The spacious office was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Long Que and the young man with glasses both looked utterly dumbfounded.
Although Pei Shiyi had spoken very softly, everyone in the office possessed exceptional hearing and had clearly caught his words.
Long Que stammered, “Did we even mention this was the director…?”
The young man with glasses replied, “…I think I did.”
Together, they cast horrified glances at Pei Shiyi. Boss, you just called the highest authority in this building a dog!
The director straightened up, lowered his gaze, and gave a half-smirk that didn’t quite reach his lips. “My apologies for not giving prior notice, but sir, your scent of disregarding rules is far too strong.”
Long Que: …She knew the boss was about to unleash his sarcasm.
Pei Shiyi covered the skin that had been scorched by the other’s breath and let out a cold laugh.
Winged races had always considered neck-nuzzling an intimate gesture between lovers. Therefore, a stranger approaching too close to the neck was either an offense or an act of frivolity. Though Pei Shiyi knew the other party hadn’t done it intentionally, ingrained racial habits were hard to break. This physiological reaction directly soured his mood.
Getting that close was either a provocation or outright disrespect.
Pei Shiyi narrowed his eyes, pressing his fingertip against his skin, barely managing to suppress the wave of discomfort.
The director lifted his chin. “He lacks complete documentation. Reject his application.”
Long Que: “…Boss, get a grip. The paperwork can be supplemented. His application clearly states he just emerged from the mountains last month and had no idea about our regulations. Besides, you’re the one who set the rule. Applicants have up to three months after human contact to complete the process.”
The director fell silent, swept his gaze over the group, then turned and walked out.
Long Que breathed a sigh of relief. “…That was our director. He’s a bit… well, due to his race, he’s rather aloof. It’s not arrogance. He’s just strict when it comes to official matters. As for the documentation he mentioned, anyone capable of stable shapeshifting needs to complete it. It’s basically a risk assessment. Don’t worry about it. If you don’t mind, we can handle it right now. Once the paperwork is done, we can proceed with the review this afternoon. Then the funding and support team will be ready immediately.”
Pei Shiyi smiled. “Let’s go then.” As for the director? It wasn’t like he’d have to see him every day while running a cat café. Out of sight, out of mind.
Following Long Que, he entered the adjacent room, filled out a few forms, and went through a series of instrument checks. With that, the procedure was complete. The final report would be printed and stored in the archives.
Long Que said, “The results will be ready within twenty minutes. In the meantime, let’s discuss the Zhujian issue.”
She pushed open the door to her Office 6607 and invited Pei Shiyi to take a seat.
The mentioned Zhujian shuddered, trembling as he stammered, “W-wait a minute! If this is about solving employment issues, I should have a choice, too, right?… I don’t want to work at a cat café…”
There were more failed cat cafés in Yuchuan City than one could count on both hands. If he went, he’d likely be unemployed the moment he got hired! Besides, aside from room and board, cat cafés offered no benefits. The wages wouldn’t even match what he made from street vending!
He’d rather die than go!
Long Que shot him a sidelong glance and said bluntly, “Know your place! Yesterday, you set up a stall in a busy area. But because your cultivation is lacking, you revealed your true form in front of several people, causing a minor panic. The director had to bring you back. According to our rules, the minimum penalty is a fine of over thirty thousand. If you don’t want to work at the cat café, that’s fine. Can you pay the money?”
Thirty thousand?! He might as well sell himself!
Zhujian: “…I choose to work at the cat café.”
“Even if you want to go, it’s not guaranteed,” Long Que rolled her eyes, then turned to Pei Shiyi with a gentle tone. “What do you think of Zhujian here?”
Zhujian, as a mythical beast, had a long and splendid tail. When sitting or lying down, it coiled around his body. When walking, he held it in his mouth. Overall, he actually resembled a cat quite a bit.
Pei Shiyi leaned back in his chair, squinted his eyes with a smile, and reached out to Zhujian. “Come here, to me.”
