Chapter 41: Angry?

It just so happened that class was about to end. During the time James rushed to the main city district, Xiu could check on Wen Chu’s homework.

Thinking of the cat who had vowed that he would definitely be able to learn it, a hint of a smile unconsciously spilled from the corner of Xiu’s mouth.

He could also comfort the silly cat by the way, and help him lay some foundation.

Thinking this, Xiu walked to the classroom door.

When he saw the empty podium, he froze.

Where is the cat?

On the other side, in the main city district.

Minnie had intended to take the main road to Boiler Room No. 21, but now there was a small black cat on her tricycle.

Looking at the small black cat, no bigger than a palm, and then at the boiler room billowing with black smoke on the unavoidable path, Minnie sighed.

It was one thing not to have noticed the cat’s existence before, but now that she had discovered it, she couldn’t possibly take this fragile little cat, who could vomit just from eating canned food, through the heavily polluted boiler room area.

Minnie turned her head and said, “Sit tight in the cart. I’ll take you through a cleaner shortcut.”

Wen Chu let out a “Wang-wu” sound and jumped directly to sit beside Minnie’s seat.

The tricycle bed was too crowded, with things rattling around inside; he couldn’t sit properly.

Minnie: …

Helpless, Minnie could only squeeze to the side, sharing half the seat with the kitten, and continued pedaling in an extremely awkward posture.

The main city district was built in a circle around the statue of the God of Steam. Minnie was currently opposite Boiler Room No. 21, and the shortcut she mentioned was to cut directly across the Central Plaza, passing the statue of the God of Steam.

“Sir hates the statue in the Central Plaza the most. I never dared to go this way before; this time I’m making an exception for you…”

Minnie muttered to herself.

The statue Xiu hates?

Hearing this, Wen Chu curiously poked his head out to look at the scenery outside the tricycle.

Minnie rode fast. They had already arrived at the Central Plaza, where the number of patrol officers had more than doubled.

It wasn’t that no one noticed this strange combination of one person and one cat, but Minnie was tall and strong, looking nothing like a minor, so the patrol officers just glanced at them and didn’t pay further attention.

And Wen Chu finally saw the statue in the center of the main city district.

It was a statue fully ten meters high. The figure had long hair, body leaning slightly forward, one hand hanging down, and the other palm facing up, holding a blue Heart of Steam.

This recorded the scene of the God of Steam granting ore to humanity.

Wen Chu’s gaze followed the statue’s hand all the way up, but froze when he saw the face at the very top.

Such an exquisite statue, yet the face was blank.

This blank face was like an abrupt tear mark on a painting, completely out of place with the statue. Even Wen Chu could tell this was definitely not some artistic leaving of white space (“liu bai”).

It was that someone had deliberately erased the features.

Minnie acted as if she didn’t notice the anomaly of the statue at all, sighing, “When the God of Steam gave the Heart of Steam to humans, did he imagine that we would be divided into classes because of it?”

Wen Chu turned his head to look at her.

Minnie continued talking to herself: “Why is it that, as fellow humans, those who master the Heart of Steam can live in the Sky City (City of Steam), while we have to breathe the waste gas they produce on the ground, and produce energy and daily necessities for them?”

“…I want to have everything they have too.”

Wen Chu felt these words were strange.

But he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where the strangeness lay, so he just flicked his tail and continued to look at the scenery outside.

Minnie also noticed the increasing number of patrol officers around, shut her mouth vigilantly, and said no more.

Patrol officers weren’t terrifying; what was terrifying were the three hundred Steam Robots assigned to each district.

The vast majority of patrol officers were indigenous people of the ground. As fellow residents of the ground, under most circumstances, they wouldn’t drive people to extinction, but Steam Robots would.

Steam Robots receiving orders would hunt down enemies to the ends of the earth.

They soon left the Central Plaza.

But Minnie’s expression grew increasingly grave.

Because she found that the closer they got to Boiler Room No. 21, the more patrol officers there were.

