252. I Suspect You’re Taking Advantage of Me
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Lilith had no idea what on earth was happening.
It seemed like overnight, half of the pedestrians had vanished from the streets, every household had locked their doors tighter than a vault, and even the people who used to invite her over for free meals now looked at her with disdain, some even going out of their way to avoid her.
She suddenly realized that no one was feeding her anymore.
Sure, she could drag her harem along to rummage through trash cans, but she was the great Witch Lilith! How could she stoop so low to eat that leftover garbage?
Then she remembered Lin Nan, but when she returned to Lin Nan’s grandfather’s house, she found that Lin Nan had mysteriously vanished.
After scoring two meals at her grandfather’s place, she discovered that the cat food Lin Nan had brought was expired, and the grandfather’s policy for feeding cats was leftover soup mixed with rice.
As a noble witch, she simply couldn’t accept leftover food!
After gathering some intel from Lin Nan’s relatives, Lilith took off again, trying to track Lin Nan down.
Two days later, Lilith finally arrived at the only road leading from the small town to the county, but found it blocked. A couple of adult males in vests were suspiciously eyeing everyone, checking temperatures for anyone trying to enter or exit the town.
“Cat?”
Lilith’s presence was quickly noted, and one thirty-something guy approached her with a thermometer: “Come here, we need to check your temperature before you pass.”
“???”
Lilith was totally baffled.
“38 degrees, you’re running a fever! You need to be quarantined.”
“???”
WTF, I’m a cat! What’s wrong with 38 degrees? And does that thermometer even work on cats?!
Luckily, Lilith was currently a cat and didn’t feel like arguing with this dude, so she just sped past the checkpoint.
But beyond the checkpoint lay a long, seemingly endless road.
After a few more days, she finally made it to the county where Lin Nan was supposed to be, but to her surprise, this city felt festive and cheerful, even though there were almost no pedestrians in sight.
Everyone inside was hiding at home, happily enjoying their New Year’s Eve.
With the combination of New Year’s Eve and a pandemic, it felt like a ghost town outside, with only a sad black cat wandering the deserted streets.
She had never felt this down and out in her life. After nearly a week without a proper meal, she was getting her water from the public toilet faucets. She wanted to act cute and beg for food from passersby, but she seriously couldn’t see a soul.
“I’m so hungry… Am I really going to d*e here, the great Lilith?”
She had no magic left, and if she died, she would turn into a wandering spirit. Without magic, she couldn’t use reincarnation spells to take over someone else’s body, and she’d just be a light in the night, easy prey for hunters from parallel worlds.
Lilith started retracing the route she had previously scouted while hiding in a cat bag, all the way from Lin Nan’s urban village to that inn, and finally to Chen Yao’s house.
She hadn’t caught a whiff of Lin Nan in the first two spots, but here, through a door, she could faintly hear the sound of Lin Nan talking inside.
“Meow!” She excitedly pressed against the iron gate, clawing at it and screaming, “Lin Nan! I’m starving! Hurry up and come out to serve me!”
“Lin Nan! Get me a bath!”
“Lin…” Remembering her misery from these past days, she choked up, “I’ll never be picky again…”
In the living room, Lin Nan, who was focused on her New Year’s Eve dinner, suddenly perked up her head. She thought she heard a familiar cat sound.
But the TV was blaring at full volume, her tipsy uncle was singing like a rock star to the Spring Festival Gala, and the room was a cacophony, making it impossible to tell where that meowing was coming from.
Auntie was smiling, watching her husband’s drunken antics, and unusually, she didn’t intervene. She turned to Chen Yao, who was chugging glass after glass of baijiu, and couldn’t help but say, “You’ve had enough! Do you plan on going crazy like your dad?”
“Burp.” Chen Yao let out a loud belch, staring blankly with dazed eyes.
Lin Nan stood up, puzzled by her aunt’s look, and opened the door, only to have a shadow dart into the house and cling to her leg.
She looked down to see a filthy black cat, tears welling in its big round eyes.
“Lin Nan, I’m hungry…”
“Cola?”
The black cat nodded like a bobblehead.
Lin Nan looked at the wretched-looking Cola with disdain and turned to Auntie to ask, “Can we keep a cat at home?”
“A stray cat?”
“This is my cat, named Cola. I left it in the countryside; I have no idea how it got here,” Lin Nan said, utterly confused.
Auntie stood up and peeked at the poor Cola with a gentle smile: “If you’re keeping a cat, just make sure it doesn’t scratch the sofa.”
She grabbed a small bowl from the kitchen, threw in a few random dishes, mixed in some porridge, and placed it next to Lin Nan at the door.
Cola wasted no time releasing Lin Nan’s leg and rushed to the bowl, digging in happily.
“It won’t, it’s very smart.”
“Great, I’ve been wanting a pet for ages; Cola, right?” Auntie knelt down, watching Cola eat with a grin, “I’ll look after it for a while, and I guarantee it’ll be fat and happy.”
Just focus on dating my son properly; don’t think about anything else.
Lin Nan smiled gratefully but turned around only to see Chen Yao’s head planted face-first on the coffee table.
“You take Chen Yao to the bedroom; I’ll wash Cola later.”
“Okay.”
Lin Nan didn’t think twice, walked over to Chen Yao, leaned down to check on him, and gently patted his cheek: “You’re not asleep yet, are you?”
Chen Yao squinted, his dazed eyes wide open, shaking his head: “Not yet, just… tired.”
“Look what happens when you drink too much baijiu.” Lin Nan said with a helpless smile, “Come on, let’s go to the back and sleep.”
“Help me up.”
She grabbed Chen Yao’s arm, and as he leaned on her strength, he started to rise, but before he could stabilize himself, he wobbled and collapsed against her.
This guy must weigh at least 140-150 pounds! Lin Nan staggered back several steps from the force of the impact before managing to stabilize him.
“You’re so heavy…” Just holding Chen Yao up was exhausting, and when she turned to find help, she saw Auntie had already dragged half-full Cola into the bathroom, and Uncle was lying back on the couch, staring blankly at the Spring Festival Gala on TV.
No one was there to help her.
Lin Nan could only ask Chen Yao, “Can you walk? If you can’t, I’ll just bring a bamboo mat over and you can sleep on the floor in the living room.”
“I can walk; I can walk.” Chen Yao hurriedly straightened up.
“I suspect you’re just taking advantage of me…”
