The mascot of the wishing shop is a cat.

"Buzz-"

At five o'clock in the morning, a message notification on her terminal woke Lin Xiyue up. She groggily opened the terminal and found that it was an emergency news alert for the entire city.

(Urgent Wanted Notice and Security Alert: At 4:47 AM today, Zhou [Attached Image 1] and Liu [Attached Image 2], who were temporarily detained at the police station, escaped. During their escape, they killed two police officers and a taxi driver, and stole the taxi to flee. Only their abandoned vehicle has been found; their whereabouts are currently unknown. This is a wanted notice and a warning. Due to their extremely high level of danger, citizens are advised to avoid them if they encounter them, prioritize their own safety, and only report them after ensuring their own safety. Again, citizens must prioritize their own safety; they are extremely dangerous criminals.)

Seeing the red exclamation mark on the emergency alert instantly snapped Lin Xiyue out of her daze.

"This isn't right. Weren't they supposed to have lost their self-awareness? How could they still run away and even kill people? There's definitely something wrong. I have a bad feeling. What if they come after me?"

Lin Xiyue muttered to herself, her mind shifting between thoughts of them finding her home and bursting in, and of them taking advantage of people in the wild to perform a large-scale sacrifice. She even worried about what would happen if the sacrifice succeeded. Her expression changed constantly.

"Meow~"

A meow interrupted Lin Xiyue's outlandish fantasy. She looked down and thought it was Fugui calling her, but she didn't see Fugui.

"Meow~"

"Meow~"

"Meow~"

……

Another meow rang out, followed by a continuous stream of more meows.

Looking up, I saw that outside the French windows of the back door, there were many cats, big and small, with different colors and breeds.

It's a little past five in the morning, and it's still dark. Only a small portion of the cats are illuminated by the light from inside the house through the glass window; many more are hidden in the darkness. The most noticeable thing in the darkness is their pair of seemingly glowing cat eyes, a bright green that blinks and is actually quite unsettling.

"What, what happened?!"

Lin Xiyue was so shocked she could hardly speak. She looked at the cats outside the window, the cats on the courtyard wall, and even the places she couldn't see that were full of cats.

"Meow~"

Just then, Fugui suddenly appeared out of nowhere and meowed at the cats outside.

"Meow."

A huge forest cat emerged from the group of cats and meowed at Fugui. Then, the two cats meowed back and forth in front of all the cats and Lin Xiyue for about ten minutes.

Finally, with Fugui's last meow and a flick of its paw, all the cats quickly left. In less than five minutes, all the cats in the yard were gone, leaving only a yard full of messy leaves.

"Huh? (?o?o?)"

Lin Xiyue stared blankly at the yard, then at Fugui, and after a long while, she squatted down and asked Fugui, "Baby, have you become the king of cats in the whole city?"

"Meow (?_?)"

For some reason, Lin Xiyue seemed to see disdain on Fugui's face. Then, Fugui ignored her and turned away.

"Is he disgusted with me or with the title of King of Cats? Hmm, he's definitely disgusted with the title. My Fugui loves me so much, he definitely wouldn't be disgusted with me."

Lin Xiyue reassured herself for a moment, then got up to check the doors and windows of the house. Regardless, Lin Xiyue was still very worried about the two who had escaped, Zhou Feiwu and Liu Yi, since she was essentially the one who had sent them in.

After all the checks were completed, it was already past six o'clock. It was impossible to sleep at this time, since I had to get up soon to pack up and open the shop.

So, Lin Xiyue, feeling bored, sat on the house's terrace, intending to drink some tea and wait for the sunrise. She wasn't worried about being alone; she could hug Fugui and chat with the system.

"Speaking of which, it's been a long time since I've seen a sunrise. The last time I saw a sunrise was on Earth. I remember it very clearly. I was only seven or eight years old at the time, and my biggest worry every day was having too much homework. That summer, a major earthquake happened in the next city, and then rumors started spreading everywhere, saying that it would happen here too, and the time was said to be very precise, that it would happen the next night."

Lin Xiyue held Fugui and looked up at the sky. She slowly told it and the system her childhood story.