After driving out of the Central Plaza, she had already seen no less than five teams of patrol officers heading towards Boiler Room No. 21.

The sixth team of patrol officers happened to be talking as they passed.

“Are you sure it’s the mechanic from the City of Steam? What was his name again?”

“Claude. The brother of that James who died in a mechanical accident earlier. Didn’t they build an amusement park on the ground together? Heard he also hoarded a batch of Hearts of Steam privately.”

“The Allen brothers who improved the Steam Robots?”

“Sigh, he probably just wanted to avenge his brother…”

“Shh—don’t talk nonsense. The Director gave a death order. Stealing Hearts of Steam is a capital offense; shoot on sight.”

“Screech—”

Minnie’s face changed completely, and she stopped the tricycle decisively.

She parked the cart at the entrance of the nearest boiler room, quickly picked up the little black cat who was still out of the loop, abandoned the cart without hesitation, and hugged the cat, walking quickly into the nearest alley.

Wen Chu was puzzled, tilting his head to look at Minnie.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, Minnie took out a walkie-talkie from her pocket and whispered quickly: “This is Minnie. Claude, James’s brother, has been discovered at Boiler Room No. 21. Patrol officers are approaching. Did Sir say anything?”

A childish voice rang out from the other side; it was Dorothy: “Sister Minnie, Sir just asked the doctor to send you burn medicine, then went to the classroom to find the cat but couldn’t find it. He got very angry and took a large group of people and Teacher James to find you.”

Minnie: “Huh?”

Dorothy: “Sir said you kidnapped the cat.”

Minnie looked at the little black cat in her arms. Before she could explain or cry injustice, she heard a loud “BOOM” behind her.

Followed by Dorothy’s voice: “Sir also said, if you turned on the walkie-talkie, to remind you to watch out for explosions and not let the cat get hurt…”

Minnie couldn’t hear the rest of the words.

Because she was standing right next to Boiler Room No. 21. A scorching heatwave swept over, and she had to put away the walkie-talkie that was burning her hand, hugging the cat and running with all her might.

“Fuck! Who fired and blew up the boiler room!” Minnie couldn’t help cursing.

The explosion happened more than once.

Land in the main city district was precious, and boiler rooms were packed closely together. The explosion at Boiler Room No. 21 quickly triggered a chain reaction.

Steam clouds wrapped in the residues of unburnt Hearts of Steam gushed out, burning a huge hole directly into the adjacent boiler room, causing the next round of explosions.

The workers nearby couldn’t react at all. They were even holding iron shovels transporting Hearts of Steam into the furnace, and in the next moment, they were obliterated by the scalding water vapor.

Those slightly luckier were scalded with blisters all over their bodies, screaming and rolling on the ground. The patrol officers who had gathered earlier were fleeing in all directions.

Minnie was at the center of the explosion. Even though she was agile enough, it was hard to dodge the hellish high-temperature steam spraying everywhere.

Wen Chu wasn’t doing much better.

Although he looked like a cat, he was essentially a cloud of mist. As the surrounding temperature rose, Wen Chu also began to evaporate.

[Remaining Lifespan: 5 days 6 hours 21 minutes]
[Remaining Lifespan: 5 days 6 hours 20 minutes]
[Remaining Lifespan: 5 days 6 hours 19 minutes]

His lifespan began to drop at a rate of one minute per second. Wen Chu was bewildered: [What’s wrong with me again?]

The system said quickly: [Evaporating. No time to explain the principles, but basically, if you stay in the fire as mist, you will die.]

[Then what if I turn into a human? Will the human form continue to evaporate?] Wen Chu asked.

System: [No, but in human form, it drops ten times faster.]

Seeing Minnie’s cheeks turning red while holding him, Wen Chu said immediately: [Then I want to turn into a human now. Just in time to save Minnie and discuss her joining the Rebel Army.]

.

“Hoo—”

Minnie held the black cat, dodging the steam spraying from the ruptured brass pipes beside her by a hair’s breadth, but this also forced her into a dead end.

