"But this is what I look like."
The black cat spoke—yet the voice that came out belonged unmistakably to a human teenage boy.
"Or rather… what did you expect me to be, Lord Wei Qing? Or should I address you as Lord Ravager Qingzhou?"
The moment the cat finished speaking, something astonishing happened.
Centered on the black cat, the bustling crowd, the noisy street—everything—began to distort and fade, like an oil painting submerged in water. Colors bled away into warped smears.
In the end, the entire world froze into a still, gray-white tableau.
Only the space where two people and one cat stood retained its original color.
Firefly sucked in a sharp breath and instinctively retreated half a step.
Her body snapped into a defensive posture again, eyes locked on the cat that had just spoken.
It really wasn't simple. And it knew Mr. Wei Qing's other identity.
Wei Qing, however, looked completely unsurprised. He merely regarded the cat calmly.
"A name's just a label. What I'm curious about is why you're only showing up now."
"I've been waiting for you for a long time."
"Meow." The cat let out a soft, almost mocking sound, then padded closer with unhurried grace, tail curling around its front paws as it sat.
"I crossed countless tributaries of the future just to pin down the coordinates of this moment. And you're not even curious why I'm here?"
"If you came to reclaim an 'actor' from your script…" Wei Qing's gaze drifted, almost casually, to the tense Firefly beside him. "Then you'll be disappointed. She's mine now."
Firefly's cheeks warmed at the blunt possessiveness in his words.
But her expression only hardened. She stepped forward, subtly placing herself between Wei Qing and the cat, as if to shield him.
The black cat chuckled low.
"Relax. I never force actors onto the stage. Fate has its arrangements—those meant to meet will meet, and those meant to leave will leave."
"I'm just an observer," it continued lazily, "someone who occasionally enjoys feeding the right line at the right time."
Its gaze shifted to Firefly.
"Sam. Seeing you slip free of your predetermined ending and regain vitality… that alone is an exceptionally interesting variable. Congratulations."
Firefly froze.
Sam?
The unfamiliar name sent an inexplicable tremor through her chest.
She looked instinctively toward Wei Qing—
—but Wei Qing moved faster.
Before Firefly could even fully process what she'd heard, he bent down and reached out.
"Meow?!" The cat's face—its cat face—flashed with genuine surprise, as if it hadn't expected Wei Qing to attack at all… much less in such a childish way.
Wei Qing pinched the black cat neatly by the scruff and lifted it up to eye level.
With his other hand, he began kneading the fluffy cat head without mercy, rough and shameless, like he was using a stress ball.
"Meow—hey! Let go!" the cat yowled, legs flailing in midair, four white paws bicycling furiously as it tried to maintain the dignity of someone who claimed to orchestrate destiny.
"Male cat," Wei Qing said flatly, continuing to rub its head into chaos. "Talks too much. A walking riddle. Even more annoying."
Firefly stood there, utterly dumbstruck, her brain practically stalling out.
"M-Mr. Wei Qing…" she ventured cautiously, trying to defuse the absurdity. "It… it looks like it's suffering?"
"It's acting," Wei Qing replied, flicking the cat a look. "This part probably wasn't in its script."
Then he released it.
The cat landed lightly and immediately hopped back a few steps, shaking its fur vigorously to restore its 'mysterious' composure—though the slightly puffed tail tip still betrayed its irritation.
"Rude," the black cat muttered, voice steady again, but with a faint edge of gritted teeth. "Is this how you treat a potential collaborator, Qingzhou?"
"Collaborator?" Wei Qing raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you just say you were an observer who only feeds lines? What, now you want to step onto the stage yourself?"
"If I don't step in now," the cat said, tilting its head, "I'm afraid there won't be any 'me' left to matter later."
"My original draft has been rewritten beyond recognition—maybe even invalidated entirely. And that's because of you."
It paused, cat eyes glittering with a strange, unfathomable depth.
"Many events that were once inevitable are now filled with variables. And many things that were once impossible… have begun to sprout, however faintly."
"For a playwright chasing an ending, that's a nightmare."
Then it looked up at Wei Qing, gaze sharpening.
"You saw that future involving Finality, didn't you?"
"How about it? I can help you resolve that little problem."
"And?" Wei Qing folded his arms, waiting.
"Join me."
"Become a Stellaron Hunter. Together, we'll prevent the ending of Finality."
The cat's eyes no longer looked merely feline—they felt like they reflected countless threads of destiny, like stars bound into a single pupil.
"Prevent Finality?" Wei Qing's voice held a hint of amused coldness. "Elio, that's a big mouth you've got."
"And you should know this, too—according to that future, I die at the hands of Finality."
"You just said you could help me, and now this 'Finality-aligned' person is inviting me to join up. Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?"
His tone was calm, but the threat inside it was razor-sharp.
For a brief moment, Elio seemed to be bearing an invisible pressure, as if countless weights had settled onto his small body—after all, in the entire cosmos, there were few beneath the Aeons who possessed anything close to Wei Qing's grasp of the Paths.
Yet Elio still answered, unhurried.
"Wei Qing. You understand this."
"Finality is an Aeon that walks from the future into the past. The fact that it kills a future version of you doesn't mean it wants to kill you."
"It's only using that outcome to bind you to Finality—that's all. There's no malice."
"Bind me?" Wei Qing's voice cooled further. "With death as the method of 'connection'? I'll pass on that kind of honor."
"To Finality, time isn't linear. Death isn't an end." Elio's gaze stayed steady. "And while I was born from Finality, everything I do is to prevent Finality."
He lifted his head, eyes fixed on Wei Qing with a sharp, intent glow.
"It's precisely because you saw that future that you chose to leave the Xianzhou early."
"Stealing the Arbor wasn't only about power. It was about stepping off the predetermined track and searching for a way to break the board, wasn't it?"
"Otherwise, you could have stayed and enjoyed your generalship."
"And it's precisely because of that 'intervention' that we're standing here now."
Elio's voice softened—strangely earnest for a creature currently wearing a cat's body.
"So?"
"Join the Stellaron Hunters."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 32
Uma Musume: From Beginner 26
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