Chapter 34
This guy wants to eat their pet food?
Looking at his sallow… well, Ling Ye wasn’t actually sallow or emaciated, just incredibly thin. He looked quite different from the typical well-fed, wealthy scions of Bestia Academy.
Without a nameplate, it was impossible to tell his rank within the academy. was he so poor he couldn’t afford a meal? Was he a specially-enrolled student?
Bai Yuzhou seemed to read Yan He’s mind and whispered, “He doesn’t look like a specially-enrolled student.”
Simply put, it was about his bearing. Many specially-enrolled students subconsciously felt inferior when meeting the rich kids, acting somewhat constrained and unable to relax.
But the person in front of them clearly didn’t have that issue. His attitude was composed, except for the burning gaze fixed on the palm of Yan He’s hand.
Yan He immediately retorted, “Look in the mirror yourself. Just because someone is handsome doesn’t mean they can’t be a specially-enrolled student? Roommate, that is absolute prejudice!”
Bai Yuzhou froze on the spot, savoring Yan He’s words, a touch of joy quietly sprouting in his heart.
Bai Yuzhou had always known he was good-lookingâhe was one of the handsomest guys in his villageâbut he had never paid much attention to it before. Now, however… he was genuinely happy.
So, Yan He thought he was handsome, too.
Ling Ye gripped the handful of cheap cat food, his suspicious gaze darting between Yan He and Bai Yuzhou. Are these two specially-enrolled students a couple? Flirting right in front of me?
But right now, his bodily functions, depleted by starvation, weren’t sufficient for him to ponder the relationships of strangers. Ling Ye’s eyes stared straight at the brown, triangular kibble in his hand.
The stray cat beside him meowed at Ling Ye, clearly still hungry and wanting to eat.
Ling Ye immediately tossed the cat food into his mouth and chewed. It was slightly salty, with a strong, fishy chicken flavor exploding in his mouth, mixed with the taste of wheat bran. It was indeed very cheap cat food.
It wasn’t exactly delicious, but for a stray animal, at least it was filling.
Yet, being stared at by Yan He gave Ling Ye an indescribably strange sense of satisfaction. Unable to distinguish if it was psychological or physiological, Ling Ye stuffed another small handful into his mouth.
Yan He stared, dumbfounded. “Ah? Bro, you’re actually eating it?”
Does this guy have pica or something?
The students in the academy could indeed transform into beasts, but heâd never seen anyone actually eat pet food.
Yan He’s entire attention was captivated by this Ling Ye who had popped out of nowhere. Ling Ye simply reached out and grabbed another handful from Yan He’s hand.
Yan He looked indescribable. He leaned close to Bai Yuzhou and whispered, “Does our academy recruit students with low IQs?”
If a person with low intelligence also happened to be able to transform, the academy would probably admit them according to the rules, right? Otherwise, an uncontrolled transformation outside would be hard to manage.
Ling Ye: “…”
Bai Yuzhou: “…”
“Young Master! Young Master! Where did you run off to?” wailing cries came from behind them as several men looking like bodyguards sprinted over.
They had been enthusiastically discussing global cuisine with the managerâespecially the academy’s pride, the Eight Great Cuisinesâonly to turn around and find Ling Ye gone!
This was a disaster! If he accidentally got into a conflict with students in the academy… Ling Ye hadn’t eaten in three days and was practically skin and bones. Even if his beast form was a snow leopard, he would likely struggle to compete with other beasts.
The bodyguard spotted the strange expressions on the two specially-enrolled students’ faces at a glance. Terrified that they might bully his young master, he lunged forward, grabbing Ling Ye’s sleeve to pull him behind him.
The moment he grabbed the sleeve, the bodyguard caught a glimpse of Ling Ye’s face out of the corner of his eye: “?????”
Ling Ye’s handsome face, which had been sunken for so long, now had bulging cheeks because his mouth was stuffed with something, giving him a false sense of plumpness.
The Young Master… is eating?
And he took such a big bite!
Hahahaha! The rumors that the Xia Empire is the world’s culinary capital are true! Their young master started eating the moment he arrived!
