I, the little cat, am a substitute for others who are starving and thin

"The cat...spoke?"

Diego was stunned for less than a second before coming to his senses. "Are you the envoy sent by the President? What a surprising way."

"The President?" Maomao asked in confusion.

"Isn't it? This is really quite funny." He sniffed the air and saw no strange humans nearby. He stroked his chin and said bluntly: "A talking cat? If I caught you, I might be able to sell you for a fortune comparable to that old woman's..."

Well, he has a dark history of marrying an old woman for property.

Hearing his words, Yimi's ears lowered slightly, forming an airplane ear shape.

This human was very unfriendly and he was not going to feed the saint's remains to the cat just because it was cute.

Yimi thought about what she would do in the past when she saw other cats holding something she wanted. Of course, she would just go up and grab it.

But it can't defeat humans.

Maomao recalled that the system had previously taught it the importance of polite greetings in human society, so it tried to combine the two to see if there would be any miraculous effect:

"Excuse me, can I take your eyes?"

Diego's mouth drooped. "You have a 'stand-in,' right, black and white cat? If it weren't for your parrot-like English, I'd have thought you were a human. A mere beast, for example, actually has the same interest in collecting corpses as the US President. Should I praise your refined taste or belittle someone as a feral stray cat?"

"Congratulations to the host for achieving the achievement [Pass it on, Diego calls Valentine a little wildcat], rewarded with 5% portal energy."

"Meow?" This was the first time Yimi achieved such an achievement with so many words.

But it didn't have the time to carefully read what was written on the line, because while Diego was speaking, a small creature that smelled very similar to the strange bird before quickly pounced on it with dense fine teeth.

"Meow!" Yimi grabbed it and bit off its neck.

"I don't know who sent you here, but if you're interested in corpses, that would be a real surprise to me. You probably have the remains of someone who's awakened a Stand for you, right? You lowly bastard, your only value is using your bloated pufferfish-like torso to transport presents to me like a Christmas turkey, waiting to be gutted!"

There was a rustling sound, and countless pairs of eyes lit up in the dark ditch. Dozens of small dinosaurs like the one just now made sharp roars and rushed upwards.

At the same time, bulges began to appear on Diego's spine, and the corners of his mouth cracked to the sides all the way to his ears. His skin also became rough and hardened, and a long tail extended from behind his spine. Considering that this cat who was looking for trouble was probably also a Stand user, he planned to use all his strength from the beginning and not give the other party any room to maneuver.

“‘The terrifying beast!!’”

In front of Yimi, he actually turned into a species between a human and a velociraptor in the alley!

This was the Stand ability granted to him by his left eye, and it could still be used even after the body was separated. His physical strength, bite force, dynamic vision, and other abilities were enhanced accordingly.

"Meow!"

Seeing this weird thing, the cat's young heart finally felt the oppression from the ancient creatures and the fear of being targeted as food.

This is different from the malice of the devil, and it comes directly from the oppressive power in the food chain.

For humans, Diego's stand ability is definitely an extremely difficult one. By transforming himself into a half-dragon, he gains the excellent dynamic vision and reaction speed of a dinosaur, but does not have the shortcoming of the limited movement of the dinosaur's forelimbs.

He can even dodge bullets fired from medium and long distances to a certain extent.

Yimi is not a human being. It also has nervous reaction and strong dynamic vision. Its petite size advantage helps it to trick humans in some tricky terrains.

"Meow!" It knocked away the small dinosaur blocking its way, and without caring how disgusting the sewage below was, it directly drilled into the cracked sewer that no one had repaired.

"Congratulations to the host for achieving the achievement [Human Bomb Impact], and be rewarded with 5% portal energy."

But Yimi is stuck!

"Meow!"

Because it has lost its whiskers, it cannot normally judge the entrance it can pass through!

"Never listen to the devil, cat."

The voice of the owner of the remains seemed to still echo in his ears, as if he was being wise after the event.

