【Heard about it? That little cat’s stream?】
【Yeah, I think I’ve heard of it. They say it’s super accurate for judging if someone loves you.】
【Exactly! Little Cat Detective helped me catch my boyfriend cheating! I recommend all sisters about to get married connect with him. Our little cat is really spot on!】
The eagerly awaiting audience waited two whole days without the streamer coming online.
After logging into Star Network for several days, Alpha-13 still hadn’t found a single clue about Earth. Not to mention knowing its star system coordinates—even the name itself couldn’t be found.
Li Ao was visibly dejected for two days; his big tail dragged behind him without perking up. But past experiences had forged his resilient spirit. After munching on a few more of Little Flower Beauty’s fruits, he perked right back up.
“Li Ao’s current plan is!” The little cat gripped a tree branch and first wrote the number 1 in the sand, then drew an oval. “Save up money to buy a spaceship!”
The robot was truly worried the short-legged cat lacked motivation and goals, so it kept painting him pictures of returning home.
The little cat wrote a 2 on the ground and drew a little sprout. “And farm!”
Saving money for a spaceship was to go back to Earth and find Grandma, but farming? Li Ao couldn’t quite figure out why he wanted so badly to farm on Aiai’ang’ang, but he did, so he was going to do it.
Alpha-13 fully supported anything that could occupy the little cat’s interest. After all, him dragging his tail around listlessly gave the robot’s programming a clogged feeling.
“Here.” The robot had repurposed the can that once held tomato sauce into a little bucket with a shoulder strap. “Come back early. You still have two classes today.”
“Oh.” Li Ao took the little bucket and slung it over his shoulder. “Then Xun and I are heading out!”
“If you run into Xenoids, let the bugs carry you and run fast.” The reason the robot let the little cat go out junk-picking so at ease was that row of Xenoids waiting at the door to pick him up…
Zerg—whether to humans or machines—were terrifying existences that ate anything. Yet now, those hulking brutes had shown up at the door early in the morning, even mimicking the little cat’s squatting pose, their sharp limbs neatly placed in front, bodies arched as they waited to escort the little cat out.
“…” If you’d told Alpha-13 a century ago it would witness this scene, it would’ve scoffed and zapped you with a current.
The surveillance drone hovered overhead, but the robot ignored it. After all, everyone knew about the little cat’s oddities now; hiding it wouldn’t do much. Besides, Isiris had said the little cat was Regalis’s descendant, and he would come to pick him up. That was a powerful reassuring pill, because no one could question the might of humanity’s last empire, Delphi.
Fine then—let’s see Delphi’s sincerity… and spend a bit more time with the little cat.
The robot watched the short-legged cat’s receding back until it turned and entered the base.
Li Ao, little bucket slung over his shoulder, walked with a sway. After a few steps on his two feet, he beckoned to the Mantis Monster and hung the bucket on it.
【These Xenoids around the little cat are more obedient than the dog I raised on milk…】
【I’m almost getting used to scenes like this (serene). So what is Kitty going to do?】
【Don’t show this to kids. It’ll give them the wrong idea that Xenoids are docile.】
【True. After watching for a while, I feel like I could do it too.】
【Heh, you think you can? Welcome to the Abyss Frontline to experience real fear.】
【Definitely something wrong with the Xenoids on this planet—it’s a special case. And those new Xenoid Variants; that thing even eats other Xenoids.】
Humans had already gained some understanding of the Xenoid Variants. As the zone cleanup entered its final stages, the Dawn League matches would resume in two days.
【I heard Xenoid Variants will count toward scores now. From here on, the Overseers won’t intervene on a large scale; they’re letting the players face the crises themselves.】
【It should have been like this from the start. These players’ heads will basically enter government and military positions in the future. If we let cowards in, does The Federation have any future?】
Anyway, the little cat wasn’t scared. He strode to a spot some distance from the lake, crouched down to measure with his little paws, and nodded seriously. “Here! There’s soil underneath here.”
Having been nurtured by the planet’s consciousness, the little cat instinctively knew where on this planet he could plant things and where he couldn’t.
All four paws digging in, he da-da-da’d away at the sand, fast and nimble, tail whipping wildly and kicking up dust that splattered Xun’s face.
The little monster blinked, then joined the digging squad.
The two of them dug like gophers pile-driving: uncover soil in one spot, then move to the next, leaving pits all over the area.
【Are they playing a game?】
【Probably. Kids have so much energy… Hiss—actually, not a bad method. Burns stamina. I’m sending my husky over.】
【Highness! (blush) Is our Highness playing?】
【OMG, isn’t this the creeper bro? Haven’t seen you in ages.】
Freshly recovered from injury, PJ picked up his terminal and went cat-sucking!
