What kind of divination am I doing?

It was the same black cat; the other party deliberately kept its claws out.

A few stomps felt like acupuncture, pricking Lu Qiao from his buttocks all the way to the back of his head.

At that moment, Luqiao looked up and saw the entire black cat.

The road bridge is lying down, looking down at the black cat.

The black cat stretched out its claw and stabbed Lu Qiao in the forehead.

This claw strike went straight to the brain, and all sorts of languages ​​poured into it.

This force began to affect every nerve, and Luqiao felt a headache coming on.

The conversations around the road and bridge could be heard clearly:

"Was that a person you brought in?"

"I haven't seen a human being in years."

"That's because you don't come often. I recognize this black cat, but the one you brought in before doesn't seem to be this one."

……

Lu Qiao tried to get up and looked up in the direction of the sound.

They were all guests of different shapes and sizes, dressed in different ways.

Birdmen, goblins, gargoyles, and so on.

If it weren't for the strange way they got here, Luqiao would have suspected it was a role-playing party.

When they saw Lu Qiao looking at them, they all turned around and chatted and laughed in twos and threes, raising their glasses to drink.

"Stop looking, put the keys away!" A sharp sound brought Lu Qiao back to reality; it was the black cat in front of him making the noise.

The voice sounded like a woman's, and it had the air of an elder lecturing a younger person.

Luqiao could understand the language he couldn't understand before.

It was the cat in front of him who did it. Lu Qiao calmed himself down, grabbed the keys on the ground, and came to his senses, shivering from the cold.

Lu Qiao looked behind him, and the source of the chill was the place he had come from.

It was another entrance to the tavern. The door was closed, and there was a slight draft in the crack, through which snowflakes could be seen drifting in from time to time.

The standing bridge shivered, the temperature in the area seemed to be only a few degrees above zero.

There was a tavern in front of me, the door was tightly closed and it was so cold.

It was clear how low the temperature was outside; Lu Qiao estimated that he would freeze to death if he went out.

"Guest, please don't catch a cold."

A coat was draped over his back. Upon closer inspection, Lu Qiao realized it was a robe made of several fox furs pieced together.

Lu Qiao turned around and saw a tall female bartender who was smiling as she draped the shawl over his shoulders.

Lu Qiao stared blankly at the female bartender; she had fair skin and pointed ears.

She's so beautiful. The bartender is tall and has a nine-head-to-body ratio; she looks human yet not quite.

Lu Qiao instantly realized that the guests were not human; they must be elves!

The black cat jumped onto the front desk and patted the bell on the table.

"Anna, give me the usual, just give him water! What big news has happened while I was away?" the black cat explained, stretching out its front paws to lick.

The elven bartender, Anna, shook her head: "No, the recent news has been confirmed to be false."

"Hmm? Are they all fake?" The black cat waved its paw.

Anna went to the bar, poured two drinks into wooden glasses, and placed them in front of Lu Qiao and the black cat.

The object in front of the black cat is green, while the object in front of the road and bridge is transparent.

The black cat peered over to the edge of the cup, scratched at it a few times with its front paws, then lowered its head and began to lick it bit by bit.

"Stop looking, it's a cat's instinctive reaction, just like that can of cat food, it doesn't taste good at all, but the body can't control it."

Lu Qiao subconsciously looked away, only to hear the black cat speak again: "Alright, come and sit down."

Lu Qiao stepped forward with a puzzled look, sat down, and tried drinking what was in front of him.

The water in the cup, however, has a taste that's hard to describe.

The water had a musty smell, as if it had been sitting for a long time; it would have been hard to drink if it weren't so cold.

Compared to the rusty taste of the tap water Wang Ming gave him in the castle, this water made Lu Qiao feel even more disgusted.

This is the spot in front of the bar, with only Luqiao and the black cat in front of you.

Anna placed a wooden tray on the table, put on her robe, went out for a short while, and returned in less than a minute with a frozen fish on the tray.

Then a cup of unknown liquid was poured over the fish. Anna took a match, blew on it, and a flame shot up.

Lu Qiao saw that the flames came from Anna's mouth and then ignited the entire fish.

The frost on the fish's body began to melt, and the flesh visibly tightened and turned white.

The black cat sniffed the air, then grinned and began to feast, not caring whether the flames would reach it.

The black cat explained as it ate:

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Aini, a lich. This cat is not my original body; you can think of it as possession."

