Chapter 59: The Cat’s Bell Part 1

Sometimes being too cute could be a deadly weapon. Chen Ji felt his heartstrings violently tugged, a soft and sweet sensation bubbling up relentlessly inside his chest. He lowered his head and planted several fierce kisses on the White Tiger’s head. “Good boy, Xiangxiang is such a good boy…”

The White Tiger struggled twice in his arms. He didn’t dare fling Chen Ji a hundred thousand miles away for real, but he couldn’t let the man keep kissing him like that either. With a flip, he pinned Chen Ji firmly beneath him, even playing a little trick by trapping both of Chen Ji’s hands under his paws.

“…Hiss.” Chen Ji struggled to draw breath, feeling like all the air had been squeezed from his chest. Seeing this, the White Tiger panicked slightly and lifted his body a bit, allowing Chen Ji to breathe smoothly again.

After all that fussing, Chen Ji lost any desire to keep playing around. The stone they had slept on was still warm from their body heat, so he wasn’t in any rush to get up. He glanced around. “Where is this place?”

He reached for his phone to check the location. It was in the pocket of his windbreaker. Pressing against the White Tiger’s soft belly, he slipped his hand inside. The fluffy fur and warm flesh brushed his hand’s back. He flipped his palm and rubbed the White Tiger’s belly with it—only to be rewarded with a tiger that leaped a good three feet into the air.

How fun.

Chen Ji pulled out his phone to check the GPS, though his mind was elsewhere: He seems to have gained a bit of weight?

From that brief feel, there was definitely some extra padding on the belly. He recalled the man’s form and couldn’t help a wicked thought—if Xiangxiang turned human now, would those abs of his still be there? Or would they be all soft and pudgy too?

The White Tiger’s fur stood on end all over. He shuddered instinctively.

Chen Ji noticed and couldn’t suppress the amusement in his eyes. He checked his location seriously: he was on the eastern side of Little Azure Mountain now, a straight-line distance of twenty kilometers from Mountain Lord Temple. Walking back on foot might take from dawn till dusk without even reaching it.

Chen Ji rarely came to this area because it was true undeveloped wilderness, deep in the old forest. Even with his phone secretly enhanced by the System Cat, the signal here was down to one bar.

Not even people from Shangyang Village would venture this deep.

There was at least a dirt road suitable for motorcycles between Shangyang Village and Mountain Lord Temple. But here, there wasn’t even a path—just scramble and climb as best you could. Any experienced mountain-goer knew that reaching a place like this was no different from extreme survival.

“Huh? Is Pretty Stone that far away?” Chen Ji asked curiously.

The White Tiger had backed away from him. Hearing this, he turned his head and nodded silently.

[Chen Ji, your signal there is too weak now,] the System Cat’s voice came into his mind. [To avoid accidents, I recommend screenshotting the route first and leaving markers… I’m not with you, so be careful.]

According to the System Code, a Tasker seeking system help required equivalent exchange. If the minimum conditions weren’t met, it defaulted to the lowest value—one Point.

The System Cat had been exploiting a loophole before. The code forbade the system from directly aiding the Tasker, but it didn’t prohibit the system from helping itself. As long as it stayed by Chen Ji’s side in carbon-based biological form, things like reading maps or checking data could be chalked up as the system’s own business, unrelated to Chen Ji.

Listen to good advice and eat your fill. Chen Ji promptly screenshotted and saved the map. He fished out the Label Notebook from his bamboo basket and, with the faint signal, confirmed the direction before sticking a label firmly to a tree trunk.

Chen Ji thought for a moment, then pulled out a one-time firework (flare). He’d added a component to it himself—with phone signal, he could ignite it remotely… Granted, there might not be signal downhill, but better safe than sorry.

Only after doing all this did he say to the White Tiger, “Let’s go.”

The White Tiger let out a soft rumble and rose to stand beside Chen Ji. Just as Chen Ji prepared to follow, his waist tightened suddenly. A sense of weightlessness hit him, and in the blink of an eye, he was pressed onto the White Tiger’s back. Chen Ji instinctively clutched the fur on the White Tiger’s back and said, still shaken, “Xiangxiang, you trying to scare me to death!”

Freefall with mental preparation was one thing; without it, a whole different beast.

The White Tiger said nothing, carrying him down from the warm rock and up along a shallow stream. The jungle on either side turned lush in an instant, towering and dense overhead. Chen Ji watched the White Tiger’s path carefully, memorizing the route.

[About to lose signal,] the System Cat warned. [Chen Ji, you idiot! Don’t just memorize with your eyes—shoot a video!]

[…You’re the idiot,] Chen Ji shot back with a laugh. [Xiangxiang moves so fast; what would a video even capture?]

Even as he said it, Chen Ji stubbornly opened the camera and held up his phone to record.

Soon, the White Tiger burst out of the woods with Chen Ji, revealing a sheer cliff ahead. This was no playful little waterfall like yesterday’s—this drop was at least fifty or sixty meters straight down, no slope to soften it. Falling from here, you’d be lucky to have a whole corpse left to bury.

