Chapter 15: The Three Things a Cat Must Protect

He never managed to see his team leader after all.

That woman runs faster than a rabbit!

When Xu Mingsong left the skyscraper, he turned back to gaze. The municipal office building was connected by a walkway to the central spire next door. Yuan Jing had quietly mentioned that the spire had other uses and that it would be needed for training later on.

The municipal office building itself was filled with various offices and administrative departments.

Xu Mingsong carried a backpack and also held a cloth bag gifted by Yuan Jing. The heavy weight made his mood sink along with it. Glancing down at the cloth bag stuffed with books, he thought, "Didn’t Ming mention something about ‘magic’ or something like that? Is there really a spell to forcibly cram knowledge into my brain?!"

Right now, it was just the right time for the end of the workday.

Since being brought to the skyscraper last night, then detained overnight, and questioned this morning, Xia Zhuyi had disappeared after confirming his recruitment. According to Yuan Jing, she was called over by a colleague named Ji Lin. They only briefly met once in the afternoon without much exchange.

That day mostly involved Yuan Jing guiding him through various procedures and informing him of tomorrow’s schedule, then taking him to the public cafeteria for a hearty meal.

Someone was so moved he almost cried—used to eating like a pig in the high school cafeteria, dining at a government cafeteria was truly a luxury.

Especially here, with subsidies making the prices unbelievably low.

As dusk approached, the twilight slowly swallowed the clamor of Winter City. The pale gray stone walls appeared even more restrained in the fading light. Large glass curtain walls reflected the sky shifting from blue to orange. He thought to himself, "Isn’t this a guaranteed job? It’s already five o’clock—why don’t they hurry up and get off work?"

He was still hoping Yuan Jing would give him a ride.

Soon, the agile figure of that man appeared in sight. Xu Mingsong hadn’t even greeted him when he saw him head straight to the parking area without hesitation.

To be fair, Yuan Jing seemed unreliable at first glance but was actually a kind senior who took care of newcomers.

Seeing him, this rookie, standing there loaded with bags, Yuan Jing probably knew exactly what help he needed.

But the bicycle under Yuan Jing dashed his dreams of a luxury car ride.

“Don’t you all have luxury cars to drive?” he thought.

“Why are you staring at me? Expecting me to pedal you home on this bike?” Yuan Jing greeted him with a cocky grin. “Well, I guess I could, but wait—”

Yuan Jing took a call right in front of him. After hanging up, he changed his tone: “Sorry, can’t do it now. There’s a girl waiting for me, and I can’t keep her waiting.”

Yuan Jing’s silhouette grew longer in the sunset’s afterglow before perfectly blending into the flow of government employees driving home. “I’m in the right place!” Xu Mingsong thought. “Look at all these employees driving cars to and from work. Why does your scene suddenly become a bicycle ride?!”

Has he been exercising that much?

Xu Mingsong stared dumbfounded at the direction Yuan Jing disappeared, then suddenly remembered something. He pulled out his phone, hurriedly trying to call his beloved team leader.

An electric scooter wouldn’t be bad either!

“Team Leader Xia! Save your dear team member!”

But he didn’t have Xia Zhuyi’s contact information—no WeChat, no QQ… Searching through the group chat, he found no one labeled as Xia Zhuyi. The group had a few arrogant accounts without labels, at least five or six. He felt embarrassed to ask one by one, “Hey, are you Team Leader Xia Zhuyi of Team Two?”

So he remained silent.

He muttered to himself, sighing, “Team Leader Xia, what’s going on? You brought me here and then left me hanging?”

She’s clean and efficient, straightforward without dragging things out—clearly a woman with a story!

I wanted to have a heart-to-heart with Team Leader Xia, see if she knew anything...

“Look, that person looks like a dog.”

Xu Mingsong turned to see a white cat perched on his shoulder, gazing at him tenderly.

Wait!

Xu Mingsong’s mind caught up—damn it! Was she talking to Yuan Jing or to me?

---

“Ah, you’re finally awake?”

Xu Mingsong flicked her cat ears, provoking the cat lady to slap him in quick succession.

Dodging the slaps, he slurred, “I’m the one performing the ceremony, aren’t I? Why did you sleep so long?”

Since last night, Ming hadn’t made a sound.

As Xu Mingsong’s original guide and given the subtle code name “Cold,” he trusted Ming a lot. For instance, when he met Xia Zhuyi and was detained in the interrogation room, he tried calling out to Ming for advice.

But no matter how many times he called, Ming didn’t respond.

