Chapter 147 "The Cat in the World's Crack" Human society is truly strange...
"I'm a cat? What a strange pen name."
In the editorial department of Crescent Moon, Sikong Xiaoqing used a paper cutter to cut open the envelope and flipped through the thick stack of manuscripts with great interest. The paper was of very good quality, but it seemed strangely rough when compared to her delicate fingers.
"Why did Miss come today?"
In a corner of the editorial department, a woman with a single braid and a strawberry decoration asked her colleague, who was wearing a jasmine flower, in a breathy voice, "Isn't this person only here on the tenth of each month? It's not her turn yet."
"It's said that her father couldn't stand her staying at home all day."
The other person answered in a breathy voice, and when the editor-in-chief came out of the office, he immediately pulled his head back to his desk, pretending to be working diligently.
Whether the young lady comes or not is just something they gossip about; this job is what's really important.
Sikong Xiaoqing wasn't unaware of the whispers in the corner, but as long as they didn't show it in public, she couldn't be bothered to care. Besides, what others were saying wasn't really wrong—she hadn't planned to do anything serious anyway; she was just here to gain experience.
The handwriting on the manuscript paper wasn't very good. The straight lines reminded Sikong Xiaoqing of her younger sister who was in second grade. The child was born prematurely and was weak. She only started learning to write properly after starting school. She wrote each stroke very carefully, and it was indeed clear and easy to read, but it lacked any artistic flair.
"The Cat in the World's Crack?"
Sikong Xiaoqing read the title of the story word by word, then casually continued reading. After finishing the first chapter, her previously somewhat nonchalant expression became much more serious. The strawberry hair accessory and jasmine flower in the corner, who had been watching this rarely-visited young lady, widened their eyes in surprise when they saw the change in her expression.
They searched through manuscripts to no avail, while the young lady casually found a gem in the ocean? Surely Heaven wouldn't be so cruel!
Sikong Xiaoqing didn't notice the two men eating lemons at all; she was completely absorbed in the story.
The story of "The Cat in the World's Gap" is simple: a black cat that has cultivated for many years and should have become a demon immortal has lost its three souls and seven spirits for some reason. Except for its main soul, the rest of its souls have disappeared. Fortunately, it can sense the places where its souls are scattered, and the special nature of the black cat allows it to pass through these barriers. So without much hesitation, it embarks on a journey to find its souls.
Seeing this, Sikong Xiaoqing understood why the story had such a name—the soul of the Xuanmao was lost in different worlds, and it needed to cross the barriers between worlds to collect souls. In order not to attract the attention of the worlds, its current main soul, including most of the souls collected in the future, had to be placed in the gaps between the worlds, with only a little spiritual light able to enter the world.
Once the spiritual light enters the world, it will randomly merge into the body of a compatible kitten. It doesn't require much effort; the divided soul will naturally be attracted. To put it simply, the kitten with the spiritual light is like a giant magnet, the divided soul is like iron filings, and the kitten's skin is like a filter, rejecting all the bad things stuck to the divided soul.
This integration of spiritual light is not an invasion of the body. The spiritual light has no consciousness, and the kitten is still itself. It's just that after the spiritual light returns to the main soul in the rift of the world, the main soul will know all the memories the kitten experienced after the spiritual light possessed it. But this is not cutting, it is copying, and it has no effect on the kitten's memories themselves.
The kittens that were secretly used as filters weren't without their rewards—they would absorb a tiny bit of the mystical cat's luck and live a peaceful and healthy life until old age.
The process was simple, easy, and enjoyable. Xuanmao originally thought it was just a matter of taking a few naps and watching some movies: after the spiritual light leaves the soul, the soul will sleep until the spiritual light returns, and then choose whether to view the memories according to its own will, repeating this process until the soul is complete and the primordial spirit returns to its place.
When Sikong Xiaoqing got to this point, she already knew that the story was mainly about the memories of kittens from different worlds, but that didn't diminish her anticipation. She had seen stories with non-human protagonists before, but most of them would transform into human form. This was the first time she had seen one that didn't transform into human form and didn't repay any kindness.
Xuanmao's first spiritual intrusion into the world went smoothly, but after reviewing the memories she brought back, Xuanmao noticed something was wrong. It wasn't that she had any problems... well, actually, she did have a problem—she thought her spiritual intrusion would bring back a complete soul, but she found that the soul that returned was fragmented, or in human terms, it was like it had been finely chopped into minced meat.
That's fine, these fragments will piece together on their own around the main soul, but the soul, which is like dumpling filling, is too complex in the world. Under a series of complex chain reactions, it triggers the butterfly effect, giving the common saying a mysterious power to come true.
For example, in the first world, the proverb that comes true is "Applying lip rouge will bring bad luck, and heavy makeup will bring misfortune to one's husband."
This statement was adapted by Yao Xiaoyu from a classic modern saying. As we all know, people in ancient times could not be feudal when they were starving, but modern people can eat their fill, so many people can wholeheartedly devote themselves to feudalism regardless of cost.
