Chaper 88: Wheeze
Cillin took out a stack of dark gold-colored things from his backpack and began writing on it. The gray cat lay on the side and watched, its tail swaying leisurely from side to side. It knew GAL’s common language, and the word ‘Bill’ was clearly written on the stack of dark gold things.
Therefore, when Cillin took out this item the gray cat looked very disdainful. It’s only a couple hundred million credits, and It wasn’t going to renege on its debt at all. So was it seriously necessary to do this?
“What’s your name?” Cillin asked. He couldn’t exactly write ‘gray cat’ on the bill, could he?
“Whebeze.”
“Hah?”
“Whebeze. It’s this Sector’s native language, and one of the very first languages that I came in contact with. Whebeze means ‘overlord’.”
Originally, there were no humans on this planet, and the very first humans who came here were none other than the humans of the planet’s belonging Sector, Sector T. Later on, there were people from other Sectors who came here as well. In the end, everyone used the GAL’s common language, which was why the gray cat learned the lingua franca later on.
“Nuo, I’m done writing. Have a look and see if everything’s proper? If it is then you can sign it… or slap a paw print is fine too.” Cillin passed the written bill to the gray cat for viewing.
The gray cat glanced at the number Cillin had written – five hundred million credits – and thought nothing of it. Without giving it a second glance it raised its paw and slapped a print on the bill straight away.
“Heh, we’re done. Every bill has two copies; one for you and one for me. This is just in case one side refuses to acknowledge the promise.”
Cillin passed a copy to the gray cat, but it simply swallowed it in one gulp.
The gray cat raised its butt, stretched its back and shook its fur before saying, “We can leave now, right?”
“Wait a second, there’s something that I must clarify with you first.” Cillin put the bill safely away before staring seriously at the gray cat.
“What is it?” The gray cat asked lazily.
“I am now a member of a Hunter regiment. If you wish to come with me, then it will be not as a member of the Hunter regiment, but as the party who owes us money. In short, I’m the creditor and you’re the debt slave.”
“Debt slave? That’s so vulgar.” The gray cat flicked its ears and said.
“A pet then, to disguise your identity.”
“Pet? I am the magnificent…”
“A debt slave then.”
“… Fine, a pet. But let’s be clear: once I paid my debts I am neither a pet nor a debt slave any longer!”
“Of course.”
“You should be proud to have me as a pet. To think that I, a magnificent – er, by your terms it will be – cyborg am treated as a mere pet. Do you know that I’m…” Blah blah blah the gray cat began advertising exactly how special, smart and tough of an existence it was.
Through the cat’s incessant prattle, Cillin knew that the cat would often hang around the base after the humans had built it on this planet. Through those experiences it learned the GAL language, learned how to memorise a given year, eavesdropped on the human’s development plan for this planet, imitated the human’s weapons…
The cat was very proud because of these achievements. No matter how you looked at it it was gifted, outstandingly capable, and a self-made genius.
Cillin shook his head and ignored the fellow who was busy sublimating its ego. He took out the hoverboard from his backpack, extended it, activated it and left.
“Hey, wait for me!”
The gray cat limbs pushed, and it quickly caught the backside of the hoverboard with its claws and jumped right onto it. Then it lay on top of the hoverboard and watched the ground growing further and further away, its bright round eyes full of excitement.
“Remember not to tell anyone that you’re a cyborg and save yourself some trouble.”
“Yep yep, gotcha gotcha.” The gray cat knew that a human’s madness was difficult to imagine, and that it really wasn’t easy to find one that was actually reliable. That was why it had not revealed its existence to the humans for so many years.
When Cillin found Dias and the others, they were almost finished with their tasks already. At the time the communicator could not be used, and the polar bears were all lying flat on the ground. Although Dias was feeling uncomfortable at the time, he also knew that it was a golden opportunity to take down the bears, and indeed it didn’t take them much effort before they dealt with all of them.
