Jin Luo anxiously stood protectively in front of Manman: "Meow meow..." Call the police and leave here! This monster is not human!
Manman trusted Jin Luo completely and immediately ran to the bedroom to get her phone to call the police, but a vine at an odd angle wrapped around her feet, causing her to fall to the ground.
"Fertilizer, fertilizer..."
Jin Luo frantically bit at the vines entangling Manman, but they were tough and difficult to break.
He turned and pounced on the monster: "Meow!" Let go of Manman!
"Jin Luo! Don't go!" Manman cried out in shock and panic.
Clearly the dairy cat was no match for this monster. He was grabbed by a vine and thrown to the ground, motionless.
Manman screamed at the top of her lungs: "Jin Luo!"
But her limbs were all entangled by the monster's vines, unable to move.
"Fertilizer, fertilizer..." The monster approached Manman, its vines flailing wildly.
Just then, a crescent-shaped white light appeared between the vines, easily slicing through them like paper where Jin Luo had been unable to bite through moments before.
The monster retreated in pain, hiding to the side.
A human-shaped shadow had appeared in the living room, holding a gleaming silver sword: "Will you tie yourself up and come with me, or should I knock you out and carry you bound?"
The monster angrily lashed out with its vines: "Fertilizer, fertilizer!"
The young man dressed all in black swiftly cut through the monster's vines in a few quick moves, then produced a rope from somewhere and tied the monster up like a dumpling.
"...You're out of your mind. Coming to someone's home looking for fertilizer is truly impolite."
Seeing the danger was over, Manman crawled over to the corner and held the motionless dairy cat in her arms.
Tears fell from her eyes like beads off a broken string: "Jin Luo? Luo Luo? Are you okay?"
The cat in her arms stirred slightly, its voice weak: "...Meow." I'm fine.
"One of your kind?" The young man who had defeated the monster approached Manman, looking at the ragged cat in her arms.
Manman looked warily at the handsome young man before her: "Who are you? What was that thing just now?"
The young man barely glanced at her, raising a finger to send a faint light into the dairy cat's body. The cat's breathing became stronger.
"You don't need to know. Just go back to sleep."
As his words fell, Manman felt drowsiness overcome her. She collapsed to the ground holding the dairy cat, fast asleep.
The young man leapt between buildings carrying the vine monster. Suddenly, a phone call came through: "Shi Chen? Did you take care of it?"
Shi Chen's face was expressionless: "Yes."
"A girl and a cat saw it. I've sent you the address." Humans who discovered monsters needed Yi Yu to perform memory erasure.
Yi Yu scratched his head on the other end of the call: "Oh, okay, I'll head over right away. Captain Yan said in the east..."
"Beep beep beep..."
Shi Chen quickly pressed the red button.
The world was peaceful again. He could go home and sleep with his wife now.
He had worked enough for tonight. The rest of the time was meant to be spent with Yueyue.
That dairy cat just now had some spiritual awareness. It just needed a little push.
Too few of their kind were able to take human form. Shi Chen couldn't help but give him a hand.
Hmm, this must be what Yueyue calls helping others.
Under the night sky, the young man walked home with a spring in his step.
"Meow!" Manman, run quickly! Danger!
Jin Luo's eyes snapped open, only to meet Manman's worried gaze: "What's wrong? You slept for so long, I couldn't wake you up no matter how I called."
The morning sunlight fell on her brown hair, reflecting a soft halo.
Outside the window came the clear chirping of birds, while inside the cups and decorations were all intact in their original places.
Even the pain in his body had disappeared.
Jin Luo was in a daze as Manman took him to the flower shop, watching her busy at work.
Manman seemed to have no memory of what happened last night.
Had it all been a dream?
The young woman's steps paused as she passed by him. She bent down to observe the somewhat dazed cat: "Jin Luo, have you been staying here too long?"
Jin Luo came back to his senses: "Meow..." Maybe so.
But in his heart, he thought there was nothing wrong with staying for a long time.
If possible, he wanted to stay by her side forever, even if only as an ordinary little cat.
After all, he had nothing tying him to Kashida.
Jin Luo's parents had divorced five years ago and each found new partners.
He didn't mind his parents' divorce. He wasn't a cub anymore, he just wanted them to be happy.
Days passed one after another, and the monster from that night faded away like a dream.
Jin Luo seemed to have truly remained on this planet called Earth, which delighted him immensely.
However, lately he had been feeling inexplicably agitated, and his body often felt feverish.
Could it be because of the summer heat?
The dairy cat stood in front of the air conditioning vent, squinting his eyes in the cool breeze, when he heard faint voices from the flower shop entrance.
"...Manman, look at my nephew here. He may not be extremely handsome, but he is quite good-looking, and he has a stable job too."
It was the auntie from the neighboring grocery store.
Jin Luo hadn't been here long, but he had already seen her try to set Manman up with her nephew five times, using almost the same sales pitch each time.
This time, the nephew himself had come along, standing behind his aunt with his chest puffed out, his gaze lingering on the young woman's delicate face behind thick glasses.
Manman's face remained expressionless as she allowed him to appraise her like produce. She turned on the faucet to fill a bucket with water, speaking slowly and deliberately: "Auntie."
The grocery store auntie thought she was receptive and responded enthusiastically: "Yes! What do you think, Manman? Why don't you two chat for a while? You young people must have a lot in common..."
Manman: "If you call this pockmarked short stack handsome, I think we fundamentally disagree on aesthetics."
This guy was even shorter than her when standing up.
The grocery store auntie was stunned. She had never heard Manman speak like this before.
Previously, Manman had been mindful of her words, thinking that as neighbors, they might need to help each other in the future.
But today, this auntie had the nerve to bring her nephew and corner her at the shop entrance, and the way this guy was looking at her was inappropriate.
Even a worm will turn.
The nephew behind the auntie snapped out of his daze and flew into a rage: "How dare you speak like that, so rude! It's your good fortune that we even consider you. Have you looked at how much money this broken flower shop of yours makes..."
Manman threw the bucket of water forward: "How unlucky, the shop entrance is so dirty today, it needs to be cleaned..."
The splashed water instantly soaked their shoes. The grocery store auntie and her short stack nephew pointed at Manman and started cursing.
Manman was no pushover to begin with, and she sharply retorted to all their insults.
Amidst the commotion, no one noticed a flash of light in the flower shop behind them.
Seeing he couldn't out-argue Manman, the short stack nephew grabbed a bouquet displayed at the flower shop entrance in frustration and threw it at her: "You bitch! Apologize to us!"
Before Manman could dodge, a tall figure appeared in front of her, firmly shielding her behind him and accurately catching the thrown bouquet.
Under everyone's astonished gaze, Jin Luo wrapped the young woman's soft hand in his own with an unyielding gesture: "She has a boyfriend."
"Please get lost quickly. And pay for the damages."
To hell with restraint.
If rejected, he could always pursue her again.
No matter what, he was determined to be entangled with her. For lifetimes to come.
In the silence, Jin Luo felt his palms sweating.
A smiling female voice sounded beside him: "Mm-hmm, as you can see, this is my boyfriend. So please get lost."
At that moment, Jin Luo heard his own heartbeat pounding violently, as if it would burst through his eardrums.
The proud sun overhead shone brilliantly, and in the distance, the cicadas chirped incessantly, as if narrating a summer's tale.