Chapter 317: The Mutated Right Claw, Intimidation

Zhou Yun stepped out of his small room, only to discover that Mimi was hungry and was now eating in the living room where Li Dazhuang had been earlier, clearly relishing every bite.

Watching this, he suddenly felt hungry too, only then realizing he had skipped a meal and had just gone through a fierce battle.

Glancing at his sister swallowing her saliva beside him, he let out a soft laugh.

For some reason, the unease in his heart faded considerably.

"Let's eat something too."

He gently patted his sister's head and said with a light smile.

……

In no time, Zhou Yun hurriedly grabbed some bread and stuffed it into his mouth, filling his growling stomach. After that, he looked at his sister and Mimi, who were still eating heartily, and stood up again.

Ignoring his somewhat limp body from the recent Burst, he switched on a small flashlight to get his bearings, then switched it off and headed toward the clutter piled around, starting to move it.

As the elder brother, his sister was still young and could rest, but that didn't mean he could rest too. Don't forget the door had been broken—he needed to block it up again, or the next crisis would be a real hassle.

"Mimi, be good, don't run around."

Zhou Xiaoxiao glanced over, murmured a word to Baichuan, then quickly finished the canned eight-treasure porridge in her hand in a few big bites and ran over to her brother to help, moving some of the lighter clutter.

Glancing briefly at the siblings, Baichuan continued to eat heartily. After all, as for work, he was just a weak little Mao Mao—what could a pair of cat paws do? It was enough not to cause trouble.

A while later, having finished eating, Baichuan nimbly leaped to the windowsill and began to observe the current situation and contemplate his next plan.

As expected, everywhere he looked was a scene of devastation—corpses, flesh, and wrecked cars piled and fused together in a chaotic mess.

Occasionally, strange figures resembling the "woman" from before would pass by. Whenever "they" appeared, the mindless, dim-witted figures around them instinctively gave way.

Of course, besides that, what shocked him most were those bizarre phantoms, large and small, wandering aimlessly through the area…

'The outside really is dangerous—good thing I brought my Gold Finger!'

Sighing softly, Baichuan silently opened the Gold Finger that his Consciousness Projection had carried in through countless hardships.

It was a projection he had crafted specifically for his Consciousness Projection, since his Ability Panel couldn't help a body occupied by a Consciousness Projection from such a great distance.

A faint glow appeared before Baichuan's eyes, and a panel unfolded within his cat pupils:

'Name: Baichuan/Mimi'

'Energy: 0.1'

'Core: Environment Assimilation (Locked)'

'Abilities: Agility LV3 (Banzhu)…'

'Ability Library: …'

Only 0.1? Does a full meal only add this much?

Sigh, without an efficient ability to digest and absorb food, accumulating energy really is slow.

What a pity. If the situation hadn't been so dire earlier, he wouldn't have had to spend his last remaining capital on Agility…

After reviewing the Gold Finger's status, Baichuan felt a twinge of regret. If not for being ambushed by the mysterious shadow creature after dodging the black shadow during his descent,

he wouldn't have ended up in such a dire situation. The entire Crystal had shattered down to the size of a pebble, and the energy it contained was only enough to choose one LV3 ability. After all, after dodging the black shadow's attack, he had still had more than half of his fifteen-meter Crystal left.

That power would have been more than enough for him to use the Gold Finger to quickly get through the initial period of weakness.

As a Gold Finger he had crafted from the effects of various abilities, everything it did was driven by energy.

As long as he had energy, he could quickly strengthen himself with various abilities he had previously tested that wouldn't trigger shadow attacks, thereby getting through the weak period of occupying a body, and finally unlock the little lizard's core ability, the LV5 planet-level 【Environment Assimilation】,

successfully integrating into this world completely without triggering the black shadow's attack.

But alas, too many unexpected changes had occurred, leaving him in the predicament of a dragon stranded in shallow water being mocked by shrimp.

With a quiet sigh, Baichuan secretly held a grudge against the mysterious creature that had attacked him.

After all, his capacity for grudges was as small as a certain abbot's.

But thinking of the creature that had attacked him, Baichuan lowered his head to look at his left and right paws. The next instant, the muscles of his right paw twitched slightly—

and a strange, jet-black metal claw nearly three centimeters long extended out. Then he extended his left paw, but what emerged was a normal flesh-colored claw with a faint hint of white, only a little over a centimeter long.

