Chapter 53: Childish Kitten

The night on the surface was already cold, and with the first cold wave striking tonight, heavy snow filled the sky. Under her assault jacket, Minnie wore two layered sweaters and self-heating patches.

At this moment, meeting Wen Chu’s gaze, Minnie shivered for no reason.

She realized with extreme clarity right then—Wen Chu was not human.

Or rather, Wen Chu simply did not possess the worldview of a normal person.

Even within the Rebel Army, there were many like James who would vomit from nausea upon seeing blood for the first time, despite their generations of deep-seated hatred for the City of Steam.

But for Wen Chu, killing a person was like killing a chicken. He didn’t need many reasons; just because “he spoke disrespectfully to Xiu,” Wen Chu could make a move.

Minnie swallowed with difficulty. “The Chief should be at the orphanage in the East District right now. I can give you a map. As for the gold coins, please wait a moment, I’ll go to the back and get them for you.”

Forget it, if he kills him, he kills him. The Chief wasn’t a good person anyway. He had bullied men and dominated women for so long. Even if Wen Chu didn’t act, the Chief would probably be hung from a lamppost by the angry masses in a few days.

Thinking of this scene, Minnie, who had turned to fetch the gold coins and map, felt an extremely inappropriate sense of amusement.

Wen Chu stood quietly on the spot waiting, reaching out to catch a snowflake and studying it seriously.

Snowflakes actually had shapes, looking like intertwined corals. They melted shortly after falling into his palm.

It looked delicious, so why did it taste bitter?

Wen Chu was very puzzled.

Unknowing bystanders nearby, seeing the small black-robed youth standing still and Minnie walking away, couldn’t help but click their tongues. “Who is this? Why does the boss obey him so readily?”

“How exactly did he appear? Is this some new steam technology?”

James passed by carrying a steam robot. “Ask fewer questions about the boss’s affairs. Just know that he is our ally.”

Wen Chu was attracted by the familiar voice. looking up to see James, he nodded politely to him. “Hello, Teacher.”

James scratched his head awkwardly and smiled at Wen Chu. “Hello.”

After speaking, Wen Chu lowered his head to continue studying the snowflakes, completely failing to notice that the crowd, who had just been whispering, was now even more shocked, looking at James with expressions of “You’re actually hiding such depths.”

James: “…Ask less.”

If you knew this was Sir’s cat, who diligently goes to school every day and turns in math, physics, and chemistry homework on time, you’d be scared to death.

As they spoke, Minnie returned carrying four boxes of gold coins and a rolled-up map.

The heavy suitcases hit the ground, smashing four deep pits directly into the snow. Minnie handed the map to Wen Chu and clapped her hands. “Alright, everything’s here.”

Wen Chu took the map, unfolded it to look and memorize it, then looked at the suitcases on the ground. After confirming the quantity was correct, he said, “Thank you.”

After speaking, Wen Chu returned the map to Minnie, picked up two suitcases in each hand, and prepared to leave.

“Um…” Minnie began hesitantly.

Wen Chu looked at her in confusion. “Is there anything else?”

Minnie rubbed her hands awkwardly. “Can I ask why it’s four boxes of gold coins this time? I don’t mean anything else… I’m just afraid I won’t be able to afford to hire you next time.”

She still wanted to continue cooperating with Wen Chu, but if Wen Chu turned one box into four again, she would have to sell off the Rebel Army.

“Oh, this,” Wen Chu explained earnestly. “Because I revived Dorothy for you, revived the cabbage, lured away the patrol officers, and picked up so many guns for you. So that’s four jobs, which requires four wages.”

Minnie: …

Minnie actually felt that Wen Chu made a lot of sense.

After all, of these four things, aside from the last one—picking up guns, which was a forced sale—if any of the remaining three hadn’t happened, today’s developments wouldn’t have gone so smoothly.

Minnie gave a dry laugh. “So that’s how it is… haha.”

Looking painfully at the four boxes of gold coins on the ground, she suddenly had a brainstorm and asked tentatively, “Tonight, after you kill the Chief, could you conveniently hang him on a lamppost in the Central Plaza?”

