Chapter 116: System Warning

The most important truth was that the master of the house had not been killed by the old cat, but by a rat. Within the home lived a rat larger than the cat, cunning and vicious. It was this rat that had gnawed through the floorboards, causing the mistress to fall to her death—an act for which the old cat had been blamed. Yet, the old cat harbored no resentment, remaining faithfully in the house. The natural dominance of a predator had forced the rat into the shadows, but as the world began to mutate, both the cat and the rat evolved. Their lifespans lengthened, and the rat grew increasingly crafty, hiding away until the cat was gone to finish off the last remaining master of the house—the very skeleton now held in the cat’s arms. The blood on the cat’s teeth was not the master's, but the rat's. Upon finding its master devoured, the old cat had torn the rat to pieces. This was the scene Lin Qiu witnessed as he pushed open the door.

The old cat sat cradling the skeleton, tears streaming from its eyes. Although the master had once tried to scald it to death with boiling water, the cat had spent over a decade in this home and knew the family had once been kind. Had it not been for the rat’s malevolent influence, the master would never have treated it so. Thus, the cat held no hatred.

Lin Qiu retracted his electric baton and sighed softly. "I am an enforcement officer from the Management Bureau," he said to the cat. "I am currently auditing all exotic beasts to issue valid residency permits. As an exotic beast, you cannot appear in public without proper identification."

"I have to take a test?" The old cat wiped the tears from its eyes, looking at Lin Qiu with curiosity.

Seeing the cat clutching a skull made Lin Qiu uneasy, but he nodded. "For kind-hearted exotic beasts, we provide legal status, allowing you to live openly in the sunlight alongside humans. For the vicious ones, we capture and rehabilitate them. If they refuse to repent, we terminate them humanely."

The cat nodded slightly. "Audit me however you like; I don't want to leave this home. The masters are gone, the house is empty, and I want to stay and guard it."

"If you pass the assessment, this house will be yours," Lin Qiu said. Suddenly, his brow furrowed, and he turned to look outside.

The cat placed the skeleton down with extreme care and rose, narrowing its eyes as it peered toward the yard. The sun was scorching, and the courtyard was swarming with a mass of dark, fist-sized creatures. Data flickered in Lin Qiu’s eyes, and he gasped.

Thousands of mutated rats were gathered outside. They were only second-tier beasts; one slap from Lin Qiu could kill them, but their sheer numbers made his scalp tingle. Even the old cat let out a low, nervous mewl. Even with the bloodline suppression that gave the cat superior combat strength, the sheer volume of these thousands of rats could easily overwhelm and bury it.

"Damn old cat, you killed our ancestor! Brothers and sisters, charge in and tear him apart!" The screeching voices, translated through psychic waves, were as sharp as iron rods scraping against stone, grating on the nerves.

"Enforcer, it seems my time has come, and I may have implicated you as well," the old cat said, bracing itself for battle.

Lin Qiu steadied his nerves, a cold smirk playing on his lips. "Dealing with these scraps is nothing more than a wave of the hand."

As he spoke, a black hole appeared silently above the courtyard, shimmering with an eerie dark light. A tremendous suction force erupted. Before the rats could react, they were compressed by a mysterious power, shrinking rapidly until they were the size of sesame seeds and sucked into the void. The old cat watched in astonishment. The shrill, desperate cries of the rats filled the air, but within a few breaths, the dark mass was wiped clean, leaving not even a stray leaf in the yard.

"That's it?" Lin Qiu retracted the black hole, his eyes filled with mockery. Though these creatures were vile, they were still exotic beasts. Thousands of second-tier rats—likely the entire population of Wudu—had been wiped out in one go.

As the black hole consumed the rats, the system decomposed them into a surge of vital energy that flooded Lin Qiu’s body. But a moment later, his brow furrowed again. He felt a vast portion of that energy vanish through a psychic channel.

"Xu Bing, damn you!" Lin Qiu’s face darkened.

He had only absorbed less than half of the energy, raising his leveling progress to 300/1000 points. The rest had been stolen by Xu Bing.

Miles away, Xu Bing, who was busy conducting field inspections, shuddered as a rush of powerful energy filled her. A few seconds later, the energy merged with her body, increasing her strength—by a single point.

"Where did this power come from? Could it be..." Xu Bing’s eyes glinted as she thought of Lin Qiu. A smile tugged at her lips. "That guy must be gnashing his teeth and cursing me behind my back right now."

She chuckled, her mood brightening. If Lin Qiu knew that such a massive amount of energy had only yielded a tiny, insignificant increase for her, he would be furious enough to vomit blood. But the thought of annoying him made her very happy.

*Ding! Danger... Danger...*

Just as Lin Qiu was feeling dejected, the system issued an urgent, sharp alarm. His face turned pale. In all the time he had possessed the system, this was the first time it had issued an active warning, and with such intensity.

"System, I’m a coward, don't scare me like this!" Lin Qiu looked at the bright sun, feeling no warmth, only a chilling sensation. No matter how he scanned, he couldn't detect any sign of danger, but he knew the system would not deceive him.

He braced himself and entered a combat state. The mecha gauntlet on his left wrist began to activate, ready to transform at a moment's notice. Just then, a young man in a black robe appeared, walking toward him with stiff, precise steps. Lin Qiu froze, his pupils constricting. He hadn't even seen how this person had arrived.