Luo Qi was unaware of Ye Mu's thoughts, but he was very pleased to have received Cecil's assurances.
Regardless, his father understood him, which was a good sign. Before reaching the glacier, only a sensitive helmsman could detect danger and guide the massive ship away from the treacherous currents.
Luo Qi happily ate two more bowls of rice, ultimately overeating. His little belly was round, pushing up his shirt slightly and revealing a bit of his fair skin.
Cecil, amused, pulled his shirt down and asked, "Did they starve you at school?"
Luo Qi pinched the soft flesh on his protruding belly, choosing to ignore it, and nodded vigorously in response.
"The food at the primary school isn't as good as kindergarten! I've gotten so thin!"
Cecil looked at Luo Qi's chubby cheeks and doubted his statement.
After eating his fill, Luo Qi finally remembered a creature he had forgotten about – an ugly cat.
He suddenly exclaimed, "Ah!" Forgetting the after-meal fruit Grandpa Reid had brought, he pushed his chair away and left the dining room. Turning a corner and pushing open a door, he saw a pair of resentful cat eyes.
Luo Qi didn't know how he could discern resentment from those cat eyes hidden within messy fur.
Luo Qi gave a dry laugh, "Are... are you full?"
The cat bowl beside him was empty.
111 slumped to the ground and kicked the cat bowl over with its paw. Yes, its body language expressed resentment even more clearly.
Luo Qi turned abruptly and hurried back to the dining room.
111 immediately bristled, meowing and pouncing, only to bump into Ye Mu's leg as he followed out.
Its cat nose twitched, and 111 looked up at Ye Mu, wishing it could jump up and scratch his face.
111 had mixed feelings about Ye Mu. While Ye Mu was usually sharp-tongued, except when speaking to Luo Qi, and constantly called him an ugly cat, he had indeed helped Luo Qi a lot.
Often, 111 felt as though Ye Mu was the human-shaped system, helping Luo Qi immensely and subtly guiding him in the right direction.
However, at this moment, in the face of delicious food, all of Ye Mu's good deeds were useless. 111 yawned at Ye Mu, grinding its teeth, wanting to bite him.
Ye Mu hissed and muttered to himself, "If the kitten is too aggressive, is it not suitable to keep around Luo Luo?"
111 could no longer hiss with frustration.
Cecil also walked out and immediately saw the human and cat confronting each other. After a moment's pause, he frowned and said, "How did this ugly thing climb up here?"
111: "..." If it weren't for a bite to eat, why would I endure this indignity!
Fortunately, Luo Qi returned quickly, successfully preventing a cat-inflicted injury.
Luo Qi was holding a plate. The plate contained the remaining food from the table, not much of each, but a little of everything.
111's cat eyes lit up, and it transformed into a sweet little cat, walking towards Luo Qi with feline grace.
Luo Qi smiled, picked 111 up with one hand, and carried the plate to the overturned cat bowl.
He placed the plate on the ground. The impatient cat immediately jumped from his arms and began eating greedily.
For a system that had never eaten human food and had thought about it for a very long time, longer than Luo Qi imagined, the cat food had only filled its stomach. Only the human food now could fill its spirit!
Luo Qi sat on the ground and spoke softly, "Oh, I'm sorry, Brother 1, I forgot about you just now."
111: "Crunch, crunch, crunch..."
Luo Qi: "I don't know if the cat food tasted good, but seeing as you ate it all, it should be okay, right?"
111: "Crunch, crunch, crunch..."
Luo Qi: "Since you ate my food, you're not allowed to be angry anymore. Consider it forgiveness for making you eat cat food."
111: "Crunch, crunch... Meow meow meow (What did you just say?)"
Luo Qi chuckled, rubbed the cat's head, petting it until its eyes rolled back before reluctantly letting go. "It's nothing, you can keep eating."
111 licked its lips and decided not to quibble with Luo Qi.
Wuwuwu, why is human food so delicious! What had it missed in its hundreds of years of existence as a system!
Watching the cat like an idiot from the side, Algier and Ye Mu, who had the same expression, whispered, "The pet shop employee said it's best not to let cats eat human food. I don't think insect race food is okay either, right?"
Ye Mu replied in a low voice, "It just ate a big bowl of cat food. Is it really an idiot?"
Reid, standing guard, said calmly, "Don't worry, I've contacted the veterinary hospital to be on standby. We won't let this clown thing stuff itself to death."
Luo Qi: "..."
He got up from the ground. Turning around, he saw that 111 had finished eating and had licked the plate clean. He picked up the foolish cat and said, "I want to keep it in the dorm."
Algier raised an eyebrow. "Such a glutton... oh no, such a cat, aren't you going to keep it at home?"
He thought for a moment, counting on his fingers. "The pet shop employee said that bag of cat food would last a month, but looking at it now, it'll only last a week.
It eats a lot and poops a lot, your dorm will be smelly.
And a litter box, a cat bed, and so on. The employee gave me a piece of paper."
Algier took out the paper and handed it to Luo Qi. Luo Qi took it, thinking it was some secret cat-raising manual, but it turned out to be a shopping receipt.
Luo Qi read it carefully, fell silent for a long time, and looked coldly at the cat in his arms. "It's so expensive to raise you."
111: "..."
He couldn't help but grit his teeth in Luo Qi's mind. "Is there a possibility that as a system, even if I look like a cat, I don't need to poop? I don't shed either!"
Luo Qi asked with genuine confusion, "Then why do you still need to eat!"
111's data blocks flew around in anger. "Because I turned into a cat just to eat!"
Luo Qi rubbed his ears, looked at Ye Mu, his big eyes sparkling, and shamelessly but effectively put on a cute act.
Ye Mu was clearly swayed. He cleared his throat.
"I can feed the cat, and I can clean up its mess, but Luo Luo needs to ask He Ning and He Yuan for their opinion. If they agree, we can keep it in the dorm."
Luo Qi cheered, took out his terminal, and sat on the sofa to message He Ning and He Yuan.
Ye Mu also sat beside him, picking up the troublesome 111 and placing it on his lap.
Algier hissed, gaining a new understanding of Ye Mu's cunning.