Cyberpunk, but urban

"Hey, Master Lun, you are really good at judging people. Let's wish that young man a smooth meeting with Master Cat and ask for Master Cat's blessing for his cat!"

Led by the man who first started the conversation, all the residents held their cats and prayed on the spot.

Chapter 74. Mr. Cat

Finn, who was already sweating coldly from the strange looks from these people, pretended to be calm and walked past them, eventually walking into a small forest where he could not see the scenery outside.

According to the information provided by the residents we visited, the client's cat is very likely to be found in this woods.

"Sister, do you think I just need to find the cat?"

Frightened, Finn subconsciously sought help and comfort from his imaginary sister. In the past, such self-talk could only give Finn a little comfort.

But today, the sister who existed only in her imagination and was based on her own sister spoke!

In Finn's fantasy, his sister, who was walking quickly beside him, gave him a warm smile, and that smile was exactly like the smile of his real sister in his memory.

She said to him, "Silly brother, don't deceive yourself. You should have discovered that the cat-sama as mentioned by the residents..."

"Sister, I know."

Although Finn was a little flustered by the fact that his sister was talking to him today, he actually knew clearly that his imaginary sister could not know something he didn't know. Therefore, the fact that his sister could point out something that he subconsciously wanted to ignore meant that he knew in his heart that this matter should never be ignored.

"This means that this commission involves a distortion event, right?" Finn muttered to himself, "I'm just a ninth-level finisher who can't handle things on my own... I'm so scared of distortion events..."

"My silly brother, you can't be afraid now. Once you are defeated by fear, you will really die here." The words of the imaginary sister were a bit harsh, but Finn felt that he was not so scared after listening to his sister's words.

"Silly brother, don't you want to meet your real sister? Be brave and strong. I believe you can escape from this twisted incident."

The imaginary sister encouraged Finn unreservedly, just as if she were his real sister. Finn didn't know what was wrong with him today, he was like a schizophrenic lunatic.

But it feels really good to have his sister around. An unprecedented warmth is stirring in his heart. This warmth brings courage, and courage brings confidence.

The optimism in Finn's nature once again took over, temporarily stripping away the cowardly side of his heart.

The brave and optimistic boy drew the serrated dagger from his waist. This weapon, which seemed pitifully small to Run, was actually a workshop weapon that his sister in real life had bought for him at a high price. In Finn's opinion, no weapon was more suitable for him than this dagger.

Finn, holding a dagger, bravely pushed aside the tangled branches and leaves, and passed through those branches that seemed alive and wanted to hold on to him tightly. A cat appeared in front of him, with the same features as the client recorded in the power of attorney except that it was wearing shoes.

It was a black cat of a breed that Finn couldn't recognize, and its limbs were clad in beautifully crafted boots that were much better than the shoes Finn himself wore.

The black cat jumped down from the treetop with an elegant and majestic step, and walked towards Finn across the grass between it and him. When it walked closer, Finn could see the collar that the client had emphasized between the black cat's neck. The label on the collar was engraved with the black cat's Q-version portrait, and its name was engraved on the other side.

"Why, young sir? Are you attracted by this gift of love that the owner has filled around my neck?"

Under Finn's astonished gaze, the black cat spoke with proper etiquette and told him the story of the collar around his neck.

Soon, after the short story was finished, the black cat introduced itself to Finn: "I'm sure you, the messenger, already know my name in the master's eyes. I won't say more about that nickname that the master loves but makes me a little embarrassed."

"Please call me by my foreign name - Charles Perrault."

After saying its name, the black cat even stood up and did a standard chest-touching gesture.

Then he asked Finn, "I wonder what request my master has brought to you, the messenger?"

"Finn? It's your turn to inform Mr. Cat, Charles Perrault, of what the client asked you to do."

Although Finn was amazed by the fact that a cat could speak and act like a human, his imaginary sister was not speechless like Finn.

After all, that was his imaginary sister, so in Finn's eyes, she was omnipotent.

"Oh, oh." Finn was stunned for a moment, and then he said to the black cat as if he had been plugged in again: "It's like this, I received a commission from your master, and she asked me to find you and take you back to your master's home."

"Hmm~"

The black cat humanely took one of its front paws out of its boot, and then stroked its beard in thought like a gentleman. After a while, it spoke: "Since my master wants me to return to her, I will naturally quit all my current work and return to her."

"However, I can choose to leave based on my own will. Those residents outside the woods who regard me as a god may not necessarily agree to this. You know what I mean, right?"

"Uh……"

Although Finn wanted to say that he understood, such implied meaning was still a little difficult to guess for a newbie like Finn.

But just when Finn was about to tell the black cat the truth and that he didn't understand, his sister leaned over to his ear and whispered, "The black cat wants you to avoid those residents who are caught up in religious fanaticism and take it away quietly."

"Oh I see!"

The black cat looked at Finn thoughtfully, but didn't say much. It nimbly jumped to Finn's head, stepped on his hair and said to Finn, "Then I'll have to trouble you to take a small gentleman like me away."

