Chapter 8
Fuming with righteous indignation, the little hamster delivered a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree flying kick right from the palm of the man’s hand. “Squeak, squeak!”
Take that!
The kick landed square on his benefactor’s straight nose. He made it abundantly clear through his actions that even if he was currently a tiny mouse, no human was permitted to take inappropriate liberties with him!
Mu Feiyi, who had only just seen a picture of this very hamster on a business associate’s phone, blinked behind his lenses.
“All right, I’ll take you upstairs.”
This little creature clearly excelled at escaping. Although he was lively and undeniably cute, still…
Composing himself, Second Young Master Mu quickly resumed his usual indifferent, unreadable expression.
Yet, despite his refined and dignified appearance, the little hamster soon discovered that this human was far from innocent once he held him. As they waited for the elevator, the man kept prodding his soft tummy and stroking his fur.
Puffed up with annoyance, the little hamster shoved against the long fingers rubbing his cheeks, but no matter how hard his tiny paws pushed, he couldn’t budge them an inch!
“Squeak, squeak, squeak!” How irritating—he was completely overpowered!
Mu Feiyi pressed the elevator call button. While waiting, he casually tilted his head downward, continuing to knead the tiny creature trying so desperately to push his hand away.
The hamster was milk-tea-colored, with huge, glossy black eyes, delicate ears, silky fur, and a soft, pinkish-white belly. He was indeed very handsome. Curiously, his cheek pouches looked delightfully plump, yet after so much rubbing, not a single scrap of hoarded food tumbled out.
Mu Feiyi stepped inside and tapped the button for the twelfth floor, secretly wondering if this little ball of fluff was simply overweight rather than hoarding anything.
The little hamster, whose cheeks were being squished back and forth, had no inkling of the dark suspicions lurking behind those strokes.
“Squeak, squeak, squeak~” Enough already! Stop rubbing!
He was going to be rubbed dizzy!
This human was genuinely bizarre. Why didn’t he stroke a hamster’s back or tummy like a normal person? Why was he so obsessed with kneading his cheeks?
The only time anyone had ever checked his cheek pouches like this was back when he worked at the pet shop and sneakily pinched ten pounds of premium hamster seed from the storage bin. He never dreamed that this dashing young man would greet him by grabbing his chubby face to search for stolen rations.
How petty!
Ding.
The moment the elevator chimed and the doors slid open, Mu Feiyi maintained a composed expression and lowered his hand, intending to set the hamster down so it could waddle back on its own.
To his surprise, the nimble creature darted straight up his arm, scurrying directly into the breast pocket of his suit jacket.
Tucking his round body inside, the little hamster sat down obediently. Resting his two front paws neatly over the edge of the pocket, he tilted his head, fluttering his velvety ears with an air of sweet innocence while gazing upward with large, luminous eyes.
He looked as if he were asking: What’s wrong? Why are you staring at me? Let’s go!
In reality, the little hamster had completely misread the situation. He assumed that diving into the breast pocket would protect him from any further kneading. He had no idea the human had planned to leave him in the hallway.
Mu Feiyi pressed his lips together, feeling a rare moment of awkwardness at the hamster’s shameless familiarity. No wonder this pet was left to roam free; with such a bold and unruly personality, his owners probably couldn’t find a cage capable of containing him.
Shaking his head faintly, he stepped forward and knocked on the door. Knock, knock, knock.
The door was opened by Yu Yuanzhou, who had just been discussing that despicable family with his daughter. He was visibly surprised to find Mu Feiyi standing on the welcome mat.
“Second Young Master Mu, you haven’t left yet?” Yu Yuanzhou opened the door wider, gesturing warmly for him to enter. “We had a bit of a disturbance here yesterday, so the place is quite messy. Please excuse the disarray.”
“No trouble at all.” Mu Feiyi had indeed planned to drive off after dropping Yu Yuanzhou off, but an urgent phone call had delayed him downstairs.
The moment he hung up, he had witnessed a real-life cat-and-mouse chase, complete with a remarkably clever hamster scrambling up his trouser leg to save its own skin.
Recalling the scene, Mu Feiyi tapped his breast pocket lightly. “I came up to return this little fellow.”
“This is…” Yu Yuanzhou blinked, caught off guard.
Just then, Yu Tianwei stepped out of the bedroom where she had been packing. Preparing to greet their guest, she caught sight of the pocket and let out a sharp gasp. “little hamster?!”
Why on earth are you hiding in someone else’s pocket?! And of all people, in Second Young Master Mu’s pocket?!
A cold sweat broke out across Tianwei’s back. Had this little rascal lost his common sense along with his human form? Did he not know the meaning of fear?
“Squeak, squeak, squeak~”
The little hamster gave a cheerful wave with one front paw while resting the other politely against the fabric rim.
“You’ve gone to far too much trouble, Second Young Master Mu.” Tianwei shot her brother a murderous glare before extending a polite, gracious hand to their guest. “I truly didn’t expect him to take such a liking to you.”
Had the setting been different, Tianwei would have pinned the man against the wall the second she saw him and frisked his chest to rescue her little brother.
