The Record of Unusual Creatures

On the way back to their house, Hao Ren found his short trip with Rollie completely exhausting. He never expected things to be this troublesome after the cat turned into a human. The cute and sensible cats portrayed in the stories were all lies. How could he not worry about this girl who had a cat's logic, but was able to move around freely like a human? This cat girl who had just turned into a human did not have the correct worldview at all!     

Hao Ren could hardly keep count of how many times he had talked about the same things again and again along the way. "No squatting at people's feet... Don't eat anything on the road... Don't rummage around in the trash can… Don't climb the wall! Get off the tree! Let go of that bird! Stay away from the dog... Don't touch the rubbish... Stand up and walk!"     

He felt like he was taking care of a small kid, and the kid was being much more difficult than Lil Pea.     

The cat girl jumped off the wall for the third time. She was as dirty as someone who had just returned from the war zone in the Middle East. She rushed towards Hao Ren, bared her teeth and said, "Poop Scooper, you're so annoying."     

Hao Ren had given up correcting what the cat girl called him. He just reminded her feebly, "You've turned into a human, okay. So from now on, you have to change the way you live... Do you understand? Your lifestyle, behavior, and habits; do you understand what I'm saying?"     

"It's not about food, but I understand," said the cat girl as she shook her head. "But, why are there so many things in the human language that have nothing to do with eating?"     

Hao Ren stared at her and said, "Why are you asking so many questions? Just do as I say!"     

"It's so troublesome to become a big cat. Quickly turn me back into a cat." She snorted.     

Hao Ren just ignored her. Well, he wished he could do it, too but the problem was, this type of shapeshifting was not like playing a video. You could not rewind it as you like.     

The three of them reached home and found that only Vivian and Lily were left in the house. Nangong Wuyue was probably singing in front of the subway, or a station, or a mall. Big Beardy had probably ventured into the wilderness to challenge nature, but of course, there was a possibility that he was also giving lectures to the elderly women in the Southern Suburbs. Y'zaks was probably collecting scraps on the street again. The former demon king was now reduced to being jobless and wandering on the streets. He ended up collecting scraps with the demon princess in the Southern Suburbs. It was such a sad story, but Y'lisabet was quite happy with it.     

Lily was writing. When she heard noise coming from the door, she turned to asked, "Landlord, you guys are back? Has everything been cleared up?"     

Vivian approached them as well, looking curiously at Hao Ren and Rollie, who was lying down next to the couch.     

"It's because of the Golden Apple," Hao Ren sighed and roughly told them what he had heard from Raven 12345. Then, he solemnly reminded them, "If you have any Golden Apples, don't feed it to the animals. This stuff is too unsafe."     

"Aww…"Lily was not worried about it: she had already eaten all her apples. She then sniffed around the cat girl, sniffing and muttering, "She smells of the street... and grilled fish. You let her walk on the streets? She didn't run around?"     

"Of course she did. To be honest, walking her is more troublesome than walking you."     

Lily heard this and immediately smiled happily. She actually took it as a compliment and asked, "Then, when can you walk me again? I haven't been on the streets for days!"     

"Can you have a little backbone?" said Hao Ren.     

After lying on the floor for a while, Rollie looked up lazily and ordered Lily, "Hey big cat, I want to eat now! The grilled fish wasn't enough!"     

"Oh," Lily replied and went to prepare food for the cat girl. Hao Ren was shocked to see this and asked, "Huh, aren't you no longer afraid of her?"     

Lily scratched her hair and said, "Yes, but preparing food for her has become a habit."     

Hao Ren could not believe that the husky would become like this. He thought the husky could finally escape from the food chain of dog < cat < fish in this family. It turned out that she was already trapped in it.     

Rollie finally released her tail from her clothes. She stretched comfortably, and wriggled up the couch, Then, she turned on the TV and began to watch the pet channel and yelled, "Poop Scooper! I want this toy! And this canned meat! This mat looks good too. Give me a new bed… I want a smaller one... Give me a little fish!"     

