Chapter 233 (1/2)
After spending half a day stroking his chin, Hao Ren finally figured it out. He believed he heard it right: Rollie, the cat with no integrity, had not been able to control its appetite. When it saw Lil Pea sunbathing on the table, it attacked her. It did not manage to bite off a single scale on her. On the other hand, Lil Pea had pulled off a big patch of fur off its body. When Hilda said she did not manage to stop them, she did not mean that she was unable to protect Lil Pea. She meant the cat.
“Your cat fought with your fish, and your fish beat the cat black and blue…” The corner of Becky’s eye twitched as she looked at Hao Ren. “What kind of species is this half-foot, little thing?”
Hao Ren had no words for the situation. He put Lil Pea back in the basin and turned to examine Rollie’s injury. It seemed like Lil Pea was only teaching the cat a little lesson. Aside from losing some fur, the stupid cat did not suffer a single broken bone. If Lil Pea could lift a table full of dishes, dealing with cats and dogs was just a piece of cake for her.
Rollie meowed in his arms. When it saw Lil Pea, it shivered in fear again. It did not matter how tame a fish was, at least Rollie would not dare have its eye on Lil Pea again… or worse, it would never eat fish again.
He put the stupid cat back on the couch. Then, he solemnly broke the news to Hilda. “We’ve found your home. Please get yourself ready today. I’ll send you back home myself tomorrow.”
Hilda froze, and was in disbelief. A moment later, she got to her feet. “Is-is it true?”
Again, Hao Ren affirmed it. Hilda took a deep breath, both of her hands were on her chest as if her heart would pop out if she had not done that. The home-sick elf queen started to become excited and nervous at the same time, just like the moment when she was first teleported to Earth—she walked around the house and mumbled to herself, “I wonder what the situation has become over there… I will first need Cardillon to give me a damage report… Did Vim manage to appease the people while I was away? Did the Isle of Stars get affected?”
Hao Ren sympathised with how Hilda was feeling, so he did not bother her. He allowed Hilda to calm down before putting his hand on her shoulder and let her back on the couch. “Just relax yourself. We’ll depart early in the morning. The cross-world teleporting of the empire is blazing fast, it’s estimated that you would be able to reach home in the same day. Meanwhile, you should think about what you should be doing when you’re back home.”
Hilda regained her compose as a queen very quickly. She nodded in appreciation before falling back in deep thoughts. Suddenly, Lily came up to him. “Landlord, landlord, did you really mean to bring me along in your spaceship?”
“Of course. Anyone can join,” Hao Ren said with a smile. “Due to limited tickets during the last trip, only the big guy and Wuyue could tag along. But this time, we’re going to ride in our own spacecraft. If you guys need to get anything ready, please hurry up. Get it done by today.”
But that confused Vivian. “Ready… ready what? Do we really need to ready anything since we’re going to fly in a spaceship? Do we need motion-sickness pills? Or, are we going to have difficulty eating meals onboard? Or, are we going to get sick from space radiation…?”
Hao Ren thought for a moment before he said, “I think we don’t need all of that. I remember the spacecraft has some kind of ecological cycle and things for synthesising materials. Its environment is more or less identical to Earth. Radiation disease? Worry not. Oh, by the way, Lily, don’t forget to bring your own fur brush. That thing isn’t available onboard the spacescraft.”
Meanwhile, Becky had been blinking and listening by the side half of the time, before she found the opportunity to chime in. “Can I tag along as well?”
Everyone turned to look at her. The mercenary’s eyes were flashing with light. She was no less excited than Lily. As a traverser, she was indeed too high-profiled. Before Hao Ren could say anything, the MDT jumped out. “No! Absolutely not!”
Becky was disappointed. “Why?”
“Technically, it’s complicated.” The MDT felt it was hard explaining technology to a sword-wielding mercenary. “Because you’re from The Plane of Dreams, the mapping relationship between that world and the Surface World has been a mess lately. We still can’t determine how bad the situation is so, you shouldn’t go. This is to avoid further agitation of the ‘balance’. Please be patient while we investigate the reality barrier’s source of the problem, and we’ll be able to fix it then. Have faith in the organisation, have faith in us, and have faith in yourself, whom we are also having faith in, have faith… just have faith.”
Although Becky had no idea what the mapping relationship between The Plane of Dreams and Surface World was all about, she realised it was something that could not be taken lightly. She had no choice but to sit back down on the sofa, dejected. “That means I’m going to be alone in this unfamiliar world? I don’t even know how to use the stove. Wouldn’t I starve to death when you guys are away for five days?”