"At that time, I was raised by my grandmother in a neighborhood with many elderly people and not many young people. The elderly didn't know much, but they had a lot of love. So, for safety reasons, everyone in our neighborhood gathered in an open space. The children were looked after by the elderly, who played cards to pass the time, while the children excitedly played with their friends. For the children, it was such a rare treat—not being forced to go to sleep by their parents, and being able to play with so many people so late at night. I played until midnight, and many children were exhausted, but their parents, for safety reasons, refused to let them go home to sleep. My grandmother felt this couldn't continue, as they had to go to school the next day, so she had people put tables together and let the adults stay in the homes on the first floor." I borrowed some thin blankets, intending for the children to sleep on the table for safety, so they wouldn't have to sleep on the floor and get unclean. As for the adults, I figured I could just stay up a bit. But in the end, I didn't sleep either. I was seven or eight years old then, a time when I was very concerned about my image, and I felt it was too shameful to sleep like that. I'd rather stay up all night than sleep like that. Grandma scolded me, thinking I just didn't want to go to school the next day. Then the next day, the school sent out a notice saying it wasn't safe and we had to take a day off. That was the first time I saw a sunrise, and it was truly beautiful. The red sun peeked out from between the mountain peaks, like it was hiding in a corner, secretly peeking out. And even though the summer wind wasn't cold, seeing that sun made me feel warm all night. It was so beautiful.

Lin Xiyue took a sip of tea, as if reminiscing or missing someone.

"Haha, as a result, everyone slept for almost the entire day the next day, which meant they had a wasted holiday! We were so happy back then."

The system listened silently without saying a word, but quietly recorded this little story in its code.

"Meow."

Fugui suddenly broke free from Lin Xiyue's arms and jumped back into the room. Lin Xiyue didn't pay any attention; she watched the slowly rising red sun and admired the beautiful scenery.

"Buzz-"

The terminal rang again. Looking down, I saw it was a message from Meros.

(Dream: Honey, I suddenly had something to do yesterday and didn't reply to your message in time. Are you awake yet? What are you doing? ('w')?)

"Pfft."

Upon seeing this news, Lin Xiyue, who had been feeling melancholic, immediately forgot all about those things. She wasn't a particularly sentimental person; it was just a sudden bout of sadness late at night.

(Me: Because of that official announcement, I couldn't sleep, so I got up to watch the sunrise again. What about you?)

(Dream: I saw that message too. Are you worried they'll contact you?)

(Me: Yeah, a little. After all, I was the one who reported them, and I'm worried they might retaliate against me.)

(Dream: Don't worry, I'll help you solve it. ?( 'w' )? )

(Me: Then let's not go, it's too dangerous! Besides, law enforcement is also searching, we should trust the authorities.)

(Dream: Okay, I'll listen to you. Obedient.JPG)

(Me: It's almost time to open the shop. What color do you like? I'd like to give you a small gift, after all, you helped me so much last time.)

(Dream: I like amber color, it's beautiful.)

(Me: Okay, then I'll give you the gift next time we meet.)

(Dream: Okay, I'm looking forward to it. (?o ? o?))

After chatting with Molos for a while, Lin Xiyue happily went downstairs to prepare to open the door. She even thought about what kind of small gift to design for Molos while cooking.

..............................

Let's go back to 4:40 a.m.

The temporary guardhouse at the police station.

Because Zhou Feiwu and Liu Yi had been dispersed, they were essentially two brainless vegetative patients, so the guards were very lax. Apart from the necessary sentries, no one was specifically assigned to watch over them.

Moreover, 4 a.m. is the time when people are most tired, and since no particularly dangerous criminals have been detained recently, the people in the monitoring room are quite lax. Because of this, no one noticed their sudden movement, and they escaped easily. Liu Yi strangely vomited a small device covered in stomach acid. Zhou Feiwu attached the device to the door lock and pressed the red button in the middle.

