After returning home, she deadbolted the front door, checked the windows, drew the curtains, turned off the cameras, and disconnected from the internet...
Only after doing all this did Yin Zhen allow herself to relax, continuing to wait for her Assimilation Degree to drop below the safe line.
Transformation was also a type of Extraordinary Ability. It was not considered rare; Pure Blood Nobles were born with the ability to turn into bats.
Yin Zhen recalled the memories she had seen in Chen Wei’s blood. Since she had consumed quite a bit of it, she saw a lot of content this time rather than just sporadic fragments.
The Blood Clan member who had taken over Chen Wei’s body was originally a fringe errand boy for some faction in Night City. Three days ago, he offended someone and was cornered in a Night City alley. On the brink of death, he was selected by the invasion game and crossed over.
After taking over Chen Wei’s body, he initially possessed no memories. He could not read the local text or speak the local language. However, his cautious nature prompted him to stay indoors to look for clues instead of going out.
He flipped through Chen Wei’s books, phone, and computer to gather information. As time passed, Chen Wei’s own memories began to awaken within his body.
Then, Chen Wei’s parents came home from work. The moment he suddenly saw the "fresh food," he lost control...
In Night City, even though he possessed an Extraordinary Ability, he could only eat a full meal once every three days or so, and he consumed low-purity artificial blood plasma.
Yin Zhen took a deep breath, pushing away those chaotic, bloody memories. She closed her eyes and focused her mind.
Transformation·Cat!
A strange tingling sensation shot up from the base of her spine, like an electric current flowing through her entire body. Her bones popped, her skin itched, and her field of vision began to warp and sink. Then, the world suddenly grew larger.
She raised her front paw and saw a furry, gray-and-black cat paw.
Yin Zhen stared at that paw, stunned for a full three seconds. She tried to stand up. With four legs, how was she supposed to stand?
The moment this thought flashed through her mind, her body moved on its own. Propping up with her front legs and pushing off with her hind legs, she stood steadily on the wheelchair cushion.
Yin Zhen tried to take a step forward. Her front leg stepped out, and her back leg followed. Her posture was slightly crooked and somewhat uncoordinated, but she was walking.
She jumped off the wheelchair and started to run. Her four legs pushed off the ground in alternating rhythm, her body launching forward like a spring.
She was too fast! Unable to brake in time, she crashed headfirst into the sofa leg.
THUD!
It didn’t hurt. Her feline body was incredibly light, making the impact feel soft and yielding.
Yin Zhen scrambled back up and shook her head—an action that was also purely instinctual. Then, she smiled. A cat’s face could not form a smiling expression, but a surge of ecstasy swelled from her chest, causing her to bounce in place three times. She could run! She could jump!
Pushing off forcefully, she hooked her front paws onto the edge of the sofa and kicked her hind legs twice to launch herself onto it.
The soft cushions sank beneath her paws. She took a few steps, jumped onto the sofa’s backrest, leapt from the backrest to the windowsill, and then bounced from the windowsill to the bookshelf.
CLATTER CRASH!
The photo frames and vases on the shelf were knocked off, shattering glass all over the floor.
Startled, Yin Zhen lost her footing. She tumbled off the second tier of the bookshelf, crashing onto a stack of books. The books collapsed, taking the nearby desk lamp down with them.
CLANG!
With her paw tangled in the power cord, Yin Zhen lay on her back in the middle of the mess, all four legs pointing toward the ceiling as she panted. She stared at the ceiling as strange sounds squeezed uncontrollably from her throat—a continuous, unstoppable purring.
She rolled over, scrambled to her feet, bypassed the broken glass on the floor, and walked over to the full-length mirror by the wall.
A cat stood in the mirror.
It was a common tabby cat, well-proportioned with slender and powerful legs. Its tail was raised high, its ears were pointed, and a pair of amber eyes stared right back at her.
Yin Zhen leaned closer to the mirror, and the cat in the mirror leaned closer as well. She tilted her head, and the cat tilted its head. She raised a front paw, and the cat raised a front paw too.
"It’s me," Yin Zhen said soundlessly. The cat’s mouth opened and let out a tiny, soft "MEOW."
Covering her mouth with her paws, Yin Zhen froze.
