Since the dessert shop opened, business had been consistently good. Although it was busy, Yun Manman always prepared limited quantities of ingredients, so once they sold out, that was it. As a result, it never got overwhelmingly busy.
As the business got on track, Yun Manman became more concerned about finding the Little Snake's owner. Recently, several people had sent her private messages about her online post, claiming the pet was theirs.
One person described the Little Snake's characteristics, and Yun Manman nodded. Sure, but wasn't that obvious from the photo?
Yun Manman was cautious: "What does the Little Snake usually eat as its main food?"
The person replied: "Mice!"
Yun Manman glanced at the Little Snake happily munching on beef on the table and shook her head, continuing to ask: "How long is the Little Snake, and how much does it weigh?"
The person stammered, unable to answer, and then made something up: "It's been missing for over two weeks now, so it must have grown quite a bit. The measurements I took before aren't accurate anymore!"
Yun Manman promptly clicked the X on the chat window.
This person was just trying to get something for free.
Most of the other people who messaged her had seen how beautiful the Little Snake was and wanted to pretend to be its owner to take it home.
Some even went as far as asking Yun Manman how much she would sell it for.
Fortunately, Cat Yun's sharp eyes had identified all of these attempts.
Yun Manman crouched in front of the table, stroking the Little Snake's head, and said, "If your owner doesn't show up this week, I'll keep you!"
"Then I'll give you a nice name."
She felt that if she named it, the Little Snake would become her pet.
That's why she hadn't given it a name yet.
But after spending this time with the Little Snake, Yun Manman couldn't help feeling a bit attached.
Such a beautiful and well-behaved snake, and importantly, one that didn't eat mice.
Although it was a bit picky, only liking beef, and preferring medium-rare beef at that...
How did Yun Manman know this?
She had figured out the Little Snake's preferences through trial and error while cooking beef.
The Little Snake affectionately licked Yun Manman's fair fingers with its forked tongue and wrapped its tail around her wrist.
This was its favorite action.
When it wasn't draped over Yun Manman's shoulders, it was coiled around her wrist, looking like a white jade bracelet that made Yun Manman's skin appear even fairer.
At night, when it was time to sleep, it stayed close to Yun Manman, truly clingy.
When Lu Qi regained consciousness, his first reaction was a throbbing pain in his head.
The pulsating, swelling pain felt as if his entire brain was being torn apart.
This familiar pain quickly made him realize he was in the midst of mental disorder.
He had probably just awakened from a mental power lockdown.
That day, he had followed the Hate Beasts to the outskirts of Lili Town. Seeing their suspicious behavior, he decided to observe what they were up to.
He didn't expect to be discovered by the group of Hate Beasts.
Being discovered wasn't a problem; he could easily handle these stupid Hate Beasts on his own.
But unexpectedly, these Hate Beasts seemed fearless, advancing instead of retreating, extremely ferocious.
Lu Qi wasn't afraid of them, of course, and rushed in to fight them.
When he felt his mental power starting to lose control, he realized that the dark mist floating in the air had infectious and inducing properties.
Lu Qi could only endure the discomfort brought on by his mental power disorder and quickly dispose of the group of Hate Beasts before leaving the area.
Just as he was preparing to hide and lock down his mental power to avoid harming ordinary citizens, he sensed the aura of a blackened beast person.
It was coming from Lili Town.
Lu Qi's consciousness wasn't very clear at that point, but he kept thinking about eliminating the Hate Beasts and not letting them harm ordinary citizens.
So he flew hazily towards the direction of the blackened beast person's aura.
But suddenly, the scent of the blackened beast person faded. At this point, disoriented and unable to support himself, the singing snake fell from the sky, crashing onto the rooftop terrace of a female feline beast person.
Lu Qi still remembered the memories of being a small snake, after all, the small snake was him.
Landing in the fertilizer was an accident.
Liking to cling to the feline beast person was because her mental power made the snake comfortable.
Not leaving this place was because the snake's instincts felt it was safe here.
Yes, that's right.
Everything was because he had locked down his mental power, had no rationality, only animal instincts.
It had nothing to do with him, Lu Qi.
Lu Qi wanted to forget about such embarrassing things immediately.
In the darkness, the little white snake opened its red eyes, looking at the slowly rising and falling orange belly of the cat in front of it, and couldn't help but want to back away to create some distance.
The feeling of being so close to something fluffy made Lu Qi feel like he was getting goosebumps.
But as soon as he created some distance, the pain in his head intensified again. With no choice, he could only stay put, feeling the cat's warm breath.
Lu Qi quickly discovered that the mental power unconsciously emitted by this feline beast person called Yun Manman could guide his disordered mental power.
The dark substance contaminating his mental power was disappearing at a very slow rate under the influence of this unconscious, faint mental power.
Although it was slow, it was very effective.
This delighted Lu Qi immensely.
Years of mental power disorder had made him negative and world-weary. During times of peace in Kashida, he had countless times wondered about the meaning of his existence.
After all, he had no family, and in peacetime, powerful beast people like him were actually potential major crises for the country and its people.
