Yama Reborn-Chapter 558 - 555: [The Strange Gray Cat]

Chapter 555 [The Strange Gray Cat]

In the zoo’s feline animal house.

A sleek, wild and charming female black panther slowly leapt over from beside a rock, disappearing into the shade.

A chubby gray cat was squatting on the rock, its eyes carrying a few satisfied smiles, yawning, then turning over, exposing its plump belly, stretching lazily.

Hmm, looking at this cat, it’s like all it’s missing is a cigarette for after.

Just as the gray cat was yawning, it heard a slapping sound against the enclosure’s glass.

The gray cat shivered, lifted its head, and saw a canine-smirked face.

The gray cat’s gaze immediately became unpleasant!

With a look of a hundred unwillingness, it slowly crawled over, sitting by the glass.

"I guessed you would be here." Chen Nuo smilingly watched the gray cat.

Then he pointed at the distant black panther: "Your girlfriend is very pretty."

The gray cat looked listless: "Meow!"

"Speak human." Chen Nuo was displeased.

"Say what you want, or fart it out." The gray cat’s tone was very resistant.

"I need your help with something."

"Not helping."

"There’s a benefit."

"Not interested!"

"This time it won’t screw you over."

"I don’t believe you!"

Chen Nuo looked at the gray cat, sighed helplessly: "You’re forcing me here."

The gray cat looked puzzled at Chen Nuo: "?"

Chen Nuo turned his head, took a few steps, and pulled over a girl who looked like a zoo administrator.

He squeezed his face into an anxious expression, pulling the administrator girl, pointing at the gray cat inside the enclosed glass: "Miss, look!! How did a cat get into the panther’s house! Oh my, this is too dangerous! That’s a house cat, right? Won’t it be eaten by the panther?!"

The administrator girl looked at the gray cat, and her vision blurred, exclaiming: "Oh my! Where did this cat come from! How did it get in! Sir, don’t worry, I will go find someone!! Get this cat out quickly!!"

Watching the administrator girl hurriedly run away.

Chen Nuo turned his head to the gray cat: "So, what’s up?"

The gray cat’s fur stood up in rage: "Chen Gou! Are you idle, breaking up lovebirds? I was having a good time with my girlfriend! Do you have to call the administrator to kick me out?!!"

Chen Nuo tilted his head,

The gray cat sighed: "Alright, alright!! There’s an ice cream cart at the reptile house entrance. Wait for me there in ten minutes!"

Chen Nuo nodded with a smile.

·

Sure enough, ten minutes later, at the ice cream cart by the entrance, Chen Nuo was eating a chocolate cone, watching the gray cat unwillingly trot over.

It was almost closing time, there weren’t many people in the zoo, the gray cat jumped directly onto Chen Nuo’s shoulder: "Buy me an ice cream."

"No problem, what flavor do you want?"

"Vanilla."

Chen Nuo agreed with a smile, pinched the gray cat’s belly: "By the way, have you considered losing weight? Your girlfriend is fit, and you’ve become a ball."

"None of your business!" the gray cat meowed angrily.

But soon, under the solace of vanilla ice cream, the gray cat finally calmed down.

After licking a few times, the gray cat helplessly looked at Chen Nuo: "Tell me, what do you need me to do."

"Help me translate."

"...Meow?"

"I know a pig, but I can’t understand pig grunts, so I need you to translate."

"Can’t you sense its mental consciousness yourself?" The gray cat stared at Chen Nuo, then nodded: "I get it... It’s Seed’s energy overflow, right? You’re in a protective phase, can’t use spiritual power anymore?"

Chen Nuo raised an eyebrow: "You can actually tell at a glance?"

"What’s hard about that? Probably only I can tell... besides me and Seed, even the Octopus Monster may not understand because... they haven’t experienced the state of energy overflow."

Chen Nuo suddenly squinted: "Are you saying... you’ve experienced energy overflow?"

The gray cat immediately clammed up vigilantly.

After a few seconds, the gray cat slowly said: "Tell me, where’s this pig you mentioned, who is it?"

"A human Controller turned into a pig by Seed. Right in Jinling."

The gray cat wasn’t surprised, just shrugged: "Well, it’s really unlucky."