"Zi-"

The moment the button sank in, the small device sprayed out a thin stream of liquid. The liquid looked a little viscous, but as soon as it touched the door, it made a sizzling sound and corroded a small pit in the door. In no time, the lock part completely disappeared, leaving only a little bluish residue on the ground.

Zhou Feiwu and Liu Yi didn't look like they were mentally impaired at all. They quietly opened the door and went out, coming up behind the two guards who were dozing off. Suddenly, they opened their mouths and a huge, wet tongue shot out, piercing the guards' necks in one go. They covered the guards' mouths, gently put them down, changed into their coats, and walked to the corner of the wall.

Reaching the corner, they used superhuman strength to leap over the five-meter-high wall with knees bent. Then, avoiding obvious surveillance cameras, they headed outside.

Less than ten minutes later, Liu Yi spotted a night taxi nearby and flagged it down.

"Huh? What are you doing in this desolate place so late at night?"

The taxi driver seemed like a talkative person, and he asked them questions first after stopping the car.

"I'm sorry, sir. We had a picnic around here before. The river scenery was really nice, and then we accidentally fell asleep. Now it's too late to go back."

Liu Yi looked pitifully at the taxi driver, and deliberately bent over to show off her cleavage.

"Oh, oh, I see."

The taxi driver's eyes were immediately glued to it, and he answered instinctively.

"Then get in the car, I'll take you back to the city."

As he spoke, he reached out and unlocked the car door so they could get in.

In the blink of an eye, while the taxi driver was still looking around, Zhou Fei, who was behind Liu Yi, opened his mouth and killed the taxi driver in the same way he killed the guard.

"what……"

He didn't even manage a proper scream before he was completely lifeless. They dragged the taxi driver's body out, tossed it aside, got into their car, and sped off into the more distant suburbs.

And all of this was completed in just a few minutes.

Police officers discovered the deaths of the two guards and the escape of Zhou Feiwu and Liu Yi when they changed shifts a few minutes later. They then sounded the emergency alarm and sent people out to search for them.

Two minutes later, they discovered the taxi driver's body, which had been left unattended. After confirming his identity via a physical terminal, they reported the incident and subsequently issued a citywide official arrest warrant and security warning.

An hour later, Lingye and his team arrived at the police station in the suburbs from the city center. They were originally detained in the underground facility of the psychic center, but since they were not in danger at the time and were to be transferred to a special place for detention the next day, they were placed in this remote police station for convenience. No one expected that they could kill and escape from prison.

After Lingye and the others arrived, they divided the tasks and conducted on-site inspections and energy residue tests. After seeing the instruments that they vomited out of their stomachs from the surveillance footage, it was confirmed that their bodies were not only infected by the alien race, but also parasitized. It was just that the parasites had not yet hatched at the time, so they were not discovered and were only expelled.

"It's all my fault. I didn't think to conduct a full examination at the time. I thought they hadn't been in contact with them deeply, and they still had their own consciousness before, so the aliens shouldn't have been able to parasitize them yet. I only expelled them."

Lingji felt extremely guilty, believing that it was all her fault that Zhou Feiwu and his gang escaped, and that they had even killed three people on the way, and that they still hadn't been caught, with the possibility of more victims.

"It's not entirely your fault; none of us thought of it at the time. After all, normally people who aren't fully infected won't be parasitized; this is an exception."

Lingyan comforted Lingji, his eyes filled with heartache.

"I feel like something's not right."

Lingye suddenly spoke, attracting the attention of everyone in the conference room.

"It's strange that they didn't turn this place into a nest after they escaped from being parasitized. Based on the strength they showed in the surveillance footage, they were fully capable of killing everyone. We'll probably only be able to find out when we come to pick them up the next day. By then, they'll probably have already bred a second generation."

"Indeed. But they ran away, which means they are a high-level alien race, capable of resisting their instincts. So what could have made them resist their instincts and do that?"

Lingjiu subconsciously followed Lingye's logical analysis.

“I understand! They can only resist their instincts by obeying the orders of a higher-ranking alien race, or they want to summon more of their people.”

Lingji also emerged from her feelings of self-blame.

"That would be a huge problem."

Everyone present nodded subconsciously.

……