Cat 244: Again and Again
by CristaeChapter 244: Again and Again
[Want to Be Human] livestream chat:
“Ahhhh! This twist—I never could have imagined it. Ninth Master is even bolder and more straightforward than I thought!”
“Hahahaha, our little cat is absolutely stunned. Isn’t Ninth Master supposed to be the cat’s owner?”
“Qi Feng’s stream isn’t up. He shouldn’t be the owner, right? Kiss him to death, Ninth Master! Kiss him for me!”
“The cat cub looks completely freaked out, haha! He ran off so fast! I wonder if he actually believes the owner likes him.”
“I think the cat cub just sees the owner as his owner, nothing more. The owner probably kisses and hugs him all the time anyway.”
“He isn’t scared—he just doesn’t believe it. He’s used to the owner kissing him, so maybe he doesn’t feel anything from Ninth Master’s sudden affection. It’s killing me.”
“The cat cub isn’t stupid. What he doubts is this amnesiac owner. If it were his owner without memory loss kissing him, that would be different. To him right now, the owner is just an NPC. It’s normal if he feels nothing.”
“I’m suddenly interested in this plot. Ninth Master must be playing a powerful background character here. It should be easy for the cat cub to finish the mission now. He’ll be able to figure out Wei Liu’s identity by tomorrow morning.”
“That’s true. Ninth Master’s identity is basically a cheat code for our cat cub—the owner helping their own cat through the levels. But it makes sense, too.”
“Did Qi Feng sacrifice his player memories to enter the instance? It has to be a deal with the system, but the system didn’t expect this to benefit the cat cub. The system has really scored an own goal here.”
“Hahahaha, upstairs analyst makes such a good point! Honestly, it’s only the cat cub and his owner who can actually trip up the system. The game got a bit easier, but somehow I’m even more excited.”
“The poor cat cub. He gets kissed over and over as a cat, and after turning human, he still gets kissed again and again by his owner. Is this some sort of special destiny or love?”
“What a pity. The cat cub still hasn’t caught on. He doesn’t realize how his owner truly feels about him, does he?”
“Huh? Isn’t that the NPC’s role?”
“I bet it’s not the NPC role at all. The owner really likes the human form of the cat cub, and losing his memory only makes him let loose!”
“The cat cub is kind of hardcore about feelings—just won’t believe the owner truly likes him. I love it. This is what makes it fun.”
Yan Jiyun was oblivious to the waves of delight rolling through the comment section. He was still troubled by this amnesiac Qi Feng—why had he become like this? Did the system forcibly assign him some bizarre characteristics? Why did he try to kiss every man he met? No, that wasn’t true. He didn’t kiss Yang Er or Liu Rongzhi, just him—and the human form cat.
Could it be that the system’s setup allowed him to recognize himself as Caramel?
That’s right. He directly named him Caramel before, which suggests, at some level, he knows he is Caramel. So now, he must just see him, in human form, as Caramel. In other words, Ninth Master knows he is Caramel?
For a moment, Yan Jiyun was completely confused. If Ninth Master knew he was Caramel, then kissing him would be no different than teasing Caramel. If his guess was correct, didn’t that expose his identity as Caramel? Did Ninth Master really know he was Caramel, and Caramel was really him?
Time is precious, and since Ninth Master is already on his side, there’s no need to verify any further loyalties. He just wants to know whether the other knows he is Caramel. That isn’t hard to figure out.
When Ninth Master left the woods and returned to the villa, Yan Jiyun leapt down from the tree. It was pitch-black out here, and the wind made a wailing sound—utterly terrifying. He might as well wait inside.
Naturally, he didn’t take the usual route.
Ninth Master was standing on the balcony, gazing out toward the grove. He couldn’t say he was completely at ease with Yan Jiyun being out there alone. He just hadn’t expected his own actions earlier to have startled him so badly.
He sighed.
Just as he was about to light his cigar, he lowered his head and spotted Caramel poking his black head up over the edge of the balcony.
The cat that had vanished for an entire day suddenly reappeared—a real surprise for Ninth Master.
He had looked for Caramel—brought the cat to his company, and then he’d disappeared. He had people search the company and its surroundings, but he was nowhere to be found. In the end, he could only leave some food around the company, so that if Caramel returned he’d have something to eat.
“Caramel, how did you get back from the company?” Ninth Master said, delighted.
Yan Jiyun was still conflicting over the kiss from earlier, and now, getting so close to him again, felt quite contradictory. Of course, he hadn’t forgotten the reason for climbing up here—he wanted to know whether Ninth Master truly knew he was Caramel.
From Ninth Master’s current behavior, it was clear he did not know Caramel was Yan Jiyun.
Ninth Master tossed his cigar and matches aside and reached out to pick up the cat.
