Chapter 90: The Two Pets And Their Misdeeds
Facing the storage cabinet inside his room, Cary looked so angry that his complexion was ashen from anger. Eudy was already there, dressed in a strawberry pajamas a pair of fluffy slippers, whereas Cillin was just coming around. He pointed a shaky finger at the near empty storage cabinet and said to the duo, “The two of you must take responsibility for the wicked behavior of your pets!”
Cillin cast a glance at the storage cabinet and thought, wow, they sure cleaned it up real good. No wonder Cary was so angry.
Eudy let out a yawn and said without the slightest bit of guilt, “I told you long ago that you should lock your food cabinet. You have no one but yourself to blame for the consequence.”
So you’re saying that this is justified?!
Cary was so pissed that his eyebrows were about to turn into straight, vertical lines, “I did!”
“And the door?”
“…”
He didn’t lock the door.
The second he saw Cary’s constipated look, Eudy knew that he must have forgotten to lock the door again. Eudy said lazily, “How many times has it been already? I can only say that you’re stupid, without an ounce of alertness in you at all.”
“Y-you… you…!”
It was all Cary could do not to grab his hammer and swing it at Eudy’s direction. How dare you even say this when your damn chameleon raided my food for god knows how many times already! It’s just a chameleon, and yet it’s as sly as a spirit. Just what kind of chameleon knows how to disguise its own toeprints and use a decoder! The moment he thought of this, Cary grew sulky with anger.
“And you, Cillin, listen to this!” Cary pressed the communicator in his hands, and a sound recording was played from the device. Cary had it installed on the lock, and the second the cabinet was unlocked it would begin recording automatically on its own.
Some sneaking sounds later, two different rhythms of food chewing sounds could be heard through the device. Eudy’s Dough had a specific chewing frequency that Cary was extremely familiar with. He could even hear the sound of that damnable chameleon sucking at his food with its tongue.
It must be said that Dough was a freak among its kind. Its diet was incredibly varied; capable of eating vegetables, consuming meat, swig wine and quaffle fruit juice. It’s not actually a chameleon but some fucking demon from someplace, isn’t it?!
It was no wonder the first Dias inquired Dough after a greeting, when Cillin boarded the starship for the first time was about the bad things it did. Again.
Since Dough’s feeding sound had been identified, then the other sound should be the gray cat’s.
“Meow~”
The pleased meow after a heartfelt meal caused blue veins to pop out of Cary’s temples. His heart was bleeding; my hardtacks, my jerkies, my fruit pies…
Cillin felt the corner of his eyes twitching rapidly at the meow. What the hell was that meow for! If you want to do bad things at least do them sneakily, or are you afraid that no one realizes that you’re the only cat on the whole ship?
“Sigh, that’s enough. I get it.” Cillin patted Cary’s shoulder, “When we meet up with the commander, we’ll stock up some food together. I guarantee that your cabinet will be filled to the brim. As for that cat, just think of this as a treat to celebrate your first meeting or something. Who knows, maybe it’ll repay your kindness today by saving your life when you’re in danger.”
“That cat? That kitten that hasn’t even fully grown up yet?”
“Don’t judge a cat by its appearance, mate, that little fellow is plenty formidable.”
Cary fell silent for a moment before waving his hands, “Get out of my sight already, you two. I’m going to change the lock! Eudy, tell your Dough that it better hide itself well and don’t let me catch it or else!”
Previously, Cary still used fingerprint recognition on his cabinet, but after that shameful chameleon stole his fingerprints, Cary had since reflected upon his mistakes. It was just fingerprints after all; where in the entire ship could it not find such a thing? After mingling around Beaver and Eudy for such a long time the chameleon was used to doing such things, which was why Cary’s locks had only gotten more and more complicated, with the sole purpose of keeping that gluttonous chameleon away.
Somewhere on the ship.
The gray cat licked its claws and wiped its face, extending a tongue to lick the corner of its mouth before looking at Dough, “Are there any food stains left on my face?”
Dough shook its head.
