Chapter 9: Little Cat Teacher, How Many is This? Profligate Prince Zane Regalis.

Unlike his brother Isiris’s cold cruelty, he was gentle, affectionate, handsome, and dashing, the dream man of countless interstellar men and women.

In the Dawn Battle ten years ago, he was invited to serve as the arena overseer and faced off against that A-Rank Xenoid, falling from then on with no body left behind.

And at this moment, the monitor belonging to him locked onto a short-legged little cat.

【What’s this situation?】

【Don’t tell me… Reborn as a Short-Legged Little Cat???】

A netizen who loved cheesy rebirth dramas passionately chimed in.

【In my previous life, I was killed by a Xenoid, losing everything.】

【In this life, I’ve become a short-legged cat, vowing to make the Xenoids pay.】

【Want to know my revenge plan?】

【V me 50! Listen right away!】

【Giving you 100, keep talking.】

【You guys are going too far!!!】

Meanwhile, our little Li cat had no idea about all those twists and turns. He was lifting his legs, climbing onto Xun’s head.

After bustling around for so long, he was exhausted and couldn’t walk anymore. Luckily, he had his own exclusive mount—a black-furred chestnut ball!

The little cat sprawled on Xun’s head, his four paws dangling, like someone had popped out his batteries. Xun happily carried him, bouncing along toward the destination.

【So that black clump is a little car?】

【What the hell little car? Does your car have eyes?】

This monitor’s camera precision was astonishing. Even from a hundred meters in the air, it could clearly capture facial details of ground targets, down to the slightest micro-expressions at the brow and eye corners.

【The little cat is so cute. Its fur color is so pretty—is it a calico?】

【I work at the library. I just checked the data—this isn’t calico; it’s golden shaded with white. Even before the Primitive Cat Extinction Era, this fur color was extremely rare!】

Li Ao had been lazily sprawled out, but suddenly he lifted a front paw and started grooming Xun’s mental domain. The colorful threads hadn’t appeared in a while, but now some popped out again. He used both paws, quickly wrapping the yarn ball round.

【What is Zane doing?】

【Upstairs, stop yelling! I object! I object to this being Zane aaaaaah!! Zane’s full form is a majestic golden lion with wings. I refuse to accept it’s this short-legged little thing aaaaaah!!】

【Calm down, calm down. The event team went to check, right? They should have results soon. Watch the cat first, watch the cat.】

【Probably grooming his companion? This is pretty common in felines.】

【So cute! My cat barely has any fur… wuwuwu, can we breed Primitive Cats? This is too cute. I can’t bear to look at my mutant cat anymore.】

【You guys are just watching the cat. Don’t you think the black thing under it is weird?】

【+1. Staring at it too long makes my head spin… I even shivered while typing this.】

The event team was at their wits’ end. Qin Mian waited sternly with a severe expression for the staff to explain.

The netizens’ wild guesses naturally couldn’t be taken as truth. Soul rebirth was impossible. Such things weren’t permitted by the cosmic laws—it was common knowledge etched into everyone’s genes.

“There’s one possibility,” the staff reported. “Because of the interstellar citizens’ adoration for Zane back then, his popularity was sky-high, and he was a Regalis too…” The words trailed off, but everyone in the system knew how wary the Alliance government was of the Regalis family.

The rest went unsaid, but anyone in the system understood the Alliance government’s wariness toward the Regalis: “So his monitor has the highest clearance, along with some biological recognition and genetic inference functions. During the Dawn Battle, this monitor vanished along with his surveillance target.”

This tech was usually for detecting Zerg. Qin Mian raised her hand to cut him off. “So, the monitor detected a genetic link between this cat and Zane Regalis, binding him as a result?”

“Yes. Considering Prince Zane’s playboy history of philandering, it’s not surprising if he has illegitimate children out there.”

The words clearly carried the staffer’s personal feelings. Qin Mian swept him a cold, stern glance. Her face showed little expression, but inside, her mind was in turmoil.

The staffer made it sound casual, but the Regalis hadn’t produced any new offspring in decades. Rumors abounded, but everyone knew: something was wrong with the lion family’s reproduction.

And now, a newborn cub that very likely belonged to Zane Regalis had appeared.

With the Mantis Monster’s help, supplies big and small were transported back to base. The little cat was a good little cat. Halfway there, he worried they were tired and planned to stop for a rest.

