Cat Cen Wants to Bite (19)

Great. His tongue was still as sharp as ever. It seemed he was fine.

Cen Yao silently let out a sigh of relief.

Then, she and Zhu Lingxi continued to flank Pei Tinglan, helping him move with great difficulty.

Calling it “helping him move” was a bit of a stretch; it was more like transporting cargo.

Pei Tinglan couldn't use his hind legs, and during the day, he was in his civet cat form, so his movement speed couldn't keep up with theirs at all.

Cen Yao and Zhu Lingxi could only walk a bit, stop a bit, and hide a bit.

Whenever a staff member passed by, one cat would grab Pei Tinglan by the scruff of his neck while the other bit his tail, dragging him into the shadows the moment the human's gaze shifted away.

Pei Tinglan went from pulling a dark face at first to being completely numb.

He didn't even bother complaining anymore.

He had realized that after turning into cats, although these two could understand him, they didn't hesitate to bite him when they needed to.

After hiding and dodging the whole way, the three civet cats finally made their way back to where they had entered the dungeon yesterday.

The breeding area.

The very place where the civet cats were locked in cages.

During the day, the breeding area looked much clearer, which only made it seem all the more cruel.

Rows of iron cages were neatly arranged, their bottoms lined with blackened bedding mixed with feces, wastewater, and dried bloodstains.

The air was thick with a heavy, pungent stench, mingled with the sour odor of fermenting, rotten coffee cherries. The smell was so strong that Cen Yao almost sneezed the moment she approached.

Many civet cats were locked in the cages.

Some curled up in the corners, so thin that their ribs visibly rose and fell.

Others lay flat on the bottom of their cages, motionless, leaving it unclear whether they were asleep or simply lacked the strength to move even an inch.

Still others had cloudy eyes, matted and clumped fur, and partially bald tails, their claws tightly gripping the wire mesh at the bottom of the cages.

In front of each cage sat a filthy food bowl.

Inside the bowls was piled something Cen Yao recognized all too well.

Coffee cherries.

The very coffee cherries they had seen everywhere along the way.

Red ones, black ones, and semi-rotten ones.

They were mixed together and forcefully dumped into the food bowls.

Why did it look forced?

Because Cen Yao saw with her own eyes a civet cat merely turning its head slightly away.

It didn't want to eat.

Perhaps it was already too full, or perhaps its body instinctively rejected the food.

But the human staff member standing by the cage gave it no choice.

Holding a stun baton with an expressionless face, the man clicked his tongue impatiently.

“Not eating again?”

In the next second, he thrust the stun baton straight through the gaps in the cage.

A blinding flash of electricity erupted.

The civet cat shrieked, its entire body jerking violently.

Its thin limbs twitched uncontrollably, and its claws clawed frantically at the bottom of the iron cage, making a grating, teeth-gritting sound.

But the cage was too small.

It had nowhere to hide.

The electric current surged through its body, causing its fur to stand on end, and a burnt smell quickly filled the air.

Its cries were sharp at first, but gradually grew hoarse until only intermittent whimpers remained in its throat.

The staff member finally withdrew the stun baton.

The civet cat collapsed limply in the cramped, filthy cage, its body still twitching periodically.

The food bowl was kicked over, and coffee cherries rolled all over the ground.

Yet, the man only spat a curse.

“Worthless pest. You would've been fine if you just ate it earlier.”

Every single hair on Cen Yao's body puffed up instantly.

Her vision practically swam with red.

Her paws took an involuntary step forward, and a low growl rumbled deep in her throat.

She wanted to bite him.

She wanted to pounce and tear a chunk of flesh right off the back of his hand.

She had even tensed her hind legs, ready to spring forward.

At that exact moment, Pei Tinglan caught her movement out of the corner of his eye, his pupils shrinking.

He threw himself sideways with all his might, pinning Cen Yao's tail down firmly with his front paws.

Cen Yao stumbled from the sudden weight, nearly tumbling forward on the spot.

Pei Tinglan lowered his voice, his tone cold as ice.

