Chapter 16 Longing for his brother, Lin Ni and his sister come to pay their respects…
Human gratitude is unnecessary; those emotions are useless to wild beasts.
Only fear, hatred, and greed... can give me endless power.
......
Okay, I'm just afraid of people and don't want to talk to them. I don't even want to say polite things like "It's okay" or "It's alright".
*
Maine squatted on White's roof for a while, and only knocked on the door after he realized that White was awake.
"It really is you. I thought it was a hallucination."
The haggard middle-aged man squinted at his former underling for a moment, then asked, puzzled:
"How come you're so poor? All you're wearing is a trench coat, a hat, and a scarf?"
The corners of the trench coat were still wet, as if it had been washed but hadn't dried.
“.
It's normal for a cat not to have molars...
Although I have never had a Mora in my fifteen years of life.
Also, the trench coat is actually yours. Have you gone so crazy that you don't recognize it anymore?
Mainkuhn was facing the corner of the wall, with his back to him.
If I could, I wouldn't want to talk to White either.
“Don’t sit on the ground, I’ll get you some water, come and drink it,” White called out to him.
Maine simply huddled in the corner, ears pressed down, his vertical pupils lowered, staring at the mushrooms growing in the cracks of the floor.
"Was my brother sold?"
Although I don't want to admit it, all the clues point to this possibility.
My brother's beloved adoptive parents never existed in the first place.
[...Mainkuhn, you are different from others, so at home you must respect your parents and be harmonious with your siblings...]
But brother, it's all a lie...
You've been scammed...you've been scammed...
"...Ugh."
A trench coat was no match for the autumn chill, and Maine curled herself up even more tightly.
White smiled uncooperatively.
"Which one, bro? You have a bunch of bros, and I'm your bro, White."
Don't play dumb, you know I only call one person "brother".
Mainkuhn silently resisted White's teasing.
"...You little ingrate, you don't even call me 'Whitey' anymore."
White mumbled a curse, "Clearly, I haven't treated you badly."
Indeed, most of the other children in the family were unwilling to play with Mei.
"Too noisy! And looks weird too."
"It's normal for children to be noisy!"
Only young White, with a strong sense of responsibility, persisted in caring for May's health.
Of course, in Maine's heart, she couldn't compare to her brother.
...No one can compare to my brother.
"...Where will it be sold?"
Mainkuen gripped his clothes tightly, his sharp fingernails uncontrollably leaving scratches on his trench coat.
Where will he be sold? My brother is handsome and smart, how will his adoptive parents treat him?
Just thinking about it for a moment makes Mainkun feel like he's going to die.
"Don't worry, have some water... Even if it happens again, it'll just be like me, being sold into prostitution, right?"
"!" You mean—
Maine looked up in astonishment and finally saw that White's old and withered face was full of malicious mockery, with no trace of the secret love he had shown his family in his youth.
"What are you shy about, huh?"
White's hands were shaking so badly that the water in his cup spilled onto the floor in circles. Even so, he still managed to free one hand to touch Maine's round cat eyes and force out a twisted smile.
"You're so pretty, your parents must have already taken care of you a long time ago, right?"
The angle at which he touched his face was exactly the same as the count's.
"Don't touch me!"
Mainkun exploded its short tail.
The boy suddenly remembered one morning when he was six years old. When he woke up, the first thing he saw was not his older brother, but a strange adult squatting by his bed.
"[It's so beautiful.]" He said this while touching Little May's face.
[Truth value.]
.....Yes.
Mainkun was slow to realize this.
I was probably sold off back then, not sleepwalking as Claire speculated.
Thinking about it carefully, Peipei's expression during the discussion was also off; it was quite complicated.
So I was sold? By the foster parents my brother trusted??
Maine felt he should grieve for his experience, but he had little understanding of these things, and had accidentally let his demonic power spiral out of control, killing the buyer without sustaining any harm himself. Therefore, his strongest feeling at this moment was—
"What if my brother finds out about this?"
