Always Ending Up as an Animal Cub

Yue Tong had been waiting for further explanation, but Yun Mingchen seemed to be too emotionally broken, only wanting to briefly complain.

He had been kneading milk for over ten minutes, his paws aching, but Yun Mingchen still hadn’t said what exactly he was troubled about.
Seeing the villain start pretending to be a refined young man again, Yue Tong placed his paw on the man’s pale hand, and seriously spoke up: “Meow, meow, ooh, meow ooh!”
Yun Mingchen: ?

“Meow meow! Meow, meow ooh meow!”
Yun Mingchen: ??
The dog was earnestly serious, with a face that suggested he was saying something important, but he really couldn’t understand.

Looking at the confused villain, the system seemed puzzled as well, [That’s strange, don’t you ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) have the Heart-Linking item? Logically, he should be able to roughly guess what you’re trying to say.]
‘He didn’t hear me wrong. I didn’t say anything. I’m just meowing.’
[Why?]

‘He’s acting, I’m just humoring him. His repressed emotions get a brief release, and I find some involvement, happiness!’
[......]
As soon as Yue Tong finished speaking, his little head was tapped twice.

He looked up to find the villain looking down at him, frowning and hesitantly asking, “Are you comforting me?”
Yue Tong immediately switched to the role, meowing pitifully.
Yun Mingchen pursed his lips, “Are... you really worried about me?”

“Meow!”
Yun Mingchen didn’t say anything further, and the atmosphere fell into an eerie silence.
After a while, under Yue Tong’s gaze, Yun Mingchen suddenly pursed his lips, turned his head away, and softly murmured, “Thank you.”

Looking at the villain’s flushed earlobes, feeling a complex emotion rise in his heart, Yue Tong couldn’t help but freeze.
Hmm? What does this mean? Yun Mingchen wasn’t acting. Was he really moved by the little cat?
Yue Tong stayed silent for a moment.
Thinking of his earlier dismissive attitude, his conscience suddenly twinged.

But he hadn’t intended to hurt Yun Mingchen, so there was no need for his conscience to feel guilty.
The system hadn’t kept up with the pace and was still rambling to itself, [You’re acting with him, he’s acting with you. Good thing I’m not human. Dealing with you two is really exhausting. Not a single honest word between you.]
Yue Tong smiled but didn’t respond.

When he was young, he couldn’t pretend to be well-behaved, and the people around him didn’t like him. They all thought he loved to lie, always deceiving people, not a good child.
After meeting Brother Chen, Yue Tong observed him and learned to disguise himself.
Brother Chen pretended to be honest and sincere, while little Yue Tong pretended to be innocent and well-behaved.

Wait a minute.
He could still vaguely remember such distant things. Logically, his memory should be fine.
Could it be that he had selective amnesia?

Yun Mingchen felt a wave of small despair, regained his calm, and began sitting cross-legged in meditation.
His expression was as usual, as if completely absorbed in his cultivation. But from the emotions transmitted by the Heart-Linking item, it seemed he was pondering what to do next.
Yue Tong was good at reading the atmosphere, and he knew this wasn’t the time to act cute.

He climbed onto Yun Mingchen’s shoulder and lay down, lazily yawning, beginning to lick his fur and pretend to be a kitten.
After observing for these few days, he realized the villain was wary of everyone around him. When facing humans, he would put up a strong mental defense.
So the plan Yue Tong and the system had discussed earlier was definitely not going to work.

This was a modern cultivation world. The more he acted like a human, the more Yun Mingchen would be on guard against him.
He had to act as a super kitten that could understand some human speech and had a shallow understanding of human nature.
This way, he could stay by Yun Mingchen’s side and reasonably participate in the villain’s actions. At the same time, Yun Mingchen would mistakenly think the little cat was completely under his control.

As long as he played it well, he would slowly make Yun Mingchen let go of his disguise in front of the little cat and reveal his truest, most vulnerable self.
Turning to look at the cool-looking man with his eyes closed, Yue Tong couldn’t help but start purring.
Would the seemingly strong and composed man cry in front of his most trusted kitten when his emotions collapsed?

Would he go from being hypocritical to sincere, sharing all his secrets and pain with his little tree-hole kitten?
Yue Tong couldn’t wait to see Yun Mingchen change.
With that thought, his soul entered the system space and found the little light ball that was sticking tattoo stickers.

‘Eight Brother, Eight Brother, I remember I have an item called "Couple Resemblance." You said the more time I spend with the villain, the easier it is to turn human.’
The system was an honest one, it had only been with honest people before.
Yue Tong wasn’t honest.

A three-pound kitten, two and a half pounds of cleverness, and half a pound of bad water.
The system didn’t like this type of person, it was a bit afraid of him.
Before doing tasks, it signed a confidentiality agreement with the headquarters, and there were many things it couldn’t tell the host.

It was always worried Yue Tong might guess its secret, and if that happened, it would not only lose its job but also have to pay a huge penalty, and it was afraid.
Since Yue Tong entered, the system had been tense.
Seeing that he was only asking about an item, it couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, [Oh, now that you mention it, I remember, to complete the discount, I also got you a small item.]

