Chapter 281: How could the young aunt

(Chapter merged, all adoptive fathers remember to look at the previous part oh)

In the early morning, the heavy rain from last night had already ended; what greeted Jierte and Lan Baoshi was not a rooster's crow, but the rumbling sound of vehicles passing by.

Lan Baoshi stretched lazily with great force; after so many years, this was the second most comfortable sleep she'd ever had!

The cats that had taken shelter from the rain last night had already returned, and they had occupied Lan Baoshi's original little dirty den.

Meanwhile, Jierte remained seated in the same spot, like a statue.

Hmm~

Ah~

Lan Baoshi made a few humming sounds from stretching, then, while smacking her lips, she looked at Jierte beside her.

Knight Sir, good morning~

Hearing the catgirl's voice, Jierte slowly opened his sleepy eyes, then blinked twice.

No!

"How did I fall asleep!"

"My goodness, has my physique become this strong? I can even fall asleep like this."

Only then did Jierte realize that his physique had become this strong; he had actually slept soundly through the cold rainy night.

He circulated Holy Light, and the rainwater and dirt on his body were gradually cleared away by the Holy Light, making him feel dry.

"Knight Sir, do you want to go get breakfast? I'll go find it for you."

"The catgirl volunteered, as a reward for sleeping so comfortably this night, let her give him the freshest thing from the trash can to eat!"

"May I ask, what do you mean by breakfast?"

Jierte no longer held any hope for the food that catgirl spoke of.

"Eh? All kinds of breakfast? What others can't finish, some are still warm."

"She, Lan Baoshi, is a catgirl who can eat her way through a whole street of delicious food in one morning!"

"......"

"Don't worry about that for now, just follow me."

He needed to wash that catgirl clean; being all dirty really looked bad.

Although Jierte didn't dislike her, he couldn't let her stay dirty all the time.

"Where are we going?"

"To the bathhouse, to give you a good scrub."

"Ah! I don't want to take a bath!"

Lan Baoshi strongly resisted bathing, which is quite cat‑like, but there was no choice—compared to bathing, she preferred the mane.

In the end, Jierte tricked Lan Baoshi away with a single large bill; after explaining Lan Baoshi's situation to the bathhouse female boss, Jierte ignored her contemptuous gaze, told Lan Baoshi he would return soon, and then left reassured.

He certainly wasn't going to buy clothes; that sort of thing could be left to the bathhouse owner's wife, and what he needed to do was deal with the problem of yesterday's restaurant boss.

And how did the investigation results of that guy turn out?

And most importantly, he should often return home to check on his young aunt.

But when he had just returned home, he saw his young aunt sitting in a wheelchair, leaning against the window and looking toward the gate, as if waiting for someone.

Their eyes met, and the young aunt was overjoyed, hurriedly trying to push her wheelchair outward.

Jierte couldn't let her do that, so he hurried into the house.

"Jierte! You're back?"

Actually, after Jierte left, she truly became an empty‑nest old aunt.

Although she didn't want to say it, she wished that in the final stage of her life, Jierte would keep her company properly.

But..... that thought was too selfish; she couldn't deprive Jierte of his right to want to cure himself.

"Young aunt! Why aren't you lying in bed?"

Jierte carefully rolled up his young aunt's sleeve; the spirit energy crystals that had originally spread to her elbow now extended a bit further upward.

"How could the young aunt's life still have five years...."

"Jierte, how did you come back?"

The young aunt was still asking why he had come back, yet she didn't care at all about herself.

Jierte gripped his young aunt's hand, looking at her with some guilt.

Not being able to accompany her in her final time is his own dereliction of duty.

But he didn't want to just watch her die like that.

After chatting with the young aunt for a while, she cared deeply about what Jierte had experienced, asking nonstop; to keep her from worrying, he could only repeat the story over and over, reassuring her.

He chatted with his aunt for a while; she was very concerned about what Jierte had experienced and kept asking nonstop, so to keep her from worrying he repeatedly told her what had happened, just to put her mind at ease.

"So you still have a taste for that."

The young aunt smiled, reached out and poked Jierte's cheek.

"It's fine, the young aunt will wait for you to come back."

"The young aunt believes in you."

"Mm!"

