The discussion about ’Awakening Insects Are Plentiful and Annoying’ effectively eased the discord between the two black cats.

Once Zheng Qing solemnly declared that he would take on Jiang Yu’s ’debt’ and promptly drafted an IOU of one thousand jade coins, agreeing that the Shadow Cat could ’occasionally’ rest by the Cat Fruit Tree, the relationship between the two cats became suddenly harmonious.

Of course, this ’harmony’ bore some sincerity, which was apparent without needing clarification.

As for the one thousand jade coins debt, Zheng Qing did not worry about it—had it been earlier this year, carrying such a huge debt before Spring Festival, he might have been anxious and stressed, but ever since he reached an agreement with the Trident Sword to become an official ’Arms Supplier’ for the Alliance, he gets seven hundred and fifty jade coins per month by ’putting in some effort’ to draw a few talismans, and this money is almost all net income.

One thousand jade coins are merely more than a month’s labor compensation and naturally do not concern him.

It was even far less arduous than making the decision to allow the Shadow Cat to occupy a spot by the Cat Fruit Tree.

Perhaps sensing the eased atmosphere between the two cats, the little Paper Crane that had been hovering in mid-air gracefully landed, its beak slightly open, and Master Bao Yangzi’s voice abruptly sounded:

"Order: Based on the work arrangement by the relevant department, after research, decided to specially dispatch No. Thirteen personnel to assist Jiuyou Academy’s Zheng Qing (student ID 2008TW-1-002) in collecting and organizing necessary materials for his graduation thesis, effective immediately, hereby notified. White Ding Calendar March 6, 2010, Bao Yangzi (Seal)."

The moonlight was slightly cool.

The sky, trees, cats, and grass, all were silent, as if everyone was startled by this sudden voice. After a while, the black cat asked in an uncertain tone: "Thirteen? You’re in the relevant department with the code Thirteen? Quite forward!"

He clearly remembered that after the freshman hunting party competition ended, he had seen a Warlock with the code ’Forty-one’ in the lounge, who was a staff member of the relevant department, thus he easily connected the order’s code with the Shadow Cat.

However, rather than showing any happiness at the black cat’s exclamation, the Shadow Cat wrinkled its face, sat directly on the grass, and began counting its claws.

"I knew that old guy had ill intentions."

The Shadow Cat muttered, counting its claws one by one, chanting: "Today is March 6, that means Year of the Geng Yin, Yi Mao month, Day of Yimao, clashes with Rooster, disturbs the West, valued by the Divine Hall... Phew, logically it should count as an auspicious day... Hm, bad time! Bad times! The periods of Bing Xu and Ding Hai are both bad times! No wonder I’m so unlucky today!"

As it spoke, it looked up at the little Paper Crane still floating before its eyes, a fierce light flashed in its eyes: "Oh! You’re considered ’of Rooster’ too... indeed ’clashing with Rooster’ today!"

The Paper Crane ignored the cat’s provocation.

Instead, it hung in mid-air, spread its wings, and from the tips of its wings, two streams of clear light fell, which swiftly formed a semi-transparent barrier enveloping both black cats.

Inside the barrier, the space was divided into two parts, resembling a delicate ’confessional booth’, with one side crouching the Shadow Cat and the other lying the black cat, a red line ran between them, above which was a table, fully furnished with parchment, ink bottle, feather pen.

The black cat noticed that the edge of both the table and parchment were densely filled with fine runes, indicating they were under very strong magical protection.

It cleared its throat and coughed:

"Cough!"

The white feather pen trembled, leapt out of the pen holder, quickly dipped into the ink bottle, then hovered above the parchment, diligently recording:

"Zheng Qing Speaks: Cough!"

The black cat’s face went dark, and its gaze shifted to the Shadow Cat.

"Tch!" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

The Shadow Cat disdainfully curled its lips, raised its head arrogantly, and spoke with some reserve: "Since it’s assistance, just ask whatever you want! Of course, I refuse to answer questions related to personal feelings."

For a brief moment, the black cat genuinely wanted to ask what its shadow had accomplished.

Yet considering serious matters, it had to pinch its nose, suppressing its curiosity, and speak honestly: "My graduation thesis is a preliminary proof regarding the ’Christian-Moonlight Conjecture’, so I need to gather experiences, stories, insights you’ve gained from transcending in the Two-Dimensional Evolution Lab, to provide a theoretical basis for High-dimensional World reproduction..."

"Enough nonsense."

The Shadow Cat waved its claws, showing a bored expression: "You just want to know how I managed to get out of those Big Light Balls back then? The people from the relevant department have asked me a hundred times; I can recount it to you even in my sleep."

The white feather pen danced lightly on the parchment, leaving behind strings of neat and structured Song font characters, recording lengthy passages of the Shadow Cat’s words:

"...Perhaps due to the attraction of a wizard’s aura, the first world I experienced was Harry Potter’s world, born into one of the pure-blood twenty-eight families, replacing the Crouch Family’s crazy kid, and when I appeared, I’d already stuffed the Mad-Eyed Man into a box, so I had to regretfully eliminate our Mr. Potter... Don’t give me that look, I remember well, when you read the book, you didn’t like that reckless fellow who constantly shouted and yelled! Rest assured, Miss Hermione is very safe because I later dealt with Noseless Man too. I must admit, real magic has an incredibly miraculous effect in Low-dimensional Worlds... I guess it’s because magic power can genuinely penetrate dimensional barriers."

"...The second world seemed to be a martial arts world? Ugh, or a national martial arts world? I can’t quite remember. Because after smoothly reincarnating in over a dozen worlds, I discovered the biggest difference between myself and those struggling to survive in the reincarnation worlds was that I was very strong, in every sense of the word. I could see what they couldn’t, know what they didn’t, do what they couldn’t. In other words, in those worlds, my ’consciousness’ was higher."

"...Hm, here I need to explain what is meant by consciousness height."

"In Two-dimensional Worlds, under normal circumstances, you actually don’t realize you’re a ’paper person’, because your consciousness will warp as the height disappears, becoming ’narration’, ’inner description’, or ’brain activity’ to fit within the two-dimensional framework, thus harmonizing with everything around. But I’m different, because I have a ’shadow’ of a seed. Yes, the very forbidden curse seed inside you, it’s something that’s been imprinted deep in your soul over those ten plus years by daily tracing of talisman scrolls. Very luckily, during those many years, your shadow also followed you closely, practicing those talisman scrolls. So, no matter which Two-dimensional World I enter, I can ’be aware’ of my existence."