Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Paz
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After Sia's training, Leyton suddenly felt that the clown from last night was nothing special. Besides being weird and a little scary, how could he compare to Sia's terror! Every time Sia beat him to within an inch of his life, she would use a healing ability to pull him back, repeatedly tormenting him.
The beating continued until dusk, when Sia, a model employee, showed no intention of working overtime, and finally let Leyton go.
Back in the office, Leyton's coat was so torn that it looked like a beggar's rags. Fortunately, Leyton's standard-issue brown trench coat had arrived today. Otherwise, Leyton wouldn't have known how to explain it to the butler when he got home. If he said he was practicing fighting techniques with a colleague, the butler certainly wouldn't believe him, and might even think he was being threatened and call the police.
He changed into the Executor Squad's standard-issue brown trench coat, fastened the holster and dagger to his waist, and put the small metal box containing bronze phosphorus in the inner pocket of the trench coat, along with the two healing potions Sia had given him, and the two talismans he had learned to make with Mr. Kosith in the morning: a dispelling talisman and a binding talisman. The former could dispel extraordinary effects within a certain range, and the latter could bind any target within sight. The duration of the binding would decrease with the target's strength. Leyton estimated that the binding effect might only last for a breath against a Sequence 5 Beyonder.
Leyton originally wanted to make more talismans, but the squad's reserve materials were insufficient. He would have to wait for the materials applied for from the church to be approved.
By the time Leyton had packed his things, everyone except the captain and Mr. Kosith, who were on duty, had left the squad. However, the captain and Mr. Kosith were discussing something in the office, and Leyton didn't bother them, leaving the building directly.
As in the morning, Leyton still chose to take the public carriage out of caution.
Back on White Maple Street, Leyton cautiously looked around and, finding nothing wrong, walked towards his house.
He had only taken a few steps when a black figure suddenly darted out and pounced on Leyton.
"Meow!—"
It was that black cat again. It hadn't left, but had been waiting for him nearby?
Leyton looked at the black tail waving in front of his eyes, wanting to reach out and pull the black cat off his shoulder, but as soon as Leyton reached out, the cat cried miserably, as if it had been abused.
"Your cat is so cute, and it even comes out to meet you on your way home. How can you be so mean to it?" A lady passing by couldn't help but say.
"Meow—" The black cat also knew how to act cute, shaking its head and meowing.
Leyton glanced at the passersby who were watching and felt that this cat was definitely doing it on purpose. After hesitating for a moment, he endured it and took it home.
As soon as Leyton got home, the black cat immediately jumped off him and shook its body twice on the ground, as if Leyton was dirty.
Leyton kicked it with a dark face, but the cat dodged it. After dodging, it didn't forget to look back at Leyton mockingly.
"Young Master, what is this cat?" The butler always waited for Leyton to come home at this time.
"I picked it up on the road. I'll keep it for now. It probably has an owner. When someone comes looking for it, I'll return it," Leyton explained.
Leyton felt that there was a reason to believe that this cat had an owner. It was a Beyonder creature, and someone must have fed it a potion. The person who could raise such a pet was also a Beyonder, and not just an ordinary wild Beyonder, to have extra money to raise a Beyonder pet. If this cat stayed with him, its owner would come sooner or later.
"Okay, should I buy special pet food for it?" the butler asked.
"Meow— Meow!" The black cat meowed loudly twice.
"No, we'll eat whatever it eats. It's not my pet anyway, so don't worry too much about it. We're going to return it anyway," Leyton said, shaking his head.
"Meow—" The black cat immediately turned around and pounced on Leyton after hearing his words.
However, it didn't succeed this time. Leyton caught it in mid-air, then pinched the black cat's neck of fate and carried it upstairs.
Back in his room, Leyton closed the door and threw the black cat in his hand out. The black cat distorted its body in mid-air and landed smoothly. Then, it prepared to rush up and fight Leyton.
"Don't make trouble! Otherwise, I'll throw you out and give you to that clown," Leyton said, staring at the black cat, his heart full of complaints: "This cat is really dramatic."
The black cat stopped and turned around in place as if nothing had happened. It also stared blankly at Leyton and meowed twice.
"What's your name? Which pathway's potion did you drink? Warrior? Or Arbiter?" This was Leyton's guess based on the black cat's performance last night.
"Meow?" The black cat meowed in confusion.
"Stop pretending, or I'll throw you out," Leyton said with a dark face, his heart full of complaints. "This cat is really dramatic."
"My name is Paz, meow!" The black cat's voice was a little high-pitched and childish, slightly different from a human's voice, sounding like a male cat.
