"There's nothing much, meow. It's just that recently, a bunch of souls from who-knows-where have been floating around nearby. I didn't know how to drive them away, and killing them outright didn't seem justified either. So dealing with all this has been really troublesome for me, meow. It's practically stressing this cat to death." Tina sighed heavily as she spoke. Clearly, this matter had genuinely given her a headache.
But there was no helping it. Who was more suited to handling this kind of thing than her, the Underworld Watcher? Just by standing there, she could effortlessly turn any undead weaker than herself into the most loyal servants imaginable. Compared to that, these wandering souls were nothing.
At most, they could pull harmless tricks like sleep paralysis. If they wanted to break past the Human rank and truly step onto the path of cultivation, they were dreaming too much. Better to remain harmless little ghosts.
"Then how did you deal with them?" Chu Lian asked curiously. Since Tina neither drove them away nor killed them, she must have found some way to solve the issue. Otherwise, this dead cat wouldn't have come asking her for a reward. Given Tina's personality, this was a first. That alone proved how troublesome the matter had been.
"Meow? I directly opened a passage to the Shadow Plane and tossed all of them inside, meow. They can go do whatever they want over there, meow. Just don't come here and disturb our rest. Having a bunch of souls floating around at night is way too creepy, meow." Tina yawned, looking exhausted. Clearly, the task hadn't been nearly as easy as she made it sound.
"Opening a passage to the Shadow Plane consumes an enormous amount of energy and concentration. That couldn't have been easy for you." Chu Lian wasn't ignorant. She naturally understood that connecting two planes required an immense amount of power. Even she herself couldn't accomplish such a thing.
Since this cat had managed it, she either possessed some special ability or knew a unique technique.
But regardless of which it was, the amount of energy and mental strength she had consumed wouldn't be easy to recover. No wonder she had come asking for a reward. It seemed she really did urgently need to replenish what she had exhausted.
"Originally, I wanted to ask Master directly for it, meow. But instead, you smacked my butt first without even asking what happened, then only afterward asked what was going on, meow. Now I feel too embarrassed to say it, meow." Tina still looked traumatized. Chu Lian's earlier reaction—getting emotionally wounded by her words and immediately spanking her without caring about anything else—had clearly left quite the psychological shadow on her.
"Well, my bad." Chu Lian wasn't someone who refused to admit fault. Since the cat loli had truly expended so much effort, rewarding her was only fair. Besides, Chu Lian vaguely felt that all of this was somehow deeply connected to herself.
But now that Tina had already handled everything, she decided to set the matter aside for the moment. When she encountered something similar again in the future, she would figure out what was really going on. Hopefully it wouldn't turn into yet another bizarre incident. If it did, that would truly be exhausting.
She didn't want her peaceful daily life getting thrown into chaos every single time. After all, she still wanted to become a goddess adored by the masses—even if that path had already gone crooked somehow. That was fine. She could just straighten it back out. Everyday life should look like everyday life.
"So then, what kind of reward do you want?" Looking at Tina, whose tail was swishing around nonstop, Chu Lian grew curious. Just what sort of reward had driven her to personally throw herself at Chu Lian to be "eaten"?
"Um... um... don't get mad after I say it, meow." Tina hesitated. If she said it aloud, would this stupid flat-chested master get angry again and start spanking her with a papapa? Even though the sensation felt kind of strange, it still really hurt! No way, meow!
"As long as it's not too excessive, I'll agree to it." Chu Lian rolled her eyes. This girl was getting craftier and craftier. Trying to fool her now wasn't easy anymore. Hopefully the request wouldn't stray too far beyond her own bottom line. If not, then agreeing wasn't impossible.
Hearing her response, Tina realized she really could make a request. Delighted, she bounced up happily. Wearing her blue heels, she spun around several times on the bed, her knee-length white hair fluttering behind her as excitement radiated from her entire body.
"Alright, alright. Just tell me what you want already." Watching her act like this, Chu Lian became even more curious while simultaneously growing more wary. Whatever this girl wanted, it definitely wasn't going to be something normal.
