Pet King

An ordinary night passed by just like that. But in an unknown place, something extraordinary had happened.

An amazingly tragic war had ended just like that.

Feeling the first rays of sunlight from the east, the few street lights in the patch of grass turned off automatically, saving solar energy to fuel the next night’s light.

Zhang Zian moved his sore legs about only to find that his clothes and shoes were all moistened by the morning dew, chilly when the breeze blew past.

The center of the grass patch was a mess, the shrubs and vines all squashed flat and the grass looking like a blade had gone through it, folded and broken. Even the tree trunk as thick as a fat person’s thighs was scarred. Two or three stone chairs were smashed to smithereens. If the police saw it, they would definitely arrest Zhang Zian for destruction of public property and want him to pay the damages fully… Thank goodness there had never been police here.

The most central area of the grass patch was an even more spectacular sight. The grasses were all pressed to juice, not a single piece of grass let off from a cruel fate. There was a hole two meters deep in the mud, made when the Holy Cat statue had been struggling for its life.

At the edge of the hole, the strays were all still panting, on the verge of passing out from exhaustion with blades of grass and mud in their fur. No matter their original color, they were all mud cats now, only the light in their eyes showing how excited they were after their victory.

Even Vladimir was so. It swiped at the mud on its face, but that only made it worse.

Old Time Tea brushed off the grass on its clothing, smiling softly. “Satisfying!”

It had been some time since such a satisfying fight, since there had never been anyone strong enough.

They had won the fight due to their strength in numbers, and it seemed like an unfair win, but faced with a cruel perpetrator, there was no need to consider morality when dealing with them. Old Time Tea wasn’t someone so deep in its stubbornness that it couldn’t understand that.

“Excuse me, excuse me.”

The hole had been surrounded by strays. Zhang Zian wanted to see how the Holy Cat statue was looking now, but he’d been blocked. With his horrendous skills, he would have been seeking death if he dared go a step closer in the midst of the fight. Old Time Tea still had to spare some energy to protect him. Now that the fight was over, he wanted to take a look.

The strays gave him a look, wiggling to the side to give him a space wide enough to accommodate one foot.

Zhang Zian could only cat-walk then, heel to toe, slowly inching towards the middle.

With great effort he finally reached the hole, looking at the once-arrogant Holy Cat statue lying there quietly and merging together with the broken grass and mud as though it were dead. The only sign that it was alive was the faint red of its eyes.

Its eyes shifted, glaring at Zhang Zian with no bite behind it, using all of its strength to gasp out its last words. “I will not lose. Never! One day I will be back and give you a taste of your own medicine!”

As it spoke, its eyes filled with hate and insanity, as though it were cursing this world, Zhang Zian, and all the elfins there.

“You’re knocking on death’s door, and yet you’re still so stubborn?” Vladimir chuckled, its paw curled into a fist. “With my holy sword, I’ll chop you into three! See how you seek revenge! Take this—!”

Zhang Zian waved his hand. “Don’t waste your strength. It’s already dead.”

The Holy Cat Statue’s red eyes gradually faded away with the rest of its life. But its curse still hung around in Zhang Zian and the other elfins’ hearts.

“Dead? How boring!” Vladimir said inappropriately, unclenching its fist.

Zhang Zian could tell from its eyes, right before the spark went out, that it had not just been bluffing. It had really hated them with all of its guts. After all these thousands of years, this wasn’t the first time it had failed, but it would always lie in wait until its next revival. As long as there were cat torturers in the world, it would never truly die.

There wasn’t really a good solution to this problem. The most important thing at the moment was to bring the Holy Cat statue’s body out instead of just leaving it there, in case someone picked it up thinking it was scrap metal.

The statue was heavy. With its body being made of solid copper, they would have to enter the hole in order to bring it out, but Zhang Zian didn’t want to dirty his new shoes.

Just as he was debating whether to wait until Wang Qian and Li Kun started work so he could get them to bring over a trolley and shovels, Old Time Tea gasped, pointing at the hole. “Zian, look!”

Zhang Zian immediately focused on the hole, but all he saw just made his jaw drop.

The body was actually fading away. It faded slowly at first, and it was hard to see, but it faded away faster and faster until it disappeared from the hole in a wisp of smoke.

“Sh*t! Where did it go?”

He rubbed his eyes and searched the area, flabbergasted. “It’s gone invisible?”

He knew that elfins could become invisible, though that wasn’t how they usually did it. But what other explanations were there?

Even Vladimir was surprised. “The lad looked to be quite sturdy, but it was unable to take even a few hits?”

Old Time Tea took a deep breath in, shaking its head. “Even its scent has gone away. It didn’t go invisible.”

Zhang Zian scratched his head. “Forget it. If it’s gone, it’s gone. I really should have taken its nose ring before it disappeared… It’s too late to regret it now, but I feel like I’ve lost a huge fortune!”

Fina jumped down from the tree, its expression serious. “Even though the rock has sunken, its ripples are still there. Logically speaking, it should take many, many years for it to revive. But with how turbulent things are now, we have to be mindful of it reviving sooner.”

Zhang Zian knew that with how proud Fina was, it was a huge deal for it to say something like that. It must have had a hard time with the Holy Cat statue two thousand years ago.

Vladimir said uncaringly, “Just let it come again. If we can defeat it once, we can defeat it twice, thrice!”

“Even if we defeat it countless times, it will still rise from the dead.” Fina didn’t agree with it.

Old Time Tea looked at the sky. “We shouldn’t be talking here, and we need to do a lot of planning. From what I see, we have had a tough night, so let’s go back and rest first.”

“I’m going back to my palace.” Fina turned, easily jumping onto the wall and running toward the pet shop.

“Your highness! Wait for your humble servant!” Snowy Lionet’s short legs didn’t allow it to jump onto the wall, so it could only take the long route.

Old Time Tea spoke up. “I’m heading back too. After such an intense fight, I need a good cup of tea to quench my thirst.”

It too jumped onto the wall, quickly disappearing behind the house in a few long leaps.

Zhang Zian was planning to return to the shop too. The sky had only just gotten bright. He could still sneak in a small nap before his employees came to work.

Vladimir didn’t leave. It jumped onto the wall before turning around to face the sea of strays and clearing its throat as though it had something to say.