Chapter 6: This Cat Is Quite Heavy

“…………”

“？？！！”

Was this talking to him??

No way! How could Li Ye possibly recognize him?

Li You forced himself to calm down. His cat eyes went wide and round as he nervously stared at his brother.

Their eyes met, but nothing followed.

The long silence made Li You both anxious and awkward. He tentatively twisted his body, but he couldn’t break free. His brother’s hand on his back stroked along the cat fur toward the tail. The motion was still fairly gentle.

Li You’s four paws stepped restlessly and tensely. A low “mrrrow” rumbled from his throat.

Why wasn’t he speaking?

Could it be… he really figured it out?

He anxiously imagined how he would be treated if things fell apart. However, at that moment, Li Ye released him and lifted him up to set him aside.

The distance between one cat and one man finally opened up a bit. Li You secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He was now in the space between Li Ye and the bookshelf against the wall—a tricky and narrow spot.

The little cat chased his own tail in circles in that tiny patch of ground, then curled up in the corner. He clung to the wall corner, head held high and motionless. He looked like he was facing the wall in contemplation.

Li Ye glanced at the Ragdoll cat that seemed to have shrunk into the corner to avoid him. He unhurriedly withdrew his gaze, raised his wrist, and activated the light brain.

He tried to calm the restlessness in his heart by handling work, but no matter what, he couldn’t settle down. Thus, after a few minutes, Li Ye turned his attention back to the cat in the corner.

Li You held his head high in the corner, as if in devout prayer. In truth, he had nowhere left to hide. When he thought Li Ye wouldn’t bother him anymore and relaxed a fraction, his scruff was pinched again.

His four paws lifted into the air once more. Li You saw his splayed paws and flew into a shameful rage. He threw his head back and yowled wildly. His four legs kicked every which way.

He was set back on his lap. Seeing Li Ye’s approaching hand, the cat viciously bit down, clamping onto his brother’s index finger and gnawing. A “grrr” growled from his throat.

This time, Li You really put some force into it. Yet Li Ye showed no reaction—not even a hint of pain. He simply watched the cat quietly. His gaze drifted over the Ragdoll cat’s beautiful blue eyes, then to its flattened ears in ferocity. After a moment’s thought, he raised his other hand and, still not very skillfully, stroked its head.

Having vented enough and with his jaws tired from biting, Li You inexplicably felt ashamed that his brother’s technique had improved a lot. He was scratched until it felt a bit comfortable.

Li Ye’s hand was large enough to cover the cat’s head. His fingers were distinctly jointed, his skin cold white. The raised veins on the back of his hand were clearly visible.

Scratched into bliss, Li You narrowed his eyes and lifted his head, contentedly enjoying his brother’s head and chin scratching service. The fierce “grrr” in his mouth gradually turned into a soft “purr.”

His reason told him this wasn’t quite right, but his body honestly rubbed against his brother’s hand. Sensing that Li Ye’s hand meant to withdraw, he dissatisfiedly leaned forward, meowing nonstop. Lowering his head, he saw the ring of teeth marks on his brother’s good-looking finger.

Li You: “……”

He bit the man, yet now let him scratch his itch. Thinking it over carefully, it seemed a bit unfair…

Li You glanced upward and met Li Ye’s slightly lowered gaze. Feeling guilty, he licked his paw. A little apologetic in his heart, he fidgeted for a while—his paws kneading anxiously—before steeling himself. He leaned forward, stuck out his pink tongue, and licked the standard ring of teeth marks on his brother’s finger. Then he tilted his head back: “Meow~~”

It wasn’t on purpose! Who told you to pinch my scruff? Now we’re even!

He licked a couple more times, and his heart instantly felt much lighter.

However, harboring these thoughts, he kind of wanted to slip away, yet also wanted his brother to scratch him more.

These two ideas fought in his brain. In the end, Li You decided to leave.

He was a rational little cat!

The cat turned his head and stepped down his brother’s leg. One leg had just reached the ground when he suddenly heard his brother pick up a comm.

“Good evening, Your Highness. This is the crystal stones mining district on Saiyali Planet. The invading mutant species have all been dealt with. The pollution source is undergoing further purification.”

Pollution source?

