Mythical Creatures Strategy Guide

Chapter 22 The Truth

When the kittens saw Audrey, their ears all perked up.

"My sister's back!"

"My sister came home really late today!"

"Sister, Little Gray knocked over the candles again today!"

"I didn't! It's a rat! There really is a rat!"

Audrey walked over to the pottery jar, squatted down, and re-inserted the colorful feathers. One was crooked, so she straightened it with her finger, examined it for a while, and then moved it half an inch to the left.

Then she turned around, took out the remaining oil paper packets from her bosom one by one, and laid them out in front of her.

But the people didn't take the kitten; their eyes all turned to Chu Sheng and Ella.

Chu Sheng felt his clothes being gently tugged. He looked down and saw a grayish little cat crawling to his feet, looking up at him.

"Are you human?" she asked curiously.

"Yes."

Why would humans come into the sewers?

Chu Sheng thought for a moment, then squatted down and pointed at Audrey.

"She brought me here."

Little Grey tilted its head, its noticeably larger cat ears tilting to one side: "Sister never brings anyone down."

"Then I'm the first one."

"What does the first one mean?"

"It's something that never happened before, but it's happening now."

Little Gray stared at him for a while, then pulled something out from behind him and handed it to him. It was a mouse plush toy, with the stuffing wafting out from the seams.

This is a popular toy among children, but this one was clearly discarded and picked up by Audrey; it's covered in stitches and mending.

"You can touch it, but only once."

Chu Sheng reached out and touched the mouse doll's ear. Little Gray nodded in satisfaction, hugged the doll back to its arms, and climbed back to its spot.

Audrey watched this scene without saying a word, lowering her head to continue distributing the dried meat from the oil paper package. But when she handed it to Little Grey, she secretly added an extra piece.

Chu Sheng sat down at the edge of the carpet, not in the middle, where Audrey's seat was. Ella sat beside him, her tail slowly sweeping across the floor. Several cat-people were so attracted by her fluffy tail that they forgot to eat their jerky.

"Did you build this place?" Chu Sheng asked curiously, as the main hall here was clearly man-made.

Audrey was silent for a moment before whispering, "My brother fixed it."

"It wasn't just him who repaired it; he drew up the blueprints, found craftsmen, and changed the original drainage ditch into what it is now."

She paused, gazing at the firelight reflected from the wall lamp, as if someone were still standing there, smiling at her.

"He said that cat people are not only those on the ground, but also those underground, those that are unseen, and those that have been abandoned."

"Later, he was also abandoned."

A flash of hatred crossed Audrey's eyes: "No, it wasn't thrown away."

She looked up.

"He was killed."

Chu Sheng suddenly felt as if he had gotten himself into some big trouble; this side quest was probably not as simple as he had imagined.

But Audrey showed no sign of stopping, staring directly at Chu Sheng and speaking slowly and deliberately.

"My surname is Paladin. I am the princess of Cat Territory, the daughter of the previous monarch."

"The newly enthroned 'monarch' is not my brother. My brother is dead, my father is dead, and my mother is dead."

Chu Sheng's expression changed upon hearing this. He had initially thought it was just a minor dispute within his territory, but he hadn't expected it to involve the royal family of Cat Territory.

Seeing Chu Sheng's expression change, Audrey's face paled slightly, and she hurriedly lowered her eyes, saying, "I've said too much, please forget it."

After saying that, she got up.

The next second, a small but warm hand gripped her wrist, and Audrey turned around in surprise.

It was Chu Sheng.

"When you encounter a problem, you solve it." He smiled, his eyes resolute. "I am, after all, an Imperial Squire Knight."

Audrey stared at him blankly, her eyes reddening, her cat tail uncontrollably curving into a soft "S" shape behind her.

"That night I was outside the territory. When I returned at dawn, the flags of the monarch's palace had been changed, the guards had been changed, and everyone was celebrating the new monarch's ascension to the throne. They said the old monarch had died suddenly, and the young master was so grief-stricken that he had shut himself away. But I knew that the thing in the monarch's palace was not my brother."

Her voice began to tremble.

"I once secretly went into the cellar through a secret passage in the monarch's palace, and that's where I saw it. It was wearing my brother's skin and speaking in my brother's voice, but it wasn't my brother."

"How do you know?" Chu Sheng became serious. This description was very similar to a type of undead creature he knew.

"Because...my brother won't eat...eat...eat the cat-man!"

As Audrey spoke, her eyes widened in fury, and her canine teeth nearly drew blood from her lips.

Ella noticed that Chu Sheng's face darkened instantly; she had never seen him show such an expression before.

"You secretly moved all the stray cat people in the city, so he's wanted you." Chu Sheng's voice was muffled, revealing neither joy nor anger.

"Yes, it says I murdered my father, that I killed my parents, and that I'm a traitor to the Cat Territory. It plastered my portrait all over every street, and the bounty was high enough to make everyone who saw me want to betray me."

Audrey's tears welled up in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall.

"So I wore a cloak to steal things. The kittens in the sewers needed to eat, and I had no other choice."

She spoke these words as if she had used up all her strength. After she finished speaking, she sat there blankly with her eyes vacant, and large tears fell one by one uncontrollably.

Ella clumsily crawled up to Audrey, lowered her head, and gently nudged her shoulder with the tip of her nose.

Audrey froze, then asked in a tearful voice, "...Why did you talk back to me?"

"I don't know," Ella answered honestly. "I just wanted to give it a try."

Chu Sheng remained seated, and said in a deep voice, "It's a shapeshifter."

Audrey's vertical pupils suddenly narrowed: "Do you know what it is?"

Chu Sheng did not answer.

He certainly knew about the shapeshifter; it was one of the most dangerous monsters mentioned in Arthur's general knowledge class.

Shapeshifters, undead species. They can perfectly mimic the appearance, voice, and even some memories of any living being; their only weakness is their inability to replicate physiological responses.

But Arthur said that the thing had become extinct, and the last recorded sighting in the empire was two hundred years ago.

"What do you plan to do?" Chu Sheng asked in return.

"Live on." Audrey didn't hesitate. "Live on with them."

"And then?" Chu Sheng asked calmly.

The cat named Little Gray rolled over in its sleep, and the mouse plush toy rolled out of its arms and landed on the blanket. Audrey reached out, picked it up, put it back in Little Gray's arms, and pulled the blanket up a little.

"...Then, wait for an opportunity," Audrey replied softly.

"Waiting for a chance to prove it wasn't my brother, to prove I didn't have the chance to kill them, to prove..." She paused, "to prove that what my brother said wasn't a lie."

Chu Sheng knew which sentence it was.

Cat collars aren't just for those cat people on the surface, but also for those underground, those unseen, and those who have been abandoned.

Chu Sheng stood up and walked to the edge of the passageway, glancing up at the leaking metal pipe: "You said there's a secret passage leading to the cellar of the monarch's mansion."

Audrey looked up, a look of surprise on her face: "What do you want to do?"

"Let's learn the way." Chu Sheng turned around, his harmless smile returning to his face. "Let's learn the way today, we'll talk about the rest when my companions arrive."