Chapter 33

Ordinary people had no good impression of lizardmen.

Lizardmen were a vassal group of the orcs (that pig-snouted, tusked, aggressive, warlike nomadic race). They worshiped ancestral gods and the God of War, and once their bellies were full, all they thought about was fighting.

The Orc Ancestor God and the God of War had their Divine Domains connected, playing eternal war games.

Before the War of the Gods, back when deities could casually create an avatar and descend to the mortal realm, these two deities often summoned (kidnapped) heroes from the mortal plane, forcing them to participate in their war games.

As a vassal group of the orcs, lizardmen mostly occupied mountain paths and blocked roads. They were a famous bandit race, and a common roadside mob for players to grind.

The Cat Lizardmen were also subject to discrimination, but currently, the majority of the residents in the Hope City were halflings.

Halflings didn’t judge friends based on race or origin; they went by “eye contact compatibility.”

They believed the Cat Lizardmen were all good people. Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang also said the Cat Lizardmen were good people. So they were willing to treat the Cat Lizardmen as equals.

The Cat Lizardmen had never received such treatment before.

The cat people were about to cry their eyes blind. They wanted to be neighbors with the halflings.

The halflings were very happy to oblige.

Their greatest regret was being too small in stature.

Adult Cat Lizardmen were slightly larger than ordinary cats, standing between half a meter and one meter tall. Adult halflings averaged one meter in height. They were both diminutive and looked especially harmonious walking together.

Coincidentally, both were broad-minded, warm-hearted, hardworking, and not weak in combat strength. It was obvious how well they would get along.

No matter how many people ridiculed the halflings behind their backs as “stupid,” when it came to judging character, the halflings were indeed living signboards.

They got along well with the Cat Lizardmen, and the other people in the city who were still on the fence also gradually accepted the Cat Lizardmen.

At Xia Xifeng’s prompting, the Cat Lizardmen, once they became familiar with others, began to pour out their grievances.

In the setting, Cat Lizardmen were the “weakened” variant of lizardmen.

Don’t ask how the tall, muscular, wolf-dog-type lizardmen could weaken into Cat Lizardmen. Asking is just a feature of the Western fantasy world.

Orc races followed the law of the jungle. If the Cat Lizardmen were the same size, they could still fight the orcs, but this world had no tall and mighty Cat Lizardmen.

To use the players’ complaints: the game developers didn’t make Tiger Lizardmen, Leopard Lizardmen, or Lion Lizardmen. They only made Housecat Lizardmen.

So the Cat Lizardmen were truly pitiful.

They occupied the lowest rung of lizardman society and were often captured by lizardmen as slaves. Even if they worked themselves to the bone, their belongings would be stolen by the lizardmen, leaving them with only enough food to barely fill their stomachs.

If it weren’t for their incredible work ethic, the lizardmen wouldn’t even leave them enough food to fill their bellies or clothes to cover their bodies.

This time, the lizardmen were raising taxes again. The Cat Lizardmen truly couldn’t survive anymore, which was why they risked danger to throw themselves at Qin Lang.

Slaves either way. At least among humans, the Cat Lizardmen wouldn’t be treated as emergency food rations.

The cats were so pitiful that the halflings cried until their eyes were like faucets.

Xia Xifeng quietly poked Qin Lang in the side with his finger. 【Leo and Perila look so ridiculous when they cry.】

Qin Lang swatted Xia Xifeng’s mischievous hand. 【You could just laugh at them out loud.】

Xia Xifeng wasn’t about to fall for that.

Leo and Perila were becoming less and less polite with him. If he angered them, Perila would tie him up the same way he tied Leo, then have Leo push him as he swung upside down.

Xia Xifeng continued to grumble. 【As soon as the cats appeared, the Cat Lovers and Dog Lovers both went crazy. The Cat Lovers said the planners were stinking Dog Lovers, abusing cats. The Dog Lovers said the planners were stinking Cat Lovers, slandering dogs. Do you think the planners are Cat Lovers or Dog Lovers?】

Qin Lang: 【Neither. They just have the NPCs cry poverty so the players will spend money.】

Xia Xifeng: 【…You are so boring.】

No matter what the planners’ intentions were, the cats’ crying poverty this time had an excellent effect.

Even the elves, who were extremely lofty and disdainful of orcs, no longer showed bad attitudes towards the cats.

Some elves acted cold towards the cats in front of others, but secretly gave the cats snacks in private.

To celebrate the Cat Lizardmen officially joining the big family of the Hope City, the halflings would naturally throw a banquet.

At the banquet, the drunk Cat Lizardman elder forgot Qin Lang’s instructions and wept openly, thanking Qin Lang for everything he had done for them.

These words didn’t sound like anything special to others, but Xia Xifeng, thoroughly familiar with the Cat Lizardmen questline, kept glancing sideways at Qin Lang.

Oh, so it was “accidentally stumbling upon the Cat Lizardmen throwing themselves at you”? Is that so?

Qin Lang was just about to consider whether he should proactively admit to being a secret Cat Lover when Xia Xifeng awkwardly averted his gaze and said in a voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, “Thanks.”

Qin Lang shut his mouth.

Just as he understood Xia Xifeng, Xia Xifeng also understood him. His denials were useless.

After Xia Xifeng quietly thanked him, he walked stiff-limbed towards the dance floor.

Qin Lang watched the reddening rims of Xia Xifeng’s ears and looked away awkwardly in another direction, admiring the cats and halflings dancing a circle dance hand in hand.

They were this close already. What was Xia Xifeng blushing for? It made him feel awkward too.

Fortunately, after dancing for a little while, Xia Xifeng adjusted his mindset, saving Qin Lang from prolonged awkwardness.

