Chapter 328: Meowie Hu, The Cat That Everybody Loves
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
Compared with Lin Sanjiu, Meowie Hu had everything going his way ever since he arrived at Red Nautilus. When he was at Kisaragi Station, he didn't meet many living people around. He was only vaguely aware of his influence and wasn't really quite sure how it worked. However, once he reached Free District, the cat doctor realized something:
Humans can easily be deceived!
Ever since he reached the Free District, everyone treated him with warm hospitality. Some people offered him a comfortable place to sleep, some of them brought him around to try all sort of cuisines, there were even people who willingly shared their red crystals with him… Putting aside the other benefits he received, he had already tried every flavor of Red Nautilus specialty buns.
The Meowie Hu of today was vastly different from before.
After more than a month of such exquisite care, his silky fur shone with each step he took. A random posthuman had enthusiastically groomed his soft fur. Right now, his fluffy tail was exceptionally beautiful. He had a bright red butterfly bow on his neck and a small knapsack on his back. There were 20 medium red crystals in it, some small dried fish and several small Special Items. They all came from his kind-hearted donors.
The cat doctor who had everything going for him had only two regrets. First, he had been separated from the siblings and Lin Sanjiu. He had been transported to this place too abruptly. He only remembered Sea?? Square and nothing else. After he found that place and entered Seagral Square, he spent two mind-grueling days there before heading out. Naturally, he didn't find out any information.
The second regret was that it had been a long time since he had seen a dead body.
Even though many people had promised him that he could take their corpse after they died, none of them were willing to die immediately.
To find his friends and to find more corpses, the cat doctor strolled to Mokugyo Encyclopedic Forum with his small paw steps after getting directions. He came to the entrance of the building which faced the main street. The entrance of the building looked exceptionally grand. A large mokugyo was hanging in the middle of a huge arch doorway. Its polished surface glistened under the sun. It swayed in mid-air, hanging about a human's height away from the ground. It separated the doorway into two paths, the entrance, and the exit. Unlike other days, the usually noisy entrance to the building was very quiet. When Meowie looked past the mokugyo, he saw the empty main hall.
Meowie Hu slowed down and walked into the main hall silently.
Even though that horrible incident was just over, a few brave posthumans already re-entered the building. The few people gathered deep in the main hall. Their quiet discussions buzzed within the arched ceiling and walls of the building, making faint echoes.
When the cat doctor approached them in a rather reserved manner, without exception, all of the posthumans there were "bowled over" by his elegance.
"What happened here?" Meowie stopped when he saw the pile of flesh and the pool of blood. He stopped quite some distance away from the mess as he was afraid that he might dirty his paws. "How were they minced?"
"Doctor, are you here to conduct an autopsy?' a posthuman asked reverently, "I don't think you should waste that effort, sir. This is the work of Santa Claus…"
Meowie Hu wasn't interested in the three pairs of human legs without any upper body. He had even less interest in finding out who their murderer was. He nodded his head showing his pity. Then, he asked the posthumans politely, "Would any of you be willing to spend some time with me? This is my first time visiting, I don't know much about this place…"
The posthuman who had been chosen by Meowie, among the group of enthusiastic volunteers, beamed with honor. He brought the cat doctor to one of the individual consoles.
"Look, sir. You can place your input like this. It will show you the results…"
After the volunteer demonstrated how the console functioned, that man even threw a handful of red crystals into the console.
When he saw the number on the top right-hand corner reaching 30, Meowie Hu pressed the screen with his paw unceremoniously. After he understood how the console worked, he already knew what he wanted to search. When the results popped up, he immediately uttered a soft, "Huh?"
There was only one message on the screen: "Due to our relevant local laws and regulations, part of your search result could not be displayed."
The male posthuman came over and looked at the screen, his expression also turned a little funny.
"Did you search the terms 'Progression Alliance' and 'Puppeteer'?"
Meowie Hu stared back at him boldly, "Why? What's wrong?"
He took a very clear logical approach to the matter. When they were at Kisaragi Station, the siblings mentioned that someone called Puppeteer held some sort of grudge against Lin Sanjiu. The siblings were also from some sort of alliance which was on bad terms with Puppeteer. Since he couldn't find Reno and Rena, he thought he could find more clues about their whereabouts once he found any information about the conflict between the Alliance and Puppeteer. Once he found them, he knew Lin Sanjiu couldn't be far.
Though his train of thought was quite sound, Meowie Hu did not expected that he would meet a setback right at the start of his search. He swatted the screen with the pad of his paw a few times, but the message remained.
