Go Back to Your Big Cat Form! Chapter 16: Stepping on the Leopard’s Tail

Chapter 16: Stepping on the Leopard’s Tail

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

 

Chang Jian looked pained. Every time he had to secure a budget for Lu Yao, it felt like torture. “I’ll do my best. But Lu Yao, how do you want to modify the power system? Refinement, or energy saving?”

“A complete transformation—an improvement to energy conversion efficiency.”

Chang Jian’s gaze grew complicated. “That’s not a popular direction. The companies supplying energy for space exploration and warfare won’t like it. You’d be cutting into their profits, which means Parliament may not like it either.”

“I still want to try.”

“All right. But—I do have some inside information. The military is planning to co-host a mecha design competition with private defense companies.”

“A student contest, or a designer concept competition?”

The Federation’s citizens had an almost fanatical love for mecha. From time to time, design competitions cropped up, but the cost of building a functional mecha was too high for any organizer to shoulder. So most contests were limited to design proposals, occasionally extending to a single prototype concept.

In earlier years, Lu Yao had often been invited to judge such events. But ever since he had, in his famously detached voice, pointed out a flaw in one contestant’s design—making the so-called genius burst into tears—organizers rarely asked him again.

Lu Yao never understood why the man had cried so hard. Mistakes were normal. Mecha research thrived on repeated failures leading to gradual improvement. Lu Yao hadn’t meant to be cruel. In fact, after seeing the contestant cry, he had even added a few words of advice. That had only made the crying worse.

“Neither of those,” Chang Jian said now. “It’s more like a bidding war. Whoever takes first place will have the military and all co-sponsoring defense companies cover the cost of further research and development—no funding limit. Do you want to try?”

“Not a concept design contest? You mean what I think you mean?”

If Parliament or the military didn’t like his proposed design, they would cut funding outright, killing the project. But if the competition wasn’t about concepts, then it came down to…

“That’s right. They want a prototype combat tournament. Whoever wins in a live battle becomes the champion. Want to give it a try?”

“I’ll think about it.” If it were a combat contest, the restrictions on design concepts would be far fewer.

The service robots finished their work before sunset. Mo Feng and Chang Jian didn’t stay long. They knew Lu Yao’s dinner would be nothing more than a nutrient solution—certainly not enough to share.

As the sun’s violet-red edge slipped completely beneath the distant sea, the snow leopard stepped out from under the eaves. Lu Yao sat in the courtyard, browsing a shopping site. The snow leopard passed his table, gave him a glance, and kept moving until he stopped at the infinity pool’s edge, a meter behind Lu Yao.

Facing the violet-red sea with his back to Lu Yao, the great cat crouched in silence. This time, though, his long tail didn’t curl protectively around him as usual. Instead, it lay stretched across the ground, the black tip resting near Lu Yao’s foot, swaying faintly in the breeze.

A perfect lure. Lu Yao’s attention was immediately stolen. The snow leopard’s tail tip was black, patterned above with neat rosettes and lined below with the same plush white fur as his belly—tufted, impossibly soft-looking.

Lu Yao kicked off his slippers. The leopard didn’t turn his head, but his ears flicked upright. The metal floor felt cool beneath Lu Yao’s bare feet. Moving slowly, carefully, he lifted his toes as he neared the cat’s tail, brushing the downy fur. It tickled faintly against his skin.

The restless tip froze instantly. But Lu Yao didn’t stop. Stretching his long leg forward, he lowered his foot so that his arch brushed across the thick tail, his breath measured, the muscles in his leg tense. He skimmed the fur lightly without putting weight down.

The reaction he half-feared never came. The silver-white cat remained motionless, like a statue in meditation, his once-lively tail making no move to escape. The violet sunset left only a fading warmth. The mountain wind chilled the tops of Lu Yao’s feet, but the leopard’s tail radiated a gentle heat.