"Why not possess a human?" Lu Qiao asked.

"As you can see, I often do things out of cat instinct. If I were to possess a human, I might develop a split personality," the black cat Aini pointed out the drawback.

Lu Qiao nodded subconsciously, finding it to be very reasonable.

"Let me first instill in you an idea: Long ago, every race possessed powerful abilities, learning from and borrowing from each other. But because of a great event, they angered the gods, and each race's abilities were restricted, and they were sealed away from each other, making it impossible to overthrow or surpass them," the black cat replied.

"Including humans?" Lu Qiao became interested.

The black cat replied, "Humans used to be a very powerful race, but they've been burdened with too many shackles. All the races here have been burdened with them to some extent as well."

"What do you mean by this big event?" Lu Qiao asked.

The black cat yawned: "Godslayer!"

Lu Qiao understood the explanation: "You mean everyone wanted to kill God? So this God punished everyone by using a power similar to the Trisolarans' to block human technology on Earth? According to you, humans used to be able to fly, dive into the earth, use magic and fighting spirit? And now they can't even have a child? Wait, every race?"

After Lu Qiao finished speaking, he turned to look at the other people in the tavern.

"If you hadn't discovered the secret of the key, I would have followed the procedure and given you an inheritance so you could return home and live a carefree life. That would have been my way of giving Taiho an explanation. But now you've disrupted my plans, so you have no choice now." The black cat's voice began to turn serious.

Luqiao realized he should have known better than to take the picture!

"From today onwards, you are my servant, and I will reward you appropriately according to your performance," the black cat replied.

Lu Qiao pointed to himself: "Good heavens, I've become a pet."

"You still look down on me? We liches usually only cooperate with women. I haven't even looked down on you yet!" The black cat sneered dismissively.

Lu Qiao suddenly realized, "Huh? Wait a minute, those things involving the Western witches, weren't they done by you liches?"

"I'm getting off topic! First of all, this castle is mine. As a cat, I can only be registered under your aunt's name. Now it's inherited by you, but I am your master, so it's all my property," the black cat explained, without answering Lu Qiao's question.

"No, aren't there news reports of pets inheriting wealthy people's fortunes overseas? Why can't you inherit a castle?" Lu Qiao asked.

"I'm not the only one of our lich race lurking on Earth. I know the one you mentioned met a terrible end. Given your human greed, if a cat were to become the master of the castle, that cat would surely die a horrible death," the black cat explained.

"That's true!" Lu Qiao nodded in agreement.

"So once the castle is passed to you as an inheritance, you need to tell the lawyer who brought you here that you don't want to sell it. You'll have to pay the inheritance tax yourself, and I'll help you as much as I can. I get angry just thinking about that Wang Ming guy. I was starving, and that idiot took the key and locked me in the house."

The black cat grumbled and cursed as it ate almost all of the fish.

"You're a lich, and you and these other races in the tavern came to Earth as immigrants? How long am I supposed to serve you? Will it be for life? Wouldn't that be like selling myself into servitude?" Lu Qiao asked, this was the question he most wanted to know.

"We're here to find the relics," the black cat replied.

Lu Qiao looked at the black cat: "Artifacts? Playing Genshin Impact?"

The black cat stepped up to the road and said, "The plan to kill the gods was carried out on Earth. All seventy-two races and seventy-two sacred relics were left behind on Earth back then."

Lu Qiao realized, "I understand, they're looking for cultural relics to take home!"

"You can understand it this way: there are two types of relics: unique artifacts and racial inheritances. Artifacts can be bound to an individual and passed on to the next person until death, while racial inheritances will be returned to the race that originally belonged to them, allowing that race to regain some of its lost abilities and pass them on to other races, waiting for each race to become strong again and carry out another god-slaying!" The black cat revealed its purpose.

"They've already been punished, and now they're still going to kill gods?" Lu Qiao realized.

The black cat sneered: "There is only one path to godhood. If you want to become a god, you must seize all resources."

"Seize all resources? If that's the case, why doesn't this god just kill us all? Isn't that the fastest way to seize resources?" Lu Qiao realized.

The black cat sighed and shook its head as if looking at a fool: "You misunderstood. Seizing resources is not about destroying them. If we killed them all, we would have nothing left. So we keep them alive to limit their growth and consolidation until they reach a threshold that allows the gods to truly ascend. That's what we should do. Only after that will we be discarded, and then we can be destroyed. We are afraid of destruction, which is why we fight."

