Hammerhead Shark finally recovered from the severe pain in his arm. He cursed angrily, "You fucking—"

Before he could finish his curse, the door clicked and slammed shut in front of him.

Bai Yu casually pressed the deadbolt, the lock cylinder clicking shut and locking tight, shutting Hammerhead Shark's angry curses outside.

He didn't stop walking, simply carrying the kitten straight up to the second floor, and then turned on the faucet of the sink. "Spit it out, let's rinse your mouth."

The dumpling had just bitten Hammerhead Shark, and his mouth was full of blood.

Kittens were generally afraid of water. If the dumpling didn't cooperate, Bai Yu was prepared to force him to brush his teeth. Hammerhead Shark was, after all, a member of the Black Robe Society, and the Black Robe Society poisoned the water given to its members. Bai Yu was afraid the blood was poisoned.

But the dumpling spat twice and obediently leaned over, washing his mouth clean with the clear water. Bai Yu pried it open to take a look, and the kitten also obediently let him check, extremely cooperative.

But just as he planned to put the dumpling back on the bed, the kitten refused to get down no matter what.

Imuel desperately clung to the doctor's arm, using all his strength to squeeze into his embrace, squeezing and rubbing, his short little legs kicking as he simply refused to go back to the bed. He even raised his tail to show the doctor: several hairs had been plucked from that beautiful platinum tail, and the kitten looked listless, clearly hurting from being pulled.

Bai Yu sighed, hugged the kitten's bottom and picked him up, tapping the kitten's nose. "You got scared, didn't you? How about I make you something delicious?"

Imuel swished his tail.

He didn't really want to eat anything; he just wanted to stay on the doctor's arm.

In the past, when there was no comparison, he didn't feel how good the clinic was, but after being forcibly dragged out, he realized just how safe it was by the doctor's side.

Bai Yu carried the kitten on his arm and brought the bags into the kitchen. The cucumber in the bag had just been smashed, so Bai Yu roughly chopped it up, then placed a few kinds of meat in front of the kitten and asked, "What do you want to eat?"

He had bought pork and mussels, as well as a piece of beef.

The pork was pork ribs, the mussels were not small either, and the beef was ribeye with very beautiful marbling. The prices of these three kinds of meat were not cheap. In a city-state like Illyria, which was not considered wealthy, no one would use these things to feed a cat except for the nobles.

Imuel hugged the doctor's arm with one paw and reached out the other.

He gently tapped the most expensive beef among them and meowed.

He wanted this.

To the Duke, beef wasn't considered precious, but to an unlicensed doctor, it might be a few days' wages. Imuel didn't necessarily want to eat it that much; he purely wanted to know—would the doctor give him this expensive piece of meat if he wanted to eat it?

The care over these past few days couldn't be faked, and the arm holding him was very warm too. Imuel's lake-blue eyes gazed at the doctor, quietly making a decision: 'If the doctor is willing, then I...'

Then what about him? Imuel hadn't thought it through either.

His mind was in a mess, and on the other side, the hand Bai Yu was using to hold the knife paused for a moment.

A tiny, insignificant trace of bitterness rose in Imuel's heart. To most people, a cat was just a cat, meant for relieving boredom and amusement, but wanting to eat these expensive things was not allowed. Was it the same for the doctor too?

He hugged his tail and shrank back against the doctor's arm, feeling somewhat depressed.

... Forget it, he wouldn't eat it.

But Bai Yu said, "Alright."

The doctor hesitated slightly as he turned the meat over and over. "You can eat it, but there are tendons in this beef. Can you chew it?"

He reached out and pinched Imuel's mouth, checking his teeth. "Little cat, your teeth haven't fully grown in yet, right?"

"..."

It wasn't very physically harmful, but it was extremely insulting.

Imuel angrily gave the doctor a flick of his tail, which was grabbed by the doctor and ruthlessly suppressed.

Bai Yu reprimanded, "I have a knife in my hand, don't move around."

Imuel obediently retracted his tail.