The cat’s voice was soft and delicate, carrying a hint of milkiness, utterly different from her own gloomy, deep voice.
She tried to meow again.
"MEOW. MEOW MEOW. MEOOOOOW—"
She snapped her mouth shut. She looked too stupid!
But unable to suppress her excitement, Yin Zhen began to sprint wildly around the house.
She dashed from the living room to the bedroom, then from the bedroom to the kitchen. She jumped from the kitchen floor onto the refrigerator, from the refrigerator to the dining table, and then slid off the table.
Sliding too fast, she dove headfirst into the trash can.
By the time she climbed out of the trash can with a rotten cabbage leaf perched on her head, the living room was completely unrecognizable.
Yin Zhen squatted in the middle of the ruins, panting, while her tail swished back and forth uncontrollably.
She told herself to calm down, to stop being so excited. But her tail kept swishing. She stared at it. It wasn’t moving by her will; it was feline instinct. It swished when excited, it swished when nervous, and it swished when she wanted to pounce on something. She tried to press down on her tail to make it hold still, but the tail only swished even more happily. She couldn’t catch it no matter what. It was absolutely maddening!
Yin Zhen gave up. Sitting down in a feline posture with her hind legs curled under and her front legs propping her up, she forced herself to ignore the provocatively swishing tail. She closed her eyes and checked her attribute panel.
Player: Yin Zhen (S717 Character Card equipped)
Current Form: Cat
Strength: 3 (Scratching someone with your claws will probably only break the skin)
Constitution: 3 (As fragile as a crispy chocolate wafer)
Wisdom: 5 (A cat’s brain is only the size of a walnut)
Agility: 49 (A cat’s speed is seven times that of a human)
Luck: -1+1+3 (Cats bring good luck, but you dragged it down)
[Character Assimilation Degree: 39%]
Yin Zhen stared at the Assimilation Degree number for a long time. While maintaining the cat form, the Assimilation Degree increased extremely slowly—so slowly it was almost negligible.
Moreover, she felt no discomfort whatsoever. She didn’t thirst for blood, nor was she anxious or irritable. In fact, she felt even calmer than she did in her human form.
It was as if she had activated some kind of... energy-saving mode!
She tried layering her Super Sensing and found that she could still use it. However, the growth rate of her Assimilation Degree abruptly sped up, and a sense of exhaustion hit her faster and heavier than when she used it in her human form.
Yin Zhen squatted there, turning her feline head to look out the window.
She thought of that madman, Sheng Yehan. She had seen him once during the trial, sitting in the defendant’s seat with a stoic expression.
His defense attorney claimed he was "mentally incompetent," but his eyes had been as lucid as someone watching a boring performance, and he had even provoked her with a mocking raise of his eyebrows.
Sitting in her wheelchair back then with her legs completely devoid of sensation, she had stared at that face, wishing she could lunge forward, tear out his throat with her teeth, and drink all of his blood!
Now, she finally had that chance.
Yin Zhen darted to the window and used her front paws to pry open a gap in the curtains, looking out at the exceptionally clear night view in her cat eyes.
She had long since investigated exactly where that madman lived. It was a private psychiatric hospital; apart from the lack of freedom, he lived no differently from any other wealthy person.
Yin Zhen raised her head and looked at the string of numbers floating in the air.
[01:12:33]
In just an hour, she would re-enter the Red Corpse World. There wasn’t enough time to go find that madman in her cat body right now.
Yin Zhen’s tail slowly drooped.
Next time. When she came back next time, she would definitely go and kill him. Definitely!
Jumping down from the windowsill, Yin Zhen lay sprawled in the messy living room to check the rewards she had received from hunting Chen Wei earlier.
[Words: 500]
[attribute points: 3]
[Forum Invitation Code]
Using her consciousness, Yin Zhen clicked on the forum invitation code. The countdown timer before her eyes abruptly scattered into specks of light, morphing into a clean and simple forum interface.
[Invasion Game Forum · Ancient Abyss — Welcoming the 7th Member]
[Please enter your nickname. Note: The nickname cannot be modified once set.]
Yin Zhen thought for a moment, then mentally inputted two bold words—
Blossoming Prosperity!
The forum interface froze for three seconds before returning to normal. At this moment, there was only a single post inside.