In this way, the black cat in boots rode on his human mount named Finn and began his journey to avoid those fanatical believers and leave the park.

At least that's how it seems.

For Finn, it was like escaping from the angry residents with a pet cat he had stolen.

Chapter 75. Evacuation

Since they had to leave by avoiding the residents guarding the park entrance, returning the same way was an option that Finn absolutely could not choose.

"Are there any other ways around these woods?"

Finn lowered his voice and quietly asked the black cat above his head.

"Have."

The black cat was pointing to a passage where cats travel, a path that consisted of recreational facilities in the park and the tops of small buildings.

Although the cat's path was wide enough for Finn to move, the ups and downs were not easy to cross for him, a new finisher who had never undergone any enhancement transformation.

"Messenger boy, this road is not easy to go on. Are you ready?" The black cat on Finn's head patted his hair and asked him.

Finn actually didn't have the confidence that he could cross the catwalk quickly, but with his sister, who had survived and was watching him in his imaginary life, how could he possibly tell the black cat that he couldn't do it?

Finn took a deep breath and put his dagger back into the scabbard at his waist and tied it up. After confirming that all the bits and pieces on his body were fixed and would not fall off when he made a big move, Finn patted his cheek hard and said to the black cat: "I'm ready, let's get started."

To escape from the catwalk, the first thing to do is to climb a small tree in the woods near the nearby public toilet. For cats, climbing this small tree is an effortless act, but for Finn, how to use the height of the small tree to climb to the roof of the public toilet without crushing it has become a rather challenging task.

Finn pursed his lips and tried his best to slow down his body and make his movements gentler. One step, two steps, Finn managed to grab a few soft branches in the crown of the small tree.

He continued to climb up the tree canopy through these soft yet tough branches, and as the small tree swayed from bearing his weight, he climbed onto the roof of the public toilet.

The overhanging eaves of the bathroom roof concealed Finn's figure very well, allowing him to squat on it and move carefully without being discovered by the residents not far below.

It seemed that because he had been in the woods for a long time, the guests seemed a little anxious. They quarreled with each other, and some of the guests obviously intended to go into the woods where Finn was just now, to confirm his situation.

Another group of guests believed that their behavior was an offense to the great cat, so they stood against them and started a war of words.

"good chance!"

Finn said to himself, and then took advantage of the opportunity when the two residents below were attracted by each other's increasingly intense reactions, and quickly ran along the eaves to the next part of the catwalk.

"Be careful... they'll react soon."

The imaginary sister reminded her, and she summarized the various information that Finn had inadvertently absorbed from the direction of those residents, and came to the conclusion that among those residents, the faction that entered the woods had gained the upper hand.

"I know, sister."

Finn jumped off the roof, grabbed the horizontal bar of the horizontal bar in mid-air like an nimble monkey, and swung himself towards the slide opposite the horizontal bar.

For the cats, this section of the journey should be to climb down the drainpipe on the roof of the public toilet, then climb up the slide through the bushes, and then jump from the highest point of the slide to the wall at the edge of the park.

This allows the cats to avoid human sight and pass through the open space between the bathroom and the children's playground where only fitness facilities exist.

But Finn is not a cat, he can't crawl through the bushes, so using the horizontal bar as a midpoint and swinging himself onto the slide becomes his only option.

Although Finn's choice was very dangerous, it was indeed the fastest way for him to escape from the park. He only needed to quickly climb over the wall after falling onto the slide, and he could blend into the crowd outside the park and easily evacuate the scene.

But just as he had prepared himself mentally, the moment he grabbed the horizontal bar, all the residents guarding the park entrance saw him and the black cat on his head.

"Damn it, that bastard took Master Cat away!"

The residents shouted angrily and rushed towards Finn holding their cats. As they ran, the cats in their arms gradually dissolved and were absorbed by their bodies.

Then, the residents who absorbed the cat began to develop cat characteristics on their bodies.

The residents who had become like cats also got on all fours like cats, and like big cats, they burst out at an astonishing speed and approached Finn who had just stepped on the slope of the slide.

"So fast!"

Finn had just climbed to the top of the slide, and before he could take the next step, the cat-like residents had already rushed to the bottom of the slide.

They stretched out their sharp claws, bared their sharp feline teeth, and leaped towards the ceiling of the slide recklessly, trying to catch Finn.

"Messenger boy, we're just a little bit away." The black cat in boots patted Finn's hair and said to him.

Finn didn't reply, but drew his serrated dagger from his waist and used this workshop weapon to fiercely chop the waist and abdomen of the cat-like resident who tried to attack him.

Then, in the brief moment before they could make their second leap, Finn leapt up and, using his head as support, climbed over the park wall.

"Run, Finn."

The imaginary sister urged loudly, and the cat-like residents had already followed Finn to climb up the wall. Not caring about his arms strained by continuous maneuvers, nor about his hands pierced by the broken glass embedded in the wall, Finn immediately put the dagger back into the scabbard at his waist and ran towards the crowd.

The mad cat-in-residence let out a sharp hiss when he saw this. It seemed to Finn that they mistook the crowd he had entered for his helpers and launched a frenzied attack on the passers-by.