Watching the “statue” gilded by the last halo of sunlight, Lu Yao’s lashes quivered. He released the tension in his leg and lowered his foot fully onto the thick tail. Beneath the lush fur lay muscle and bone, elastic and resilient. The snow leopard’s tail was nearly as broad as his foot. The flattened fur wrapped warmth around his sole and instep, enclosing them in softness.

Whether from the cat’s slightly higher body temperature or the glow of sunset, the pale-white toes of Lu Yao’s feet took on a faint blush as he gently rolled them across the rosette-marked tail.

He played like that for a long while, even pressing down with his other foot. The snow leopard, as though in deep meditation, continued staring into the mountains and open fields, not reacting at all.

By the time the first moon rose into the violet sky, Lu Yao had had enough. He slipped his feet back into his slippers, leaned against the chair, and closed his eyes, breathing softly, the sound laced with a lazy contentment.

The snow leopard remained steady and unmoving. Only the tips of his ears twitched slightly. When he sensed Lu Yao’s breathing grow lighter, as if he had fallen asleep, the great cat finally dared to relax his posture. He turned his head, gazing at the omega resting against the chair.

The villa’s previous owner had dismantled the control consoles and chairs from a starship bridge and arranged them here in the courtyard as decoration. The gunmetal chair was designed according to ergonomics, its curves wrapping around the body like a palm enclosing a figure. Though made of cold, hard material, its finely contoured lines ensured it no longer pressed uncomfortably against the lower back. Still, it looked as icy and unfeeling as ever.

Yet Lu Yao, asleep and leaning against its backrest, seemed softened somehow. Perhaps it was the pale moonlight, turning the shadows across his features into a thin mist, dulling their sharp edges. Or perhaps it was simply the way sleep relaxed the muscles of his face, stripping away the mask of arrogance and pride.

The snow leopard’s tail curled faintly. Lu Yao’s beauty was almost too aggressive, like an icicle that could pierce and wound at any moment. Zhou Yunchen had witnessed him drop his cold hauteur before, in certain rare moments. But never had it been as gentle, as peaceful, as it was now.

Even the wind blowing across him seemed tender. Night deepened. The second moon of New Blue Star rose beyond the mountains, while countless stars continued to glimmer overhead.

Lu Yao’s hand rested loosely on his knee. He spent nearly all his time working indoors at the research base, and his skin never caught the sun. His fingers were long and slender, his complexion porcelain white.

Zhou Yunchen had always imagined that Lu Yao’s hands must feel like ice—cold and smooth. Since becoming a snow leopard, Lu Yao often rubbed his feline face. His fingers carried the warmth expected of the living, but the snow leopard’s fur was so thick and long that it had hidden the true texture of his touch.

Now, in the faint light, Zhou Yunchen could see the truth: the pads of Lu Yao’s fingers and the centers of his palms were covered in fine calluses, polished smooth and hard by years of work, obscuring many of his lifelines. They were not soft nor delicate at all.

Suddenly, starlight sharpened, and a pair of ice-blue eyes cut into the snow leopard’s view like diamond-forged blades, piercing the gentle night. The snow leopard hadn’t expected Lu Yao to wake so suddenly, catching him in the act of watching. He sprang back at once, leaping three feet away.

Lu Yao blinked in surprise. He hadn’t expected, upon opening his eyes, to be met with such a scene: the startled snow leopard staring wide-eyed at him, fur fluffing up before the cat spun around, presenting his back in embarrassment.

How humiliating. The snow leopard lifted his head toward the moon, trying to hold himself with dignity and pride. But then a pair of hands reached out.

Lu Yao had activated the chair’s automatic glide function, bringing himself smoothly to the snow leopard’s side. He caught the cat’s chin, turning his face back toward him. The snow leopard neither growled nor fled, nor did he strike back. Lu Yao eased his grip, rubbing the big cat’s cheek.

“Good little kitty,” he murmured. “So obedient. I’ll buy you some meat.”

 

Author’s Note:

Tails, tails, tails!

 

 

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