Peking Opera Cat: I Became A Zi's Brother

"The aura of chaos is definitely not simple..."

Stepping into Dazong City, the atmosphere of chaos and the hustle and bustle of the city are strangely intertwined.

The doors of the shops on both sides of the street were half-open. Occasionally, a vendor would peek out, but when he saw the Xingluo cats, he would quickly retreat back.

Mo Zi stared at the traces of fighting left on the mottled wall beside the street, then turned to Wu Song and asked in a low voice:

"What is this, Da Zong punishment? Do you have punishments for Da Zong?"

"Hmm~"

Wu Song frowned, and gently stroked the whistle at his waist with a confused look on his face.

"Sister A Zi, I've been gone for ten years. I don't know what happened in the sect. Even the punishment came out. Although the sect has rules, I have never heard of such a severe punishment..."

"Wuhu~"

Before he could finish his words, Bai Tang had already run towards the snack stand where the aroma was wafting from like a happy kitten, his tail wagging happily in the air:

"Tsk, the first step is of course to eat. Why are we discussing this? I'm starving!"

He grabbed the fried tofu that had just come out of the pan, and was unaware of the golden oil splashing on his clothes. Just as he was about to take out the copper coins to pay, his neck suddenly tightened - Xiaoqing appeared behind him at some point, and the water silk turned into a soft rope, grabbing his ear and pulling him back.

"Meow~"

"Maruko! Pay attention first, okay? Not so fast!"

Xiao Qing's eyes widened, and she stamped her feet in anger.

"We have to integrate into the environment first, right? You're rushing around like this, and you look like an outsider. How can you get information?"

"No, no~"

Bai Tang was being dragged so hard that he was thrashing around, but with tofu still stuffed in his mouth, he protested incoherently:

"But I'm really hungry..."

"Oh, really..."

Seeing this, Mo Zi gently touched his forehead, and a rare hint of helplessness appeared in his ice-blue eyes.

She reached out and gently touched Xiaoqing's wrist. The cold air loosened the silk cloth a little, saving the still struggling Baitang.

"Well, let's find a place to rest and ask the local cats about Chaos."

Her eyes swept over the two guards whispering to each other at the corner of the street, and she lowered her voice unconsciously.

"This Da Zong seems to be hiding a lot of secrets."

The Xingluo Squad wandered around on the stone road in Dazong City, and the dusk dyed the clouds soaked in chaos into a strange crimson purple.

Bai Tang stared at the steam rising from the steamer on the street, and the rumbling of his stomach was particularly clear in the quiet street.

Da Fei scratched his head and bravely stopped a hunched-backed man leaning on a wooden stick.

"Old man, do you know of an inn where we can stay?"

"Humph……"

His timid eyes trembled as he raised them. After taking in everyone's clothes, he slammed his wooden stick heavily onto the ground. His wrinkled face instantly tensed.

"A cat from outside the sect? Go away! The sect is busy taking care of itself right now, so how can we have time to entertain a cat from outside the sect!"

After saying that, he quickened his pace and disappeared around the corner, leaving the cats looking at each other in bewilderment.

"Uh...this old man is too fierce!"

"That's right~"

Xiaoqing looked at the shop with its doors and windows closed, her blue eyes filled with worry:

"This isn't a solution. We need to find a place to settle down quickly so we can get information about Chaos."

Wu Song gripped the whistle stick at his waist tightly, and the jade pendant of the Dazong disciple shone dimly in the chaotic light:

"Strange. In the past, although the clan wasn't enthusiastic about foreign cats, they weren't so hostile to them either..."

"Um?"

The dark purple ice armor shone coldly in the night. She suddenly stopped, her ice-blue eyes fixed on the gray figure that flashed by in the shadows.

"Someone is following."

Before he finished speaking, a nimble figure jumped down from the wall - it was a one-eyed tabby cat with a missing ear. Its grey cloth shirt was patched, but the hair on its tail was combed neatly.

"Don't be nervous."

The cat raised its paw to indicate it was harmless, and looked around at everyone with its eyes.

"I've been eavesdropping for a while. Are you looking for a place to stay?"

Bai Tang immediately came forward, and the justice bell jingled:

"Yes, yes! Do you know of an inn that would take us in?"