In this context, various feudal beliefs naturally evolved with the times. One classic saying is that girls should not apply highlighter to their cheekbones, as it would bring bad luck to their husbands. When asked, it's simply a matter of tradition. As for when this tradition originated, you don't need to worry about it; it's just an old rule that must be followed.
When Yao Xiaoyu remembered this sentence, she went to various rouge shops to make sure that cosmetics hadn't developed to that extent yet. She then decisively modified the sentence to reflect the times, making it easy for Sikong Xiaoqing to understand.
Xuanmao's first memory comes from a golden hamster, also known as an orange tabby. When the cat was three months old, it managed to marry into a wealthy family by pretending for five minutes and became the beloved pet of the fourteen-year-old Miss Zou. In the little orange tabby's eyes, it was like it was raising a two-legged beast.
This life is so comfortable. Even Xuanmao, who has a good memory, is a little envious of the golden tiger's daily life of sunbathing, playing with insects, and enjoying the breeze and scenery from the top of the wall. It doesn't even need to hunt. Meals are delivered to its door at mealtimes, and it has a dedicated person to take care of its poop, scratch its back, and play with it.
To have reached this level as a pet cat is to say that she has reached the pinnacle of life. Of course, if Xuanmao were to choose, she would still prefer to live a good life of hunting for a living and roaming the mountains. Being kept by someone is indeed comfortable, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the little cat has her own way of life.
When the golden tiger grew into a big orange chicken leg, the third young lady got married. The big orange tiger, who had grown into a pig, also accompanied the third young lady into her husband's family as part of the dowry. The big orange tiger was living her life leisurely, but for some reason, her two-legged beast always smelled bitter. Even her special move, "Claws Blooming," couldn't make the two-legged beast laugh.
Many nights, just as Daju was about to go to the kitchen for a snack, it would hear a series of sobs coming from the room. Then it would have to go inside and get into bed, wiping the two-legged creature's tears with its fur. It was a pity that it couldn't get a midnight snack, and the fur would often stick to its body in clumps. It had even managed to change its natural dislike of bathing.
For a long time, the orange chicken leg, who didn't like to think, was pondering a question with its limited brain capacity: Who exactly made the two-legged creature smell bitter? Did it dare to appear in front of the kitten? The kitten would teach it an unforgettable lesson, just like biting off a mouse's head!
The kitten doesn't understand human language, doesn't know what a "hen that doesn't lay eggs" means, doesn't understand what "applying cosmetics is bad luck" means, and doesn't understand things like "Master is going to a brothel today." It only knows that its female two-legged creature often goes to find a male two-legged creature with a mixed scent, and sometimes their scents mix together.
And ever since the two-legged creature moved, its mouth isn't painted red anymore, and it doesn't have much of that scent that makes cats sneeze anymore, which sometimes makes Big Orange feel a little uneasy.
It didn't like the male two-legged creature, but since its own pet two-legged creature did, it could only put up with it. But sometimes it really wondered why the female two-legged creature would be interested in this male. He didn't smell strong at all, and he didn't even have any hair on his head!
What Daju witnessed firsthand was a man sunbathing on a tall building. He used something black to draw lines on his head, and when he got hot, he simply ripped off the hair on his head. He then put it back on when someone knocked on the door.
The female of the family was unaware of this secret, but one time when the male roared at her, she went over and ripped the hair off the male's head. The male screamed terribly, and many people chased after him. The female of the family insisted on eating with him.
Several years passed in the blink of an eye. Her two-legged creature had grown taller, but was thinner than a bamboo pole. She still felt she was too fat. The clever kitten gradually learned to understand some simple words and knew that the two-legged creature had cried before because it didn't have a baby.
Although Piglet didn't know what was so good about having piglets, the calico neighbor had said that you need to be healthy to have piglets. The current stick figure gets out of breath after walking just a few steps, so he wouldn't be able to raise a baby properly.
What's more, that male two-legged creature isn't much to look at. Even calico cats know that when looking for a father for their kittens, they need to find a strong and good-looking one. Every year when they want to have kittens, they have to make the male cats fight. This male two-legged creature... Humans are really strange. How can an ugly and useless male find such a good-looking female two-legged creature like hers?
That said, don't these two-legged creatures ever consider giving their babies a new dad?
Recently, there have been many female two-legged creatures on the street who smelled so strong they felt like sneezing. The kitten went home in a sorry state, looking at its own two-legged creature and sighing inwardly. Then, after a while, it really did smell another male's scent on its own two-legged creature, a very strong one!
Is it that exciting?!
Sikong Xiaoqing slammed the manuscript shut, breathing heavily.
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Author's Note: I'm sorry, that's about it for Shangguan Jieyou's story. I overestimated my courage to write horror. I'm a coward. The wind outside is so strong; even typing the words "red vs. white" was scary. If I wrote any more detailed, I'm afraid there would be people everywhere in the room QAQ. ————
[1] The currently accepted view is that strawberries were introduced to Northeast China in 1915, and strawberry hair ornaments are the butterfly effect in the text.
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