According to the survival guide, the Shapeshifting Disguise Cloak allowed the Meow star people to disguise themselves as any intelligent life form on any inhabited planet, and gold was a universal precious metal on most planets, easily convertible to cash.
This was why these two items were specifically included in the first batch of basic supplies.
They were meant to help the Meow star people integrate into society.
However, all of that now belonged to Ding Yun.
Next, Ding Yun naturally took out all those items, experimentally put on the Shapeshifting Disguise Cloak, transformed into a burly man over two meters tall, and then took a jin of gold.
She went out to find a gold shop to sell it for money.
Whether it was due to good luck or her current appearance as a two-meter-tall, broad-shouldered man, the process of selling the gold went very smoothly.
Twenty thousand yuan was successfully obtained.
After acquiring the money, Ding Yun found a secluded corner, reverted to her original form, and went to the bank to deposit it all.
Now she didn't have to worry about her mortgage for a long time.
Therefore, Ding Yun didn't rush back but instead found a restaurant on the spot for a hearty meal to fill her stomach, and then went to a pet store.
She intended to test her ability, or rather, the Meow Star Communicator's ability, to see if she could truly understand what the cats in the pet store were saying.
While understanding cats might not be particularly useful, Ding Yun still planned to continue using the Meow Star Communicator to contact the Meow star person from the advanced civilization. Therefore, communicating with real cats might be somewhat helpful, at least to avoid revealing herself too easily later on.
As soon as she entered the pet store, Ding Yun quickly declined the clerk's introductions, stating she wanted to look around herself.
Then, she headed directly to the cat area.
She began to listen carefully to their meows.
"Meow meow... meow meow..."
(A bipedal creature is here, coming our way!)
"Meow..."
(So hungry, when will we eat...)
"Meow meow meow meow... meow meow meow meow..."
(What are you looking at? Haven't you seen a beautiful cat before?)
After listening for a short while, Ding Yun began to gauge the cats' level of understanding. Most kittens only made meaningless sounds, and the few meaningful ones were usually related to basic needs like hunger or thirst.
Older cats, with their higher intelligence, knew more words, but still within a limited range. Their vocabulary was also related to the people and other cats they interacted with. For instance, a cat that had never left the pet store had a significantly smaller vocabulary than an older cat that had been brought in by a customer for grooming, and their accents were even different.
In short, it was quite magical and interesting.
However, Ding Yun wasn't ready to adopt a cat yet, so she didn't buy one. She only bought some cat food and canned cat food. She figured if the original owner's wish truly came true and she actually transformed into a cat, she'd have food ready for her, and if not, she could always give it away.
After making her purchases, Ding Yun didn't linger around and headed straight home. As soon as she reached the bottom of her building,
Before she could even go upstairs,
Aunt Zhao from the next unit quickly leaned over and grabbed Ding Yun: "Xiao Fu, you've got a boyfriend, haven't you?"
Ding Yun hadn't even figured out what was happening yet.
She continued to ask: "What's his name?
Oh my, don't be shy. I heard from Sister Hua across the hall that when she opened her door to throw out the trash this afternoon, she saw with her own eyes a huge man over two meters tall walk out of your apartment. So tall!
You should have told me earlier if you had a partner.
Then I wouldn't have continued trying to set you up on blind dates.
How is that man?
He's so tall and strong, is his temper okay? I'm telling you, a height of over two meters is terrifying. You must find someone with a good temper, otherwise, a bad temper could mean you're gone with just a couple of slaps."
This Aunt Zhao was a familiar acquaintance. In fact, the original owner had gone on several blind dates arranged by Aunt Zhao for free. In her own words, every couple she matched was a contribution to the country!
Forget just this neighborhood.
In several nearby communities, the transient population was hard to say, but anyone who owned property here or lived here long-term, there wasn't a single single man or woman she didn't know. Although the success rate wasn't high, she had the time, energy, and perseverance to do it.
So she was quite well-known in the vicinity.
She was a gossipmonger with incredibly sharp ears and was extremely well-informed.
But Ding Yun never expected that her disguise would be so easily exposed today because she was in a hurry to get the gold exchanged for money and hadn't paid much attention to her neighbors. She thought, it's no wonder they say the people in Chaoyang District are amazing.
With these types of aunties involved, it was no different than having a surveillance camera at your doorstep. It was too much.
However, despite her surprise, Ding Yun quickly explained: "Oh, Aunt Zhao, it's really not like that!
He came out of my apartment, but he's not my boyfriend. I ordered a runner from an online platform, you know, the kind you use to order takeout, to pick up something from my place and deliver it to a friend. My friend needed it urgently, so I didn't use express delivery but hired someone to deliver it directly."
Although she had little time to think,
Ding Yun quickly came up with an excuse.
"A runner...
What a shame. It's not often you see someone over two meters tall. Hey, do you know where that young man is from?
I have a girl here who's one meter eighty-nine.
She still hasn't found a suitable match.
I think someone over two meters tall would be a good fit..."
Ding Yun was surprised by how quick-witted Aunt Zhao was and how adept she was at improvising.
But the reality was that such a person didn't exist.
Ding Yun couldn't help even if she wanted to.
So she had to continue explaining that she couldn't see the specific identity information in the app, and even the phone number was masked, being a virtual number that could only be used once.
There was no way to find him now.
It was a random match.
Only then did she manage to finally get rid of Aunt Zhao.
Then, of course, she took the elevator, hurried upstairs to her home, her heart pounding like a drum as she entered. It felt like she had just lied to a teacher.
"Oh my god, I really need to be more careful.
In the future, when I disguise myself, I'll just find a secluded corner, or if necessary, use a public restroom to transform."
Ding Yun patted her chest with a hint of lingering fear and muttered a couple of sentences before rolling up her sleeves to start tidying up. The original owner had been living a rather颓废 life recently, and the house was a bit messy. Ding Yun didn't particularly like the layout either, so she decided to take this opportunity to reorganize.
By the time she finished tidying her room,
It was already past eight o'clock.
Then, of course, she washed up, got into bed, and took out the original owner's phone to watch videos for entertainment.
As she scrolled, Ding Yun came across the video of the cat eating salmon that the original owner had watched before her death. She also noticed that the cat's owner was live-streaming. Since there was nothing else to do, Ding Yun casually clicked in.
On the live stream, the female owner was feeding the cats.
Simultaneously, she interacted with the viewers.
Several cats were busily eating, but one cat, as if it had just grown its tongue and mouth, was eating with great difficulty, often spilling food outside the bowl and then refusing to touch the spilled food, showing a bit of disdain.
Some viewers in the bullet comments asked if the orange cat was sick, why it wasn't as enthusiastic about eating as before. Its current eating posture was like that of a mentally challenged white cat from another household.
It tried hard for a long time but didn't manage to eat much.
Most of it was wasted.
At the same time, through the live stream, Ding Yun clearly heard the orange cat meowing and whimpering:
(Eating with just my head is so tedious!)
(I regret it. I shouldn't have wished to be a cat in my next life. Being a cat is really inconvenient!)
(Oh no, my tongue didn't catch it again and it fell out of the bowl. It's dirty outside the bowl, I don't want to eat it.)
(Should I use my paws instead?)
(No, my claws are quite dirty too!)
(Oh my, I finally got some into my mouth. And indeed, this salmon tastes quite good. Cat owners really know how to spend money. It's just that eating raw food feels so strange.
It would be great if it could be cooked...)