"Meow... Tina wants this..." Tina sneakily glanced around. After confirming no one else was nearby, she slowly leaned toward Chu Lian's ear. Her tiny lips parted slightly as she whispered a sentence.
Chu Lian frowned slightly before looking at her. "Are you sure? If you do that, then you'll be responsible for taking care of them."
"Meow! There definitely won't be any problems, meow! As long as Tina gets to do it, Tina will absolutely take good care of all of them, meow!" Clearly, Chu Lian's partial approval had given her hope. As long as she demonstrated enough ability to earn Chu Lian's trust, then her request would definitely come true.
"So you want to gather all those stray cats and adopt them? That's not impossible. But right now, I haven't seen any proof that you're capable of handling something like that." Chu Lian looked at Tina in her Vanilla maid outfit and suddenly felt the urge to raise a cat maid herself.
"Let's do this. I'll allow you to take food from home outside to feed them. But in exchange, you'll work as my personal maid for one month. If you satisfy me by then, I'll let you bring them home and raise them. How about it?"
Since Tina wanted this so badly, Chu Lian decided to grant her wish.
Still, things obtained too easily were rarely cherished. Even if Tina eventually lost interest in the cats, Chu Lian would still handle them herself. But first, she wanted Tina to understand that if you wanted something, you first had to understand the importance of earning it.
Even if this was technically a reward Tina deserved after solving such troublesome matters, Chu Lian couldn't simply hand it over immediately.
"Meow... I knew it would turn out like this, meow..." Tina had already mentally prepared herself. This master of hers always loved making things difficult for her. Only after Tina became the way Chu Lian wanted her to be would Chu Lian choose to trust her and personally fulfill her wishes.
"Meow, whatever, meow. If becoming a maid for one month means I can adopt them, then Tina will do it, meow. I just hope Master won't dislike how clumsy I am, meow. I don't really know how to be a maid, meow." Tina was completely serious about this matter. Because of that, she agreed to every condition Chu Lian proposed without hesitation.
"Of course. And if you have any other requests, you can bring them up now too." Chu Lian reached out and gently rubbed the obedient cat loli's head. Watching Tina happily close her eyes in enjoyment, she suddenly smiled.
"If I teach them how to cultivate, could Master provide some materials for me, meow? As for cultivation techniques, I have plenty here, meow. It's just that collecting the materials would take too long, and I can't travel very far, meow. So..." Tina's voice grew increasingly uneasy as she spoke. She knew this request might be asking for too much.
"It's fine. If it's just materials, I can provide them." Chu Lian let out a small sigh of relief. Tina's seriousness toward proper matters had clearly extended to this as well. It seemed she truly intended to do this well, so there was no need to worry about the cats' future.
"But to make you understand the value of obtaining something, I'll say this directly. If you want something, you have to give something in return. Only then can I grant you what you desire. Understand?"
"Yes, meow." Tina nodded earnestly.
"Oh, right. What kind of cats are you planning to adopt?" Chu Lian asked curiously.
"They're all little ones, meow. Or female cats that have never mated, meow." Tina had no reservations about saying such things out loud.
"All females?"
"Yes, meow. The males and the ones that have mated all run away the moment I get close, meow. I don't know why either, meow. It's so annoying! I'm naturally beautiful, have so many strengths, and I'm this cute—yet they're afraid of me, meow!" Clearly, the fleeing cats had upset her. She puffed out her little cheeks in dissatisfaction.
Chu Lian burst into laughter. "Did you inherit my anti-charm aura or something?" She was genuinely astonished. How were this girl's attributes so strange?
"That's not your aura at all, Little Lian'er," Ayase's voice explained lazily in her mind. The red-clad beauty, who had been sleeping since last night, had apparently rested enough.
"She belongs to the royal lineage of spirit cats. She is a born sovereign among felines. Any feline standing before her can only bow in submission. However, spirit cats are inherently pure beings. They instinctively reject anything impure."
