Chapter 32

After making his choice, the white light in the glass pillar converged, and what ultimately appeared was a pair of football boots that looked quite old-fashioned.

【Name: Dance of the Jazz】

【Type: Armor】

【Quality: Fine】

【Defense: Weak】

【Attributes: None】

【Special Effect: Increases the maximum running speed and significantly reduces the stamina consumption for prolonged walking or running】

【Note: These football boots belonged to a winger of unprecedented skill, the first European Footballer of the Year, and an exceptional dribbling master. In his over thirty-year career, he was never shown a red or yellow card. Another athlete, known as the King of Football, once commented, "He is the one who taught us how to play the game."】

"Not bad... and there are no equipment conditions," Feng Bujue muttered. "Even if I get stronger leg armor in the future, these could still fetch a good price."

When he equipped the boots, he heard a system prompt: "When the equipped part contains a 'fashion peripheral,' you can choose your preferred appearance in the menu."

Feng Bujue checked, and this feature meant that players could choose to display the system's default appearance of the boots or the appearance after equipping them. In the future, when the store opens, many fashion peripherals will be available. By then, there will likely be many players who will cover themselves from head to toe in fancy outfits bought with RMB, choosing to display their preferred appearance rather than their equipment.

However, during the beta test phase, before the store was available, more players chose to display their equipment. This was partly due to vanity; people always like to show off things they have that others don't, and the envious and jealous looks from others can bring a significant sense of satisfaction.

After organizing his space, Feng Bujue disconnected the neural link.

When he emerged from the game pod, about two hours had passed in real time. It was now deep into the night, with the wind howling outside the window, and the city's sky offered no view of the stars. Of course, Feng Bujue rarely bothered to look.

Young people in big cities, regardless of whether they need to wake up early the next day, rarely go to bed before midnight. They prefer to doze off in the crowded subway or bus in the morning rather than sacrifice their free time after work. Feng Bujue was a typical night owl, usually waking up at noon and not going to bed until around four in the morning. He believed that the early hours of the morning were when his creativity was at its peak.

However, today, although it was still a few hours before midnight, Feng Bujue suddenly felt the urge to write. He boiled a whole pot of coffee, sat down at his computer, and began typing.

His pen name was "Bujue," and the serialized novel he was writing for the magazine was called "The Second-Rate Detective and the Cat." Originally, he had intended to write a story about a first-rate detective. But in his time, commercial novels needed a gimmick, much like how many manga used female characters to attract attention. The novel industry also had to follow market trends; no matter how many years passed, people's curiosity and desire for novelty would always be a breakthrough point.

When Feng Bujue was down and out, he had considered writing some erotic novels. As someone who considered himself an artist, he could easily find characters who seemed to resonate with him spiritually, such as Millet (a French painter who, due to poverty, traded sketches for shoes and oil paintings for a bed, and also painted some sensual works to cater to the bourgeoisie) or Titian (who did it out of interest).

In the end, Feng Bujue compromised and added a gimmick, allowing him to write the detective stories he liked and was good at. The setting of "The Second-Rate Detective and the Cat" was simply the protagonist split into two characters. Originally, the main character should have been a shrewd individual, but now he was a kind but inadequate second-rate detective. One day, he discovered that his cat could talk, and only he could understand it. The cat also happened to have god-like reasoning abilities...

The magazine editor had praised Feng Bujue, saying that his setting was well-used, and the humorous interactions between the protagonist and the cat could lighten the overall dark tone of the detective novel. Feng Bujue also gradually found the benefits of writing this way: it could ease the tension in the plot and help pad the word count...

In addition to this serialized novel, Feng Bujue was also writing a long novel, the kind that could earn him some money if published. The creation of that book had almost hit a complete bottleneck, with no writing for a month, but tonight, Feng Bujue had inspiration again and began to continue the story called "The Two Ends of a Nightmare."

...

The night passed without incident. The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Feng Bujue saved his document and finally stood up from his desk. He stretched, yawned, and glanced at the time—it was already 4:40 AM. He then remembered that yesterday was Qingming Festival... Dream Company had chosen this day to start the beta test of Horror Park, which was also a promotional tactic for a horror-themed MMORPG.

Since it was already this late, the breakfast stalls outside the neighborhood should be set up. Feng Bujue's mind was still filled with the various plots of his novel, and he felt no fatigue. He decided to go out for something to eat before coming back to sleep.

He took his keys and some loose change (he only had loose change left) and went downstairs. Fifteen minutes later, he was walking back with scallion pancakes and fried dough sticks.

When he returned to the neighborhood, he could already see some elderly residents coming out to exercise or queuing up early at the community hospital.

Feng Bujue rarely interacted with his neighbors. At this time of day, he was usually just falling asleep. For him, the day started at noon.

"Meow~" A black-and-white stray cat by the roadside meowed at him as he passed.

Feng Bujue stopped and stared at the cat for a few seconds, confirming that it was indeed looking at his breakfast.

"You... " Feng Bujue squatted down in front of the cat, which had no collar, and spoke softly, "Do you eat fried dough?"

"Meow." The cat seemed completely unafraid of strangers, and this meow seemed to be a "yes."