Tang Qiuqiu was currently grabbing Ba Dao’s (T/N: In case anyone forgot, this is Eight Claws) tallest arm and swinging herself off it. Ba Dao used only two hands to process the animal skins while he allowed Tang Qiuqiu to play with his remaining four arms however she wanted to.
When she saw Cillin walking towards their direction, Tang Qiuqiu put some strength into her arms and threw herself into the air, flipping once before landing gracefully on the ground.
“Really, Brother Cillin! You came only after we’re finished the mission!”
Cillin smiled and patted Tang Qiuqiu’s head, purposely making a mess out of her short hair. Tang Qiuqiu did not turn angry either as she gripped Cillin’s patting hand and giggled out loud.
“How many polar bears did you catch?” Cillin asked.
“We got seven in total. I took down one of them myself!”
No wonder she’s so happy!
When these polar bears stood up, they were more than seven meters tall. It would be an impressive feat for anyone to hunt down such a beast, much less a child at Tang Qiuqiu’s age.
“Not bad at all. Great job!”
Not far away, Eudy, Xiao Shang and the others were all staring at Cillin in amazement. He really did switch into a new skin! Not only could they not recognise him, even his physical body had become more robust. He no longer looked as thin as he was before.
The gray cat was very dissatisfied by the fact that it was ignored. It jumped right off the hoverboard and walked with graceful steps towards the side to watch the men process the white bears.
It ate so many of this kind of polar bears that it lost count already; it was a number no less than the amount of polar bears the Hunters hunted every time the planet was opened for hunting. It didn’t know that their skin could be sold for money as well. Sigh, it would have to pay attention in the future. It would separate those that could be sold for money first, then eat the rest of the meat.
“Eh, a cat! Brother Cillin, where did you find it?” Tang Qiuqiu stared at the gray cat strolling leisurely on the field and asked.
“I picked it up somewhere.”
“Why did you pick up a cat for, and a young cat no less. Just look at its size, it probably won’t live for a long time if you left it in the forest. You went out for a stroll just to pick up this little cat?” Cary said.
Hearing Cary’s words, the gray cat turned around and very disdainfully looked down on him.
“Yo, that cat actually looked down on me, it totally looked down on me just now didn’t it?” Cary cried out as if he had discovered another chameleon that was like Dough.
“Oh wow, it’s true! Brother Cillin, what’s its name?” Tang Qiuqiu asked.
“Whebeze, or in short, Wheeze.”
Hearing Cillin’s words, the gray cat who was watching rather interestedly at Cary and Dias skinning the polar bears felt rather dissatisfied. But seeing as Cillin was his creditor, the gray cat decided not to bicker with him over the matter.
“Hehe, it’s so cute.” Tang Qiuqiu laughed.
“Cute? This gloomy and dull color is ugly as hell.”
The second it heard Cillin’s words, the gray cat puffed up again, “You’re the ugly! Your entire being is ugly!”
Cary, who was skinning the bears accidentally dropped his knife and nearly cut his own hand.
“Oh my god, this fellow can actually speak! Not bad, it can definitely fetch a good price.”
“It’s not for sale!”
“It’s not for sale.”
Cillin looked at Tang Qiuqiu. She was the one who said ‘it’s not for sale’ unanimously with him.
“Those polar bears are enough already to sell for money. We’ll keep it as a friend for Dough!” Tang Qiuqiu did seem treasure the gray cat quite a bit.
Dias waved his hands, “Alright, let’s finish our work first. Our guys at the main ship are urging us to speed up already. We’ll be doing a big one after we’re done with these goods.”
“A big one?” Cary’s eyes lit up, “Boss, is it time for our five-year mission already?”
The Sixth Squad had a rule where every member was required to perform a major mission that might take half a year or a year, or four to five years if not longer. If they managed to complete it in a short time, then they would have a long period of holiday, or else vice versa. The purpose of the so-called five-year mission was also to report their achievements to the A Squad of Vanguard. If they did not have anything to show, then their squad’s status in the entire Vanguard would fall. On the other hand, if their achievements were impressive, then their squad’s status would rise.