You are a cat demon

Your leg injury, which has been bothering you for months, is finally almost healed.

It seems this powder is quite effective, perhaps also due to the change of environment and mood. Before, you couldn't even sleep with one eye open, let alone rest properly to recover from your injuries, fearing an attack when you let your guard down. But now, living in a human's home, you have no worries about food or water, and you don't have to worry about attacks from predators, allowing your highly tense nerves to relax. Having experienced hardship, you appreciate sweetness all the more, and you've naturally become lazy, living comfortably like you're in a sanatorium, prematurely starting your retirement life.

The weather is warming up day by day; the thin layer of ice that formed on the day of Lichun (the beginning of spring) has been broken up by the night wind, and the mountains and forests are once again bursting with lush greenery. According to your original plan, it was time to leave this place and return to where you belong, but…

You might finally understand why dogs are willing to bow down to humans, even though you could never truly submit to them, not in this lifetime. But you really can't blame yourself; they've given you so much...

Normally, a cat demon spends several hours a day hunting, performing dozens or even hundreds of hunting maneuvers, and even then, success isn't guaranteed every time, resulting in considerable physical exertion. Even if they manage to catch prey, there's a high chance it will be stolen by other demons, leaving them with nothing. But now, you can get free food without expending any effort. You only need to lie in your straw nest and meow a few times, and someone will bring you fresh meat.

They live such a blissful life, it's like being in paradise.

Although occasionally, in the quiet of the night, when you look up at the countless stars rising and falling in the sky and recall the experiences of the past few months, you feel a pang of sadness.

You're a demon! You're a cat demon!

But whenever the Zhang Qingshan family, with their kind smiles, served you chopped animal entrails while gently stroking your back and soothing your fur, you would forget all your worries and guilt and start eating heartily. And influenced by their smiles, you'd never felt so relaxed. After you'd eaten and drunk your fill, you winked at them, giving them a cat-like smile.

Try to think positively. A cat demon's only purpose in life is to find food and reproduce. And right now, you've got a high-class insurance policy for finding food. As long as you continue to act like an ordinary cat and don't give yourself away, you shouldn't have to worry about food for years to come. As for reproduction… you're a young male cat demon, perfectly normal both physically and mentally. Of course, you have natural urges and occasionally have rosy fantasies. But quickly, your reason extinguishes those flames of desire. Females will only slow down your eating pace; it's not worth risking your life fighting to the death with other males for a few minutes of pleasure. Really, it's completely unnecessary.

By the way, you promised to repay this kindness.

So, ever since your leg injury healed, you've been hunting around Sakura Village, and you've had a good catch almost every day. Sometimes it's a plump rabbit, sometimes it's a baby goat still covered in placenta and bruises, sometimes it's a mouse or two, or a snake whose bones you've dislocated...

In the evening, after a busy day, Village Chief Zhang Qingshan finally returned home. Looking at the increasingly bizarre things you brought back, he fell into deep thought, while you obediently squatted next to the thank-you gift you had carefully prepared, looking at him with expectant eyes.

You've worked so hard, please eat at least a bite. Don't upset the child.

……

Your identity as a cat demon has always been a heavy burden on your mind, and you were constantly worried about your identity being exposed while you were recovering. In the first few days after you arrived here, you didn't even dare to close your eyes all day long, keeping a close eye on the every move of the people around you.

Fortunately, this Sakura Village has never been attacked by monsters. The people here would never have imagined that there would be a monster that could walk right past them unaffected by the Demon-Suppressing Tree. In addition, your demonic aura is so weak that it is almost non-existent. Apart from being a bit large, all your living habits are no different from those of an ordinary cat. Therefore, no one has ever suspected you.

However, you've faced quite a bit of controversy.

"Hey, look at that cat! Look at its fur! Tsk tsk, it's black with a hint of red under the sun. It's a purebred black cat, it can ward off evil spirits! Our village chief has really struck gold this time!"

"A talisman? The village already has a demon-suppressing tree, why would we need a cat to cause trouble?"

"Who keeps cats these days? They're just freeloaders. Cats are treacherous, you can't tame them. You'd be better off raising a good hunting dog than keeping one of these."

"Exactly! Look at that cat, so fat and chubby, I wonder how much food it wastes!"

"Don't say that yet. I don't think it's a bad thing for our village to have more cats. Cats catch mice, which can help control the rat infestation."

"Are you looking down on dogs? My dog, Xiao Huang, caught a rat this big when he was three months old. Look, it's about this big!"

"Haven't you heard the saying, 'A dog catching a mouse is meddling in other people's business'?"

……

That's just how humans are; they gossip about so many things behind people's backs.

The villagers didn't have any complaints about Village Chief Zhang Qingshan, even though he wasn't present. They didn't dare say anything too offensive, so they could only speak ill of him. After all, in their eyes, he was just an ignorant beast, and they could curse him however they wanted. However, they never expected that he could understand human language; he just didn't bother to pay attention to them.

You pretend you know nothing and walk past them, continuing to wander around the village.

Having been here for a while, you're pretty familiar with the place, and now it's like you're surveying your own territory. Besides, you haven't had much else to do lately, you're just bored, so you want to wander around and find something to do.

You turn into the narrow passageway between two buildings, and the dark figure behind you follows you in...