My family runs an adventurer's guild.

As a result, the number of people in the expedition team expanded significantly once again, with the addition of columnists from major newspapers, writers, screenwriters and directors who were curious about the other world, as well as representatives from some third- or fourth-rate countries that were not originally qualified to be included. For example, a little-known African country called Wakanda also sent its prince to try to join the expedition team, which ultimately led to the total number of people in the expedition team further expanding to more than 400.

The problem was that the Temple of Sleep in Xavier Castle was a miniature one, with only about fifty sleeping pods. In order to accommodate so many members of the expedition team at once, the U.S. military had to deploy engineering units to urgently expand the temple at Xavier Castle.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Then, once everything was ready, accompanied by melodious and soothing music and dazzling flashes of light descending from the sky, the altar in the courtyard of the Sleeping God Temple in Totoro Town once again gathered immense divine power, filling the air with a dazzling milky-white mist...

After the light and mist dissipated, the altar, which had been expanded several times, was now packed with more than four hundred cats of all kinds!

—A fat orange cat so heavy it could collapse the bed, a large, glossy black cat, a Persian cat with one blue and one green eye, a tabby cat with a "fierce" appearance, a Scottish Fold with droopy ears, and other breeds of white, blue, green, red, golden, and purple cats...

Initially, under the influence of the remaining power of the god of sleep, the cats lay sprawled on the altar, continuing to sleep soundly.

However, as time went by, the cats began to open their eyes one after another and stood up from the altar in a daze.

Then, the expedition team from Earth discovered that something was wrong with them, either staring in astonishment or screaming in surprise.

—Just like the previous time traveler Wang Qiu, who found himself suddenly transformed into the cat alien Firi.

"...Meow? Am I dreaming? I'm supposed to be the future Black Panther! How did I turn into a black cat?"

"...Meow? Oh my God, meow! Meow meow meow meow? Meow—"

"...Meow! Get out of the way! You fatso, you stepped on me!"

Even worse, the expedition's more than four hundred members—that is, more than four hundred cats—were originally crammed together on the altar, backside to back. As some of the cats woke up first and started meowing and moving around, they immediately stepped on other cats, even pushing and shoving the sleeping cats at the edge of the altar, causing them to fall off and get bruised, swollen, and dizzy.

As a result, some of the cats in pain immediately retaliated and started fighting with their claws against the cats around them.

Just as the hundreds of cats were meowing and shouting in a noisy cacophony, the cat-man Firi finally rushed in from outside, announcing with a beaming smile, "...Friends from Earth, welcome to Totoro Town! Are you satisfied with your new bodies?"

These words, which sounded incredibly irritating, immediately drew anger and curses from the courtyard.

"...Meow! Who would be satisfied, meow! You little rascal! Even though I gave you a Garfield statue, you can't make me Garfield!"

An orange Garfield cat, who looked arrogant and full of anger, immediately stood up on its hind legs and roared.

"...Uh, it's Mr. Stark! Well...we really had no choice! We can only ask for your understanding!"

The cat-man Phil apologized with a forced smile, saying, "...Look, your expedition team has so many people, and each person's new body in this world needs to be formed using divine power. But His Highness the God of Sleep only has so much faith power he obtained on Earth, which is simply not enough to form so many human bodies for everyone. So, in order to conserve the limited divine power, we can only ask everyone to make do with the bodies of small animals like cats."

As he spoke, he turned and gestured, and Quark, the kobold slave he had temporarily borrowed from Boss Ernest, came in pulling a large cart full of all kinds of leather shoes, cloth shoes, wooden shoes and boots, as well as a large pile of pet collars with metal pendants.

"...To facilitate your exploration trip and prevent passersby from mistaking you for stray cats, we've prepared shoes and boots for you in advance, so your paws won't get dirty while walking. Also, to facilitate communication with our residents, these cat collars are equipped with the [Language Understanding] magic amulet, so you won't misunderstand each other. Now, please line up quickly to collect your shoes and collars, and then put them on yourselves!"

Phili held up a red cat collar with a magic amulet attached, waved it in front of everyone, and gestured for them to line up and get a collar to wear.

For a moment, the hundreds of cats in the courtyard fell silent, then erupted into a commotion:

"...Meow! How awful! Who would do something so shameful, meow!"