These were two completely different claws. The jet-black metal right claw was precisely what had allowed him, in his weak cat body, to kill that strange "woman"—it possessed unparalleled Sharpness—

Baichuan gently swiped at the windowsill, and in an instant a clear scratch appeared.

This was an aluminum alloy window!

Such astonishing destructive power on his true body wouldn't be surprising at all—in fact, he'd think it was too weak. But right now he was just an ordinary little kitty with nothing special except Agility.

That was what made it so astonishing.

This powerful claw ability wasn't caused by the Gold Finger he had brought with him. For the abilities he strengthened himself with, if he had chosen a claw ability, then while gaining powerful claws, his own physical fitness would inevitably be enhanced as well.

That was the case in a holistic enhancement—the claws would become thicker and stronger, rather than just the claws mutating on their own.

The mutation of his claws came from the mysterious substance he had accidentally scraped off during his final counterattack when descending!

During the previous days of tug-of-war within the tabby cat's body, his consciousness had ultimately won. He then tried to completely expel the substance that kept resisting and attempting to destroy the body he had occupied.

But at the critical moment, he suddenly sensed, vaguely, the arrival of a lethal crisis. With no choice, he had to abandon completely expelling the mysterious substance and instead squeeze it into his right paw—who could have known it would cause such an astonishing mutation.

It caused his right paw to mutate, turning completely into metal. This was different from his previous Metal Attachment and Forbidden Technique Gongshe abilities. Metal Attachment at most added a layer of metal over the original scales and claws of his body, but the essence was still keratin-like scales and claws.

But what about this current mutation?

It truly changed the keratin claws at their very essence into a special, sharp metal, truly capable of cutting through iron like mud, and like a biological's normal nails, it could naturally grow back after wear!

That was why Baichuan was astonished.

He had no idea what that mysterious substance was, nor what the mysterious creature that had once attacked him was.

This world was strange.

Baichuan recalled what the siblings had said earlier—they hadn't originally been from this world, and even the entire city they were in now had abruptly "transmigrated" here. The implications of this were something the siblings didn't understand, but that didn't mean he, Baichuan, didn't.

He wondered how the little lizard was doing.

Baichuan silently raised his head, feeling that faint, distant connection…

Just then, he suddenly felt his entire body lift into the air, and a pair of small arms wrapped around him.

His hind paws kicked empty on instinct, then his body stiffened, dark metallic claws faintly extending—only to retract and relax again as if he'd thought of something. The next instant—

"Mimi, how did you get here?"

Warm breath kept puffing down from above, carrying the unique vitality of a young girl. It was that little girl's voice, thick with worry.

In the little girl's small world, she had no idea what her Mimi had become. Even though Mimi had been unusually heroic before, she still couldn't forget how listless and on the verge of death Mimi had been just days ago.

In that moment, she had nearly thought Mimi was going to leave her too—just like her father—and head off to the distant Cat Star.

At the thought, the girl unconsciously tightened her grip.

Baichuan stared with dead-fish eyes, expressionlessly looking out the window. He'd let his guard down.

It had been too long since he'd been this weak; he'd nearly forgotten that this feline body's reaction speed was poor.

Even though cats were said to have several times the reaction speed of humans, their neural reflexes couldn't compare even slightly to what he'd had before.

In that instant, even while lost in thought he'd sensed the other's arrival, and immediately tried to leap away—but—

The thought came, but his body lagged several beats behind, resulting in him being hugged instead, his hind paws kicking uselessly in midair…

At that moment, Baichuan's fluffy white cat ears suddenly stood tall and twitched—he heard a faint argument from a distance:

"Hey! Wang Bo, what are you doing?"

"Put my stuff down!"

"What do you mean 'your stuff'? Isn't this Li Dazhuang and the others'?"

"And what if we did take it?"

"What? You won't consider yourself, but won't you consider your sister…"

……

Zhou Yun's voice? Stuff?

Baichuan suddenly thought of all the food and tools Zhou Yun had painstakingly scavenged and organized before—someone was actually going to take them away now?

How could he allow that!

Baichuan's gaze sharpened on the spot. If those humans who had suddenly appeared were arguing with Zhou Yun over something else, fine—but they were actually planning to steal food?

Aren't they just asking for death?

In his current state, he couldn't escape the category of needing food. In the current situation, every bit of food eaten was one bit less.

Thinking this, he gently raised a soft cat paw and patted the little girl's hand, making her let go. He nimbly leapt down, swaying his tail and walking with a cat's gait as he went over.

In the dim, drizzling environment, a pair of golden beast-pupils inside the room began to slowly light up.