Tears streamed from the beast's vertical pupils, and Mainkuhn, with its cat ears drooping, let out a mournful howl.
How heartbroken he must be!
"Stop crying, it's just being raped... Look at you, you've spilled all the water..."
White was delighted to see Maine weeping, as if he had found a kindred spirit, until he heard clearly who Maine was crying for.
"Are you sick in the head?"
This was the most fluent sentence White had uttered in days.
*
[Lord Navilette, although you should already know this news, I still want to tell you in person.]
[Leosley, that strong child, has grown into a reliable adult!]
[After the previous warden escaped, he was cheered and placed on the throne in Melo Petersburg. The scene was even more lively than Lady Frinina's procession! It's a pity you didn't see it.]
[Everything is fine underwater, except for one thing: our little man keeps sneezing for some reason, day and night, even waking himself up in his sleep, but he doesn't have a cold. It's so strange...]
A letter from Mello Petersburg, covered with many lovely Melsin stickers.
*
"Brother— Waaaaaah—"
Mainkuhn was so heartbroken that he couldn't stop crying, his eerie face smeared with tears.
"I'm going to kill everyone who bullied you, waaaaah!"
White never expected this guy to react this way.
He looked the boy up and down, who was huddled in the corner crying silently, and focused on the layers of electric shock marks on the back of his neck and his thin figure.
"......"
They shouldn't be living a good life.
Instead of crying over your brother, cry about yourself first.
"You big idiot."
The madman chased the cat out the door.
"Brother!"
Mainkuhn sobbed and eagerly climbed onto the roof, throwing away his trench coat, hat, scarf, and other things that concealed him, before whimpering and transforming back into a cat.
He had been patient for a long time.
But unlike when he left the fireplace house last time, becoming a cat did not make him feel any better.
Maine still wanted to cry, to cry for his poor brother who was gentle, kind, handsome, and adorable, whose sincere heart had been misplaced.
Then, a tremendous "Oomi—Oomi—" howling sound echoed in the night sky above the Grey River.
"Mom, Mom."
Little Femini huddled fearfully into her mother's arms.
"There's a ghost."
The mother listened carefully for a while.
"It's probably just the cat in heat, go to sleep, baby."
The cat of the Grey River disagreed with this explanation.
The previous leader of the yellow cats bowed down and presented a dead rat to Maine with his tail held high.
"Boss, are you crying from hunger? You'll feel better once you've eaten, meow~"
Maine looked down and, through her teary eyes, recognized that the body had been poisoned with rat poison.
"...Waaaaah!"
"Boss Meow! Even if you don't want to eat it, you can't throw it in the stinky ditch, meow! I can't find it, meow—"
*
Cats and humans do not share joys and sorrows, especially at night.
"Stop making so much noise, I'll kill you!" Bang bang!
After dodging two bullets, the cat howled and darted out of the Grey River, jumping onto the main street of Fontainebleau and beginning to wail.
"Meow—Meow—"
Normally, cats meow softly and delicately, but Maine dislikes that their meows are too harsh and almost never makes a sound.
But this time he was truly heartbroken; his bass voice was so loud it sounded like a suona horn.
"It's so noisy... What are those patrolmen doing..."
The people of Fontainebleau are much friendlier than those of Grey River; they don't fire their guns indiscriminately.
"Did I pay my taxes for nothing? When will the stray cats and dogs in the city be completely eliminated?!"
"Meow—"
The cries of anguish echoed through the night sky, and lights were turned on in the darkness, one house after another.
"Can't a person get any sleep?!"
"Wait a minute, look at its length! And those silver fur and black tabby markings!"
The patrolling guards arrived amidst boos from the crowd, and the leader immediately recognized Maine:
"It's actually the 'Cat Goddess of Mo Mang Palace'! Everyone, hurry and attack! We absolutely can't let it escape again this time!"
"Okay!...Why is it called that?"
