Chapter 95: Digging a Pit

“What are you staring at? Never seen a Pallas’s cat in a maid outfit before?” The Nian Pallas’s cat licked its paw and glared at Zou Yuanyuan with an expression that said she was making a fuss over nothing.

“No…” Zou Yuanyuan thought that she really hadn’t seen one before, and moreover, she wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but she actually felt that this Pallas’s cat in the maid outfit somehow seemed… a bit seductive?

No, no, no—it must have been that her head had gotten bumped when she tumbled down the mountain! Her aloof, sharp-tongued senior couldn’t possibly be like that!

But then she thought again that her penniless senior must have dressed like this just to make ends meet, and guilt immediately flooded her heart.

“Who did this to you?! How dare they make you dress like this?! That’s way too presumptuous!”

“Why is there a bald patch on your fur?! Oh my god! No one has been abusing you, have they?! Don’t worry! I’ll take you away right now!”

No sooner had Zou Yuanyuan spoken than Nian Zhi’an felt her eyelids twitching. She hurriedly wanted to cover the little girl’s loose tongue, but she was still a step too late.

A damp breath came rushing at her face, and suddenly Zou Yuanyuan felt as if she were drowning, unable to catch her breath.

Zou Yuanyuan heard footsteps coming down from upstairs.

“Tap, tap, tap…”

Although the sounds were very light, each step seemed to strike right at her heart.

“Who are you planning to take away?”

Zou Yuanyuan looked up and saw a stunningly beautiful and glamorous woman standing on the stairs. The beauty was exquisite, yet she came with thorns—her gaze as she stared at Zou Yuanyuan was utterly terrifying.

Zou Yuanyuan was the daughter of the Demon Alliance Leader and held a high status among the Demon Clan. She had been spoiled by her father since childhood and had never bowed her head to many demons in her life.

But this extraordinarily beautiful merfolk before her was one of the monsters even her father feared—and also… the senior she had admired since childhood.

“S-Senior Zuo?” After regaining control of her breathing, Zou Yuanyuan stammered, “This… this is your home?”

Zuo Yuanxi nodded condescendingly from above. What a coincidence—the last person who had dared to try to steal her cat wasn’t this little girl’s fiancé?

“S-Sorry, sorry for disturbing you. I-I was thinking of taking this senior away with me. D-Does she owe you money? I’ll pay it for her—mmph mmph mmph…” Nian Zhi’an suddenly leaped up and blocked Zou Yuanyuan’s mouth with her fluffy paw, preventing her from saying those reckless words about trying to steal Zuo Yuanxi’s pet.

“Pah, pah!” Zou Yuanyuan got a mouthful of fur, which kept her from voicing the dangerous statement that followed.

“Do I need you worrying about me, you little girl?” Nian Zhi’an transmitted via divine sense. “Don’t ruin my plans!”

Zou Yuanyuan glanced at the little Pallas’s cat and then at Zuo Yuanxi. A look of understanding flashed in her eyes, and who knew what she had misunderstood on her own, but she gave Nian Zhi’an a big thumbs-up.

Nian Zhi’an: …What did that mean?

Zuo Yuanxi saw that the little girl was no longer saying anything, and her expression softened a bit. She came downstairs to the Pallas’s cat in the maid outfit and also noticed the bald patch on its leg.

The maid outfit had been sewn by hand by the butler. A Fu seemed to enjoy making these kinds of clothes, and the little Pallas’s cat in humanoid form already had several sets. Zuo Yuanxi had found it amusing and had gone along with A Fu.

But before she had returned to her room, she hadn’t noticed any missing fur on the little Pallas’s cat’s leg. How had it become so disheveled in the blink of an eye?

“What happened?” Zuo Yuanxi squatted down and stroked Nian Zhi’an’s head.

Zou Yuanyuan had seen Zuo Yuanxi many times before, but this was the first time she had heard such a gentle tone from her. She was stunned—totally stunned!

Then Zou Yuanyuan heard the big shot who usually brushed her off with indifference whining and nuzzling into Senior Zuo’s embrace. While rubbing against her, she accused Senior Zuo’s cats of being so very vicious in that syrupy, wheedling tone. She, a poor little Pallas’s cat, had been caught off guard and ambushed by a ferocious tortoiseshell cat. Its untrimmed claws had scratched her bald in one swipe.

After officially starting her job, Nian Zhi’an had taken over all the big and small tasks in Zuo Yuanxi’s home, including looking after the few cats Zuo Yuanxi kept there.

Nian Zhi’an couldn’t help grumbling inwardly. Yes, after getting such an adorably spicy little Pallas’s cat, that certain fish had still picked a few from the cat house to keep around!

Including the sweet and charming Ragdoll, the adorably dopey Orange Pig, the street-tough tortoiseshell, and so on…

Among them, that tortoiseshell cat was the fiercest, with the battle prowess to take on ten foes single-handedly.

Zou Yuanyuan gradually revealed a shocked expression. Oh my gosh, Mom was right—love really was a magical thing. Her senior had always scolded her for being a hopeless romantic, but how come she felt that her senior might, probably, maybe be just as bad?

“You’re a demon monster, and you got scratched by an ordinary tortoiseshell cat?” Zuo Yuanxi wasn’t stupid. She flicked the Pallas’s cat right on the forehead. “You’re so inept, I’m starting to doubt if hiring you was the right call.”