"Tap tap tap…"

Faint, almost inaudible footsteps appeared behind the group, accompanied by a faint, barely perceptible pricking sensation.

"What 'you' you?! Get out of my way! Or else watch that…"

Wang Bo, gripping a knife and surrounded by his men, finally found some courage. If you asked him to face that eerie, inhuman "shadow," he absolutely wouldn't have the guts—but that didn't mean he had no courage to face Zhou Yun, who was just a fellow human.

During the year they'd lived together, he'd seen Zhou Yun through completely—silent, taciturn, ambitious, not like them good-for-nothing loafers, but also especially easy to bully!

He'd secretly taken the other's things several times before, and never once saw the other so much as peep in protest.

Although he didn't know what dogshit luck that kid Zhou Yun had stepped in to deal with that "shadow," what could he possibly have become in just a few days?

Not to mention his sister was still here—could the few of them really not take down a little Zhou Yun?

Now that the apocalypse had come, these food supplies and sharp weapons were capital. He hadn't dared to rob Li Dazhuang before, but now? He, Wang Bo, was determined to rob!

Not to mention anything else—just with that delicate little sister of Zhou Yun's right here, he wouldn't dare resist,

After all, he wasn't directly forcing him to death now, nor had he triggered this honest man's reverse scale—he was merely taking some food and a few knives.

That kid shouldn't have any reason to fight him to the death,

Don't think that just because he's a thug and a scoundrel, it means he's stupid!

In the apocalypse, without guns, knives are power!

First seize this kid's weapons and food, starve him for a few days, and once he's lost his strength, come take this kid's sister,

At the thought of Zhou Yun's delicate little sister, Wang Bo's heart also grew a little heated.

Wang Bo, scheming in his heart, grew increasingly brazen,

But the next instant, he who'd just been about to spout a few threats suddenly froze. The inexplicable prickling pain on his back, and the fear that abruptly rose in his heart, made him feel as if he were standing in an empty jungle, being watched by some fierce beast,

Not only him—everyone in the argument froze too. In an instant the whole room fell silent again. Under the weight of fear, they slowly turned to look, and in that instant—

What met Wang Bo and the others' eyes was a pair of candle-flicker-like golden beast-pupils, wavering ceaselessly in the dimness. It stepped forward gracefully from the darkness, inch by inch drawing closer, as if the darkness behind it had also transformed into a fierce beast ready to devour people,

The few were startled into jumping, held their breath, cold sweat quietly beading out, as if pinned by the gaze of some terrifying beast—their entire bodies and minds seized by fear, turning utterly rigid.

This was biology instinctively detecting a lethal crisis—the instinctive reaction.

"Gulp—"

Someone's involuntary swallow brought Wang Bo to his senses. He instinctively raised his knife to shield himself,

A few breaths later, in the direction everyone was staring at, the approaching figure from the darkness grew clearer and clearer—but—

What appeared before Wang Bo and the others' eyes was not some terrifying beast, but a small, adorable cat?!

Its whole body was fluffy, silver-grey mixed in color—a top-grade silver shaded cat. Its four paws looked as if wearing clean white gloves, perfectly displaying its adorable side, making one unable to resist wanting to pet it,

Yet on the head of what should have been an adorable cat, a pair of golden beast-pupils was icy and brimming with wildness. Every movement exuded the bearing of a king—amid the cuteness, it brought a wild handsomeness, as if it were not a cat but a king among wild beasts, now treating these humans several times its size as prey!

But a cat is still a cat!

"Phew~~ what the… turns out it's just a cat…"

"Yeah, really scared me for a—"

"Truly seeking death—"

In an instant, Wang Bo and the others relaxed. They'd just been about to burst out laughing or even curse a few times to ease the embarrassment of having been scared stiff by a cat, and were even preparing to lash out in humiliation and kill the little cat—when the next instant they saw an astonishing scene—

"Clang."

The cat approaching in the darkness made no sound at all, yet as it moved, a hard metal table leg lying in its path was silently and without a trace cleaved clean in two.

Those razor-sharp claw marks sank deep into the tile, leaving stark, glaring gouges in the floor!

The laughter froze; the smile that had just spread across his face solidified.

Wang Bo and the others' pupils contracted sharply, watching the scene in absolute terror—

A metal table leg as thick as an adult's arm had been snapped apart with effortless ease by a tiny kitten!

And that was merely accidental—if those claws had raked across their bodies, wouldn't they have been split clean in two on the spot?

This utterly shocking scene played out right before their eyes…

(End of chapter)