This is a curious baby.
"Well, it seems the people think these cat-like creatures are as arrogant as water gods. After all, we still haven't caught one, and the seagulls of Mo Mang Palace are almost extinct..."
This is a know-it-all.
"This is too arrogant! It dares to compare itself to a god! I'm going to throw it in the doghouse!"
This is a die-hard fan of Fu Ningna.
Mainkuhn cried and wailed all the way, and all sorts of people followed him the whole way. He himself didn't know when he had become so famous.
"Mi-" Brother--
"cat--"
"Mi-" Brother--
"Don't--"
"Mi-" Brother--
"Run—I can't run anymore, I can't go on—"
"Hold on for Lady Funina!"
"I don't think the Water Goddess would mind having another cat as her colleague... I certainly wouldn't mind, hehe."
Mainkuhn wept uncontrollably, but the guards remained resolute. A peculiar training exercise began that night, with the public breaking their sleep, pulling back curtains, and peering through windows to direct the hunt for the cats.
"Flank to the left! Oops, missed."
"Your right leg! Is it made of jellyfish?"
"Go ahead and use the tranquilizer gun!"
On that absurd night, everyone was enjoying themselves, with police and civilians working together in solidarity. The unpleasantness of being woken up was gradually dispelled by the joyful scene of family reunion before their eyes.
"Waaah—"
Amidst laughter and cheers, the big cat howled and ran alone along the human path, a profound sorrow rising in its heart.
No one... can hear my pain.
So lonely—
Waaaaah, brother—
No, that's not the case.
"Hey."
As Maine stumbled over the stack of cardboard boxes, a pair of tiny, small hands reached out and gripped the cat's waist.
"Meow!" The cat was startled and its crying stopped abruptly.
"Ouch, it's so heavy—"
Linni was thrown head over heels by the impact. "Good sister, come help me!"
"Here you are... Mr. Big Cat, don't cry."
Lynette immediately helped her brother up, and the two little ones, one covering the cat's head and the other lifting the cat's leg, quickly retreated into a secluded and complicated alley.
"Where did it go? Where did the Cat Goddess of Mo Mang Palace go?"
"You bunch of good-for-nothings! It was running around so carelessly today, and you still couldn't catch it!"
The collaborative event quickly turned into a denunciation meeting.
But none of this is related to Maine, who was taken away.
"Hey, Mr. Big Cat, why are you so sad today?"
Little Linni put Maine down on the ground and looked worriedly at the downy hair on his face that was wet with tears.
“Your crying is so loud that Lynette can hear it from halfway across the town. Do you want me to do a magic trick to calm you down? It’s a trick I just learned!”
"That's too much, brother."
Little Lynette twitched her cat ears. "But this is the first time I've ever heard a cat cry. Are you sick, big cat?"
"......"
Maine stared blankly at the two human children, wondering where they had come from and why they were helping her.
Little Linni squatted on the ground, reached out to pry the cat's head off, and carefully examined Maine's eyes and nose by the moonlight, not at all afraid of him suddenly attacking her.
"Looks fine, no cold."
"They might have been bullied."
Lynette bent down and carefully scanned Maine from head to toe.
"No injuries? That's strange. There has to be a reason for crying."
"...Could it be internal injury?!"
The two children's expressions changed instantly, and they immediately pushed Mainkuen to the ground.
"Meow!"
Human kittens have delicate skin and flesh, and the adult cat dared not resist at all. He could only hook his paws and tuck his legs in, letting the two children pinch his fluffy body all over.
"Brother, it doesn't seem like there's a fracture."
Did they eat something bad?
Finally, to Mainkuen's horrified gaze, the human child, oblivious to the danger, pried open his mouth and inserted his tiny fingers between his sharp teeth, examining the beast's oral cavity without malice or suspicion.
"...Hey! Do you know what you're doing? You're practically feeding a monster! One gentle bite and your finger is gone, you really will!"