At noon, Imuel got his wish and ate beef paste. The meat had been chopped soft and mushy by the doctor, but there was nothing to be done about the fascia in the meat. Imuel tried to tear and bite it with his teeth, but because he didn't often act as a cat, his tearing motions didn't grasp the main points. He gnawed at it several times but couldn't chew through it.

The doctor let out a long sigh. "See, I told you that you couldn't chew it."

"..."

Annoying doctor!

At night, Imuel once again shrank into the doctor's embrace. The pain of the mutation period all over his body had faded away, which also meant that he was going to turn back into a human.

He didn't fall asleep for a long time. Instead, borrowing the moonlight outside the window, in a hazy cool tone, he looked up at the person in front of him.

The doctor was truly good-looking, with a straight nose and fine eyes, clear contours, and pale lips; it was a kind of handsome that carried a scholarly air amidst the coldness.

As Imuel kept looking, he suddenly stretched out a paw and placed it by the doctor's lips.

The paw pad gently pressed against it, parting as soon as it touched the light-colored lips. Even though the kitten had reached out on his own, Imuel felt as if he had been burned, suddenly withdrawing his paw and staggering back a long way.

His tumbling movements disturbed the doctor. Bai Yu reached his hand out from the blanket, pulled the kitten back, and clasped him in his arms. He mumbled with his eyes closed, "Stop fussing, go to sleep. Goodnight, little cat."

Imuel gently touched his face.

Goodnight, doctor.

Early the next morning, Bai Yu didn't see the dumpling.

He lifted the blanket, but still nothing.

This was truly a rare occurrence. This cat he picked up was famously a heavy sleeper; every time Bai Yu finished making breakfast, he still wouldn't be awake. Today, he had actually disappeared.

A bad premonition rose in Bai Yu's heart. The bedroom door was tightly closed and the windows were locked. The kitten shouldn't have been able to run out, but he searched the bedroom and actually found nothing.

Bai Yu pushed the door open and went out. He pushed open the doors on the second floor one by one, from the bedroom to the bathroom, to the kitchen, but there was still nothing.

He quickly walked down to the first floor. The first floor was the clinic area, which the kitten was unwilling to come to. He searched everywhere inside and out, but still couldn't see him.

System 55 floated behind him and said hesitantly, "Host, I've scanned the area. He's really not here. There is no kitten in the house."

"..."

A long silence.

System 55: "Host?"

Bai Yu pressed his forehead, veins faintly throbbing. "He actually ran out at a time like this."

The dumpling was a rescued cat, different from those accustomed to being raised in catteries and pet shops of later generations. Rescued cats were unrestrained and would always yearn for the wild. Bai Yu wasn't surprised that the Dumpling would leave, but right now Illyria was in a precarious situation with a turbulent layout. Gang members were roaming the streets searching for stray cats; running out at this time was practically a narrow escape from death.

He pulled his trench coat from the coat rack and hurriedly buttoned it up.

System 55: "Where are you going, Host?"

Bai Yu: "To find the cat."

Although he said this, he also knew in his heart that the hope was slim. Illyria's streets and alleys were complicated, and residential buildings were dense. Finding a cat here was tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack.

But just as Bai Yu was about to go out, he suddenly caught a glimpse of dark red from the corner of his eye, like Bordeaux wine, dazzling and brilliant, outlining a breathtaking color under the morning sun.

The appearance of this color was too sudden. Bai Yu paused and looked towards the direction of the wine color.

It was the ground under the windowsill. The devil's ivy that had been smashed by Hammerhead Shark was still lying quietly on the ground, the porcelain flowerpot shattered into pieces along with the soil. Yesterday, Bai Yu was busy comforting the Dumpling and hadn't cleaned up here.

But now, there was something extra in the exposed dirt.

Bai Yu gently brushed it aside.

A ruby.

A pigeon blood ruby valuable enough to buy a villa in the central district of Illyria.

The color was full and pure, like 'burning fire' or 'flowing blood'. Even someone like Bai Yu who didn't understand gemstones could understand its expensiveness from its beautiful fire.

"..."

