◇ Chapter 62: Removing Stitches
Imur was poked repeatedly, but he didn't dare to move away. He was stunned and didn't say a word. Bai Yu stuffed him into the quilt. Bai Yu changed into pajamas and stepped onto the bed. He only took up 1/2 of the space, and the remaining 1/2 was generously left for the kitten. Even if Tuanzi rolled several times at night, he would not fall out.
After Bai Yu spread out the quilt, he adjusted the position of Tuanzi again.
He placed Tuanzi in the middle of the bed, below the two pillows, so that the kitten could just fit under the quilt.
Imur: “…”
The doctor did not fall asleep immediately. He just turned on the reading light, copied a book, and started reading quietly, as if he was going to read for a long time.
And this meant that Imur was leaning against the doctor's thigh.
A little further up the thigh, it is...
Imur gritted his teeth and thought to himself, "Damn it, how rude!"
The doctor in this black clinic is not only cruel and ruthless, but also behaves in a dissolute and shameless manner.
The co-leader of Illia could not stand this humiliation. Imur quietly stretched out his claws and moved out little by little, trying to maintain the dignity of the Duke.
But he was soon discovered.
Bai Yu noticed that the kitten beside him was moving away little by little. He put his left hand on the book page and picked up the dumpling with his right hand. He put it next to him and said casually, "Why are you moving around? Aren't you cold?"
The wind was howling outside the window, and there was a little snow at night. Frost and fog condensed on the glass, and Bai Yu felt cold. And Imur lost too much blood, which made him feel even colder.
When Bai Yu pulled his tail, the hair on Imur's tail exploded inch by inch. He observed the doctor cautiously, but the doctor seemed to be just moving casually and didn't pay attention to him. He just lowered his eyes and continued reading.
Bai Yu looked quiet and serious as he read, his silver-framed glasses perched on his nose, reflecting the fragmented light.
Imur had to admit that the doctor had a good-looking appearance.
The fingers that held the spine of the book were long and beautiful, with distinct joints, the bridge of his nose behind his glasses was also straight, and his slightly drooping eyebrows were cold and distant. In short, he fits Imur's stereotype of a black-hearted doctor.
Having just failed to escape, Imur was afraid of angering the doctor again, so he didn't dare to move. He just curled up quietly, leaning against the doctor's thigh.
For a moment, the only sound in the room was the doctor flipping through the pages of a book.
“…”
The book the doctor was reading was "The Poems of Xoril", which was compiled by a bard from old times. It included folk songs and fairy tales that were widely circulated in Ilria. This book was generally used as an enlightenment textbook for young children in the church. When children grew up to adulthood, they no longer read this kind of books.
But the doctor actually enjoyed watching it.
The regular sound of turning pages was like gentle white noise. As Imur listened, he felt sleepy.
The doctor's body temperature warmed the quilt, which kept out the cold wind. Although it was very embarrassing to sleep with his thighs pressed against those of a strange man, Yimu couldn't resist the sleepiness after all. After a while, when the doctor closed the book, he had already put his hands in his pockets, curled up into a furry curl.
In a daze, someone used the tip of a finger to press the hair on his head: "Go to sleep, kitten."
Bai Yu dimmed the reading light slightly.
He had no intention of sleeping, but continued to flip through the poetry collection in his hands.
66 had been autistic, but now he was finally feeling better, as if he had accepted reality. However, he still refused to lie on Bai Yu's shoulder like he had done with his previous two hosts. He just floated far away, yawning softly: "Host, it's almost midnight, aren't you going to sleep?"
Bai Yu: "I'll finish reading this."
66 wondered, "What kind of book is this? It's so interesting."
Bai Yu pointed at the paragraphs with his finger: "I'm not reading a book, I'm reading these."
66 read it as he was told and saw large marks on the paragraph.
These markings were of various shapes, including circles, triangles, and all sorts of strange shapes that 66 couldn't describe. They looked like some secret codes.
Bai Yu closed the book and rubbed his brows: "If I'm not mistaken, this is a translation of some kind of code, and the gathering at the West City Cathedral on Saturday may be related to this."
Using books to translate codes is a common method used by various underground organizations. Characters correspond to numbers one by one, and then after corresponding changes, spies can convey a lot of information using a string of numbers.
I just don’t know which organization the original owner of this identity belongs to.
The original text of the novel has been banned, and even the system only knows the key plot points but not more details.
Bai Yu's major was not cryptography. He tried to decipher it, but lacked the corresponding text, so he had to put it aside temporarily. He put the collection of poems aside and turned off the reading light.
Have a good night's sleep.
*
When Imur woke up the next day, he heard the sound of chopping meat again.