Xia Xifeng, that social maniac, put a cat on top of his head and had the cat tap-dance on his head.

The onlookers clapped and cheered.

Even Perila, a halfling who didn’t like dancing, was swept up in the atmosphere and proactively danced with the cats.

Leo clapped his hands red. Brother, great moves!

Roxie, the little halfling girl who’d already become good friends with them, and Lana, the little dwarf girl, danced hand in hand until their triangular scarves were crooked.

Qin Lang watched Xia Xifeng get completely wild, pouring grape wine down his throat gulp after gulp. He covered his eyes with his hand and pretended not to see.

Xia Xifeng’s sleeping posture tonight was probably going to be terrifying again.

And if he drank to this extent, could he even bathe and change his clothes by himself?

If he dunked Xia Xifeng into cold water, could Xia Xifeng instantly sober up?

Alcohol was no good. Not a single drop should be touched. How did Xia Xifeng just not get it?

“You’re not going to drink and dance?” Suer came over with a wine glass.

He never imagined that the vicinity of Green Sand City hid such a strange subspecies of lizardmen. It was as if they’d just popped out of thin air.

Qin Lang said, “There always has to be one person staying sober to take care of the other drunkard.”

Hearing the unmasked resentment in Qin Lang’s words, Suer laughed. “You’re doing better than Amuruo.” Qin Lang, as a Guardian Knight, was doing better than Amuruo had.

Amuruo, with his sharp ears, caught Suer speaking “ill” of him.

The half-elf’s pointed ears twitched. Amuruo thought about how to double down next time.

Suer just loved picking up strays too much. Troublesome “children” got the most attention.

Xia Xifeng sang and danced and finally ran out of steam.

He scanned for where Qin Lang was, covered the distance in three bounding steps, and then flopped right in front of Qin Lang, as if about to perform a full kneeling prostration.

Just as Xia Xifeng’s forehead was about to hit the floor, Qin Lang scooped him up with one hand.

“I’m taking him to sober up,” Qin Lang said.

Leo, who was having a drinking contest with the dwarves, gave Qin Lang a hand gesture to show he understood and that he would continue to host the banquet.

Perila was still seeking out different cats to dance with.

He had never been so enthusiastic about dancing in his entire life.

Qin Lang suspected Perila was the kind of “stinking Cat Lover” Xia Xifeng often mentioned.

Qin Lang dragged Xia Xifeng home, helped him gather a change of clothes, and poured a bottle of minty Clarity Potion down his throat.

After drinking the potion, Xia Xifeng felt a chill—ice cold, piercing his heart. He instantly shuddered, the drunkenness in his eyes fading.

“The water temperature is set. Go bathe yourself. If you fall, call me,” Qin Lang said.

Xia Xifeng complained, “If I fall and then call you, what use is that?”

Qin Lang said, “Your defense is high. Hitting your head won’t kill you even if you fall. One Red Potion and you’re at full health. Falling will just teach you a lesson.”

That’s what you get for getting drunk. Serves you right.

Xia Xifeng complained all the way as he shuffled off to bathe.

Although there were two bathrooms, Qin Lang didn’t go to the other bathroom to bathe as usual. He stood guard at the door, and only went to bathe after Xia Xifeng came out.

When Qin Lang finished, he discovered Xia Xifeng was gone.

Qin Lang: “…” He never knew before that Xia Xifeng had a habit of wandering off when drunk.

Qin Lang: 【Where are you?】

Xia Xifeng: 【Rooftop. The moon is so big!】

Qin Lang went up to the rooftop. Xia Xifeng had pulled out all the useless flowers in the little rooftop garden and replanted everything with flowers that were either edible or medicinal.

They were just as pretty anyway.

Xia Xifeng’s alcohol-addled brain probably still hadn’t sobered up. He actually had the alchemical golems lay bedding on the rooftop, wanting to sleep under the moonlight, basking in it.

Qin Lang lifted his head to glance at the Silver Moon. At Xia Xifeng’s invitation, he sat down beside him.

Once Xia Xifeng fell asleep, he’d carry him back inside.

Xia Xifeng generously shared half the blanket with Qin Lang. “Seeing the moon, do you feel any poetic inspiration arising?”

Qin Lang: “No.” Still having drunken fits, aren’t you.

Xia Xifeng wrapped himself into a silkworm cocoon with the blanket. “I do.”

He stared blankly at the sky.

“At a time like this, one should recite Li Bai’s ‘Quiet Night Thought,’ right?”

Qin Lang turned his head to look at Xia Xifeng.

“Before my bed, the bright moonlight, I suspect it’s frost upon the ground.”

Wrapped in the blanket, Xia Xifeng swayed left and right.

“I raise my head to gaze at the bright moon, lower it, and think of home.”

“Qin Lang, there are only the two of us in this world. It’s so lonely.”

Xia Xifeng buried his head on his knees.

Qin Lang looked towards the place where the banquet was being held.

There, the bonfire blazed fiercely, dyeing a small half of the sky red.

Just moments ago, Xia Xifeng had been there, happily drinking and dancing.

There were their halfling friends, the Prophet and Guardian Knight seniors who looked after them, the citizens who respected them, and the newly arrived, deeply pitiful cats.

There were so many people there.

Yet Xia Xifeng said there were only the two of them in this world.

Qin Lang retracted his gaze. “Yes.”

He agreed.

Xia Xifeng lay on his back on the open-air bed.

Qin Lang also lay flat.

Xia Xifeng wriggled over until he was against Qin Lang’s shoulder, nestling his cheek against it.

The two lay quietly. They actually fell asleep on the rooftop.

Fortunately, there was no rain that night, only moonlight like frost.