“He was being chased by a calico cat downstairs.” Mu Feiyi gave the hamster’s head a gentle tap. “You’re home now.”
With that, he lifted the little creature out and handed him over.
As a gesture of gratitude, the hamster discreetly left a fragrant, roasted peanut behind in the gentleman’s pocket.
“Squeak, squeak.” Farewell, handsome human~
Waving his paws, the little furball settled obediently onto his sister’s shoulder.
Yu Yuanzhou exhaled a breath of relief. Glancing at his watch, he looked around the room. “Tianwei, where is your brother? Tell him to come out and greet Second Young Master Mu.”
“He… went downstairs to run an errand.” Tianwei frantically signaled her father with her eyes. Don’t ask! Stop asking questions while an outsider is standing right here!
Her father, however, didn’t catch the hint at all. Instead, he pulled out his phone. “I’ll give him a quick call,” he said, turning back to Mu Feiyi with genuine hospitality. “It’s already noon. Why don’t the four of us have lunch together?”
Then he glanced back at his daughter. “Go put that hamster into its cage so it doesn’t run outside and get hunted by cats again.”
Tianwei stood frozen, completely at a loss for words. Her father had issued three commands in a single breath, and not a single one was possible. There was no hamster cage in the house, her brother’s phone could not be answered, and having lunch required giving Little Yuan enough privacy to transform back into a human!
Desperate to smooth things over, she reached out to cover her father’s hand. “No need, Dad, really. I’ll just send him a text and tell him to come straight back.”
“Texting takes too long. I’ll just call.”
The line connected. But before Yu Yuanzhou could even bring the phone to his ear, a cheerful, metallic melody rang out from the little hamster perched on Tianwei’s shoulder:
“Ding-dong-ding, ding-dong-ding, jingle all the way!”
Mu Feiyi paused. A sudden cough caught in his throat as he fought down a burst of laughter.
“I have a prior engagement this afternoon, so I must decline lunch, Mr. Yu,” he said smoothly. “Perhaps you should take your hamster to the vet first.”
Accompanying the festive tune of Jingle Bells, the hamster’s left cheek pulsed with dazzling, multicolored lights, resembling a miniature disco ball at a nightclub.
Burned by the collective stares of three full-grown humans, the little hamster shrank back in sheer mortification. He lowered his head awkwardly to lick his paws, pretending to wash his face while using both front legs to desperately smother the glowing cheek pouch.
Next time… next time I am definitely switching off this ridiculous rainbow caller display!
“Right… of course.” Yu Yuanzhou stared at the glowing creature with an utterly bewildered expression. “Allow me to see you out, Second Young Master Mu.”
As an accomplice to the bizarre secret, Tianwei felt her soul leave her body. We’re doomed.
“Squeak, squeak, squeak~”
I leave this mess in your capable hands, Sister! Uncle, your nephew is going into hiding!
The moment Yu Yuanzhou returned after seeing their guest off, he found his normally sensible daughter crawling across the floor, chasing a hamster around the furniture. His temples throbbed with irritation.
“What are you chasing him for? Why haven’t you taken him to an animal hospital already?!”
The little hamster glanced nervously between his furious uncle and his exasperated sister. Deciding that loyalty was overrated, he promptly ducked and wedged himself deep beneath the heavy sofa.
Tianwei reached under, but her arm fell short. The little hamster had flattened himself into a furry pancake, clinging stubbornly to the dust boards and refusing to budge.
“Since you want to play hardball, don’t blame me for using my ultimate trump card!” Tianwei gritted her teeth in frustration. “I ordered twenty twenty-pound sacks of premium rice, two cases of survival biscuits, two crates of high-energy chocolate, five cases of canned luncheon meat—forty-eight tins per case—and five hundred bags of pure white sugar! Everything is being delivered to the villa this afternoon!”
Underneath the couch, the little hamster’s head snapped around.
Tianwei could swear that in that pitch-black crevice, the creature’s dark eyes lit up like two industrial searchlights.
They were literally glowing!
“If you want them, come out right now and come home with me!” Tianwei held out an index finger. “One! Two! Three—”
Before the word “three” could fully leave her lips, a milk-tea-colored blur shot out from the dark.
The hamster latched onto her finger with both paws, rubbing his fluffy face against her skin with shameless devotion. “Sister is the greatest! I love Sister the most! I’ll be your little powder puff forever!”
For food, what did a little dignity matter? What was wrong with being a sister’s personal powder puff? Hoarding supplies was the only true priority in life!
“Hmph, you little scoundrel. Did you really think I couldn’t handle you?” Tianwei scooped up her little powder puff, slipped him into her coat pocket with a gentle pat, and waved at her stunned father, whose brain had visibly short-circuited. “Let’s go, Dad. We’ll explain everything once we’re home.”
“Right…” Yu Yuanzhou followed numbly behind.
Back at the suburban villa, Yu Yuanzhou was just about to complain about the mountains of delivery boxes cluttering the foyer when he witnessed something impossible.
