Go Back to Your Big Cat Form! Chapter 8: Attempted Husband Murder

Chapter 8: Attempted Husband Murder

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

 

The moment Zhao Minghe handed him the new divorce agreement, Lu Yao flipped through the contents and clauses. Zhou Yunchen’s signature stood at the end—bold, steady, and clear. But Lu Yao hesitated. He did not sign his own name right away.

They had no children, and there were no grudges between them, so there were no problems in that regard. What made him pause was the division of property. Before finalizing the details, Lu Yao had asked a property assessor to estimate their assets. Their individual net worths were almost identical.

Money itself was not what concerned him. What he could not ignore were the things beyond money: his mecha patent technologies, internal shares in the research institute, real estate holdings on military planets—all of them tied to technology and military secrets.

Zhou Yunchen, likewise, possessed assets that involved classified matters. To avoid entangling each other in sensitive affairs, Lu Yao had instructed a professional lawyer to draft the divorce agreement with precise boundaries—what belonged to one would remain with that person. They could part ways cleanly.

Yet, in Zhou Yunchen’s version, a significant amount of both movable and immovable property was reassigned to Lu Yao’s name.

Lu Yao had never intended to profit from their matched marriage, and he could not understand what Zhou Yunchen meant by this gesture. At first, he had planned to strike out all of it. But now, he found himself tempted by Zhou Yunchen’s snow leopard. It went against his original intent, and yet… It was, after all, a living, breathing, luxuriously furred snow leopard.

Biting his lower lip, Lu Yao crossed out every additional asset, then wrote in the blank space that he wanted the snow leopard. Turning to the final page, he signed his name. He called for a Wonderland robot assistant to collect the document and deliver it to Zhao Minghe. He did not know if Zhou Yunchen would agree—or if he would pull a cold face and refuse.

Once everything was dealt with, Lu Yao lay back on the bed, folding his hands over his stomach, staring up at the metallic ceiling of the Ares. It kept him from second-guessing or regretting his decision.

If someone had tried to buy his white cat, Torque, Lu Yao would have lost his temper on the spot. But Zhou Yunchen… Lu Yao doubted that this alpha even liked cats at all.

Torque had once rubbed his head against Zhou Yunchen’s leg when the man had rarely come home, leaving a patch of white fur on his dark blue military trousers. Zhou Yunchen’s face had remained stern. He neither reached down to pet the cat with affection nor kicked it away in irritation. He had simply taken long, silent strides forward.

His steps were so wide that Torque could not keep up for long. The cat ended up leaping into Lu Yao’s arms, meowing in grievance, demanding strokes and comfort.

Zhou Yunchen paused, glanced back at man and cat, then disappeared down the corridor. By the time Lu Yao looked up, he caught only the tall, cool silhouette of a retreating back. His behavior had shown neither fondness nor dislike. That was how he treated cats—and how he treated Lu Yao.

Even now, Lu Yao could recall their first meeting in perfect detail, his flawless memory rendering every nuance. When the Central AI announced the final match to him, it had “helpfully” attached Zhou Yunchen’s contact information. But at that time, Zhou Yunchen had been on the front lines, in a communication blackout, cut off from any private contact.

By the time General Zhou Yunchen returned from the distant star systems to New Blue Star, it was already the last three days before the Central AI’s deadline for marriage registration. In the early morning of the second-to-last day, he sent Lu Yao a single line: Hello, I am Zhou Yunchen.

The next morning, Lu Yao replied: Hello, I am Lu Yao. I’ll wait for you at the registry office at ten.

On the very last morning of the deadline, at precisely ten o’clock, they met for the first time in front of the registry office. By ten-thirty, they had completed all formalities and become legal mates. In the half-hour from first acquaintance to binding contract, they had exchanged perhaps three sentences.

Later, when Lu Yao returned from his short marriage leave, his friend Mo Feng, upon hearing what had happened, had exclaimed, “You must be insane! Did you even discuss a prenup? Decide on property division? Look at his medical reports?”

Lu Yao had shaken his head. Mo Feng nearly collapsed. “What were you thinking? He was a complete stranger when you signed that paper! You trusted his morals and character just like that?”

Lu Yao had quietly sipped his tea and looked at his friend clutching his head. “I saw him in person before the registration. I could feel—”

“Feel? You judged him to be a good man just by instinct?”

“No.” Lu Yao had frowned. Did Zhou Yunchen look like a good man? He could not have said so. 

When the man appeared before him, dressed in uniform, his stride steady and powerful, it had seemed as though he carried with him the smoke and fire of distant battlefields. He was a cold warrior, a drawn blade, a machine of war—nothing that aligned with the notion of a “good man.” But still… 

“I felt he wasn’t threatening,” Lu Yao had finished, then added under Mo Feng’s doubtful gaze, “I mean, he would not threaten me.”