Mainkun stood there, mouth agape, too afraid to move.
'It will break, and blood will spray everywhere...'
The cat's paws left four damp, large paw prints on the ground.
"Found it!"
The child, oblivious to the danger, yelled, "Linette, come quick! A huge part of its upper jaw is damaged!"
The palate... Oh.
I was eating raw crabs at the beach the other day.
The little short tail twitched nervously behind the cat's rear end twice.
The wariness finally faded from their innocent faces, and the two children breathed a sigh of relief, thinking they had finally found the reason for the cat's howling.
"Oh, really? I'll go get the iodine... Oh, wait, you can't put iodine in your mouth, right?"
"Should I give it some anti-inflammatory medicine... wait, can cats take human medicine?"
The power within him was as calm as still water, and Mainkun could sense that the two children were genuinely worried about him.
Seriously, for a wild beast, an alien, a cat?
Stop your excessive kindness and think about yourselves! ...Wait, aren't you two so poor you only have a blanket? Where are you going to get the money to buy medicine?
Did they steal something? If they get caught, they'll be beaten to death.
Maine looked at the two little ones with a worried expression.
The two little ones looked at Maine with concern.
"What should we do? Mr. Big Cat has helped us so much, but we can't do anything for him..."
Little Linni patted the cat's head dejectedly; he had seen adults on the street comfort their sick children in the same way.
"yes......"
Lynette's cat ears also drooped slightly, the curve of which was strikingly similar to Maine's:
"If we hadn't sold the snowwinged goose that Mr. Big Cat sent us, we would still be starving and freezing right now... Mr. Big Cat, thank you for the prey, but I'm really sorry, we didn't eat it."
Fearing that Mainkuhn wouldn't understand, Lynette explained it to him little by little:
“When you brought it over, the snowwinged goose was still alive. We replaced it with a small tent, which provided it with bread and medicine for a long time.”
As she spoke, a happy smile appeared on the little girl's face.
"Wow, it's so nice, it's not cold at all at night!"
"......"
Maine opened his eyes slightly, his peculiar pupils blooming into a dark full moon in the night, enough for him to see every detail on the children's faces.
A heartfelt thank you, and a naive yet genuine concern.
"Thank you, Mr. Big Cat!"
Linni reached out to hug him, not afraid at all of his enormous size and sharp teeth.
"We still have some salt left, shall we try disinfecting with salt water?"
"......"
Without needing them to carry anything further, Mainkuen flicked his short tail and spontaneously followed the two children.
At this moment, his brother's teachings echoed in his mind again.
[Mainkuhn, you are different... When you are out there, do good and fight evil, and help the weak.]
Only in this way will people accept you.
So even if I'm not human, I'll still be accepted as long as I try to do good deeds?
......
Stop imagining, Mainkuhn.
The half-demon warned himself in his heart.
Just as cats are born unable to taste sweetness, you shouldn't covet things that don't belong to you.
"By the way, Mr. Big Cat."
Inside the low tent, Linni removed the salt-soaked cloth from the cat's mouth and turned to pick up a small jar of plant scraps.
"We've picked out a thank-you gift for you!"
Gift?
Maine's earlobes twitched curiously.
"Well, we chose this one between cat treats, canned cat food, and cat toys."
Lynette poured some plant debris into her hand and held it in front of Maine's nose.
"This is catnip, do you like it?"
What is this? Is it for eating? I don't like vegetables.
Mainkuhn gave it a polite sniff.
"......"
Mainkuhn took a deep breath.
......
"Brother! Mr. Big Cat is flying!"
A note from the author:
----------------------
Mainkuhn forgot that people grow up.
My frail older brother is long gone.
There are some muscular older brothers, though.
Speaking of which, a Maine weighing nearly 20 pounds is probably only something a muscular man like Leosley, whose thighs are almost as thick as Bikini's waist, could carry around like a kitten.
I can't even lift ten pounds of rice (sad).
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