Li You pulled back the paw he had stepped down and returned to Li Ye’s lap, sitting face-to-face with him. His cat face turned serious.

Li Ye glanced at the primly seated Ragdoll cat and said to the person on the comm, “Continue.”

“The Imperial Military and Central Laboratory acted simultaneously and discovered two important pieces of intelligence—one good news and one bad news.”

Li Ye’s brow furrowed slightly. The hand hanging at his side lifted lightly and rested on the Ragdoll cat’s head, unhurriedly rubbing its ears.

Sounds of flipping through documents came from the other end, followed by the officer’s continued report.

“Your Highness, Dr. Yulian’s experimental results revealed that crystal stones don’t just purify pollution sources. This stuff can also alter the genes of humans or animals—much like infection from a pollution source. Except those infected by crystal stones experience benign changes. In fact, this stuff…” The officer paused. Comm chatter erupted on the other end, followed by an anxious male voice.

“Your Highness, are you still there? It’s me, Yulian!”

Hearing the familiar voice, Li You tensed up immediately. His eyes stared blankly at the light brain. His heart began to pray, but his childhood friend directly spilled all the secrets he had buried before his death.

“Listen to me! Your Highness Youyou must have been infected by crystal stones before his death! His genes underwent mutation, and he definitely knew about it himself!!” Yulian took a deep breath, his voice trembling. “Heavens, that year he came to my team and said he hoped we’d build a giant furnace according to his design ideas—one that could dissolve matter and emit magnetic fields. He told me he had a way to resolve the crisis. I never imagined his method was to use himself—”

“Crystal stones can purify abyss pollutants, and those humans or animals whose genes change from crystal stone infection have purification effects thousands or millions of times stronger than the stones themselves.” Yulian covered his face, his voice hoarse. “How did I only figure this out now? That guy wouldn’t even hurt an animal, yet he actually, actually used himself…”

Yulian’s breathing grew rapid and heavy. He shouted hoarsely, “If I’d known sooner, if… it’s all my fault…”

“Mrrrow…” Li You’s voice was low. He stepped forward, his front paws together as he pushed against Li Ye’s thigh, straining to get closer to the light brain. He softly called, “Meow…”

It’s not your fault. Don’t be sad…

He couldn’t say the words, so he could only meow.

A moment later, Yulian on the other end let out an “Eh?” He sniffled and asked, “Why do I hear a cat? Your Highness, did you get a kitty?”

Li Ye watched the increasingly approaching Ragdoll cat but said nothing.

Yulian continued on his own: “Is your little cat okay? Sounds like it’s hacking up a hairball. Why does the meow sound so world-weary?”

“……”

Li You, who had been about to meow again, shut his mouth and depressedly stared at the light brain.

This guy was the same as always—an atmosphere destroyer.

Li Ye lightly scratched the Ragdoll cat’s chin and returned to the topic: “This is the good news?”

“Of course.” Yulian explained, “We discovered that animals or humans infected by crystal stones possess strong purification abilities. But we absolutely do not advocate using them to deal with abyss pollutants, since we still don’t know how crystal stones infect other things. Moreover, Your Highness Youyou used his life to teach us not to harm humans or animals.”

“So the good news is we’ve found another beneficial effect of crystal stones. Perhaps in the future, we can discover even more ways to purify abyss pollutants.”

After finishing his report, Yulian handed the light brain back to the officer.

Li Ye no longer mentioned the crystal stones and directly asked about the other piece of news: “What’s the bad news?”

“The bad news…” The officer sighed. “Your Highness, we’ve discovered humans turned into mutant species by abyss pollutant infection on this planet.”

“Wasn’t this discovered a few years ago?”

“Yes.” The officer continued, “But this time it’s different. These infected ones look no different from ordinary people on the surface, but inside they’ve been completely controlled by the abyss pollutants. And they possess intelligence—they can disguise themselves.”

Li Ye: “Numbers?”

“Three cases discovered so far.”

“Notify everyone: Imperial Military on all planets, be fully alert to this situation.” Li Ye pinched and rubbed the Ragdoll cat’s ears, then called out, “Yulian.”

“Here!”

Yulian’s voice appeared again. “Do you have any orders?”

“Those three are yours.”

