Chapter 23

The four-person group was now half-dead, slumped against the window, retching. The bus was swaying wildly on the rough road, and the already dilapidated windows were on the verge of falling off.

"Bang!" A loud crash rang in everyone's ears. The driver turned around, glanced at the car, and yelled, "Young man! You have to pay for this damage to my car window!"

Chen Che, who was already leaning against the window trying to suppress his nausea, glanced at the shattered car window in front of him and replied weakly, "Okay, how much longer until we get there?"

He glanced at the others, especially Ning Wensong, who had already fallen asleep leaning on his shoulder.

The driver, glancing at the road signs as he drove, yelled, "We'll be there in about ten minutes!"

The bus continued to rock and sway for another twenty minutes.

After being woken up by Shen Che, Ning Wensong was helped out of the car. "I really feel like fainting, this road is so bumpy..."

Chen Che was the same, so when he closed the door at the end, he was angry and used too much force.

With another bang, one of the car doors fell off.

"..." Everyone present fell silent.

The driver wiped imaginary sweat from his brow and said in a weak, low voice, "You have to compensate me for this too, right?"

"Hmm..." Shen Che's temples bulged with veins as he took out his phone and transferred 1,000 yuan to him.

"Hehe, thanks boss. This is a deserted area, so be careful. You can call me when you get back! I'll be there anytime!" The driver beamed after seeing the payment notification, gave a few other instructions, and drove off in his half-broken car.

Hei Yin helped Xiao Li lean against a tree to rest. He glanced at the sky and discussed with Shen Che, "Let's set up camp now. You release some of your aura around here, otherwise some fools might come over."

Shen Che nodded and estimated the distance. "If we travel in our original form tomorrow, we should be able to get back by tomorrow night at the latest."

Ning Wensong and Xiao Li rested aside while the two of them started setting up tents. This time, they brought small cat-shaped tents, which were lightweight and convenient.

On the other side, Ning Wensong sat down next to Xiao Li, looking at her staring at her phone with a regretful expression. "What's wrong? Aren't you going to read comics anymore?"

This is unlike her.

Xiao Li smiled awkwardly at her, "Haha, I used up all my battery reading comics on the plane, and I don't have a power bank. Do you have one?"

I should have used it sparingly. Now I won't be able to read comics for at least seven or eight days. Waaah, her handsome man...

"...We don't have any either. Relax your eyes, it's not good to look at them for too long." Ning Wensong lied without changing her expression. If she really kept playing this game, Hei Yin would kill her.

Chen Che spread his aura around. The weather in the no-man's-land was unpredictable. At this moment, it was dark and gloomy, with dark clouds overhead, as if a torrential rain was about to fall.

He walked over to Ning Wensong, pulled her up, and led her to the small tent. "Let's turn into cats. Let's go back to our tents first, in case it rains later."

The three suitcases were covered with large leaves, and each tent was about the height of two Chenche prototypes.

The four people were divided into pairs and went into the tents. Before long, raindrops began to fall from the sky, growing larger and larger.

Chen Che unzipped the tent a little and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the scene outside. "Luckily, we chose a high place to pitch the tent. The rain has already flooded the area not far away, so we should be fine here."

Ning Wensong was a little cold; they had forgotten to bring in a small blanket, so she curled up into a ball like a cat.

Shen Che zipped up his jacket, walked beside her, and lay down so that Ning Wensong could touch his stomach.

"Hmm, your body temperature is so high, it feels so good..." Ning Wensong mumbled a few words in a daze, and then fell into a deep sleep.

In the middle of the night, the temperature suddenly dropped. Ning Wensong, half awake, huddled inside Chen Chemao, constantly complaining of the cold.

Shen Che was awakened by the noise. He felt Ning Wensong's body temperature and enlarged his body so that he could completely cover her under his stomach.

"Alright, it's warm now, go to sleep," Chen Che hummed an old lullaby, lulling Ning Wensong to sleep in an instant.

The rain stopped in the early morning, and soon after, the dark clouds in the sky dispersed.

The dawn in the no-man's-land was still dark, but the moon hung high in the sky, casting a faint white light on the earth.

Shen Che and Hei Yin woke up ahead of time, and the two of them crawled out of the tent and transformed into human form.

"How did you sleep?" Shen Che asked habitually, after all, Ning Wensong had been shivering from the cold last night.

"Sigh, it's cold, but Xiao Li isn't cold. Even a cat as big as me can't snuggle into her lap to sleep." Hei Yin's eyes were vacant; he suspected he had caught a cold.

"Your constitution won't catch a cold." Shen Che didn't even glance at him, it was just a groan without any real pain, cat demons of their level are basically immune to all diseases.

Chen Che opened his suitcase, took out some food that would fill his stomach, and prepared it.

Ning Wensong was still fast asleep. Sleeping in a tent was not as comfortable as sleeping in a bed at home, so even though she had slept for nearly ten hours, she still wanted to sleep.

As dawn broke, Chen Che calculated that it was about time, transformed into a cat, and crawled inside to call her, "Wake up, little lazy cat, we're about to set off."

