Ch9 - Mochi Who Can Venture Out Alone

NPC’s daily task 1/1

Editor: Vez 

At the moment, Xin Qin did not have the slightest idea of the chaos caused by Sparta in the beauty salon. He was blissfully buying rations for his Dragon Li cat. He spent a thousand on two small bags of cat food, and more than a dozen cans, increasing his urgency and determination on earning more money. As he was contemplating whether to livestream a match during his wait, he received a call from the beauty salon. After listening to the whole situation, he rushed out of the door and went straight to the pet beauty salon without changing out of his in-door shoes. When he arrived, the other party informed him that his Dragon Li cat had run away. Xin Qin’s face darkened. 

“Your cat is too wild. Look at what it did to my face.” The groomer in charge of bathing Sparta covered the cuts with his hands. They looked serious judging by the visible blood in the crevices of his fingers. 

Xin Qin took a deep breath and said, “My cat is usually very sweet. I want to know what happened.”

The other party thought the customer wanted to make this incident bigger than it appeared, thus he suddenly sharpened his attitude and said at the top of his voice, “Sweet? It had been acting mean from the start, even two people could not hold it. Are you saying the injuries on my face are fake? I can tell it is a stray cat the moment I lay my eyes on it. I bet it does not even have a chip. Now I must worry about what kind of disease it carries. In fact, I will be getting a rabies shot at the hospital.” 

Xin Qin was feeling angry. Although the Dragon Li cat was a stray cat not long ago, it was nothing but friendly towards him. Even during his clinic examination, Sparta did not struggle extremely hard, never mind hurting people with his claws. 

The other party with a rude attitude had already produced arguments to defend his actions. Yet Xin Qin coldly said instead, “I will pay for your medical expenses, but the salon lost my cat, and he might be hurt. My cat is not familiar with the way home. If he cannot find his way back, or meets an accident due to his injury, I will hire a lawyer to sue this salon. Even if I will not get compensation, at least I will expose to the other pet owners that this pet salon has a bad reputation and is a poor choice.” 

Sparta was a stray cat so there was no purchasing record, and he had not formally registered the Dragon Li cat as his yet. Xin Qin knew that he had no chance of winning this kind of lawsuit, but he refused to admit defeat. Just at the thought of Sparta wandering alone on the streets and never finding his way back home, his heart became heavier, and his tone turned firmer. 

The situation was getting serious and there were increased numbers of onlookers gathering around. The owner of the beauty salon heard the racket and had no choice but to rush over to mediate. He offered to help look for the cat as well as paying for his employee’s medical expenses. As for compensation, it would be put on hold until it was certain that the cat was really lost. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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If Sparta could give him another chance. Xin Qin made up his mind that he would never let the cat suffer any harm again. 

Miwu is so slow…Using Miwu’s smell, Sparta found his way back. The journey was not far, but there was no sign of his human after a long wait. He was at the little flower garden where they first met, twisting his body to lick his wet fur on his back. Those humans were so irksome, why must they spray him with water, they even held him down to the point of hurting him. Hmph, next time I see them, I will make sure to return the favour! But then again, why would Miwu leave him alone in that terrible place? At that thought, he was no longer in the mood to lick himself. 

Did I do something to make Miwu angry? Or did Miwu finally learn that I am not a worthy cat to have? The more he thought, the sadder he became. His ears dropped down as he lay prone and buried his face between his front paws. I miss Miwu so much…He was also tired and thirsty after his intense battle. He wanted to go search for water to drink, but he was worried that he would miss Xin Qin. After a long hesitation, his stomach grumbled in protest. Miwu… 

“Oh, Xiao Lihua, so this is where you live!” Sparta was so focused on his thought that he did not notice an approaching cat. Suddenly, a big round charcoal face appeared in his vision and startled him. It was Mochi. 

Sparta greeted Mochi in low spirits. He was still on his stomach, looking very listless. 

Mochi curiously walked over, curled into a circle beside Sparta and asked, “Xiao Lihua, what is wrong? Where is your human?”

“I do not think my human wants me anymore.” It was fine if Mochi did not bring this up, but now that he did, it made Sparta sad again. This unbearable feeling was making it hard for him to breathe.  

Mochi was shocked. “This soon?” He said this subconsciously while staring at Sparta. When he realised he was too blunt, he probed for more information, “Hey, tell me what happened. Why does he not want you anymore? He did not seem like a bad person to me.”

