Chapter 2503: The Ultimate Goal
Small animals generally have their own activity ranges. They move within certain areas, often visiting places that are unexpected. Although those cats had led Xu Huo and the others to the park, with a large number of cats providing cover, their ultimate destination was still the densely populated residential areas within the city.
Several kittens carrying Cat Whisker Fruits ran off in different directions, even diving underground mid-journey to switch directions—if their paws weren't so inconvenient, they might have swapped the Cat Whisker Fruits as well.
And so, Xu Huo and the others followed that cat through the city until they arrived outside a pet shop specializing in selling small animals.
The calico cat crouched on the pet shop's wall for a while. A shop assistant walked out, familiarly patted its head, fed it some snacks, and said to it, "The boss didn't come to the pet shop today. She went to the training garden in the north of the city."
The calico cat finished its snacks, then turned around and ran off.
It moved through the city at varying speeds—sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Occasionally, it passed by the walls of other people's yards, other times it jumped from the ground to the trees to take shortcuts, or it traveled through dense, vegetation-filled paths only a cat could navigate. In this way, it crossed the entire city and arrived at that training garden by the afternoon.
Xu Huo and the others had already looked up information about the training garden along the way. It was a place specifically for training pets for the wealthy. Many people liked to keep mutated, larger-bodied animals, but these creatures were more aggressive and needed to be tamed in advance before they could be sent out as pets.
The calico cat entered the training garden, greeting the other small animals along the way, clearly familiar with the environment.
The calico cat found an elderly woman wearing protective gear. It affectionately rubbed against her legs, then jumped onto a nearby chair, lifted its head, and nudged the Cat Whisker Fruit in front of it.
The old woman removed her face shield. Although her face was lined with wrinkles, it was evident that she came from a well-off family and carried a certain air of refinement.
She picked up the Cat Whisker Fruit, gave it a brief glance, then set it aside. She stroked the calico cat's head, saying, "Where did you find another toy? Haven't I told you that this world is full of bad people? When facing their own kind, they don't bare their fangs, but they show no hesitation in being cruel to a gentle little creature like you. You need to be careful."
The calico cat meowed, showing off its claws. The evolved claws gleamed with a metallic sheen, radiating maximum intimidation.
The old woman smiled faintly. She didn't bother with the Cat Whisker Fruit anymore and led the calico cat inside to fetch a few cans of food. She opened them and laid them out on the ground one by one.
The aroma of the food kept the calico cat busy. The old woman sat beside it, watching it eat. Only after she had her fill of watching did she pick up the Cat Whisker Fruit, examine it briefly, then use a tool to crack open the outer shell. She read the text on the pit.
"So it's a list." The old woman casually set it aside, went back inside to grab a communicator, and made a call. She said to the person on the other end, "It can begin."
When the old woman opened the door again and saw the three people standing in the yard, she paused for a moment. "No wonder. I was wondering how something so hard to find suddenly appeared. I didn't expect someone to have delivered it on purpose."
"Just passing through and wanted to ask for a drink of water," Xu Huo said politely.
The old woman smiled and invited them inside.
"This is usually where I rest. Everything's mixed together, a bit messy. Don't mind it. Find a seat wherever you like."
She chatted as she went to brew tea for them. "I only have one kind of tea here. You'll have to make do with it."
The sounds of boiling water and pouring tea followed one after another. The old woman seemed to be a nostalgic person—many of the things here were quite old.
Before long, several cups of tea were placed in front of Xu Huo and the others.
Bubble Bean, having been burned once, no longer dared to casually eat or drink anything. He pushed his teacup away slightly.
Xu Huo, however, didn't mind. He picked up the cup and took a sip. "Rich aroma. The price must be quite high."
The old woman took a sip herself. "It wasn't expensive before, but later the tea plants mutated, and this kind of tea became rarer, so the price naturally went up."
"Scarcity makes it precious."
"I wouldn't say that." Xu Huo replied. "The tea itself hasn't changed. Tea is still tea. It's just that people's perceptions have changed, giving it a different value."
The old woman smiled. "But you just said its price should be high."
"That was my personal judgment based on preference." Xu Huo said. "It's not an objective standard at all."
"Personal preference..." The old woman repeated those words, then said, "You players really are willful."
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow and smiled. "That has nothing to do with whether I'm a player or not."
The old woman looked at him again. "Young man, it seems you've been unruly and hard to tame since you were a child... Look at the little animals outside. Every single one of them has its own personality when it's born. Because of their different temperaments, different people like them. Some even call for respecting their nature."
"Kids these days are too naive. What nature do beasts have? They only have instincts."
"Eating meat and craving blood is instinct. Attacking humans is also instinct."
"Only through discipline and suppression can they grow into something suitable for living alongside humans."
Xu Huo set down his teacup. "People and animals are fundamentally different. Why lump them together?"
The old woman took another sip of tea. "Indeed, people and animals can't be lumped together. Some people are worse than animals."
That was indeed a hard statement to refute, though it was meaningless to compare.
The door clicked. It was the calico cat. After finishing its canned food, it carried the pit of the Cat Whisker Fruit in its mouth, spat it out onto the table, and began licking its fur.
The old woman stroked its back. "Little thing, you've been tricked."
"Not really." Xu Huo gestured with his chin toward the pit on the table. "At least this thing is useless to you now."
The old woman's gaze remained fixed on the cat. Finally, she got to the point. "You're Clearance Players? Is there anything I can help with?"
"We just want to know if sending this Cat Whisker Fruit to you counts as the matter being concluded," Xu Huo replied.
"It counts as concluded." The old woman said. "In fact, this matter was concluded a day ago."
This statement made Bubble Bean's expression darken. He couldn't help but ask, "What content was written on it?"
The old woman glanced at him. "Content that has nothing to do with you."
Bubble Bean wanted to say more, but Xu Huo pressed his arm to stop him. Xu Huo said, "Since the matter is already concluded, we'll take our leave."
As he stood up, he glanced at Bubble Bean, who then swallowed his words and stood up as well.
After the three left the training garden, Bubble Bean said with displeasure, "That's it? So did we clear the instance or not?"