Shicheng pondered for a moment and decided, "From now on you'll be called La Tiao!"

What is La Tiao?

The purple marten glanced back at Chen Shicheng, not understanding the meaning of the name, but thought that no name mattered more than the chicken leg before its eyes.

It's really delicious! (End of chapter)