Seeing that the brass pipes falling from above were about to hit her, Minnie closed her eyes, turned her back, and prepared to protect the kitten underneath her at the last moment.

If I die, I die. At least I have to save Sir’s cat.

Just then, she suddenly felt her arms lighten.

In the next moment, a beautiful, soft white hand grabbed her and lifted her whole body up with an extremely unreasonable strength.

Minnie: ?

What’s the situation?

Wen Chu, now in human form, carried Minnie with one hand and ran forward quickly, simultaneously introducing himself rapidly: “I am Wen Chu, the cat that followed you out just now. I want to discuss joining the Rebel Army with you.”

Minnie stared blankly at the slender youth carrying her.

This was an extremely beautiful youth with long white hair, wearing a dark cloak common on the ground, but his hands were fair and soft—looking nothing like an indigenous person of the ground.

More like the upper class from the City of Steam.

If it were just this, Minnie wouldn’t be stunned with surprise; after all, there was a teacher in the Rebel Army who had fled from the City of Steam.

But what did Wen Chu say just now?

“You are the cat?” Minnie asked in a daze.

“No, the cat is me,” Wen Chu corrected earnestly. “I just temporarily turned into a cat. I am very powerful. I want to join the Rebel Army and help you rebel, but the premise is you have to keep it a secret from Xiu.”

Minnie was dazed: “…Does Sir know you are not a cat?”

“He knows.” Wen Chu gave an answer that exceeded Minnie’s expectations.

The beautiful white-haired youth frowned, saying distressfully: “He knows I’m very powerful, but he won’t let me help. He thinks I’m too fragile.”

“So, don’t tell him. I’m coming to help you. This counts as helping Xiu too, okay?”

As Wen Chu spoke, he turned his head to look at Minnie on his shoulder with expectant eyes.

Minnie: …

What could she do?

Refuse, and she would offend Sir’s cat. Coupled with her crime of “catnapping,” if this cat talked nonsense in front of Sir, she could pack up and lie in a coffin.

Agree, and she would offend Sir at some point in the future, but at the same time gain the assistance of a person who could turn into a cat.

And…

Minnie looked at Wen Chu, who was carrying her 1.9-meter frame and sprinting effortlessly.

High-temperature steam sprayed onto the youth’s thin white arm, but only a wisp of black smoke rose from his body. His arm turned phantom-like for a moment, and when it solidified again, it was unharmed.

Minnie believed 50-60% of Wen Chu’s claim that “I am very powerful.”

“It’s not impossible,” Minnie considered and said. “But you have to help explain in front of Sir that I didn’t bring you out, and I need to know what specific abilities you have.”

Wen Chu’s tone was light: “Okay.”

While talking, he had already carried Minnie out of the explosion zone.

Wen Chu gently put Minnie down from his shoulder, looked up at her, and counted on his fingers: “I can help you heal people, even dead people. I can also help you kill people. But the premise for everything is that these things are to help Xiu achieve his goals.”

Minnie opened her mouth wide: “Huh? Heal dead people? You can bring the dead back to life? Really?”

Is she in some magic world?

Wen Chu nodded. He extended his hand towards Minnie, turning it into a cloud of black mist in front of her: “Really, because I am not human.”

“But the price is relatively high, so unless it’s a particularly critical situation, it’s best not to ask me.”

If Xiu found out he was using his lifespan recklessly outside, Xiu would be angry.

Thinking of this, Wen Chu remembered his other purpose. He asked Minnie: “Do you still have money on you?”

Minnie was still in a trance and nodded blankly: “Yes.”

“Great.” Wen Chu didn’t retract his extended hand. “Give me some money. Consider it my salary for working for you. I want to buy things.”

He wanted to buy fluffy mattresses, thick quilts, cotton pillows, and a few kerosene lamps.

These were all things Wen Chu saw others owning when he observed the entire courtyard yesterday.

What others had, Xiu must have too.

