Chapter 51#

Considering Mutual Destruction#

Su Ruhui made a detour to the clinic to buy some ointment. Back home, he caught Sang Baobao, tied it with a rope to keep it still, and parted its fur. There were eight pink bumps on its belly, which looked like eczema. Perhaps this silly cat had been running around, picked up something unclean, and developed a rash.

“Good boy, don’t move. Daddy will put medicine on you,” Su Ruhui coaxed, carefully applying the ointment.

Sang Baobao’s four limbs were firmly tied, and the entire cat lay spread-eagled on the kang, still struggling with all its might. It kept stretching its neck, baring its fangs, and all four claws emerged from its paw pads. Su Ruhui sighed, this cat was truly wild. After meticulously applying the ointment, to prevent it from licking its belly, Su Ruhui also took gauze and bandaged the affected area. From top to bottom, he wrapped it four times. Su Ruhui untied Sang Baobao, who immediately sprang from the kang and ran to the furthest spot from Su Ruhui, frantically biting the bandage on its belly.

Fortunately, Su Ruhui had foresight and wrapped many layers of gauze, so Sang Baobao couldn’t bite through it by itself.

Sang Baobao also knew it couldn’t bite through, so it lay there, staring at Su Ruhui with cold eyes.

Su Ruhui inexplicably felt a chilling murderous intent in this cat’s eyes.

[That…] the system suddenly spoke.

“What?” Su Ruhui asked grumpily.

[You can open the panel. The infinite item bar has a “Cat Rearing Manual.” I think it’s necessary for you to study it systematically.]

“What’s wrong?”

[Your cat is very healthy and has no skin diseases. Those eight bumps are its nipples.]

Su Ruhui: “…”

Sang Baobao ignored Su Ruhui for three days. No matter how Su Ruhui coaxed it, as long as he approached, it would bare its claws and hiss. Su Ruhui tried various delicious cat meals, and Sang Baobao finally stopped hissing, but still wouldn’t let Su Ruhui pet it. Sang Chiyu had no news, and his cat son treated him like an enemy. He was dejected and lay at home for three days. No one urged him to go to work; only Xia Jing sent someone to check if he was dead or alive. Seeing him lying lifelessly at home, the person returned to report.

He couldn’t interfere with the matters of the Elysium Pavilion. If he got too involved, his identity might be exposed. His senior sister would handle the demon affairs; she had been deeply rooted in Biandu for many years and was far more capable than him. With no other tasks, he put a leash on Sang Baobao and took it out for a walk, hoping to run into Sang Chiyu, though the hope was incredibly slim. Sang Baobao initially disagreed with Su Ruhui walking it, but Su Ruhui bought a large bag of dried silverfish and fed it during their walks, and it reluctantly agreed. Su Ruhui, bored, hummed a tune and strolled around with Sang Baobao. Midway, a monk soliciting incense stopped him, asking him to offer incense, pointing to a large white poplar tree covered in red ribbons at the temple gate, swearing that wishes made there were very effective.

Su Ruhui became interested and stopped under the tree with Sang Baobao.

So many red ribbons, all for seeking marriage. Sang Baobao also looked up, watching Su Ruhui write vigorously on a red ribbon. Su Ruhui climbed the tree and tied the fluttering ribbon to a branch. Sang Baobao strained its eyes, trying to see whose name Su Ruhui had written.

It saw the three characters “Sang Chiyu,” and its gaze suddenly froze.

Then it looked further down—

“May Sang Chiyu not be able to poop for three days.”

Sang Baobao: “…”

“Is this tree really effective?” Su Ruhui asked the monk.

“Of course, of course!”

“That’s good.” Su Ruhui dusted off his hands, pulled Sang Baobao’s leash, and headed home.

In the evening, Su Ruhui finally remembered to check the system panel, and there were many updates to the information within the system. For example, his own information—

Name: Su Ruhui

Race: Super First-Grade Flesh Puppet

Gender: Male

Age: Puppets cannot grow or develop, forever remaining seventeen years old

Identity: Founder of “Divine Mechanism Ghost Hidden”; Sang Chiyu’s divorced wife; Sang Baobao’s poop scooper; fake youngest son of the Jiang family

Current Status: Lying around like a salted fish

Su Ruhui flipped further, finding Sang Chiyu’s information.

Name: Sang Chiyu

Race: Half-demon

Gender: Male

Age: Thirty-two years old

Identity: Devouring Secret Art practitioner, Demon Clan Saint Son, the only half-demon with both human and demon forms.