“He is a good human.” Sparta nodded and recalled Xin Qin’s gentle touch. He could not stop himself from meowing sweetly and waving the tip of his tail in happiness. “But…” At the thought of today’s unpleasant event, his ears droop again. His next sentence sounded lackadaisical as well, “But he left me with a group of terrible humans and never appeared again.”

Mochi found this whole story strange, there must be something missing. He pestered more details from the Dragon Li cat. Sparta talked about today’s experience intermittently, and before he finished, Mochi smiled. This smile was one that was asking for a beating as Sparta angrily threw out his claws at the other. Mochi jumped out of Sparta’s attack range in fluster before smiling again. He said, “Xiao Lihua, you are so easy to tease. Hahaha, therefore, cat education is imperative.” 

“What do you mean?” Sparta was suddenly excited. “Are you saying that my human did not abandon me?” 

“Of course, he did not abandon you. He just disliked how dirty you were and wanted you to take a bath.”

“Take a bath?” Sparta tilted his head. There was no concept of bathing in the cat’s dictionary. It was a foreign word to him. 

Mochi patiently explained to him what bathing is and why humans are so keen on giving cats a bath. Sparta finally understood, as well as finding humans very strange. Mochi added, “Your human does this because he likes you, but he chose to let others wash you. How do I put it; I also get bathed by strangers. Sometimes comfortable and sometimes not so comfortable. I know bathing agitates us, but it is beneficial for us. We cannot lick ourselves completely clean. If you do not like to be bathed by strangers, you should train your human to wash you himself.”

Huh? Can humans be trained? Sparta sat up straight and pricked up his ears.  

“Of course! As long as they realise that washing us themselves is not a hassle, they will not leave you to strangers.” Mochi proudly chirped, “That is why I wanted you to start school early. Speaking of school, how is your study going?”

This was when Sparta noticed the oddity, why was Mochi here? “Did you come especially to check on my progress? I have a lot of questions. In fact, I planned to ask Mr. Jay the next time he visits.”

“My human and I actually live close to here. I have eaten too many cans today, so I am strolling around to aid digestion, and checking up on you along the way.”

“Your human allows you to go out of the house?” Sparta gazed at Mochi in amazement. Although Miwu is genuinely nice to him, he is not allowed to go out of the balcony, let alone venturing out by himself.  

“Of course!” Mochi was even more proud of himself. “I am not just any cat. There is nothing for my human to worry about with a clever cat like myself. You need to teach them slowly, and they will obey your every wish. You can leave the house whenever you want, and you can sleep anywhere, even on the human’s bed to your heart’s content. Smart cats can always achieve their wishes.”

Sparta’s whiskers curled up in surprise. He praised wholeheartedly, “That is so cool!” 

Mochi loftily shook his head in the air. “Do not be discouraged. I could tell you were a child with a bright future on our first meeting. If you study hard, you will soon be like me.”

“I will study! I will learn!” Sparta stood up and spun around excitedly.  

Mochi gave a meow of satisfaction. “I am guessing you did not understand the tasks given in the handbook, so I came here to explain it to you. Although Short Tail is smart, he is not at the level to guide a cat.”

Sparta asked, “Who is Short Tail?”

“Short Tail is the jay who sent you the handbook. Why, do not tell me you did not ask for his name? His name is Short Tail, and Little Mute is his wife.”

Sparta was grumbling inside on how the city cats were indeed very strange, they even named their food.  

Mochi stretched out his paw and patted Sparta on the back of the head. “Focus. I’m explaining the content.”

Sparta quickly gathered his limbs together, sat upright, held his chest high and gave the other cat his full attention. 

Mochi told Sparta that human beings have this thing called the internet. It has no shape or scent. Not like the mouse we can catch, but like the breeze we can feel running through our whiskers. We cannot see or smell it, but it really exists. Although the internet is invisible, it can let cats see each other from far away as well as hear each other’s voices. It is inconvenient for cats in the city to be out and mobile, so the majority of them use human’s internet to learn. Learning to use the internet is the task that the preschool handbook requires every cat in preschool to complete. 

Sparta gawked. How did humans find such a powerful thing? 

Mochi’s whiskers twitched as he told Sparta the humans invented the internet so that cats can get better education. Although Mochi did not know why, humans play with the internet more than cats.