Chapter 10: Spicy Strips

Chen Ji: “……”

For the first time, Chen Ji realized that a self-heating hot pot with crispy pork bites could attract a tiger.

…After all, egg yolk pastries could win over wild wolves, so on second thought, it didn’t seem all that strange.

Chen Ji silently turned around. Constantly craning his neck to look back was too tiring—not that he knew if his little metaphysical trick had actually worked, but such a big movement from him, a mere cat to feline animals, hadn’t earned him so much as a glance.

The System Cat screeched: 【Chen Ji! He’s going to eat your lunch!】

They had only brought two boxes of self-heating hot pot on this mountain trip. For a moment, the System Cat didn’t know whether to rejoice that its own share was already finished or mourn that Chen Ji had barely taken two bites.

Chen Ji turned his face slightly, a hint of amusement in his eyes: 【That’s still better than me turning into his lunch.】

The System Cat paused: 【I mean, I took the photo for you, but don’t post it online. People might cyberbully you for feeding a national first-class protected animal self-heating hot pot.】

【…I’ll post it for sure if I make it back alive.】 Chen Ji stared at the White Tiger. What else could he do?

This was a tiger—one swipe of its paw could demolish an iron door. What recourse did he have against a tiger with snow-white fur and eyes like gems, practically a plush doll among predators?

All he could do was let it have its way, inwardly pleading for his dear daddy to spare his life and just leave already.

The White Tiger approached the full box of self-heating hot pot with light, agile steps. Steam still rose from it as he elegantly lowered his head to sniff. He didn’t extend his tongue, though. Instead, he took a step back.

Chen Ji had been somewhat worried the White Tiger might scald himself, but seeing no intention to lick, he actually felt a wave of relief.

The System Cat let out a long breath too: 【Your lunch is safe… Holy shit!】

The White Tiger circled the self-heating hot pot once, then started heading straight for Chen Ji.

Chen Ji couldn’t tell for sure if he was the target. His breathing quickened beyond his control, but his body leaned slowly forward as he gripped the handle of the sickle on the ground.

From his crouch, the White Tiger looked even more terrifying in his field of vision—a bone-deep chill at the mere thought of accidentally meeting his gaze. As the White Tiger drew closer, Chen Ji tightened his hold on the sickle, forcing several deep breaths while biding his moment.

Closer.

Chen Ji’s arm began to tremble.

Closer still.

The White Tiger’s breath brushed Chen Ji’s face, carrying no particular scent, but Chen Ji’s body went rigid all the same, frozen in place.

Suddenly, thick fur grazed his shoulder. Chen Ji’s eyes flew wide as he turned to look. The White Tiger was merely passing by his side, just as before—his elegant form rubbing right up against Chen Ji’s arm. Chen Ji could even feel the taut muscles hidden beneath the fur.

Layer upon layer of snow-white fur smoothed flat against Chen Ji’s arm with the White Tiger’s stride, only to fluff back to its plush state once he had passed.

Chen Ji stood there like a wall, like a pillar. The massive feline rubbed slowly against him before moving on. The White Tiger’s tail—thick as an arm and ring-patterned—even hooked lightly around Chen Ji’s wrist, leaving a fleeting itch in its wake. Used to playing with the System Cat, Chen Ji instinctively reached out to grab it.

But the great cat was far too nimble. With a flick, his tail evaded Chen Ji’s hand. He loped to the stream, drank a few mouthfuls of water, then vanished into the woods.

Chen Ji and the System Cat sighed in unison with profound relief. Chen Ji collapsed onto the ground, utterly spent. He panted for breath with no desire to speak, then silently made his way back to the self-heating hot pot and dug in.

The System Cat held back for ages before finally blurting out: 【That metaphysical trick of yours actually worked pretty damn well… I really thought you were goner back there.】

Chen Ji’s mind was open to the System Cat, but it was too lazy to poke around, and he didn’t much care for that all-seeing feeling anyway. Today, though, his brain signals had been overwhelmingly strong, forcing it to glimpse a fragment.

Chen Ji nodded. Sweat dripped from his motion into his eyes, the faint salt stinging fiercely. He rubbed them, grabbed the mineral water nearby, and chugged it down in one go. Then he scooted over to the self-heating hot pot and ate bite by bite.

Somehow, after the scare, the food tasted even better.

The System Cat muttered under its breath: 【How about we head down the mountain today… Your old home is way too dangerous…】

Chen Ji’s mind was foggy. He only caught the surface meaning of the System Cat’s words—how could there be a tiger on this mountain?

He had lived here for seven years and never heard of any tigers around.

He really was beautiful. Chen Ji had never seen such a stunning tiger.

But wait—why was there a tiger on the mountain at all? Had it shown up sometime in the last couple of years?