Yet the White Tiger didn’t hesitate. He leaped off the edge with Chen Ji, weightlessness crashing over them. Chen Ji let out an undignified yell. He watched as the White Tiger, after falling seven or eight meters, landed on a rocky outcrop to steady himself. A few more bounds, and he brought them to the mouth of a mountain cave.

Still rattled, Chen Ji panted even after the White Tiger’s tail released his waist. The tail patted his back as if to soothe him. Only then did Chen Ji push himself up, propping against the White Tiger’s spine.

The cave mouth yawned deep and narrow, bottomless at a glance, leading who-knew-where. Standing before the Leech Demon Cave, they could feel the chill, damp wind blowing from inside.

Chen Ji didn’t want to go in—fine, he was scared.

This place screamed bad vibes.

Chen Ji tugged the White Tiger’s fur. “This place isn’t haunted by something unclean, is it?”

The White Tiger shook his head.

Seeing that, Chen Ji relaxed a little. He stroked the White Tiger and whispered, “You’ll take me inside? I’m a bit scared…”

The White Tiger nodded again. Only then did Chen Ji slide off his back—the cave narrowed farther in, and riding would mean banging his head on the stalactites, racking up a medical bill from two thousand up with no cap.

Chen Ji looked around nearby and found a branch that had somehow fallen there. He pulled out his lighter from his pocket, lit it, and tossed it into the cave once the flame steadied. Seeing it flicker but continue burning steadily, he followed the White Tiger inside.

The deeper they went, the dimmer the light grew. Chen Ji blinked, keeping one hand on the White Tiger the whole time, which made him feel secure. After a stretch, a faint wailing echoed from the depths. Chen Ji’s scalp prickled. Before he could react, the White Tiger shoved him against the cave wall.

Just as Chen Ji opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, the wail swelled suddenly—like anguished sobbing and shrieking. It rushed closer, galloping toward them. Chen Ji shivered. Abruptly, the White Tiger nudged him under his body with a paw. The next instant, a ferocious gale roared in, whipping up sand and stones that blasted wildly back the way they’d come.

Thanks to the White Tiger’s shielding, Chen Ji wasn’t hurt at all. He’d seen clearly—it was just wind, nothing unclean.

The White Tiger released him and shook out his fur to shed the dust clinging to it, clearly disgusted. Chen Ji stifled a laugh inwardly—looked like another bath was in order when they got back.

Xiangxiang really was one fastidiously clean big cat.

“What an eerie gale,” Chen Ji said. “Does this wind come often?”

The White Tiger rumbled an affirmative. Chen Ji rubbed his head. “Then you have to protect me well, Xiangxiang.”

The White Tiger nudged Chen Ji’s palm with his head in agreement.

They pressed on. About three minutes later, pitch darkness enveloped the cave. For some reason, the White Tiger began emitting a faint silvery-white glow, stark in the gloom—which was the only reason Chen Ji could keep going.

They hit another blast of wind midway. While hunkered under the White Tiger, Chen Ji stroked the wall. As expected, the rock felt smooth and glossy, with little dust… This place clearly had an exit—and likely groundwater too.

Suddenly, the White Tiger halted. Something sleek and oily brushed Chen Ji’s hand. He paused, then grabbed the tiger tail and stopped too. “What is it, Xiangxiang?”

By the White Tiger’s light, Chen Ji saw they’d reached the end. The passage no longer ran level but dropped into a wide pit four or five meters across.

One more step, and he’d have tumbled straight to his death.

At the thought, Chen Ji gripped the tail tighter.

The next instant, it slipped free from his grasp—not gently, delivering a light swat to his hand before coiling securely around his waist, hoisting him back onto the White Tiger’s back.

The White Tiger rumbled from his throat, a reminder. Chen Ji clutched his fur. “Ready.”

With a surge, the White Tiger plunged into the pit. Just then, another wailing gale hit, the mournful cries filling Chen Ji’s ears. Ignoring it, the White Tiger bounded along ledge after ledge, hitting bottom in two seconds flat. The next moment, he covered Chen Ji’s body with his own as deafening wind roared past his ears. In mere breaths, the gale was gone.

The White Tiger’s head pressed atop Chen Ji’s. Chen Ji craned his neck with effort. “Baby… you’re crushing me…”

In response, the White Tiger deliberately pressed down harder, smooshing Chen Ji’s face into his forepaw with a smack before easing off. Chen Ji rolled over in his embrace, groping by feel to cup the White Tiger’s head. “You know you’re being naughty? Too much!”

He kneaded the White Tiger’s cheeks vigorously. Those azure-blue eyes gazed down at him from above, exuding an aura of effortless authority.

If it had been anyone else, they probably wouldn’t have dared to keep pinching, fearing for their own life. But Chen Ji was different. Seeing this, he pinched the flesh of White Tiger’s cheeks even harder and pulled it to either side. White Tiger’s teeth were forced into view, forming an awkward but polite smile.

“Pfft.” Chen Ji burst out laughing. He pulled out his phone and snapped a photo of White Tiger.