“What?!”
Su Yuqing could hardly believe her ears.
“No! What do you mean ‘they’re already gone’ — hey…!?”
A sense of foreboding washed over her.
Were they ruined?
Thrown away?
What on earth had this perverted cat girl done with her clothes?!
Zhi Ai seemed to be startled by Su Yuqing’s suddenly raised voice.
She tucked in her neck, her eyes darting quickly, clearly weaving an excuse on the fly.
Then, as if she had suddenly come up with a “brilliant” reason, her tone became self-righteous.
“Gone means gone! I… I took advantage of the time you were away and donated them all! Yes! I donated them to that thing they’re always showing on TV… Project Hope! Right! It was Project Hope…!”
It had to be said that this excuse was outrageously lame.
“Why would you donate those kinds of things to Project Hope?!”
Su Yuqing was so angered by this absurd excuse that she almost laughed, her fury surging once again.
“Is your brain capacity really still the same as when you were just a Cat?! Do you even believe that yourself?!”
Speaking without thinking, she attacked Zhi Ai’s intelligence once more.
Those words completely ignited Zhi Ai’s anger.
Perhaps it was because her lie had been ruthlessly exposed, or perhaps because the evaluation of “low intelligence” had touched a nerve.
Her gaze instantly became dangerous, and a cold aura emanated from her entire body.
She took a step forward, closing in until she was almost pressed against Su Yuqing’s face.
She tilted her head up and squeezed out a whisper through gritted teeth, each word carrying a frigid chill:
“DON’T. YOU. DARE. SAY. ONE. MORE. WORD. ABOUT. MY. IQ. BEING. LOW —!”
“Ha —”
That short “Ha” carried a heavy weight of threat, as if those incredibly sharp claws would pop out at any second.
Looking at the blatant rage in Zhi Ai’s eyes, Su Yuqing’s rationality instantly returned.
She knew very well what the consequences of provoking this “Cat,” who could blow up at any moment, would be.
The faint sensation of the Collar tightening around her neck seemed to return, causing her to instinctively take half a step back.
She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing all her anger and questions.
“Fine, you win.”
Su Yuqing raised her hands in a gesture of surrender, her tone filled with exhaustion and compromise.
“I can’t mess with you. I’ll just go online and buy a few new ones right now, alright —!?”
She decided to stop arguing and end this doomed, dangerous confrontation as quickly as possible.
Having said that, she stopped looking at Zhi Ai.
She turned and walked quickly to the desk, picked up her Tablet Computer, and deliberately turned her back to Zhi Ai to begin browsing a shopping website.
Su Yuqing needed a moment to process her discovery, as well as the intense discomfort and fear brought about by Zhi Ai’s almost perverted possessiveness.
At that moment, Kasahana Chiai stood where she was, staring at Su Yuqing’s deliberately distant back.
A complex, indiscernible light flashed within her Liuli-colored eyes.
There was the annoyance of having her scheme exposed, a trace of extremely faint panic that even she hadn’t noticed, but mostly, there was the displeasure of a “possession” trying to escape her control and an even deeper sense of interest.
Only Zhi Ai knew in her heart that the intimate clothing she had secretly collected, which carried Su Yuqing’s scent, had neither been donated nor thrown away.
Right now, they were being carefully hidden, one by one, like the most precious treasures, tucked away in the most secret corners under every single cushion of the living room sofa.
That was the nest she had claimed for herself, filled with her “Master’s” scent.
Every day, she would wait for a moment when Su Yuqing wasn’t paying attention and, like a Cat truly building a nest, she would secretly take one out.
She would bury her face deep into it, greedily and forcefully breathing in the fading scent that could make her soul feel incredibly settled.
‘Sniff… sniff…’
She would silently make this motion in her heart.
‘Meow —’
A sigh of satisfaction would echo deep inside.
‘That’s right… it’s this scent…’
It was that scent unique to Su Yuqing, a mixture of sunlight, laundry detergent, and a faint hint of body fragrance.
‘Only this level of scent… can be called rich —’
This scent made her feel safe, in control, and gave her a sense of near-pathological satisfaction.
‘Heh heh heh, Mas… ter… Master —’
The title echoed constantly in her mind, carrying endless possessiveness and a twisted dependence that even she couldn’t fully understand.
To her, this wasn’t some perverted behavior, but the most natural way for a Cat to mark and claim what belonged to her.
It was a unique expression of “love” produced by the combination of the instinct belonging to “Xiaozhi” engraved in the depths of her soul and the obsession of the “Kasahana Chiai” who had returned for Revenge.
Just then, Zhi Ai seemed to remember something important, breaking the brief silence.
She spoke in a tone that tried to return things to normal but still carried a lingering sense of command, as if the intense conflict just now had never happened:
“Hey, can you still hear me talking?”
She asked despite knowing the answer, as if testing whether Su Yuqing’s attention was still on her.
With her back turned, Su Yuqing’s body stiffened almost imperceptibly.
She clearly didn’t want to deal with this bratty Cat, but eventually, she spoke with a guarded reply:
“My Bluetooth Headset is still charging right there, so of course I can hear you.”
Su Yuqing still didn’t turn around.
Fortunately, Zhi Ai didn’t mind her coldness.
She went on to announce the next arrangement, her tone still carrying an unquestionable sense of control:
“Starting tomorrow, I’m going into Closed Rehearsal for the Special Performance this Saturday and Sunday. In other words, I might not come back here to stay for these two days.”
After speaking, she paused deliberately, seemingly observing Su Yuqing’s reaction.
Su Yuqing merely gave a faint “Oh” in response.
“Okay, and then?”
Her tone was very calm, showing almost no emotion.
However, Su Yuqing’s knuckles, which were turning white as she gripped the edge of the Tablet Computer, betrayed the lack of peace deep in her heart at this moment.
Was it a sense of relief, or was it something else?
Seeing this, the corners of Zhi Ai’s mouth curled into a deep smile.
She continued, her tone becoming even more forceful:
“And then — when I’m rehearsing for the performance, you have to come with me. So don’t even think about sneaking back here alone for these two days, meow.”
That final upward lilt in her voice was, of course, a warning like a feline marking its territory.
“What…?”
Su Yuqing finally couldn’t help but turn around, her face filled with shock and a trace of undetectable panic.
After all, she had originally thought she would have at least two days of breathing room.
She hadn’t expected that even this last bit of space would be completely stripped away.
Was Zhi Ai really going to… tie her to her side and never let her leave?
This realization caused Su Yuqing’s heart, which had just slightly settled, to sink to the bottom once again.
The night seemed to grow even heavier because of it.