Chapter 1149: Chapter 118: Raimy
Claire indeed improved the potion.
For example, he could speak, without odd quirks—it meant Lu Li really had to meow like a cat.
Lu Li sat on a blanket, his long tail wrapped around his body, gazing up at the Head Maid, responding in silence.
The frail body wrapped in bandages struggled to support the loose maid gown, echoing with the subtle sounds of wind sneaking through gaps.
"Raimy, I miss you so much..."
The Head Maid lifted Lu Li without hesitation, giving him another glimpse of the photo frame on the dressing table, while the cold bandages against his skin conveyed her longing and dependence.
Treating Lu Li as family, the Head Maid carried him on a tour of the new home. Compared to the frail, bandage-covered Head Maid, the maids bustling around the mansion were tall and voluptuous, filling out their maid uniforms fully—
—only they had lost their original heads, replaced with reptilian, grotesque heads with collars-like stitches on their necks.
While touring the second floor of the mansion, a Lizard Maid approached the Head Maid.
"Master, the Gardener Angel Envoy is outside the estate."
A hoarse noise unrelated to her beautiful body echoed.
Carrying Lu Li, the Head Maid arrived in the ground floor reception room.
A patchwork corpse puppet, like one Lu Li had encountered at the forest’s edge, stood on the floor, emitting a stench that made the candle flames flare. A Lizard Maid cleaned the dripping corpse fluid beside it with a mop.
The Head Maid frowned openly at the patchwork corpse puppet, which stutteringly spoke: "Gardener, ask, why kill, Little Gardener."
Lu Li in her arms twitched his ears as the breeze within resonated with a gust of wind.
"It tried to harm my Raimy, it deserved to die."
Were the subordinates of the Viscount not on good terms?
Lu Li pondered, feeling a hand gently soothing his head, and the chaotic spirit calmed, returning to a gentle breeze.
The corpse puppet seemed to genuinely be just inquiring, and the maid left to clean its tracks.
"Stop cleaning, take it out, shred it, and throw it away."
The Head Maid said with disdain, lifting Lu Li by his paws, her voice softened: "Raimy, you must be hungry, right? Let me take you to eat something."
Returning from the reception room to the second-floor bedroom, Lu Li saw two maids bring back luxurious clothing, delivering it to the laundry room at the end of the corridor.
A dining cart with a silver cover was quickly pushed into the bedroom.
"I’ve ordered the head chef to prepare this for you." The maid lifted the dining cover.
Disgusting food piled on the plate, clearly not fit for human consumption, with a scent reminiscent of fresh vomit.
Even having turned into a peculiar black cat, Lu Li found it hard to swallow these things.
"Do you think I’m as filthy as the food now..."
The wind turned sorrowful with the Head Maid’s mood, and though Lu Li couldn’t grasp her logic, he sensed her sadness, leaping from her arms onto the dressing table, bowing his head to lick the cake on the table.
"Meow."
Followed by Raimy’s perfunctory turn of the head.
"You like cream too?" The Head Maid giggled like a little girl, her hand moving through Lu Li’s armpit to embrace him, cheek constantly rubbing.
Considering the Head Maid’s stature, she truly remained a girl.
"Raimy, why do you smell so good?" The Head Maid’s voice was soft and muffled, buried in the black fur.
Lu Li wouldn’t answer, as he was just a cat.
At this time, an evil aura descended upon the bedroom.
Lu Li’s cat eyes rapidly contracted, and the Head Maid looked behind herself.
A bat hung on the frame of the door leading to the terrace, spreading its thin wings.
"The landowner was attacked by humans and fled back; the Viscount orders all lords to immediately head to the castle."
The sound from the Head Maid’s body turned cold, and she gently placed Lu Li on the bed.
"Raimy, sis needs to handle some matters, stay here and wait for my return."
Worried Raimy might run out, the departing Head Maid closed the bedroom door and flew off the terrace with the bat.
The bedroom returned to silence.
Sitting on the bed, the black cat quickly leaped down, trotting over the blanket to the bookshelf, searching for diaries or clues about the Head Maid’s background.
After searching the bookshelf filled only with stories or Knight novels, Lu Li jumped onto the dressing table, used his tail to open a drawer, finding some girlish items—hairpins, a mirror, and several rolls of bandages.
The bandages wrapping the Head Maid’s body evidently had nothing special.
With no Doomsday Apocalypse found, feeling hungry, Lu Li ate more cake and leapt back to the soft bed.
Preparing to check under the pillow, a knocking sound suddenly came from the corner.
Knock, knock, knock—
His cat eyes abruptly shrank, turning towards the direction of the sound.
An Iris Sparrow stood at the window, tilting its head to observe the black cat in the room.
Lu Li jumped onto the window ledge, staring at the small Claire: "How did you find me?"
"I stole some fur from you; it tells me your location." Claire nodded, indicating the cat hairs stuck to her chest: "Is this the Head Maid’s estate? How did you end up here?"
A black cat conversed with an Iris Sparrow inside and outside the window.
"She takes me for a previous pet."
"Apparently you don’t need my help... Your nose." Claire pointed to the cream smeared on Lu Li’s nose tip. "Seems like you’re enjoying life here?"
Lu Li didn’t follow Claire’s topic but recounted the recent events: "The landowner returned, the alerted lords have gone to the castle."
"I saw, that’s why I dared to come over."
"We arrived at the Bloody Farm an hour after the landowner fled and stayed there for a while... but we reached it first." The expanding black cat eyes quietly reflected the Iris Sparrow outside the window.
"Maybe ambushed by those Conspiracy Web Deity Sect players while escaping? Who knows."
Claire turned her head, and a Lizard Maid pushed a dining cart away from the estate, heading back to the distant castle.
"Don’t you think now is the perfect chance for us to act? Approach the castle while no lords are guarding it."
"Talking to me about this is useless, because I’m just a cat."
"I need your help; the forest blocks me from approaching the castle, and flying higher will be detected by the Alchemical Tower’s anomalies... but can you get out?"
Lu Li didn’t respond, turned to jump off the window ledge.
Claire flew to the terrace railing, watching the bedroom door as Lu Li tucked his tail to squeeze through a gap.
"Having a tail is convenient; I can’t even scratch my back," Claire envied, unfolding her wings to fly.
Lu Li leaped onto the railing, jumped to the window sill, and along the window frame to the mansion’s edge, descending from the high wall to the ground, leading Claire once more into the barren woods.
The barren woods refrained from attacking Claire because of Lu Li. The black cat flowed through the forest, seemingly chasing the Iris Sparrow flying ahead. The swaying dead branches seemed eager to join the chase.
The edge of the barren woods was within reach, but just as Lu Li was about to dash out, familiar airflow surged beside him, drawing him back into the cold embrace.
"Raimy, how did you run out!"
Lu Li looked up, and the Iris Sparrow had already disappeared into the dark sky.