【Chen Ji! Chen Ji!】

Chen Ji shuddered violently, his wandering thoughts yanked abruptly back to earth, as if plunging from the sky into his body. From the sweat-soaked crown of his head rose a wisp of nearly invisible black smoke…

Chen Ji caught a whiff of charred aroma.

Just like the day his computer mainboard had fried.

“8839,” he murmured softly.

The System Cat knew it was safe inside his head where he couldn’t touch it, but it shivered anyway: 【Uh… I called your name a bunch of times…】

“Is that your excuse for zapping me?” Chen Ji shot back.

【…】 The System Cat went quiet for a beat, then squeaked out a heart-shaped firework in his mind: 【It means we’re sparking!】

“Heh.” Chen Ji let it slide. He wolfed down the rest of his meal, topped off his water, then asked the System Cat to keep watch while he napped on the ground. Fresh off zapping him, the System Cat didn’t dare make a peep and stood guard obediently.

After about half an hour, it roused him. The guy who usually loved sleeping in snapped awake with unnatural speed. As he packed up, he said, “We’ll head back today. You sure we can scrounge up the mission items on the way down?”

【Who knows~】 the System Cat replied. 【Just keep a sharp eye on the way back. Who knows, we might find some.】

Chen Ji got the hint immediately. He stuffed the trash into his bamboo basket, shouldered his gear, and set off. Worst case, he could come back up tomorrow.

He had figured the Yellow Weasel was a one-off. He’d never heard of fierce beasts around his old home anyway—snakes and bugs and rodents were no match for his sickle—so he hadn’t bothered with the electric baton. Tomorrow, though, he wouldn’t mind the extra weight; he’d bring his beloved high-voltage stun baton for sure.

Before leaving the mountaintop platform, Chen Ji peeled some sausages and left them in a makeshift foil pot. Who knew if the White Tiger had really gone? He couldn’t eat the hot pot, but sausages should work fine.

He’d leave it there as an offering.

The afternoon sun beat down far more fiercely than the morning’s. The sudden chill upon reentering the deep woods felt sharper too. Chen Ji probed the brush ahead with his trekking pole in one hand and gripped the sickle in the other. Clearly, he was on high alert.

Once more, Chen Ji felt eyes on him—like something watching from the shadows.

He paused, then pulled a seasoning packet from his pocket and smeared its snow-white crystalline powder along the blade. The System Cat watched, baffled: 【Why’re you rubbing salt on the blade?】

“Enchanting it,” Chen Ji quipped.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than he whipped the sickle around. With a sharp thwack, a centipede on the trunk beside him split clean in two. Chen Ji eyed the red-legged half still writhing and asked the System Cat with saintly kindness: 【Snack?】

System Cat: 【…Blech!】

Chen Ji chuckled. He wasn’t as fresh-legged as on the way up, but knowing the path home made his steps lighter still. The System Cat wheedled, 【Chen Ji~ You sure you don’t wanna buy a Stamina Recovery Agent? C’mon, get one. You’d run faster if something like before pops up!】

Chen Ji thought to himself that even a hundred vials wouldn’t help in a real pinch like that, but he said, “Sure, go ahead and exchange.”

The System Cat perked right up. The next second, a prompt chimed: 【Congratulations, host ‘Chen Ji’! You have obtained a Stamina Recovery Agent x1. It has been placed in your System Backpack. Please retrieve it within 24 hours, or…】

Before it finished, Chen Ji raised a hand to silence it. He hurried into the woods nearby, craning his neck to scan the branches overhead. He confirmed the leaves with his phone, then snapped off a dry twig from the ground.

Sure enough, the break inside gleamed dark red.

He had planned to hack off a fresh branch from the tree, but this specimen was ancient. A fallen dead twig would do just as well for the task—no sense harming it further.

The System Cat spotted the dark red core and instantly flashed back to the bizarre entries in Grandpa Chen Ji’s notes. It yelped in panic: 【Holy shit, it’s red! This place is so spooky—Chen Ji, I’m scared!】

Chen Ji drew a deep breath, suddenly questioning why he’d ever thought keeping a talking pet sounded fun. If the System Cat weren’t too heavy to manifest right now, he’d have strung it up and thrashed it. He enunciated carefully: 【…This is sappanwood. That’s why it’s red.】

The System Cat mumbled guiltily: 【…Oh.】

They were right in the middle of their bickering when a black shadow exploded from the grass behind him, lunging straight for Chen Ji’s back. He sensed it somehow and whipped around to see an arm-thick Crossing Peak Serpent striking like lightning toward his throat. There was no time to react—he could only hurl himself sideways, praying it missed.

In that instant, Chen Ji’s vision went dark. Something fluffy brushed his cheek amid a deafening roar and pattering footsteps. He blinked and saw the White Tiger—the same one from before—snatching the serpent in his jaws.

By the time Chen Ji looked, his teeth had clamped shut. Blood sprayed in an arc as the snake’s head tumbled from his mouth, staining the ground with a crimson trail.