Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics Chapter 6217: Machine Soul Utopia (84)

Since they would need to stay here for at least another two weeks, Professor Dale had to come up with some new research topics. But that was manageable; for engineering and geology-related subjects, he would explore new peaks with Professor Frank, and for biology, he would observe species activities with Dexter. There was always something to research.

Professor Dale focused his heart on the ancient beings within the Black Mountain. He was not a biologist, so his capacity in species conservation was limited. However, the inside of the mountain housed a vast city on its own, and without monsters around, he could explore to his heart’s content. Even if he couldn’t understand everything, he could jot it down and study it slowly later.

The ancients indeed left behind many valuable artifacts. Among the most important were not only the samples of ancient organisms but also ancient fossil samples. And by ancient, it meant ancient to the ancients, roughly equivalent to Earth’s Precambrian era—a time without any signs of life, filled with samples of Earth’s primordial magma-geologic period, invaluable research data.

The cats didn’t follow him into the mountains. Shiller was researching something else, which involved Constantine.

Whether in the depths of the stars or in the material universe, this big lazy cat had slept through, hardly playing any role. This was clearly abnormal, and it was evident from his repelling of the Shuggos that he didn’t do nothing. Thus, it was time for a ‘three-council trial.’

Constantine remained sprawled on the ground, having grown considerably plumper, thanks to his routine of eat-sleep-eat. When he lay there, he resembled a freshly baked toast. The other cats laid around him, habitually tucking their paws in, but their eyes were fixed intently on Constantine.

“The Shuggos said you brought a bunch of cats,” Shiller kicked off the questioning, “Was it the Thousand Cats’ Dream reaching out to you?”

“Of course not,” Constantine yawned widely, “They’re local cats. They reside in Wusa City, a distant and lonely city with laws against killing cats.”

Bat Cat seemed puzzled, “Laws against killing cats?”

“Yes, it’s said that people kept capturing and killing cats in the past, which led to a curse. To prevent anyone from bringing disaster to the city, the citizens unanimously passed this law, allowing the cats to live happily there.”

“Sounds like a fairy tale,” remarked Little Superman.

“Indeed. They are like the fairy-tale version of the Thousand Cats’ Dream,” commented Constantine, “If back then, that mother cat and her kittens had lived in this city, maybe there wouldn’t have been a Thousand Cats’ Dream.”

All the cats sighed. Everyone knew that the Thousand Cats’ Dream was essentially a tragic story, born from cats being harmed, striving through dreaming to upend human regimes—though so far, success had not been achieved and perhaps never would be.

“They felt saddened too after hearing about the Thousand Cats’ Dream,” Constantine said, “They invited us to visit their city and even wished to meet the harmed mother cat. I promised them that if there was a chance, I’d bring them to our universe. They were thrilled.”

“Things are quite risky over there,” Bat Cat reminded, “Let’s just say, even in a city entirely composed of cats, the law against cat-killing doesn’t have much impact.”

“They are no ordinary cats,” Constantine shook his head, “You might as well think of these cats as mythical creatures. They just have the appearance of a cat, but essentially, they’re akin to Outer Gods. Yet, they harbor goodwill and have a fondness for humans.”

“Would they help you out?” asked Shiller.

“There’s no concept of aiding or not aiding,” Constantine replied, “They see us as one of them, or rather, every cat in the universe as one of them. Our concerns are their concerns.”

“That’s wonderful then,” Shiller nodded. He revealed what the ancient scientists had mentioned to him before to Constantine and then said, “Whenever I ask someone for help, I always ensure they don’t leave empty-handed. If they visit our side, I’ll certainly treat them with utmost hospitality.”

Constantine chuckled, then said, “Alright, I think they’ll agree. But things might not be that simple; Nya won’t let it rest.”

The group of cats arrived faster than imagined. That night, just as the cats were sleeping, they were suddenly awakened by a bright light. Upon waking, they saw a roaring fire at the base entrance. Following their instinctive gaze, they saw a group of cats, tails high, walking towards them.

“Meow—”

Shiller was stunned. Wait a minute, he’s become a cat now, so why couldn’t he understand cat language?

He pondered for a moment, guessing it was because they weren’t originally cats, so there were differences with these real cats. It was normal to not understand cat speak.

Luckily, their team included a true cat—the Bat Cat. He approached and nuzzled the orange-and-white leader, meowing back and forth clearly in an enthusiastic exchange. Constantine adeptly melted into the cat group, becoming untraceable for a while.

Having nothing else to do, Shiller went to join Peter and Little Superman to play with the cats. Cats aren’t inherently social animals, but they do play with their kind. The simplest game involved a chase; each side would designate a safe zone, dispatch a team of players to pursue each other. If caught before reaching the safe zone, that side won. If they reached the safe zone, the other side lost.

