Chapter 2503: Chapter 2503: The Final Objective
Small animals generally have their own range of activities. They operate in a particular area and often go to unexpected places. Although those cats led Xu Huo and his group to the park using a large number of cats as cover, their ultimate destination is still the densely populated areas within the city.
A few kittens carrying Cat Whisker Fruit ran off in different directions, even diving underground halfway to change direction—if it weren’t for their inconvenient paws, they might have swapped the Cat Whisker Fruit as well.
In this way, Xu Huo and the others followed the cat across the city and arrived outside a pet shop that exclusively sold small animals.
The tabby cat squatted on the wall of the pet shop for a while, then a shop assistant came out, familiarly petted its head, fed it some snacks, and said to it, "The boss didn’t come to the pet shop today; she went to the Beast Taming Garden in the north of the city."
After eating the snacks, the tabby cat turned around and ran off again.
It shuttled through the city, moving fast at times and slowly at others, sometimes passing by someone’s yard walls, other times jumping from the ground to a tree to take a shortcut, or passing through dense vegetation only accessible to cats, traversing the entire city to arrive at the Beast Taming Garden by afternoon.
Xu Huo and his companions had already checked the information about the Beast Taming Garden on the way. It was a place for rich people to raise pets, and many people liked to keep large-sized, mutated animals. However, these types of animals were more aggressive and needed to be tamed in advance before being sent out as pets.
The tabby cat entered the Beast Taming Garden, greeting the other small animals along the way, clearly familiar with the surroundings.
The tabby cat found an older woman wearing a Protective Suit, affectionately rubbing her legs, then jumped onto a nearby chair and nudged the Cat Whisker Fruit in front of it.
The old woman took off her mask. Although her face had many wrinkles, it was clear that she came from a well-off family and had a certain air about her.
She took the Cat Whisker Fruit, glanced at it briefly, and placed it aside, gently stroking the tabby cat’s head, "Where did you go to find this toy? Haven’t I told you, there are bad people everywhere in this world? When facing their kind, they may not show their fangs, but they won’t hesitate to exhibit cruelty towards you such a fragile little animal. You need to be careful."
The tabby cat meowed, showing its claws. Its evolved claws had a metallic sheen, full of deterrence.
The old woman smiled gently, ignoring the Cat Whisker Fruit, and led the tabby cat inside to fetch a few cans, opening them and placing them on the ground one by one.
The smell of the food made the tabby cat busy. The old woman sat beside, watching it eat. After she’d had her fill of watching, she picked up the Cat Whisker Fruit, examined it closely before using a tool to crack open the shell, then read the words on the seed inside.
"So it’s a list." The old woman set it aside casually, then went inside to make a phone call with the Communicator, saying, "You can start now."
When the old woman came out again, she paused slightly upon seeing the three individuals standing in the yard, "No wonder, I was wondering how such a hard-to-find thing suddenly appeared, didn’t expect someone would bring it voluntarily."
"We happened to pass by and wanted to ask for some water." Xu Huo said politely.
The old woman smiled and invited them in.
"This is usually where I take my breaks, everything is mixed up here, a bit messy, don’t mind it, find a place to sit yourselves."
She spoke while preparing tea for them, "I only have one type of tea here, make do with it."
The sound of boiling water and pouring water sounded continuously. The old woman seemed to be a nostalgic person; a lot of items here were quite old.
Soon, several cups of tea were placed in front of Xu Huo and his group.
Having suffered before, Bubble Bean dared not easily eat or drink anything, and he pushed the teacup away slightly.
Xu Huo didn’t mind. He picked it up and took a sip, "The aroma is rich, the price should not be low."
The old woman took a sip, "It wasn’t expensive before, but later, as the tea trees mutated, such tea trees became scarce, and naturally the price went up."
"Things are valued when they are rare."
"I don’t quite agree." Xu Huo said, "Tea itself hasn’t changed, tea is still tea, only people’s perceptions have changed, giving it a different value."
The old woman smiled, "Didn’t you just say its price should not be low?"
"I judge from personal preference." Xu Huo said, "It’s not an objective standard."
"Personal preference..." The old woman repeated the words, and then said, "You players are really capricious."
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow and smiled, "This has nothing to do with me being a player."
The old woman looked at him again, "Young man, it seems you’ve been unruly and hard to tame since you were young... Look at the little animals outside, each one of them is full of character when they’re born. Because of their different personalities, different people like them, and some people even call for respecting their nature."
"Kids nowadays are too naive, where does a beast’s nature come from? They only have instincts."
"Carnivorous and bloodthirsty is instinct, attacking humans is also nature."
"Only discipline and suppression can make them grow in a way suitable for coexistence with humans."
Xu Huo put the teacup down, "Humans and animals are always different. Why bother confusing humans with animals?"
The old woman took another sip of tea, "Indeed, humans can’t be equated with animals. Some people are even less than animals."
This indeed was a sentence that wasn’t easy to refute, although it didn’t have much comparative meaning either.
The door clicked; it was the tabby cat, who, after finishing the canned food, brought in the seed shell of the Cat Whisker Fruit in its mouth, spat it on the table, then started cleaning its fur.
The old woman petted its back, "Little thing, you were tricked."
"Not really." Xu Huo pointed his chin at the seed shell on the table, "At least this thing is no longer useful to you."
The old woman’s gaze remained on the cat, finally getting to the point, "Are you players who have completed the task? Is there anything I can help with?"
"We just want to know, does delivering this Cat Whisker Fruit to you mean the task is concluded?" Xu Huo answered.
"It’s considered over." The old woman said, "In fact, this matter ended a day ago."
This made Bubble Bean, standing nearby, frown slightly, and he couldn’t help asking, "What content is written on it?"
The old woman glanced at him, "Content unrelated to you."
Bubble Bean wanted to say more, but Xu Huo held his arm, Xu Huo said, "Since the matter has ended, we’ll take our leave."
He glanced at Bubble Bean when he got up, and the latter swallowed his words and got up to follow.
After the three left the Beast Taming Garden, Bubble Bean, with dissatisfaction, said, "Just like that? Does that mean we cleared the task or not?"
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