I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 359

Chapter 359: Drinking the Strongest Liquor, Being the Wildest Cat

 

For our dart-throwing honeymoon trip, Xiao Mo and I had initially planned to go wherever the dart landed.

 

If there were no scenic spots nearby or we got bored, we’d head to the nearest city, experience the local customs, and enjoy some local snacks to relax.

 

The lake where my dart landed clearly falls into the “no scenic spots around” category. The area is very open, lacking the lush greenery typical around Shenzhen City.

 

As far as the eye can see, there are only grasslands and small hills. Even as a web novel author, I find it hard to describe this terrain.

 

The only word that comes to mind is “vast.”

 

Vast plains, a vast lake, and a vast expanse of land.

 

Although the lake itself is quite beautiful, the morning sunlight illuminating the lake’s surface is particularly breathtaking.

 

When the first rays of the sun appear on the horizon, the reflection in the water is stunning. Then, as the sun slowly rises, it heralds the start of a new day.

 

The phone we brought shows the current local temperature: 17 degrees Celsius. I’m wearing a simple dress with safety shorts underneath, which keeps me warm and ensures the dress doesn’t reveal too much.

 

My feet are adorned with simple white lace socks and round-toed flat shoes. These shoes are soft enough to allow me to walk on tiptoe like a cat without noticeable deformation.

 

Although the shoes don’t hinder walking, considering we might explore the nearby town later, I temporarily took off the “rabbit foot” charm given by Yueyue.

 

Speaking of the rabbit foot, it reminds me of a yuri anime, “Riddle Story of Devil,” where the main character is named Tokaku Azuma. The first time I saw this name, I was utterly shocked, thinking how casually they name characters in Japan. Her surname is Azuma, and her given name is Tokaku (??/rabbit’s horn). The anime even explains this name: since rabbits don’t have horns, the protagonist is “non-existent” and “unconstrained.”

 

I feel like I look exactly like one of the little sister characters from some sister-complex anime.

I was also wearing a simple dress paired with lace socks and flat shoes.

 

In contrast, Xiao Mo wore a black dress, a black-and-white combination, making it seem like I was completely overshadowed by her.

 

Moreover, I noticed something else: in my catgirl form, I seem to be more resistant to the cold. At temperatures around ten degrees Celsius, I didn’t feel particularly cold, even wearing just a dress.

It’s said that cats are creatures that can withstand both cold and heat, but if the temperature drops too low, they can’t handle it.

 

There’s a threshold, so in extremely cold weather, most cats will desperately seek out heat sources. House cats will cozy up to heaters or the warmth of their owner’s computer, while rural cats will huddle near fires, often ending up singed.

 

“Shall we go to that small town we passed last night for breakfast?”

 

After packing up the tent and cleaning up the remnants of the grilled fish from yesterday, Xiao Mo and I shouldered our backpacks and sat on the magic circle. In such a remote place, it wouldn’t really matter if we didn’t clean up. It’s likely that no one would come here for at least ten days to two weeks.

 

This place was incredibly isolated. From the center of the lake, you couldn’t see a single house. Maybe Dolly and Yueyue would like it here? It’s so open that they could run around freely.

 

“I recall that people in these highland areas usually enjoy strong liquor.”

 

With her backpack on, Xiao Mo remarked in a calm tone, “Nuo’er, are you okay with that? Don’t get tipsy and throw yourself at me like last time, alright?”

 

“W-We don’t have to drink alcohol. We can eat something else! I refuse to believe they drink alcohol for breakfast.”

 

Finally, I gave the fluffy face of the cat a few gentle rubs, then patted the sika deer’s head, and waved goodbye to the little animals. “See you next time!”

 

It seemed that this lake was a primary water source for the nearby wildlife. There weren’t many animals last night, but as soon as dawn broke, so many little critters came to drink. Swans, sika deer, and over there… were those snow leopards?

 

Medium-sized, fluffy leopards. I never expected leopards to come drink water alongside the sika deer… or perhaps they were just being civil because of Xiao Mo and me, avoiding any conflict?

 

No wonder those leopards were keeping their distance, quietly drinking water at the far end of the lake, hundreds of meters away from us, instead of coming closer to listen to the music like the deer.

 

“Don’t fight, okay?” I said, letting go and hopping onto Xiao Mo’s magic circle. “Goodbye.”

 

The magic circle slowly rose, leaving behind the beautiful lake that had been our companion for the night.

 

“Let me guess, these high-altitude areas usually have… what’s it called, oh right, highland barley!”

 

From the magic circle, I gazed down at the vast grasslands below. After checking some information with the sparse signal on my phone, I told Xiao Mo, “They do love to drink here, it’s a type of alcohol called highland barley wine.”

 

Xiao Mo looked at me with an amused expression. “Can you handle it?”

 

“No, no, no…”

 

I quickly shook my head. “I won’t fall for your tricks again.”

 

Before, Fei Luo had once mixed me a drink with low alcohol content, but I still got caught up in it. According to Xiao Mo, although the bodies of elves can metabolize alcohol completely, because they enjoy the drowsy feeling after drinking, this genetic trait has been retained. Drinking alcohol is harmless to their bodies but still has a similar effect to intoxication.