Said that, it jumped back onto Chen Nuo’s shoulder: "Let’s go, I promised the black panther I’ll go home tonight, so I only have three hours."

Paused, the gray cat lying on Chen’s shoulder, suddenly whispered: "Here’s a friendly advice."

"What?"

"The overflowing energy, better not... absorb too much."

"Hmm?"

"...You’ll die."

Chen Nuo’s face turned serious.

But the gray cat closed its mouth, refusing to speak further.

·

When arriving at the No. 8 Middle School International Division, Chen Nuo went directly to knock on Fox’s dorm door.

No answer.

Chen Nuo thought, at this time, maybe still in the classroom for self-study?

Listening, there wasn’t a sound from Little Candy’s room next door either.

Chen Nuo thought, simply threw a glance at the gray cat.

The gray cat begrudgingly shook its paw, and Fox’s door opened.

In the living room, in a cage meant for large dogs, Corot was listlessly lying inside.

Seeing the door open and Chen Nuo walking in, Corot immediately stood up, eagerly looking at Chen Nuo, whimpering.

The gray cat hopped off Chen Nuo’s shoulder with a thud, quickly jumped to the cage side, staring at Corot for a long time.

"Oh, this is interesting, it really is a human soul consciousness turned into a pig!"

The gray cat spoke in human tongue, giving Corot a fright and causing it to shrink back to a corner.

Then, Corot whimpered a few more sounds.

The gray cat suddenly got angry!

It gave Corot a fierce "meow," expressing strong discontent.

"What did it say that made you so angry?" Chen Nuo was curious.

The gray cat retorted annoyed: "This stupid pig thought that I, like it, was a human turned into an animal by Seed.

Stupid pig, I wasn’t turned into a cat by Seed! I am a Seed! Got it!"

Chen Nuo murmured: "You’re not a cat turned by Seed indeed... you’re a cat scared by Seed."

The gray cat rolled its eyes at Chen Nuo.

So mad! Felt like beating this dog!

"Alright, start translating now, I hope it can be honest and tell me something useful."

Corot heard this and whimpered for a while.

Chen Nuo looked at the gray cat, it slowly said: "It says, it can tell you some things, but... it needs some benefits."

Chen Nuo sneered: "Last time I told you, you want to retaliate against that guy, I also want to trouble that guy, isn’t that a benefit?"

Corot continued to hum.

Gray Cat laughed, "It said it has figured it out. Its woman is dead, and it has become like this. Revenge doesn’t matter anymore. It wants to ask for something else."

"Something else?"

"Yes, it asks you to have Seed turn it back to human. It doesn’t want anything else, just to be restored to human form, even if it loses all powers and becomes an ordinary person."

Chen Nuo frowned, looking at Corot.

Suddenly, Gray Cat laughed.

It climbed to the side of the cage, stretched out its paw, and gently tapped the cage twice, saying slowly, "Turning you back into a human, this thing... doesn’t actually need Seed. I can do it too."

Upon hearing these words, both Corot and Chen Nuo stared at Gray Cat.

Chen Nuo frowned, "You? That doesn’t sound like something you’d say."

"You think I’m lying, that I don’t have this ability? You think only Seed can do this?"

Chen Nuo looked at Gray Cat and slowly shook his head, "You’re hiding something deeply. I’m not sure if you have this ability—maybe you really do. But I mean, you never want to get involved in these things. Why are you suddenly so proactive today?"

"I also have a condition." Gray Cat yawned lazily.

"Let’s hear it."

"I want it." Gray Cat pointed at Corot, "I want it to be my pet."

Chen Nuo was stunned.

Is this...

a condition?

Thinking it over, Chen Nuo cautiously said, "You want... braised pork?"

Gray Cat stuck out its tongue, "Definitely not."

After a pause, it slowly said, "I can’t have a Chosen One, so I’ve always kept pets, which are cat slaves.

But now I don’t have any cat slaves.

I suddenly feel like getting a human Controller as a cat slave wouldn’t be bad.

As long as I don’t make it my Chosen One, I’m still in a retired state."

Corot quickly hummed and jibed, seemingly having a rapid conversation with Gray Cat.

Gray Cat just nodded a few times, and Corot immediately showed an extremely excited expression, humming loudly, seemingly eager.

Chen Nuo frowned, "What did it say?"

