Chapter 297: 【cat House】 Transaction
Nightfall arrived, the air slightly cool, thin mist rising on the road under the streetlights.
Master Yuan, having finished a day of hard work, stretched lazily and strolled slowly onto a fairly lively street, beginning to enjoy long-missed nightlife.
At this time, 10:18 PM, it wasn’t late. Vehicles still passed back and forth on the road, just not as many as daytime. On the street, hurried pedestrians appeared occasionally in twos and threes; as well as local Gai loafers who specifically roamed at night.
They wore trendy clothes, sported fashionable hairstyles, dyed their hair in all colors, had steel studs or silver rings on their faces and bodies, their gazes provocative or malicious as they looked around, occasionally kicking away a toad hopping on the street.
His teammate Lu Rang had once been a member of such a group. On Earth hometown, they were called: [Spirit Boyz]
After such a group of arm-in-arm, beer-bottle-wielding, howling and shrieking ruffians collided head-on with the solitary, calmly expressioned Yuan Zhu.
Was it because they sensed the opponent’s emotions were too flat, carrying a hint of proactive scamming; or did they feel the oppressive presence from the top of the food chain?
This group ultimately couldn’t act arrogant, smoothly veering off in a small arc collectively, proactively avoiding Yuan Zhu. After the instant shoulder brush, their nearly extinguished bravado reignited, one by one with unrestrained expressions reclaiming the road, continuing to strut about.
Hearing the arrogant laughter from behind, Yuan Zhu couldn’t help but sigh that youth was truly wonderful.
“Huh? This seems to be the first time since I transmigrated that I’ve enjoyed Running City’s night?”
Yuan Zhu recalled seriously; in the past few months, though he had been active at night multiple times, it was all hurried travel, never settling down to appreciate Running City’s night scenery. Instead, in neighboring Taixi City, he had deliberately spent two nights wandering around, experiencing the big city’s flair.
Snake Snake checked their boss’s [Daily Log] and responded: “You indeed have no nightlife in Running City; a big reason is the influence from your predecessor’s experiences, maintaining the habit of avoiding going out at night as much as possible.”
For ordinary residents, Running City’s nights are not safe. Besides the [Security Bureau]’s insufficient policing. Nighttime is also a high-frequency period for various supernatural phenomena; dangerous wild animals from the Misty Mountains roam, illegal transactions take cover under the night curtain, sewer system’s wild animals and goblins enter active periods, plus the increasingly common ‘spacetime docking anomalies’ in recent years.
Precisely because nighttime crime rates soar, Yuan Zhu, once just an ordinary person, rarely went out at night. After 11 PM, no matter the emergency, he firmly locked the door and slept, dealing with everything at dawn.
Tonight, he truly set aside all burdens, proactively embracing the darkness, wandering aimlessly on the main road. From afar, he saw many shops open not far away, with several mobile stalls under the streetlights.
“Running City’s evenings don’t seem so desolate, with every house shut tight and dead silent.”
Snake Snake: “Because our area is near the city center, relatively safer, and has more residents.”
Yuan Zhu didn’t approach the nearby stalls, instead arriving at a stop, waiting a long time before successfully hailing a taxi running late-night routes.
The driver was a scruffy-bearded, fierce-looking burly man, very much like a serial killer at night. Clearly visible at the handbrake was an inverted large machete wrapped in bandages, stained with blackened bloodstains. Who knows if it was for ‘haggling’ prices?
The driver gave Candle a sidelong glance and asked routinely: “Where to?”
“Cat Street!”
The driver said coldly: “3 yuan, pay upfront. No haggling, or get off please.”
“Uh…”
Candle, who was about to complain ‘so expensive,’ could only obediently shut up, tapped three yuan and handed it over. His heart bled; taxi fares were this pricey at night?! On Earth hometown, it’d be nearly a hundred.
At this moment, he desperately hoped his senior student would step up and make up for the sports car she owed him.
After taking the money, the driver wordlessly floored the accelerator. While speeding on the sparse but equally misty, dim streetlight, low-visibility midnight road; he frequently eyed Yuan Zhu’s every move through the rearview mirror.
This divided-attention behavior, using only minimal energy on driving, made Candle feel very unsafe: “Big Brother, why do you keep looking at me?”
The driver uncle was also straightforward; after thinking, he replied directly: “I’m worried you’ll harm me; lately there’ve been frequent robbers disguising as passengers to rob.”
Yuan Zhu: “…”
Fortunately, Cat Street wasn’t far; 15 minutes later, they arrived. After waving goodbye to the vigilant driver uncle, he stopped at the entrance of a midnight neon-flickering, bustling all-night street.
Though smaller in scale, this [Cat Street] with numerous externally hung neon signs had a bit of ‘little Taixi’ flavor.
Last time he came, he heard the whole street was influenced by [Cat House]’s style. And [Cat House] naturally benchmarked Taixi’s style. Now the whole Cat Street was a popular nighttime consumption spot in Running City.
It truly livened up at night, completely opposite to Running City’s other gloomy, dark streets.
He casually scanned and saw, besides A Miao’s [Cat House Bar], the street also had numerous bathhouses, bars, foot massage parlors, nightclubs, gambling dens, restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, massage parlors, fighting arenas, shooting ranges… all eating, drinking, playing, and fun covered.
Yuan Zhu: “So lively!”
Familiarly entering the bustling [Cat House Bar], Yuan Zhu went straight to the counter, called a cat-eared bartender, and flashed A Miao’s private card: “I want to see A Miao; business, inspection.”
