Chapter 59: The Cat’s Bell Part 2

Conveniently, White Tiger provided his own lighting—no need to turn on the flash.

White Tiger: “…”

Only after he’d had his fill of laughter did Chen Ji stand up. He rubbed his bamboo basket and pulled something out from inside. With a click—the light came on.

White Tiger was still slow to react. He stared blankly at Chen Ji, who stared right back with feigned solemnity. “…Lord,” Chen Ji said, “times have changed.”

What deep mountains or shadowy caves? In the face of 100,000 lumens, it was all broad daylight!

Chen Ji had even fitted the flashlight with a higher-grade battery. At full charge, it had two hours of runtime, and he had two spares to boot. Unless White Tiger dumped him here and left without him, it was more than enough!

White Tiger grumbled something under his breath and turned his head away. Chen Ji chuckled and rubbed his head before finally having a chance to look around.

Compared to the narrow, low-ceilinged passage above, this cavern was incredibly spacious—at least seven or eight meters high. As for the floor area, there was no need to mention it. The chamber resembled terraced fields, each level filled with water of unknown depth. Under the beam of Chen Ji’s flashlight, it reflected a crystalline blue hue.

This wasn’t the deep blue of verdant depths but a clear, shallow blue—like a color specially mixed by a painter on canvas. In truth, it was the work of nature’s masterful hand.

[The water is rich in calcium carbonate, which is why it looks blue to the naked eye,] the System Cat explained. Chen Ji heard the rapid click-click of screenshots being taken. It continued: [Look around later for any stone fragments to pick up. They should count as a type of mineral.]

Hearing this, Chen Ji bent down and picked up a piece of stone. The system automatically initiated a scan. [Host ‘Chen Ji’ has discovered a mineral…]

Before the announcement could finish, White Tiger’s tail snaked over and swatted the stone from Chen Ji’s hand. Chen Ji blinked in surprise and reached out to pet him. “Xiangxiang, what’s wrong? Can’t I pick up this stone?”

White Tiger shot him a strange look, full of disdain, and dodged to the side.

The system announcement stuttered for a moment before resuming: [Task read failure. This mineral has been identified as feces stone. It does not meet task requirements. Please try harder, Tasker Chen Ji.]

Chen Ji: “…”

Chen Ji had a curse on the tip of his tongue but wasn’t sure if he should let it fly. After all, he’d been the one picking up stones. He could only slink off silently to wash his hands in one of the pools.

He had no idea if the water here was actually clean, but it looked pristine. When Chen Ji dipped his hand in, he almost felt like he was polluting the environment.

That feeling evaporated the moment he spotted the bones clearly visible on the pool bottom.

…So it wasn’t all that clean after all.

Fortunately, those bones were obviously from small- to medium-sized animals. If they had been human, Chen Ji wouldn’t have felt relief—he’d have regretted it to his dying day, still fuming and thumping the bed in anger over it.

White Tiger sat politely to one side, waiting until Chen Ji had finished washing his hands before showing any sign of moving. Chen Ji stretched his hand toward White Tiger’s neck to wipe it dry without a shred of guilt—fur sure came in handy for that.

White Tiger paused, trying to pull away, but Chen Ji wrapped his arms around him and refused to let go. “I’m definitely giving you a bath when we get home. Let me just wipe it off for now… good boy…”

Silence reigned, serene as a Cambridge night.

Chen Ji raised an eyebrow. “You don’t like me washing you?”

White Tiger nodded vigorously.

Chen Ji’s devilish hands tugged at his cheeks again. “No can do. How’s a little kitty supposed to wash himself clean? There’s no pool big enough at home for you to soak in… Look, the water here’s not clean either. Xiangxiang, if you don’t wash properly, you’ll get lice in your fur—plus all sorts of little bugs. Over time, your coat will look awful and start itching… What if it spreads to me?”

“Xiangxiang, just let me wash you. You’ll feel great, and I’ll be worry-free. Right?”

What twisted logic!

White Tiger let out a string of grumbles. His tail coiled around Chen Ji, hoisted him up, and resettled him on his back before leaping down into the pool.

In the instant water splashed up, one thought flashed through Chen Ji’s mind: He’d wiped his hands for nothing.

If he’d known they were jumping in, why had Xiangxiang watched him wash his hands for so long by the side?!

These “terraces” weren’t deep—about up to the ends of White Tiger’s limbs. Chen Ji’s calves were fully submerged in the icy, turquoise groundwater, which was noticeably chillier than ordinary water. He instinctively clung tighter to White Tiger. “Hurry up.”

White Tiger picked up the pace, then suddenly lunged toward the water. Before Chen Ji could react, he was drenched from head to toe. White Tiger turned his head and let out a prompting call. Chen Ji squinted, wiping water from his face. “What is it?”

White Tiger called again.

It was only then that Chen Ji noticed White Tiger hadn’t opened his mouth. “What? Something in your mouth?”

White Tiger nodded. Chen Ji shone the flashlight over. White Tiger was holding a palm-sized shrimp by its whiskers. The creature thrashed nonstop at the edge of his mouth. Nearly transparent, even its digestive tract was visible. Chen Ji quickly took it. “Blind shrimp grow this big?”

