C2– Day 2

Ji Mei was quiet for a moment and then said, “By the way, Mint, did you know that the Academy of Sciences found you in the black market.”

“It seems you had some extreme weather and were frozen in ice, so you came here from Ancient Earth, where you lived.” Ji ,ei was curious about Ancient Earth, “Ancient Earth’s climate is supposed to be harsh, right?”

Shen Tong didn’t think it was that bad.
It was just that the city he had lived in for many years, after winter it was summer, with no transition in between, yesterday it was a high temperature warning, the next day maybe a rainstorm descended, every day was different.

He couldn’t respond, and Ji Mei went on, “I’ve read ancient human history! It says that we felines were just little pets kept by humans back then, and had to be pampered to please the humans, and had to develop some kind of see-saw social nature in exchange for their affection – with catnip as a reward, of course.”

Ji Mei commented, “Sweet agony.”

Shen Tong bathed in the sunlight and listened to Ji Mei speak, which seemed no different from every day he had spent in the past
But it did make a difference.
The seeds had been growing all the time since they sprouted, and for a moment, the soil loosened a bit.

It was at this moment that the breeze carried a faint scent and swept over Ji Mei’s nose, and she almost bit her tongue as her words trailed off, “Huh?”
She smelled a scent that was hard to put into words, the only thing she knew for sure was that it possessed an unexplainable sweetness.
Ji Mei stood up and looked to her left and right, “What’s that smell?”

It was very, very faint, and off-puttingly tickled her heart.

Ji Mei wrinkled her nose, her first instinct was to come to the nearby flowers and lower her head to sniff each one, but none of them were.

So tempted to smell it again.

With that thought in mind, Ji Mei returned to her original position and tried to catch the scent from earlier again, but the smell had spread out into the air and she found nothing.

Undaunted, Ji Mei stood on her tiptoes, pinched a bud from a tree, and looked down to smell it.
Still not.

Ji Mei was a little discouraged, and just as she was about to give up, the sweet scent passed over her.
“Like a scumbag who treats me like sh*t, surprises me when I’m about to give up, and causes me to have false hope.” Ji Mei took a deep breath and said to Shen Tong, “But it’s really, really, really sweet.”
She used three “really” in a row to express how good the smell was.
　　
　　”I’ve never smelled anything that smells so good!”

Ji Mei tried to put it into words, “Well, like a friend of mine, cheese is her life, but if she smells cheese and it’s not there, she can die instantly!”
Shen Tong: “……..”

Ji Mei continued, “What do you smell like, little mint? It should smell better than this, right?”

But the smell was enough to make Ji Mei miss it, and when she tried to think about it, she couldn’t even imagine a more wonderful smell than that, and was even more curious about the source of the smell.

Shen Tong, however, had a rough guess.

He only knew that catnip could stimulate the pheromones in felines and make them feel excited, but he hadn’t thought that the effect would be so remarkable.
After all, Shen Tong had only sprouted recently, and in his current state, the scent released was more like tickling felines than stimulating them, but even so, it still managed to make Ji Mei like this.

Shen Tong could guess, but couldn’t tell, Ji Mei knew nothing and didn’t even think about the catnip at all, almost going insane from her own curiosity.

After a long day, Ji Mei finally thought of a way out, “I got it!”

Not long ago, the Academy of Sciences undertook a project to study odors, with the investment of a perfume company. They did this by collecting a large number of odors, reading and analyzing the components of each odor, and recording the source of the odor, Ji Mei had a classmate assigned to the project, and she often saw him crying from time to time because of the lack of samples of the odor.

Ji Mei was busy contacting him with a personal terminal.

[Do you still need a sample?]
[I have one here!]
[but I don’t know what the smell is].

The other side quickly replied to her: [Need!!!!]

Ji Mei put her personal terminal in camera mode and waited patiently, pressing the shoot button as soon as she smelled the sweet smell again and sent it to her classmates.

–In the interstellar age, photos could truthfully record everything, including smells.

She instructed, [Remember to send me a copy of the analysis.]
[OK.]

Ji Mei, understanding a piece of the puzzle and finally comfortable enough to sunbathe with Shen Tong, sat down, cradled the flower pot in her arms and hummed happily.

The girl’s voice was soft, and the wind blowing was light and gentle.
The unknown flowers emitted a rustling light sound.
The light on the ground was fine.

Perhaps rooting was too draining, and the girl’s song was too soft, and Shen Tong drifted off to sleep.

He had a dream.
An inexplicable dream.

Shen Tong was in a villa.
A wide grassy field, a transparent lake, and white European-style architecture were luxurious and extravagant, but unfortunately, it was as quiet as a pond of stagnant water, the large manor didn’t have a trace of vitality, the owner of the manor also seemed to be not very interested in the place.
The owner of the manor did not seem to care much about this place. The withered garden was the proof.
　　
　　Shen Tong looked around, even if this was a dream, he didn’t trespass into the villa, he just came to the lake and sat down.
There was a youth reflected in the lake water.
Shen Tong smiled, his eyes curving into a pretty shape.

Fortunately, he was not a catnip plant in the dream.

Shen Tong plucked a handful of grass and played with it in boredom.

