The struggle among the cats is intense and brutal—yet sometimes it involves the very art of practical compromise.

Once they realized they couldn't win against the King, the black cats gathered in the narrow alley immediately started mewing. This made them seem more adaptable than cats in the real world.

Yu Sheng never expected things to develop this way. Watching from the side, he felt the whole process was quite magical. The King seemed rather unfazed, indicating it wasn't the first time dealing with these "cats" in the Dark Alley. After intimidating the cats present, the King turned to Yu Sheng to complain: "The 'cats' generated here don't have much in terms of brains or memory. Next time I come in, they'll still recklessly gather around."

Saying this, the King spat on the ground human-like: "But the good news is they conform strictly to several cat-like behaviors, including attacking anything in their territory, being bribed with cat food, and yielding to stronger cats. They're much easier to handle than many entities in the Exotic Realm."

"Then we should quickly find out what's going on with this alley," Yu Sheng immediately said, "Like these three safe exits or the anomalies in the old bookstore—and it's best to ask about that Broken Tower."

As he said this, the King's feline face visibly showed a strained expression (who knows how a cat makes such a face). After holding it for several seconds, the tabby cat spoke with some difficulty: "Such complex matters aren't easy to communicate... Cat vocabulary isn't rich, and their brains aren't that capable."

Yu Sheng: "..."

"Let me try anyway," the King continued quickly, "Don't get your hopes up though, these low-level entities have limited thinking capacity and can't compare to something like 'Passenger No. 22' or 'Story Person'—you and Little Red Riding Hood should stand back, cats get easily stressed."

Seeing a standard tabby cat say "cats get easily stressed" with such seriousness was truly peculiar. However, Yu Sheng swallowed his retort and took several steps back with Little Red Riding Hood, watching the King negotiate with the strange black cats.

Then came a series of nonsensical meows and whimpers, accompanied by the King gesturing with his paw and the black cats across acting agitatedly. The meowing on both sides became intense, seemingly on the brink of another standoff, but soon turned into a heated discussion among the cats...

Yu Sheng, observing the spectacle, couldn't help but nudge Little Red Riding Hood's arm: "Why does it seem like the King is getting a bit impatient?"

Little Red Riding Hood shrugged helplessly: "How would I know? I don't understand cat talk."

Yu Sheng rubbed his chin: "...True enough, cats and dogs don't communicate."

As soon as he finished speaking, a grinding sound of sharp teeth reached his ears. Turning his head, he saw Little Red Riding Hood's mouth full of increasingly pointed teeth...

Fortunately, the King completed the communication with the black cat group before Wang Jiajia could spring up and bite.

The black cat group seemed to have reached a temporary agreement with this "formidable outsider cat," retreating some distance and hiding in the shadows of buildings, continuing to watch the figures at the intersection with their strange pale eyes. Meanwhile, the King instructed the Mage Team to watch the cats' movements as he strutted back to Yu Sheng's side.

"How did the communication go? Did you figure anything out?" Yu Sheng immediately asked.

"Not quite, their logic is jumbled, but I did gather some useful information," the King replied, lowering his head to lick his paw, his voice low. "They mentioned that there have been 'some changes' in the alley, but these cats lack any sense of time, so they can't say when the changes started—they mentioned things crawling into the alley, and not just near the old bookstore; the entire Dark Alley is filled with things 'crawling in.'

The tabby cat lifted its head, glancing at Yu Sheng: "It's possibly those... 'Spider Silk' you saw near that big hole."

Yu Sheng felt a spark of realization: "So, the changes in the Dark Alley now..."

"Could be the result of us triggering those 'Spider Silks,'" the King said, his feline face serious. "This isn't the normal state of the Dark Alley; it's the result of external interference—though not what those 'cats' said, they can't express such complex matters. It's my speculation based on their chaotic information. The many changes and mechanisms in the alley now exceed these entities' 'understanding.' They just want us to leave this place immediately, or rather... it's the 'Dark Alley' hoping we leave as soon as possible."

Yu Sheng frowned slightly, instinctively glancing at the three branching paths of the intersection.

Could the Exotic Realm... also feel fear?! Even actively dispatch entities out of 'anxiety' to drive away uncontrolled invaders?

Is this an inherent trait of the 'Dark Alley,' or a change resulting from its entanglement and erosion by those 'Spider Silks'?

As doubts surged within Yu Sheng's heart, Little Red Riding Hood suddenly broke the silence: "What about the Broken Tower?"