Not only did Ling Ye hold it in his mouth, but the bodyguard stared intently at his throat as his Adam’s apple bobbed gentlyâhe swallowed the food!
The Young Master ate!
The bodyguard was incredibly agitated. “Which great chef possesses such skill? We must hire them as a private chef immediately!”
Yan He paused for a moment, then chimed in, “Uh, Meow-Di-Fu.”
The bodyguard froze. “……?”
Why does that sound like a cat food brand?!
And looking at the stray cats and dogs around, it was definitely cheap cat food.
Holy crap, was that mouthful the Young Master just stuffed in actually cat food and not some other delicacy? Is he faint from hunger?
For a moment, the bodyguards couldn’t decide whether it was better to let him eat cheap cat food or to rush Ling Ye to the school hospital for a nutrient IV to maintain his vitals.
The bodyguard immediately moved to take Ling Ye away from the scene. Ling Ye gave a hum of acknowledgment, seemingly a bit reluctant to leave.
Yan He simply reached into the ten-jin bag, grabbed another handful, and stuffed it into Ling Ye’s pocket. “Take this to eat on the way. Don’t go hungry.”
Yan He couldn’t help but advise Ling Ye’s bodyguards, “Since he has this symptom, don’t go too hard against him.”
“This classmate is so thin. If he really likes eating this stuff, buy some freeze-dried raw meat. It’ll help him gain weight and develop his jowls.”
Sunken cheeks really detracted from his handsomeness. Male cats could develop jowls, after all.
The bodyguards left in silence with Ling Ye, though the attentive head bodyguard made a specific note of the cat food brand.
A long time later, the head bodyguard asked Ling Ye, “Does that student’s family sell freeze-dried cat food?”
Ling Ye didn’t answer. He fished a small handful of cat food out of his trouser pocket. His palm was greasy, but weirdly enough… it looked appetizing.
Ling Ye sat in the private car worth tens of millions, letting the bodyguards drive him to the exchange student villa.
Ling Ye watched the lush green mountain scenery outside the window while tossing cat food into his mouth.
Bestia Academy was nice in every way, except the weather cooled down too slowly. As a snow leopard used to surviving in high mountains, he still found the current temperature too hot.
It was time to consider creating an artificial snowfall around his villa.
The cat food exploded in his mouth with a fishy chicken flavor. It truly wasn’t tasty, yet he could swallow it. Ling Ye thought for a moment and stated with certainty, “There’s a food attractant in the cheap cat food.”
The bodyguards didn’t dare respond. Forget it. Over the years, the family had tried every method imaginable to get this little ancestor to eat just one more bite. If food attractants actually worked, Ling Ye would have been fine long ago.
During the short drive along the mountain road to the exchange student villa, Ling Ye finished every bit of the cat food in his pocket.
He turned his pocket inside out to ensure not a single grain remained.
He had eaten it all.
Ling Ye took a sip of the glacial water in the car, seeming slightly regretful.
He gave too little.
Seeing this, the bodyguard ignored the bizarre behavior of Ling Ye eating cheap cat food and immediately ordered someone to go to the 24-hour pet supermarket on campus to buy the exact same brand.
When Ling Ye arrived at the exchange student villa, the place had long been cleaned and was waiting for its master. Ling Ye didn’t have high demands for accommodation, so he sat down on the sofa.
Mostly because he hadn’t eaten much, and standing for too long was tiring. He rested for a while and called his mother to report his safe arrival.
The head bodyguard had already returned with the same brand of cat food and was busy in the kitchen.
“It’s good that you arrived safely. Studying doesn’t matter; Mom just begs you to eat a couple more bites of rice. Don’t come back in three months looking like a dried corpse!” On the video call, a graceful and elegant woman looked at Ling Ye with a helpless expression.
Just as her voice fell, the head bodyguard walked over carrying an exceptionally exquisite dining plate. On the plate lay delicate silverware. “Young Master, sorry for the wait. Please, taste it.”