The little hamster bounded joyfully onto a towering, five-foot-tall cardboard crate. Opening his mouth wide, he let out a tiny, ferocious “Gulp~!”
The massive crate vanished into thin air.
Yu Yuanzhou rubbed his eyes vigorously, muttering to himself, “Am I hallucinating?”
Another “Gulp~!” echoed through the room, and a second massive container holding one hundred bags of sugar was wiped clean off the floorboards.
“So…” Yu Yuanzhou stood in the center of the living room, a trembling cigarette between his fingers as he struggled to find his voice. “Are you two telling me our family has awakened some ancient hamster demon bloodline? Tianwei, be honest with your father. I’ve read plenty of cultivation novels in my day; my mind is very progressive.
“When I was a young man, I genuinely believed I might carry the blood of the divine beasts—the Azure Dragon of the East, the White Tiger of the West, the Vermilion Bird of the South, or the Black Tortoise of the North. I figured that, at the very least, I’d end up as a mighty Black Tortoise.
“I never imagined our ancestor would be a common mouse!” He stared in profound disbelief, shaking his head. “Could it… could it come from the Pang side of the family? I always thought that dog Pang Liangjun looked like a rat-faced scoundrel. He never was any good.”
Yu Yuanzhou still clung to a shred of hope regarding his family pedigree. After all, awakening a hamster lineage felt a bit too anticlimactic for someone who envisioned himself as a novel’s heroic patriarch.
“Dad, stop overthinking things,” Tianwei sighed, pinching her brow. “At your age, you missed the window to be the main character a long time ago.”
Poking his head out of her pocket, the little hamster chimed in, “Actually, that man from earlier carries a trace of the White Tiger bloodline. It’s just uncertain whether he’ll manage to awaken it once the world descends into chaos.”
If he did, he would become an unstoppable force in the post-apocalyptic wasteland. A White Tiger beastman feared neither scorching heatwaves nor sub-zero blizzards. Once his power reached a high enough tier, a single roar could freeze mutated beasts in their tracks.
Yu Yuanzhou’s chest tightened in sudden realization. “You mean Second Young Master Mu?”
The pieces fell into place. If it were that man, it actually made complete sense. The Mu family was an immense and ruthless clan, riddled with endless internal strife and treacherous power struggles, yet Mu Feiyi held the entire household under his iron thumb with effortless ease.
Taking a deep drag from his cigarette, Yu Yuanzhou’s tone turned deadly serious. “Is an apocalypse truly coming?”
“Yes, in just over two weeks,” Tianwei answered. She pulled a miniature pet hair accessory from her purse and clipped it onto the hamster’s head. “Little Yuan remembered everything yesterday when that bastard slammed his head into the wall. I planned to go over our strategy the moment you returned.”
The accessory consisted of tiny pink bunny ears trimmed with delicate white lace, topped off with an oversized satin bow right in the center.
The little hamster bristled with outrage. He immediately reached up with both paws, yanking the offending headband off and tossing it aside.
“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”
He was a proud young male! How could he possibly wear such a frilly, ridiculous hair clip?!
Besides, he saw right through her scheme. Today it was pink bunny ears; tomorrow these strange human girls would force him into frilly dresses, velvet cloaks, and bizarre miniature bikinis!
He utterly refused! Such dangerous habits had to be crushed in the cradle!
As the family calmed down, Yu Yuanzhou watched the hamster systematically sweep an entire truckload of supplies into his dimensional pockets. To erase any remaining doubt, the boy shifted back into his human form before transforming into a hamster once more right before his uncle’s eyes.
Had this merely been a case of Little Yuan claiming to “remember the future,” Yu Yuanzhou and his daughter would have dragged the boy straight to a psychiatric ward. But facing the reality of dimensional storage and live animal transformations…
“We should buy out an entire supermarket,” Tianwei suggested in a low voice. “Even if the catastrophe doesn’t happen, we can always resell the stock.”
“Nonsense,” Yu Yuanzhou countered sharply. “If a real apocalypse strikes, hoarding through a retail store is pointless. It would be far easier to just scavenge abandoned supermarkets once society collapses.
“During these next two weeks, our priority must be absolute secrecy.”
Part of Yu Yuanzhou wanted to warn the public, but doing so would instantly turn them into targets. Authorities and shadowy figures would demand to know how they possessed such intelligence, eventually uncovering their spatial abilities and massive stockpile of resources. In an era of survival, the Yu family had only the three of them to rely on.
As much as he wished to consider the greater good, he could not gamble with the lives of his children.
His jaw tightened as he looked at them. “Neither of you has breathed a word of this to anyone else, correct?”
Both children nodded vigorously. The phantom bunny ears seemed to bounce along with Little Yuan’s eager nods as his tiny tongue nervously moistened his lips.
“Good. Then we divide and conquer,” Yu Yuanzhou said, breathing a sigh of relief.
Reaching into his suit jacket, he pulled out a black credit card and handed it directly to the little hamster. “Take this and buy whatever you want. Hoard everything you can possibly think of.
“As for your sister and me, we have other preparations to make.”
