Yun Mingchen gently stroked Yu Tong’s little head and introduced him to the two members of the Student Union — this was the stray kitten he’d adopted, named Xixi.
Today his dormitory caught fire, and a Body Refinement Student Union member saved the kitten and was about to take him to the pet hospital.
But perhaps too frightened, the kitten ran away halfway.
Yun Mingchen lightly scratched Yu Tong’s chin, his eyes full of affection as he looked at him. “When I received the message from the junior brother, I was really worried. After all, Xixi is so small, and the academy is so big. Fortunately, he’s safe.”
Once they heard it was the president’s cat and it was safe, the male cultivator put away his sword and reached out to play with the little kitten.
To appear more harmless, Yu Tong was about to let him touch his head, but Yun Mingchen subtly took a step back, avoiding the male member’s hand.
He covered the kitten’s ears with his fingers apologetically and smiled, “My little cat is shy and has a bad temper. He might scratch people.”
The male member withdrew his hand and stood aside, pouting, calling out, “Xixi, chirp chirp chirp, Xixi, meow~!”
Yun Mingchen discreetly covered the kitten’s ears with his fingers.
Yu Tong fell into contemplation.
The bewildered system, completely lost, asked with a dumbfounded expression: 【Why didn’t the antagonist let you play with the Student Union members? Was he afraid you’d harm them?】
‘If he’s afraid I’ll harm people, he wouldn’t have asked that Student Union member to find me when the dorm caught fire, and he wouldn’t have asked him to take me to the hospital.’
【Then what’s his problem? There’s no way he’s just possessive and doesn’t want others to touch you, right?】
‘Yeah, you guessed it.’
【???】
Both the system and Yu Tong were astonished.
He and the antagonist didn’t have a deep relationship; they were still in the process of getting to know each other.
Logically, the antagonist shouldn’t have such a strong possessiveness towards him, which was normal.
But the “Heart-to-Heart” prop wouldn’t lie, and Yun Mingchen had been sulking for a while now.
While Yu Tong contemplated, he didn’t forget to nuzzle against the antagonist’s face, rubbing his small nose against his palm, intentionally or unintentionally.
When he was young, whenever he secretly fed meat to the little black dog at home, the dog would happily jump onto him, snuggling and nuzzling him with its nose.
It was adorable, and the feeling of being nuzzled back was comforting.
Even now, Yu Tong remembered it vividly.
As Yu Tong nuzzled and sniffed, he soon felt the restlessness in his heart gradually subsiding. Yun Mingchen’s touch became gentler.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The female cultivator had a bunch of talismans tied around her waist, so was obviously a cautious person.
Yea bo agera lc Ugfrlvfca Tec, rtf vlvc’a vgjk tfg kfjqbc, yea ralii xfqa tfg olcufgr bc atf sfiibk ajilrwjcr ja tfg kjlra.
Vtf rajgfv ja atf ilaaif xlaafc. “Pa vbfrc’a rffw ilxf j rqlgla yfjra bg j vfwbc yfjra. Lbk vlv la ufa lcab atlr obgfra ktfc cbcf bo er mjc ifjnf?”
A gentle smile curved Yun Mingchen’s lips. “That’s exactly what I want to tell you. I’ve found a way out of the fog.”
He lifted the kitten in his hand. “Xixi probably followed my scent and wandered outside the forbidden area. When I emerged from the fog, he was outside calling for me. I was afraid he might get eaten by wild beasts if he roamed around, so I brought him along.”
The two members of the Student Union had been trapped in the fog for too long, and were eager to get out.
The male cultivator was about to ask for the way out when the female talisman cultivator beside him subtly pulled him back.
She casually asked, “President, since you’ve escaped, why did you come back? It’s very dangerous here.”
The smile on Yun Mingchen’s lips grew even softer. “I know it’s dangerous here, that’s why I came back.”
The female cultivator hesitated. “But…”
Yun Mingchen interrupted her, “The teachers won’t come out of the underground secret realm for another hour, and an hour is too long. It’s very dangerous here, so I was worried about all of you. I want to get all of you out together.”
“It was me who led you all into the restricted area, and as the President, I felt that since I found a way to escape, there was no way I could leave everyone behind.”
He sheathed his sword and offered a hand to the female cultivator with a comforting smile on his handsome face.
“Let’s find our other lost companions together and escape from the fog, okay?”
To emphasize the antagonist’s hypocrisy, the novel author dumped all the good words and phrases describing a gentle and handsome man onto Yun Mingchen.
At this moment, he was as radiant as sunshine, shining straight into the female cultivator’s heart through the fog.
Yu Tong, whose head was covered by the antagonist, nudged his way through a gap between Yun Mingchen’s fingers.
He saw the female cultivator’s face instantly flush red, as if struck by his attractiveness, stuttering and unable to say a word.
The male cultivator beside her eagerly approached, grabbing Yun Mingchen’s hand tightly and shaking it back and forth excitedly. “President, you’re so good, it feels safe with you around! Brother Yun, you’re so handsome!”
Yun Mingchen tried to pull his hand away, but the male cultivator held on tightly.
Yu Tong could feel the antagonist’s body stiffen, and the normally unresponsive Heart-to-Heart item unexpectedly transmitted a hint of fear to him.
The male cultivator might be gay or perhaps he was just swayed in the moment. His eyes sparkled as he stared at Yun Mingchen, calling him “Brother Yun” in a particularly sweet manner.
Yun Mingchen had never encountered something like this before; he was completely stunned.