He thought the ceremony might have cost Ming her life, but knowing how carefree she was, he doubted she’d die for him. Still, she hadn’t uttered a sound all day—probably cold as ice. He planned to buy some small dried fish on the way home to cook for the cat lady tonight.

“You’re quite conscientious, aren’t you?” Ming smiled, poking his forehead. “Since you’re so thoughtful, no need to cook for me. Just buy me an ice cream later; that’ll show you mean it.”

“No money!” Xu Mingsong retorted.

He had little pocket money. The biggest sum he’d received recently was the 500 yuan Old Xu gave him, but all of it had been drained.

“Really, nothing left.”

Xu Mingsong squatted on the ground, looking as miserable as a stray dog. He emptied his pockets, which were cleaner than his face. Ming glanced over and quickly turned away, unable to bear the sight.

“Ugh, why did I get stuck with such a poor loser? Damn unlucky guy!”

“Who’s the loser? Don’t you know my reputation at Fourth Middle School? I’m a legend! A god! The man who dominated the entire generation!”

“Dominated first-year high school, right?”

“Pfft, now second-year counts too! I plan to keep grinding and even crush the seniors...”

Talking about this lit Xu Mingsong up. “I’ve been number one for so many years—how could I let some nobody from the corner snatch my throne? No way!”

“You’re so passionate about this... Tsk tsk, a grind dog, a test taker, and still so smug.”

But this is what I’m best at.

Even if it’s not what I like most, I do it best—so why can’t I be proud?

If you don’t try, you’re a lazy toad; if you try, you’re a test monkey. You always have to find a way to knock me down to feel superior, right?

Xu Mingsong snorted and slapped his thigh, then asked, “What exactly happened to you before?”

“Worried about me?” Ming looked at him.

“No!” Xu Mingsong turned away, staring at the cracks in the pavement.

“Who would worry about you? You keep burrowing into me. If I had a clean slate, you’d ruin it... Besides, who wants others meddling in their life? Without you, I’d be free!”

“Hmph, a tsundere man, so uninteresting.”

Ming shook her head. “I might as well tell you—I had a dream. Sort of a weak memory from my human days.”

Xu Mingsong’s ears perked up. “You remembered?”

“Just a bit, like fragments of memories.”

“Oh no, fragments? You’re still collecting cards? That’s cruel!”

Xu Mingsong, tormented by the second-hand anime girl gacha games, was hypersensitive to words like “fragments.”

No, stop the card draws!

Ming was both embarrassed and angry. “Do you think I want to? I wish I could remember everything right now! But I can’t, so this is all I’ve got...”

---

Xu Mingsong sighed deeply, then curiosity flared. “So what did you remember? Tell me.”

“You’re still so nosy about a lady’s private affairs?” Ming sighed again, then mocked him harshly, “Too bad, I have my own life. Stay out of it!”

Could she really let him know what she remembered?

Hmph...

Besides, she wasn’t even sure herself.

“Then why did my ceremony turn into your dream?”

“No idea.”

“Are we really a shared destiny or something?”

“No idea.”

Ming’s eyes dropped. Her dream was unclear; she didn’t understand what had happened.

She had been confident about guiding this kid, raising a super knight while searching for lost memories. But last night’s dream disrupted her perfect plan—her past was connected to this kid? And the lines were so...

Damn it, she didn’t want him to know at all!

Imagine the guy’s reaction—“Oh wow, cat lady, really? The one you dreamed about is me, hahaha!” She thought he might actually say something like that.

But—

“I will protect you.”

She whispered softly to Xu Mingsong.

“Huh?”

He scratched his head, suddenly feeling surreal.

“What are you saying? Sounds like a dramatic farewell…”

Just then, Xu Mingsong saw a pickup truck approaching from afar, loaded with an obviously expensive thick mattress. The bed frame was dismantled and tied to the back, stacked with a pile of furniture like a tower. Even an ergonomic chair was crammed in, making one wonder if the truck was moving someone’s entire house.

A man with a dark expression jumped down from the truck.

A woman in the passenger seat also got out and giggled around the man. Xu Mingsong noticed the man’s face visibly flushed, a mix of red and black—he must have been extremely shy.

Ming commented, “Looks like he’s blushing hot and heavy!”

The man finally lost patience, raised a fist, and landed a punch on the woman’s forehead.

“Ow!!”

Xu Mingsong pretended not to see it, wary of getting involved in workplace bullying or harassment. He quickly turned and walked away.

“So this is the organization you joined?” Ming teased, perching on his head like a mother hen. “Reliable, huh?”

“I want to quit.”

“Pfft, hahaha!”