Chapter 100: The Little Kitten in White Gloves

Cats are the "perfect form" toward which Blue Star hunters evolve. Which lord who commands thousands of mu of territory wouldn't want an evolved cat—the natural enemy of evolved rats—as a companion?

In leisure, you can pet them.

In battle, they can hold their own.

So both Xia Qing and Hu Zifeng attached particular importance to today's chance to meet their evolved cat companions, and both brought "gifts" for the cats.

What Hu Zifeng had prepared was bamboo-rat jerky—"the one our squad hunted a few days ago when we were clearing Mountain Forty-Nine. I couldn't bear to eat it, so I dried it all out and saved it for the kittens."

According to the Mountain Forty-Nine lease agreement signed between Xia Qing and the Azure Dragon Squad, Xia Qing had the right to be informed of and the priority to purchase any green-light food the Azure Dragon Squad obtained from the mountain.

So when Hu Zifeng hunted green-light rats and dug green-light bamboo shoots from the mountain, Luo Pei did inform Xia Qing. Because the quantity wasn't large, Xia Qing didn't exercise her purchase right.

To put it in a bragging sort of way: this young lady is not short on green-light food right now.

Green-light vegetables—she grows them in her own fields.

Green-light meat? A few days ago she had also gotten a green-light evolved snake weighing over forty jin from her private training ground.

She seasoned the snake meat and roasted it into fragrant jerky, packed it into small sealed bags, and carried one little bag with her whenever she went to train. When tired or hungry, she'd eat the roasted jerky; when she got tired of it, she'd have a green-light cucumber or tomato. Life was quite comfortable.

Cats eat fish and they eat rats, but green-light meat is definitely more popular than red-light. If the kittens took a fancy to the green-light rat, it would be troublesome if they all wanted to follow Hu Zifeng.

Xia Qing quietly fished a small bag of green-light snake jerky out of her protective suit pocket, tucked it into her pouch, and only then felt at ease. "Does Feng-ge know what breed Third Brother's cat is?"

Hu Zifeng shook his head. "No idea. My guess is a domestic cat."

Huaguo domestic cats have powerful genes; their vitality is stronger than that of delicate imported breeds, and their evolution ability is also far greater.

Xia Qing was full of anticipation. "I like tabby cats. If it has white boots on, that would be perfect."

Even before the Great Biological Evolution, tabby cats were already smart and fierce. After evolving, they would surely reign supreme.

Hu Zifeng nodded. "I'm also hoping it's an evolved tabby. Do you want a male or a female?"

Xia Qing had no requirement on that score. "Let's go by fate. Whichever of the two kittens catches my eye, I'll pick that one."

Hu Zifeng secretly prayed that Xia Qing would leave him a male cat, because Third Brother had said the cats had to let Xia Qing choose first.

The two arrived on time at the Seventh Territory quarantine belt and met a familiar face: the tall fellow in charge of transporting exchanged supplies to the various lords for the Seventh Territory—Ji Li.

Ji Li invited the two into the Seventh Territory's buffer forest.

Like the Third Territory, the Seventh Territory had buffer forest on two sides. The difference was that the Third Territory's were on the west and north sides, while the Seventh Territory's were on the east and north sides.

Xia Qing followed behind Ji Li as they walked inward, keeping her eyes from wandering. After entering the buffer forest, Xia Qing noticed that the Seventh Territory's buffer forest was much tidier than her own.

It seemed Third Brother's territory must have plenty of people inside; otherwise, there wouldn't be enough hands for farming, let alone time to lay stone paths and clear weeds in the buffer forest.

Ji Li, who was leading the way up ahead, stopped after walking about a hundred and fifty meters, pointed forward, and lowered his voice. "The big cat brought the two little ones out to sunbathe today. They're right there. Look."

Only twenty days old, not even the size of a palm yet, and the mother cat had already brought the kittens into the buffer forest to sunbathe?