Just as the antagonist’s mask was about to crumble, Yu Tong wriggled out of his hand and emitted a low growl at the male cultivator, his fur bristling.
Startled by the growl, the male cultivator paused, allowing Yun Mingchen to retract his hand and swiftly change the subject.
He bent down to pick up the sword next to Su Feng’s corpse, speaking with a grave tone, “On our way here, I saw many corpses. The situation is urgent; we need to hurry and find the other missing peers.”
The female cultivator, not completely enchanted by Yun Mingchen’s handsomeness, made an excuse to use her spiritual power to probe Yu Tong’s body. After confirming that he was indeed just an ordinary little cat, she finally relaxed her guard.
Yu Tong lay in Yun Mingchen’s arms, tilting his head to admire his acting skills.
Whether the antagonist had ulterior motives or genuinely didn’t want to kill the female cultivator named “Susu,” he found an excuse to lead the two toward Susu’s location.
While the two were distracted, Yun Mingchen cradled Yu Tong and gently blew air against his cat ears. “Dogshit is pretty clever, I’ll get you some canned food when we get back.”
Yu Tong lifted a tiny paw and pressed it against Yun Mingchen’s lips.
Be quieter, you son of a dog. Save the OOC talk for when we’re home. Be careful, someone might overhear.
————
With Yun Mingchen’s deliberate lead, they quickly found Susu hanging from a tree.
They rescued the severely injured and unconscious pregnant woman, and the antagonist began another round of acting for the lucky spectators.
As Susu regained consciousness, she choked up recounting her tragic ordeal.
After the two members shed sympathetic tears one after another, the antagonist once again became a tearful male god.
Yu Tong’s pupils dilated rapidly, a hint of admiration appearing in his eyes as he looked at Yun Mingchen.
Admirable, want to learn.
Before the system could fully comprehend, it asked earnestly, 【Little Yu, that female cultivator seemed suspicious of your presence. The antagonist is so clever; he should have anticipated how ordinary people would react to seeing a little cat. Why would he just pick you up without worrying about arousing suspicion?】
Yu Tong thought for a moment. ‘There are three possibilities. First, he might’ve thought that the kitten wasn’t normal, but he didn’t expect the kitten’s intelligence to be as high as a human’s.’
‘Second, he’s not sure how intelligent I really am, so he’s testing me in this way to observe my reactions.’
【And the third?】
‘The third possibility is that he knew the kitten had human intelligence and knew that having it would raise suspicion. But he’s currently facing some trouble, and I seem to be on his side, possibly able to help him. So he chose to temporarily skip unnecessary probing and disguise, adding an extra layer of protection for himself.’
The system was momentarily speechless.
After a while, it clicked its tongue and said, 【He’s quite cunning with his plans. Which scenario do you think is more likely?】
‘Two and three are more likely, but I hope it’s not three. If he really wanted to pull me in to help him deal with his troubles, even if I solve many problems for him, he’ll still consider it part of his plan and his goodwill towards me won’t increase much.’
The system felt that human hearts were too complex, muttered some complaints, and went back to its room holding its head.
Yu Tong sighed.
He didn’t know what the antagonist had experienced to make it so that he couldn’t relax his vigilance even for a moment. He remained wary of those around him, his brain constantly churning.
While he and the system chatted, Yun Mingchen had already calmed Susu’s emotions. With the female cultivator carrying Susu, the group continued walking.
A strong sense of exhaustion was transmitted through the “Heart-to-Heart” prop.
Yun Mingchen still wore his mature and reliable smile, but the weariness in his eyes couldn’t be concealed no matter how hard he tried.
The nearby cultivators thought he was just grieving for his deceased peers.
But Yu Tong knew that the antagonist was truly tired.
He played three roles during the day, and at night, he either practiced cultivation or had nightmares. Twenty-four hours of non-stop activity, even a sturdy body couldn’t bear it.
Yu Tong raised his paw and gently touched the back of the antagonist’s hand.
Yun Mingchen lowered his head and saw the little cat gazing up at him with worry written all over his round eyes.
As their eyes met, the little kitten’s tiny paws rested on his chest, kneading back and forth.
He meowed softly as he kneaded, the sound gentle and comforting.
Yun Mingchen paused for a moment.
After a brief silence, he suddenly cradled the kitten, burying his face in its soft fur.
Yu Tong heard him sigh deeply and whisper almost imperceptibly, “I’m fine, don’t worry, I’m fine.”
Meanwhile, the system came bouncing out excitedly, 【Hey! Little Yu, Little Yu! The deviation value of the character has increased!】
Yu Tong opened the backend and saw a new message.
【Deviation value increased by 2. Current deviation value of Yun Mingchen’s character: 5/100.】
Yu Tong perked up his tail.
He knew that regardless of whether his guesses were correct, he now wouldn’t be pushed out to face the danger alone.
With progress in the mission, Yu Tong hadn’t even had time to rejoice when the cat ears on his head suddenly twitched.
He turned his head to look around, and behind a tree about two meters away, he saw a figure.
The figure was mostly hidden behind a tree, with only half of their face visible.
Yu Tong blinked in surprise.
Was that…… Su Feng?
I had thought the guy wouldn’t be so easy to kill as he’s the manifestation of c*ckroach. The question is: how did he do it? I’m thinking along these probabilities: soulpuppet to substitute himself (like Naraku from Inuyasha), illusions or maybe the storyworld has spare bodies for the bastard. 🤔
Thanks for the chapter(s)!
Dayum the protagonist halo is strong in this one