[Little Yue, look! This is called Data Visualization. It can be installed on any item. If placed on the kitten pounce, it shows the distance between you and the target person. If placed on the attacking kitten, it shows how much damage you cause every time you bite someone.]
The system unwrapped the package and took out a small light ball, shoving it into Yue Tong’s soul.
[I’ve installed it on the Couple Resemblance item. See if it works.]

Yue Tong tried chanting “Couple Resemblance,” and suddenly, a panel appeared in front of him.
On the left side of the panel was Yun Mingchen’s character illustration, and on the right side was the little kitten.
Between the two illustrations was a progress bar, labeled with the human transformation progress, [2/100].

Yue Tong squinted his eyes and thought for two seconds.
This progress probably represented the number of days he and the villain had been together, right?
Like in a game, once the online time reached a certain amount, did it count as a day?

Yue Tong shared his guess with the system. Then he dragged it along, trying to organize the known clues.
8102 stared at him blankly for a few seconds before finding an excuse to run to another room.
Looking at the little light ball closing the bedroom door, Yue Tong swallowed the words he was about to say and returned to the kitten body.

He could feel that the system was wary of him.
The only thing that could understand his speech didn’t want to chat with him anymore, and Yue Tong felt a little disappointed.
His parents often said he had a terrible personality and always took advantage of others' trust. Even his own biological parents, he would calculate them to death.

Luckily, Brother Chen always liked him.
Even when he saw him crush his parents’ teeth and sew their mouths shut, Brother Chen still thought little Yue Tong was pure, cute, and unpretentious, like the little sun in his life.
Yue Tong also thought Brother Chen was his sun, but unfortunately, his sun killed him, and he still didn’t know what he did wrong.

———
With the system absent, Yue Tong bit his own paw, pretending to be a cat while sorting out his thoughts.
Earlier, 8102 had said that text is static, but the world created by a novel is alive.

In real life, people wouldn’t deliberately lower their IQ and offer their face to be slapped by the male lead.
The women who are brought into the harem also have their pride and dignity. They wouldn’t randomly become someone else’s lover.
In the real world, each character can think normally and has their own life.

If the male lead wants to slap a genius in the face, he needs the corresponding ability and skills.
If he wants many women, he must have outstanding charm, abilities, or be a scumbag with PUA skills.
So the descriptions of the male lead’s character and strength in the original text are no longer very relevant.

Yue Tong tried to put aside the original plot and, based on his observations over the past two days, began organizing the known clues.
Compared to the male lead Su Feng, who died and was reborn into a monster, he felt that the villain Yun Mingchen had more suspicious points.
Why could he control monsters? Why was he being monitored? Why did he know the secrets of Su Feng?

Before, Yue Tong didn’t have a clue, but after entering the fog, he realized Yun Mingchen showed a strong sense of purpose.
He didn’t kill people randomly. There was a clear target in his choices.
Currently, Yue Tong had two guesses.

One: The student council members he controlled and killed weren’t like Su Feng. They wouldn’t come back to life or turn into monsters.
They might have a personal grudge with Yun Mingchen, or their existence threatened the Yun family’s interests. Or they might have learned something that Yun Mingchen had to silence.
Two: The monsters who can be resurrected aren’t just the male lead, but also the dead students.

Yun Mingchen set up the fog formation to kill the monsters hidden in the student council.
Yue Tong leaned more toward the second guess because the villain’s character deviation value was steadily increasing.
Earlier, 8102 had told him about the main system’s judgment criteria.

The premise for the growth of the character deviation value is that the villain’s actions do not violate the world’s laws and social norms.
From the reactions of the cultivation academy’s teachers and students, this was not a world where the law had collapsed or society was in chaos.
Here, murder is illegal, but according to the main system’s judgment, Yun Mingchen didn’t violate any rules.

So, all the people he killed were likely not human.
Yue Tong nibbled his paw, his tail involuntarily flicking up.
Although many mysteries remain unsolved, he had finally figured out the villain’s goal.

Yun Mingchen had discovered that there were monsters in this world. These monsters, like humans, could disguise themselves as ordinary people and monitor others.
Some of them could resurrect infinitely and turn into monsters after death. Some couldn’t be resurrected or couldn’t yet be resurrected.
Yun Mingchen’s relentless efforts were to kill the monsters hidden in the crowd.

And most of these monsters were likely connected to the Yun family. They even secretly had links to the three major families of the cultivation world.
Otherwise, Yun Mingchen wouldn’t be able to hide this from his parents or not ask the academy’s teachers for help.
Every day, he was being monitored. Every day, he was acting. He didn’t know who to trust. He couldn’t find a trustworthy ally.

That’s why he was so tired and chose to risk accepting a super kitten standing by his side.
Yue Tong thought for a moment, then turned back to look at Yun Mingchen, who was meditating.
Now, there was another new question.

Where did the monsters come from, and what would happen if they were left unchecked? Did Su Feng and the others know they were monsters? How did Yun Mingchen know who the monsters were?
Was it possible that the villain himself was a monster, but he didn’t realize it?