"...Uh, but you're not human anymore, you're cats now!"

—An Earth Cats' Expedition from the Marvel Universe, absolutely hilarious and chaotic!

Chapter 233, Tony Garfield Stark (Part 1)

Tony Stark wakes up to find himself transformed into Garfield the cat.

Yes, a large Garfield cat with a round, chubby body and fluffy orange fur.

Or rather, a large, orange-yellow... lard-filled fluffy ball!

Of course, this isn't some Garfield version of Kafka's *The Metamorphosis*; Tony Stark's original body is still lying safely on Earth. As for the current situation... it's roughly equivalent to creating a cat-themed player account in some fantasy-themed online game.

However, this fantasy-themed online game looks exceptionally realistic—so realistic that it truly appears to be a fantastical otherworld…

However, he didn't create this cat account himself; someone else created it for him without his consent, and he can't log out of it yet.

Therefore, Tony, who is always self-centered, felt very unhappy.

What annoyed Tony even more was that even if he, Tony Stark, couldn't compare to a bodybuilder with a huge chest like Captain America, he was still a muscular, fit, and handsome middle-aged man. In the past, when he was indulging in a life of luxury, spending money on young models and sleeping with them, he was never mocked for his physique.

But what happened after he arrived in the other world? His current orange cat-like figure is so round! So round that it makes him furious!

He tried to lift his front legs to see his belly—but couldn't! Then he turned his head to try to see his tail—but couldn't see it either!

Then, facing the full-length mirror in the temple, Tony the cat curled up his body and stretched out his legs, only to find that he looked exactly like a giant chicken leg!

That damned little kitten Phil, all it did was say he was a bit skinny, how did it make my cat body so bloated?

Based on the height and weight ratio, he's already far taller than his former fat bodyguard, Happy!

Is this revenge? No, it must be revenge!

What a petty little kitten!

However, if Phil knew Tony's true feelings, he would probably just think that this guy was being completely unreasonable. First of all, cats are generally considered beautiful when they are chubby; secondly, almost every orange cat that is fed daily by its owner and lives in good conditions is chubby, right?

After all, orange cats are basically a type of pig, just mingling with other cats to trick humans into giving them cat food.

Each one was a round, fatty creature, resembling a large chicken leg; the measure word was "head."

So, can you call an orange cat fat? No, you call it a plump and healthy look!

In short, Tony Garfield Stark, who woke up as a fat orange cat, put on deerskin boots and a cat collar with a translation magic amulet. Then, he joined the bustling UN expedition team of over four hundred members, who had also turned into cats, as they left the fantastical Temple of Sleep and arrived at an equally fantastical castle to enjoy a luncheon filled with feline charm...

"...Meow! Is this the kind of hospitality you promised, the kind befitting my status?"

Tony Garfield Stark, or Tony Meow for short, pointed angrily at the wooden bowl piled high with dried fish in front of him, protesting to Garfield with his orange fur seemingly standing on end... just short of a string of crackling sparks flying from his head.

— Tony the cat, with his ears and tail perked up, is bursting with rage!

"...Uh, is there a problem with this kind of hospitality? Three meals of dried fish every day, and today's lunch even includes mussels and tuna sashimi!"

Phil, who was also munching on dried fish, looked up in confusion and stared at Tony with bewilderment. "...This is quite a feast for our town! After all, it's not a formal state banquet. We'll have to wait until we get to the palace in the capital, Thousand Sails City...or...is your appetite not so good?"

Suddenly, Phil seemed to remember something. She pulled a beautifully crafted metal box from the cabinet behind her, placed it in front of Tony, and opened it. Inside were small sticks that looked like cigarettes, each wrapped in paper to protect against moisture and odors. "...So, would you like some wood jasmine sticks? This year's fresh crop. No need to light them, just suck them into your mouth..."

At this moment, the more than four hundred cat expedition members from Earth, along with Firi and Lulutia who had returned to Totoro Town, were not in their adventurers' guild, but were in the lord's mansion in Totoro Town, which was also Princess Catherine's castle.