This human-demon dual form was interesting. Demons could reconstruct flesh and blood, imitating human form, but it was ultimately an imitation. As Su Gou said, many demons didn’t imitate thoroughly, resulting in deformed monsters with three heads and six arms. They also didn’t have true human faces and had to steal others’ appearances. But Sang Chiyu was different; he was a half-demon, inherently possessing both human and demon forms.

Su Ruhui continued reading.

Current Status: Life is meaningless.

“Is that guy unhappy too?” Su Ruhui thought silently. What was he unhappy about? Besides Su Ruhui, was there anyone else in this world who could make him unhappy?

He lowered his head and continued to check the items available from the system. Although the system was often useless, only good for talking nonsense, the cheat it provided this time was unexpectedly good. The item bar stretched endlessly, page after page. There were not only daily provisions but also mechanical parts and even cat supplies.

[I am very useful. It’s just that you’re unwilling to do tasks, and your authority isn’t high enough. I’ll give you tasks and open up authority, will you do them?]

“Get lost, I’m not in the mood.”

[…]

Su Ruhui noticed a pink dress for cats, his eyes lit up, and he immediately took it out. At lunchtime, Su Ruhui lured Sang Baobao, who was hiding somewhere sleeping, with a bowl of shrimp, then caught it in his arms and forced it to wear the cat dress. After putting on the dress, Sang Baobao couldn’t walk properly for a long time, frantically biting the silk ribbons tied to the dress. However, it was a quadruped, and no matter how it struggled, it couldn’t get rid of the small dress. Su Ruhui watched, amused, laughing heartily.

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He didn’t notice that Sang Chiyu’s status information on the panel had changed to:

Current Status: Considering mutual destruction.

On the fourth day, Su Ruhui had rested enough and started working. He had no secret arts; puppets were his important winning weapon, and he had to keep puppets by his side for self-defense. He put on his crystal glasses, took out many mechanical parts from the system, and assembled puppet rats. The spiritual pathway connected several puppet rats, their eyes glowing like ghost fire, then quickly dimming. Su Ruhui asked the system for many iron armors, spirit stones, and wooden lumps to fill the deficiencies in these puppets.

Sang Baobao watched from the side, frowning as Su Ruhui conjured many iron armor parts out of thin air. It walked around Su Ruhui, scrutinizing him. It didn’t understand when Su Ruhui had acquired the secret art of conjuring things from thin air.

Su Ruhui made a small rat for Sang Baobao to play with, but Sang Baobao seemed uninterested, letting the small rat squeak around it while it remained motionless. This cat was really hard to please; it seemed to have no interest in anything other than food. Indeed, it was a gluttonous cat. When it was mealtime, Su Ruhui got up to cook.

Today, he made steamed chicken hearts and steamed lean meat for Sang Baobao, cut into small pieces, mixed with carrots and cooked egg yolk. Sang Baobao ate with great relish, licking the cat bowl clean. After these few days of getting along, Su Ruhui found that this gluttonous cat loved fish the most, followed by beef, chicken, and pork. Among fish, it loved silverfish the most; if fed silverfish soup, it could eat three large bowls in one go. Su Ruhui was a little puzzled, do other cats eat so much?

One person and one cat, it was really hard to cook, often making too much. Su Ruhui put the leftovers together and took them out to feed stray cats and dogs. There were many stray cats in Shunkangfang, rubbing against Su Ruhui’s feet, softly acting spoiled. Su Ruhui sighed, these stray cats were much more affectionate than Sang Baobao. There was also a fluffy white dog, whose tail wagged like a windmill when it saw him, constantly sniffing the bowl he was carrying. Su Ruhui placed the bowl on the ground, surrounded by cats and dogs, and he petted them one by one.

Staying outside until sunset, Su Ruhui returned home. Sang Baobao was lying on the kang. Sang Baobao’s body was twice the size of other civet cats; if it stretched out, it would be as long as Su Ruhui’s upper body. Although large in size, its temperament was petty and it held grudges. Well, it was Su Ruhui’s fault for messing with its nipples and forcing it to wear a dress.

Although Su Ruhui was often met with its cold shoulder, he still had a mischievous heart, wanting to stroke its fur. Their relationship had eased a lot in the past few days, and Sang Baobao even ate with him. Su Ruhui gradually grew bolder and approached Sang Baobao. Sang Baobao lifted its eyelids and glanced at him, not moving.

