Ever since Yun Jian started his final sprint for the college entrance exam, the leisurely cats who used to eat and bask in the sun every day have become busy. Except for Li Hua who needs to patrol at night, all of them have crowded into the hut where the Cat God guards the gate to hell. Even Daju was taken out from the Twenty-Eight Mansions by Wodi on the pretext of "going home to visit relatives."

If someone could accidentally bump into the cat sculpture in Zhuguang Town, and enter this warm and sunny little house through the super-powered identification formation, they would be shocked to see four cats huddled together, some holding pens with their tails, some controlling books to float with magic, and a kitten gnawing on chicken wings while swiping on a tablet with its greasy paws, all of them concentrating on doing mock tests.

If that person is an ordinary person who has never been exposed to super powers, he would probably scream and shout: "What the Earth Cat Cult says is true! The cats really want to rule the earth!"

[……]

When Yun Jian told this joke to Cat Toy, Cat Toy was so cold that it almost fell off the shelf.

[If an ordinary person could pass through the strict screening mechanism of the seal formation and fall in, he would definitely be shocked by the fact that there is a house inside the sculpture!]

The cats all pouted.

Tiandao Miao knew that he was busy preparing for the exam and did not rush to disturb him. After eating and drinking at the Twenty-Eight Mansions for more than half a month, he was spotted by Kong Xiuwen, who had taken care of Daju and knew the food intake limit of cats, because of his excessive demand for snacks.

Of course, Tiandao Miao is not Daju after all. Kong Xiuwen is not very familiar with Him and did not rashly dissuade Him. He just often puts some high-fiber diet foods or popular science manuals such as "Eat until you are 80% full at a meal" next to Him, hoping that this cat, which is a relative of Daju, can return to a healthy life.

He couldn't tell Kong Xiuwen that he was an incarnation of consciousness who would never eat too much, and he couldn't explain why an ordinary cat could eat ten ice cream sundaes in one go. Tiandao Miao didn't know where to put his paws and tail when he saw Captain Kong's concerned and worried look. He simply said goodbye to Li Hua and ran back to the Ghost Master. He jumped up and down in the ghost realm and chatted with the thousands of ghost soldiers. He could also get two delicious cat meals every day.

...

...

This fulfilling and busy regular life continued until three days before Yunjian's college entrance examination.

By then, Yun Jian's review process was nearing the end, and the cats were no longer frantically doing exercises and memorizing lessons like before. Instead, they huddled together to look at the wrong questions. Several cats formed a fluffy cat tower, and every time they looked at a wrong question, they would discuss the solutions and the common mistakes.

Although we are all alone in the end, this kind of discussion, once spoken out loud, is much clearer and more interesting than the brainstorming.

He was concentrating on looking at the wrong questions when he heard a plop. The milky white long-haired kitten fell into the room with its head hitting the ground, in a miserable posture with its four paws facing the air.

Apart from Yun Jian himself and the cat toys, Tiandao was the only one who could come in here. He naturally had no idea who this cat was.

The fastest one, Wodi, rushed over first and tried to lift Tiandao Miao up by the scruff of his neck. After turning around twice, he realized that he was too big to reach the cat, so he stretched out on the spot and pretended nothing had happened.

Bu Ou spoke at the right time to help Woody cover up the embarrassment at that moment: "What happened? Why are you so anxious?"

He was just asking out of courtesy and didn't think anything would really happen. After all, the person standing in front of him was the incarnation of Heaven, the spokesperson for all the rules of heaven and earth. If anything could threaten His life, it would probably be something like an invasion from a parallel universe.

He never thought that the Heavenly Dao really had something to ask him.

"The degree to which the ghost master is eroded by the hellfire has suddenly increased," Tiandao said, with worry in his eyes, "I checked and I'm afraid there is a problem in the first layer of hell again. Do you want to go and take a look? If it is not curbed, the hellhound may..."

After all, the Way of Heaven is the Way of Heaven. Even if one incarnates and comes to the human world, he cannot openly violate the rules of heaven and earth that he represents. Turning a blind eye to the fall of the Cat God as before, and allowing Mian Yin to guard the Hell Gate instead when the Hell Gate is safe, is already a rare privilege for his friend.