"Completely unclear in that aspect," the King shook his head. "They don't know anything about 'other spaces outside the alley,' nor do they understand what a tower is—entities can't know intelligence outside the Exotic Realm. But shifting perspective, perhaps we can use this to determine that the Tower isn't originally part of the 'Dark Alley,' but part of some 'invasion'... or further speculate that the Tower and the Spider Silk outside the Dark Alley came from the same source, only beginning to entwine this alley in recent years."

Little Red Riding Hood tapped her chin thoughtfully: "Then three years ago, was the 'poster' the first unlucky one to notice the 'invasion'?"

The King responded professionally: "Based on my experience with the Exotic Realm and various erosive events, the time you mentioned in that post might indeed mark when the Dark Alley was initially 'invaded.' It's when foreign objects are most readily observed with 'Spiritual Vision'—when it first happens, it's also the time people get involuntarily drawn in."

Little Red Riding Hood pondered: "Seems we'll have to find that person first..."

"What about now?" Yu Sheng glanced at the "black cats" not far away, still gathered by the roadside but not taking any further action for now, then looked back at the crossroads, "Are we still going to look for the road leading deeper?"

"...Better to head back first. The Dark Alley is rejecting us; its time-space structure has changed, and continuing to search for the road to the 'Deep Layer' is meaningless," Little Red Riding Hood thought seriously for a bit, then shook her head, "Anyway, we've gathered a lot of intelligence. We need to go back and sort through the clues we've collected."

"We also need to inform the Special Service Bureau about what's happened here," the King mumbled while licking his front paw, "Spirit Realm detectives have a duty to report anomalies discovered in the Exotic Realm to the Special Service Bureau — a piece of useful information can exchange for lots of cat treats."

...

The living room TV was playing a variety show that no one was paying attention to. Hu Li sat cross-legged on the carpet by the coffee table, seriously fiddling with a pile of yarn. Luna was holding a broom sweeping the living room, while Erin was lying bored on the edge of the sofa armrest, muttering to herself as the Omen Wandering Star rolled back and forth before her eyes.

"Ah, why isn't Yu Sheng back yet... He's been out for so long, he clearly said he would just check out that alley, and he didn't take me. Just now, there was a sudden door-opening sound, I thought he was going to bring someone, but nope... Seems like he didn't die outside either, didn't take me... He should be back by now, it's already dark... still didn't take me."

Yet, no one paid attention to this little one's murmuring to herself. Hu Li and Luna were busy with their tasks. Erin looked around and found no one responding to her, so she actively crawled behind Hu Li and tugged on the demon fox girl's tail: "What are you doing? You've been fiddling with this since just now... What is this?"

"I'm knitting a scarf for my Savior," Hu Li said seriously, grabbing a big handful of unprocessed silvery fur from her tail, "This is all fur I've shed recently."

Erin stared in astonishment at what Hu Li was handling. After holding it in for a while, she finally blurted out: "So you've been tidying up all your shed fur just for this?!"

Hu Li looked smug: "Yep~~"

"But it's summer now!" the little puppet exclaimed with wide eyes, "Who's knitting a scarf in summer?"

"Warm in winter, cool in summer, just use some Immortal Law," Hu Li squinted her eyes, "Recently, my Savior also likes to lie on my tail — 'cause it's cool."

"But if he goes out with a fox fur scarf in summer, people will think he's crazy," Erin surprisingly had a moment of clarity, "Yu Sheng isn't afraid of dying, but he sure isn't immune to social death."

Hu Li was stunned for a moment, realizing she hadn't thought of that, and then she sat pondering with the pile of yarn and fur for a few seconds before looking up: "Do you have any suggestions?"

Erin thought for a bit, then her eyes suddenly lit up: "You could make him a wool underwear..."

Hu Li looked up, fixed her gaze on the little puppet: "Erin."

Erin immediately looked a bit guilty: "Wh-What?"

Hu Li: "I'm not stupid—that thing would itch."

The little puppet grinned sheepishly: "I was just making a suggestion, just a suggestion..."

Then she quickly crawled to the other end of the sofa and laid there watching Luna sweep.

After a while, she couldn't help but tease: "Sweep Bot!"

Luna stopped and turned her head, quietly watching the little puppet.

Erin: "You act like a cleaning robot now."

Luna was still for two seconds, appearing to have a delay, then let out a long sigh: "Shorty..."

However, Erin didn't hear it and started rolling around on the sofa out of boredom.

As she rolled into her seventeenth circle, the sofa suddenly went quiet again.

Hu Li, who was seriously thinking about how to make woolen underwear not itch, noticed the change in the atmosphere beside her and looked toward the sofa.

The little puppet was lying quietly in the middle of the cushion, hugging the Omen Wandering Star, with a silly grin on her face, letting out a soft snore.

She was asleep, dreaming sweetly while waiting for Yu Sheng to return home.

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