After finishing a complex series of checkups at the pet hospital and officially registering Rice Cake's medical file, the kitten had truly become an indispensable member of the family.
And now, what Shu and Kiana had to do was go to a pet supply store to purchase all the necessary items for this vibrant little new life they had brought into their home.
The pet hospital and the pet supply store were part of the same industry chain, so they weren't far apart—just across the street from each other.
Shu was excitedly dragged into the pet supply store by Kiana, forced to stare at the endless rows of shelves inside.
The shelves were densely packed with a bewildering array of products.
Cat food, canned wet food, cat treats, cat beds, cat trees, litter boxes, cat toys, scratching posts, catnip, cat clothes, collars, cat carriers, brushes, nail clippers, cat toothbrushes, cat toothpaste, pet wipes, pet-safe disinfectant, nutritional gel, hairball remedy gel, probiotics, vitamins, fish oil...
Master, please stop chanting the sutras.
Shu felt his head swelling. Each familiar word morphed into a bizarre, alien chimera, baring its fangs and lunging at him.
He wanted to run, but Kiana had already charged in hugging Rice Cake, and he hadn't been spared, getting dragged right into the shop along with her.
The sound of the automatic doors sliding shut behind him felt like a death sentence.
Is there really no turning back?
"Wow—Shu, look! This cat bed is so cute! This cat tree is so tall! This toy—Rice Cake, look at this little mouse!"
Rice Cake poked its head out of her embrace, took one look at the plush mouse, and turned its head away in disgust.
Too childish. Only stupid cats would like a childish toy like that.
Kiana froze, feeling slightly offended.
"You don't like it? How about this one? This little fish?" She turned Rice Cake around to face another toy.
Rice Cake took one look and turned its head away again.
Yep. A big, stupid cat.
"What about this one? This feather?"
Rice Cake's ears twitched, but it still didn't move.
Kiana fell into deep thought.
Shu stood frozen in front of a shelf.
His gaze swept over the rows of cat food, his expression growing increasingly solemn.
Natural diet, grain-free diet, kitten formula, adult formula, all life stages formula, indoor cat formula, coat-enhancing formula, sensitive stomach formula, urinary tract health formula, hairball control formula, hypoallergenic formula, weight management formula...
Hiss...
Shu desperately tried to understand every single word. Truthfully, this wasn't that difficult for him...
But when he glanced at the ingredient lists, what little confidence he had vanished into thin air.
Salmon, chicken, duck, beef, rabbit, venison—wait, venison?
Cats ate venison?!
He finally struggled to check the expiration date. That was probably the only reliable method he had to determine if this stuff was actually edible.
Okay, it wasn't expired.
Shu didn't even bother looking at the price. He just pulled out his phone, intending to take a picture and search it up online.
But in the very next second, Shu felt the store clerk's gaze turn exceptionally sharp, as if she were about to pierce him full of holes.
Shu hastily looked up, only to find the clerk wasn't even looking at him... It was just my imagination.
I'd better just search the name manually...
He stealthily typed the full name of the cat food, the brand, and other details into his browser, utilizing AI and forums for a comprehensive search. The result was a massive string of answers he completely failed to understand.
Shu also fell into deep thought.
The browser redirected him to a link for a different cat food brand, the forums were locked in a vicious left-brain vs. right-brain civil war, and the AI... the AI was hallucinating as usual.
Sweat began to bead on Shu's forehead.
He remembered how wildly he had misjudged the prices at the pet hospital earlier. That was the extent of his ignorance when it came to "pets."
If he couldn't even guess the price of a checkup correctly, how could he possibly expect himself to choose the right cat food?
What if he picked the wrong one?
What if it gave Rice Cake diarrhea?
What if that brand actually had a history of quality control issues?
What if there was something in the ingredient list that shouldn't be there?
What if the food he chose was nutritionally unbalanced and made Rice Cake sick?
What if...
He knew absolutely nothing about pets.
On what basis could he make a choice?
What right did he have to choose?
Shu stood in front of the shelf holding a bag of cat food, his palms slick with sweat.
The sales associate—the one Shu had mistakenly thought was glaring at him earlier—walked over with a bright smile.
"Sir, do you need any help? This formula is one of our bestsellers. A lot of owners buy this one. It's highly palatable; cats absolutely love it—"
Shu looked at her, the chaotic jumble of thoughts in his mind finally manifesting as pure suspicion.
What if she's just pushing a product?
What if this one just has the highest profit margin?
What if her 'a lot of owners' line is just a sales pitch?
Ten thousand "what-ifs" tangled his brain into a knot. He didn't even know if nodding right now was the correct response.
All he could do was place the bag of cat food back on the shelf and mumble that he still wanted to look around.
While Shu was drowning in anxiety, Kiana had already noticed something was wrong.
Hm?
She smelled the scent of anxiety. It felt as if someone were making a life-or-death decision.
Almost instantly, Kiana locked her gaze onto Shu beside her. After all, in this peaceful era, surrounded by normal people, who else would slip into this kind of state at the drop of a hat?
Hmph, that stupid Shu. He's torturing himself again. I need to give him a good...
"Shu..." Kiana's ghostly voice made Shu turn his head as if he had just been granted a royal pardon.
Kiana saw the thin layer of sweat on his forehead. The moment his eyes landed on her, it was as if he had just seen his savior.
All the reprimands she had prepared suddenly caught in her throat. Kiana held them back, and in the end, her voice softened involuntarily.
"What are you doing?"
With the stepping stone Kiana had provided, Shu very naturally voiced the problem he was struggling with. "...I'm looking at cat food..."
"Oh, cat food..." Kiana was very satisfied that Shu's answer wasn't "nothing." She squeezed in next to him to look at the source of his inner turmoil. "Let me see, let me see... Ugh..."
Just one glance at the densely packed ingredient list made the world spin. She decisively abandoned the attempt to process the information, protecting her brilliant mind from being corrupted by forbidden knowledge.
But that single glance was enough for Kiana to understand why Shu was so anxious.
Was it that he "couldn't choose"?
No, Shu was definitely capable of choosing. If she couldn't understand the ingredients on the packaging, did that mean Shu couldn't understand them either? Factoring in the price as a reference, Shu could absolutely select an option that best met his criteria.
He just "didn't dare to choose."
It was exactly like before. Whenever they ordered food, or bought clothes, or she asked him what he liked, his answers were always "Whatever," "It's fine," or "Anything is fine."
Maybe... he really couldn't choose?
It wasn't that he didn't have thoughts or preferences. It was that he had too many thoughts.
So many that every single thought was followed by a hundred "what-ifs," and every "what-if" was like an abyss. He stood on the edge, not daring to take a single step.
Hmm... so that's how it is.
Kiana suddenly took a deep breath, then let out a long exhale.
Thank goodness...
So that was the reason!