But now the hellhounds have made other unusual moves, which may even endanger the safety of the human world. Once things go wrong, the rules of heaven and earth will naturally choose to strangle the danger. In other words, if you want to save the hellhounds' lives, this matter cannot be handled by the heavens, and Yun Jian must deal with the rioting hellhounds in advance.

"Why do things always go wrong before exams?" Yun Jian said with a wry smile, "I hope this time we can resolve it quickly."

Although he was depressed, he did not hesitate and nodded decisively.

Not to mention that he already had a good impression of the hellhound - pay attention, the one who was sober - even if he was a ghost master who wanted to assimilate with the hellhound, he would not sit idly by and watch the hellhound get into trouble.

Considering that the hellhound was once a god, Li Hua hurriedly asked Tang Aibai for two days of vacation and came to the Hell Gate Hut to meet up with Mian Yin and Wodi. He left behind Daju and Buo, the two non-combat vests, and the three of them went to hell together. The cat toy, which had completely returned to its original form, also lived in his spiritual sea again.

"I won't go over there. Be careful," Tiandao Miao tilted his head, lay on the carpet, and pulled the little orange cat over to use as a pillow. "If you come back safely, I will forget about this."

As long as Tiandao Miao does not use the power of the rules of heaven and earth and does not pursue the situation of the hellhound, everything will be back to normal after Yun Jian resolves the riot in hell. He will not have to face the difficult choice of either the death of the hellhound or becoming a god and guarding the gate of hell forever.

The tabby cat looked at him with some gratitude, and shook its tail, "When we come back, I'll make you the most delicious chiffon cake, with grape flavor."

The cats disappeared through the wall of the hut that was connected to the blockade formation.

Although the original cracks in the blockade formation have been repaired, Yun Jian, whose energy comes from the same source as the Cat God, is not affected by the formation. To him, the Gate of Hell is like a combination lock in its initial state without a password set. He doesn't even need to think to enter, and he can set a fingerprint at any time to prevent others from breaking in.

Apart from the projection of hell he saw in the cracks of time and space when he went to the ghost realm, this was the first time he saw the scene of hell with his own eyes.

However, the appearance of hell is very different from the projection at that time.

The blood-red mutated version of catnip that Wodi had seen growing around the lava lake on the first layer of hell was now lying on the ground in large patches, as if it had been ruthlessly trampled and repeatedly ground by huge beast claws. The flowers in the center of the stems and leaves were all withered and broken, and a layer of dead branches and leaves floated on the ground, which at first glance looked like a river of blood.

The magma flowed back, the ground cracked into a huge canyon, and the sinister aura gushed out. Li Hua stretched his neck to take a look and said with certainty: "This is the road to the second level of hell."

"How could this be?" Wodi was shocked. "Didn't they say that the different levels of hell are not connected to each other? Even after Satan came to power, only those who passed the test of the most powerful demon race in each level could enter the next level?"

"It seems that the situation has changed again," Mian Yin answered - in fact, Yun Jian was just asking and answering his own questions, but he felt that changing his identity would give him a more realistic feeling of being on an adventure. "With Satan's death, Hell is leaderless, and it is not difficult to predict that a large-scale war will break out."

"But where would Cerberus be now?"

Looking at the dilapidated state of the first layer of hell, it was obvious that more than one battle had taken place, and the bloody and foul-smelling murderous aura had not dissipated until now. Li Hua and Wodi looked at each other and couldn't help but worry about the safety of the hellhound.

Leaping into the canyon without any hesitation, Li Hua and Wodi sat on the larger Maine Coon cat. The magical Mian Yin used the air-flying technique to slowly carry them down and successfully entered the second level of hell.

What came into view was an empty and desolate wilderness, overgrown with wild vines, thatch and thorns. A few twisted and crooked trees had their branches and leaves drooping limply on the ground, and it was unclear whether they were half-dead or already dead. The roars of wild beasts could be heard faintly amid the strong wind and the flying sand, creating a scene of desolation.