Jierte left home once again; although he was reluctant to leave his young aunt, some things had to be done.

However, this time he did not go to the guard squad.

He had originally planned to just return home to see his young aunt and leave, but he hadn't expected to talk with her for so long.

"It's only been a day since he left......"

It's only been a day since I left......

After such a long time, that Catgirl must be getting impatient, right?

Jierte walked to the place where he had previously left the Catgirl; at this moment, Lan Baoshi was boredly sitting on a chair waiting for Jierte.

"I'm back."

"Hey! Knight Sir! You finally came!"

Lan Baoshi's stomach was still empty, but the comfort of having her body washed clean hid this little dissatisfaction.

Jierte observed her for a long while, then after much thought, he asked a question.

"Lan Baoshi, how did you lose your color?"

"Huh?"

Lan Baoshi looked bewildered, she pulled up her hair from her shoulder and stared at it for a while before realizing her hair had turned gray-black.

"What! What's going on?!"

She actually lost her color!

"What kind of situation is this!!!"

The Catgirl frantically looked at her tail, which had also turned gray-black!

It's over; she won't turn back into a white cat, will she?

No! Turning white would make her get dirty easily!

Jierte observed her for a long time, and a guess gradually formed in his mind.

"Perhaps... your situation is similar to a certain breed of cat."

Beastmen are mutated due to spiritual influence; possibly because of contact with certain creatures, or perhaps according to memory selection, but their descendants directly inherit their condition.

At present, Lan Baoshi's issue might be that she inherited certain traits from her parents' generation.

For example, Jierte thought of a kind of cat, what was it called... Siamese cat? Or Logic Cat?

In short, this cat's fur color changes with the surrounding temperature, and when it is first born it is white, gradually turning into a coal‑black color, walking down a black road from which there is no return.

Jierte observed the Catgirl whose color was gradually changing, and suddenly found it quite interesting.

This is so fun; I don't know what she's panicking about.

"Knight Sir! You made me lose my color! You have to take responsibility for me!"

In other words, she wants more money.....

Lan Baoshi looked pitiful; at this moment she had changed into a brand‑new outfit, her whole person clean and fresh, revealing the perfect visage a Catgirl should have.

One can only say that as the most beautiful race on the continent, even a random individual has such terrifyingly good looks.

Jierte helplessly took out a few bills and handed them to the Catgirl.

The Catgirl's eyes instantly lit up; she grabbed the bills and stuffed them into her pocket.

"Hehe, thank you, Knight Sir."

She doesn't care what color her hair is; as long as she gets money, that's fine.

"Come on, I'll take you to eat."

"Sure!"

Along the way, the cleaned‑up Catgirl circled around Jierte, looking happy, her chatter gradually increasing, as if she were completely unaware of any danger.

But whenever she met anyone other than Jierte, she would immediately wipe off her smile, become extremely vigilant, and hide behind Jierte.

Why is she so at ease with herself?

Jierte felt a bit doubtful; they had truly known each other for less than a day.

Isn't it said that cats are extremely vigilant animals?

Really strange.....

He had the feeling that he himself possessed something special.

But in Lan Baoshi's eyes, Jierte's body emitted a faint scent, similar to catnip and a fresh‑scented cat treat, which made her unable to resist becoming addicted.

"Knight Sir, do you know? I'm actually very rich!"

The Catgirl's words grew more and more, to the point where she was about to reveal her last secret.

Lan Baoshi was certain that in the past she had never spoken so much to anyone.

"Rich?"

Jierte looked at the Catgirl with a doubtful expression; this guy's former appearance certainly didn't look like that of a wealthy cat.

"You don't believe me?"

The Catgirl hummed and hawed as she pulled out a roll of small change from the pocket of her new clothes—this was her little savings she had accumulated for a long time.

Jierte:.....

"You have money, so why didn't you buy a tent?"

"Ahaha...."

"It's not because I didn't think there was still that thing...."

The Catgirl chattered on, but Jierte didn't find it annoying, answering her questions bit by bit.

"Knight Sir, how many people are in your family?"

"Seven."

"Knight Sir, is the Gordon Family really that powerful?"

"Powerful."

"Knight Sir, do you have a little stash?"

"Yes, a lot."

"Wow!"

"When are we going to rescue your aunt?"