Minnie subconsciously took out all the remaining money on her and gave it to Wen Chu. Seeing Wen Chu take the money and prepare to leave, she hurriedly grabbed him.

“Wait.”

Wen Chu was confused: “What’s wrong? Don’t worry, I won’t spend all the money. I’ll return the rest to you.”

“It’s not about the money.” Minnie finally came back to her senses and quickly dragged Wen Chu back into the alley.

Just then, a team of patrol officers ran past outside.

“Hurry up and put out the fire!! Someone fired and blew up the boiler room!!”
“Did anyone see Claude? The City of Steam is offering a reward of ten thousand cans to find him.”
“I seemed to see a child just now…”

Minnie said sternly: “Turn into a cat quickly.”

Wen Chu didn’t understand why, but maintaining human form did consume a lot of lifespan, so he obediently turned into the little black cat.

The next moment the black cat fell into Minnie’s arms, the patrol officers who had passed by returned.

Sounds of pushing and shoving arose: “Is there really a child? Let me see—”

Several people squeezed into the alley. Seeing the 1.9-meter tall, burly Minnie covered in black soot holding a black cat, they fell silent.

The person at the very front cursed: “Who said there was a child? Can your family’s child grow to 1.9 meters?”

People behind squeezed over, stunned when they saw Minnie, then explained for themselves: “No, I saw someone with white hair just now, that one was shorter.”

The group left cursing at each other, without apologizing or paying attention to Minnie.

Minnie breathed a heavy sigh of relief and said to the little black cat who still didn’t know what had happened: “On the ground, all minor children are sent to work in welfare institutes and accept their brainwashing education. When they turn eighteen, they become boiler room workers or are chosen by people from the City of Steam to be slaves.”

Minnie spoke, remembering Wen Chu’s stunning face just now, and instructed earnestly: “So, you must not show your face in front of patrol officers. You will be taken away, understand?”

Wen Chu was bewildered: “But I am eighteen.”

Minnie was surprised: “You’re actually of age?”

After brief surprise, Minnie frowned again: “Even if you’re of age, it won’t work. You don’t have an ID card; your age is whatever they say it is. Anyway, don’t appear in human form in the main city district.”

Wen Chu finally understood why John was so nervous when they first met, and why Minnie looked for minor children everywhere to raise, doing such a thankless task.

He nodded: “I understand. But I want to buy things. Can you take me to buy them?”

Minnie glanced at the charred boiler room behind her and the crowd busy putting out the fire. Her tricycle and the things bought for Sir had likely perished in the fire.

She agreed: “Okay. Just jump up and point at whatever you want to buy, and I’ll buy it for you.”

As for the exploded boiler room and James’s brother… Since Sir didn’t specifically instruct her, he must have his considerations.

She just needed to be responsible for taking care of Sir’s cat.

Although regretting not being able to find out news about the Heart of Steam, Minnie understood the principle that life was more important than anything, so naturally, she wouldn’t get involved at this time.

Wen Chu mumbled: “I want a mattress, quilt, pillow, wardrobe, thermos, kerosene lamp… basically, whatever you have in your dormitory, I want it too. I want the best.”

Minnie: “…Okay.”

As expected of a cat who can eat until it vomits.
Even the requirements for daily necessities are so high.

.

On the other side, at the entrance of the main city district.

Xiu retained some rationality. After learning from the guards that they saw the shadow of a black cat on Minnie’s cart, although he brought a crowd into the main city district, he let them disperse and stand by after entering.

Too many people would easily cause unnecessary trouble.

In the end, only James remained by Xiu’s side.

James’s face was full of anxiety, ignoring even Xiu beside him. After entering the main city district, he ran quickly towards Boiler Room No. 21, which was emitting black smoke.

Xiu followed a bit behind him, seemingly unhurried, but actually keeping close to James’s pace.

“Many people died in this explosion. What did Boiler Room No. 21 do?”

“Heard they were harboring a fugitive? Named Claude, the Allen brother who invented the new Steam Robot—tsk, serves him right.”