But how many of those who could walk freely in the back alleys and streets were civilians without any fighting ability? Faced with these ordinary residents who had gained fighting abilities similar to those of large cats simply by becoming cats, these passers-by easily chopped down some of the groups that tried to attack them.

Taking advantage of the chaos they caused, Finn successfully escaped from the pursuit of those cat-like people and came to the house rented by his sister with the black cat in boots.

Although Finn did not tell his sister in advance that he might come today, he knew that his sister would stay at home if she did not go to the firm to do a commission.

And if she went out to do a commission, she would definitely find a way to return to her home at night.

Chapter 76. Firm Representative

"Run, what do you think that kid is doing now?"

Ellie, who was choosing a weapon, asked Run who came with her. She had just reached level eight and needed to change to a weapon that was more suitable for her body transformation.

"Humph, it's nothing more than looking for a cat, or helping other cleaners, or dealing with a few hooligans."

Run snorted coldly with his arms crossed. In his opinion, the newcomer who had an unrealistic enthusiasm for the job of closer was really an eyesore.

That kid Finn... he has no talent, refuses to undergo body modification surgery, and even uses that pitifully small weapon... with his weak personality, why did he have to do the job of finishing the job?

To be honest, Run really likes the enthusiastic newcomer. Finn is an interesting guy, and it is rare to see someone like him running around full of energy in this city.

"Hehe, you obviously like that boy very much, why are you shy in front of me, your sister?" Ellie gave a playful smile and poked Run, who was sighing helplessly, with her elbow.

"I never said I hate him... It's just that he's not suitable for the job of a closer. With his weak character, it's really sad that he wants to work in a place like this."

Only in front of Ellie, the person he values ​​the most, can Run speak sincerely about the thoughts hidden in his heart. And only Ellie can completely ignore what he says.

He was actually a very unsuccessful representative of the firm. Although his network of contacts was wide enough, his shallow relationships could only last for a short time, although he did attract a lot of work when the firm was first established.

But as these favors ended one by one, the jobs he could find gradually turned into boring tasks such as finding pets before nightfall or sealing rat holes in the house.

In the end, not only did the firm's rank fail to improve, but no one provided financial assistance to his Run Firm anymore. As a representative of a firm that could not pay taxes, even the people who finished the work under him were unwilling to obey him. After trying several times without any results, Run himself gave up the idea of ​​managing them again.

"Why, you won't say those words about using and abandoning me in front of me? Hey, Run, you don't like me, do you?"

Ellie smiled mischievously, and her quirky look stunned even Run, who was so familiar with her.

In fact, Run himself couldn't explain clearly whether he liked Ellie, but as a man who was already 32 years old and had achieved nothing, he had no right to say who he liked.

As for Ellie, she is the truly indifferent person. Unlike him, the trash representative who says he can take advantage of everything, she will really take the initiative to leave his Run Agency and go to a place where she can develop better when there are better options.

"Run? Run! What, you can't speak anymore?"

Run's silence was met with a hint of panic from Ellie. She really didn't expect that this joke would actually hit Run.

Unlike Run, although she is already 29 years old this year, she is still only considered a young girl in the city. Having just become an eighth-level finisher, Ellie still has many opportunities on her career path and can go a long way.

To be honest, Ellie herself didn't know whether she could accept Run's feelings. If she could really continue to climb up in the future and become a seventh-level or even higher-level finisher, she believed that she would definitely choose to join a higher-level firm.

When that day comes, can she still say that she can accept Run's feelings?

So, Ellie chose to avoid the topic. She picked up a heavy chainsaw sword beside her and asked Run, "Run, what do you think about me buying this chainsaw sword?"

For her, this chainsaw sword that is almost as long as her is indeed a good choice. After the new strengthening surgery, she can swing this bulky sword as if it were a small branch, and the design of this high-end workshop also makes this large chainsaw sword, which is supposed to be used as a heavy weapon by the finisher, have sufficient destructive power.

"Hmm?" Run looked at the big sword that Ellie was holding in one hand. She looked even smaller against the background of the chainsaw sword. "It really suits you. The chainsaw sword is powerful enough, and you can easily carry it and attack."

"Is there no other comment?" Ellie said, and then she regretted it the next second.

She had clearly changed the topic away from the joke, but after she said this, she changed the topic back again.

Run was stuttering at her question. After thinking for a long time, he suddenly blurted out: "The way you hold it... is very cute."

The next second, Run began to regret what he had said. What would Ellie think? Would she regard my words as sexual harassment? Would she feel uncomfortable if I said that to her? Would she choose to quit the firm because of this?

"You...you really don't know how to praise people." Ellie said helplessly, but she did not show any disgust, which made Run put aside the messy questions echoing in his mind.

"I'm so sorry..."

Run sighed, but was also glad that the atmosphere was no longer so awkward. After the two looked at other weapons for a while, Ellie suggested choosing this chainsaw sword as her new equipment.

This chainsaw sword is indeed very suitable for her fighting style, and she likes it very much. Another reason why she made a quick decision was that she wanted to escape from Run temporarily.