"Male felines, whose instincts are filled with desire, naturally fear her presence. Female cats that have mated are considered tainted and cannot withstand her innate majesty, so they flee. Only young cats, untouched by the world's contamination, remain pure of heart."
"As for adult females who have never mated—their bodies remain untainted, and because they have reached mating age without doing so, their purity becomes even more pronounced. Thus, when she approaches, they are not repelled."
Chu Lian nodded, half understanding. A spirit cat being a natural monarch made sense.
Majesty, huh?
Her gaze drifted toward Tina's flat chest, and she smiled inwardly. So the girl who loves big breasts is actually flat herself. "Majestic presence" indeed. Isn't that hilarious?
"Like you're not jealous yourself," Ayase shot back mercilessly. "You flat-chested tsundere loli shouldn't laugh at others. She's not even one year old yet, and her human form is barely twelve. It's normal that she hasn't developed. You, on the other hand, are thirteen in actual age and still the same size. Your future prospects? Not looking optimistic."
The blow struck cleanly. Chu Lian froze.
As expected, strong-willed queen types always carried that regal aura. Their backhanded comments and dark humor were devastating...
"Ahem. Alright, Tina. How many are there in total? I'll have Mother prepare enough food for you to bring them." Chu Lian cleared her throat, shattering her inner monologue and switching back to reality.
"Seventeen kittens and five adult cats, meow. All different colors, meow. They all prefer nutritious food, meow. It's a pity stray cats can't eat very well, meow. It really makes me sad, meow."
Chu Lian could feel her sincerity. This child was genuinely grieving for distant kin from a nearly forgotten branch of her race. Unexpectedly adorable and kind.
"Alright. I'll talk to Mother about it..." Chu Lian nodded. Since this was something done out of kindness, she would support it. It wasn't often Tina wanted to do something proper. How could she not encourage it?
"No need to tell me. I already know."
Speak of the devil—no, speak of Mother, and Mother appears.
Chu Lian looked at her smiling mother approaching, with Anna cautiously hiding behind her, and felt speechless.
"Meow!" Tina's tail shot upright, her white cat ears standing straight in alarm. The instant she saw her natural nemesis, her first instinct was to revert to cat form and slip into the Shadow Plane.
Unfortunately, under Mother's smiling gaze, it didn't matter whether she was a white cat, black cat, yandere sadist, or loli girl—resistance was futile. She could only lie flat on the bed, tail drooping, resigned to fate.
"My, I never expected our Tina to be this adorable after turning human." Li Mingxue stepped forward and scooped the barely one-meter-thirty loli into her arms, teasing her tail and ears. The poor thing's face flushed bright red—clearly, those were sensitive spots.
"Anna~" Chu Lian didn't dare meet Tina's pleading eyes. Instead, she bent down and opened her arms toward Anna.
"Mommy." Anna, noticeably more obedient than before, happily stepped out and threw herself into Chu Lian's embrace. She nuzzled against her chest, her small nose twitching. Though her expression remained blank, her thoughts churned.
Mommy smells like that dangerous cat again. How annoying. Why is she getting so close to Mommy? But it's fine. Anna will make you all submit eventually. When that time comes, you'll all be Anna's servants. Let's see how you compete with me for Mommy then.
"What's wrong, Anna?" Chu Lian asked, puzzled by the sniffing.
"Nothing. Mommy just smells really nice—like a faint floral fragrance. And now there's that big sister's scent mixed in too. It smells really good, so I couldn't help sniffing a little." Anna glanced at Tina with an exceedingly gentle expression.
"Meow... what a dangerous girl." Tina's instincts as a spirit cat were incredibly sharp. From that single glance, she sensed everything.
I always knew she wasn't simple. But only after meeting her in human form do I realize just how terrifying she is, meow. I just hope she won't hurt Master. Otherwise, even if it means I'll never grow up again, I'll make you disappear, meow.
Completely unaware that the two had just clashed silently, Chu Lian looked at Anna snuggled in her arms and felt warmth bloom in her heart.
Perhaps... this was what motherly love felt like.