"Wait, then you can do the opposite, kill some of your own kind at set times and locations, so that the threshold will never be reached, wait! I was wrong... my idea was too evil." Lu Qiao realized he had misunderstood as soon as he finished speaking.

The black cat didn't refute, replying, "Some races do this, and even some countries on Earth do it! But that's just treating the symptoms, not the root cause! So, we still need to kill the gods!"

"Holy crap, I understand now! But how do I know you're telling the truth? What if you're all rotten to the core, lying to me, brainwashing me, invading Earth, and making me harm people?" Lu Qiao realized.

"Everyone!" the black cat suddenly shouted to the crowd in the tavern.

All eyes of the alien races turned to this side, eager to know what the black cat had to say.

Lu Qiao was startled, thinking he had been right and was going to die there.

"Do this human a favor and tell him who discovered the secret of the gods and started the genocide? And which race suffered the greatest punishment?" the black cat shouted.

At this moment, eight members of the alien race present spoke:

"Humans!"

"It's you humans!"

……

The speech was not incoherent, but it was very clear.

The black cat waved its paw, and everyone in the tavern continued with their own business.

Lu Qiao realized what was happening, pointed at himself, and laughed somewhat awkwardly: "Were we humans who discovered this? Are we going to kill the gods?"

"So, according to your thinking, I'm the one making a deal with rotten humans!" the black cat explained.

"Misunderstanding, I understand. So how many relics did you find?" Lu Qiao asked.

"Forty-two items! As for the artifacts, the key in your hand is a replica of the artifact 'Universal Key.' The original can go anywhere, but the replica can only travel back and forth to the Outer Realms Tavern. As for the inheritance, our Lich Clan's inheritance is 'Foresight.' After obtaining the inheritance and deducing its effects, we determined the possibility of god-slaying, which is why we started a new round of god-slaying!" the black cat replied.

Lu Qiao realized what was happening: "So, can you teach me your skills now? I mean, pass on some knowledge or skills?"

"Yes, but I need to see your sincerity!" the black cat replied.

"You've already given me your life, and you still aren't sincere?" Lu Qiao was a little confused.

At this moment, two of the tavern staff members got up and walked to the doorway.

One person put on a mask, and the next moment their figure shrank, their clothes changed to resemble those of a normal office worker, and they used a key to open the door from the inside.

Luqiao could see a completely different scene outside the door, which seemed to be a residential house. The TV was on and playing the news, and he could vaguely hear Japanese. The other person walked into the house.

The other one opened the door, twisted its body, transformed into a teddy dog, swallowed the key, and went through another door.

Lu Qiao stared blankly, feeling incredulous.

The black cat explained, "There are many such alien races. We infiltrate the human world in various forms to gather information about the sacred relics, and then come here to report the situation. If we find anything, we open the coordinates so that other alien races can investigate. However, since I have possessed a cat, I can only ask human servants for help, otherwise it would be too difficult."

"Aren't you just making it sound like you're being weak?" Lu Qiao realized.

"Stop complaining. First, clean up the mess of the inheritance tax you left behind, or we won't even be able to save the castle! I'll have to find a new place to connect to the Outer Realms." The black cat jumped off the bar and headed towards the exit.

"Wait a minute, you said you have money. A sum of money to let you go back to China and live a carefree life, that would be my way of giving Da Feng an explanation, wouldn't it?" Lu Qiao realized.

"Where would I get the money? What I mean is, the next person to buy the castle will become my new servant, but you discovered the secret, so you became a servant. So where would you get the money? Enough talk, open the door, I'm going back!" the black cat explained.

"Goodness, why are you pretending to be rich if you don't have money?" Lu Qiao naturally followed suit, taking out the key from his pocket to open the door from the inside.

Anna reminded him, "Guest, your robe."

Lu Qiao understood, took off his robe, and threw it back.

Lu Qiao left the tavern and returned to the original cellar. The view of the castle from the cellar was truly magnificent.

Black Cat and Luqiao walked out of the cellar. Luqiao turned around, closed the door, and locked it with a key.

At that moment, several explosions rang out all around, making a crackling sound.

Looking into the distance, Lu Qiao asked, "Who's setting off firecrackers?"

"Idiot, do you think this is back home? Someone's opened fire!"