Peter and Little Superman were masters at chasing; they stole the spotlight and earned the cheers of the crowd of cats. Shiller wasn’t bad either, but still lost a round. After all, in dreams, there’s no way to strengthen yourself by pinching off your tail, so losing is expected.

After waiting for a while, Bat Cat and the leader of the cat group finally reached an agreement. He came over and whispered to Shiller, “They aren’t asking for a small price; at least this much.”

Bat Cat opened up his paw. Shiller glanced at it and said speechlessly, “You’re a cat, how can cats count using fingers? Your paws can’t spread apart, how am I supposed to see how many fingers you’re holding up?”

“This means five.” Bat Cat rolled his eyes, “They want five fish, and they want good quality ones. Ideally, a big tuna; the leader wants the fish head to hang in his bedroom.”

“No problem.” Shiller whispered, “With Aquaman around, what kind of fish can’t we get? Plus, I have two prime items that have been enhanced by the virus of the abyss. If the job is done well, I’ll give them everything.”

Bat Cat nodded and went back to talk to the leader. The two mewed for a while, mainly Bat Cat was speaking, even if you don’t understand cat language, you could tell Bat Cat was trying to market his good goods, and the leader seemed a bit excited.

But it makes sense, even if there’s a law against killing cats in the city, not many people would bring deep-sea fish to feed cats—at most, some small mixed fish. Even cats on ships don’t necessarily get to eat tuna, cats would definitely be interested in these big sea fish.

Once the deal was completed, the leader waved a paw, and the cats flocked out, more came than those currently seen, in the dream more cats began to appear. Apparently, when the Thousand Cats Dream came looking for cats to dream, it’s already a world ruled by cats now.

When the cats woke up from the dream, it was already broad daylight. Shiller got up, stretched out his big lazy waist, then jumped onto the Dexter’s clothing stack and crazily scratched; just as he drilled out, he saw Little Superman was carrying a big fat rat.

Shiller was a bit surprised, “Where did the rat come from?”

“Supplies have arrived.” Little Superman pressed the rat’s tail with his paw to prevent it from escaping and said, “This guy was hiding in the supply boxes, was moved here together, and as soon as it arrived, I caught it.”

“Go ahead, eat it.” Shiller said. Actually, he didn’t dislike eating rats. The rats in the cabin were big and fat, and cats enjoy the bloody taste of raw food—similar to the flavor of a medium-rare wagyu beef steak, much better than hard bread and dried meat.

But Shiller intended to go into the mountains today, and the ancients would catch fish to feed the cats, which Shiller preferred for their taste. As a human, he liked eating sashimi, as a cat deep-sea fish is unparalleled delicacy, no wonder the cat squad loves it.

Thinking about the delicious fish, Shiller immediately wanted to go out, but soon stopped, somewhat confused, questioning: “Supplies have arrived? It’s not even half a month yet, how come?”

“No idea.” Little Superman said, “This time, people from the Foundation came too, said they want to take some preliminary results, Professor Frank has already gone over…”

Shiller’s claws dug sharply into the ground. It seemed Nya was getting impatient.

“They found new mountain peaks, that should be enough to report, right?” Little Superman played on his own with the rat, not realizing anything was wrong.

But Shiller knew Nya wasn’t looking for geographical discoveries, he wanted to bring his power into the great white space. It had been so long with no progress, he naturally was coming to ask.

Shiller turned around and returned to the base, jumped on the head of the still-sleeping big dog Tibbers with a flurry of cat punches. The just-awoken dog was a bit bewildered; he pinned Shiller with a paw. Shiller jumped out from under the dog’s paw, untied the dog’s leash on the side, and led it over to Dexter.

Dexter felt a bit puzzled, but soon remembered what the students said about the supplies arriving; he quickly picked up the leash and said, “Hope that guy hasn’t put anything strange into the Foundation’s people’s supplies, or the dog might have to eat extra.”

Unfortunately, he spoke too soon. By the time Shiller came back from the mountains, Dexter returned just about at the same time, Tibbers’ belly was bulging, clearly he hadn’t eaten little.

“Afraid we’ll have to break off with them.” Dexter’s tone grew solemn, “They almost caught Frank to threaten me, thankfully Tibbers helped out. I think they might not send more supplies.”

“That’s no worry.” Shiller said self-assuredly, “We can hunt ourselves, the ancients can catch fish, there are seeds on board, can build a small greenhouse, food is no issue.”

“They control all the ships.” Dexter looked worried, “If we don’t comply they might indefinitely extend the expedition until they get what they want. If they don’t send ships, we cannot leave the South Pole, yet we eventually must return.”

Shiller shook his head, “I don’t think so.”