"It said that as long as I can turn it back into a human, it’s willing to be my cat slave."

Gray Cat licked its paw and slowly said, "But I also have conditions. My ability can’t completely return it to human form because I’m not as powerful as Seed.

However, I can let it switch between human and pig forms for a few hours each day. That’s already quite good for it.

It can be human during the day and turn into a pig when sleeping at night.

That way, it doesn’t affect its life."

Chen Nuo pulled at the corner of his mouth, "Seems nice, but you forget one thing. This pig is not mine; it’s Seed’s pet.

To be precise, it’s Seed’s property. I have no right to give it to you."

"That’s simple. I can make a trade with Seed. He owes me a favor, and if I offer him a little benefit, he definitely won’t refuse."

"That’s not how it works." Chen Nuo sighed, "This pig is now a pet of that little girl Fox. I can’t just take away this girl’s pet for no reason.

Believe me, Seed will definitely refuse. Seed spoils this little girl to no end."

Gray Cat pondered for a while, then looked up at Chen Nuo, "Then, where is this little girl called Fox? I can talk to her."

Chen Nuo looked at Gray Cat and, after a moment of silence, suddenly laughed.

"You’ve been hiding something from me."

Gray Cat blinked.

Chen Nuo frowned, "Is there something special about this Corot? Or is it very important to you?"

Gray Cat remained silent.

"You’re acting strange, Gray Cat," Chen Nuo lowered his voice, "I’ve known you for so long, and whenever it has anything to do with Seeds, you avoid it as much as possible! But for this Corot, you actively want to take it away, even willing to deal with Seed.

I’m curious, what did this guy say to make you value it so much?"

Gray Cat sighed helplessly, "...Is it that obvious?"

Chen Nuo nodded, "Quite obvious."

Gray Cat shook its head, "You’re just guessing wildly."

"I don’t think so."

"Guessing, it’s not what you think," Gray Cat unhappily arched its body and then darted up onto the windowsill, "I’m not interested in playing such boring conversations with you, I’m going home!"

Watching the cat run away quickly, Chen Nuo squinted his eyes.

Then, he glanced again at Corot in the cage.

Corot blinked, looking at Chen Nuo, but clearly, those pig eyes seemed a bit nervous.

Chen Nuo crouched down, gently tapped the cage, "You’re up to something new, Mr. Corot."

Corot hummed twice, then shrank back.

At this point, Fox’s voice suddenly came from the door.

"Chen Nuo! While I’m not around, you come to my house to steal my pet pig?"

Chen Nuo turned back and saw that the door had somehow opened, and Fox was standing there with a face of indifference.

Uh... alright.

Chen Nuo helplessly scratched his head, with a bitter smile, "If I say I just came to chat with your pet, would you believe me?"

Fox looked sharply, "Oh, what did it talk about with you?"

Chen Nuo blinked, "It said that the Huanglong River faction all wear Bluetooth."

"......What?"

Fox was stunned for a moment, frowning in confusion, "What nonsense?"

Chen Nuo walked past Fox and out the door, "Anyway, you wouldn’t understand if I told you, I’m leaving."

"Looks like I should consider going back to Argentina, secretly sneaking into a girl’s room when she’s not home—don’t you think this behavior is quite perverted?"

Chen Nuo stopped, turned to Fox, and said seriously:

"Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like you—I’m just very fond of your pet pig."

Fox: "......"

·

At midnight, it drizzled a little again. The air carried a hint of cool dampness.

Fox’s bedroom door was tightly shut, but the balcony window was open with only the screen blocking mosquitoes.

The room was silent, and even Corot had fallen asleep, its belly rising and falling with each breath.

In the dark, a figure outside the window jumped onto the windowsill and gently waved a paw, slowly pulling open the balcony screen.

Afterward, Gray Cat jumped onto the edge of the balcony window, looking down at Corot in the cage.

Corot suddenly jolted awake from its dream, staring straight at Gray Cat on the window.

Gray Cat’s gaze was noticeably cold, sitting on the windowsill, stretching its paw, a Spiritual Force Tentacle sprawled out, covering the entire living room and balcony.

"Your master is already asleep, and I’ve isolated the sound on this balcony with spiritual power, so you don’t need to worry about waking her up."