Mo Feng had fallen silent. To him, it sounded meaningless. Who in the world could ever make Lu Yao cower like a rabbit?

He knew Lu Yao had always been indifferent to human relationships, largely because he simply did not care about them. That was what worried Mo Feng—that Lu Yao would be deceived and not even care enough to realize it.

Mo Feng had pleaded earnestly, “But he’s an S-class alpha. Physically, you can’t match him. Alpha pheromones naturally suppress omegas.”

“Why would I need to match him in strength?”

Mo Feng had nearly torn his hair out. “If he ever decides to force his so-called mate responsibilities—if he tries to mark you by force—what then?”

Lu Yao’s lashes trembled as he lowered his gaze to his slender index finger. “I carry an electromagnetic annihilation gun with me.”

“What? Electromagnetic annihilation technology can only be mounted on large-caliber star cannons right now. How did you shrink it down into a handheld gun?”

“Because I don’t need it to unleash the full destructive power of an annihilation cannon,” Lu Yao said calmly. “I only care about its speed.”

Mo Feng stared, dumbfounded, at his friend—this man who could speak so casually, with such composure, about creating a weapon of mass destruction that he might point at his new husband at any given moment.

“But… but have you thought about this? No one can survive electromagnetic annihilation. The moment you pull the trigger, it’s murder.” Mo Feng suspected Lu Yao would fire at the first hint of danger, leaving no room for hesitation or reconciliation. “And we’re talking about murdering a decorated Federation General. They wouldn’t let you go. Even if they ruled it self-defense, you still illegally modified, carried, and used a banned high-lethality weapon inside New Blue Star’s central district.”

“I know. They’d arrest me, then put me on trial. The outcome might be life imprisonment, exile to another star, lethal injection, the electric chair… What do you think?”

Mo Feng didn’t want to choose among those grim options. Yet Lu Yao’s expression was too calm, as immovable as a glacier beneath sunlight—showing not the slightest trace of fear.

“Personally, I lean toward exile and lethal injection,” Lu Yao added.

“You’re serious?”

“Of course.” Lu Yao gave him a strange look. “Very serious. Those two options allow the Federation to complete the trial, uphold the law, and then quietly move me out of the public eye. They’d fake my death or alter my identity, then send me to a remote military base to continue my mecha research. If I cooperated fully, and if the officials in charge had no ties to Zhou Yunchen, they might even let me keep a cat at that secret base. Even if I killed Zhou Yunchen on our wedding night, they would never truly imprison me or execute me. But fortunately, Zhou Yunchen didn’t do what you feared. He didn’t try to force me, and now I can stand here and talk to you.”

“I was worried about you,” Mo Feng muttered, “but now I honestly feel sorry for Zhou Yunchen.”

 

After being startled back to his room, the snow leopard lingered in confusion, then began pacing anxiously in the corridor. His heavy tail drooped, the tip dragging along the floor as he circled in restless frustration.

When the robot assistant came to collect the documents, the door opened briefly. The snow leopard had been slumped on the floor, but the faint, sweet scent of catnip pheromones that drifted out through the crack made his ears perk instantly. He moved toward the source of the smell—only to stop himself sharply, realizing what he was doing.

With a soft click, the door closed again. The robot carried the files away in its mechanical arms, wheels humming as it rolled down the hall.

The snow leopard hunched his shoulders, frozen like a statue as he listened for sounds from inside. Only once he was sure Lu Yao hadn’t seen him—and hadn’t been startled again—did he relax slightly.

The sweetness of the pheromones seemed to linger in the air. The snow leopard rubbed his face and shoulder against the doorframe, as if searching for traces of Lu Yao’s scent while leaving his own behind.

Only when the effect of the catnip faded did Zhou Yunchen realize what he had done. He shot to his feet and bolted down the corridor, slamming the door of his own room shut with a kick of his hind leg. Inside, he paced in agitation. His snow leopard instincts dragged him into loss of control time and time again.

And Zhou Yunchen hated losing control—especially in front of Lu Yao. Not that it meant he didn’t want to be close to him. He just… he just felt he shouldn’t lunge at Lu Yao and pin him to the floor. No—that wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to try holding Lu Yao.

Because Zhou Yunchen carried a secret deeper than any Federation classified file, one he had hidden for twenty years. From the moment he had first seen Lu Yao at the Federation’s Morningstar Military Academy, standing on stage at the opening ceremony as the student representative, he had fallen hopelessly in love with the frost-cold omega.

And for twenty years, he had never dared to say it aloud. He had hidden it too well. So well that even on the day of their wedding, Lu Yao still believed it was their very first meeting.

 

Author’s Note:

Lu Yao: I’ve undergone rigorous training. No matter how tempting, I’ll never waver—unless it’s a big cat.

 

 

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