I Am a Cat (7)

"Go ask Sister Si how she’d evaluate this soul fragment of Li Jiewei?"

The staff was practically fuming.

Little Wei choked for a second before hurriedly asking, "Yuan Fang, what do you think?"

Si pondered for a moment. "I plan to sit and watch."

Little Wei: (。ヘ°)?

Could women who refuse to cooperate just drop dead already?

What rotten luck. Life was unbearable.

"I was joking. Li Jiewei is actually quite strong—otherwise, she wouldn’t be in this world," Si said.

But that was as far as she could go. Any more, and it’d be considered a violation.

"Oh, so she’s Yuan Qiaoqiao 2.0."

Though, given Li Jiewei’s personality, she didn’t seem like the type to turn dark.

That put Little Wei somewhat at ease.

Yuan Qiaoqiao had been an accident. There wouldn’t be a second one.

Meanwhile, the Class Monitor had already explained things to Li Jiewei.

"That girl isn’t my girlfriend or anything."

Li Jiewei nodded, though she couldn’t shake the feeling that the girl outside looked oddly familiar.

Like she’d seen her somewhere before.

But where?

Li Jiewei frowned, racking her brain.

Yet no matter how hard she thought, nothing came to mind.

Could she be an old classmate? Otherwise, why would she be staring so intently?

Little Wei, realizing her gaze had been too intense, quickly averted her eyes and glanced at the staff, who was yawning lazily.

"Feel better now? At least the school’s safe. Let’s get out of here—it’s getting weird."

A few passing students kept glancing their way. Honestly, standing around like this made them look like total creeps.

Even if they were waiting for someone, they should’ve just pulled out their phones and stood off to the side.

But Little Wei wasn’t ready to leave. They’d come all this way—walking away empty-handed wasn’t an option.

"Wait, something’s off," the staff suddenly spoke up.

"What?" Little Wei turned to her.

"I sense an unusual surge of energy," the staff said.

Then, whoosh—the staff zipped away. Little Wei rushed after her, only to see the staff cornered by a guy and a girl as soon as they left the building.

"This one’s got spiritual energy," the girl remarked, eyeing the staff.

"Think she’s a cat spirit?" The guy crouched down, grabbing the staff’s tiny wrist.

"Let me go," the staff whined in a baby voice.

Damn it. These two were stronger than expected—probably top-tier recruits from some organization. She couldn’t just off them, not with so many eyes on the hosts for this mission.

She couldn’t cause trouble for Sister Si.

"Definitely a cat spirit. Can’t believe we caught one so fast," the girl beamed.

The staff shot a desperate look at Little Wei, who’d just caught up.

Sister, help! SOS!

Before Little Wei could intervene, the pair whisked the staff away.

They were fast.

Little Wei: "…"

"We’ve got a problem, Si. Don’t blame me—the staff literally delivered herself to them." Little Wei was speechless.

Who volunteers as tribute like that?

"She’ll be fine. Besides… splitting up might help the investigation."

Since Si said so, Little Wei gave up on retrieving the staff.

Besides, the staff was hers. If she wanted, she could summon her back instantly.

No need to panic.

Meanwhile, the duo had taken the staff home.

"She’s so tiny. Are we sure she’s one of the last cat spirits?" Tang Rui eyed the little girl skeptically.

"Only one way to find out." Chen Xiaoyi crouched down, studying the staff.

The staff blinked up at them with big, innocent eyes.

Yep, clueless lil’ cutie here.

"Take her for a bath first. Her clothes are filthy."

"Got it." Tang Rui scooped up the staff and headed inside.

Less than a minute later, a shriek echoed from the bathroom.

"AHHH—"

"What?!" Chen Xiaoyi kicked the door open, expecting disaster, only to find Tang Rui sprawled on the floor.

"She hit you?" Chen Xiaoyi gaped.

They were from the same company, posing as a couple for this mission. Rewards would be split 50-50.

"No—look at her." Tang Rui rubbed her forehead and scrambled up.

"Holy—dude? Wait, that’s fine. Cat spirits aren’t required to be girls."

"Then why’s he wearing a dress?!" Tang Rui had nearly cried from shock.

"Maybe… a special interest?" Chen Xiaoyi patted her shoulder. "Relax."

Tang Rui wasn’t convinced.

"But even cat spirits have basic gender awareness. If he wanted a girl’s body, why not just shapeshift?"

Chen Xiaoyi finally caught her drift.

"You think he’s not a cat spirit? Maybe a cultivator’s kid? Borrowed his sister’s old clothes?" The theory made sense.

Wait—

If that was true… what had they just done?

Kidnapping?

Oh no. This was bad.

Chen Xiaoyi didn’t even want to imagine what those cultivators would do if they found out.

They were here for a mission, not to invite trouble.

"We should’ve confirmed first," Chen Xiaoyi groaned.

"Big bro, big sis, what’s going on? I’m cold like this," the staff whined.

Freezing her nonexistent butt off.

"I’ll get you clothes. Where do you live? We’ll take you back," Tang Rui said quickly.

The staff wanted to go back, but Sister Si had told her to gather intel.

These two were cultivators—maybe they had leads on the group targeting Li Jiewei.

"Um, my parents aren’t home. I usually play with Li Jiewei. Do you know her?"

The staff was sharp.

"Li Jiewei? That’s…"

Tang Rui exchanged a wary glance with Chen Xiaoyi.

"Kong Ning’s mission, right? Something about awakening Li Jiewei’s potential?"

Awakening potential?

The staff’s ears perked up.

Wasn’t the mission supposed to be assassination?

Were there two factions?

Made sense. With thousands of hosts, their objectives had to vary.

One group hunted Little Wei, another targeted Li Jiewei, and a third… protected her?