"Erm, it is like this..." The male posthuman looked around. When he turned back to look at Meowie, he whispered very quietly, "If you want to find out more about 'that matter', you don't have to use the system to search…"
The cat sat down and wrapped his fluffy tail elegantly around himself. "You seem to know about it… Please tell me more," he said politely.
"Ah-ha, of course! It's like this. Half a year ago... rumors regarding this matter started spreading. At that time, no one thought it was true… Oh, let me tell you everything from the beginning.
"It all started about four to five months ago. I don't really know the full details. At that time, there was news that a new pocket dimension had been spotted a few kilometers away from Free District. It was in the middle of the sea, west from Free District. At first, it wasn't really a major event. No one would go to the middle of the sea for no rhyme or reason. The pocket dimension didn't affect us even one bit…"
The cat doctor had never seen the sea before. He did not go to the seaside even after arriving in Free District. However, to keep up with his image, he nodded without changing his expression and pretended as if he knew what a sea was.
"I'm not doing well, so I couldn't join any of these organizations. I'm just a solo freelancer… When I got this information, most of the people already knew about it. Within two days, all the airship at the port were locked down. No one was allowed to fly their airship. I remembered that no one from the Cyber District could fly over at that time… I'll just stick to the subject. At that time, everyone suspected that it was related to the pocket dimension."
"Who placed the port on lockdown?"
"Sigh, Free District isn't controlled by any main administration. They can only make such a major decision with the approval of those few influential people. From how things developed, that pocket dimension must be very unusual… In the past, we would be thankful if those big shots didn't start fighting each other. I've never seen them coming to a common agreement."
The cat's eyes glistened as he seemed to be deep in thought, "What's special about that pocket dimension? Nobody knows?"
"Those big shots definitely know about it. People like me who struggle just to find for a Consular Officer wouldn't know. Who can I ask?" the male posthuman grimaced.
"How is this related to Puppeteer?"
"Let me tell you slowly, sir… Ever since Puppeteer leveled up two years ago, he had become more and more powerful. He is definitely involved in the matter regarding the lockdown. Two months later, they finally opened the port again. At that period of time, the atmosphere in Free District became very strange—there was a sort of intensity."
"What do you mean by that?" the cat tapped his tail showing his peaked interest, yet asked his question in a rather reserved manner.
"Well. Resources here started dwindling. The prices of food and water shot up. Supposedly, quite a few of the large organizations started to purchase all sorts of portable supplies in bulk, for some reason. The only person that did not start collecting supplies was Puppeteer. After all, his subordinates are all puppets! But, he started harassing Progressor Alliance time and time again.
"Their name might sound imposing, but that organization…" the man clicked his tongue. "Even if you add all the members they have within the Twelve Worlds, they had barely a hundred members… Supposedly, people of that type are very weak when they first evolve. Most of them die before they can even reach any of the twelve worlds. The others who manage to survive and reach any of the twelve worlds have better options. In any case, they are way stronger than a freelancer like me… Anyway, I heard that Puppeteer and the people from the Progressor Alliance were in frequent contact. But, I am not sure what their conflict involved… Two months ago, all of them suddenly disappeared."
"Disappeared?" the cat's ears immediately shot up. "What do you mean, disappeared?"
"They're gone… They disappeared. Puppeteer and the members of the Progressor Alliance left. I don't know where they went." The man whispered and spoke with an added sense of mystery, "Those are the facts. I didn't tell you any of the unfounded rumors and conspiracy theories… Some say that all the Growth-types have been turned into puppets. Puppeteer is creating some powerful weapons… Well, those rumors are unreliable."
The cat doctor blinked twice.
If that was the case, perhaps, the siblings have disappeared along with the Progressor Alliance?
After Meowie thanked the male posthuman, he gestured for him to go away. The little cat folded his front paws and stared at the screen of the console thinking for some time. From the information he had just gotten, Progressor Alliance and Puppeteer had disappeared, whether by their own volition or forced. Considering the lockdown incident, it was probable that they might have entered the pocket dimension in the middle of the sea.
"Sea… What is that?"
He casually searched for the term "seafood" and narrowed his eyes for a while. He quickly decided that he would head for the pocket dimension in the middle of the sea. He was going to save his troubled friends.
However, before he left, the cat doctor did not forget to search the database using 'corpse' as a keyword. As he saw the few pages that appeared, his eyes grew brighter and brighter. He finally stood up.
"Corpse Disposal Collection Point? Okay… I will go to Seagral Square to take a look. I think I will still be in time even if I go to the port later."
The information that Lin Sanjiu had intentionally added to the database reached its intended target. Unfortunately, she was unable to follow her original plan to wait for the cat doctor there.
However, she could not have predicted that this information she left for the cat doctor nearly cost him his life.