Chapter 25

Chapter 25

"Can you be my follower pet?" Bai Fuling asked seriously, squatting down slightly with his hands on his knees.

Through the iron bars of the cage, Liao Zhiqiu saw those eyes like black grapes. After a moment of initial confusion, it made sense to him again.

Cats always see themselves as the masters and humans as their servants. So this pet invitation was perfectly reasonable.

In fact, it represented the cat's recognition as master of a human, allowing the two-legged creature to serve closely—humans should feel honored.

A slight ripple stirred in Liao Zhiqiu's heart.

Generally, wild cats are very wary. He hadn't expected this one in front of him to include him in its circle of trust so quickly.

"Mm." Liao Zhiqiu's lips curved slightly, then he said, "You don't need to take me with you. This cage is very heavy; you can't drag it."

He had noticed Bai Fuling exerting immense effort just to slide the cage a short distance earlier. He understood that this lock, this cage, were not things an ordinary person could open.

Every year during this time, Liao Zhiqiu would be locked up. His grandfather never allowed him to be treated specially on that day.

This wasn't the first time he had been locked up. Liao Zhiqiu was used to it.

Even so, leaning against the cage, he would still think: Another year where I can't celebrate the kitten's birthday.

Once a special day is missed, making up for it later holds no meaning. Liao Zhiqiu never bothered with belated compensations; he only focused on that specific day. If he missed it, he would quietly prepare and wait for the next year.

This year, he had bribed some of his grandfather's subordinates in advance, learned the layout of that secret room. If locked up again, he knew how to escape.

But his grandfather seemed to have learned about this, so this time, he didn't lock Liao Zhiqiu in the secret room but threw him into this underground iron cage.

Liao Zhiqiu and his grandfather generally had no conflicts, except on this one day each year, when there was an irreconcilable contradiction.

He felt no familial affection for his grandfather, but neither did he harbor hatred. Because he was rather indifferent to matters between people.

Once locked up, Liao Zhiqiu tried to break out of the cage. He examined the heavy padlock and knew he couldn't open it with the tools currently at hand.

Since just sitting there was boring, Liao Zhiqiu kept scratching at the iron lock with his small knife until Bai Fuling arrived.

He had already accepted that this year would just pass like this, so he was perfectly calm inside. Liao Zhiqiu spoke up: "You go. Don't worry about me. After tomorrow passes, I'll be let out. Then, I'll go give you Cat Sticks."

"But tomorrow—what about the cat's birthday?" Bai Fuling asked in surprise. "Aren't you supposed to celebrate your cat's birthday?"

Wasn't the [Cat's Secret] quest still ongoing? What did this NPC mean?

"This year can only be like this." Liao Zhiqiu lowered his head slightly. "Next year... I'll think of a more foolproof plan."

"No." Bai Fuling answered instantly.

A small quest like this, how could it wait until next year! Unless there was some time-skipping magic.

Could this be giving the player an option to abandon the quest? Ridiculous, how could a player possibly abandon a quest midway—especially one with no failure penalty and no conflicts with other tasks. Only a fool would give up.

Hearing the resolute "No," Liao Zhiqiu was slightly taken aback and looked up.

"You said you would celebrate the cat's birthday—I will, I definitely will get you out." Bai Fuling said.

"..." Looking at that determined face, ripples stirred again in Liao Zhiqiu's heart.

He didn't know if the other cared so much because it was a fellow cat's birthday, or out of gratitude towards his own cat. The one before him was the most sincere and moving little cat he had ever seen.

Bai Fuling piloted his character to move closer to the cage and spoke again to get the system to confirm: "Your 'mm' earlier, did it mean you agree to be my pet?"

"...Mm, I agree." Liao Zhiqiu nodded.

He wouldn't disappoint the trust of a small animal.

Bai Fuling's face lit up with a smile: "Great! From now on, you are my pet."

The NPC agreed, the system should have detected the keywords from the dialogue and registered it, right!

Bai Fuling happily clicked on the character panel on the screen, satisfied to see the pet slot below light up.

"[Pet] Person in a Cage: Large pet, requires sufficient space for movement, cannot ride vehicles while carrying. May trigger alarms with a certain probability."

Why is there a probability of triggering alarms? Does it even monitor what pets players have?

Bai Fuling frowned for a moment but quickly relaxed. Whatever, it's just a temporary measure anyway. Once we leave the sewer, I'll dissolve this pet relationship.

Players aren't very keen on pets, especially large ones; they sometimes block the view. When gathering resources or interacting with NPCs while passing by, it's easy to click wrongly.

But this time is a special case, needing the pet's auto-follow.

After confirming the pet relationship was established, Bai Fuling rinsed the bloody raincoat in the water nearby, put it back on, then turned and walked away confidently without looking back.

However, after walking some distance, he found the iron cage still fixed in place.

Huh? Why isn't it auto-following? Bai Fuling was stunned.

He controlled his character to walk back a few steps: "Why didn't you follow?"

Liao Zhiqiu, locked in the iron cage: "?"

Bai Fuling's expression turned serious. He reopened the character panel and looked at the pet option again.

"[Pet] Person in a Cage: Large pet..."