"ball……"

The cat licked its paws and said slowly:

"The rumor is spreading all over the street that cats from the Outer Clan bring bad luck. But..."

It deliberately dragged out the sound, and its tail made a rustling sound on the ground.

"There's an inn in the innermost alley in the west of the city that might be suitable."

Seeing the puzzled expressions on everyone's faces, it lowered its voice and said mysteriously:

"That place is called 'There's an Inn.' The proprietress is a one-eyed woman with a reputation for being a bitch. But as long as you can pay, or... are of some use, she's not picky about where your guests come from."

"..."

Following the direction pointed by the cat, everyone stepped into a narrow alley.

Moss covered the mottled brick walls, and the rotten wooden sign swayed and creaked in the wind. The four characters "Youjian Inn" were missing half of the character "间", and were blackened by the erosion of chaos.

As I pushed open the door, a mixture of the smell of cheap alcohol and tobacco hit me in the face. Candlelight flickered in the dim lobby, and the sound of wine bowls clinking stopped abruptly.

More than a dozen pairs of eyes peeked out from the shadows. A drunk was looking at them from the side, and a cat with a dagger on his waist was slightly pressing the hilt.

"Hmph, another guest..."

The one-eyed proprietress behind the counter spat out the grass stem in her mouth, and her copper-bell-like artificial eyes shone coldly in the candlelight.

The pipe she held in her mouth was emitting wisps of green smoke, and her nails, painted dark red, banged heavily on the counter, making the abacus beads clatter and jump.

"Stay in a hotel? Three taels of silver per night, pay first."

“It’s too expensive~”

Wu Song took a step forward, clasped his fists and saluted, the Dazong jade pendant on his chest swaying with his movements:

"Senior, we are the Xingluo Squad, who are here to purify the chaos. Can we..."

"Dazon Jade Pendant?"

The proprietress suddenly burst into a shrill laugh, and pointed her pipe at the densely packed jade pendants on the wall.

"See? These days, a Dazong jade pendant is worth less than a stone on the street! If a cat with a chaotic aura wants to stay in a hotel, it either has to pay or—"

She swung out the short blade from her sleeve, and the cold light brushed against Wu Song's ear before nailing into the wooden pillar.

"Become my thug and pay off your debts!"

Just when Wu Song was about to say something, Mo Zi's body suddenly became cold and he took a step forward to stand in front of the cats.

A cold murderous intent flashed in her ice-blue eyes. She stared at the short blade nailed to the wooden pillar by the one-eyed proprietress, and her voice was like a thousand-year-old ice:

"Bullying the cat, huh?"

"Humph!"

Before she finished speaking, the ice fan in her hand was unsheathed like a silver moon. Wherever the cold light passed, the short blade on the wooden pillar was instantly wrapped in frost.

With a crisp "crack", the blade shattered into ice chips and fell to the ground, scaring the cats in the lobby and making them retreat.

The proprietress' pupils suddenly shrank, and a vigilant light flashed across her fake copper eyes, but she still forced a sneer:

"What a big mouth! Little girl from the Shen Sect, don't think you can act wildly here just because you know a little bit of rhyme power!"

"Then you try it!"

Mo Zi slowly approached the counter, and with every step he took, frost flowers condensed and spread on the ground.

She raised her hand and slammed the ice fan down on the table. The cold air exploded along the wood grain, and the counter was instantly covered with a layer of crystal ice.

“We don’t cause trouble, but we’re not afraid of it either.”

She glanced at the rows of jade pendants on the wall, and her tone ended with sarcasm.

"If the Da Zong can't even accommodate a team investigating Chaos, it's really eye-opening for Cat."

"Whoo~"

The lobby fell into deathly silence, with only the candlelight flickering in the draft.

Bai Tang clenched the bell of justice and winked at Xiao Qing secretly; Da Fei clenched his fists, ready to respond at any time.

During the stalemate, the proprietress suddenly threw back her head and laughed, then pulled out the whip from her waist and cracked it:

"Interesting! After all these years, a cat finally dares to stand up to me on my turf!"

She narrowed her single eye, and the whip lifted up a strand of dark purple hair.

"Okay, I'll give you a chance. We're shorthanded in the kitchen tonight. Fill the water tanks and prepare the ingredients—if you do it well, you'll have the night."