The Record of Unusual Creatures Chapter 529: Walking a Cat is More Troublesome than Walking a Dog

Chapter 529: Walking a Cat is More Troublesome than Walking a Dog
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Let's come back to Hao Ren. He had left Raven 12345's house together with two people (including a cat). He was walking along the only commercial street in the Southern Suburbs. Rollie would not stop looking around and there were times when she almost transformed back into her cat form. But luckily, Hao Ren had been keeping an eye on her.
It was the first time that the cat girl could observe the old familiar street from a human perspective. After she transformed into a human in the wilderness the previous night, she went home to sleep early in the morning as usual. She did not have the time to go for a stroll on the street.
"It's different," the cat girl muttered while she touched her hair uncomfortably. Hao Ren quickly held her hand and warned, "Don't take off your hat! Don't wag your tail! If you get exposed, you'll never be allowed to go out again."
On the way home, Hao Ren suddenly remembered that he had to get two sets of clothing for Rollie. After all, she could not keep wearing Lily's clothes, so he took her to the shopping street. In order to prevent the cat girl from exposing her identity, he put a soft, wide-brimmed hat on her head. He then hid her tail with a coat, and also got her to carry a small backpack to cover up. Such a disguise was supposedly enough. Usually, Y'lisabet just wore a hat and contact lenses, and it worked well. However, Hao Ren had apparently underestimated a cat's nature. A simple act of keeping Rollie walking upright had already drained his energy... This cat was much more difficult to deal with than the demon princess!
Now he was glad that he had expected Rollie's inability to control her tail. He had already tied her tail to her back, and he got her to wear a very big shirt, which easily covered the tail.
But even so, Hao Ren still felt a bit scared the entire time. He was thinking about how easy it was for the cat girl to expose her identity on the street. What was he to do in the future?
He did not think that he could keep the wild cat girl at home for long. It was difficult enough to control her when she was still a cat, not to mention now when she was a human. The girl had always wanted to go out, but Hao Ren could not just let her walk on the street with her cat ears on her head and a tail behind her. This would surely become a hot topic on social media.
However, the cat girl was not aware that her owner was worried about her. She was just strolling along the street when she suddenly saw someone selling grilled fish. She got excited and rushed towards it straightaway. By the time Hao Ren saw it, she had already reached the stall and…
Then she found a safe place to squat down. And then, she kept a sharp eye on the customers who were eating grilled fish, waiting for table scraps dropping from them while being ready to flee when someone threw stones at her. She looked so skilled in it that she obviously did it very often.
Hao Ren stunned for a moment before he could react. "Come back!" he yelled.
But he was too late as the boss of the stall found a beautiful lady rushing to his stall and squatting in front of him. He thought that she wanted to buy grilled fish (although the cat girl's posture was a little out of ordinary). "Want a grilled fish?" he asked and handed her a freshly grilled fish.
The cat girl thought it was for her, so she quickly grabbed it and stuffed it into her mouth. The next second she spit it out, scratching her throat and crying, "Aargh, it hurts! Hurts so bad!!"
The boss was stunned. He had probably never seen such a sensitive tongue throughout his career and he thought that the girl was sent by the stall selling roasted mutton to disrupt his business. Luckily, Hao Ren and Nangong Sanba kept explaining and apologizing. They also bought some grilled fish from the boss and finally smoothed things out. Then, they quickly dragged the cat girl away and left the place.
"Don't you know that cats can't eat things that are too hot?!" Hao Ren stomped his foot while he scolded the cat. She was still stupid even after turning into a human. "And, don't you know that you have to pay for the food!?"
"I don't know!" the cat girl said it with pride even though her tears were on the verge of streaming down.
Hao Ren was angry, but then he thought for a moment and figured it out. Even if Rollie was able to speak the human language, she would not understand the rules of human society.
And for the first time, she knew that she could not eat anything hot. "So, that's how 'hot' feels like? The food is very hot, so it hurts to eat? But, why was I never hurt when I was eating before?"
"Because I cooled the food down before I gave it to you, and you could never pick up anything hot on the ground when you roamed outside." Hao Ren rolled his eyes and said, "Can you please listen to me? Did you forget what I've just told you? If you're exposed, you'll never be allowed to go out again."
The cat girl was not listening to Hao Ren. She just stuck out her tongue to cool it down as she muttered, "Poop Scooper, I didn't realize you've been treating me so well."
Hao Ren was furious when he heard "Poop Scooper". "How many times have I told you, stop calling me that! If you know I treat you well, then why can't you show me some respect?!"
Rollie looked at Hao Ren blankly while he scolded her. She did not understand why Hao Ren was angry, so she rubbed her head against Hao Ren's elbow and said, "Oh, Poop Scooper, feeling better now? In that case, give me a piece of dried fish!"
Hao Ren was at a lost for words.
Nangong Sanba suddenly realized something and tried to explained, "Wait, I think… Even if a cat is able to learn and speak the human language, she probably doesn't understand the concept of commendatory word and derogatory word."
Hao Ren looked at him curiously and asked, "What are you trying to say?"
"She doesn't mean to make you angry when she calls you 'Poop Scooper'," Nangong Sanba explained, "She just really thinks you're very good at… scooping poop. In the cat's worldview, this could be a profession."
Hao Ren was stunned. "…The hell?! Why do I always face such things?"
Rollie kept turning her head to looking around. Then, she scratched Hao Ren's sleeve and said, "Dried fish. I want dried fish."
There was nothing else on her mind.
Hao Ren could only give her the cooled-down grilled fish and said, "Eat this. There's no dried fish here."
The cat girl looked at the grilled fish in horror and licked it carefully. After making sure that the fish did not hurt her, she gobbled it right away. Hao Ren watched her eating the fish and felt pity for her. It was not easy for Rollie. After Lil Pea stayed in their house, everybody in the house stopped eating fish. Even if they were preparing sautéed fish, they had to do it secretly. When Rollie saw a fish, she would keep meowing at it, making sure that the fish would not suddenly jump up and hit her before she dared to eat it.
Fortunately, her brain evolved after she turned into a human, so she could tell that the grilled fish would not move. Otherwise, she would not have just squatted by the stall. There was a possibility that she would have greeted every single fish on the grill. That scene would have been more frightening, and she would probably be in the psychiatric hospital now.
"Well, I feel a little regret for bringing her out so fast," Hao Ren complained. "I should have taught her about human common sense first, so that she's well trained before she goes out."
"Accidents are more likely to happen that way. You can't tie her up with a chain. What if she runs out and causes trouble before her training's over?" Nangong Sanba explained, "Might as well take her to the streets for a few times where you can see her. Getting her to be familiar with the environment as soon as possible will probably reduce the likelihood of trouble."
Hao Ren sighed again. Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly realized that Rollie was gone again. He quickly looked around and found that the girl had run across the road. It appeared that she was trying to put her head in the trash can!
A sanitation worker stood beside the trash can and he was already stunned by the scene.
Hao Ren could only ignore the people around them and yelled, "Come back here!"
The cat girl quickly ran back to Hao Ren. Hao Ren lectured her with a straight face, "No more rummaging around in the trash can! No more picking up something to eat on the street!… Wait a minute, why are you getting more and more unstable as you walk?"
The cat girl wriggled her body awkwardly and said, "Because of my tail… It can't move, so I can't keep balance when I walk."
Hao Ren sighed deeply and said, "Forget it, let's go home now!"