If he couldn't control his mental power and it completely went berserk, there would be no one who could kill him.
Like this mental power outburst, if he hadn't sealed his mental power in time, the feline beast person in front of him would have been devoured.
He knew that His Majesty and his brothers were all looking for ways to treat mental power disorder, but repeated failures made him increasingly discouraged.
Even the best guide from the neighboring Elf race had no way to help him, and was even accidentally injured by his chaotic mental power during one guidance session.
Lu Qi felt his temporarily calmed mental power and looked at Yun Manman in front of him with confusion.
Was she a guide?
It seemed not.
The conditions for becoming a guide were extremely strict, requiring mental power strength above B-grade, plus mental power purity of over 70% to even have a chance.
Even if one's mental power met the standards, there was still more than a 50% failure rate during the training process, unable to successfully perform guidance.
The mental power emanating from Yun Manman told Lu Qi that her mental power strength definitely hadn't reached C-grade.
Beast-people with spiritual power below C-level find it difficult to control the overflow of spiritual power from their spiritual sea.
The overflowing spiritual power is almost wasted and cannot be used.
Only spiritual power actively emitted from the spiritual sea has offensive, defensive, and sensing effects.
This feline beast-person seemed quite foolish, with such a small beast form that it wouldn't even be enough to fill one's tooth gap if swallowed.
She ran a tiny dessert shop, selling some peculiar foods.
However, the facts were right in front of him. The small amount of spiritual power she emitted already had a soothing effect, even working on a beast-person with powerful spiritual power like himself.
A new method for treating spiritual power disorder might be found through her...
She had also saved him.
But she was a feline beast-person.
Yet she had saved him and could even soothe spiritual power!
She was a feline beast-person!!
Lu Qi was wrestling with conflicting thoughts. The fact that the beast-person before him was feline repeatedly made him want to give up on treatment and once again think, "Maybe I should just forget it, there's not much point in living anyway."
Lu Qi, who had just regained consciousness, was still unable to return to his original form or human form. His spiritual power was still very fatigued. Listening to the cat's soothing breathing, he unconsciously fell asleep.
His last thought before sleeping was wondering when his foolish subordinates would find him.
On the southern side of Lili Town.
Lu Xi, the foolish subordinate, listened to the soldier's report and fell silent for a moment.
They had searched all the places where canine beast-people lived bordering Gaofu Town but hadn't found any little snake like Lu Qi.
He had thought that even if the general who hated feline beast-people so much lost consciousness, he would still avoid places with many feline beast-people, which is why he started searching from this side.
He never expected to find nothing at all.
Could it be that the general had overcome his psychological barrier and was hiding in a place with feline beast-people?
It seemed they would have to search the northern areas where feline beast-people mainly gathered tomorrow.
But what if they couldn't find the general even after searching the entire Lili Town?
Lu Xi worried internally, trying to convince himself that the general must be fine.
At the border.
In the brightly lit reception hall, Lan Yuxiang stood with his military uniform neat and his back straight, looking down at the messages on his communication device, seemingly waiting for someone.
Soon, the crisp sound of military boots on the floor echoed, and Lan Yuxiang looked up at the person entering the doorway, stepping forward to greet them.
He respectfully raised his hand in a military salute: "Greetings, Major General Yan!"
Yan Ye's golden eyes were tinged with nonchalance as he patted Lan Yuxiang's shoulder with his white-gloved hand.
"Drop the formalities. Tell me what's going on with your general. Can't even handle a small beast-hating creature now?"
"His Majesty even had to urgently dispatch me here."
Lan Yuxiang was quite familiar with Yan Ye and, after some consideration, decided it was best not to tell the Major General the truth.
If His Majesty hadn't told him, then they, as subordinates, shouldn't speak out of turn.
So he only touched on the less important aspects: "The general's spiritual power is disordered again, making him unsuitable for frontline command."
Yan Ye knew about Lu Qi's spiritual power disorder but had heard that the latest soothing agent was being used. Was it ineffective?
Yan Ye frowned slightly, staring thoughtfully at Lan Yuxiang.
Lan Yuxiang stood there, his expression as calm and gentle as ever.
Yan Ye's furrowed brow suddenly relaxed, and the corners of his mouth turned upward: "Alright then. I guess I'll have to assist you for a while, Lieutenant Colonel Lan."
Lan Yuxiang secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, the Major General didn't press further, or he wouldn't have known how to continue.
"Yes, thank you for your trouble, Major General."
Yan Ye leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, watching the young man turn to leave. The smile that had been hanging on his lips disappeared.
He slightly pursed his lips and opened his communication device, sending a message to his adjutant: "Look into what's been happening in the army recently."
Lan Yuxiang himself didn't know that he avoided eye contact when lying.
Something must have happened to Lu Qi.
If he couldn't investigate the general directly, at least he could look into the recent situation in the army.
Yan Ye was browsing messages on his communication device when a pop-up advertisement suddenly appeared: "Shocking! This dessert shop can actually soothe spiritual power!"
He muttered, "What is this? Is this how they advertise nowadays?"
He casually clicked on it and reported it, citing "false advertising" as the reason.