Zhujian walked over, his tail drooping and dragging on the ground as he approached Pei Shiyi.
This Zhujian had the physique of a classic predator—slender limbs and a build comparable to a large dog. The coin-like patterns on his body gave him a fierce yet aesthetically pleasing appearance, like an exceptionally beautiful leopard. With such looks, he was probably considered quite handsome among his kind.
If he were to transform into a cat, he’d likely resemble a sleek and wild leopard cat.
Pei Shiyi was quite satisfied with Zhujian’s appearance. As for his temperament, it seemed decent so far. After all, Zhujian was a natural-born mythical beast and had spent some time in the human world, so interacting with people shouldn’t be an issue.
Zhujian couldn’t help but purr, closing his eyes and rubbing against Pei Shiyi’s palm.
Long Que exclaimed in surprise, “He really likes you.”
Although she had felt an immediate affinity for Pei Shiyi at first sight, that was merely a tribute to his looks from a superficial admirer. She hadn’t expected a fierce mythical beast like Zhujian to let down his guard around a stranger.
Many mythical beasts possess an innate instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm, instinctively drawing close to or distancing themselves from other beings. For Zhujian to warm up to Pei Shiyi at the first meeting indicated that he sensed Pei Shiyi was gentle and harmless.
Long Que thought optimistically: It’s a good thing someone like him is opening a cat café. He probably won’t exploit young monsters by flaunting his cultivation, especially since non-humans are different from humans. They aren’t as prone to changing their hearts.
After just a few strokes, Zhujan was already so entranced he forgot he was a mythical beast and not just a cat.
Pei Shiyi asked, “What’s your name? How old are you?”
Zhujian replied dizzily, “My name is Tong Qian, and I’m exactly one hundred years old.”
The name suited the coin patterns on Zhujian’s body perfectly.
Pei Shiyi gave a soft hum of acknowledgment. “Still young, then.”
Mythical beasts have long lifespans, with some races not reaching adulthood until several hundred years old. For Zhujian, one hundred years was merely the beginning of maturity, though he could no longer be considered a “child laborer”.
Pei Shiyi moved his hand to the top of Tong Qian’s head, stroking downward along his fur. “Let me see what you look like as a cat, alright?”
Tong Qian obediently curled up. His original form was already leopard-like, and the transformation merely shrank his body, turning his ox-like ears into cat ears. As the mystical energy dissipated, a miniature leopard, about the size of a domestic cat, crouched in place.
Just as Pei Shiyi had imagined, Tong Qian’s transformed appearance was indistinguishable from a leopard cat. His meow was slightly deeper and more robust than the sweet, soft cries of typical cats. Unlike the plump orange cat at home, Tong Qian was leaner. After shrinking, his fur took on a yellowish hue, with the black patterns remaining distinct and clear.
Tong Qian remained in this form with ease, hopping onto the table and crouching in front of Pei Shiyi. “Is this how it is?”
Pei Shiyi searched for images of leopard cats online and compared them to Tong Qian. They were almost identical. Tong Qian even appeared more magnificent than the carefully selected showcase cats.
He asked, “Is it tiring to maintain this form?”
Tong Qian shook his head. “Not at all. Back when my cultivation was weak, I stayed in this form all year round to eat the cat food people left out. It wasn’t the least bit exhausting.”
Pei Shiyi asked curiously, “Is cat food tasty?”
Long Que: “…”
Your focus is really something else.
Tong Qian began to complain to him, “It’s not tasty at all, Boss! Those humans barely scrape by themselves. The money they spend on cat food is pinched bit by bit. If they buy good cat food, they can’t afford much, and the stray cats that don’t get any have to go hungry. The taste of that cat food…” He made a human-like expression of disgust.
“But it’s still better than nothing. Without them feeding us, who knows how many cats would freeze to death in a single winter.”
Pei Shiyi gently rubbed Tong Qian’s head.
