Always Ending Up as an Animal Cub

Yu Tong clung to the iron bars of the cat cage, meowing at Yun Mingchen's back.

The antagonist didn’t look back, walking away briskly, clearly not concerned about the little cat.
After realizing that pretending to be pitiful wasn’t going to work, Yu Tong gave up on his cries and began pacing around the cage, lost in thought.
After spending a few days together, he found that the mysteries surrounding the antagonist, Yun Mingchen, were growing more and more complex.

The recent rampaging monsters suspected to be manipulated by Yun Mingchen were a pressing concern. However, according to the main system’s judgment, Yun Mingchen was still just an ordinary person with a flawed personality.
Yu Tong had asked 8102 about the criteria for determining whether someone was considered a villain.
The official explanation given by 8102 was that it depends on whether the actions [N O V E L I G H T] they’ve committed violate the laws and regulations of the world they’re in, or whether they break the generally accepted morals of society.

Yu Tong thought this was a fairly reasonable standard, but why, then, hadn’t Yun Mingchen been judged for breaking the rules, even after he killed people?
Could it be because they were in a cultivation world, where killing wasn’t considered a crime? Or perhaps the people he killed were somehow special?
There was another question that bothered Yu Tong.

Dreams were the product of Yun Mingchen’s subconscious.
If the people in the dream were all suspended by fine threads, it represented how he felt powerless under the strong control of his parents, like a puppet on a string.
But why were these puppets made of metal, not wood? Was he watching too many sci-fi films?

Though these questions seemed to have little to do with Yu Tong.
Despite all of Yun Mingchen’s complicated personas, Yu Tong could see his kind side behind every mask.
From what Yu Tong could see, the external factors that could lead to Yun Mingchen’s corruption were his parents, Old Master Yun and Madam Yun, and the male lead, Su Feng.

Yu Tong felt more confident now.
He couldn’t deal with the male lead, but he had plenty of experience in dealing with parental control.
When he was sixteen or seventeen, he was already able to handle his own parents on his own.

Now that he had the system’s help and a lot of item bonuses, he was sure he could help Yun Mingchen resolve his family issues.
Before leaving, Yun Mingchen placed the cat food and cat litter into the cage. He seemed worried that the cat might be lonely, so he also left two small toys inside.
One was a roly-poly with a cat teaser stick on its head, and the other was a squeaky toy that made a "squeak-squeak" sound when chewed.
Yu Tong was too lost in thought to notice his surroundings, and when he stepped on the squeaky toy, it let out a sudden "squeak," startling him.

He froze in place, his fur standing on end for a few seconds, staring at the squeaky mouse toy. He couldn’t help but reach out with a paw to paw at it.
The electronic squeaky toy mouse activated and started running in circles inside the cage.
Yu Tong looked at it with disdain, but his pupils uncontrollably dilated.

A few seconds later, he arched his back, his ears twitching slightly, and with a "meow," he pounced on it.
The system, while polishing its gold chain, heard the noise and curiously poked its head out. It happened to see its host, now acting like a cat, madly chasing after the toy mouse.
8102 sighed.

At this rate, Yu Tong would eventually learn to lick his fur.
If Yu Tong turned into a real cat under its watch, it would be out of a job.
The system, using its own money, rushed to the store and bought a “human x separation” item, putting it into Yu Tong’s soul.

With this item, the host’s thought patterns and behavior habits wouldn’t be influenced by his animal body anymore.
As soon as the item took effect, Yu Tong, who had been licking his paw, suddenly froze.
He stared blankly at the chewed-up squeaky toy mouse, unable to believe what he had just done.

Sensing the host's embarrassment, 8102 cleared its throat and changed the subject.
[“I think the antagonist might be going to find the male lead today. If you don’t hurry and stop them from meeting, the antagonist will probably get slapped in the face by the male lead.”]
Yu Tong froze for a moment. ‘Didn’t I already stop them before?’

[“Uh, yes, but this is a face-slapping drama. When the antagonist and the male lead meet, it’s easy to trigger the face-slapping plot.”]
The system was confident in its statement, but Yu Tong didn’t think it had much to do with supernatural phenomena.
While Yun Mingchen was dating his younger sister, Yun Zhongling, the male lead, Su Feng, was having ambiguous relationships with two young ladies from the Wen family.

He took chocolates from Wen Yingying and had private meetings with Wen Xiaoqian. When Yun Zhongling confronted him about it, he could still innocently say, “They are just my sisters, my confidantes.”
Anyone would be angry hearing about their little sister dating a scumbag.
Yun Mingchen loved his sister dearly; how could he not confront Su Feng?

But judging from the antagonist’s current reaction, he seemed not to have discovered that Su Feng was a scumbag yet.
It seemed that before Yun Mingchen lost his rationality and went to war with Su Feng, Yu Tong had to quickly break up Yun Zhongling and the male lead.
The system, truly an elite in the industry, immediately pulled up two crucial excerpts from the original text after hearing Yu Tong’s thoughts.