There's no way around it; the Earth expedition team has just too many cats, and the Adventurers' Guild in Totoro Town simply can't accommodate them all—unless they demolish that extra-large, luxurious bedroom behind the main hall, which takes up at least 80% of the entire guild's space and allows Miss Silver Dragon Lulutia to sleep in her dragon form... But if they actually did that, Guild Master Lulutia would probably explode with rage on the spot.

Therefore, the welcoming banquet for guests from all over the world was arranged to be held in the banquet hall of the town lord's castle.

This is also the most spacious indoor space in the entire Totoro Town, with a usable area larger than the chapels of several temples!

When Tony and his group of Earthlings left the temple and arrived here, the maids in the castle had already prepared a sumptuous feast.

Well, by cat standards, it's definitely a feast.

The long table, round table, and chairs that were originally placed in the center of the hall were temporarily removed, leaving only a thick wool carpet. Hundreds of bowls of fragrant dried fish were neatly arranged on the carpet. Next to each bowl were small plates with diced mussels and tuna sashimi.

Finally, there were candies and catnip sticks for after-dinner entertainment... In a small place like Totoro Town, this was considered a very generous treat.

However, Tony was still very dissatisfied.

"...Since there aren't any tables or chairs of suitable height, we'll just have to eat sitting on the floor; consider it an indoor picnic..."

Tony pushed the cattail stick aside and pointed to the bowls and plates on the carpet, "...But there aren't even any knives and forks, how are we supposed to eat?"

“…Of course, you eat it directly, or like a cat!” Phil picked up a small dried fish from her bowl, popped it into her mouth and crunched loudly, while gesturing to the side, “…Look, Mr. Sitwell over there is enjoying his fish, isn’t he?”

Tony the cat turned his head and saw that the bald, two-faced Indian man who had turned into a hairless cat (also known as a Sphynx cat), the ostensibly S.H.I.E.L.D. agent but secretly a Hydra spy, Sitwell, was in a typical excavator-like eating posture, frantically attacking a bowl full of dried fish—truly, people die for money and birds die for food, even a cat can devour a bowl of dried fish in a whirlwind, obscuring the sun and moon!

Author's message

P.S.: Due to adjusting my sleep schedule, tomorrow's update will be postponed to the evening.

Chapter 234, Tony Garfield Stark (Part 2)

Good heavens, Sitwell, looking at you eating like a starving ghost, I'm starting to wonder who the real orange cat is!

Are dried anchovies really that delicious?

Watching the hairless cat Sitwell devour dried fish from its bowl, Tony the orange-furred cat looked on with disdain.

However, the dried fish in Sitwell's bowl... why does it smell a little off? At least it's different from mine.

Because they were quite far apart, and Tony wasn't very patient, he observed for a while but still didn't find anything clear. So he turned back to Phil and continued yelling, "...Don't confuse me with Sitwell. I'm not an Indian who eats with his hands..."

"...Uh, actually, Mr. Sitwell didn't use his hands at all; he buried his head in his food bowl to eat his cat food..."

Ferry, still in her cat-person form, pouted, "...Besides, even if you were given a knife and fork, could you even pick them up?"

Tony the cat was taken aback, then looked down at his four short-fingered paws and had to reluctantly admit that, in his current state, perhaps... maybe... probably... well, he really couldn't hold a knife and fork.

After all, cats generally carry things around in their mouths, right?

Looking around, Tony Cat helplessly discovered that the other members of the Earth United Nations expedition team, who had also turned into cats, were just like that bald Indian man, Sitwell, burying their heads in their food bowls piled high with dried fish on the carpet and eating voraciously. Some cats ate more reservedly and slowly, while others ate even more wildly than the bald Indian man, Sitwell... but none of them had any utensils in their paws.

In addition, several cats whose original identities were unknown had somehow learned to rub against legs and act cute, begging the maids in the castle to hold them in their arms and then feed them with spoons or dried fish by hand.

—While it might seem a bit shameless, it's still more respectable than the hairless cat Sitwell's excavator-like eating style. Tony nodded to himself.

What's more, several of these maids are genuine beast-eared girls... just looking at them makes Tony's heart flutter.

Unfortunately, the number of maids serving guests in the banquet hall was limited. Now, every maid in sight already had several cats to serve. Tony looked around and realized that it would be difficult for him to squeeze in, and he was not confident that he could compete with others. Hmm, no cats.