After looking several more times, Bai Fuling finally had an epiphany—the pet wasn't the Dark-circle Pixel Character, but a whole entity, including the cage! And it was a large pet.

The reason it didn't follow was that a prerequisite wasn't met.

Walking a dog requires a leash; walking a large pet does too. Presumably, this was a moral/legal logic set in the game.

He hadn't expected this game to pay such attention to detail. Bai Fuling sighed deeply, then took a rope from his backpack.

Since the pet included the cage as a whole, Bai Fuling didn't tie the rope around the Dark-circle Pixel Character's neck, but fastened it to the iron cage bars instead.

Alright, the prerequisite leash is handled. Bai Fuling held the rope with satisfaction. Now we can go, right?

Watching Bai Fuling's leashing action, Liao Zhiqiu couldn't help but speak up: "...What are you doing?"

"Taking you out." Bai Fuling answered frankly.

Was he still planning to drag him out? But the result would be the same as before; this cage was too heavy, and he himself wasn't light either.

Liao Zhiqiu said calmly, "Don't worry about me, just go. This cage is too heavy for you..."

Before he could finish, he felt the cage he was in move!

Liao Zhiqiu was astonished for a moment.

Bai Fuling grabbed the rope, took a few steps, and found his speed was normal with no debuffs, so he happily picked up the pace.

Sure enough, his method worked—the automatic following of a pet was really useful!

Now he could finally return to school and check in before 8 a.m., maintaining his [Rule-Abiding Good Student] label.

Bai Fuling’s eyes sparkled. He walked a few steps pulling the iron cage, then simply made his character sprint.

Liao Zhiqiu, inside the cage, hadn’t even gotten over his initial surprise when he was met with an even greater shock—the person in front not only managed to drag the cage but also started running!!

Sitting inside the cage, Liao Zhiqiu felt as if he were riding in a vehicle.

Even though he was usually unflappable, it was a bit hard to remain composed at this moment.

Was the other person really that strong? Was the earlier struggle, where he barely managed to drag it a tiny bit, just a joke…?

But that’s how cats are, a bit mischievous. Liao Zhiqiu first convinced himself of this.

Then he paused again. But a cat’s strength shouldn’t be like this, should it? Logically, only a tractor could drag such a heavy iron cage with a person inside!

Bai Fuling ran ahead, pulling the rope, while the iron cage “automatically followed” behind.

The sewer paths were always damp, with some areas even having standing water. But this had no effect on the player, so he chose the shortest route, charging straight through without detouring.

Water splashed up. Liao Zhiqiu silently wiped the droplets from his cheeks, experiencing the sensation of a thrill ride inside the cage.

His brain was still loading the question, “Is it normal for a stray cat you meet to be as strong as a tractor?” when Bai Fuling finally stopped.

There was a ladder here; climbing up would lead outside.

“I can’t leave the cage,” Liao Zhiqiu said again. “Don’t worry about me, I can’t go up.”

Bai Fuling simply smiled faintly.

Heh, pets never fail to keep up with their owners. Even if the player goes through fire and water, pets will automatically follow and overcome all obstacles—that’s just how the system is set up!

So Bai Fuling just replied, “Don’t worry, I said I’d get you out.”

As he spoke, he controlled his character to hold the rope with one hand and grab the ladder with the other, starting to climb upward.

“…” Inside the cage, Liao Zhiqiu felt the ground moving farther away as he was lifted upward bit by bit.

—Wait, the other person could actually lift the iron cage?? That’s something only a crane could do!

Liao Zhiqiu’s mind was blown, and the topic in his head expanded: Is it normal for a stray cat you meet to be as strong as both a tractor and a crane?

Bai Fuling controlled his character to climb the ladder. At the top was a manhole cover. However, manhole covers in the system seemed to be defaulted as openable from the inside, unlike the earlier hassle of prying it open from the outside.

He pushed open the manhole cover and climbed out, only to immediately face another problem—the cage was too big, and the sewer opening was too small; it simply couldn’t fit through!

Large pets often had this issue—sometimes they’d get stuck due to model constraints. Bai Fuling climbed out first and tied the rope holding the cage to a nearby fire hydrant.

No choice, it was up to the player again. He’d just have to pry open this patch of ground.

Too bad he didn’t have explosives; that would’ve been more efficient.

Bai Fuling originally planned to take an axe from his backpack to smash the ground, but as he rotated his perspective, he suddenly noticed an unfamiliar pixel character lying not far away.

Huh, what’s this? Bai Fuling’s attention was drawn.

Liao Zhiqiu, hanging in the cage at the sewer opening, keenly caught the scent of blood in the air.

It was different from the faint bloody smell on Bai Fuling earlier—this was a thicker scent of blood, mixed with the smells of organs and metal.

“What’s going on outside?” he asked warily.

Bai Fuling approached the pixel character on the ground and saw that the left chest was a mass of red pixelated mosaic, the neck was also a patch of red pixels, and the ground was similarly stained with dark red.

“Wow,” Bai Fuling exclaimed, “it’s a corpse!”

He immediately crouched down and started touching it directly—

What should a player do when encountering a wild, fallen NPC? Of course, first, freeload some gold coins and equipment!

Author’s Note:

Player: Anyway, let’s pick up the dropped items first. ()