“I’ll do my utmost to find out what makes their mutations different.”

Li Ye gave an “Mm,” gave a few more instructions to the other side, then ended the comm. His gaze lingered on the silver-blue light screen for a long time.

Soon, a few low “mrrrows” pulled him back to awareness. He looked down— he was still rubbing the Ragdoll cat’s ears.

The cat’s ears seemed a bit itchy and couldn’t stop twitching. It didn’t yowl loudly but obediently squatted on his lap. That cat face looked… a bit grave.

Li Ye blanked for a moment, turned off the light brain, and used his other hand to pinch the cat’s other ear. His fingertip slowly rubbed.

Feeling comfortable again, Li You—his mind full of the earlier news—narrowed his eyes and rubbed his head hard against Li Ye’s hand. Midway through the pleasure, he suddenly stopped, lifted his head, and pressed a paw on Li Ye: “Meow!”

Li Ye looked at him.

“Meow—”

“……”

“Meow…”

Forget it. This guy couldn’t understand cat language. Li You drooped his eyes and tail, his mood melancholic.

The earlier news left him unable to relax, but as a cat now, there was nothing he could do. The secrets he’d hidden before were almost all exposed…

Li You grew anxious inside and unconsciously started pawing on Li Ye with both paws.

The little cat’s claws hadn’t been trimmed yet. His paw pads bloomed open with each step, the sharp nails scraping Li Ye’s military uniform with a “scritch-scritch.”

Li Ye quietly watched the cat scratch his clothes. Suddenly.

【Huh, there are abs.】

“……” Li Ye’s brow furrowed. He raised his eyes to scan around, then looked down at the cat.

【Mm, so hard.】

“…………”

He confirmed several times that the voice had come from inside his head, not elsewhere. His brow furrowed tighter and tighter, his gaze lingering on the cat.

After a long silence, Li Ye’s right hand lightly gripped the Ragdoll cat’s practically nonexistent neck, feeling the soft warmth. He gently lifted his hand upward.

Li You was lifted by his brother’s technique and blinked in confusion. Those bamboo shoot paws still lightly and happily pawed at his brother’s abs.

Even through the military uniform, he could feel the rock-hard muscles. How much training did that take?

Li You sighed inwardly, his paws never stopping.

He thought that if he were still alive, he’d definitely be as tall and mighty as his brother—maybe with even better, harder abs.

Li You fantasized happily inside. His cat eyes sparkled brightly. Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice the subtle change in Li Ye’s expression.

After waiting a moment with no more strange voices, Li Ye’s brow relaxed a bit. His hand gently pinched the cat’s face.

Soft, warm, whiskers a bit prickly.

Li Ye was silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke: “Your eyes look a lot like his.”

He thought perhaps he’d been too busy lately without enough rest, so the auditory hallucinations were increasing.

The cat froze at his words. It took a few seconds to react and understand who that “he” Li Ye meant.

He felt a bit guilty. But at the same time, he confirmed that his brother was just reminded of his former self by his current cat body.

Good thing, good thing. He hadn’t discovered that he’d turned into a cat…

Li You breathed a sigh of relief and softly “meowed” in response.

He knew it—the cat eyes were blue, and his eyes before had been blue too, so some similarity was normal.

“The temper is pretty similar too.” Li Ye’s fingertip slowly rubbed the cat’s cheek fur, his voice low and measured. “Both quite bad.”

Li You discontentedly “meowed,” his fluffy tail slapping against Li Ye’s leg. He opened his mouth and bit his brother’s hand web. This time he didn’t really use force—the sharp teeth rubbed twice before releasing.

Fine, kitty won’t hold it against you.

The Ragdoll flicked his tail and elegantly turned his head to lick his paw.

But a few seconds later, his chin was captured by Li Ye’s hand again. The motion was gentle, but even the most patient cat would get annoyed at being grabbed repeatedly.

Li You was just about to sound the meow-meow alarm when he looked up and saw his brother’s eerily still eyes.

“It’s my fault. I didn’t watch you properly.”

“If I’d known sooner, if I’d locked you up sooner, you wouldn’t have left.”

Li You felt a chill all over, his heart shuddering fiercely.

Th-this time, those words weren’t said to this cat, right?