Gray Cat said, licking its paw, "Now, tell me in detail what you told me during the day."

Corot’s eyes were evidently filled with fear.

Gray Cat licked its paw for a while, then coldly said, "Didn’t you want me to translate to Chen Nuo, that you know about The Fourth Seed’s matters in Africa back then?"

Corot hummed a few times.

Gray Cat’s gaze grew colder, "Now, tell me again what you know about those things."

Corot hummed discontentedly.

Gray Cat shook its head, "No, you’re not qualified to bargain. Speak first, and I’ll turn you back into a human—but before that, I need to make sure the information you provide is valuable."

Corot hesitantly looked at the Gray Cat.

The Gray Cat suddenly extended its paw, revealing sharp claws, and slowly yawned: "You have no choice. If you don’t speak, I can kill you right now."

Corot hesitated.

"Don’t harbor false hopes. That little girl in the room can’t save you. Chen Nuo can’t save you either—if I really make up my mind to kill you, there are at most no more than three beings in this world who can save you. At least in Jinling City, there’s not a single one."

Corot hesitated for a few seconds, and finally, unwillingly, began to speak.

It hummed softly in the cage for a long time, and the Gray Cat did not interrupt him, maintaining a position of quiet listening all the while.

After a while, the Gray Cat’s gaze grew increasingly mysterious. Finally, when Corot stopped speaking, the Gray Cat closed its eyes, lying there as if pondering something.

After a long while, under Corot’s nervous gaze, the Gray Cat finally opened its eyes.

"As expected, you know." The Gray Cat’s tone carried a hint of strangeness: "Perhaps it really is just a coincidence... If I hadn’t run into you, you probably would have told this thing to Chen Nuo."

Saying this, the Gray Cat suddenly silently jumped down, landing beside the cage, and solemnly looked at Corot. That scrutinizing gaze made Corot’s body tremble involuntarily.

Corot suddenly realized!

It raised its head, humming a few sounds at the Gray Cat.

Corot meant: "You... actually know? Since you know, why did you ask me?"

The Gray Cat chuckled: "I just wanted to confirm whether you knew, or if the information you knew was true and accurate. But I didn’t expect you actually do know... What should I do? If I hadn’t happened to bump into it, you would have been in big trouble."

Corot looked at the Gray Cat in horror.

"What to do... Such an important thing can’t be spread around, and Chen Nuo mustn’t know either. So..."

The Gray Cat thought for a moment, then sighed softly at Corot: "Otherwise... you should just die."

·

Two minutes later, Corot in the cage was already silent.

The Gray Cat lightly jumped onto the windowsill, and then its figure leaped out.

It landed on the ground floor, strolling slowly, walking through the campus and playground.

In the darkness, this cat squatted on the stands surrounding the playground, gazing up at the sky.

[Although I’ve withdrawn, I am, after all, a Seed.

So, the method to kill a Seed—how could such a thing be allowed to be known by a human like Chen Nuo?]

The Gray Cat turned to look at the building where Fox lived, then lightly jumped down from the stands, disappearing into the night.

·

Chen Nuo received a call from Fox at five in the morning.

On the phone, Fox’s voice was angry and sad: "My pig is dead!! Corot is dead!!"

Chen Nuo sat up, holding the phone, without a hint of surprise on his face.

"Chen Nuo! Did you do something?! Did you kill my pet?!" Fox angrily questioned: "Yesterday, you sneaked into my house while I wasn’t there, and then this morning, Corot is dead!"

Chen Nuo calmly said: "It wasn’t me."

"Then yesterday you..."

"There were special reasons for yesterday’s events, I can explain it to you afterwards in detail."

On the other end, Fox was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked: "Do you know something?"

"I do know a bit." Chen Nuo slowly replied: "However... this matter concerns Seed, I think we’d better wait for Seed to return before we talk about it."

After that, Chen Nuo simply hung up the phone.

Fox called again, but Chen Nuo didn’t answer, and then Fox didn’t call back.

Chen Nuo sat on the bed, thinking.

Undoubtedly, Chen Nuo’s direct judgment was: this matter must be related to the Gray Cat!

The Gray Cat’s behavior yesterday was too unusual.

This guy, who usually hides away from things, acted so out of character yesterday, even taking the initiative to want to take Corot away.

