The cat food didn’t taste good, at least not to a bipedal human.
It had a fishy, damp smell, and the texture was very granular, a bit like grinding teeth.
But at this point, Xu Yinsheng, who hadn’t eaten for two days, couldn’t care less. She grabbed a handful and shoved it into her mouth.
“Cough, cough.”
She ate too quickly and almost choked.
After a violent fit of coughing, she finally calmed down a little.
Zhao Yicheng offered her a cup of breakfast milk.
Just as she reached for it, she saw him pour the milk into the cat food, mixing it into a paste.
“Eat slowly, don’t choke,” he said with a smile, tossing the empty breakfast milk carton into the trash, ignoring Xu Yinsheng’s murderous glare.
Xu Yinsheng looked at the viscous, white, pasty substance before her.
A wave of nausea washed over her, but the hunger in her body left her no choice.
After much hesitation, she finally picked up the cat bowl and began to slowly drink the cat food paste.
The rich aroma of the milk dispelled the inherent fishiness of the cat food.
Mixed together, aside from a slight stickiness, the taste was acceptable to humans.
The granular matter mixed with the viscous white liquid slid down her throat, giving her an indescribable, almost small-film-like déjà vu.
Zhao Yicheng watched her very gently, as if his own fasting kitten had finally obediently eaten, and the owner was greatly relieved.
After drinking the paste clean from the cat bowl, Xu Yinsheng placed the bowl on the floor.
She sat there, looking at Zhao Yicheng, who was half-crouching in front of her.
“Are you satisfied now?”
He had electrocuted her, locked her in a cage, and forced her to eat cat food.
All she did was hit him with a wine bottle, right? Did he really need to retaliate like this?!
“For the sake of our brotherhood of more than ten years, can’t you just…”
Xu Yinsheng’s words were cut short by Zhao Yicheng. He shook his head, indifferently saying, “My brother died a long time ago. He died in that fire. You are just a cat I saved from the fire.”
Saying this, he turned on the TV and replayed the news from a few days ago.
A meticulously dressed host was reading from a teleprompter, “A villa fire in the city’s suburbs has been confirmed to have resulted from an explosion caused by a gas leak. We remind all citizens that fire prevention is paramount, and gas safety is the first priority.”
The LCD TV was very clear.
One could clearly see the gray, pixelated photo of the deceased and a video of several firefighters working together to extinguish the blaze.
“What do you mean?”
Xu Yinsheng’s intelligence, after days of hunger, was clearly not online.
“Little kitty, don’t you understand yet?”
Zhao Yicheng’s lips curved slightly.
He stroked a strand of long hair from the “humanoid kitten” in front of him, bringing it to his nose and sniffing lightly, as if inhaling the fragrance of some exotic flower or herb.
“My brother died a long time ago.”
“He died in that fire. You’re just a cat I picked up.”
He changed his tone.
“I’ve raised you for so long, it’s time to give you a name.”
“The day I picked you up was also the day my brother died in the fire. From now on, your name will be…”
“Xu Yinsheng.”
Xu Yinsheng looked utterly bewildered.
She understood every single word, but why did they make no sense when put together?
What did he mean she died in a fire?
What did he mean she was a cat?
Zhao Yicheng wasn’t just having a mental breakdown; he couldn’t even distinguish between humans and animals.
He was probably completely insane!
Could it be that the wine bottle she smashed on his head last time triggered his mental illness completely?
Tsk… a sin, a sin indeed.
“Xiao Yin, little kitty,” Zhao Yicheng called out softly twice.
“You’ll live happily with Garfield from now on.”
Garfield?
What the heck?
Another cat?
“Uh, right, Master is right,” Xu Yinsheng decided to play along for now.
If the man in front of her were still her good friend, she could stand on the moral high ground of friendship and condemn his act of caging her, but now he was a lunatic.
It wouldn’t be surprising if he was gently hugging her one second and violently stabbing her the next.
The short fear the tough, and the tough fear the ruthless.
Xu Yinsheng was tough, but Zhao Yicheng was twisted, putting her several levels below him.
“Um… Master, do you think it’s reasonable for a cat to speak human language?”
Xu Yinsheng asked cautiously, weighing her words.
She once dated a pretty lady who studied psychology.
To summarize in psychological terms: the patient is immersed in their own fantasy world, confusing reality with their delusions, just like Zhao Yicheng now mistaking her for a cat.
A mental world relies on the common sense of the real world. In the real world, cats certainly don’t speak human language.
As long as the patient notices a flaw in their perception, it’s the first step to breaking their fantasy world.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Yicheng not only didn’t think there was anything wrong but nodded affirmatively, “It’s very reasonable.”
He hooked Xu Yinsheng’s chin and chuckled softly, “Xiao Yin kitty, not only can you talk, but you’ll also ‘meow’ in bed later.”
“Master will educate you. ‘Meowing in bed’ is that kind of sound, very intoxicating…”
This was… dirty talk?!
Zhao Yicheng actually knew how to talk dirty?!
“Um, Master, don’t you think a cat that’s over 1.6 meters tall is a little bit big?”
Xu Yinsheng felt she could still be saved. If she was caged daily and fed cat food, she feared she’d die of malnutrition.
What Xu Yinsheng said seemed to have an effect.
Zhao Yicheng raised his hand and stroked the head of the “humanoid cat” in front of him, falling into thought, then nodded, “You’ve gotten so fat, I’ll expand your cage another day.”
“Alright then, I’m a cat. Now the cat wants freedom. Please release me and give me a few thousand yuan,” Xu Yinsheng revealed her true intention.
It was too exhausting to try and explain “human” and “cat” to a mentally ill person.
It was better to go along with him, then trick him out of a few thousand yuan to buy a phone, get a SIM card, and call her parents abroad for money.
But Zhao Yicheng shook his head.
“Little kitties don’t have money. All they have is their master.”
“And I won’t release you. If you’re my cat for one day, you’re my cat for life.”
It was almost time for their outdoor stroll.
Zhao Yicheng once again put Xu Yinsheng back into the narrow cat cage and locked it in front of her.
Back in this cramped space, Xu Yinsheng tightly gripped the iron bars.
The helpless girl in the cage looked at the man in the suit outside the cage and asked one last question.
“Are you truly insane or just pretending?”
Zhao Yicheng smiled at her, everything left unsaid.
Garfield, lol. Despite having snapped, he’s still trying to be funny