Chapter 1564: Chapter 308: A Long Night (Part 1)
Beta Town, Ninety-Nine Shop on Pedestrian Street.
Inside the San You Bookstore.
The embers in the small stove had turned a deep purple, and the spout of the red clay teapot atop it feebly exhaled wisps of pearly mist, sinking downward and deepening the stove’s darkened hue.
The amber-colored tea in the bowl had long since gone cold.
The Yellow Flowered Cat snorted loudly, rippling the surface of the tea and scattering the reflections embedded in its amber hues—a vision of sky-piercing green vines connecting two dinsions, where the silhouettes of young wizards, like ants, slowly ascended the base of the towering vine.
The Flower Cat twitched its whiskers, pulled its ears back, then stuck its rump out, drooped its shoulders, and stretched leisurely. Its fluffy tail swished aimlessly behind, resembling a wave of welco.
Outside the window, the moon glead faintly amid sparse stars.
It was well past midnight, with hardly a soul on the streets. The neighboring shops had long closed, leaving only the dim glow from one upstairs window of the slanted Wandering Bar across the street, feebly mirroring the light within the bookstore.
The Yellow Flowered Cat turned its head, glancing at the reclining chair not far behind it.
The owner of the San You Bookstore was snoozing contentedly, snoring softly, with his reading glasses perilously close to sliding off his nose, seemingly seconds away from plunging to the floor.
“Lots of old geezers die just like this—falling asleep and never waking up,” sneered the Yellow Flowered Cat, casting a malicious glare at Mr. Wu and mockingly declaring: “As they say, ‘Why sleep long in life when eternal rest awaits in death?’ What difference is there between keeping your eyes open and shutting them for good? Pretending is the most revolting act.”
The snoring from the reclining chair paused briefly.
Mr. Wu shifted slightly, half-raised his drooping eyelids, and glanced askance at the Flower Cat: “Done rambling?”
Then, he glanced at the ti.
“What a drawn-out night,” grumbled Mr. Wu.
The Yellow Flowered Cat’s fur bristled instantly: “You weren’t even sleeping! Why did you make watch over you all this ti?”
“This is the ritual of life—I’ve explained this many tis before.” The owner of the San You Bookstore adjusted his glasses, preventing them from slipping further, before answering slowly: “If you want to live as a human in this world, you must behave as one… Open eyes an wakefulness; closed eyes an slumber, and in sleep, naturally, you see nothing. These are the rules.”
“Besides, the unknown is the most beautiful experience we can have—it’s the root of all magic and art… Open your eyes and turn the unknown into the known, and life loses its charm. Just like how I understand the sources of all problems but choose not to solve them… When you reach my level, you’ll grasp the aning of these words.”
“Bullshit!” growled the Yellow Flowered Cat, spitting out a furball in frustration.
“See,” remarked Mr. Wu with a grin, watching the furball roll into the depths of the bookshelf with satisfaction, “you’ve also grasped the essence of living… A cat should nap idly, cough up furballs occasionally, chase mice when busy, and keep an eye on the shop.”
The Yellow Flowered Cat wanted to retort further, but a sudden commotion of hurried footsteps ca from outside.
It turned its head.
Through the clear glass window, under the sparse light outside, it could see a group of wizards garbed in pale robes passing by hastily. A dozen dimly glowing orbs floated around them, illuminating a small area nearby.
This was the third patrol team to pass the storefront tonight.
But unlike regular patrolling wizards, those in pale robes carried large slung bags on their shoulders, filled with writhing shadows. Each ti a glowing orb extinguished, one wizard would pull a frog from the bag, recite a spell, and conjure a new orb.
The frog would then turn to ash under the incantation.
“It seems the school is truly short-handed now,” remarked the owner of the San You Bookstore, lifting the teapot from the stove, pouring a small bowl of tea, blowing on it, taking a sip, and sighing deeply: “The young ones from the Northern District haven’t even been provided decent law books before being sent to patrol.”
“Isn’t it because that brat caused trouble again?!” snapped the Yellow Flowered Cat, withdrawing its gaze and yelling at the shop owner: “I’ve said countless tis not to let him roam around… If he hadn’t stirred up chaos at the museum, would the school be short of manpower now?”
Mr. Wu took another small sip of tea.
“Did you catch those two mice?” He wisely abandoned the argunt—sparring with the Flower Cat over Zheng Qing’s training plans tonight would an sacrificing any hope of a nap—so he shifted the topic to the cat: “If I were you, I’d keep my sights broader. Running circles in this town won’t catch those two rodents.”
Before Zheng Qing’s last explosion, the Rat Immortal had solemnly assured the Yellow Flowered Cat that the mini secret realm was entirely safe, and that Zheng Qing and the witches’ exploration activities posed no risks. The Yellow Flowered Cat had relayed the sa assurance to Mr. Wu.
Then, Nicolas, the Mother of the Mountain Goat of the Forest, and the Sacred Lazy One, Satoguya, descended in unison, leading to Zheng Qing’s glorious explosion. The incident left the Yellow Flowered Cat thoroughly humiliated before Mr. Wu.
The two mice fled the scene quickly, leaving the Yellow Flowered Cat searching long and hard without managing to catch either the Rat Immortal or Fatty Rui’s tails. Lately, with various events unfolding both inside and outside the school, the cat’s focus on the mouse hunt had waned.
Now, hearing the bookstore owner suddenly bring up this matter, the Yellow Flowered Cat instantly beca alert.
“What are you scheming?” It instinctively glanced at the cupboard where dried fish were hidden, its tail stiffening like a feather duster, warily exclaiming: “…They’re not ordinary mice! You have to give more ti!”
“You’re not an ordinary cat either.” Mr. Wu chuckled, his tone shifting to another topic entirely: “…By the way, did those young ones in the Northern District discover sothing? Waves of them keep rushing back.”
Outside the window, yet another group of Northern District wizards hurried by, lugging bags stuffed with frogs toward a specific direction.
The Yellow Flowered Cat’s thoughts were disrupted by the shopkeeper’s leaping conversational topics, its anger and argunts forgotten, now intrigued by the topic’s thread. “These groups don’t seem to be patrolling the town. It looks like they’re patrolling Silent Forest… Could they have found sothing interesting in the woods?”
Speaking of which, it lowered its head and began calculating with its fluffy paws.
“Not the Black Tide—the little female demon isn’t ready yet,” After a mont, the Yellow Flowered Cat shook its head, its gaze toward the window growing more curious: “…Sothing that could shield itself from my divinations? At least two Big Wizards must be interfering with the heavens’ secrets.”
“Don’t you plan to follow them and take a look?” Mr. Wu placed the teapot back onto the stove, egging the cat on.
The Yellow Flowered Cat cast him a suspicious glance, sensing so hidden agenda in the suggestion: “What sche are you up to again?”
The owner of the San You Bookstore calmly stared at it: “I just want to sleep soundly through the night… It’s been ages since I last had a proper sleep.”
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