Then it must have been that Corot told it something.

The problem is, when they met, both Corot and the Gray Cat communicated in soft pig grunts.

And in the special state that Chen Nuo is currently in, he couldn’t understand what Corot meant.

Then, after a night, Corot died.

So, was it the Gray Cat who killed it?

It’s clear then that the Gray Cat didn’t want Corot to tell him something.

And it was definitely yesterday, during the conversation between Corot and the Gray Cat, that the Gray Cat discovered something Corot knew that it didn’t want him to know.

What could it be?

·

Chen Nuo came out of the guest room and looked in the direction of the master bedroom—last night he didn’t sleep in the master bedroom but in the guest room.

Chen Nuo greeted Lu Xixi and Sun Keke and then went out.

He ran directly to the zoo’s cat exhibit and searched for a long time outside the leopard enclosure, but couldn’t find any sign of the Gray Cat.

He wandered around for a long time, searching to no avail.

This Gray Cat must have hidden or simply left here altogether.

What on earth could make the always low-key Gray Cat break its principles and make such a sudden move?

Chen Nuo left the zoo by noon.

On the way back, he kept thinking about the problem.

However, before his car reached home, he received another call from Fox.

"Tell me the truth! Where did you steal my pet?!"

On the phone, Fox almost roared at him angrily.

Chen Nuo was taken aback, then realized: "In the morning, didn’t you say Corot was dead?"

"In the morning I thought Corot was dead! But now I realize that’s not the case!!"

Chen Nuo frowned and made an effort to have a conversation with Fox, and only then did he roughly understand what had happened.

·

In the morning, when Fox woke up and got out of bed, she went to the living room and found her pet pig in the cage on the balcony motionless.

Fox originally thought the pig was sleeping, so she didn’t notice anything unusual and went about her morning routine.

But afterward, the girl noticed something was wrong—she is, after all, an exceptionally capable Special Ability User, and she realized the pig in the cage wasn’t responding.

More accurately, it had no breathing, heartbeat, or any other signs of life.

Fox was shocked at that moment.

There was a dead pig in the cage!

Fox’s first reaction was: her pig was dead, inexplicably dead.

Then she called Chen Nuo to hold him accountable.

At that time, Fox thought her pet was dead.

But after Chen Nuo hung up, Fox, not being an ordinary person, with her strong spiritual power and keen observation ability.

Especially since the little girl is also extremely intelligent—after all, she played the role of Commander in the Yama Team in her past life.

She prepared to handle Corot’s body, initially thinking of finding a pet institution—there are such institutions abroad.

It’s not a simple pet hospital, but also includes handling a pet’s body after death.

But in this era, Huaxia didn’t have such institutions. At this time, the pet hospital industry in Huaxia was just beginning to develop.

And most of them were limited to treating common domestic pets like cats and dogs.

Let alone providing services for handling pet bodies.

Let alone the body of a pig.

Fox was thinking sadly and pondering how to handle Corot’s remains.

But as she checked Corot’s body, she found something was wrong!

After all, she had raised the pet pig for so long, and she was very familiar with it.

She discovered something very bizarre:

The dead pig at home had over ninety percent similarity in traits and appearance with her own pet, Corot!

No, from the appearance, it was almost exactly the same.

However, some of the details didn’t match.

These details were noticed by Fox while handling the corpse, intending to clean Corot’s body.

Previously living in Argentina, because there was a heavy sweet addict named Seed at home—racing on the road to diabetes day after day.

Thus, there was always a plentiful supply of sweets and sugary snacks at home.

Fox would occasionally take these out to feed Corot.

Over time, it caused Corot to have a damaged tooth.

For this reason, Fox even took Corot to see a pet doctor.

But today, while cleaning Corot’s body, especially its teeth... Fox discovered.

The originally remembered bad tooth in Corot’s mouth was miraculously intact.

This discovery shocked Fox greatly. Subsequently, upon careful inspection, the girl found at least four or five differences in details between her dead pig and Corot!

Smart Little Fox came to a judgment:

This was a deliberate swap!

Someone had made a fake Corot to impersonate her pig.

Moreover, to deceive her, this pig had been altered in many ways to make it look almost exactly like Corot, at ninety-nine percent similarity!