The miss recognized Yuan Zhu and had heard the boss mention him, immediately nodding: “Miao Miao Jie is back, resting on the second floor; I’ll take you to her.”
Soon, under the envious gazes of nearby guests, Yuan Zhu went up to the second floor. After two turns, in a luxurious ‘living room + bedroom + office’ with walls hung full of mandatory weapons, he saw Miao Miao leisurely flipping through a fashion magazine.
Then, he couldn’t help calling: “Miao Miao!”
The gray-brown single ponytail girl looked up with a squint, drawling: “Oh… you, long time no see. ‘Yuan—Zhu,’ right?”
Seeing the long-missed girl, Yuan Zhu suddenly calmed down. He felt she was still so pretty and to his taste, fitting his aesthetics and heart; yet it didn’t seem that longed-for, his passion cooling rapidly, leaving only appreciation, and a desire to touch her legs to satisfy curiosity.
“Right, it’s me. Remember our previous agreement? I’m here to deliver mushrooms to you; need inspection?”
A Miao tossed the magazine aside, bounced up energetically, stretched lazily, and nodded: “Of course! I invested quite a few arms in you, only at cost price. The extra premium is in this batch; take it out for me to see! If quality passes, we continue cooperation. Oh, feedback on that batch I gave you?”
Yuan Zhu: “Uh… not sure. The goods you gave, Meng Xiyue took to sell; remember that one?”
A Miao glanced disdainfully: “Of course; how long has it been, I’m not senile. Meng Xiyue, [Knowledge School] student, quite ambitious; you, a faithless ‘Holy Church drifter,’ part-timing other small fry systems.”
She was very familiar with the [Shadow] aura on Yuan Zhu.
Candle hurriedly interrupted, taking out a prepared wooden box from [Soul Space], opening wide: “Cough cough, these are the mushrooms I collected for you; see if they meet requirements?”
Inside the wooden box were various medicinal herb fungi he collected from [Cicada City], as well as polluted mushrooms naturally grown from [Dream Hole] erosion.
A Miao was attracted by the ‘nightmare aura’ from the box, ignoring chit-chat with Yuan Zhu, leaning forward, bending to pick through with slender fingers.
Her unguarded action displayed a slim, long, fine-waisted yet ample figure, perky and firm. The pleasing curves made Yuan Zhu sigh she was worthy of being a ‘part-time underground idol.’ Generous and ample! Pretty, want to see more.
Sensing the hot gaze, A Miao didn’t look up, instead raising her left arm to flip Yuan Zhu the middle finger, reminding: “Watch your gaze, don’t lower my impression of you. Also, this batch of yours has messy origins; really don’t know how to evaluate?”
Yuan Zhu’s attention shifted back to the wooden box, curiously: “Any issues? I put in quite some effort to gather this many mushrooms.”
“I can tell you tried, but unfortunately no experience. My evaluation of this batch is mid-low; though mixed with plenty of precious ‘polluted medicinals,’ even precious ones don’t meet brewing conditions. Excluding the assorted ‘medicinals,’ few fungi qualify for wine, and with high impurities.”
She first removed [Insect City] system ‘polluted medicinals,’ picking only about ten pure ‘nightmare pollution wild fungi.’ Then screening for premium appearance, stable attributes, mild effects.
“Here, just these few qualify.”
In A Miao’s explanation, her [Brewing Technique] wasn’t effective on all polluted mushrooms.
On the contrary, if viewing all ‘nightmare pollution fungi’ as a spectrum or periodic table, A Miao’s [Brewing Technology] only worked on certain spectral bands or element types.
Thus after picking, only 7 types of ‘Cicada City wild mushrooms.’
“These qualify, but the brewed alcoholic beverages are only low-grade. Still can’t infuse these ‘alcoholic beverages’ with more precious mystical [Nightmare Script Kill].”
Yuan Zhu: “Script Kill?”
A Miao held up three fingers: “Nightmare system alcoholic beverages divide into three tiers: Low-grade, after drinking you’ll drunkenly dream to death, producing wonderful hallucinatory illusions, relaxing body and mind, experiencing brief fragmented bliss. After waking, splitting headache, unclear what happened, but lingering pleasure makes it addictive.”
“Mid-grade, side effects greatly reduced, pleasure time extended… Plus, can bind specific [Dreamland] to the alcoholic beverage as medium to log into [Dreamland] for higher hedonism. Thus higher mid-grade quality means longer stay in [Dreamland].”
“As for top-grade, supreme alcoholic beverages. No need to enter [Dreamland] for debt consumption; this one cup contains an independent world. A story, an adventure, a beautiful or terrifying stimulating scene… Seems same bottle, same story. But different choices in drunken dream trigger changes. One cup, one story, endlessly variable plot never gets boring. These memories retain after waking, clear as day.”
Yuan Zhu thought: Is this Du Ling’s own ‘single-player game’?
“Supreme fine wine records vaster worldviews, like stuffing a book inside. Same bottle, get drunk to continue previous save. Freely adventure, cultivate, explore in same or different dreams. Invite friends to share a supreme nightmare fine wine, jointly building a dream adventure.”
Yuan Zhu followed: “Then if we share a cup, can we meet in the dream?”
“…?”
A Miao raised an eyebrow: “Your gaze is malicious; if I drink with you, I’ll beat you in the dream! Bully you! Your nightmares are here! Your good days are over! I’ll repeatedly kill and whip your corpse! No mercy, so you remember vividly!”