“There’s a chance.” Su Ruhui beamed, stroking Sang Baobao’s big tail. Sang Baobao leaned its head over, its nose twitching, sniffing Su Ruhui’s fingertips. A pungent, unfamiliar cat smell assailed its nostrils. Sang Baobao immediately bristled, backed up a few steps, its tail standing straight, and a purring sound came from its throat.

“What’s wrong?” Su Ruhui was startled.

Sang Baobao looked at Su Ruhui in disbelief.

The man in front of him was stunned, his usually clear brows filled with confusion and incomprehension.

Su Ruhui had other cats outside.

Sang Baobao’s sense of smell was keen, especially sensitive to the scent of other felines.

Even though there was a cat at home, he still went out to provoke disreputable stray cats. Sang Baobao’s azure eyes seemed to be filled with ice, and it bared its sharp, knife-like claws at Su Ruhui. As soon as Su Ruhui approached the warm kang, Sang Baobao hissed at him. As the sky grew dark and the moon rose, Su Ruhui couldn’t even get on the kang. Su Ruhui took out dried fish to coax Sang Baobao, but Sang Baobao was unyielding and ignored him. Su Ruhui had no choice but to huddle on the floor with his quilt, looking pitiful.

This wasn’t raising a cat; it was raising an ancestor.

Su Ruhui turned off the light, feeling utterly depressed, unable to sleep. He opened the panel again to check Sang Chiyu’s status.

Current Status: Angry.

Su Ruhui pouted. Sang Chiyu had been quite busy recently. Usually, he practiced meditation, and even when Yan Jinyu caused him to be trapped in the enemy camp, there was no ripple in his emotions. He was a person who didn’t let worldly matters bother him. Who had he met now, that in just a few days, his emotions had changed so much?

Su Ruhui tossed and turned; the hard floor made his back ache. The room was pitch black, and moonlight streamed through the Korean paper window screen, casting a soft glow on the floor. Through the milky, hazy moonlight, the furry cat on the kang looked like a gloomy cloud.

He tentatively spoke: “Sang Baobao?”

Sang Baobao’s ears perked up, and it instinctively bared its fangs and hissed.

Mid-hiss, it suddenly realized that Su Ruhui had just called it “Sang Baobao.”

Su Ruhui heard its hiss, and his desire to get on the kang to sleep faltered. He was afraid this ancestor would scratch his face in the middle of the night. However, his chest sank as the ancestor suddenly leaped off the kang and onto his chest. Sang Baobao took a step forward, its two legs straddling Su Ruhui’s neck, its icy blue eyes fixed on Su Ruhui. Su Ruhui heard its low purr, and its deep, ocean-like eyes reflected Su Ruhui’s stunned face.

Its menacing posture truly had the oppressive feel of a predator.

One person and one cat, staring at each other.

Sang Baobao looked at the young man beneath him for a long time. Being Su Ruhui’s cat was truly tormenting; he had thought of giving up countless times in recent days. But now… was the name Su Ruhui gave him not Han Baobao, but Sang Baobao? If so, perhaps he could endure for a while longer.

He lowered his head and rubbed against Su Ruhui’s neck and face. He sniffed carefully, confirming that Su Ruhui’s body was once again imbued with his scent, then stood up, leaped back onto the kang, and condescendingly made room on half of the warm kang.

Sang Baobao’s sudden change of attitude caught Su Ruhui by surprise. Su Ruhui slowly propped himself up and tentatively called out again: “Baobao, can Daddy get on the kang?”

Sang Baobao didn’t hiss.

Su Ruhui, as if afraid of disturbing the ancestor, crawled out of the quilt and tiptoed onto the kang, shrinking to the edge. Sang Baobao’s temper was too cold, and Su Ruhui was miserable. Oh well, at least he could still sleep on the kang, which meant Sang Baobao still acknowledged him. Whether it acknowledged him as a father or a son remained to be seen. No matter, no matter, Su Ruhui comforted himself, whether father or son, at least they were family.

Lying awake on the kang, he still couldn’t sleep even in the middle of the night. Su Ruhui walked his fingers along the quilt to Sang Baobao’s backside and poked its big butt, “Good boy, can I hug you to sleep?”

Sang Baobao didn’t react.

Su Ruhui tentatively nudged its hind leg, but it remained motionless like a rock.

“As your poop scooper and cook, can’t I even hug you? Give me some face, Sang Baobao,” Su Ruhui grumbled.

The big cat opposite still made no sound, but it flicked its big tail at Su Ruhui. A large, fluffy tuft. Su Ruhui happily grasped its big tail and fell asleep contentedly.