Having just received four boxes of gold coins, Wen Chu was happy to do such a small favor for Minnie. “No problem. But that way, Xiu’s vegetable patch won’t have fertilizer. You have to give me two extra bags of fertilizer. You can still find me for work next time.”

Minnie: “Okay, okay… if I still have money.”

Wen Chu said sincerely, “Then you must work hard to make money.”

Minnie: …

No matter how much she earned, she couldn’t keep up with the speed at which Wen Chu asked for money.

Wen Chu left after speaking. The crowd only saw the suddenly appearing white-haired youth mutter with Minnie for a while, then disappear into the vast snowy night carrying four boxes of unknown items.

Minnie turned around, saw the crowd watching the drama, and waved her hand grumpily. “What are you all gathering around for? Is the work done? If anyone doesn’t work, I’ll sell you off.”

The crowd then began to move. Someone said playfully while working, “Who would buy rough men like us?”

Minnie stared at him gloomily. “Sell you to the South District to serve as soldiers. The steam robots in the South District are still the oldest models, the kind that requires real people to wear iron shells and operate inside the robots. They are urgently conscripting steam soldiers right now.”

Save up the money from the exchange to treat Wen Chu next time.

Minnie’s half-true, half-false joke sent a shiver through everyone. They dared not mess around anymore, and efficiency increased significantly.

And James received the second batch of admiring yet shocked gazes of the night.

—Thank the Allen brothers for improving the remote-controlled steam robots.

Otherwise, wearing iron armor and being used as a robot in the vanguard would be too miserable.

.

On the other side, after leaving everyone’s sight, Wen Chu turned into his mist form and drifted back to the small stone tower carrying the suitcases.

Xiu was still inside knitting sweaters. He didn’t dare go in, so he simply dug a pit behind the stone tower, temporarily buried the suitcases in it, and planned to move them inside after Xiu fell asleep.

After doing all this, Wen Chu shook off the snow on his body. Just as he wanted to continue flying, he suddenly realized he couldn’t fly anymore.

Looking down again, his body had actually solidified, frozen together with the snow on the ground, turning directly into a round little black snow sculpture.

Wen Chu pulled hard but couldn’t pull himself out, so he had to ask the System for help: [I seem to be frozen. Is there any way to get out?]

The System was silent for a while. Wen Chu vaguely heard the sound of suppressed laughter.

Wen Chu: QAQ?

How can a person be this bad?

After quite a while, the System’s business-like voice finally sounded: [It’s normal for mist form to be frozen. Just turn back into a human.]

Wen Chu turned back into human form as told, finally regaining his mobility.

He moved his hands and feet, stomped the snow where he buried the money a bit firmer, and then remembered another more troublesome matter: [My human form can’t fly. It will be too late by the time I walk to the East District.]

System: [That is a problem you have to solve yourself.]

Wen Chu stopped in his tracks.

He didn’t make a sound or complain, turning into his black mist main body right there.

A small round ball frozen solid. Because Wen Chu had moved a bit as a human, he was finally not frozen to the ground now.

Wen Chu rolled forward with a gulu gulu sound.

The System’s voice was finally tinged with shock: [What are you doing?]

Wen Chu: [Traveling.]

System: […]

Wen Chu buried his head and rolled forward. Rolling was much faster than walking. Before long, he rolled to the classroom where he usually attended class.

It was night time, but laughter came from the classroom courtyard which should have been silent and deserted.

“Catherine, look here!”

“Ah!! Hahahaha! Help!”

“Look at my super invincible giant snowball!”

“Ahhh my snowman! Don’t hit my snowman!”

Wen Chu paused. Passing by the classroom door, he looked inside curiously.

In the courtyard in front of the classroom, several children wearing padded clothes were throwing snowballs at each other.

Catherine’s hair was covered in snow from being hit. Dorothy was pointing at her and laughing loudly. Next to them was another girl, her face red with anger, protecting the snowman behind her.

[What is this?] Wen Chu was puzzled. [Are they fighting?]

[It’s a snowball fight, a game human children play in winter,] the System explained. [Building snowmen too; they use snow to pile up different shapes.]

Wen Chu looked enviously a few more times: [Sounds so fun.]

He basically knew this group of people; they were his classmates from class. It was a pity he was a cat, and now a frozen lump of ice. Turning into a human suddenly would definitely scare them.

