Eight-tailed cat (4): Too perverted

“Let’s keep this cat,” Li Li said.

This surprised Tan Xiao a little. “With our current situation, we can’t afford to raise a cat.”

He knew how hard she worked to earn money, and the family was already buried under a mountain of debt. Tan Xiao didn’t want to add any extra burden to her.

“With the amount of debt we have, having one more cat or one less cat won’t make much of a difference.”

Li Li added, “Besides, the house is a mess. There might be lots of rats. I’m really scared of rats.”

In truth, she wasn’t afraid of rats at all. In fact, she rather enjoyed eating them—but not the filthy ones running wild in the sewers. She liked the clean, milk-fed baby rats that had been raised by servants from birth.

Li Li licked her lips, suppressing the sharp fangs that were eager to pop out, and firmly pressed her lips together to avoid revealing her bloodthirsty nature.

With her around, there would never be any rats. And compared to rats, she feared this black cat much more.

But given the situation, no matter how unwilling she was, the cat was clearly going to stay. Instead of making a fuss later and ending up embarrassed, she might as well give in now and earn some favor.

Besides, she had no intention of taking care of the cat—the responsibility would fall entirely on Tan Xiao.

The kitten stared up at him with big, round, watery eyes, its tail curling around his arm as it meowed.

Temptation—this was definitely temptation. Tan Xiao felt a little moved, but he said, “Mom, I’m planning to go to university. If I do, I won’t be able to take care of it.”

“You still want to go to school?!” the woman blurted out. Seeing the confused look on her adopted son’s face, she realized her reaction was off.

“I mean, with all the debt we owe and the money I earn going to pay it off, we can’t afford tuition. Those debt collectors will still come knocking—you won’t be able to go to school.”

She tried to put on a teary expression. “It’s my fault for being useless.”

“It’s illegal high-interest lending. I’ve already called the police. We don’t actually owe that much.” Tan Xiao recounted what had happened the previous night. Li Li listened in stunned disbelief, wearing a look that said, You can do that?!

Tan Xiao asked, “Mom, do you want to move away from here? If we leave and never come back, and give up on the debts he left behind, you wouldn’t have to work so hard repaying them.”

“Of course I do—” These words never made it out of her mouth. It was as if her throat was suddenly seized, silencing her like a muted chicken.

With a face full of resentment, she said, “Of course not!”

Tan Xiao looked at her. “But repaying the debt would be incredibly tough.”

Li Li replied, “I grew up here and don’t want to leave. And the people we owe money to are pitiful too. We should repay what we owe.”

That was obviously nonsense, but that was how the character was written. She had to follow her role—to be the mom who drags her son down.

From her resolute expression, Tan Xiao could see the stubbornness of a true mother: “Then let’s stay and repay the debt. I’m still young; I’ll definitely pay it off. There are good universities here in the city.”

His grades were enough to get into the best university in the city. It was a metropolis anyway, and studying here wouldn’t impact his plans. Besides, he’d already intended to stay—he just wanted to give his mother a lighter option.

Since she had chosen to stay, that meant he’d be staying home for quite a while.

The still slightly pale teenager glanced down at the black cat nestled in his arms, clinging tightly to him and unwilling to leave. “Then let’s keep it.”

The black cat let out a sweet, soft meow. Li Li couldn’t help but wipe away the cold sweat forming on her forehead—finally, she had successfully kept this ancestor.

To form a bond with any creature, a name was essential.

Tan Xiao said, “Let’s give it a name. It’s all black… how about we call it ‘Xiao Bai’?”

He had a vague feeling that he’d once had a pet named Xiao Bai.

“Meow meow meow!” “Woof woof!”

Due to the special nature of the replica world, a white puppy stuck in Tan Xiao’s system space could only observe his master’s behavior through a special TV screen. Upon hearing the name, it howled in protest: “There’s only one Xiao Bai in this household! How can such an important name be given to someone else?! And besides, this cat is pitch black—there’s nothing white about it!”

The black cat protested too—because the name was terrible and utterly unworthy of its glorious status as the great eight-tailed cat.

The eight-tailed cat had its own name. But for now, it was pretending to be an ordinary kitten and couldn’t speak. Even for a nickname, “Xiao Bai” was unbearable. It sounded like a dog’s name. And the eight-tailed cat hated dogs.

Li Li swallowed. “Isn’t that name a little too half-hearted?”

The black cat nodded in firm agreement. For once, it fully supported Li Li’s opinion.