The little Pallas’s cat, who had been rubbing and acting coquettish a moment ago, immediately filled its eyes with grievance at those words. It whined and flopped onto Zuo Yuanxi’s shoe, pretending to cry.

Zou Yuanyuan felt that a term she had just picked up online perfectly described her senior at this moment—green tea kitty, no, green tea Pallas’s cat.

With this big furball blocking the way, even the aloof and cold Zuo Yuanxi in Zou Yuanyuan’s eyes revealed a helpless expression. She then picked up the shameless little Pallas’s cat, sat it on the sofa, and gestured for her guest to sit across from her.

“Miss Zou.” Zuo Yuanxi’s voice interrupted Zou Yuanyuan’s wild thoughts.

“S-Senior Zuo!” Zou Yuanyuan immediately reined in the jumble of nonsense in her head and sat up straight.

“Miss Zou, you’re quite different from how you usually are around your father,” Zuo Yuanxi said after appraising her.

This girl usually appeared in formal settings at her father’s side. Back then, the child had seemed rather steady and poised, if a bit taciturn, but that was no big deal.

Now it seemed that her silence was probably just a cover for the girl’s foolishness? The Alliance Leader must have worried that his silly daughter wouldn’t be able to control the demons after his death, so he had come up with this scheme.

Zou Yuanyuan hurriedly wiped the silly grin off her face and said to Zuo Yuanxi, “My father told me that when demons go out into the world, they need all sorts of masks.”

“Your father is right. When you’re out and about, it’s best if you speak less.” Otherwise, the first time she opened her mouth, bad actors would realize the Alliance Leader’s daughter was a fool, and that would spell big trouble.

Zou Yuanyuan poked at her fingers embarrassedly.

“I’ve already heard about your situation from Zhi’an. You’re not doing well—you’re afflicted with a deadly poison, and most of your cultivation has been ruined. Going back for revenge is next to impossible.”

The little Pallas’s cat’s original body had no name, so Nian Zhi’an had told Zuo Yuanxi she could call her “Zhi’an.”

When she heard that name, Zuo Yuanxi had blanked out for a moment. After Nian Zhi’an left, she had suffered splitting headaches for a long time. Then, deep in her soul, she had touched upon a hazy blank space.

That blank space had appeared only for an instant. No matter how Zuo Yuanxi searched afterward, she couldn’t find it again. She had even experimented on her own soul, but discovered nothing.

The name “Zhi’an” felt very familiar, yet Zuo Yuanxi confirmed she had never heard it before.

Zuo Yuanxi had taken out the Merfolk Clan’s forbidden technique to study it, once even trying to use an illusion technique to create a living “person.” It was folly from the start, so the consequence was that the forbidden technique had backlashed on her, and the phantom she had created had turned on her.

Her soul had been corroded by the forbidden technique, gradually blurring the line between reality and illusion. This was also why she had always refused to let Nian Zhi’an treat her soul—she feared that the moment Nian Zhi’an touched it, the backlash would latch onto her.

Perhaps that blank space she had seen was part of the illusion. After finding no issues, Zuo Yuanxi could only use that excuse to placate herself.

Zuo Yuanxi stroked the Pallas’s cat’s silky fur and listened as the daughter of the Demon Alliance Leader pleaded in a slightly teary voice, “I know my situation. I don’t expect to achieve anything great, but my father is in great danger right now. Senior Zuo, I hope to borrow the power of the Merfolk Clan. As long as you can rescue my father, y-you can pick any treasure from my family’s collection!”

“I’m not interested in any treasures, but I did call you here, Miss Zou, precisely because of your father,” Zuo Yuanxi said to her. She pressed down Nian Zhi’an’s head as it tried to lift. “I can save your father, but you will need to take some risks too, Miss Zou. Are you willing?”

“Yes, yes, of course!” Zou Yuanyuan agreed without a second thought.

Nian Zhi’an sighed inwardly. This girl was the classic type who would count the money for the person who sold her. Luckily, Zuo Yuanxi wasn’t that unscrupulous.

Zuo Yuanxi nodded with a smile. “Miss Zou, your filial piety moves heaven and earth. The Alliance Leader is truly fortunate to have a daughter like you.”

This was originally a compliment, but Zou Yuanyuan couldn’t help pulling a bitter face. She had been on the receiving end of Nian Zhi’an’s sarcasm too many times before, so now she was even a little unaccustomed to hearing genuine praise from others.

“Senior Zuo, what do you want me to do?”

“Very simple. Help me lure Fu Jun out.”

Fu Jun had been cowering in the Alliance Leader’s residence out of fear of her pursuit, which made her reluctant to strike for fear of harming the Alliance Leader and thus hesitant to act rashly. But if he learned that Zou Yuanyuan, whom he had “killed,” was still alive, could he really sit still?

Everything he had now depended on the Alliance Leader. To conceal his crimes, there was an eighty percent chance that he would go to any lengths to kill her before she could contact the Alliance Leader.

As long as he left that shell of his, would she lack a chance to strike? Zuo Yuanxi revealed a cold smile.

He had seduced her dao companion into stealing her treasures for him. Since Fu Jun was so audacious, she would ensure he met the same fate as Lin Ying’an.

“Wu…” Zuo Yuanxi heard the little beast beneath her hand suddenly whimper twice. She immediately released her hand, which had been gripping its fur a bit too tightly.

“Sorry.” Zuo Yuanxi gently combed Nian Zhi’an’s fur again. Beneath her calm expression, her eyes gleamed with scarlet killing intent.