Not far away, the thatched roofs that had collapsed were stained with dark brown blood. The skeletons of monsters that had been gnawed away to leave only white bones were piled up on the edge of the rocks, silently telling what kind of tragedy had happened here.

Different from the magma and dry soil in the first layer of hell, it is another kind of desolation.

"No wonder the gods regard this as a place of exile," Li Hua sighed softly, "Can you really get enough food in a place like this?"

Before he could finish his words, the highly mobile Wodi had already dragged out the sneaky little dwarf from the thorn bushes, threatened him with a few words, and forced him to tell the location of the most powerful demon race on the second level of hell. He then took out a lychee-flavored lollipop and stuffed it into the little dwarf's pocket, and followed its story and rushed towards the gathering place of the demon race with a clear goal.

In less than ten minutes—nine of which were spent on traveling, and the remaining minute was spent beating the devil and listening to his sobbing—they successfully reached the third level of hell.

Cat Toy would sense the presence of the hellhound. Every time he arrived at a level, he would first confirm that the hellhound was not there. Then, Wodie would begin to repeat the entire process of finding the devil - beating the devil - going to the next level, and in this way, he would fight all the way to the eighth level of hell. His reputation for crushing the level had spread throughout the entire hell.

"If Mr. Kong comes to challenge, he should be able to enter the seventh level of hell," Li Hua was very excited and had begun to regard this as an interesting challenge to judge one's strength. "Perhaps Team Tang can make it to the sixth level?"

"That's tough," Mian Yin still had some of her personality shaped by the fragments of the Cat God's soul, so she spoke relatively straightforwardly. "Kong Xiuwen has to use all his superpowers to get to the seventh level, and by then his body will collapse. It will also be difficult for Tang Aibai to get through the sixth level, unless he has enough rest time after each level. But--"

The three cats said in unison: "But Director Luo will definitely make it to the eighth level!"

They meowed and giggled at the tacit understanding. Cat Toy rolled his eyes, but still couldn't help complaining.

[You two are basically the same person! Isn’t it as easy as speaking to each other to have this level of tacit understanding?]

"Alright, alright, no more trouble," Mian Yin smiled helplessly, holding Li Hua and Wodi by the scruff of their necks and throwing them onto her back, "The whereabouts of the hellhound is still unknown... let's go to the ninth floor first. If the new Lord of Hell uses hellfire to control the hellhound for power, then don't blame us for being ruthless."

Li Hua and Voddie nodded in agreement.

When they leaped into the last level, they were already prepared for the upcoming battle. They all landed on the dark bare rocks beside the lava lake, looking around with sharp eyes.

[I can feel the breath of the hellhound!]

Cat Toy shouted in surprise.

Although they didn't say it, both the cat and the cat toy had already prepared for the worst when they failed to find the hellhound on several consecutive floors. Now knowing that the hellhound is still alive is really a great comfort.

Before Cat Toy finished his words, a huge shadow suddenly rose above the newly built Demon King's Palace not far away.

Mian Yin's pupils shrank slightly, and magical power surrounded her body. Wodi silently took out the Dagger of the Abyss and bit it between his teeth, and Lihua also stretched out his claws, ready to attack.

Then they watched the shadow become clearer and clearer, floating in the air and forming a... grinning dog's head.

Lihua/Wodi/Mianyin: “?”

The author has something to say:

Our cat is going to be the lord of hell! Come and guess which cat it is (funny)

PS: The first extra chapter is not finished yet. I overestimated myself. This extra chapter needs two chapters...

PPS: A small part of the hell situation described in this chapter is the original story background of the pre-collected book "The Devil Only Wants to Build Infrastructure". In fact, I wrote several versions of the outline and beginning for that pre-collected book, but I felt that they were not suitable. It was a pity to throw away the drafts, so I brought them here to use (but in fact, there is nothing in common except the environment).

To be honest, I almost let Maomao start to transform hell into a modern civilized society while writing. Fortunately, I reacted in time and continued to write Hellhound (Hellhound: I am the title, but I don’t have much presence in this chapter!)