My Notoriety Spreads Throughout the World

Chapter 541 471: Stray Cat

"This means, choosing Xin as the Tag Catcher is akin to having an invincible buff slot. Even if the other side chooses the guerrilla slot, we don't need to focus too much on the team's overall survival."

"What about you?" Bai Youyou glanced at her.

"Don't worry, this time I'm well-stocked." Xu Xiaoyou's hands flicked, and dozens of skill cards appeared, including a [Life and Death Boundary].

"If the opponent decides to make a breakthrough at me, it would be the worst decision they've ever made."

Angelina was speechless. From her understanding of Xu Xiaoyou, when she starts declaring victory, she usually soon hits a setback.

"Welcome to... the Asimov platform, the Skyline special express train... will soon depart, today's journey... ends at the Skyline, wishing you... a wonderful day."

The platform announcement sounded again. Different from the gentle and pleasant female voice earlier, this time the voice was glitchy, becoming hoarse and piercing, like a scratched tape, chilling to the bone.

The surrounding bionics let out a 'tssr' sound, their bodies convulsed violently, modeling stretched infinitely long until their heads nearly touched the station ceiling, inches of skin fluttering on flesh like paper strips, written with tags defining them.

The platform suddenly darkened, an invisible suffocation seemed to rush like seawater, covering the girls' feet, then up their calves, waists, and bellies, until even their heads were submerged, the air covered in a layer of writhing shadow, akin to an old TV's snow screen flickering, with mocking, blood-red eyes opening.

An ominous, terrifying atmosphere began to spread.

"It's the designers' whim, let's get on the train." Xu Xiaoyou's face was expressionless.

As the girls stepped onto the train, the yellow indicator lights on the ground lit up—[Stop Crossing]. The train doors closed, and all bionics instantly returned to normal. Light music played in the carriage, youths wore headphones, heads down listening to songs, while white-collar workers stood upright, fearing to leave a bad impression.

Inside the long train car, every few dozen meters stood a Disciplinary Officer, clutching the New Gospel, their cold eyes scanning the crowd. The bionics steered clear of them, preferring to squeeze rather than step within a half-step radius with the Officer at the center.

As the train was about to start, a young man with a scar on his face ran in hurriedly, looking anxious as he carried a barely alive cat, its breath weak, eyes bloodshot, and an imprint of a shoe on its collapsed abdomen.

"Does anyone have emergency freezing spray, I can pay for it!" As soon as he boarded, the youth nervously shouted.

"Bringing wild animals onto the train, acting recklessly without thinking, disciplinary action." The Disciplinary Officer spoke coldly, writing with a feather pen in the New Gospel, recording the incident in the youth's recent beacon.

"Ew, gross, could it have germs? Please keep it away."

"Exactly, so disgusting, bringing wild animals onto the train, does this person have mental issues, what's going through their mind?"

"Is this cat your parent? How come we don't see you panicked when your parents have an accident?"

Someone checked the youth's past beacon, the tone mocking.

"The kitten got kicked, now it can't catch its breath."

"Why haven't these stray cats died already? Who's still feeding them, and if they scratch someone would you take responsibility?"

Listening to the cold ridicule around him, the youth said nothing, only repeating his words, bowing his head slowly, speaking in a voice only he could hear:

"It's not a stray cat, it's clean, not all cats scratch people, it's just... just my friend."

Then, a punk-styled girl blowing bubble gum stepped out, black lipstick adorning her lips, hands in pockets leaning against the train door:

"Emergency spray won't help, in this state, it can't survive."

"I know, I just hope, before dying, Xiaoye won't be in so much pain."

The youth watched the closed eyes of the cat in his arms, losing vitality, without much sorrow in his eyes. He sighed and wrapped the cat in his coat.

"Xiaoye, hahahaha, are you making me laugh? A well-built lad naming a filthy stray cat Xiaoye?" The girl pressed her shoulders in laughter but found the youth calmly watching her.

"It's not a stray cat, it's Xiaoye, and it's not dirty."

"You don't look like someone with a home, those wandering outside are all called stray cats, and stray cats are all dirty." The girl spoke through her bubble. "You might wash and groom it daily, but I tell you, it can't be cleaned, it has parasites, even with pests removed, there's still a stench."

"I know, you might want to say not all cats are like that, at least your Xiaoye isn't." The girl shrugged,

"But the fact is, people don't have time to find a gold nugget in a pile of garbage."

"Then are we homeless?" the youth asked.

"What are you talking about, I may not have a place to live, but I bathe daily, you might call it idle..." The girl hesitated.

"So a street thug?" The youth showed his tag — 'Street Thug', a profession the Disciplinary Officer defined for him.

"Damn it, I just got a job offer from a company today through connections, planning for an interview. I thought about advising you, such bad luck." The girl turned on her heel, cursing out loud as she left.

"I'm not like you, soon I'll have a decent job, can support myself, have a place to live. My tomorrow is colorful!"

"Can't be cleaned," the youth said behind her.

"Can't be cleaned..."

The brief spectacle ended. The youth approached the Disciplinary Officer, spat, lit a cigarette, revealing muscular arms marked with burns, so those who had chided him fell silent, eyes either disdainful or fear-stricken, standing further away.

The youth accepted his points penalty, dropped from 52 to 51, he nonchalantly hugged the bundled clothing, crouched in a corner staying silent.

The discourse began.

"Feels a bit ironic, but I don't think this matter is worth empathy, nor should be encouraged. Bringing stray wild animals onto a train is brainless behavior in itself."

"Correct. We're humans, when stray cats overrun, we dispatch specialists to hunt them because we stand at the top of the food chain, we act in accordance with nature."

"What if it's 'us' overrunning? Does a similar food chain exist in our society? What kind of tags are put on us? That's the question to ponder, not limited to the stray cat itself."

"Defining tags for an entity, huh?"

"Damn it, who kicked the cat, don't they deserve punishment?"

"Haha, that's funny, wouldn't some still sympathize if the game designers swapped the cat for a cockroach?"

"Are cockroaches just disgusting things to you?"

"Or what? If it crawled on you wouldn't you flee?"

"Then you better never use anything related to cockroaches your whole life oh."

"Do you think I'm stupid? How could I be ignorant enough to eat a cockroach!"

With the pleasant female announcer's voice sounding, the electronic sign at the train's upper left changed.

[Asimov Memorial Square→Huoxun Medical Center]

The train began its journey, the platform scene retreated, the game officially began.

"Game Rule 1: Evade 'Tag Catcher' pursuit, survive to the fifth stop, the endpoint Skyline, game over."

"Game Rule 2: Your actions are limited. As you lower your score, behavioral restrictions will gradually be lifted."

"Game Rule 3: The train will stop at each station for ten minutes. At that time, the 'Tag Catcher's pursuit ability will be restricted."