How could such an expensive gemstone lie in the dirt of a broken flowerpot in an illegal clinic?

"Oh, what a beautiful ruby," System 55 said in surprise. "My previous two hosts both had quite high statuses, one was the richest man in Jiang City and the other was the Emperor of the Zerg, but even in their hands, rubies of such good quality were rarely seen."

System 55 wondered, "Could the original owner have been a hidden rich man, hiding the gemstone in the flowerpot, and we just happened to discover it when it was smashed?"

Bai Yu: "If he were a hidden rich man, he wouldn't have joined the Black Robe Society."

But now was not the time to tangle over the gemstone. Bai Yu casually put the expensive gemstone into the drawer and hurriedly went out.

If it were his past life, Bai Yu would have posted a missing cat notice and published posts on local forums, doing everything possible to spread the news. But in Illyria, where gangs stood in great numbers, he couldn't do this.

The original owner was a cold-hearted underground doctor. If he suddenly broke the original owner's persona and anxiously searched for a kitten, the Black Robe Society would think he had gone mad. And a mad doctor had no value, only inviting a purge from the organization.

Bai Yu couldn't take this risk.

He could only press down the brim of his top hat, trying his best to cover his face, pretending to be strolling while searching the nearby blocks.

Bai Yu passed the market, paying special attention to the stalls selling fish, beef, and mussels. He then turned into a small alley and walked to the Houghton River where he had met the Dumpling, searching along the long embankment. But until the sun set and the river water was dyed vermilion and crimson gold, he couldn't find him.

Bai Yu massaged his brow.

The sun was about to set. Illyria's nights had gang members and hooligans roaming about, and occasionally armed fights and shootouts would erupt. Hooligans would wield smuggled revolvers and firearms, sometimes blowing up residents' windows or passersby's heads.

It wasn't safe here. Even though Bai Yu was an adult male, he couldn't stay outside indefinitely.

Before the sky went completely dark, Bai Yu returned home.

Strictly speaking, the clinic couldn't be considered his home, only a foothold in another world. This place was entirely arranged by the original owner, not his aesthetic style, with only cold medical equipment and an old-fashioned bedroom. Bai Yu didn't like it.

When the Dumpling was there, the kitten's big fluffy tail would sway back and forth. Bai Yu's gaze was entirely on him, so he didn't notice these things.

The night was deep, and the clinic was quiet.

Bai Yu didn't turn on the light. He sat quietly in the recliner on the first floor, occasionally rocking twice. The "Kesoril Poetry Collection" lay open on his lap, un-turned for a long time.

Late into the night, System 55 suddenly said, "Host, there is someone outside your door."

At almost the same time, Bai Yu also heard the commotion at the door. He opened his eyes and, through the locked window, vaguely saw a burly figure.

The figure was carrying a bag containing a heavy object.

System 55: "It's Hammerhead Shark, he has a hammer in his hand and is trying to pick the lock... Host, it should be that you offended him yesterday, and he has come to take revenge."

Bai Yu: "He came quite quickly."

Hammerhead Shark's hammer conservatively weighed twenty to thirty catties. It was a blacksmith's hammer used for forging iron; one strike could smash out brain matter.

The lock of the underground clinic was only averagely sturdy. Bai Yu picked up an abandoned scalpel, twirled it in his hand like a pen, and gripped it in his palm. The blade was sharp, and the notched serrations gleamed with a bright silver light.

Although Bai Yu's outward appearance was that of a cold doctor, he had actually practiced Sanda. While Hammerhead Shark was tall and burly, his combat awareness was not strong. With the door covering his surprise attack, Bai Yu had a seventy percent chance of killing him with one strike.

Hammerhead Shark started to pick the lock. He inserted a file into the keyhole and slowly began to rub it.

In the dead of night, the iron squeaked, making a hair-raising noise. For a time, only the sound of the file rubbing remained.

Hammerhead Shark deliberately slowed down his speed and controlled the volume to ensure he wouldn't wake Bai Yu.

He seemed determined to take the doctor's life.

Bai Yu sighed inwardly, 'Troublesome.'