Mother Ling’s eyes lit up. Sending my son as an exchange student to the Xia Empire’s beast academy was indeed the right choice.
“Little Ye, are you eating Sichuan cuisine or Hunan…???”
Staring through the screen at the food piled on that incomparably exquisite dining plate, Mother Ling fell into deep contemplation.
Has the Xia Empire’s cuisine evolved to this level? They can make gourmet food look exactly like cat food! Or have I been eating bland ‘white people food’ for so long I can’t recognize fine dining?
Ling Ye’s fork couldn’t pierce the kibble, so he simply used his hand to grab a few pieces, tossing them into his mouth like peanuts.
The bodyguard looked expectant, practically begging for praise. “Young Master, this cat food is exactly the same brand as the one you just ate. I checked the ingredient list specifically when I bought it; even the packaging is identical!”
Mother Ling: …Huh? It really is cat food?
My silly son has started eating cat food? That dining plate is probably more expensive than the entire bag of food.
Mother Ling thought about it seriously. If her son was willing to eat cat food, that was fine too. She could just open a cat food factory for him later, optimize the formula, make it clean and hygienic, and produce it specifically for him.
It was just a difference in the shape of the food, nothing more.
How could a snow leopard not count as a big cat?!
If it went well, they could even expand into the pet industry. The upper-class circle kept pets too, and feeding them high-end food showed off a rich person’s style and satisfied their vanity.
The cat food stayed in Ling Ye’s mouth for less than two seconds before he decisively spat it out, disgusted.
“Even a dog wouldn’t eat this!”
Ling Ye refused to eat it and immediately turned his head away.
Mother Ling sighed. She knew her bratty son wasn’t that easy to satisfy!
Ling Ye kept a straight face as he exchanged a few more pleasantries with his mother before hanging up.
It was truly strange. The texture was clearly the same, yet he just couldn’t swallow it. The food from that cat-feeding boy’s hand was obviously much tastier.
Ling Ye unconsciously touched his shriveled stomach. This organ of his was indeed weird.
Yan He didn’t take the brother with pica to heart and focused on distributing the rest of the pet food.
Bai Yuzhou, sensitive as always, whispered, “Someone is watching us again.”
Yan He didn’t have Bai Yuzhou’s sensitivity. He looked up and glanced at Pan Ze, who was bored enough to be playing with ants under a tree not far away. “You mean Little Pan?”
Nowadays, Yan He no longer called Pan Ze “Brother Ze.”
Bai Yuzhou shook his head. It wasn’t that spotted hyena Pan Ze; it was someone else.
He couldn’t tell who it was for the moment.
“Done feeding? Let’s go, I’ll drive you back to the apartment.” Pan the Lackey consciously came over, dragging Yan He toward the car.
Yan He looked back. “My roommate…”
Pan Ze glared viciously at Bai Yuzhou and sneered, “Does he not have legs? He can roll back himself!”
Bai Yuzhou was used to this attitude from the students in the academy. Watching Pan Ze’s luxury car speed away, Bai Yuzhou slowly walked toward the apartment.
As soon as Yan He and Bai Yuzhou left, a chubby figure squeezed out from the second floor of Canteen No. 10 and sneakily approached the area.
He had been secretly watching from the second floor for a long time.
Although he was a rich kid, his beast form was just a fat orange cat with little combat power.
Ever since Yan He rua-ed (petted) him in the Third Auditorium and turned him back into human form, and then watching Yan He take first place in the Colosseum, and seeing Yan He even beat He Shao in the Big Examâthis was simply the script of a pitiful specially-enrolled protagonist in a noble academy novel!
This Fat Orange had always had a good impression of Yan He but suffered from a lack of opportunity to get close to him.
Fat Orange Brother chuckled mischievously. If I transform and hide among the stray cats to eat, Yan He won’t find out, right?
Fat Orange stared at the stray cats and dogs fighting over the last bit of pet food Yan He had distributed, his eyes shining.
Fat Orange loved to admire the strong.
He felt he didn’t need to admire the strong from afar anymore, because his strong one was right here!