【…Is this right? This Xenoid is more obedient than the donkey grinding grain in front of my aunt’s door…】

【The yellow-haired freckle-face next door just withdrew. His shoulder’s pierced—half-disabled already.】

【This control group… Is it this Crex that’s off, or is it the little cat?】

Li Ao stretched out a chubby paw, raising one claw toe at Xun. “This is 1.”

“1!”

Little Cat Teacher nodded in satisfaction, then raised another. “This is 2.”

“2!”

【What’s this?】

【Seems like teaching numbers???】

【My early-dead grandma, if you’d lived longer you’d see a cat teaching! Little Cat Teacher, wait—I’ll bring my son over to learn!】

【Paper and pen out—let’s learn together! Why doesn’t the monitor have sound aaaaaah!! I want to hear if the little cat meows or talks aaaaaah!】

It had to be speaking Chinese, of course. With only half a bucket of water in his belly, how could little Li cat speak a foreign language?

“Got it? If you’ve learned, Li Ao will test you.” He spread his five fluffy claw toes. “How many is this?”

【5! 5! 5!】

【Little Cat Teacher, that’s 5!!】

Xun sensed some ghostly thing competing with him, narrowing his eyes and glaring at the low-level Xenoid. “5!”

The inexplicably scapegoated Crex didn’t know how it had offended the superior being and trembled as it shuffled its six legs.

“Good job, Xun.” Li Ao raised a cat paw in satisfaction, giving his little doggy a thumbs-up pose. “Thumbs up for you.”

【Little Cat Teacher praised me hehe (perv face blush)】

【Bullshit! Teacher praised me! (Yank your head flower)】

【Why doesn’t the event live stream have tipping? Open tipping! I want to pay tuition!】

With his teaching itch scratched, Li Ao looked up and saw Crex shivering nearby. “Are you cold?”

The little cat looked up—two suns overhead. He looked down and saw gray threads extending from the Mantis Monster. “You have threads too? Then Li Ao will tidy them up for you.”

Compared to Xun’s colorful threads, the Mantis Monster’s gray ones were much easier to handle. The little cat’s paw scooped and pulled off a big chunk at once—no need to sort; they dissipated on their own.

The low-level Xenoid, never groomed before, felt so good it went dizzy, its six needle-sharp hooked claws going soft as it collapsed to the ground. Its mouthparts uncontrollably extended, drooling with eyes askew and mouth agape.

【Don’t know why… It’s clearly terrifying and eerie, but feels so sleazy.】

【Hurry and take my son away.】

In no time, Li Ao had cleared all the gray threads. Seeing the Mantis Monster lazing in the sand and not getting up, he was about to remind it to head out when Xun leaped and smashed down on its head.

The Mantis Monster instantly jolted upright, scrambling away on its six legs with a rustle.

“Ah…” The little cat was a bit dazed, not reacting before Xun hoisted him back onto his head.

The netizens watched with gusto, munching popcorn, directly pushing this stream to #1. But before they could watch enough, the monitor stopped in the distance, no longer following.

【What’s up? Follow them!】

【Is the monitor broken? No sound was one thing, now it won’t even track the target.】

The monitor was indeed somewhat damaged. After losing power for so long, it was already top-quality for still working. But it wasn’t refusing to follow—it simply couldn’t keep up. An unknown energy field blocked it, forcing it to halt outside and watch remotely as the little cat vanished from sight.

【Ah, no more cat…】

【Sigh, guess we’ll check other contestants.】

With no other choice, the netizens regretfully left.

—

Alpha-13 was planting seeds.

No matter how many calculations or scans, these seeds were dead. How could dead seeds sprout?

It couldn’t accept it, so it imitated the little cat from last night, fetching a new flowerpot, loosening the soil, watering, and planting seeds.

As it busied itself, it heard a cat’s meow calling from outside the gate: “Alpha, open up. I know you’re home.”

The robot felt its CPU ache a bit. It shuffled to the door and pressed the button, intending to tell him there was no need to shout—it would open anyway.

But what met its gaze?

A short-legged cat—no problem.

A black unidentified creature—problematic, but no choice.

And that one beside it? That gray one, laden with over a dozen military backpacks, inexplicably travel-worn Xenoid—what to do?

Alpha-13 closed its electronic eyes.

Didn’t dare open them. Hoping it’s a hallucination.

Opened them again. Still there.

“Alpha, let me tell you, Li Ao picked up today…” The little cat hadn’t finished when the base door slammed shut.

Li Ao: ⊙.⊙?