“They are people from the ground too, right? Entering the City of Steam because of robot patents, traitors.”

“Stop talking about this for now, hurry up and put out the fire. Families with workers near No. 21, hurry up and claim the bodies.”

Hearing the buzzing discussions around, both Xiu and James silently quickened their pace.

James couldn’t help trembling at this point: “Brother…”

He and his brother parted ways because of different ideals. When he faked his death, he only thought about going their separate ways, never expecting that the next time he heard news of him would be under such circumstances.

“Didn’t you agree with the City of Steam’s ideals? Didn’t you like researching new weapons the most? Isn’t it good to stay in the City of Steam and be a high-class person? Why…”

James couldn’t help choking up as he spoke.

Xiu remained silent, pursing his lips and continuing to walk forward.

When he saw the charred tricycle in front of Boiler Room No. 21, Xiu froze in place as if struck by lightning.

This was… Minnie’s cart.

On Minnie’s cart, there were scorched oxygen tanks and fabric that was completely unrecognizable—fabric he had asked Minnie to buy to make a nest for Wen Chu.

James had already thrown himself into the search and rescue team, digging through the hot black ash in the boiler room, attempting to find a familiar corpse.

Xiu walked slowly to the charred tricycle.

According to the original development, Minnie should have arrived at Boiler Room No. 21 a step later, be slightly affected by the explosion, and then learn news of Claude.

But unknown to him, Wen Chu had brought about a butterfly effect, and Minnie arrived early.

The residual heat of the cart hadn’t dissipated yet; it was still burning hot. But Xiu seemed to feel nothing, gripping the handle of the tricycle tightly.

Was this retribution for him?

He glanced coldly at the various people around him.

Because he decided this time to disregard everyone and destroy this world, fate sent this cloud of mist to his side.

And abruptly took it back right when he decided to raise this mist.

Ha…

If this was truly the case, such retribution was too cruel for him.

If he had known it would be like this, he wouldn’t have refused Wen Chu’s request to eat one more bite.

At least he could have fed Wen Chu one more bite, letting this ugly body have one last bit of use.

“Snap—”

The handle of the tricycle shattered under Xiu’s tightening grip.

Xiu looked down at the broken handle on the ground. Just as he was thinking about how to proceed with the rebellion plot if Minnie died this time, he suddenly heard a familiar voice from behind.

“Cheaper? Your sheet isn’t that good anyway, the style is unpopular, no one wants it except me.”

Xiu turned his head abruptly.

Not far behind him, Minnie’s highly recognizable red hair was swaying back and forth as she bargained in front of a stall.

She was riding a brand-new tricycle, larger and more advanced, directly driven by steam. The cart was piled with miscellaneous items like mattresses, quilts, oxygen tanks, fabric, and cotton.

And in front of Minnie, a palm-sized little black cat was stepping on the sheet Minnie was bargaining for, tail cocked high.

It was Wen Chu.

Xiu let go of his hand and walked quickly towards Wen Chu.

Wen Chu, who was happily choosing sheets, also saw Xiu and wagged his tail at Xiu happily.

He bought lots and lots of things for Xiu.
And bought beautiful sheets.
Look at this sheet, printed with lots and lots of eggs, so beautiful, Xiu will definitely like it.

Wen Chu puffed out his chest proudly, ready to receive Xiu’s praise.

The next moment, he felt the skin on the back of his neck tighten.

“Sir!”

Amidst Minnie’s surprised voice, Wen Chu was lifted up by Xiu, who was draped in black robes.

Xiu’s face was completely hidden by the hood. Wen Chu couldn’t see his expression, but he heard Xiu’s cool voice containing anger.

“Wen Chu, you are very good.”

“I sent you to school, and you ran here to buy sheets?”

Xiu’s voice was almost gnashing teeth—in this world, it was the first time Wen Chu heard such intense emotions from him.

Wen Chu: …QAQ?

Xiu is angry?
Does he not like the sheets I bought?