He got food, a warm blanket, and enough rest. Imur shook his fluffy tail and felt much better.
Regular cutting sounds came from the kitchen next door, again and again. Imur moved his ears, quietly moved to the side of the bed, opened the door, and looked out curiously.
Through the crack in the door, he smelled the salty smell of fish again.
The kitten wrinkled its nose.
...for me?
It was hard to imagine that the cold-faced doctor would actually chop meat and cook for him.
After a day of getting along, Imur finally realized that the doctor had no intention of killing him immediately, nor did he regard him as a disposable experimental subject, because no one would lie in the same bed with an experimental subject and cover themselves with the same quilt.
Imur thought about it and felt that his current position was probably that of a pet picked up by the doctor, who could warm his hands and bed, and also entertain him.
That’s why the doctor repeatedly stressed, “Be good.”
After all, the only advantage of keeping a weak creature like a cat as a pet is that it will be well-behaved and obedient. If it is not obedient enough, the doctor will probably abandon it quickly and look for a new pet.
The platinum dumpling's eyes were deep. He leaned against the door, his tail swinging back and forth, curled up like a fluffy dandelion.
"Dandelion" thought calmly.
At this point, he can only stay as a pet.
All the doors and windows of the clinic were sealed. Imur checked and found that he could not open them or go out. Besides, he could not determine where the doctor's clinic was in the city. With the physical strength of a cat, he wondered if he could return to the Duke's Mansion. Finally, his uncle would surely search the whole city. If he showed up at this time, there was a high possibility that he would die.
In comparison, being a doctor's pet is still a suitable choice.
For Imur, being a pet has its pros and cons.
The advantage is that Ymir does not need to worry about his life or food. The doctor has a stable income and a decent social status. Ymir has a temporary shelter. He can have a quiet environment, recuperate quietly, and wait for the mutation period to pass.
Ymur's transformation period is very long, and there is a short period of unbearable pain in the middle. If he wanders the streets without food and clean water, life will be very difficult.
The downside is that he has to act good and obedient to be a qualified pet.
Duke Imur prides himself on being flexible and it is not difficult for him to pretend to be good.
However, the more troubling point is that doctors may perform physical modifications on him.
In fact, body modification surgery for cats is quite common in the city-state.
Many ladies and gentlemen in Illia also keep cats as pets. Imur has seen them attending tea parties with their cats in their arms more than once. Upper-class celebrities even compete to see whose cats are more well-behaved. In order to prevent the cats' claws from damaging the ladies and gentlemen's beautiful dresses, some of them take their cats for declawing surgery.
Doctors in the clinic will use a knife to cut off the cat's last finger bone, causing them to permanently lose the ability to grow claws.
If the doctor performed this operation on him, when Imur turned back into human form, he would permanently lose his finger bones, which was obviously unacceptable.
While he was thinking, he listened to the noise outside. The sound of cutting meat lasted for twenty minutes and then stopped.
Imur jumped back to the bed lightly, lay down gracefully, closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.
The door opened slightly and the doctor came in.
The doctor stood by the bed.
The doctor turned him over gently and placed his finger on his abdomen.
In preparation for the surgery, Bai Yu shaved off all the hair on the wound, leaving only a bald patch of flesh. His fingertips touched the skin directly, and Imur couldn't help but want to dodge.
No one has ever dared to touch Duke Illia's abdomen.
But the doctor observed carefully, not missing any details. Due to his nearsightedness, Bai Yu was very close to him, and Imur could even feel the heat of his breath. Just when the Duke was wondering whether it was a good idea to pretend to be asleep and whether he should pretend to be awake, Bai Yu left.
He placed the basins of milk and fish paste in the corner.
When the door closed, Bai Yu's voice disappeared.
Ymur straightened up warily.
Gone?
He took tentative steps, one, two, and then jumped off the bed.
Today, there is not only goat milk and fish paste, but the doctor went to the early market and also prepared some mussels and raw meat and bones, all of which are fresh morning goods to supplement nutrition.
Imur stuck out his tongue and licked it.
He squinted his eyes comfortably.
The porridge is soft and easy to swallow. The taste is bland but just right for the sensitive taste buds of sick cats. Although the doctor is a black-hearted doctor, he is indeed good at cooking cat food.
Imur thought: Considering the doctor's performance these days, he will give the doctor a lighter punishment when he returns to the Duke's Mansion.
For the next few days, Imur ate fresh meals every day.
Sometimes it was scallops, sometimes beef, or a variety of fresh meats, and goat milk was consumed all day long, all chopped into a paste.
The doctor's expression remained stern, and the sound of chopping meat continued all day long. Imur became more and more accustomed to the sound, and could even fall asleep peacefully listening to it.
