Someone Has Changed, Guess Who?

Bang!

A leader seated near the head of the table, startled and enraged, slammed his hand down.

He immediately recoiled, realizing it was an anomaly, and fearfully drew himself inward, whispering to the doctor beside him.

“What’s going on?”

The doctor, arms crossed, leaned back in his chair and offered a shrug.

“I don’t know. If you ask me, who should I ask?”

He then turned his gaze to the captain of Response Team 1.

“Captain Wei, should you re-contain it?”

The captain remained silent.

It had already escaped; could simply re-containing it truly solve anything?

“Gao Xin, did it appear suddenly beside you because it was looking for you?” The captain remembered something, asking Gao Xin with a serious expression.

“This… I’m not sure.”

Indeed, some anomalies could mark a person through contact, making them impossible to shake off.

However, those were typically object-class anomalies.

If this were a truly dangerous containment, they would certainly be showing some reaction by now.

Yet, Bai’s demeanor was utterly harmless, even safer than those supposedly ‘harmless’ anomalies.

In truth, she seemed completely innocuous.

Were it not for a series of discreet, specialized examinations, they would have simply assumed Bai was an ordinary cat carrying or utilizing an anomalous item.

This was precisely why they dared to remain seated and continue their discussion.

Sitting idle would solve nothing.

Gao Xin, who had the most interaction with Bai, was the first to act, sensing that if he didn’t do something, Bai would simply run off.

Cautiously, Gao Xin reached out to stroke Bai’s soft fur along her back.

After a moment of thought, he spoke.

“She might just be bored and want to go out and play?”

Bai, who had been pondering the exit of this strangely structured house, immediately nodded.

‘Excellent, this human understands cats quite well.’

The doctor, who had even witnessed the cat speak moments ago, nodded in understanding.

‘Did she run out on her own because I didn’t let her out? Hmm, to be able to run out whenever she wants and still ask permission first, that’s overly polite for an anomaly, isn’t it? What? Normal anomalies don’t have brains? Oh, then never mind.’

“She can really understand human speech,” the captain remarked, looking quite curious as he addressed The Cat. “You want to go out?”

Bai turned to glance at him.

Having learned from the ‘bad doctor’ incident, the cat needed to first assess whether this person would actually let her leave.

‘Honestly, these humans here are too troublesome. It’s such a hassle just to go out and play.’

‘All-Seeing Eye, activate! Wait, this big guy can actually take me out. I just need to answer his question?’

Finally seeing hope, Bai’s tail tip subtly curled and swayed with pleasure, and she gave a dignified nod.

“What exactly do you want to do outside?”

‘What to do? Just play, of course… Exactly? Hmm, I’ll fly up and see if there’s anything new and interesting here!’

“Meow-woof~ Mrow~”

‘Oh, I forgot. Bai can’t speak without opening a delusion. But these humans can’t just directly transfer information to me like Reincarnation The Cat does.’

‘Wait, transferring information? Bai thinks she’s seen something about this somewhere!’

[Soul Lamp Contract: Sign a soul contract with the target… (omitted)… (If there’s too great a mental power disparity between the contract signatory and you, some information may backflow.)]

Outside, Wei, who had tentatively asked a question and received two meows as a reply, looked at Gao Xin with confusion.

Gao Xin could only return an equally bewildered look.

‘It’s good enough if I can guess her general idea; do you really expect me to translate cat language? Hey, wait, if this cat can speak human language, does that mean cat language really exists? Are cats truly ‘Meowians’? And speaking of which, ‘Woofians’…’

Just as Gao Xin’s mind spiraled into chaos under the pressure and confusion, an emotionless, sweet, helium-like voice, reminiscent of a Q-version cartoon character (which was actually Reincarnation The Cat’s voice), rang in his ear: [Xuan Bai invites you to join the Soul Lamp Network. Do you accept the invitation?]

‘What is that? Who? Join what?’

Gao Xin froze, unable to react for a moment, as the mysterious voice in his ear repeated itself.

Unsure what to decide, Gao Xin could only toss the question to his superior.

“Xuan Bai is inviting you to join some ‘Soul Lamp Network’?” The captain was also baffled.

Anyone would be confused by this.

“Who is Xuan Bai?”

