They say pets are our silent friends, while humans are the animals with the strongest desire to vent. So, after composing herself, Xin Huohuo began to ramble aloud.
"I think I had a dream… a nightmare." She frowned, her voice hesitant. "It must have been a dream, but it felt so incredibly real. I dreamed… I dreamed of two men…"
*Woof!* 'That idiot Mr. Hei, the memory wipe wasn't a complete success.'
*Meow!* 'You do it then, if you think you're so great!'
Xin Huohuo glanced at her inexplicably vocal "pets" and was suddenly hit by a comforting sense of normalcy. The so-called dream now felt completely unreal, and just like that, her lingering fear vanished.
"I didn't see their faces—it was too dark in the dream. But thinking back on it, they had nice builds. Both were tall and stood straight. They must be young and handsome, right?" Her mind began to wander.
*Woof…* 'Of course! We're total heartthrobs.'
*Meow…* 'How can these two be so carefree?'
"The two of them were trying to take my clothes off. The slightly taller one was the one doing it. But they were bickering the entire time, just like little kids. Hmm, actually, now that I think about it, their conduct was so pure they were practically gentlemen. A far cry from the perverted deviants I'd imagined."
*Woof!* 'I *am* a gentleman! And I wasn't trying to take off your clothes, I was looking for my Mana, okay?'
*Meow.* 'There's clearly only one childish one here.'
"I've thought it over. I must have been single for too long. That's why I'd dream about handsome guys—two of them at once, no less. As for the whole 'taking off my clothes' part… I guess that technically qualifies as an erotic dream." Since she was talking to "pets that couldn't understand human language," Xin Huohuo wasn't embarrassed at all and just let her thoughts fly. "Still, they couldn't have been good guys. It's obvious—anyone appearing in an erotic dream is a total rogue. A pervy girl and a couple of rogues… I've got nothing to feel guilty about. Phew! Time to get up and look for a job!" She hopped out of bed and scooped up her phone.
"Why did it shut down on its own?" She pressed the power button a few times to turn it back on. "Come on, please just hang in there, no matter how much you're gasping for air. I don't have the money for a new phone!" With that, she threw on a cardigan, grabbed her toiletries, and headed to the women's restroom upstairs to wash her face and brush her teeth, leaving Bai Qi and Mr. Hei behind in the room.
"I can feel the lost Mana again!" Bai Qi said, pleasantly surprised.
"I feel it too. It was so sudden," Mr. Hei frowned. "There wasn't a single trace of it before."
"It's because she woke up."
"That's not it! She's been awake for a while and talking nonsense the whole time, but I didn't feel anything then."
"She didn't do anything special, though. She just turned on her phone…"
The cat and dog stared at each other, each seeing a silent, suggestive message in the other's eyes.
"Impossible." Bai Qi shook his little doggy head. "It's just an inanimate object, a mere communication tool for modern humans. How could it possibly contain Mana?"
Mr. Hei didn't reply, instead focusing on recalling the events. "Yesterday, when you felt the Mana on her, she was lying on her back, holding her phone up to look at it. The phone was positioned right above her chest…"
"Then her phone fell on the floor and shut off, and the sensation vanished…"
The cat and dog stared at each other again, both stunned.
It was hard to believe, but the facts were laid out right in front of them, making disbelief impossible!
Xin Huohuo, of course, had no idea she was being "plotted against" by her own pets. She quickly finished her morning routine, went out to deliver milk, and then returned home. Using the ingredients she'd bought the day before, she added an egg and cooked a nutritious porridge. Since she'd made too much, she filled a large, steaming bowl for herself, drizzled a little soy sauce over it, and shared the meal with her cat and dog.
She was thrilled. Thanks to her pets, this was the most comforting meal she'd had in a long time. She also felt that the two little furry lords she'd found were finally starting to grow attached to and dependent on her. Throughout the meal, they took turns cozying up to her, circling around her, sniffing this and that, and meowing and woofing in their most winsome, childlike voices. Bai Qi even pounced on her and didn't stop until she picked him up, making her heart melt.
If she could understand their animal language, however, she would have absolutely lost it. Because a translation of their cries would sound something like this…
"I've searched her all over. The Mana definitely isn't on her person!"
"That strange feeling from her body… never mind, it's not important. What about the phone?"
"It seems to have a trace of our Mana, but it's faint, like it's fading in and out. Is it because of a bad signal?"
"So, you think our Mana is an electromagnetic wave? 'A bad signal'!"
"Well, you explain what's going on then! Not everything has an answer. You're always, always like this, making simple things complicated. Why don't we just grab it and take a look? Honestly… Ah—"
At that moment, Bai Qi was sitting on Xin Huohuo's lap and casually pressed a paw onto the phone at the edge of the table. But it was as if a jolt of electricity shot through him, and the phone's screen instantly went black.
"Hey, that's not a toy for you, Bai Qi. You're being naughty," Xin Huohuo said, lightly tapping him on the head.
She had been browsing the news online. Seeing this, she nervously rebooted the phone, terrified it had finally kicked the bucket.
Thankfully, everything went smoothly. The phone shut down and powered back on without a hitch.
However, the little black cat had hopped onto the table at some point and, the instant the screen lit up, he also pressed a paw on it.
Afterward, the cat, the dog, and the human all cried out in surprise at nearly the same time, because it had automatically shut down again.
"Mr. Hei, you're being mischievous too! Hmph, I see how it is. You're one of those quiet, sneaky troublemakers!" Xin Huohuo scolded. She didn't think much of it, assuming it was just the little animals being playful.
But then, Bai Qi and Mr. Hei began frequently—or rather, stubbornly—pressing their paws, tails, and even their noses against the phone. They even licked it a couple of times. Each time, the phone would repeatedly cycle through shutting down and powering on. At this point, she started to get a little annoyed.
But she couldn't bring herself to scold them, so she just put on a stern face and went to change her clothes. Yet, when she saw that the two of them actually turned their backs on their own, not ogling her while she changed, she felt she had found two remarkably sentient little creatures and couldn't help but feel pleased again.
"The litter box and dog potty are all set up, so you two be good at home, okay? I submitted my resume for a part-time job online yesterday, and I have an interview today. I'll play with you guys when I get back tonight. Oh, right! Tomorrow, I'll take you to the vet for a check-up and to get your shots," she instructed them cheerfully, as if the two were just like people.
After she left, Bai Qi collapsed in a heap on the floor. "It's over, it's over. Our Mana has been absorbed by Xin Huohuo's phone. And now only she can use it. Anyone else who touches it—or at least, when *we* touch it—it just shuts down. What are we going to do?"
"We stick to her like glue until we get our Mana back!" Mr. Hei said, utterly dejected. "There has to be a way."
"But what if we can never get it back? What if there's never a way?"
"Then we'll follow her forever!"
"That sounds so boring."
"It's not like you have anywhere else to go."
"That's true…" Bai Qi grew dejected as well.