Tong Qian looked at Pei Shiyi with round, teary eyes. “Boss, do you pay wages? I’m so poor. In this society, without money, you can’t even take a step…”
Pei Shiyi never expected Tong Qian to be such a chatterbox. He was forcibly subjected to a torrent of “poverty woes” until, finally, Pei Shiyi’s risk assessment was completed. Long Que needed to take the team to inspect the cat café, which rescued Pei Shiyi from the situation.
The group left the Supernatural Management Bureau and headed to the cat café.
As soon as they left, a white-haired young man rushed out from the office opposite Room 6607, holding two forms in his hand. Without knocking, he barged into the neighboring office.
The office doorplate read: “Head Office.”
The white-haired young man slammed the two sheets of paper onto the only desk in the office.
“Bo Jin, stop sleeping! Something big has happened!”
Bo Jin lifted his head, his expression utterly lifeless.
The white-haired young man exclaimed, “The one who just had the risk assessment report was classified as red-level! So red it’s practically purple!”
Bo Jin languidly narrowed his eyes. “I know.”
Even he couldn’t discern the other’s true form. In terms of cultivation, the other was likely no weaker than him.
The white-haired young man was frantic. “Don’t look so miserable, okay? Red-level! The kind that could make the heavens collapse and the earth split with a wave of the hand. Take this seriously! It’s really dangerous! According to regulations, someone has to check in at his place every day for the first three months after he arrives in the human world, to supervise and assist with his daily life and confirm there are no issues.”
The three months were an observation period. If no problems arose, he could be stamped as “stable”. Afterward, he would be treated like any other being, without interfering in his life. If there were issues… then they’d have to find a way to resolve them.
Bo Jin, of course, knew this. He had gone through the same process when he first arrived in the human world. Without even lifting his eyelids, he said, “Then assign someone to do it.”
The white-haired young man said, “I’ve assessed the situation. Aside from you, no one can match him.”
Bo Jin finally gave him a proper look. “What do you mean?”
The white-haired young man replied, “Nothing much. It means you’re the one who has to check in.” That was a boss on the same level as their leader. Who would dare follow him around every day?
Bo Jin immediately recalled the scene earlier in Room 6607. Clearly, he and that “red-level” individual did not get along.
He was the cold sneer, while the other was clearly the heated mockery. Put them together, and you had the perfect recipe for sarcasm. In less than three sentences, they would likely escalate to a war of words, which would eventually turn into an armed conflict, plunging both the Cat Café and the Supernatural Management Bureau into dire straits.
Bo Jin said, “I’m not going.”
The white-haired young man slapped a red form in front of him. “Whether you want to or not, you’re going. Listen carefully. That Pei Shiyi is a phoenix in his true form. The phoenix clan vanished from the world eight hundred years ago. He might very well be the last one left in existence. According to the Rare Species Protection Act, he’s classified as critically endangered.” In these times of dwindling spiritual energy, the birth rates of all divine beasts had plummeted, placing most of them in the endangered category. The phoenix had it even worse. They were once thought to be extinct.
“Red-level danger combined with extreme rarity—boss, in all the years our bureau has existed, we’ve never encountered a case like this. Do you really think you can refuse? Who else would dare take this on? He’s both rare and ferocious. And birds are the hardest to deal with. If you piss one off, won’t you just get incinerated by a single breath of fire? With such a heavy responsibility, who in the entire bureau is more suited than you?”
Why did such a creature even exist? Rare, beautiful, and incredibly powerful.
Oh, right.
The white-haired young man glanced at Bo Jin. This one was no different.
A Zhulong. The only one in the entire world.
Rare creatures should get along well, right? The white-haired young man thought to himself: With so many shared topics, surely they wouldn’t end up fighting.
Author’s Note:
Rare, beautiful, and incredibly powerful.
This part should be @Giant Panda @Siberian Tiger.
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wannaberecluse On SRTT Chapter 50.1