Following the direction Ji Li pointed, Xia Qing, with her evolved vision, quickly locked onto a cat grooming its fur in the sun on a clearing in the buffer forest a hundred and fifty meters ahead.

A genuine tabby!

Where were the kittens?

Xia Qing swiveled her eyes and quickly spotted the little nursing kittens in the grass swaying beneath a rock.

One little tabby that looked exactly like its mother, and one little tabby with a white neck and white paws.

The moment Xia Qing saw the kitten with the four little white paws, she had already thought of a name: Little Third!

No, no. If her idol Third Brother found out about this, there'd be no way to explain it.

Then how about Little Fourth?

No, no, there's still Fourth Sister. Then Little Fifth. From now on, it would be the fifth in her own territory.

Hu Zifeng was just as excited as Xia Qing. "Which one have you picked?"

Xia Qing answered softly, "The one with the white paws. What about you, Feng-ge?"

"…" Same here.

"When the big cat brings the kittens over later, you two don't move. First see how they choose, then you can discuss it." After giving Xia Qing and Hu Zifeng these instructions, Ji Li, in a voice that completely didn't match a one-meter-ninety tough guy, called out to the evolved cat in tender tones, "Princess, I've brought them over."

The evolved tabby cat named Princess remained lying on the rock, lazily licking her fur, but Xia Qing noticed her ears twitch. She had definitely heard Ji Li's call—she just didn't feel like acknowledging it.

Worthy of being a cat overlord—full of personality!

Ji Li showed not a trace of impatience. After calling out several more times, the big evolved tabby finally stood up, stretched, jumped down from the rock, and called the two kittens over as she slowly walked toward them.

Xia Qing was utterly smitten by the kitten stumbling along beside its mother—black nose, black eye rings, brown eyes, white whiskers, white gloves—her heart melted and she nearly bled from the cuteness.

How could such an adorable little kitten eat something as lowly as red-light fish? All the green-light meat at home would be for it.

Once it's all eaten, mommy will go into the forest and catch more for you!

Want rats, catch rats; want snakes, catch snakes!

Hu Zifeng held the green-light bamboo-rat jerky, gazing longingly at the two kittens: babies, come to daddy, daddy has something tasty, come to daddy…

Just as Xia Qing was gazing at Little Fifth with a motherly look on her face, the lazy, regal Princess's pupils suddenly dilated, and she pounced at Xia Qing as fast as lightning.

The change happened in the blink of an eye. Xia Qing had already swiftly drawn her machete and leveled it at Princess.

"Princess!" Ji Li's shout of restraint had no effect whatsoever. Princess's sharp claws were already at Xia Qing's face, blocked by her machete.

A piercing screech of friction rang out, and the heavy machete was actually scored with several gouges by Princess's sharp claws.

After that one exchange, Princess leaped back five or six meters, arched her back and bristled her tail to shield the two kittens, and turned her head to glare viciously at Xia Qing.

The two kittens stood beside their mother, their four little paws gripping the rock, their adorable little mouths—barely sprouted with tiny grain-of-rice fangs—open as they hissed alongside their mother.

Xia Qing assumed this was the mother cat's test for her. She gripped her machete tightly, bristling with killing intent. But Hu Zifeng, who had dealt with evolved cats before, sensed something was off and stepped forward to shield Xia Qing.

Ji Li, who was more familiar with Princess, shielded the family of three behind him and faced Xia Qing. "Has Miss Xia met our Princess before? Had some conflict with her?"

Xia Qing shook her head immediately. "No, this is the first time I've seen her today."

"But Princess sensed a great threat from you." Ji Li asked again, "Has Miss Xia ever kept a cat before? Did you get along well with cats?"

"I've never kept one, but before the catastrophe I fed stray cats quite a few times, and the strays were always quite affectionate toward me." Xia Qing's heart was in turmoil. With the mother cat taking this attitude toward her, would she still be allowed to take a kitten?

Boohoo… her Little Fifth…