Tan Xiao eyed the black cat suspiciously. He had the strong feeling this cat was unusually intelligent—like it could understand human speech.

“If you like the name, meow twice. If you don’t like it, meow three times.”

The black cat meowed three times, then went silent.

Coincidence? Or could it really understand? Tan Xiao knew some kittens were quite smart—about as intelligent as a six- or seven-year-old child.

“You really don’t like it? I think it’s a cute name. How about two meows this time?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the black cat meowed twice. Clearly, it didn’t like the name Xiao Bai.

Tan Xiao showed a regretful expression. “Alright, I’ll respect your opinion.”

Even though he thought the name suited the cat, he was a responsible cat owner and wouldn’t do anything to upset his pet.

“If you don’t like the name I picked, then you choose your own.”

Since the college entrance exam had just ended, there were still many of his old textbooks and reference books lying around. Tan Xiao brought out a thick dictionary from his room.

“Many newborns get named this way. You choose for yourself—wherever you stop flipping, that’ll be your name.”

He stood the dictionary up and flipped through it, letting the cat paw decide where to stop.

The pages rustled, and the black cat’s paw landed on a page labeled “Wen.”

There were several “Wen” characters on that page: 文 (culture), 溫 (warm), etc.

Tan Xiao wrote all the characters on separate paper scraps.

Next, they found a second syllable: “Yi.”

With about a dozen slips of paper forming different combinations, the black cat picked: 溫夷 (Wen Yi).

The flipping of the pages seemed random, but the eight-tailed cat smugly wagged its tail—it had deliberately used its demonic power to influence the outcome.

Tan Xiao looked at the characters. It was a nice name, though when paired with his own surname, it sounded odd—Tan Wen Yi. Wen Yi alone sounded better. But a pet should share its owner’s surname to show that it belonged to the family.

When in doubt, leave it to fate.

“Do you prefer a two-character name or a three-character one?”

He balled up two paper scraps with the options. The black cat chose the two-character one.

Tan Xiao sighed with some regret. “Alright, Wen Yi, that’ll be your name from now on.”

“Wen Yi, Wen Yi, Wen Yi…” He called the name three times, and the kitten responded with three meows, wagging its tail and rubbing its head and cheeks against Tan Xiao, warming up even his abs.

“Looks like you really like it.” Tan Xiao’s expression softened without realizing, and his fingers gently scratched the cat’s head and chin.

Hearing the purring from the soothed cat, Li Li couldn’t help but want to pet it too.

Sensing her thoughts, Tan Xiao offered, “Mom, want to give it a try? It’s really docile.”

But as Li Li reached out, the previously blissful kitten bared its sharp claws and snarled menacingly.

Li Li quickly retracted her hand. “No… better not.” Petting cats came with risks—she didn’t want to lose a hand.

The kitten turned back to Tan Xiao with an adorably innocent face, a true master of facial transformation.

Tan Xiao wasn’t the kind of person who insisted on others petting cats either.

He carefully checked the kitten over. Wearing a pair of clean, food-grade rubber gloves meant for dishwashing, and using the family flashlight, he examined the kitten thoroughly. Aside from being a little skinny and having less-than-smooth fur, it was clean—no signs of fleas or ringworm.

Its eyes and ears were spotless, and its teeth were white, sharp, with no cavities or odd growths.

“You’re so healthy and clean. Such a neat little thing.”

He flipped the cat over and parted the fur on its belly, revealing tiny pink dots—four rows in total. At first, he thought they were lumps, but after feeling them, and hearing the kitten protest with a weird sound, he realized—those weren’t lumps. They were the kitten’s nipples!

Cats, unlike humans, have many nipples regardless of gender. He vaguely recalled a joke about this and silently swallowed his minor embarrassment. It wasn’t his fault—he had never properly raised a cat before, just followed cat videos online.

Thinking about male cats, Tan Xiao lifted the kitten’s tail to check for signs of diarrhea and to determine its gender.

With one look, he realized: the kitten wasn’t just black and green-eyed—its little pink butt was also clean and spotless, unlike many stray cats.

Below the butt were two fluffy, round balls—adorable like little bells. Regardless of gender, humans tend to become gentler when dealing with kittens. Now that he was officially adopting it, Tan Xiao’s voice softened instinctively as he muttered, “So our Wen Yi is a little boy.”

He couldn’t resist gently poking one of the balls.

The kitten immediately let out a sharp scream and bolted away: “Pervert! This great eight-tailed lord has been touched by a perverted human! I’m defiled!”