The System fell silent for a moment.

Before the System could come up with comforting words, the little black ball rolled into the courtyard, heading straight for the guns the children had set aside in the corner.

Crack—

Wen Chu tried hard to change the shape of his frozen-stiff self, grabbed a gun, and ran.

System: [?]

Wen Chu: “I’m not a child anymore. I don’t want to play such a childish game. The most important thing now is to go kill that Chief.”

System: […]

Looking at the little black ball struggling to roll forward while dragging a gun, the System gained a new understanding of how stubborn Wen Chu could be when throwing a tantrum.

How can someone be so stubbornly pitiful?

[Alright, I was wrong, okay?] The System sighed. [I’ll teleport you directly to the East District. I’ll give you ten minutes of free movement time in mist form, no more.]

Wen Chu instantly stopped rolling and cheered: [Yay.]

The pitiful act just now was indeed fake.

Little drama queen.

System coldly: [I will deduct 24 hours from your lifespan.]

Wen Chu, wealthy and imposing: [It doesn’t matter, deduct it. The Xiu in this world is very generous and gave me lots of lifespan.]

The System chuckled softly: [Is that so?]

Wen Chu sensed something wrong: [Is it not?]

The System said no more, simply deducting the 24 hours of lifespan and saying vaguely: [I hope you can continue to think so tomorrow.]

[Lifespan -24h]
[Remaining Lifespan: 1 Year, 122 Days, 2 Hours]

After the lifespan panel popped up, the System immediately said: [I’m teleporting you now. Only ten minutes. Don’t ask this and that, hurry up.]

Almost the moment the System’s voice fell, Wen Chu flew into the air out of nowhere. Wen Chu didn’t have time to ask further questions, only managing to grip the gun he stole tightly.

The next second, he was teleported to the East District.

Boom—

A violent explosion shot straight into the clouds. Wen Chu, in mid-air, was nearly engulfed by the firelight of the explosion.

Fortunately, the System had restored his freedom of movement. Wen Chu drifted away quickly to dodge this explosion.

Taking advantage of his high vantage point, he finally saw the situation on the ground clearly.

Below was a large cluster of buildings. Wen Chu guessed this was the “orphanage” Minnie spoke of.

The orphanage had now been occupied by the Rebel Army of the South District. Outside were patrol squads holding megaphones shouting for surrender. Wen Chu saw the shopkeeper who had spoken with Minnie today screaming hysterically, ordering people to charge.

There were cries, children’s screams, and the sound of gunshots everywhere.

From a distance, Wen Chu saw the South District leader ruthlessly kick down a robot that was hesitating in place, unwilling to advance.

This robot was much cruder than the ones the Allen brothers brought out. It didn’t have so many precise parts, and its brass exterior was covered in rust.

“Ah—!!”

The robot let out a desperate roar, clumsy climbing up from the ground, moving extremely slowly as it tried to walk back.

Wen Chu was stunned.

Did he seem to hear a human voice?

The next moment, a bullet shot at the robot’s head, piercing directly through the thin brass skin, exploding in a spray of blood.

The steam robot crashed to the ground. But seeing this, the surrounding patrol officers, instead of advancing, began to retreat frantically.

The next moment.

Boom—

Another explosion, and the iron skin and the person turned to ashes together.

Wen Chu finally realized where all those explosions he heard earlier came from.

Such scenes were not isolated cases; similar sights were playing out everywhere in the orphanage. Wen Chu watched in disbelief: [Why use humans to pilot steam robots? Didn’t James and Claude already research fully automated robots?]

[Fully automated robots need a Steam Heart to activate. The South District has no source of Steam Hearts.] The System’s voice was calm. [In the vast majority of cases, human labor plus machines is the cheapest form of labor.]

The battle situation in the South District was obviously several times more tragic than in the West District. No wonder the South District leader spared no effort in making Minnie bear the pressure.

Wen Chu stopped speaking.

Dragging the gun, he drifted down, turned into a small black cat, wrapped his long tail around the gun, and arrived directly behind the Chief.

Bang—

A gunshot rang out. The Chief, who was just screaming into the megaphone, coughed up a mouthful of blood, looked ahead in disbelief, and slowly fell down.