After all, he was now in a completely unfamiliar world. His vast wealth, legendary deeds, and superhero status in America were meaningless to the maids here. Without the aura of "money power," and just an ordinary fat orange cat with an arrogant personality who couldn't act cute, Tony felt that he probably wouldn't be that attractive to women.

This sudden change in status left Iron Man feeling somewhat lost and increasingly unhappy.

After all, true geniuses are proud and arrogant, and what they hate most is having their destiny dictated by others.

On the other hand, geniuses often like to boss others around, like to plan everything in advance, or at least within their sphere of influence, believing themselves to be omnipotent, but rarely considering how others perceive them, and are even too lazy to explain themselves...

Until one day, they were dealt a severe blow for their arrogance and were taught a harsh lesson about how to be human by reality!

Yes, Tony the cat here is being taught how to behave like a cat.

In short, after wasting so much time and brooding for no reason, Tony finally felt that his stomach was too hungry to bear. He had no choice but to give up his resistance, go to the bowl, lower his head, and start eating like a real cat.

However, after managing to eat a few bites of tuna sashimi, Tony still felt nauseous and couldn't eat anymore.

Although he had tried Japanese food before, eating sushi and sashimi while drinking hot sake, at least back then there was the aroma of sake to mask the fishy smell of raw fish, and there was wasabi, soy sauce and vinegar to dip in... But here, Tony had no condiments at hand, let alone sake.

Seeing Tony's listless expression, Phil was initially stunned, but quickly realized what was going on. He turned around, walked to the center of the hall, and brought Tony a small dish of green plant stems and leaves that looked like a vegetable salad, but whose aroma inexplicably invigorated him.

Then, under Tony's bewildered gaze, Phil skillfully crushed the fresh catnip, bent down to pick up Tony's bowl and plate, mixed it with dried fish, mussels and tuna sashimi, and then placed it in front of Tony.

"...Catnip just picked from the castle garden, it couldn't be fresher! Please enjoy!"

However, at this moment, Tony Garfield Stark had no interest in listening to Garfield's nagging anymore.

In fact, the moment Tony smelled the catnip up close, his brain exploded.

It was like pouring a bowl of cold water into a pot of boiling oil; countless joyful thoughts burst forth from his mind.

God is my witness, he has never had such an exciting experience!

Ah, what a scent! How alluring! How wonderful!

Compared to that, the pills he took and the narcotics he smoked in college were even worse than garbage!

Immersed in the wonderful scent of catnip, Tony's brain was almost unable to think straight!

At that moment, his mind was filled with an intense desire to plunge headfirst into a pile of cat food sprinkled with catnip!

—For any cat, catnip is an irresistible substance, comparable to a super-powerful drug. According to scientific research, at least 99% of cats are completely unable to resist the charm of catnip, and Tony, this orange tabby, is no exception.

Since it was his first time encountering catnip in cat form, he was exceptionally lacking in self-control and resistance—so, with almost no struggle, he was completely awakened by his animal instincts, succumbing to his physiological reactions and falling under the irresistible charm of catnip.

"...Meow—"

With a near-hysterical shout, the orange Tony Garfield Stark, just like the hairless Indian cat Sitwell whom he had just scorned, pounced and buried his head in his food bowl, like a furry excavator, rummaging and shoveling various kinds of cat food into his mouth...

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

After finishing the dried fish in his bowl, the mussels and tuna sashimi on his plate, and then snatching half a grilled fish from Garfield's plate, Garfield slowly came to his senses as his hunger gradually subsided and stopped licking the plate.

Then, he finally regained his ability to think and realized what shameless things he had just done.

—I want to cry! (Facepalm)

That's terrifying! I never imagined that catnip could be so incredibly potent!

It was as if my brain was trembling! My blood was boiling! My soul was burning!

It is especially effective for lazy orange cats who love to eat!

But by now, the cat food was all gone, and he had completely lost face. It was too late to regret it... Fortunately, the other cats in the banquet hall were also behaving in a similarly crazy manner while eating the cat food mixed with catnip, so Tony's actions were not noticeable.

Next, after the cats on the Earth expedition team had eaten their fill, the next thing they would naturally face was the issue of elimination.