“That cat,” the doctor interjected. “I was interrupted halfway through before, but when this cat spoke, she introduced herself as Xuan Bai. Her voice was quite cute, too.”

“Is that voice still present?” the captain asked.

“It is, and it’s repeating every 30 seconds.”

“My apologies, we need to quickly discuss and make a decision.”

The other members present also began discussing.

After only two minutes, a decision was made.

The leaders present promised a slew of accidental insurance compensation measures, after which irrelevant personnel were evacuated, leaving only the captain, the doctor, Gao Xin, and Bai.

They instructed Gao Xin to agree and see what happened.

The doctor was originally supposed to leave but insisted on staying to observe the situation firsthand.

“I agree.”

Gao Xin said, responding to the repeating notification.

The sweet voice abruptly ceased.

After a three-second pause, the voice changed into another soft, ethereal, delicate tone.

[Contract established.]

(Buzz—)

The instant Gao Xin heard these words, his consciousness was pulled away.

A low hum filled his ears, and in the blink of an eye, he seemed to see many fragmented images, indistinguishable afterimages, and the very truths of the universe.

[Link successful.]

His consciousness snapped back immediately.

Gao Xin tried to recall what he had seen, but nothing came to mind.

‘Why do I suddenly feel like eating meat? And I also feel like washing my face and combing my hair. My head feels a bit itchy.’

Gao Xin looked at Bai nearby.

Bai, who had been licking her paws and washing her face, paused, her eyes wide with astonishment as she stared at him.

Gao Xin found it remarkably strange to see such a vivid expression of shock on a cat’s face.

Then he shifted his gaze to his colleagues, who also wore expressions of peculiar shock.

Gao Xin panicked.

‘Did something happen to me? Am I undergoing some mutation?’

“You’re all looking at me like…” Gao Xin had barely begun to speak when he immediately felt something was wrong.

‘No, my voice isn’t right. My voice isn’t this high-pitched.’

The young man, realizing some changes had occurred, was stunned.

In an instant, a jumble of thoughts — mutation, last will, death, betrayal, rejection — flooded his mind, then dissolved into a blank void.

Gao Xin’s voice trembled slightly.

“Here… does anyone… have a… mirror?”

In a fit of panic, Gao Xin clutched his head, only to feel two soft, itchy protrusions connected to his scalp.

No one had a mirror.

The captain was the first to react, taking out his phone, snapping a photo of Gao Xin, and handing it over.

Gao Xin’s violently trembling hand took the phone, his gaze falling upon his reflection with a look of grim resolve.

He missed a beat in his breathing.

The girl in the photo had a pale, almost bluish complexion from fright, her large black eyes filled with confusion and terror, shimmering with pitiful tears.

A pair of white cat ears grew from the top of her head, drooping softly against her scalp in her panic.

Her long, thick, creamy-white hair looked as though it could envelop her entire upper body.

Her petite frame leaned slightly forward towards the camera, her loose clothing slipping down as it failed to cling to her new body, revealing a soft, rounded, smooth shoulder, as delicate as congealed fat, and a more pronounced, slender, pitiful collarbone.

‘It’s a bit too much for me.’

The captain wouldn’t play such a joke, but this was too incredible.

Reason temporarily failed to convince emotion.

Gao Xin tremblingly lowered the phone, her delicate voice quivering.

“Is… is this me?”

“Yes,” everyone replied in unison, their faces complex as they watched Gao Xin, who had been a robust boy just minutes ago, transform into a slender, soft-bodied cat-girl.

“Don’t get too agitated; you actually look quite cute like this,” the doctor said, patting Gao Xin’s head with a strange smile, secretly stroking a cat ear.

‘The texture isn’t bad at all.’

The captain, however, was more pragmatic.

He rubbed his temples, averting his gaze, and calmly spoke.

“You should put your clothes on properly first.”

Gao Xin finally realized, awkwardly pulling her clothes tighter and tying them around her now petite body.

Something also felt off around her backside.

Gao Xin quickly surmised what it was after a brief sensation, reaching back to feel it.

Sure enough, she touched a tail.

Fortunately, the tail was positioned on the lower back, slightly above the middle of the buttocks, making it relatively easy to expose directly.

‘Hmm, my tail feels really nice to the touch.’