High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 724: Chapter 72 The Forest Cat’s Tribute_1

Perhaps it was the enticing aroma of the fried chicken, or perhaps because they discovered that the beings who had appeared in the forest were just a few young wizards. The cat troop that had previously escaped trickled back one by one, leisurely and shamelessly - from the bushes, treetops, stone crevices, tree hollows, etc., every conceivable or inconceivable corner could produce the silhouette of cats big and small. This was indeed an eye-opener, leaving Zheng Qing speechless.

”I never knew there were so many hiding spots around here!” The black cat, propping up its body with its tail and standing up, turned its head from side to side looking at its subordinates who were grooming each other and purring. With a sigh of enlightenment, it commented, ”This has been truly educational!”

”You mean ’today has been truly educational’!” Xin Fat Man instantly caught on to the black cat’s misuse of words. Stretching out his hand grandiosely as if intending to stroke the black cat’s head, he said, ”How could you, a Merlin Medal recipient and a student of Jiuyou Academy, spew such vulgarities, especially in front of minors!”

The black cat cocked its ear, tilted its eye, swept threateningly across Xin Fat Man’s chubby hand with its gaze, and bared its pointed fangs.

With a whoosh, the fat man quickly withdrew his hand and stuck it back into the chicken bucket as if the intention of his prior action had been a figment of Zheng Qing’s imagination.

”Meow.” A tiny voice sounded beside Xin Fat Man’s foot.

Zheng Qing looked down. The little ragdoll cat had finished gnawing off the chicken piece on the ground and was sitting beside Xin Fat Man. It was eyeing the bucket of fried chicken in his arms with anticipation, occasionally flicking its tail and looking up at him with longing.

The ragdoll cat, also known as ’Puppy Cat’, is a creature that enjoys quietude yet craves attention. Excelling at endearing themselves to wizards, with their big round eyes and thick backs, they often bring joy to people who lay eyes on them, making it hard to refuse their whimsical requests.

For instance, Xin Fat Man, whose heart was about to melt hearing the small meow from the ragdoll cat at his foot.

”How could you be a cat king!” Xin Fat Man, full of compassion, squatted on the ground, hurriedly took out several chunks of the juiciest meat from his chicken bucket and placed them near the kitten’s mouth, all the while criticizing the black cat, ”This is such a beautiful cat, how could you let it go hungry? That’s so not okay!”

The black cat resumed its sitting position, cocked its head, staring incredulously at Xin Fat Man, clueless as to the sudden overflow of his compassion.

The ragdoll kitten scrunched its pink nose, took a sniff of the chicken meat in Xin Fat Man’s hand, immediately opened its mouth, and bit into the largest chunk.

The smile on Xin Fat Man’s face hadn’t fully bloomed before it froze.

That’s because, after biting into the meat, the ragdoll cat didn’t immediately start eating. Instead, it held the meat in its mouth, jogged over to the black cat, then, raising its head and standing bolt upright, presented the fried chicken to the black cat. It even shook its thick tail from time to time, looking charmingly ingratiating.

”Cough cough...” Violent coughs and suppressed laughter emanated from Zhang Ji Xin standing next to them.

Xin Fat Man, squatting not far away, turned pale, then red, then pale again, appearing rather depressive and lifeless, before finally sinking into a state of petrification, as if mourning.

The black cat was also quite shocked by the ragdoll kitten’s actions—it certainly hadn’t instructed the kitten to do anything just to spite Xin Fat Man; in fact, being unable to understand ’Cat Speak’, it had no way of giving the kittens any detailed instructions.

This was purely the ragdoll kitten’s own idea.

Of course, from a certain point of view, such a thought hurt even more.

Gazing at the piece of chicken in front of it, the black cat hesitated for a moment, then stretched out its paw, unsheathed its claws, and easily sliced a small strip of meat off the soft chicken. Tucking the strip into its mouth and chewing on it, it nodded approvingly.

Xin Fat Man, although not much of a character, indeed had a knack for choosing food.

Then the black cat extended its paw again, patting the ragdoll kitten gently on the head with its paw pad, nodding in approval, and indicating that the remainder of the chicken was its to enjoy. Delighted, the kitten took away the chicken and happily went off to the side to resume its leisurely meal.

The black cat didn’t continue to watch the ragdoll kitten eating but instead looked around, assessing its two groups of subordinates.

An assortment of cats carried on their languid lives – some sprawled, others nestled, luxuriating in clumps of dried grass, or grooming each other. Hardly any of them were paying attention to the black cat. For a moment, Zheng Qing wondered if he could reevaluate the status of the black cat within the ranks.

Rather than being the leader, the black cat seemed more like an overseer. The various cats in the group merely paid him a sort of protection fee, asking for nothing in return but to be left undisturbed in their play.

In contrast, Zheng Qing was much more satisfied with his other ’underlings’.

The hunters from the Absolution Hunting Team - largely thanks to the tireless efforts of Lin Guo and Blue Bird - had collected all the mice lying on the ground and were ready to head back home. Just a moment ago, Zheng had handed over an old notebook and a Cat’s Eye Stone to Doctor Xiao.

As for the Cat’s Eye Stone, Doctor Xiao would keep it in Zheng’s desk drawer after returning.

Rather, it was the notebook filled with notes on magic potion that seemed to pique Doctor Xiao’s interest.

”There’s no cover?” After flipping through it for a while, Xiao Xiao turned his curious gaze to the black cat, ”Where did you find this notebook ... are there others?”

”Who has time to look for such things!” The black cat rolled its eyes, and snorted in full force from its nose, ”An American short tail cat gave it to me as a tribute... to a cat, it’s probably like a dead mouse or a clump of catnip.”

Having said this, the black cat recalled the clump of catnip he had placed elsewhere and quickly turned its head back.

Lin Guo’s twist-horned black sheep was moving its cheeks, slowly chewing, its expressionless eyes fixed on the black cat—it was clear from the remaining leaf particles on the sheep’s mouth that Zheng Qing’s clump of catnip had been pretty much devoured by the sheep.

This made the black cat very annoyed: ”Why would a sheep eat catnip! Do they even eat this stuff?”

The black sheep paused with its mouth, blinking its eyes, seemingly pondering on the black cat’s query.

A few seconds later, it resumed its chewing, however, this time it tilted its head away, no longer looking at the black cat, nor caring about its indignation.

Zheng Qing raised his paw but eventually put it down in frustration.

For respect’s sake, considering this sheep was a friend of Lin Guo, he ought to show it some respect.

He comforted himself with this idea.

”What does that notebook say? If it’s important, I can try having that short tail bring us to look for more.” Upon saying this, worried that Xiao Xiao would have too high expectations of him, Zheng Qing quickly added, ”But don’t get your hopes up... I can’t speak cat language. I can only gesture to it, understanding will be left to fate.”

”It’s not that important, but very interesting.” Xiao Xiao shook the notebook in his hand, expressing no dissatisfaction with Zheng Qing’s words: ”It would be good if we can locate more, and it doesn’t matter if we can’t. After all...”

And here, Xiao Xiao suddenly paused in his tracks.

Zheng Qing didn’t pay much attention to the doctor’s silence because he knew why he had stopped.

It was because the long-missing Norwegian forest cat, tail proudly raised, had suddenly jumped down from a nearby tree branch to land in front of the black cat.

Its body was scarred all over.

In its mouth, it held a small, clothed mouse.