Chapter 010: Transforming into a Cat

“Robbers!”
Du Fan exclaimed in shock, his face filled with grief and anger. He discreetly put the rose that Chenchen hadn’t caught into his space ring, thinking to himself how much silver coins it might fetch if sold. Meanwhile, he gestured around his body and said, “Robbers! Look at this! This is a robe only a priest in white can wear, along with this symbol—a rune exclusive to the Holy Church. Where are your eyes, girl? How dare you call me a robber? Isn’t this the biggest joke ever?”
Chenchen, pale-faced, pointed at the corpses. “If you still dare say you’re not a robber, then you must be the most skilled one yet—no one else uses such tactics!”
“Oh, you mean this?” As if suddenly realizing something, Du Fan slapped his forehead, lowered his head slowly, and began drawing small circles on the ground with his toes. “Well… it’s not a problem to tell you… but… you must never spread this. You see, this is the biggest secret of my life…”
To emphasize the secrecy, Du Fan raised his head and glanced at Chenchen with an expression as pure as that of a young vegetable.
Chenchen, who already knew his true nature, almost spat blood. Holding back her anger, she said, “Hurry up and tell me…”
“Oh…” Du Fan nodded slightly and replied honestly, “Look, what position are these people in now? Lying down, right? So, aside from praying, bestowing blessings, and gazing at the sky in purity, what do I do most often in the cathedral? I help tidy up the dead. You know, the first time I did this, I was so disgusted I couldn’t eat for a week. But later on, it got better. Each corpse needs to have their belongings removed and replaced with white robes. Having done this many times, I’ve naturally gotten used to it.”
“…” Chenchen didn’t know what to say. Looking at this swindler with his holy-looking smile, she suddenly realized that though his actions were a bit evil and despicable, fundamentally, he might still be a good person.
Moreover, if Chenchen wasn’t mistaken, everything he did had a clear purpose. Only someone as shrewd to the core might truly become her master.
What a formidable guy!

Forming a final impression of Du Fan in his mind, Chenchen closed her charming eyes as if accepting her fate. At this moment, Du Fan naturally had no idea what image he had created in this beautiful woman’s mind. But for him, in any case, his destiny was now tied to this woman’s. So why act hypocritically in front of her? If so, wouldn’t everyone be exhausted? After scanning the ground carefully several more times to ensure not a single gold coin was left behind, Du Fan finally sighed in satisfaction and said, “Girl, we can leave now. Do you know of any other way out? Or should we follow the path I came through?” Chenchen glanced at him, thought for a moment, and asked, “What are you going to do next?” “Do what?” Du Fan touched his nose. “I think it’s to attend some kind of royal banquet. Hey, girl, since I don’t have a female companion, are you interested in coming with me?” Chenchen snorted and said, “Stop joking. You know better than I do that if anyone recognizes me, we’re both done for. You’d better think about where to hide me.” “It seems there really is no place to hide you!” Du Fan muttered, frowning. The problem now was that Du Fan couldn’t simply take Chenchen out of the church. After wasting so much time, dinner time had long passed, and the backyard was likely filled with priests and nuns walking around. In this church, who didn’t know whom? If a strange woman suddenly appeared beside him, the high-ranking members of the Holy Church would quickly realize what had happened. It would be easy for Du Fan to end up on the execution platform, roasted to death. After thinking about it, he shook his head helplessly before suddenly having an idea. “Girl, how about you hide inside a storage ring for now? I’ll release you once we’re outside.” Chenchen gave a bitter smile. “If it were possible, I would have said so already. You know that, right? Apart from dead objects, no living things can be hidden in a space ring. Even the most lively magical beasts will die within a minute once thrown in.” “I see.” Du Fan shook his head. “Then wait here for now. I’ll come back for you when I have time.”

With that, the bastard ignored the tears in the beautiful woman’s eyes and prepared to leave once again. In his mind, any thoughts of learning magic, combat energy, or becoming an alchemist must have been thrown to the farthest corners of his thoughts.
“Hey… wait a moment…”
Chenchen glared at Du Fan indignantly for a while before saying, “You bastard charlatan! I give up on you!”
Then, somehow, she made a gesture, and suddenly a holy light emanated from her, blinding everyone around. After a while, Du Fan could faintly see her body shrinking…
Finally…
“Cat—”
Du Fan pointed at a tiny snow-white kitten no bigger than a fist among the pile of clothes, stunned.
“What are you staring at? Why haven’t you picked me up yet?” A familiar voice rang in Du Fan’s mind, as the little white cat stretched lazily.
Du Fan was dumbfounded. Pointing at the kitten, he stammered, “Girl… don’t tell me… you turned into a cat?”
“Hmph… Why can’t I turn into a cat?” The cat version of Chenchen made a scornful gesture. “If I hadn’t changed like this, could you have taken me out?”
Du Fan was stunned for a moment before asking, “G-Girl, don’t tell me you’re a cat demon!”
As he spoke, Du Fan almost cried. A voice in his heart cried out: “Human-beast? I don’t want a human-beast! I really don’t want one!!!”
“You’re the cat demon! Your whole family is cat demons!” Chenchen snapped, then jumped lightly onto Du Fan’s shoulder with her small body. “This is transformation magic. You ignorant guy, don’t worry. This magic is still useful for me now—being smaller at least reduces magic consumption. Alright, let’s go.”
Du Fan reached out and picked up the kitten, stroked its fur a few times, then stuffed it into his robe.
He carefully stepped over the corpses on the ground, making sure his shoes didn’t get bloodstained, then quickly made his way back to the stairs he had come down.
Without hesitation, Du Fan stepped inside, asking himself, “Girl, tell me—why isn’t there anyone guarding this passage? If there were, I probably wouldn’t have been able to find you. Don’t tell me it’s just a coincidence.”

“How can this be a coincidence?” Chenchen’s voice rang in Du Fan’s mind. “This passage was created by me using my last bit of magic before I was imprisoned. Aside from me, I guess only you know about it. Moreover, this passage opens only on a specific day each year. So the fact that you were able to get in here can truly be attributed to luck and chance.”
Once a year?
Du Fan sighed. Although Chenchen was unbearably beautiful, from her words, she seemed like an old crone who had lived for countless years. What if the lost time somehow returned to her…
Uh… Du Fan scolded himself inwardly. It seems my mental endurance isn’t up to par.
“Don’t worry. Even if you turn into a skeleton, I might not necessarily turn into an old crone,” Chenchen’s voice suddenly appeared in Du Fan’s mind.
Du Fan was startled and snapped, “Girl, can you stop reading my thoughts? You know privacy is important, right? If you do this again, even if you turn into a cat, I’ll still harass you. Do you believe that?”
“Hmph!” Chenchen dismissed him. “If I’m not reading your thoughts, so be it. What’s the big deal? Anyway, all there is in your mind is baseness and shamelessness. I really don’t understand how someone like you could become a White Robe Priest. I remember in my era, White Robe Priests were pure and noble—nothing like you.”
With that, as if to vent her anger, Chenchen’s cat claws dug deeply into Du Fan’s chest.
Du Fan chuckled and rubbed Chenchen’s cat head through his clothes, saying, “Stop messing around. We should focus on the important task at hand.”