Equally incredulous were the surrounding patrol officers.

They looked at the small black cat holding a gun with its tail. Wisps of heat were even rising from the muzzle of the pistol in the cold night.

“The Chief was killed by a cat!!”

“Quick, find a doctor!!”

“Where is there a cat—ah!”

Wen Chu didn’t hesitate. Bang bang bang, another three shots in succession. After confirming there was no possibility of the Chief getting up again, he curled his cat tail and ate the pistol directly into his stomach.

He was going to use his true face to date Xiu tomorrow. He definitely couldn’t reveal his face at this time; otherwise, if Xiu heard rumors about a white-haired beautiful ghost and thought he was a bad person, what then?

A kitten killing people sounded bizarre. Even if the surrounding patrol officers spread the word, they would probably just be treated as hysterical.

Wen Chu swaggered through the hail of bullets, walking unharmed to the Chief’s side.

[Take me and him away together. I’m going to the Central Plaza.]

He promised Minnie he would hang the Chief on a lamppost.

The System obviously hadn’t expected him to be so decisive. It froze for half a second before saying: [Okay.]

The next moment, under the gaze of everyone, the black cat that held the gun with its tail just now and the fallen Chief disappeared together.

“Monster—it’s a monster!”

“Make way, the military doctor is here. Where is the Chief?”

“The Chief was killed by a cat, the cat took the Chief away…”

“? Are you sick? Now is not the time for jokes.”

The patrol officers were thrown into confusion for a moment, which happened to give the South District Rebel Army a chance to counterattack. accompanied by the loud sound of the charge bugle, the orphanage gates opened wide, and countless clumsy steam robots walked out in the firelight.

Deserters on the battlefield were the minority after all. Most people who voluntarily signed up to be steam soldiers were already resolved to die.

The brass was stained with the blood of comrades or enemies; this was the ignited flame of revenge.

.

Wen Chu didn’t see the end of the war.

He dragged the Chief’s corpse to the Central Plaza.

After yesterday’s farce, the main urban area was now under curfew. The city gates were closed early, and the Central Plaza was empty.

But Wen Chu teleported in; closed gates couldn’t stop him.

Wen Chu looked around. Seeing no one nearby, he turned back into human form.

He sized up the street lamps that had been extinguished by the roadside.

To hang on a lamppost, he needed a rope.

Wen Chu looked around but didn’t find anything to replace a rope, so he simply unbuckled the Chief’s belt.

The Chief’s belt was probably made of some animal’s genuine leather. The quality was very good and tough. Wen Chu tied a loop around the Chief’s neck, then turned into mist, flew him up to the lamppost, and tied a dead knot. The belt showed no tendency to crack.

“Done.”

Wen Chu stood under the lamppost with arms akimbo, admiring his masterpiece with satisfaction.

Truth be told, a heavy snowy night, a silent street, and a swaying Chief hanging from a lamppost really had a unique kind of beauty.

Wen Chu finally let out a breath of malice, his mood much improved. Looking at the time, only five minutes had passed.

Playing with the gun he stole, Wen Chu said to the System: [Take me back. I still have to return the gun to them.]

The System didn’t speak, quickly sending him back to the small courtyard.

Wen Chu came in a hurry and left in a hurry. He didn’t notice that the surroundings weren’t actually empty.

Secret cracks were opened in the windows of countless houses.

“White-haired beautiful ghost…” someone whispered behind a window.

The main urban area was where patrol control was strictest. Even with an unknown explosion in the East District and most police forces deployed outside the city, no one in the main urban area dared go out to watch the excitement.

They could only stay home, observe the curfew, turn off lights early, and recall the almost miraculous scene from yesterday.

The white figure in the Central Plaza had actually attracted the attention of many people.

People were quietly sizing him up, from cracks in doors, from gaps in curtains.

Watching him appear suddenly, hoist a massive object onto the lamppost, and vanish into the sky full of snow.

Wind and snow whistled past. The dilapidated windows obviously couldn’t withstand the cold wind.

They worked for the boiler room but had no coal to warm themselves. The temperature inside and outside the home was actually identically cold.

Long after Wen Chu’s footprints were covered by wind and snow, someone finally opened their door carefully.