Although he could kill Hammerhead Shark, the Black Robe Society forbade armed fights between gang members. Even though Illyria was chaotic, laws still existed, and Bai Yu didn't want to provoke the judge's authority.

The lock's engaging gears grew thinner and thinner, until only the last sliver remained—

Gunfire suddenly rang out from the block behind the clinic. Youths yelled and shouted as flames rose, illuminating a small half of the sky.

—It was another conflict between unknown gangs. The residents of the block were accustomed to this and stayed quietly in their houses. No one came out to check, and no one even opened a window.

The flames were close at hand, and the shouting grew nearer; they seemed to be heading towards this block.

Hammerhead Shark cursed, "Fuck."

He put away his hammer, spat at the doctor's door, and muttered to himself, "Consider yourself lucky. I'll let you live for one more day." Then he hurried away.

Bai Yu also put away the scalpel.

Hammerhead Shark didn't dare to be seen, because both he and the doctor belonged to the Black Robe Society, and the Black Robe Society forbade its members from killing each other. Such gangs managed their subordinates strictly; if Hammerhead Shark was seen hovering at the doctor's door and the doctor died the next day, the Black Robe Society might take his life.

System 55 hid behind the door, not even daring to breathe loudly. Seeing Bai Yu casually put away his knife, it broke into a sweat. "Host, what do we do?"

There is only a thousand days of being a thief, how can there be a thousand days of guarding against a thief? Hammerhead Shark would definitely come back tomorrow, but the doctor couldn't stay awake forever.

Bai Yu: "Find another house."

With the original owner's savings, he could rent a place in other areas of Illyria for a few months, avoiding Hammerhead Shark, and then figure out a way to sell the ruby and plan for the long term.

At this time, it was less than two hours until dawn. Bai Yu quietly waited for the arrival of dawn. When the streets became lively again, he pressed down his top hat and walked out the door.

First, he had to find an agent.

He definitely couldn't find the agents near the Sike District. Some of them knew Bai Yu, and some knew Hammerhead Shark. It would be very troublesome if the news leaked. Bai Yu's goal was the wealthy district in the west of Illyria, where security was better and it was relatively peaceful.

But before he walked out of the Sike District, he saw Madame hurrying over from the opposite side. Her bright and beautiful face was covered in panic, her floral hat was crooked, and her pearl brooch drooped loosely, but she didn't have the time to care.

Seeing Bai Yu, she couldn't wait to walk up to his side, even forgetting to lift her skirt, letting the lace trim sweep across the ground.

"Raven." Madame approached him, her voice trembling. "Did you know? Hammerhead Shark is dead!"

Bai Yu's hand pressing on his top hat paused, and he repeated with an unclear meaning, "Dead?"

"Yes..." Madame grabbed Bai Yu's sleeve, her face ashen. "I, I don't know how he was exposed, but this morning, just this morning! The Duke's personal guard came to Sike Street, led personally by the captain of the guard. They grabbed him without a word of explanation, and then conducted a speedy trial... In less than an hour, the chief judge sentenced him to death by firing squad. We didn't even have time to react... And then he was escorted to the drill ground in the west of the city and shot directly!"

Bai Yu's brow twitched. "The Duke? Didn't the Duke go missing?"

"Yes, he should have been..." Madame forced a smile that looked worse than crying. "But, but do you know, he suddenly came back, right there in the trial court. I heard that at the time, Hammerhead Shark was kneeling below, while the Duke sat beside the chief judge. I heard his complexion was ruddy, dressed in fine clothes, without the slightest appearance of being injured.

When the sentencing was over, the Duke came down from above, stepped on Hammerhead Shark's head, stomping his head into the ground, and viciously crushed it a few times. Good heavens, where exactly did he get exposed..."

Madame was in a terrible panic, her tears nearly smearing onto Bai Yu's clothes. Bai Yu wore a soothing smile, forcefully pulled his sleeve out of Madame's hand, and deadpanned, "Oh, that is truly a pity. I will send a bouquet of flowers to his grave."