 

The most obvious effect for me after drinking was that I became bolder and ended up pushing Xiao Mo down when we got to Moon Orchid Island. Of course, after that, I got pushed back by this girl. So even though I’m in catgirl mode now, I dare not try that stuff again. Drinking alcohol is harmful to health, I’ll pass.

 

The distance of thirty to forty kilometers isn’t far, and Xiao Mo’s magic circle will get us there in no time.

 

What surprised me was that if this were in Shenzhen, most people wouldn’t even be awake yet, but here in this small county, there were already many signs of life.

 

Some snack shops and breakfast places had already opened their doors, and the chimneys, with their very old-fashioned style, were billowing steam into the air.

 

“Let’s descend here.”

 

Finding a corner in the air where not many people would notice, Xiao Mo controlled the magic circle to land on the ground. We arrived on the main road of this unnamed small county.

 

In fact, according to Xiao Mo, we could land almost anywhere here because there were no security cameras. This place was really backward. Rather than calling it a county, it was more like a village with more modern elements.

 

“There’s a storefront up ahead that looks like a breakfast place. Shall we go there?”

 

After landing, Xiao Mo gestured towards a snack shop ahead. “I can’t be sure what they sell here, though.”

 

“It’s okay, as long as I’m eating with Xiao Mo.”

 

I confidently took her hand. “As long as it’s not alcohol, we can order whatever for breakfast!”

 

If possible, I actually wanted to learn about the various snacks and their preparation methods here.

 

Here, because it’s thousands of kilometers away from Shenzhen, there are huge differences in street layout and culinary culture compared to Shenzhen. The only thing I’m worried about is whether the shops here accept WeChat Pay or Alipay.

 

“Hey there, you two aren’t locals, are you? Traveling here?”

 

Fortunately, the digital currency in our country is very well-adopted. On the counter of the closest breakfast shop to where Xiao Mo and I landed in this small town, there were payment pages for WeChat and Alipay. The shop was run by a married couple, and they seemed quite standard.

 

“Aren’t you feeling cold with so little clothing on?”

 

“No, we’re fine.” I looked around the shop and picked up the menu from the table. “Do you have any recommendations?”

 

At this moment, there were three or four other customers in the shop besides Xiao Mo and me, all enjoying some kind of breakfast noodles.

 

“Anything is fine. You outsiders might like our ‘Ga Mian Pian (hand-ripped noodles)’ or ‘Zhua Mian (hand-pulled noodles)’. Our ‘Zhua Mian’ here is delicious.”

 

The husband, who was busy making some kind of noodles in the kitchen, gestured to the counter at the door as he spoke. “Or you could also try the yak meat barley pancake, it’s filling and very tasty.”

 

Sure enough, I knew the cuisine here would be noticeably different from that in Shenzhen.

 

I glanced at Xiao Mo beside me, and after receiving a “Nuo’er, you order” look, I pointed to the two items in bowls on the menu.

 

“Let’s have this… ‘Ga Mian Pian (hand-ripped noodles),’ and do you have baozi here?”

 

I had seen the word “ga” before in college. One of my dorm mates, who was a bit non-mainstream, used it frequently in his online IDs, like “Domineering Ga Ye TM”. The frequency of his use of “ga” was quite high.

 

But in this high-latitude city, the word meant “small”. They liked to say “ga wa,” which meant “little baby.” This term was not derogatory, it was more like “little brother” or “young man.”

Like when the shop owner called us “ga mei” when we entered, it meant “very pretty little sisters.”

 

“No baozi, but we have steamed buns (??/Momo). Would you like some steamed buns Look at these, they’re all fresh out of the oven.”

 

“Steamed buns (??/Momo)? That’s fine too.”

 

I leaned forward. “Then we’ll have this and this… Is this the coarse grain ‘steamed buns’?”

 

“Yes, two bowls of ‘ga mian pian’ and two ‘momo,’ right? Have a seat first, I’ll bring them over for you…”

 

“It feels like they’re calling Xiao Mo when they say ‘momo/steamed buns (??),’ ‘Momo (??/Xiao Mo’s name),’ hehe, suddenly Xiao Mo seems much more appetizing.”

 

Xiao Mo and I found a chair together. I curiously looked around the shop.

 

“This place should be similar to the breakfast shops in the Nanqi District. At least it’s been around for twenty or thirty years.”

 

Probably because of our conspicuous attire, with a pair of cat ears on my head, quite a few customers in the shop were now glancing our way.

 

“Even if I’m delicious, Nuo’er still can’t eat me.”

 

Xiao Mo gave me a look as if I were a silly little cat. “Only I can eat you.”

 

“Who said anything about eating you!”

 

I looked around. “Hmm… it seems like they don’t have soy milk here. I’m not used to it.”

 

“How about lamb soup?”

 

The shop owner, who heard me, popped his head out from the kitchen again. “Good for warming the stomach! Tastes great!”

 

“Then… two bowls of that, please.”

 

“Sure thing.”

 

The shop owner disappeared back into the kitchen.

 

“Nuo’er.”

 

As I sat back down and was about to put my backpack on the chair beside me, taking out my phone to check yesterday’s news, Xiao Mo grabbed my hand and gestured toward two men ahead of us, lowering her voice —

 

“Their looks and expressions aren’t good. They might follow us when we leave later, with bad intentions.”

 

Xiao Mo pretended to whisper in my ear:

 

“It seems like something strange is going to happen on the first day of our honeymoon.”

 

“……”

 

……