In the villa behind him, the snow lion that was lazily sunning itself on the roof was acutely aware of the scent that didn’t belong to it and stood up, narrowing its eyes dangerously.
Almost immediately, it found the intruder.
The snow lion stared condescendingly at the youth by the lake for a long time, jumping off the roof and approaching quietly.

The plucked grass was woven into a grass ring in Shen Tong’s hands, and he lowered his head, about to put the ring into the water, when he suddenly saw a pure white lion in the reflection of the water.
It was full of hostility and caution.
His white fingers trembled, and Shen Tong was shocked.

But he reacted quickly, it was just a dream. Shen Tong comforted himself that even if he was eaten, it was just a nightmare, so he lowered his head to look carefully at the snow lion in the reflection a few more times.
It was a beautiful white lion.
Its fur was a little brighter than snow.

A lion was also considered a cat, right?
So this was just a big cat that looked a little meaner.
Shen Tong relaxed and curled his eyes and smiled, “Hello?”
Seemingly no one had ever seen it before and could still maintain such a calm posture, the snow lion glanced at him unexpectedly.

In school, Shen Tong was always jokingly called the school flower, in his roommate’s words, he was born with white skin and a thin waist, and the pressure did not give way, Shen Tong was sad every time he heard it.
But undeniably, he was indeed very beautiful.

He was tall and thin, his skin tone was white as porcelain, his eyebrows and eyes were beautiful, but had no aggression.
Just as he was as a person, not to mention the pure and clean aura.

After sizing him up, the snow lion seemed to be certain that this youth did not possess any aggression and was barely able to get into his eyes, so it restrained some of its hostility and arrogantly turned around.
In the next moment, the grass ring landed on its head.
Shen Tong said smilingly, “Giving you.”
The Snow Lion’s footsteps paused.
Immediately after, it heard the unknown young man whisper, “You are so cute.”
“……..”

Cute?
The snow lion turned back with dissatisfaction.
Under the brilliant light and shadow, the youth’s complexion was so white that it shook his eyes, his thick and long eyelashes reflected a gentle shadow, and his watery eyes looked soft for no reason, he met his gaze with a slight inclination of his head and asked gently, “Do you want me to play with you?”
The snow lion’s tail flicked, seemingly uninterested in this, and walked away indifferently.
　　
　　”Crack”, The grass ring on its head fell off, the snow lion stared at the ugly thing for a long time, and looked at the youth, in the end picked it up with its mouth and slowly returned to the villa with elegant steps.
It was imposing.
It even had an aura of being a ruler in the world.

Shen Tong watched it walk away and laid down on the grass.
The sky seemed to be within reach, his nose was filled with the fragrance of the grass, and the sunlight shone warmly all over his body.

*

Same time.
Capital Star. The palace of Perth.

Beneath the firmament, the Milky Way shined brightly, and the palace was glorious.

The butler led several ministers through the gallery. There were portraits of past emperors, world-famous works, and many priceless treasures.
But no one was surprised.

–This was Perth, the emperor’s palace, where the world’s treasures were gathered.

The Minister broke the silence, “How has His Majesty been?”
The butler shook his head, “It’s the same old story.”
The minister sighed, “His Majesty’s genes have both bestowed him with SSS-class mental strength and unparalleled abilities, but also a fatal flaw.”

It wasn’t an alarmist statement.

In the Interstellar Age, felines got to evolve and establish dominance, each of them differing in their degree of evolution and the magnitude of their abilities, and being inseparable from their origin.
Caesar, the tyrant of the stars, had been tested to the highest interstellar level of spirituality, intelligence and decision-making ability.
He was born a king and destined to be a ruler.

But too much mental power meant that there was no end to his development and his spirit world, and with it came a disorder of mental power which affected him – he would gradually lose all emotions and become cold and violent until his spirit world collapsed.
Caesar would lose his mind completely.

Like previous monarchs, the gates of Perth, the symbol of supreme glory, had been opened for him, and the Dead Sea in the depths of the Nebula might be his final destination.

The solution, however, was only one.
That was to find a 100% match for him as soon as possible, to appease Caesar.

Except that since Caesar’s succession, the genes of all interstellar citizens had been recorded and matched to Caesar’s genes, yet none of them had met the standard.
The steward and the minister looked at each other and saw the helplessness on each other’s faces.

Sighing helplessly, the steward knocked lightly on the study door, “Your Majesty, the men have been brought.”
No one responded.
The steward spoke tentatively, “Your Majesty?”
　　
　　The summoning of the several ministers of the cabinet had been ordered by Caesar two hours before, and though his reign was strong and unquestionable, Caesar had always been punctual, and seldom was this the case.
The steward, knowing that something was different, entered the study alone, and a moment later he came out and said regretfully, “His Majesty is unwell, and the meeting needs to be postponed.”
The ministers looked at each other, quite bewildered.

The steward made a gesture of invitation to return, and smiled as he watched them walk away, but no matter how much he tried to conceal it, the concern on his face showed a little.

After ordering to meet these ministers, Caesar, as usual, entered the spirit world for a nap.
Until the butler came in to check just now, Caesar was still in his spirit world.
Staying in the spirit world for a long time, this had never happened before.

Could it be that there was something wrong with His Majesty’s spiritual world again?
His Majesty had been in a precarious state lately.

The butler was worried.

——

TN:

Oh, the lion is the tyrant, nice nice.