But Yan Jiyun sniffed his fingers and clothes, then suddenly let out a meow—completely different from the coquettish sounds Snow would make.
Ninth Master saw Caramel back up two steps; it was obvious. Caramel was angry.
He leaned in a bit, but Caramel let out a low growl and slapped his hand with a paw!
The first slap: That’s for petting another cat.
The second: That’s for looking for another cat.
The third: That’s for holding another cat.
The fourth: I just want to hit you!
For someone who’d never been slapped before, Ninth Master was surprised to find his newly adopted cat laying into him, though it didn’t hurt at all.
“I heard cats can always smell another cat’s scent—looks like you’re no exception.”
“All right, all right, stop hitting me. If you stop, I’ll never pet another cat again.”
Yan Jiyun didn’t wait for him to finish before padding inside, but of course, he heard every word.
Ninth Master glanced at his own hand, sighing. “Caramel, you really are a jealous thing.”
He glanced again at the little forest, where Yan Jiyun had disappeared—and still hadn’t emerged. Though he didn’t go in to scare him again, he did have his men search to make sure nothing happened overnight. After all, he’d just confessed, and he hadn’t expected such a reversal.
Ninth Master asked, “Where did you run off to today? I haven’t seen you all afternoon. Have you eaten?”
Yan Jiyun realized after that, yes, he was hungry.
Ninth Master fetched a towel to wipe his paws, and was surprised to find them quite clean, just with a dab of lawn mud.
“As expected, cats love cleanliness.”
Soon, the butler brought food and drinks. Caramel enjoyed the privilege of being pampered by Ninth Master.
After a few sips of water, Yan Jiyun leapt onto Ninth Master’s big bed, found a comfortable spot, and lay down.
Ever since returning, he kept observing Ninth Master. Judging by his words and actions, it really did seem that he didn’t know he was Yan Jiyun.
Did Ninth Master really kiss him simply out of affection?
Perhaps tired from the day, Ninth Master turned off the lights and lay down, sighing yet again.
He scratched Caramel’s chin with a finger. “Caramel, do you know how to win someone’s affection?”
Yan Jiyun’s neck stiffened. “……”
Ninth Master didn’t expect an answer. He just wanted to pour his feelings out to the darkness.
“In all my years, I’ve never truly cared for anyone. When I do, I just want to shelter them—am I wrong?”
“But tonight I frightened him.”
“He’s still hiding in the grove, hasn’t come out… What should I do? Is it really okay for me to just go to sleep like this?”
“But then, I can’t sleep. The first time I took the initiative to kiss someone, and it didn’t go at all how I imagined.”
Throughout this, the kissed Yan Jiyun remained rigid on the pillow, eyes tightly shut—Ninth Master’s face was far too close!
He’d been close to Qi Feng plenty of times before, but today was different.
Ninth Master hadn’t discovered that he was Yan Jiyun—so he really liked him? Romantically?
Was it just the character setup, or…? No, it had to be the setup. Otherwise, how else would Ninth Master’s overbearing personality play out?
He and Qi Feng were just teammates, having entered three instances together and worked in perfect sync. They were excellent partners.
Each time they entered a dangerous instance, who had time to think about things like love?
In short, this must be some trait the system forcibly imposed on Qi Feng’s character. He was just a teammate!
On that previous instance with Teacher Qu, hadn’t they kissed too? No need to make such a fuss—a little acting, that’s all.
Since Ninth Master’s setting is to like men, and the one he likes happens to be his capable partner, what’s wrong with playing along?
Given how these instances work, the system definitely won’t let Qi Feng retain Ninth Master’s memories from the game. Everything will be sealed afterward—no one will remember. Yan Jiyun won’t be mortified. He and Qi Feng will keep cooperating seamlessly.
With that thought, Yan Jiyun felt he’d untangled the problem. So what if he had to act a bit?
He relaxed and settled back onto the bed. It wasn’t like Ninth Master had never kissed Caramel—just never in human form. Doing it this way was just another slight variation.
Once he reasoned himself into it, Yan Jiyun rose from the bed and climbed onto Ninth Master’s chest, looking down at his lips from above.
He had never studied his lips so closely before, but now he noticed their fine shape—the upper lip slightly fuller than the lower, lips with a defined cupid’s bow. It was a classic handsome mouth, easy to lose oneself imagining a kiss.
Cough. He wasn’t a pervert; surely anyone would think so?
In previous instances, and even this time, Ninth Master always kissed too swiftly for him to notice.
If he had to keep acting, would there be more kissing?
He’d better get used to it in advance—practice makes perfect!
So, Yan Jiyun softly licked the lips of the supposedly sleeping Ninth Master.
It seemed like nothing at all—no taste. He licked again. Still tasteless.
Honestly, what was he so nervous about earlier?
Awakened by the licking, Ninth Master: “…”