Weight, skin, facial features, and so on.

This was a meticulous swap!!

·

Chen Nuo talked for a long time, finally calming Fox, swearing this incident was not his doing.

After barely managing to soothe the furious Fox, Chen Nuo frowned.

Why on earth did Gray Cat do such a thing?

Steal a pig, and then with that pig... abscond?

This lusty cat...

It didn’t even want its "girlfriend" from the zoo?

·

There’s no way to find it now.

According to Chen Nuo’s judgment, no matter how it’s said, Gray Cat is a Seed.

If a Seed’s power is determined to stay hidden so that no one finds it—at least humans are incapable.

Perhaps another Seed would have a chance.

And the problem circles back to the original question.

What exactly does Corot know that Gray Cat doesn’t want her to find out?

·

Over forty hours later.

A plane landed in Egypt’s capital, Cairo.

A middle-aged man walked out from the baggage claim area, holding a special pet transport cage.

Exiting the airport, he hailed a taxi and sat in the back seat. The man opened the cage and took out the cat inside.

Gray Cat jumped straight onto his shoulder, looked at the filthy taxi, and then at the driver in front.

Gray Cat yawned with boredom.

The man looked nervously out the window.

"Relax, from any angle, I can’t think of a way that Chen Nuo could chase us here."

Gray Cat said slowly.

The man looked at Gray Cat in surprise and then at the driver in front.

"Relax, he can’t perceive me talking—a small mental interference trick."

Gray Cat looked at the sky outside, and said, "There’s less than an hour before you transform back into a pig, you better hope there’s no car race on the road so we can reach the hotel and check into our room before you transform.

Otherwise, if halfway on the road, you transform from a live human into a pig, you’ll be on the news headlines tonight.

Mr. Corot."

That man, of course, was Corot. He looked somewhat helpless, "Can’t you completely turn me into a human? Must I transform back into a pig for half the day?"

"Sorry, it’s not unwillingness, it’s beyond my ability. Although we’re all Seeds, I must admit, Seed is more powerful than all of us other Seeds."

·

"Chen Nuo! You kidnapped my pig!"

In Nivelle’s office, Fox angrily questioned Chen Nuo.

Chen Nuo shook his head helplessly for the Nth time in denial, "I’ve told you many times, it wasn’t me."

"But your behavior is too suspicious, you sneaked into my house while I was not there, and you said you were very curious about Corot.

Then you left, and the next day, it got swapped!"

Chen Nuo sighed helplessly, "I can only tell you, another Seed did this—I have no way of dealing with that fellow, aside from waiting for Seed to come back and help you out."

Fox stared at Chen Nuo with wide eyes.

Chen Nuo sighed, "Alright, I admit this matter does indeed have something to do with me."

Chen Nuo couldn’t deny this point.

If he hadn’t found Gray Cat to help him as a translator...

The choice of translator wasn’t limited to Gray Cat; there was also Empress at home.

At the Controller level, one could use spiritual power to perceive the consciousness of other creatures.

At that time, Chen Nuo didn’t go to Empress purely because he didn’t want Lu Xixi to know he "brought another pretty girl back from abroad" again.

He was originally open-hearted in this regard – Fox had no good impression of him in this life at all.

The problem was, with Li Yingwan, Xicheng Xun, and Nivelle around, adding Fox to the mix, he would have to waste time explaining, wouldn’t he?

The fewer troubles, the better.

The most important thing was, still, that when the Sun Keke situation had just been resolved, and the three had just entered a sweet, sensitive, yet awkward cohabitation life.

If he brought the Empress to Fox’s house, wouldn’t that be courting trouble for himself?

What if there was a misunderstanding?

Moreover, Chen Nuo didn’t consider that Gray Cat would do such a thing.

And there was another detail leaving Chen Nuo puzzled.

Why didn’t Gray Cat simply kill Corot?

But chose to do a swap?

Killing a pig was easy enough.

Bringing in another pig, then using the Seed’s abilities to alter the pig’s physical characteristics, to swap it.

Isn’t that a redundant effort?

Even if Seeds have the ability to transform the physical bodies of other beings.

But still... wouldn’t that be troublesome?

Unless...

Gray Cat still needed Corot! Keeping it alive was useful to Gray Cat.

·