"These days, I only have clear soup noodles to eat myself," Feng Bujue said as he broke off a small piece of scallion pancake and offered it to the cat. "This is the only thing with oil that I could buy with my last few dollars."

The cat stretched its head forward, sniffed the food, and then took a bite. It licked its tongue and meowed again, clearly wanting more.

Feng Bujue broke off another small piece, "You don't look cute at all, and you're not a valuable breed, yet you dare to beg from strangers and even push for more..." He mocked the cat but instinctively broke off another piece and quickly offered it, "Go dig through the trash, you bastard!"

Speaking of trash, Feng Bujue couldn't help but glance at the three classified trash bins in front of the apartment building. The square, cup-shaped bins were quite tall, about 1.4 meters, wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. If a cat wanted to dig through them, it had to wait until they were full; otherwise, it might jump in and not be able to climb out, and if it was dumped into the garbage truck, it would likely end up dead.

"Ah..." Feng Bujue sighed and tore half a pancake into pieces, holding it out to the cat. "It's not easy for you stray cats. I heard that in this neighborhood during winter, a cat hid under a car to stay warm from the engine. In the morning, the owner started the car without knowing, and the cat was crushed to death." He stroked the cat's head, and there were things he preferred to say to the cat rather than to people: "Stray cats usually only live for three years. I might die suddenly from an unknown brain disease at any time. We have a connection today..." He took a bite of the remaining half of the pancake and mumbled, "We can share a pancake, and maybe in the next life, we can be brothers..."

"Xiao Feng, is that you?" A familiar voice called from behind.

Feng Bujue turned and saw his landlady, Aunt Liu. She had been retired for five years, and her husband, Uncle He, was a retired cadre. Aunt Liu could be a bit blunt, but she was actually a good person.

Aunt Liu lived in the same building as Feng Bujue. She owned three apartments, one on the other side of the neighborhood, which was also rented out. The two in this building were on the thirteenth floor, which she considered unlucky, so she lived on the eighth floor, and the other was rented to Feng Bujue long-term.

"It's really you. I was worried I might have mistaken you for someone else," Aunt Liu said, holding a basket of vegetables, probably just back from the market. "Today is really a miracle, seeing you downstairs so early in the morning." She shifted her gaze to the little cat and changed the subject, "Xiao Feng, not to be rude, but you shouldn't feed stray cats. If you feed them once, tomorrow there will be five or six waiting here, and you'll be causing trouble for the other neighbors."

"That's true," Feng Bujue thought for a few seconds and replied, "It seems there's only one solution..." He held his breakfast in one hand and picked up the dirty stray cat with the other, "I'll take it home and keep it."

Aunt Liu was taken aback, "You're really making decisions on your own, did you even ask me?"

"Look... in this neighborhood, people can keep dogs, and this cat won't go outside..." Feng Bujue forced a smile, trying to be cute.

"You really want to keep it?" Aunt Liu thought he was just joking. Suddenly, her expression changed as she looked at Feng Bujue's face and then at the cat, "Hey... you two really do look alike." Her gaze moved down, "And this cat is also male."

Feng Bujue's mouth twitched, "Auntie, your use of 'also' is incorrect... I am 'male'..."

"Auntie isn't nitpicking, you're the educated one, not me," Aunt Liu said, "Let's get this straight, if you really want to keep the cat, that's fine, but your place is already a mess. With a cat, you need to be even more careful about hygiene. Most of the residents in this building are elderly, and if anyone complains about the smell..."

"I'll cook it and eat it," Feng Bujue interrupted.

"Meow!" The little cat seemed to understand and meowed in protest in Feng Bujue's arms.

"Cook you? I can't cook you, but I can't cook it either," Aunt Liu said as she walked, "Come on..."

"Where are we going?" Feng Bujue asked.

"To the neighborhood pet clinic to get it vaccinated," Aunt Liu said, "What if it has feline distemper?"

"Uh..." Feng Bujue hesitated for a few seconds, "The thing is... I'm a bit short on money recently..."

"When have you ever not been short on money?" Aunt Liu interrupted, "Alright, I'll cover it for you, and you can pay me back with the rent." She took a step, then stopped, "Wait, let me go upstairs and put the vegetables away first."

...

When Feng Bujue returned home, it was already 7 AM. He not only brought back a cat but also a sandbox, cat food, plastic bowls, and toys...

"Let's not be brothers in the next life," Feng Bujue held the little cat up to his face, "You should be reborn as a woman and repay me with your body."

"Meow." The little cat yawned lazily, its expression seeming to mock Feng Bujue.

As Feng Bujue was putting things away, he pressed the answering machine. A recorded voice said, "You have 1 message."

After a dull beep, Wang Tan's voice came through, "Bro, you're not answering the phone again? It's a day off today, I'll come over this afternoon and bring you some meat. You're probably home, so it's settled."

At that moment, the little cat jumped onto the phone, pawed at the buttons, sniffed it, and then lost interest, lying down on the sofa.

"That makes it sound like I'm always at home with nothing to do," Feng Bujue muttered to himself, but in fact... he was quite idle.