Except for the first day when the doctor put him on the operating table and injected him with unknown substances, Imur lived peacefully in the house for the rest of the time.
On this day, the sound of chopping meat was heard as usual. Imur pushed open the door with his claws and poked his head out.
The sound of chopping meat never stopped.
Imur took two stealthy steps and reached the kitchen door, then, taking advantage of the cover of the door, he stuck his head out again.
Are you really cooking for me?
Really cooking for me.
He saw the doctor.
Bai Yu's back was narrow and slender, and he seemed unnaturally tall from Xiaomao's perspective. He was wearing casual clothes, and his shirt was tied up with a waist belt, outlining the lines of his waist and abdomen, which were then sunken into his wide trousers. The hand holding the knife was extremely steady, and when he cut the meat, it was as elegant as a sculpture.
66: "Host, your kitten is spying on you."
Bai Yu: “Hmm?”
He turned his head slightly and looked sideways toward the door.
Imur: “!!!”
He ran away without looking back, and his paw pads pressed against the floor, leaving behind a very light sound.
Bai Yu only had time to see a large platinum tail flash past the door.
He stopped using the kitchen knife and stroked his chin: "You look very energetic. It looks like you have recovered well. We can proceed to the next step."
66 felt a chill in his heart: "What's the next step?"
Bai Yu did not answer the system and continued with his actions.
So, after Imur licked the fish paste clean and was about to take a nap on the windowsill, he was suddenly grabbed by the back of the neck and lifted up.
"…Mi?"
Imur looked at the doctor blankly, his lake blue eyes full of doubts. Looking at the doctor's cold face that said "no strangers allowed", he suddenly became afraid.
...What is this for?
The doctor held him up and turned and walked away.
What comes into view is the iron-gray treatment bed, mottled partition curtains, and rusty metal partitions.
This is the doctor's office.
The second floor is Bai Yu's residence, with gentle colors and warm sunlight. The first floor has only one square window, which is as narrow as the sniper window of a bunker. Not even sunlight can penetrate it, and it is filled with the smell of coldness and death.
“…”
Imur's hands and feet began to feel cold.
After living in the bedroom for a week, he even forgot that this was where the doctor was.
Bai Yu placed him on the cold operating table, fastened the straps again, and scratched the kitten's chin soothingly.
Today is the fifth day after the operation and the stitches can be removed.
There were no absorbable protein sutures in this era, and sutures left in the body for too long might cause inflammation.
Removing the stitches was not too painful and no anesthesia was needed. Bai Yu settled the kitten down and when he got the tools, he found that it was trembling.
The pair of lake blue eyes stared at him steadily. It was clearly a cat, but it seemed to have human emotions, like pleading, and like fear. It seemed to be asking in a plaintive voice:
Am I not a pet?
But it is normal for cats to be afraid. Every cat is afraid of the pet hospital. Some cats even have a "deep hatred" against Bai Yu and will stretch out their claws when they see him. No matter how scared they are, the line must be removed.
Bai Yu gently rubbed the kitten's head and lowered his voice: "Be good, it's okay, it will be fine in a moment."
The alcohol hit his abdomen and Imur's body suddenly tensed up.
He was also smeared with alcohol before the first injection, which caused him to experience a burning pain.
"Damn it." The Duke gritted his teeth again. He felt fooled and deceived. He hated himself for letting down his guard against the doctor so easily. He was also angry and disgusted at the doctor's way of playing him in the palm of his hand. For a moment, he didn't know whether he was more frightened or angry. He swore, "Doctor, you'd better not let me..."
Before he could figure out what to do with him, Bai Yu had already untied the straps of the treatment bed.
——It’s just removing the stitches. Bai Yu’s technique was very experienced. Even though Imur’s body was tense, he didn’t even feel the pain.
Then, the Elizabethan collar on her head was also taken off.
"…Mi?"
Imur looked back in disbelief. It was the first time in these days that he saw the current appearance of his abdomen.
The wound on the exposed skin has mostly healed, leaving only an ugly scar winding across the abdomen. Although it is ugly, it is indeed no longer painful.
"……?"
...During the previous operation, was the doctor treating his wounds?
It sounds incredible, but it is the only explanation. Imur moved his tail and his anger disappeared.
He stared at his abdomen suspiciously.
Very good, it's healing well, no bleeding or infection, the only question is, where is his fur?
There is a large empty area on the abdomen, which is exposed, while the fur next to it is fluffy and beautiful, which is particularly eye-catching at first glance, as if one has alopecia areata.
At this time, Bai Yu just took off his gloves and threw them into the trash can. When he saw what Platinum Tuanzi did, he actually laughed.
The doctor said grimly, "How ugly."
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I hate working overtime...
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