"Okay, Paz Meow," Leyton nodded. This cat was finally willing to talk.
"It's Paz, no meow—" The black cat Paz corrected.
"Okay, Paz, no meow," Leyton couldn't help but tease this Paz cat.
"Oh my! It's Paz, meow!" Paz corrected again.
"Yes, that's right, it's Paz Meow," Leyton repeated solemnly, nodding.
"Forget it, do whatever you want, as long as you don't throw me out," Paz gave up correcting Leyton's pronunciation.
"Why do you have to stay here with me? Wouldn't it be better to go back to your master? The Sanguine side is safer than my house, right?" Leyton asked in confusion. When this cat said its name was Paz, Leyton remembered that Eliza had said at the Crimson Advanced Hospital yesterday that her Paz was lost. Originally, Leyton thought Paz was a toy doll like her brother's puppet, but he didn't expect it to be a transcendent black cat. All he could say was that Eliza's family was really rich.
"Meow? Do you know Eliza? No wonder I smelled Eliza on you yesterday afternoon, meow," Paz said curiously.
"Huh? Yesterday afternoon? When you were traveling with your cat commando, you noticed me?" Leyton asked curiously.
"Cat Commando? That's a good name, meow! It will be the name of our gang from now on. Your scent is so obvious, I definitely noticed you, meow," Paz said, nodding his cat head.
"Your gang? Those cats?" Leyton said incredulously.
"Yes, meow. Eliza said that if I wanted to control the potion, I had to have my own territory and subordinates, so I subdued all the cats nearby to be my little brothers. But yesterday, we met that strange guy, the clown you mentioned. He became more terrifying, and my cat commando is already dead in name, meow—" At this point, Paz's voice became sad.
"You even use idioms," Leyton was shocked by this cat's cultural level in his heart. In this world, many ordinary people can't reach this level of education, so it can only be said that it is worthy of being a rich man's cat, oh no, a rich Sanguine's magical animal, meow.
"You haven't said why you have to stay here with me," Leyton reminded.
"Of course, it's because that terrible guy wouldn't dare to come over if I stayed here with you, meow!" Paz said matter-of-factly.
"Huh? Why wouldn't he dare to come over here?" Leyton asked in confusion.
"Didn't you see it last night, meow? That super terrifying clown was originally eyeing you, but he was suddenly scared away," Paz said with a shocked cat face.
"Scared away? I didn't see it. He was already gone when I turned around to look at him. Also, do you know that clown? Does 'more terrifying' mean he wasn't so terrifying before?" Leyton realized that this black cat knew a lot more than he thought.
"I know him, meow. He used to stay in the hospital. At first, he was just an ordinary person, although a little strange, but he became terrifying starting last month, meow—. Many things have happened in the hospital recently, and I know he did them all, meow, but every time I wanted to tell Eliza, there would be accidents, inexplicably ruining things. Until a few days ago, I discovered that he could steal my thoughts and memories. He also said that he wanted to steal my identity and pretend to be me to stay by Eliza's side. In order not to let him steal my identity, I had to let my little brothers cause trouble to take the opportunity to escape, meow."
Paz seemed to have finally found someone to confide in, and became more and more excited as he spoke, his cat paws constantly waving and gesticulating in the air.
"After I escaped, I recruited more little brothers nearby, preparing to rescue Eliza. As a result, before we even entered the hospital, my cat commando started fighting on its own. I couldn't stop it, meow—. I had to lead them to retreat. Later, I reorganized my cat commando. You saw it yesterday, but our target suddenly became chasing a group of stupid big dogs. This time, even I was controlled. Until that terrible clown appeared last night, you know the rest, meow!" After Paz finished speaking, the whole cat became lost.
"Do you think I can't save Eliza anymore, meow—" Paz's tone was very lost, and the tail that was originally swaying stopped on the ground.
Leyton frowned, thinking about what Paz had said. Turning from an ordinary person to a Sequence 5 in a month was impossible no matter how he thought about it. If it was turning into a Sequence 5 monster, Leyton would be willing to believe it, but that clown was obviously not out of control yet. Although the clown was very crazy, the clown's series of actions also showed that he was very rational, or rather, crazy, but his IQ was still online.
"Are you sure that clown started changing last month? That's too short, right? Is it possible that he was like this before, but was just pretending all along?" Leyton looked at Paz and asked again.
"It must be like this, meow. All the members of my cat commando are my eyes and ears. Although they are not very smart, they are not stupid, meow!" Paz said, nodding his cat head.
"But I don't know if he was pretending before, meow—, after all, I'm just a cat," Paz added.
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