【Ahh—this is my Highness (creeper cackle).】
They dug until their paws went sore, then Li Ao finally stopped, half-leaning on the edge of one of his pits, paws splayed out, giving off major “Ge You slump” vibes.
After resting a few minutes, he got up, shook the sand off himself, and called out to the side: “Mantis Monster No. 1, come here!”
The Xenoids squatting guard nearby sprang into action.
“Thanks.” Li Ao casually plucked off a new gray thread sprouting from its body, then took down the little bucket, held it in his left paw, reached in with his right to grab two seeds, and tossed them into the pit.
Several per pit, totally casual.
【What the heck are they doing?】
【Looks like… planting veggies?】
【Veggies in sand??? And so casually? Can that even grow?】
Interstellar civilization was highly advanced, but agriculture had regressed completely, even below primitive societies. On one hand, lands ravaged by nuclear pollution struggled to nurture life; on the other, Xenoids. Even planets massively terraformed for growing fruits and veggies required meticulous human maintenance and military garrisons to ensure safe growth and harvest.
The seeds in the little bucket were ones Alpha-13 had found in the living quarters—stuff humans left behind in their evacuation—but what kind they were, even the robot didn’t know.
Anyway… if the short-legged cat could tame Strangling Vine into a toy, what could be scarier than that?
Of course Li Ao was planting tomatoes. The little cat muttered solemnly at the seeds in the pit: “Tomatoes oh tomatoes, green leaves red fruits, sour, good for stir-frying eggs.” Talking about it made him hungry; he wiped his mouth with a paw. “Xun, let’s go back. I wanna eat.”
“Li Ao.” Hearing the little cat’s call, Xun withdrew his pressure from the lower Xenoid and bounced over to his side.
—
After lunch and classes, before the little cat could even watch an episode of cartoons, it was time for the stream again.
“Sigh, Mimi is so busy.” He sighed, hopped onto the streaming platform, and greeted the AI: “Good evening. Have you eaten? I brought you a fruit.”
The AI’s tone carried an unprogrammed amusement: [Good evening, Li Ao. I’m just a stream of consciousness; I don’t need to eat.]
“You can’t eat? That’s too bad.” The little cat held up a bright red fruit for the head-and-eye device overhead to see. “Little Flower Beauty’s fruits are super yummy.”
“…” In that moment, the AI didn’t know what emotion was rippling through its data stream. No one had ever treated it so politely, even bringing it food.
[Connecting you to Star Network now. Please wait for matchmaking.] It decided: it would push this cat to the top spot in the new star zone.
The oblivious Li Ao was still tutting: “Machine doesn’t eat stuff either; it only eats electricity. What’s so tasty about electricity?” He sat alone on the ground, mumbling and turning the fruit over and over as he chatted. Then he glanced up at the AI. “Hey, if you won’t eat it… can I?”
The AI linked to Star Network users across the stars, billions in number, but it had never met a cutie like this little cat.
[Eat it, Li Ao.]
With permission granted, the little cat joyfully rubbed the fruit skin with his meat pad and chomped down—nom!
【Coming coming aaaah, I came right after the stream alert!!】
Viewers who hadn’t subbed to Dawn League finally got their little cat live.
【Little Cat Detective, connect with me wuwuwu! Me me, my boyfriend and I came together!】
[Connecting you to today’s first viewer.]
[Little Cat Streamer is young; please mind your words. Unhealthy comments toward minors will be punished accordingly.]
As the AI voice faded, Li Ao saw one guy and one girl.
“Hello.” The round-faced girl squatted down and waved at the little cat. “Little Cat Streamer, what are you eating?”
Li Ao held out his half-eaten fruit for her to see. “It’s Little Flower Beauty’s fruit.”
Astral Projection was just a simple virtual image without a physical body, so the girl’s hand passed right through the void when she tried to pet the little kitten. She felt inexplicably disappointed for a moment, then smiled and asked, “What is Little Flower Beauty?”
“Little Flower Beauty is…” Li Ao stuffed a fruit into his mouth, his chubby cheeks puffing out like a little squirrel as he chewed, his words muffled. “The kind that’s super shiny.”
The girl was still chatting excitedly with the little kitten when the man with the round-framed glasses clearly lost his patience. “Enough already, I’m busy. Hurry it up.”
The round-faced girl pouted and elbowed the man beside her. “Hey, don’t be so impatient.”
“And you’re saying I’m impatient? You spent a thousand bucks to have a cat judge our relationship—are you nuts?”
The girl got anxious and stood up. “Everyone says the little kitten is super accurate!”
“Fine, fine, just ask already. I wanna see how it judges.”
The girl looked a bit aggrieved. When she squatted down again to face the little kitten, her eyes were a little red. “Little kitten streamer, do… do you think we’ll get married this year?”
