Dusk deepened, the last sliver of sunlight vanished below the horizon. Under the dim light, Luo Qi and Ye Mu walked through the gates of the primary school.
Ye Mu looked down at his terminal, communicating with the dormitory supervisor and school teachers about keeping a cat.
He Ning and He Yuan naturally agreed; they weren't picky people. Ye Mu, however, had thought more about it. He only relaxed after confirming that no one at the school would punish Luo Qi for keeping a cat.
Ye Mu put his terminal back into his pocket, the bag in his other hand containing the cat supplies bought by Alger.
Luo Qi shifted the cat in his arms, which was about to go numb from being held, and marveled at Ye Mu's stamina.
He had grown up with Ye Mu, eating, using, and learning the same things. He even ate more than Ye Mu sometimes, yet compared to Ye Mu, he was as fragile as a piece of paper.
The bag looked light, but it was heavy.
When Luo Qi got out of the hovercar, he tried lifting it. He could, but carrying it all the way like this, Luo Qi felt his arms would break.
And his stomach. Luo Qi's own stomach was soft and flabby, especially after eating. Although Luo Qi hadn't had abs in his previous life, his stomach hadn't been this soft.
Luo Qi took a deep breath and mentally convinced himself it was because he was still young. Once he grew up, he would definitely have abs.
This self-hypnosis continued until one time he accidentally saw Ye Mu's stomach.
Ye Mu was still young, but his waist and abdomen already showed the nascent contours of muscle. Even after a full meal, those muscle lines didn't disappear.
Luo Qi could even see the faint traces of future eight-pack abs spread across his stomach.
He couldn't help but suspect that he and Ye Mu had swapped scripts. The real script should have been the powerful Insectoid heir and his human tag-along.
Ye Mu = Powerful Heir
Luo Qi = Tag-along Follower
Ye Mu switched the bag to his other hand. A faint red mark was left on his palm near his knuckles.
Luo Qi looked at his hand. "How about we switch?"
Although the ugly cat in his arms was also heavy, it was probably much lighter than the bag.
Ye Mu shook his head, reached out, and ruffled the cat's head, pressing down its bristling fur a little.
"No need, it's not heavy at all."
Luo Qi was about to say something else when he heard Ye Mu ask, "Our dorm room is this small, should we keep it on the balcony?"
Luo Qi subconsciously followed Ye Mu's words, shifting his attention to the cat in his arms.
111: "Meow meow meow?" Are you even human? It's so cold, and you want me to sleep on the balcony by myself?
Luo Qi asked seriously in his mind, "Does the system feel cold too? Can't you just not poop?"
111 bristled. "Is that the same thing! Do you want to hear what nonsense you're spouting!"
Luo Qi muttered, "What's the difference..."
Ye Mu saw Luo Qi staring blankly at the cat in his arms and reached out to touch Luo Qi's face.
Luo Qi snapped back to attention and vaguely replied to Ye Mu, "We'll talk about it later."
The two and the cat quickly returned to the dormitory. Naturally, this ugly cat, perhaps the only one of its kind on the entire planet, also went through a round of new mockery.
111 kept bristling, and Luo Qi kept trying to smooth its fur, but neither could stop the ugly cat from puffing up into a ball of fur.
Luo Qi grew tired. Half an hour later, he simply ignored 111, who was jumping around the room.
Keeping a stray cat wasn't a big deal, even if it was a cat so ugly it made your eyes go black. Besides those close to them, no one else would pay attention.
So, after Lei Wa brought Amin and Aliang, and Mo Jue all over to mock the cat, no one else paid it any mind.
Compared to this, a more important matter was that the next day, Ye Mu, who was rumored to be on his last legs, suddenly appeared and went to class.
As the saying goes, three people make a tiger; gossip and slander are not without reason. When enough people say something, it becomes like fact.
So, when Ye Mu, appearing completely unharmed, went to class, many people were shocked. The debate that had been raging on the campus forum for days concluded with a completely unexpected answer.
Among the many shocked individuals, there were those who were disappointed. However, whether they had learned their lesson or had been advised by someone, they never showed themselves again.
Ye Mu and Luo Qi themselves paid no mind to these external remarks. The drama of the past few days was staged for one person. They never expected it to garner such attention on the campus forum.
However, Ye Mu thought it was a good thing. Although they were at school, and Ye Mu had always stayed by Luo Qi's side, some things were unpredictable.
If more people at the school recognized Luo Qi, then if Luo Qi ever got into danger in the future, Ye Mu could find him faster.
So, Ye Mu created a real-name account for Luo Qi on the forum, intending to leverage this wave of popularity.
In Ye Mu's terminal, besides screenshots of various study materials, the rest were all photos of Luo Qi. He thought about occasionally posting a few photos on the account so everyone would have an impression.
However, he soon regretted it. After picking and choosing, he felt that Luo Qi in every photo was incredibly cute and didn't want anyone other than himself to see him.
So, in the end, the account only had one post from when it was registered: "Hello everyone, I am Luo Qi."
The accompanying photo was mostly of a black and white cat wearing a small hat on its head, which managed to press down its messy fur, making it look less ugly.
Behind it was half of Luo Qi's smiling face, his eyes sparkling, as if transmitting happiness through the lens.
This photo was purely placed there by Ye Mu on impulse. Since Luo Qi's face wasn't fully visible, Ye Mu hadn't paid much attention to it.
However, he seemed to have underestimated how easily the little bug cub beside him could be loved. The number of likes on that post reached fifty thousand in just one night and was still climbing.
That photo was also saved by a group of older and motherly fans Luo Qi had inexplicably cultivated at some point, and they set it as their terminal wallpaper.
Some even "insanely" cropped out the cat's head, making it look as if Luo Qi himself was tilting his head and smiling.
The ugly cat said, "Politeness, your mother?"
Things seemed to be going as Ye Mu had expected, but even better than he had anticipated. Luo Qi was greeted or spoken to by friendly classmates wherever he went, as if he were being protected by all the forum users.
Under this seemingly loose but actually tight protection, some people who had been wanting to make a move had to hold back for now.