Wearing tattered clothes, he carefully came to the Central Plaza and stood under the lamppost.

When he saw the face of the person hung up clearly by the moonlight, that person froze.

Then, more doors opened.

The pristine snow was gradually covered with chaotic, messy footprints as more and more people gathered in the Central Plaza.

Under the faceless statue of the God of Steam, the cabbage that grew yesterday was still emerald green, while the Chief who had oppressed them for years hung under the lamppost, lowering his head towards the statue from afar.

Like a bow of repentance.

.

“Alright, don’t cry. Losing a gun isn’t a big deal. We’ll look for it together tomorrow morning. If we really can’t find it, I’ll go with you to apologize to Sister Minnie.”

In the courtyard outside the classroom, Dorothy was comforting Catherine, who was crying so hard she was out of breath.

Catherine was crying to the point of fainting: “I can’t learn physics well, I can’t learn math well, I can’t beat you guys in snowball fights, and I even lost the gun. I can’t do anything right, boo hoo hoo—”

Dorothy was pacing anxiously, afraid Catherine would cry until her tuberculosis relapsed.

Just then, a classmate nearby’s eyes lit up: “Look, is that thing next to the snowman a gun?”

Dorothy and the teary-eyed Catherine looked over together.

Sure enough, it was a pistol glinting with copper light.

Catherine smiled through her tears, rushing over to hug the gun. “Great, it’s not lost.”

Dorothy also breathed a sigh of relief: Great, finally stopped crying.

She walked up and patted Catherine’s shoulder. “Alright, it’s getting late. Let’s go back to sleep quickly. We have to help transport Steam Hearts tomorrow morning.”

Catherine held the gun and nodded vigorously.

She looked down at the gun, still somewhat puzzled.

Why did the gun feel warm to the touch just now?

Could it be that she was hallucinating from excessive grief?

Meanwhile, by the stone tower, Wen Chu, having turned back into human form, supported himself against the building and let out a heavy breath.

“Scared me to death. Why did she cry just because I borrowed a gun? I originally wanted to…”

Wen Chu stopped talking.

The System spoke teasingly: [Wanted to what with them? Build snowmen and have a snowball fight? Not-childish Baby Wen Chu?]

Wen Chu muttered: [I didn’t.]

He didn’t want to play with others; he just thought it looked interesting and wanted to ask about the rules of the game.

He wanted to play with Xiu.

The System chuckled softly, dragging out the tone: [Mhm—didn’t.]

Bullying people again.

Wen Chu “hmphed” and ignored the System.

The lights were still on inside the stone tower, obviously meaning Xiu was still knitting sweaters.

Wen Chu still had to move his gold coins inside. The suitcases were too big a target, so he obviously couldn’t go in while Xiu was awake. He sat down at the door hugging his knees.

Looking at the pure white snow in front of him, he couldn’t resist reaching out to pinch a snow ball.

Then another small snow ball.

Two snow balls stacked together, plus twigs, made a small snowman.

Wen Chu thought for a moment, then added another layer of snow onto the snow ball, fashioning it into the style of a tight cloak.

This is Xiu.

He pinched another white kitten with pointed ears next to Xiu.

This is him.

The snow kitten and snow Xiu stood together in front of the door, illuminated by the orange-red kerosene lamplight filtering through the crack in the door.

Wen Chu sat on the ground, looked for a while, and felt something was missing.

“Right.”

Wen Chu rolled a pile of small balls and placed them next to him and Xiu.

These are the eggs he and Xiu had.

“We are a happy family.” Wen Chu was satisfied.

System: […]

System: [A family of idiots.]

Wen Chu: “The eggs Xiu and I have are all smart.”

Wen Chu held his face in his hands, waiting for Xiu to fall asleep and turn off the lights, looking forward to tomorrow.

“Going to the amusement park with Xiu tomorrow. I want to build a snowman with him. He must be very happy to know the Chief is dead.”

The System fell into a guilty silence.

Wen Chu drew a smiley face on the little snow Xiu with his fingernail.

It’s snowing. Everything is getting better. Xiu, cheer up quickly too.

---

Author’s Note:
It seems the cat is inconsolable. (Not really inconsolable) (Coaxing for a hundred years will fix it)