Peking Opera Cat: I Became A Zi's Brother

The early morning sun lazily shone on the eaves of the inn, and the members of the Xingluo team were busy with repair work as usual.

"..."

Bai Tang hummed a tuneless little song while waving a broom to sweep the dust into a pile. Suddenly, he stopped and scratched his head:

"Strange, why is it so quiet today? Those guys didn't come to cause trouble?"

"Humph……"

Wu Song wiped the whistle in his hand and snorted coldly when he heard this:

"Isn't it good to be quiet? It saves us from being worried every day. But..."

He glanced around cautiously.

"It was indeed unusually quiet, like the silence before a storm."

Xiaoqing stopped repairing the window frame and frowned slightly:

"I always feel like there are eyes watching us from the dark. This feeling has become stronger since yesterday."

She subconsciously clenched her hands.

Da Fei walked over carrying a large piece of wood, a worried look on his honest face:

"Why don't we go ask the boss lady? She's been in Dazong for so long, maybe she knows something."

At this time, inside the inn, the proprietress was sitting behind the counter, her fingers unconsciously stroking the worn jade pendant.

The surface of the jade pendant was covered with cracks, but she wiped it clean.

"..."

Her eyes were sometimes gentle, sometimes sad, as if she was lost in distant memories.

On the eaves, Mo Zi still maintained his meditation posture, his ice-blue eyes staring in a certain direction in the distance.

"What exactly is this pain?"

An inexplicable pain surged in her heart, a feeling that was both familiar and unfamiliar, as if something important was slipping away from her.

"Why does it feel so familiar, yet makes me so uncomfortable..."

She could clearly sense that there was more than one force hidden in the darkness, and one of the forces made her Ice Soul Fan faintly resonate.

"Sister Mo Zi!"

Bai Tang's voice suddenly sounded, interrupting her thoughts.

Bai Tang grabbed the eaves with both hands and stuck his head out.

"You've been sitting all day, aren't you tired?"

Mo Zi slowly opened his eyes, his gaze softened a bit:

“I’m feeling the atmosphere around me.”

She paused, her expression becoming serious.

"The peace in Dazong is only superficial; undercurrents are surging deep within. You must be careful recently and do not act alone."

Bai Tang stuck out his tongue:

"I know! But to be honest, it's really too quiet today, so quiet that it makes me feel uneasy. Oh, and the boss lady was also very strange today. She kept staring at the jade pendant in a daze, as if..."

He frowned and thought,

“Looks like he’s waiting for someone.”

Mo Zi's pupils shrank slightly, as if thinking about something:

"That jade pendant... I've seen similar records in the ancient texts of the Shen Sect. It's said to be related to a secret between the Da Sect and the Shen Sect. Perhaps the boss lady's identity is far more complicated than we imagined."

……

The night enveloped Dazong like thick ink, and the candlelight in the inn flickered.

Mo Zi quietly gathered everyone from the Xingluo squad to a side room filled with miscellaneous items, then glanced around vigilantly before slowly closing the door.

The air in the room seemed to grow heavier. The flame of the oil lamp swayed slightly in the wind, casting flickering shadows on everyone's faces.

"It's been so unusually quiet all day today."

Mo Zi was the first to break the silence, worry in his ice-blue eyes.

"Those forces will never give up. This silence is more like a terrifying omen before the storm."

Bai Tang bit the lollipop and frowned as he said:

"Plus, the boss lady has been staring at the jade pendant all day. She seems distracted. There must be some secret!"

Wu Song folded his arms across his chest, thought for a moment, and then said:

"I also think the proprietress is something special. She has been running the inn in Dazong for so many years, yet she has been able to remain safe and sound under the noses of those powerful forces. There must be some unknown power behind her."

Mo Zi nodded lightly, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes:

"Did you notice the boss lady's jade pendant? I've seen that jade pendant before."

Her voice unconsciously became gentle, and a look of longing appeared on her face.

"When I was little, my brother took me out for an outing, and by chance, I saw a similar jade pendant in an ancient book of the Shen Sect. The patterns and carving techniques on it were very similar to the jade pendant owned by the proprietress. It's said that this jade pendant is related to a major secret between the Da Sects back then, and it may contain a key clue that could change the situation in Cat Land."

Speaking of this, Mo Zi's thoughts seemed to drift back to the distant past, and his eyes were full of nostalgia for the time he spent with his brother in the past.

Seeing this, Xiaoqing gently shook Mo Zi's arm and whispered:

"Sister, sister, we are discussing something, don't think about your brother."

Mo Zi finally came back to his senses, a trace of embarrassment flashed across his face:

"Oh, sorry. Anyway, the boss lady's identity is far more complicated than we thought. I'm worried that tomorrow she might reveal her true purpose for coming to Dazong."

Xiaoqing said thoughtfully:

"Then what should we do next? Those forces are watching us closely. Once they know our intentions, they will definitely not let us go."

"From now on, we must be fully prepared."

Mo Zi looked serious, and his eyes swept over everyone one by one.

"Haipiao will stay in the inn for the next few days. He's gentle and not good at fighting, so he'll be relatively safe here. The rest of us must remain vigilant and alert at all times. Whether it's those evil-minded forces or the secrets hidden behind the proprietress, they could put us in danger at any time."

Da Fei scratched his head, his honest face full of seriousness:

"Don't worry, Sister Mo Zi! We will be careful and will never let those bad guys succeed!"

Bai Tang also clenched his fists, his eyes determined:

"That's right! No matter what conspiracy or trickery there is, our Xingluo team can handle it!"

Wu Song silently tightened his grip on the whistle stick and nodded.

……

The proprietress lay on the creaking old bed, the moonlight filtering through the patched window paper and streaming across the cracks in the jade pendant in her hand.

Those crisscrossing lines looked very much like the scarred land that had been destroyed during the years of fighting against the clan, and also very much like the memories in her heart that had been torn apart by time.

She pressed the jade pendant against her heart, her fingertips stroking a sunken indentation on the edge - there should have been a matching pattern there, just like the unfulfilled agreement between her and the deceased sect leader.

“Tomorrow…tomorrow will definitely be enough.”

Her voice was so soft, as if she was afraid of waking something, yet it carried a resolute determination. Ten years ago, when she had fled with the tome and the keepsake, the clan leader's bloodstained hand had pressed the jade pendant into her palm.

"Survive and wait for Xingluo Squad..."

This sentence became her only belief in making a living in the dark alleys and maneuvering between the forces.

The jade pendant suddenly felt slightly hot in her hand. The proprietress clenched it tightly, and tears welled up in her cloudy eyes.

The swaying shadows of the trees on the ceiling were like the flying sleeves of the sect leader when he fell. At this moment, those dormant forces, the sudden visit of the Xingluo Squad, and the third party that had always been hiding in the dark were like sparks that burst out when the gears of fate meshed.

She turned over and pressed the jade pendant against the pillow, her rough palm against the cold jade, muttering to herself:

“I won’t miss this time.”