"Ugh... I don't want to get up." Ning Wensong said sleepily, pawing at Chen Che with her paws.

"Get up and eat something. I'll carry you on my back later, and then you can sleep." Shen Che hadn't planned for her to travel on her own in the first place.

After hearing this, Ning Wensong struggled to get out of bed. She slowly moved outside the tent, took the food that Chen Che handed her, and ate it slowly.

"Achoo!" A sneeze shocked the four people present. Ning Wensong was also stunned. She actually caught a cold? Just one night?

Looking at Chen Che's expression, she smiled and comforted him, "It's nothing, it should be fine in a bit."

"..." Shen Che's bad expression was only because he was blaming himself. He knew that he had been running around and working hard all day yesterday. Last night, he thought that the cat's body temperature could keep her warm. Moreover, she had only recently awakened into her adult form and was already unstable.

"I'll go get your medicine. You can't walk by yourself today. There will be stronger medicine back in our hometown."

He immediately got up to rummage through his suitcase after he finished speaking, but luckily he had brought a small first-aid kit with him when he left home.

After feeding Ning Wensong the medicine, the cats set off immediately, aiming to reach their destination before nightfall.

Ning Wensong was carried on the back of the enlarged Shen Che and ran in the lead; Hei Yin did not have the ability to grow larger, so he directly bit Xiao Li by the scruff of her neck.

Xiao Li: Thanks for the invitation. It made me feel like I was being carried by my mother after a long time.

In one day, the four cats traversed the entire no-man's land and crossed a snowfield, finally arriving in their homeland of eternal spring just before nightfall.

—

yesterday

The land of the cat demons.

The priest observed the celestial phenomena at night and discovered that the world's order had begun to change and was developing in a positive direction.

He stroked his beard, turned and walked out of the Stargazing Heights, where he saw kittens scattered all over the ground.

His eyes widened instantly. He grabbed several cats in each arm, and by the end, he had no free hands. The priest gathered his strength and shouted, "Whose cats are these?!"

A few breaths later, a cat-eared child ran over from not far away. When he saw the priest grandfather holding a bunch of cats, his face turned pale instantly.

“Grandpa Priest…these are my younger brothers and sisters.” Su Xiaobai stood awkwardly in place, her hands clenched behind her back, her voice trembling.

The priest looked at Su Xiaobai in front of him, then at the cat in his arms, his mustache bristling with anger. "Didn't your mother promise not to have any more children? How come she suddenly had so many?"

His family has nearly a dozen cats in the entire clan.

Su Xiaobai said cautiously, pointing to his fingers, "Mom said she couldn't help it, she said Dad is very big."

priest:……

I'm truly impressed.

"Alright, alright, you take your younger siblings and go." The priest put down the cats, turned around, and closed his eyes. After Su Xiaobai led them for a while, he remembered something and quickly turned back to call out to him, "By the way! What are your younger siblings' names?"

"This is Su Xiaohei, this is Su Xiaofen, this is Su Xiaobaihuang, this is Su Xiaobaihei..." Su Xiaobai kept talking like this for ten minutes.

"...Tell your mother to choose a good name. I'll come to your house in a few days to check it out." The priest couldn't take it anymore, waved him away, and returned to his little house alone.

Because the priest has access to the heavens, he often takes on human form. Someone once brought him a four-piece bedding set, and he slept very comfortably.

Before falling asleep, the priest's mind was still filled with "Su Xiaofen, Su Xiaobaihuang..."

"Could we have a few more priests? Isn't it a punishment for me to be in charge of so many bizarre things all by myself?" the priest muttered to himself with his eyes closed, gradually becoming sleepy.

The next day, the priest suddenly opened his eyes. Shocked, he recalled the scene from his dream and rushed out to the market, shouting, "Get ready! Get ready! Chen Che has returned from human society with the rest of his people!"

The once bustling market suddenly fell silent, only to be filled with even more noise a few minutes later.

"Chen Che and the others are back? It's been a hundred years, hasn't it?"

"Pretty much. I wonder which tribesman they brought back this time?"

"Do you care about that? I only care whether he brought us any good stuff from human society."

All the humanoid and cat-like beings started talking at once, but none of them forgot about preparation and arrangements.

After they set foot on the border of their homeland, they slowly returned home and were greeted by a field of flowers piled up in front of their house.

The entire cat population was crammed onto one road, with only a few scattered individuals taking human form, dressed in ill-fitting clothes.

"Chen Che! Welcome home!" Countless fireflies flew from the house, dotting the entire street like stars, creating a truly dreamlike scene.

Ning Wensong lay on his back and couldn't resist reaching out to catch the fireflies in the sky.

The exquisite black and white curly-furred kitten immediately attracted the attention of all the cats present.

The chirping and meowing were incessant.

“Everyone, we’re exhausted from our journey. Tomorrow I’ll introduce you to two new members. We’ve brought some nice things for you all. Go back and rest. Tomorrow morning, the priest will call a meeting for everyone!” Shen Che noticed that their eyes were all fixed on Ning Wensong, and he couldn’t help but speak up.

He left the priest behind and anxiously asked, "Give me some cold medicine."