Anyway, it did not matter what she was yelling about. The cat girl would just not sit there quietly. This was also Rollie's major characteristic: compared to other quiet cats, this one was simply an ADHD patient. When she was a cat, she was either running around outside or fiddling around in the house. But at that time, it was not so annoying: no one could understand what she was talking about!     

It was not the same now. The cat girl could speak the human language. Hao Ren finally realized how annoying it could be when a cat could talk.     

However, Hao Ren accepted it. He could totally ignore the noisy cat and pretend that he did not understand what she was talking about. Everybody ignored her when she messed around the house while she was a cat, and she was still content. Now that everybody was ignoring her again as usual, she should be able to get used to it.     

Vivian looked at the cat girl who was lying on the couch watching TV and suddenly remembered something. "Oh, have you decided a new name for her?"     

"A new name?" Hao Ren was puzzled.     

"For the cat of course. Don't tell me you're still calling her 'Rollie'? Do you think it's okay to call her that way in public?"     

Hao Ren paused for a while and realized that Rollie had turned into a human, therefore she should get a normal name!     

Otherwise, calling her by her old name in public would get him into trouble. The old men and old ladies in the Southern Suburbs did not usually pay attention to everything, but if they saw Hao Ren's "walking cat", they would most certainly be rushing to make complaint calls about his domestic abuse!     

Thinking of this, he patted the cat girl's head and said, "Stop watching TV. I've got something to discuss with you."     

He was probably the first person ever who needed to discuss with the cat before naming it.     

The cat girl turned her head and her pointy ears twitched twice as she asked, "What's up, Poop Scooper?"     

"Whatever…" Hao Ren sighed and said, "It's time to give you a new name."     

"A new name?" The cat girl blinked and asked, "What for?"     

"We can't call you 'Rollie' now." Hao Ren tried to make the cat understand something about the human world. "Humans can't be called 'Rollie'. If I call you that way, I'll easily get a complaint.     

"I don't know," the cat girl answered honestly.     

Hao Ren found her good side. Although she was very annoying in all aspects, she was absolutely honest. She was still as innocent as a newborn baby.     

So, Hao Ren and Vivian's next main task was to get the cat to understand why "Rollie" was not a normal name. Hao Ren even tried to explain that the name "Rollie" came from a complete misunderstanding in the very beginning. But after they tried everything to make the cat understand it, Rollie did not actually listen to them. She just pretended to be well-behaved, and soon she was curled up comfortably on the sofa.     

She was as lazy and stubborn as before.     

Lily brought the cat her food and saw Hao Ren as well ass Vivian sitting there with frustrated faces. "What's wrong?" she asked curiously.     

 "Why is it so difficult to change a cat's name?" Hao Ren sighed and complained. "It looks so easy for someone else to get a new name for their pets."     

"Of course. Who needs to discuss with their pets before changing their name? And who would rename their pets under normal circumstances?" said Vivian.     

It seemed like what Nangong Sanba said was right. Even if the cat girl had a human mind, there was no way to solve the problem of her worldview and general knowledge. There was no distinction between commendatory and derogatory words in a cat's language system. Even if she knew what "Rollie" meant, she would not find it wrong for them to call her that way—just as she did not think it was a problem to call her owner a poop scooper.     

Hao Ren decided not to discuss with the cat and just finalize the new name first. This time, he quickly came up with a bunch of new names: Hao Meow Meow, Hao Miaow Miaow, Hao Meow Miaow, Hao Miaow Meow. Anyway, his ability to create names was basically like this. The names sounded like tongue twisters when he read them out.     

After he wrote the names on a paper and proudly showed them off to Vivian, she poured cold water on his idea. "Well that's a lot of names, but do you think she'll listen to you?"     

"Why not? Let's try it," Hao Ren said happily and called each name as he stood behind the cat girl, from the first one to the last one... No response from her.     

Hao Ren could not believe it and tried another name. "Rollie!"     

The cat girl immediately sprang from the couch and rubbed herself against Hao Ren's legs.     

Vivian patted Hao Ren on the arm and said, "I think... Or, let's just stick with 'Rollie'. We won't let her out in the near future anyway."