The Future We Want to Change

“Purr, purr… Meow!”

The Cat—or rather, Xuan Bai, her new name, often shortened to Bai—was happily purring, vigorously chewing the soft, pink, long strip of food in her mouth.

It seemed to be called a ham sausage.

Bai found it somewhat perplexing how the creatures living here assigned a name to every single thing they saw.

Moreover, each individual creature even had its own name.

Oh, these creatures also had a name: humans.

And now, she had one too: Xuan Bai.

It was confusing, yet she loved it.

Good things always seemed to happen whenever someone called her by that name!

Still, it did not matter!

Bai was exceptionally clever!

Even if she didn’t understand it now, she surely would in the future!

Besides, her lack of understanding didn’t seem to hinder her life here at all.

Suddenly, Bai felt a surge of pride.

She lifted her head high, coincidentally swallowing the last bite of food, and joyfully swayed her head.

Ah, right, she almost forgot!

Although this thing called a ham sausage didn’t catch fire and wasn’t actually an intestine, and it probably wasn’t very nutritious… it was delightfully salty and delicious!

Therefore, she needed to thank her feeder!

Bai trotted cheerfully, pat-pat-pat, towards the old woman sitting on a small bamboo chair in front of her.

She wove in a figure-eight pattern around the old woman’s pant legs, coaxing the elderly woman to extend her wrinkled, bony hand and stroke her head.

“Oh… such a good cat, such a good cat.”

Bai rubbed hard against the old woman’s palm, only then content to stop.

The clever Bai had a profound insight into humans!

Letting them pet her was a reward!

And being petted felt wonderfully comfortable, too.

Bai couldn’t help but rub against the old woman’s palm once more, then flopped onto the ground, completely relaxed, lying on her side beside the old woman to bask in the sun together.

Bai had been here for almost two months.

Liu, the pancake seller who brought her back, seemed to have done so on a whim.

He hadn’t caged her, nor had he abandoned her.

He simply made a nest under the eaves from a wooden box and some old rags, occasionally remembering to offer her some food.

However, Bai didn’t like the food he fed her.

There was no particular reason, except that it gave her diarrhea, and the taste was too strong.

Gradually, Liu stopped bothering to feed her properly.

Nevertheless, Bai still quite liked him.

Sometimes, when she encountered Liu eating upon his return home, he would give her two pieces of meat!

Bai would sleep at night and roam all over town during the day.

Since there weren’t many other cats around, and a cat who loved observing all sorts of things couldn’t miss the bustling daytime, she simply adopted a similar routine to most humans.

Moreover, during one public spectacle, Bai was seen triumphantly chewing on a rat snake she’d caught in the small plaza where the elderly often gathered to chat.

This act earned her a high favorability rating from all the seniors.

How should one put it… she was glad they didn’t have any particular aversion to seeing a cat hunt snakes.

Two months should have been enough time for a kitten to grow considerably, but The Cat seemed to have grown only a tiny bit.

This was perhaps for the best, allowing her to enjoy the happiness of “the food is bigger than me” for a long time.

After a day of wandering, Bai, the street loafer, squeezed back into her home through the door crack, just as Liu was having dinner… Hmm… perhaps The Cat deliberately timed her return?

“Xuan Bai, Xiao Bai, come!”

Hearing The Cat’s return, Liu picked up a piece of fatty pork from his plate and called out to her.

“Woof!”

Bai joyfully ran over.

(Wait, was something amiss?)

“Hahahahahaha!”

Hearing this, the couple at the dinner table couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“Little one, you’re a cat!”

“Since when did you pick up a second language?”

Amidst the laughter, The Cat felt perplexed.

She hesitantly lay down and rolled over.

“Meow?”

Then, after a moment’s hesitation, she let out another bark.

Seeing them laugh even harder, Bai couldn’t comprehend.

Her pupils narrowed into thin slits as she tried to understand.

!

Bai didn’t see the reason for their happiness, but she saw the soon-to-be empty courtyard.

Where were they?

Bai suppressed the pressure of a flood of incomprehensible information assaulting her mind, craning her head even more carefully to observe the man’s face, which had already begun to blur and abstract.

The Cat saw colossal rocks crumbling, trees toppling, and the earth, like an enraged giant, bringing forth mountain-shaking, sea-rocking power.

Under such power, the cat saw this couple who had once petted her; they would both lose their future.

Just like the great cat who had raised her, they would return to dust.

“Earthquake.”

She learned a new, unheard-of word, but Bai no longer had the energy to think.

She dragged her weak body, without even touching the meat, back to her little box to rest.

“What’s wrong all of a sudden?”

The couple exchanged glances.

“Is she sick?”

After resting for a short while, The Cat recovered completely, which the couple could only attribute to a cat’s nervous disposition.

“Hmm…”

The Cat slowly recovered from the information overload, sinking back into thought.

Having experienced an event called “death,” she somewhat understood that turning to dust was a very bad thing.

So, now that she had seen it, she absolutely had to change that future.

But The Cat’s abilities couldn’t prevent a natural disaster.

What should she do then?

Bai diligently recalled the scene she had witnessed.

The mild earthquake wouldn’t collapse houses, but it would trigger a landslide that would happen to affect the couple as they drove by in their electric tricycle.

“Injury leads to death, going out leads to injury, so prevent them from going out.”

Soon, the clever Bai deduced this logic.

The earthquake would occur in three sunrises and sunsets; there was still time.

Bai’s small brain worked diligently: how could she prevent them from going out?

The next day, as Liu was about to go out for a walk, he encountered an obstruction.

Looking at The Cat, who was biting his pant leg and pulling backward with all her might, he slowly raised a hand to scratch his head, then lifted one foot.

(0~0)!!!

Bai was lifted up, her face filled with shock.

The incident concluded with two new holes in Liu’s pant leg and Bai suffering from a toothache for a long time.

The brute force prevention plan had failed.

After this failure, Bai, for the first time, wished she could grow a little bigger.

Only two days remained.

So, the next day, Liu, who was going to the dried goods store to buy groceries, again encountered an obstruction as he was about to leave.

Bai lay on her back in the middle of the doorway, belly exposed.

Liu stopped, squatted down to stroke her belly fur, then stepped over her.

The Cat immediately realized this wouldn’t do.

She quickly got up, chased after him, and lay down in front of him again, blocking his path.

Then, she fully utilized her experience living in human society during this time—emitting the most affected, sharpest, most human-attracting meow possible.

Liu stopped, then scooped Bai into his pocket.

(0ω0)?

The matter eventually concluded with Bai accompanying him to the dried goods store, only to return sneezing from being choked by pepper.

The charming obstruction plan had failed.

Incidentally, Bai’s wish to grow bigger intensified a little.

Only one day remained.