You are a cat demon

After a long day of training, you're exhausted, your legs are weak, and every step feels like walking on cotton. You're tired, but you're not exactly down. After sticking to your weight loss plan for so long, you've clearly slimmed down. You can squeeze into narrow corners and cracks in the walls again, and you're no longer walking with your toes pointed outwards.

A few days ago, you went to look in that full-length mirror again and saw that familiar yet unfamiliar version of yourself. You finally breathed a sigh of relief and felt that all the suffering you had endured during this time had not been in vain.

To recap, you were fully prepared mentally, mustered immense courage, and almost resigned yourself to death before daring to peek cautiously into your reflection in the mirror. That last image left a deep psychological scar, causing you to have nightmares for several nights in a row, and you were devastated when you woke up realizing it was real. You're terrified that this time you'll see that same unintelligent gas cylinder again.

Thankfully, it wasn't.

You told me, you've been fat, but you've never been ugly.

You stared at yourself in the mirror for a long time, partly to make sure you weren't seeing things, and partly to admire your long-lost handsome face.

At that moment, the figure of Village Chief Zhang Qingshan suddenly appeared in the mirror.

"Little Blackie, want some loquats?" Village Chief Zhang Qingshan held up a bamboo basket filled with bright yellow loquats. "Come on, come here."

You've successfully lost weight, so it's only right to treat yourself to something nice. Aren't you worried that these few fruits will make you gain it all back? Although cat demons are purely carnivorous, they can still eat small amounts of wild fruit to supplement their vitamins, so you're only eating a tiny bit. Besides, you're considered quite "small" in Village Chief Zhang Qingshan's eyes, and he doesn't know if you "cats" can actually eat loquats, so for safety's sake, he won't give you too many. Furthermore, they're treating you, so of course you should oblige.

The big black dog is with you.

The dog trembled like a leaf when it saw you sit down next to it without hesitation. You hadn't intended to hit it, but its obvious urge to get a beating made you a little itchy. Then you remembered how it dared to eat so much right in front of you while you were dieting, and you suddenly got angry. Even though it didn't do it on purpose, it was still infuriating!

Even if Village Chief Zhang Qingshan is present, you can't openly lash out, but you can't hide the look in your eyes that wants to kill a dog.

Village Chief Zhang Qingshan peeled the loquats one by one, first feeding them to his lovely daughter, Xiao Ruoye, then tasting them himself. He then shared the loquats he had bitten in half with you and the big black dog in turn.

You don't find it disgusting or unacceptable at all. Before, when you were hunting in the wild, you weren't always successful, especially during the time your leg was lame. When you couldn't find fresh meat and were unbearably hungry, you would scavenge the scraps left by other monsters and carnivores. Not to mention, some of the rotting flesh you didn't even know had gone through; the visual impact was truly intense, hard to swallow just looking at, and the olfactory impact was almost as strong, but you still ate it. Human saliva is nothing.

You ate to your heart's content, and the big black dog had no objections whatsoever. After all, for a dog, its owner is everything, and its owner's words are law.

You were chewing half a loquat, not yet swallowing, when you suddenly noticed that Village Chief Zhang Qingshan's face almost contorted into a bitter grimace as he took a bite of the newly picked loquat. But you might have been mistaken, because he quickly smiled and offered the loquat, which he had only taken a small bite of, to your lips.

Why wouldn't you eat something that's offered to you?

So without thinking, you took a bite, only to almost break your teeth from the sourness. You were rolling on the ground, writhing in agony, your eyes rolling back, and your mouth gushing with acid.

Only then did you truly understand the saying that is widely circulated among humans: I am not a real person, but you are a real dog!

After finally recovering, you immediately grabbed Zhang Qingshan's arm with your front paws and kicked him with your hind legs in retaliation. You often played like this with him, just like you played with your mother's tail when you were a child, but this time you kicked him harder than ever before, leaving a large red welt on his arm. You only let go of him when he cried out, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Village Chief Zhang Qingshan rubbed his arm, chuckled, and then handed the loquat, which you and he had each taken a small bite out of, to the big black dog, gesturing for it to eat it.

The big black dog witnessed you and Village Chief Zhang Qingshan nearly fainting from the sourness of that loquat, especially seeing your epileptic-like state. It must have known that every piece of that loquat seemed to say, "Don't eat it, it'll kill you with sourness." Yet, looking at its "master," despite its eyes filled with pain and grievance, it obediently opened its mouth.

If it only took a small bite, you would respect it as a man of courage; but if it took a whole loquat in one bite, you would just think it was a fool.

The big black dog's mouth was wide open, as if it were about to suffocate; its tongue was sticking out almost completely, nearly impossible to retract. You watched helplessly as it writhed and struggled on the ground where you had been rolling around just a minute ago, frantically scratching at the earth with its paws, as if that could slightly alleviate its pain—even more exaggerated than your own struggle. But then again, it had indeed swallowed a whole sour loquat.

Stupid dog.

You watch it coldly, without making any statement.

Village Chief Zhang Qingshan probably felt he had gone too far in bullying you, so he reached out and gently rubbed the big black dog's head, while simultaneously reaching out his other hand to pat your back, but you, still sulking, ruthlessly dodged him.

To make amends, he picked out some sweet loquats for you to eat. The big black dog, still seemingly shaken, could only silently and fearfully devour the loquats given to it by Village Chief Zhang Qingshan, facing its beloved "master." Not wanting to be fooled again, you distanced yourself further away…

This big black dog always manages to surprise you at unexpected times.

Are all dogs this humble?

You're not standing up for the big black dog; quite the opposite, you're happier seeing the dog suffer than if you'd eaten a fine meal of venison yourself. You're just wondering, in a dog's eyes, what exactly are humans?

You're not speaking ill of humans. Although you've heard about the many atrocities humans have committed since childhood, and you know that the conflict between humans and demons has lasted for hundreds of years, there are good and bad demons, and there are good and bad humans. Besides, so far, no human has truly offended you or made you hate them to the core. You genuinely cannot understand the hatred some demons feel towards humans. Furthermore, you've lived with Village Chief Zhang Qingshan's family for almost half a year; you know their character well, and you would never speak ill of them.

There are so many things you can't understand.