Chapter 933: Brown

Heimu straightened her body, patted the nonexistent dust on her skirt hem, "Appearance changed, core consciousness intact. Right now I cannot let you easily return to normal; frankly, I have not found any method to turn you back."

Pa Duo's ears visibly drooped, and her tail went from swaying left and right to limp hanging down; the whole cat seemed drenched with cold water.

But Heimu immediately added, "However, your companions are all maintaining their changed states while acting; none have lost combat ability or judgment because of this. You are the same."

Pa Duo's ears instantly perked up again, speed fast as if shocked by electricity.

"Companions? You mean they——also just like us——"

"Ying has turned into her student-era appearance. Ge Lei Xiu changed from a little girl to a maiden. Kesi Mo's gender changed. Hua's appearance changed the most; when you see her, I suggest you prepare yourself mentally."

Heimu ran through everyone's situation like a menu, then lowered her head to look at Pa Duo's pair of wide, round amber eyes, "So you're not special, Pa Duo. You merely turned into a cat, that's all."

Pa Duo opened her mouth, and in her amber pupils surged extremely complex light.

Then she leapt up from the ground, her four paws firmly stepping on the stone slab floor, tail high and proud, the stiff hairs at the tip shaking triumphantly: "Then I can relax! I told you earlier, Black Curtain Lady—do you know how many terrible endings I imagined in the half hour I was hanging up there? The best ending is being rescued by you; the worst is being eaten by something unknown and turned into its feces, and not just one lump but two, because I'm a cat—cats produce several lumps per bowel movement—I even figured that out."

"... You thought it through thoroughly."

Heimu's mouth corner twitched slightly.

"That's right! I may be useless at other things, but planning retreats is my specialty! Ah—choo!"

Pa Duo suddenly sneezed, the whole cat jumping up then falling back down.

A cat jumped up from the sneeze; Heimu was still seeing this physical phenomenon for the first time.

Pa Duo rubbed her nose, looked up and asked, "By the way, Black Curtain Lady, you just said Hua-jie changed the most—how big exactly? Give me a heads‑up beforehand, I'm scared I'll be frightened——"

Heimu was about to answer when she suddenly remembered something, reaching into the inner pocket of her coat; her fingertips touched a cold, petal‑shaped hard object.

She took out the Crystal Flower.

The Crystal Flower hovered silently in her palm, its translucent petals unfolding layer upon layer; each petal flowed with different colored light—warm orange, pink, ice blue, light gray—four colors slowly drifting across the petal surfaces, as if four different‑temperature lights were simultaneously sealed within a single flower.

Earlier, when she saw Hua on the platform, she was so shocked she completely forgot about this; only upon encountering Pa Duo did she recall it.

"Stretch out your hand——no, stretch out your paw."

Heimu held the Crystal Flower up to Pa Duo.

Pa Duo tilted her round head, her gaze lingering on the Crystal Flower for a second, then obediently lifted her right fore‑paw, the pad lightly pressing on one of the still‑uncolored petals.

The instant the pad touched the petal, a ripple spread across its surface, then a soft warm brown seeped out from the flower's heart—like the first ray of winter morning sunlight slipping through a curtain gap onto an old wooden floor, bringing a faint hint of warmth.

The brown quickly spread across the whole petal, stabilized, and occupied its own slice alongside the other four colors, each without interfering with the others.

Pa Duo curiously flipped her paw over to examine her own pad, then looked at the brown patch on the petal, and asked, "What is this, Black Curtain Lady? Why does touching it change its color? You wouldn't be using me for some experiment, would you? The discount I mentioned earlier can be negotiated, but experiment fees are extra!"

"We'll talk about it on the road. One or two sentences won't suffice."

Heimu put the Crystal Flower back into her pocket, patted the outside of the pocket, then turned to face the exit of the circular cavity—the passage she had just entered.

She tilted her head to glance at Pa Duo still crouching on the ground, lifted her chin toward the passage, and said, "Follow me. The others are still in the labyrinth; I'll get you to the team first. Ge Lei Xiu really wants to see you."

"Little Ge Lei Xiu is here too?!"

Pa Duo's eyes lit up several notches instantly, the sound of her four paws pushing off the ground crackling, her tail sweeping an afterimage behind her, "Let's go! I brought a bunch of little gadgets for Ge Lei Xiu—though now that I'm a cat I can't rummage through my backpack, but where is my backpack? Did Wei Er Wei‑jie take it? Inside are my favorite canned flavors, but oh well, it's still food; cats eating cat food seems fine, Black Curtain Lady, walk slower—I've got short legs!"

Heimu did not slow her pace.

Pa Duo's four short legs alternated pushing off the ground at a frequency almost sparking, barely keeping up with Heimu's pace; her round body bounced forward on the black stone floor, ears flattened against her head by the wind pressure.

Her tail swayed left and right in the air to maintain balance, the stiff hairs at its tip tracing thin golden arcs in the green light.

"Black Curtain Lady, I'm a cat now—can't you make allowances for a short‑legged creature? You just said Ying‑jie turned into her student‑era self—exactly which school stage? High school or middle school? Kesi Mo's gender changed; I can hardly picture it—he was originally a quiet, earnest guy—does he stay quiet after becoming female? How big did Hua‑jie become? Give me a number—two meters? Two‑and‑a‑half? Or——"

"You'll see for yourself."

"You always say that!"

Heimu's mouth corner lifted slightly in the dim green light, but quickly returned to neutral.

At the second fork she turned right; Pa Duo almost couldn't brake and hit the wall, her four paws scraping the floor with a squeak before she swerved, her tail sweeping a metal planter that Wei Er Wei used for decoration at the corner; the planter wobbled twice but managed to stay upright.

"Why don't you give me a heads‑up, Black Curtain Lady? Hey hey hey, what is this thing—a mechanical planter? Wei Er Wei‑jie's style is too obvious. Wait, I just remembered you said I'm a cat now, right? So when I speak, will others hear meows or human words? If I greet Ge Lei Xiu and she hears only a meow, wouldn't that be embarrassing——"

"You've been talking to me for a while—do you think you're meowing?"

"Um——well——right! I've been speaking human language all along! Great, then I don't have to worry. Speaking of which, what is Wei Er Wei‑jie up to? Turning me into a cat and tying me to a tree, then locking you and the others in the labyrinth? Is she cooking up some new stage idea again? Back when we were in Le Tu, I kept hearing her chant 'Labyrinths and mechanisms are the soul of drama,' and every time she finished saying that to AiLi‑jie she'd urge her to——"