"?"

Jierte looked in surprise at the little guy in front of him, really not expecting her to still remember this matter.

At that time, Jierte considered that the other person's ability was Life Replacement, which didn't match the aunt's issue, so he didn't think much about it.

Now, upon thinking again, it seems it really can be tried.

"Are you sure you want to try? Life Replacement will also consume your life, right?"

"Huh? I said it before, you can absorb others'."

"For example, that guy who framed me yesterday!"

Jierte thought for a moment; he didn't believe that guy's hands were clean, but if he let Lan Baoshi steal that person's life, would that be considered vigilante justice?

The Knight's sense of justice told him that using vigilante justice was wrong, but he couldn't help thinking about it.

There is much darkness in the world that the law cannot punish; delayed justice is just hindsight, not really justice at all.

【How should we choose?】

Jierte inwardly considered the feasibility of this matter; what counts as justice? Does this count?

For his aunt, and to practice the justice in his heart, Jierte decided to give it a try.

Just do it for his aunt!

"Fine, we originally came just to check on the investigation of that guy from yesterday."

"When the time comes, look at my signal and act discreetly."

"Got it!"

The catgirl was very happy; having just seen Jierte's thoughtful look, she thought he was just a stubborn, old-fashioned knight.

"Then let's hurry!"

The catgirl couldn't wait any longer, even forgetting that they had originally come to eat.

Soon, the two arrived at the Police Bureau; the vendor who had been in good spirits yesterday was now like a little girl who had been ravaged countless times, merely glaring with blood-red eyes at Jierte.

Jierte ignored the other's gaze and looked at the guard beside him.

"You found it out, right?"

"We found it out; don't look at him like that—we definitely didn't use vigilante justice!"

For every police officer, the first thing upon starting duty is to maintain a hundred percent respect and vigilance toward the Gordon Family, and all procedures must be extremely standardized.

Otherwise, the stubborn Gordon Family would likely cause them trouble.

"Give me the file, please."

"Sure, take a look."

After handing the file to Jierte, the person pushed open the door and left; Lan Baoshi clung to the edge of Jierte's armor, warily watching the man in the cell.

Seeing Lan Baoshi's dependent manner, the man in the cell suddenly gave a nasty, meaningful smile and looked at Jierte, saying.

"I was wondering why you'd stand up for this little thing; turns out...."

But before he could finish, he suddenly felt a wave of intense dizziness, and his body collapsed instantly.

Jierte glanced at Lan Baoshi out of the corner of his eye; she didn't reach out to pose and draw life from him, but instead, like a predator in the dark, simply stared at him silently.

Seeing no problem, Jierte shouted toward the door.

"Guard, this person seems to be done for."

Hearing the voice, they rushed in panic, seeing the man lying on the ground foaming at the mouth, then looking at the aloof Jierte, and were at a loss for what to do.

"No, we didn't—no, what's going on?"

Although they were somewhat suspicious, they still cautiously glanced at Jierte.

Jierte lifted his chin, using his gaze to signal the distant surveillance camera; they understood and hurried away.

"How is it?"

Lan Baoshi only felt her heart pounding, an exhilarating sensation surging through her body; she looked at Jierte and gave a firm nod.

"Got it, got it!"

She now felt her whole body filled with vigorous life force, to the point she could barely contain it.

"Hmm, wait, don't give it away."

Soon, that officer hurried back, accompanied by medical staff.

"Mr. Jierte, this is our problem, this...."

"It's fine; the person isn't dead yet, you guys take a look."

"Okay, thank you for your magnanimity."

They breathed a sigh of relief, after which Jierte took Lan Baoshi and left this place.

"Really exciting!"

Lan Baoshi was a bit excited; she really enjoyed that sneaky feeling!

"You're a habitual offender, huh."

Jierte suddenly blurted out a sentence, scaring the little cat so much her whole body shuddered.

"I! I only steal bad guys' stuff!"

"I don't steal from good people!"

"From now on, steal less."

Jierte watched the catgirl's golden hue dim, and inwardly he also came to understand some patterns of moral accumulation.

Sin and morality are entirely separate matters.

Punishing bad people can only be done through killing; otherwise, the gold on Lan Baoshi's body wouldn't fade.