“Wait.”

“Can you not be so reckless?”

Cen Yao whipped her head around, the low growl still rumbling in her throat.

Pei Tinglan pulled a sour kitten face, his gaze even fiercer than hers.

“Didn't you see there are players in there too?”

Cen Yao paused.

Zhu Lingxi also looked up toward the depths of the cages.

Sure enough, mingled among the real civet cats were a few whose eyes were noticeably different.

They were too clear-headed.

And too tense.

Even locked in cages, they kept scanning their surroundings.

Those were players.

Last night, they had escaped from the cages, but once daytime came, some had been captured again.

Some might have been caught after leaving their safe points during the night.

Others might not have had time to hide when they turned back into civet cats at dawn, and were stuffed back into the cages by the staff.

One of the player civet cats spotted Cen Yao and the others hiding in the shadows, and its eyes lit up for a brief moment.

But it didn't dare move.

Because the area around the cages was crawling with human staff.

And stun batons.

This only made Cen Yao even angrier.

She bared her teeth at Pei Tinglan, keeping her voice down.

“Then what do we do?”

“Are we just supposed to stand here and watch them get abused?”

She was so furious she nearly lunged to scratch Pei Tinglan.

Zhu Lingxi used all her strength to hold Cen Yao back, her tail going completely stiff.

“Miss Cen, do not be hasty.”

Zhu Lingxi's voice was still slow, but this time, it carried a heavy undertone.

As she looked at the cages, her eyes were quiet.

Quiet like an unlit stick of incense.

Yet, the scent of incense on her seemed to grow slightly stronger.

Pei Tinglan stared back at Cen Yao, his expression unchanging.

“Do you have a way to save them right now?”

“Even if you can save them now, what about after?”

“Can you guarantee they won't get caught again?”

Cen Yao choked on her words, unable to answer.

Pei Tinglan didn't let her off.

“Right now, you are just a weak little kitten.”

“You can't even use your Talent properly, and your intelligence has taken a hit too.”

“What makes you think you can save them?”

His words were harsh.

But Cen Yao couldn't refute them.

She was indeed less clear-headed now than when she was in her human form at night.

When complex thoughts crossed her mind, they became like a ball of yarn tangled by cat claws, growing messier the more she thought about them.

She lowered her head resentfully, letting out a whimpering, angry mew from her throat.

“Mew... meow.”

Seeing her like this, Pei Tinglan's tone finally softened a fraction.

“Don't rush.”

“We need to understand the difference between day and night here first.”

He looked at the human staff members transporting coffee cherries in the distance, his voice extremely low.

“The hints given by the dungeon are already very clear.”

“Our quest is to escape the coffee plantation.”

“This means the plantation must have boundaries, and there must be a way out.”

Both Cen Yao and Zhu Lingxi stared at him.

Pei Tinglan continued, “At night, you ran at that speed for over half an hour without seeing any boundary. Either the space at night is warped by rules, or we've been trapped in some sort of loop.”

“But the daytime is different.”

“During the day, there are staff members, supply transports, and normal production processes.”

“The gates we couldn't see at night can likely be found by following the staff during the day.”

Cen Yao's ears twitched.

She was slightly convinced.

Pei Tinglan glanced at the civet cats in the cages.

“Once we find the gates, we can find the guardhouse.”

“Once we find the guardhouse, we can figure out the patterns of the patrols, the keys, and the vehicles coming and going.”

“Only then will we have a chance to rescue the other civet cats,” Pei Tinglan said expressionlessly.

“A coffee plantation of this size must require the transport of a large amount of supplies.”

“Coffee cherries, cages, cleaning supplies, food, and waste.”

“So there will definitely be vehicles coming and going.”

“When the time comes, we can sneak the rescued civet cats onto a supply truck and use it to leave the coffee plantation.”

Cen Yao fell into deep thought.

She felt as if the tangled ball of yarn in her mind had been gently sorted out by a paw.

Seeing her expression, Pei Tinglan's brow twitched reflexively.