“For me to eat?” Chen Ji asked next.

Creatures living permanently in groundwater often lost their eyes and were exceedingly rare and valuable…

[Enough daydreaming—it’s a protected species,] the System Cat said. [Nobody would know if you ate it here, but protecting animals is everyone’s responsibility!]

Chen Ji regretfully stuffed the shrimp back into White Tiger’s mouth. “You eat it, Guai Guai.”

Caught off guard, White Tiger ended up with a mouthful. He tilted his head slightly, apparently curious why Chen Ji wouldn’t eat it. This shrimp had been tricky to catch—especially since Chen Ji was such a neat freak. Not only did he have to avoid biting it to death, but he could only grab it by the whiskers or tail. Otherwise, Chen Ji probably wouldn’t touch anything with someone else’s saliva on it.

Seeing this, Chen Ji explained, “You can eat it. I can’t.”

People couldn’t eat protected animals, but protected animals could eat other protected animals. No one could argue with that. This blind shrimp had truly met its unlucky end—living in such depths, only for a tiger spirit to come gobble it up. What a raw deal.

With a crunch, White Tiger chomped the palm-sized shrimp to bits. From the way he squinted in satisfaction, it must have tasted divine.

Chen Ji could only watch enviously from the side.

A flash of azure-blue light swept over him, and Chen Ji’s clothes were dry once more. He let out a long breath of relief.

Knowing Chen Ji couldn’t eat these things, White Tiger stopped bothering to catch more. He quickened his pace, carrying Chen Ji past terrace after terrace until they reached the deepest part of the cavern. Chen Ji was just about to say there was no path ahead when White Tiger turned a corner. At the base of the rocks ahead was a crevice half the height of a man.

White Tiger signaled for Chen Ji to get down. “We have to crawl through?” Chen Ji asked.

White Tiger nodded. Chen Ji eyed him skeptically. “Xiangxiang, you sure?”

The crevice would be no trouble for Chen Ji—just a bend at the waist. But for White Tiger… well, it wasn’t that Chen Ji was looking down on him, but the gap was only about half as wide as White Tiger’s waist.

Once Chen Ji was steady on his feet, White Tiger plunged headfirst into the crevice. His head went in, followed by most of his upper body.

Chen Ji watched in admiration from the side. So cats really were made of liquid.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than reality slapped him down. White Tiger’s hindquarters got stuck at the entrance. He kicked his legs a couple times, trying to force himself through. Chen Ji couldn’t hold back his laughter. He stepped forward and pushed from behind. “I told you you couldn’t fit… Did it scrape you? Does it hurt?”

White Tiger’s hind legs kicked again… still stuck.

His ring-patterned tail slapped irritably against the rock twice.

Chen Ji doubled over laughing. “Hold on, I’ll dig the hole a bit wider for you…”

Still chuckling, Chen Ji rummaged in his bamboo basket and found the entrenching tool. He was just about to help when he patted White Tiger’s rump. “Xiangxiang, I can’t dig stone. Aren’t you a great immortal? Just shrink a little, or turn human?”

The muscles in White Tiger’s haunches twitched. Chen Ji gave it a rub and a couple more pats. “Come on, you can shapeshift into human form, right?”

The ring-patterned tail lifted and hooked around Chen Ji’s wrist. Grinning, Chen Ji tugged at it. “Alright, alright, I’ll help you right now…”

He wedged the entrenching tool against White Tiger’s fur and pushed it into the surrounding rock, testing a few scrapes. What he’d said earlier was true—if the stone were loose, White Tiger could’ve widened it himself. But this was hard rock. Without explosives, Chen Ji was out of luck.

He gave it a go and felt it loosen a bit inside. He pulled the tool back out. Its special design had dislodged a bunch of fragments. Chen Ji shoveled around the edges of the crevice. Feeling it was enough, he set the tool aside and prepared to push.

His hands pressed against White Tiger’s hind legs. “Ready? I’ll give you a shove.”

White Tiger grumbled in assent. Chen Ji was bracing to push when he suddenly froze. His gaze drifted involuntarily to the spot right in front of him.

…Hmm, Xiangxiang’s cat bell was pretty big. It looked fluffy and oh-so-touchable.

He’d never petted one this size. His hands itched.

But he’d probably get mad if I did?

Chen Ji smiled to himself. Couldn’t tease too much. He pushed hard against White Tiger—then abruptly let go. White Tiger shot into the crevice. Chen Ji’s palms slid along his legs as he went. Chen Ji was just about to follow when a roar erupted from the other side.

What the—?

Chen Ji slipped through the crevice with ease. There he found White Tiger glaring at him furiously. When he saw Chen Ji looking, he averted his eyes. Puzzled, Chen Ji reached out to stroke his neck. “Baobao, what’s wrong? Did I scrape you earlier?”

White Tiger shot him a furious glare and stalked off.

Chen Ji watched him go in bewilderment. Had Xiangxiang gotten mad? Huh?