“That’s good then. Hehe, it’s not bad to eat something else for a change.” The gray cat was very satisfied.
Dough grinned. Finally, it had a partner in crime whom it could pilfer food with.
Dough’s nest was inside Eudy’s room. It was a lush little tree that was only half a man tall but was rich with branches and leaves. Dough loved to sleep on top of the tree.
To sleep after it filled its belly was Dough’s self-consciousness as an animal. However, its footsteps were a little meandering. After all, it had committed a misdeed again.
Arriving at Eudy’s front door, Dough lifted its front limb to press a button and opened a small hole. Dough stretched out its tongue into the hole, and after its tongue was scanned, a little door opened with a beep sound.
Dough climbed in, and just as its front limbs hit the ground, it raised its head and immediately saw Eudy waiting for it.
“What are you waiting for? Close the door. I have something to ask you.” Eudy’s voice sounded unhurried.
Dough entered slowly, and even after the little door had closed, it continued to stick against the wall, eyes looking everywhere else but Eudy.
“Cary found you out again when you pilfered his food.”
Dough froze, and lowered its head.
“Next time, don’t forget to check if anything was installed on the lock before unlocking it.” After a pause, Eudy continued, “You’re not the one who unlocked Cary’s cabinet, are you? I remember that Cary purposely switched to a multiple encryption lock last time, and I haven’t taught you how to decrypt that kind of lock yet.”
Dough nodded.
“How did it open it?” Eudy took out an electronic drawboard.
Dough self-consciously walked over and began drawing on the drawboard with all four limbs. It was incredibly difficult to imagine that a chameleon could use its limbs this flexibly.
Looking at the drawing on the drawing board, Eudy’s eyes flashed once before he smiled, “Get along better with that cat in the future. You’ll benefit a lot.”
Dough nodded repeatedly.
“Alright, get out yourself and find another place to sleep. You’re not allowed to sleep in your nest tonight. Cary told you to hide better and don’t let him catch you.” Eudy put away the drawing board and no longer looked at Dough, lying back on the bed to sleep. He was woken up by Cary before he managed to get a good sleep in today.
Dough looked miserably at his own little green nest before climbing out of the little door again. He would have to find some other place to sleep again today. Dammit, let’s go find that cat. At least there would be someone to share the punishment with if Cary caught me.
The fact was the gray cat didn’t fare much better than Dough either. It was given an earful by Cillin, and it had a new debt and a favor registered into the books. However, its gloom lasted for only a moment before it curled itself into a ball and snored soundly.
This time, the Sixth Squad’s objective was Sector Z. It was also one of the three most dangerous Sectors that was yet to be developed by GAL. There were very few official star map publication of Sector Z, and they were mostly of the outermost zones only.
Sector Z was a dark triangular shape on the overall GAL map. The darkness meant that it wasn’t developed yet, and since it was triangular in shape, it was also called the Dark Triangle. Of course, this was just the official statement. If a Hunter regiment had explored an area on their own, then the star map was either sold for a high price, or kept to themselves. Normally, such dealings and discoveries would not be announced to the public unless something unusual happened.
If a Hunter regiment could discover a habitable planet, then the discovery that would gain them both fame and fortune. GAL had established the relevant policies since a long time ago, and their course of action for any habitable planets discovered in an undeveloped Sector was to reward the Hunter regiment that unearthed it with a huge sum of bounty. At the same time, the electronic magazines with high contribution points would also report the news and increase the Hunter regiment’s fame. Some would even allow the Hunter regiment the chance to name the planet themselves.
The reason the four great Hunter regiments were so famous was exactly because they appeared frequently enough on these magazines to eclipse any other Hunter regiments.
Shawton’s choice of Sector Z was made after careful deliberations, and the votes of the six lieutenant commanders by show of hands. If they wanted to increase their influence now, then they would have to have something to show for it. Excluding the unearthing of habitable planets, the places left that were truly valuable would be those areas that had yet to be explored.
Danger and fortune are two sides of the same coin.