The first excerpt was about a sword fighting competition a month later, where a flower thief appeared in the academy, drugging female disciples.
Yun Mingchen, the student council president, was unable to catch the flower thief and was driven off the president’s position by the angry and panicked students.
Su Feng, who was popular among the students, became the temporary president and promised to catch the flower thief within a week.

He indeed caught the thief using a strategy, but in the process of fighting the thief, he was poisoned.
After that, the plot became quite cliché.
Su Feng was poisoned with a deadly toxin that would kill him unless he “had some fun.” Yun Zhongling, for love, sacrificed herself, using her body to detoxify him.

They had a tense, exciting, and intimate exchange in a secluded part of the school.
Yu Tong couldn’t help but hiss.
If this plot really happened, the older brother would probably die of rage.

The system, puffing on a cigarette, gave a cold snort, “Heh, the scumbag’s little tricks.”
Yu Tong was stunned. ‘Did the male lead do this on purpose?’
[“The male lead is a ladybug. Do you know what a ladybug is? He takes the antagonist’s former best friend out for a little fun.”]

[“He calls those women ‘passersby in life,’ saying too many people pass through them. So, he has no destiny with them, only clean and pure financial transactions. This part is clearly written in the original text.”]
The system blew out a smoke ring. [“He was so flirtatious when he wasn’t poisoned, but once poisoned, he becomes a pure boy. His tricks to get little girls into bed—ugh, disgusting, I can’t even look at it. Disgusting!”]
Upon hearing the system’s words, Yu Tong’s eyes flickered for a moment, and he closed his mouth somewhat awkwardly.

Yu Tong knew what a ladybug was. In the house he grew up in, ladybugs were a common sight all year round.
As a child, he would often sit in the yard, reading fairy tales to his little black dog while watching the ladybugs fly around the house.
The system kept ranting about the male lead’s shamelessness, and its sarcastic mechanical voice pulled Yu Tong out of his childhood memories.

He continued to look at the second excerpt the system had found.
After catching the flower thief, Su Feng gained more support from the students and surpassed Yun Mingchen, officially becoming the president.
At the same time, the school forum was flooded with posts about Wen Yingying and Su Feng’s ambiguous relationship.

In order to assert her claim, Yun Zhongling decided to get engaged to Su Feng, and the male lead didn’t object to this.
Yun Zhongling returned home and told her family that she planned to be with Su Feng.
In the original text, Old Master Yun and Madam Yun were portrayed as very open-minded, supporting their daughter’s freedom to love.

But Yun Mingchen, in a frenzy, tried desperately to stop his sister from being with Su Feng.
Yun Zhongling, in a fit of anger, revealed how she and Su Feng had “celebrated love” in a small forest. Furious, Yun Mingchen slapped her across the face.
He then forcefully arranged her marriage to a young master she didn’t know, pressuring her to marry him.

From that point on, Yun Zhongling completely blacklisted Yun Mingchen, and every time she mentioned her brother, it was as if she was talking about her enemy.
Yu Tong sighed more the more he read.
He didn’t know whether the antagonist in the original text was the same as the Yun Mingchen he knew.

If the Yun Mingchen he knew found out that his sister not only slept with the ladybug but was also desperately trying to marry him, he probably would have drawn his sword and killed the ladybug before slapping his sister awake.
The system, having finished cursing the male lead, seemed much happier.
Yu Tong discussed with it, saying he needed to cut off Yun Zhongling’s relationship with Su Feng before the flower thief plot began.

An enraged Yun Mingchen? That was definitely not something this little cat could stop.
The system opened its package and pulled out a new tattoo sticker, “I think your idea is right, but you’re still in the cage, and the antagonist isn’t taking you out. What can you do?”
As Yu Tong walked to the edge of the cage with his catwalk, the system reminded, “This is an iron cage. If you chew through the bars, the antagonist will definitely suspect you. Your relationship isn’t close enough yet, and you’ll just end up being a stray cat.”

Yu Tong raised his tail, silently popping out his claws. He skillfully began to pick the lock through the bars.
In the blink of an eye, the lock was easily picked open by Yu Tong.
The system gasped, “Damn, Little Yu, where did you learn this skill?”

Yu Tong felt a little embarrassed, ‘My dad taught me.’
[“Your dad’s a locksmith?”]
Yu Tong stayed silent.

He was about to lift the cage door and escape when the bedroom door, which had been closed tightly, was suddenly pushed open.
The honest-looking male servant hurried into the bedroom.
He first took a talisman from his pocket and threw it at the cat cage.

The talisman fell to the floor, but nothing changed around the cat cage.
The male servant obviously sighed in relief.
Yu Tong tilted his head, curious about him, and suddenly remembered the chat record he had seen earlier.

Mr. Wen wanted to dispose of Yun Mingchen’s little cat.
Oh, it seemed the male servant was here to kill him.