’Why is everyone staring at me?! I’m not giving up my bed for anyone!’ The single beds Sun Qian and Sylvie were sleeping in next door looked too small to share, so Shen Yibin suggested, "How about I find a hotel nearby and get you a room for the night? I’ll go buy a bunk bed tomorrow, and then you can stay with them."

"I’ll have Alfred book a room," Sylvie said, pulling out her phone.

Seeing her take action, Shen Yibin’s heart started to bleed. Alfred was staying at the most luxurious five-star hotel in Yunzhong City—how much would one night cost? But since she had already made the offer, he couldn’t very well refuse. He had no choice but to agree. "Sure. Once it’s booked, I’ll drive Miss Sakai over."

"Ah, please don’t. I want to stay closer to Lord Raccoon Cat," Sakai Kaori said, staring at Egg with pleading eyes, as if afraid he would vanish in the blink of an eye.

’Hey, are you really going to kick me out? I’m the owner here! Isn’t this going a little too far?’ Shen Yibin stood there, unsure of what to say.

Perhaps realizing the problem, Sakai Kaori quickly added, "I mean, I can just sleep on the sofa. That way, I’ll still be resting in the same room as Lord Raccoon Cat."

’By that logic, does this mean I can say I’m sleeping in the same room as three girls?’ Shen Yibin couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Compared to Sakai Kaori, all those cat and dog lovers online weren’t even in the same league. Look at how respectful and considerate she was toward Egg.

"The sofa is so narrow, it must be uncomfortable to sleep on. You just got off a plane today, you should get some proper rest," Sun Qian continued to persuade her.

"It’s fine. The training I went through during my time as a shrine maiden was much tougher than this. Besides, I’ll have a bed to sleep in tomorrow, right? It’s only for one night, so it’s no problem at all." Sakai Kaori insisted. Seeing how determined she was, Sun Qian and Sylvie stopped trying to convince her and instead brought her a quilt, pajamas, and other necessities.

And so, everyone else went upstairs to rest, while Sakai Kaori remained downstairs. She lay on the sofa, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. For one, she had already rested at noon and wasn’t very tired. For another, the excitement of finally meeting Egg made it difficult to sleep.

After tossing and turning for a long time, Sakai Kaori finally started to feel a bit drowsy. But just then, she was startled awake by a strange noise. ’Huh? What’s that sound? Is someone opening the door?’

She sat up and looked toward the front door. Outside, Boss Song was whispering to a fierce-looking man. "Chen San’Er, are you any good at this or not? What’s taking so long to get it open?"

"Almost there," the man called Chen San replied. He was carefully turning a thin steel wire he had inserted into the keyhole. A moment later, a CLICK came from the lock. "There, it’s open. I’m just saying, there are tons of jewelry stores and phone shops on the street. Why the hell are you set on robbing a pet store?"

"That’s none of your business. Just know you’ll get your money, not a cent less." After several failed attempts to buy Egg over the past two days, Boss Song had decided to steal him. He figured no one would be downstairs at night, and Egg would probably be sleeping in a cage, making the theft easy. The only concern was the other pets making noise, but he had prepared for that as well.

"If any dogs start barking once we’re inside, feed them this immediately." Boss Song handed a bag to Chen San. It contained specially prepared meat that would quickly put any dog to sleep once eaten.

"Don’t move!" Seeing Boss Song about to pull up the rolling shutter door, Chen San quickly stopped him. He then took out a spray bottle from his coat and carefully sprayed both sides of the shutter track. "Okay, now it won’t make a loud noise when we pull it up."

Just like that, they pulled up the rolling shutter with barely a sound. Boss Song raised a flashlight and shone it inside, trying to find any sign of Egg. However, the first thing that met his eyes was a young girl dressed in white.

"A ghost!" Chen San couldn’t help but shiver. Who wouldn’t be scared, suddenly seeing a sight like that in the middle of the night? 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"You go stop her. I’m going to find it now." Seeing that they’d been exposed, Boss Song decided to resort to force. He ordered Chen San to intercept Sakai Kaori while he rushed toward the area with the pet cages, hoping to find Egg before anyone else came downstairs.

"Hm? You’re thieves?" Sakai Kaori immediately understood their intentions. ’This is Lord Raccoon Cat’s residence! I will not allow you to desecrate it!’ With that thought, Sakai Kaori darted forward, trying to block Boss Song.

Chen San, still thinking about his payment and seeing that Sakai Kaori looked small and cute, didn’t think there was anything to worry about. He reached out to grab her shoulder. "Hey, little girl, you’d better just sit there quietly."

The moment his hand touched her shoulder, Sakai Kaori grabbed it tightly. Then, with a sudden bend at her waist, she threw him over her shoulder. Chen San went flying, crashing hard into Boss Song.

"AHH!"

"OWW!" They both cried out in pain almost simultaneously, shattering the silence of the pet store. The cats and dogs in the cages immediately burst into a frenzy of barking and meowing, and upstairs, Shen Yibin and the others heard the commotion.

The job was a complete failure. Chen San and Boss Song forgot all about their mission and scrambled toward the door, trying to get away. If they didn’t leave now, they probably wouldn’t be able to.

However, they didn’t seem to realize that it was already too late to escape. Sakai Kaori had beaten them to the entrance and was now blocking the main door. At that moment, Shen Yibin, Sun Qian, and Sylvie, all in their pajamas, appeared at the top of the second-floor stairs. The store’s lights flicked on, flooding the hall with bright light.

"Boss, thieves broke in to steal something!" Sakai Kaori shouted as a warning.

"Get out of the way so you don’t get hurt!" Shen Yibin shouted as he rushed down the stairs. ’It doesn’t matter if they steal something, just please don’t get hurt!’

"I’ve already called the police! They’ll be here any second!" he bluffed as he came down. It wasn’t entirely a lie, though—the security cameras outside were directly linked to the public security system, so it was possible they had already been discovered.

"Let’s go!" The moment Boss Song and Chen San heard the word "police," they grew even more desperate. They picked up speed and charged straight at Sakai Kaori, but she stood her ground, refusing to move.

"Miss Sakai!" Sylvie and Sun Qian cried out in alarm, seemingly unable to bear watching what would happen next.