Chapter 8: Starving People

The dinosaurs transformed from mice swarmed over and bit the cat's tail and hind legs. Their sharp teeth, through the ancient bite force, penetrated deeply into its flesh and almost broke its bones.

"Meow!!"

The terrifying beast's stand ability is not limited to transforming itself into a dinosaur. The truly terrifying thing about it is that it can transform other creatures attacked by Diego into dinosaur creatures that dominated the ancient times. Even if the transformed creatures scratch other creatures, they can still spread this characteristic and be controlled by him.

It's as terrifying as the zombie infection in later movies and TV shows.

"But this effect has no effect on the person holding the corpse. Hey, you're quite impressive, actually gaining the corpse's approval. You're a lowly creature, only fit to make lewd noises in springtime, but I really should praise you here."

He stood far away, opened his long mouth to reveal his sharp teeth and made an expression that seemed to be smiling.

"I have a good idea. How about you become my subordinate? Okay, you're also a Stand user, right?"

As he watched, the small dinosaur that was biting the cat's tail tightly suddenly increased its bite force without listening to his command, almost cutting off the cat's tail completely.

No, they are struggling?

Diego narrowed his eyes and noticed that apart from the initial scream, the cat seemed to have stopped moving.

Correspondingly, the bodies of this group of small dinosaurs that he transformed from mice suddenly became noticeably shriveled, and even lost their dinosaur posture and took on the prototype of dirty mice, also looking like they had died in the desert and been dried up.

This was impossible because he, the controller, was still conscious, and the terrifying beast had the ability to transform a brown bear into a dinosaur and control it even if it was bitten to death and partly eaten!

Is it this cat?

Diego, who could tear the fur ball into pieces, did not dare to approach rashly. He controlled more dinosaur mice to pounce on the trapped cat. This time he gave a fatal order.

"Meow?"

Just like what happened just now, all the dinosaur rats began to shrivel up after attacking the cat. There was no mistake, all the dinosaurs became abnormal after biting the cat. Was the cat's blood poisonous?

"Looks like a Stand of the same type as my 'Terrible Beast'. It seems your actions have been intended to trick me, Diego, into attacking. But Muda, na Muda!"

Diego picked up some construction waste nearby, a rusty steel bar that was discarded by someone unknown. With the brute force amplified by the terrifying beast, it was enough to throw something as powerful as a bullet.

"throat--"

But at this moment, there was a noise beside Yimi that could not be ignored.

To be precise, the movement occurred in the sewer where the cat was stuck.

It cracked, even if it was just a small crack, Diego could still confirm this with his eyesight. It was at this time that he noticed that the cat's tail, which had been almost bitten off, had recovered as it was before, and it kept shaking from side to side with its nervousness.

boom!

"!"

The metal manhole cover was completely torn open, and the cat, who seemed to be wrapped in a dark light, escaped from it with brute force alone, turned over to avoid the deadly projection, and made a threatening breath at Diego.

Although he didn't know why, Yimi didn't feel too much pain when he was bitten by the dinosaur rat just now. He instinctively knew what kind of special ability he had, just like a baby that starts crying at birth.

"Meow!" The cat, with its fur standing on end, seemed to be going crazy and pounced on the ferocious beast in front of it, which was several times bigger than itself, without hesitation.

"This guy!"

Diego didn't dare to be careless. He backed away while holding his arms in front of him and moved towards an open area as much as possible.

He knew that if he used his claws to hit the little thing hard, it would probably spit out its intestines on the spot, but he didn't dare to bet whether the so-called poisonous blood needed to enter the body or just touch it to take effect.

The agility and reflexes offered by a terrifying beast are beyond the reach of a mere cat, and that's how it should be.

But after he successfully dodged the cat's pounce, the thing kicked the wall and used the momentum to strike his arm with a claw at a speed that he couldn't react in time. The force was so weak that it only scratched the skin, but it was actually equivalent to a full-strength attack from an adult male.

"Wryyyyyyy!"

Diego swung his tail and slammed it against the wall. From the shoddy-looking pieces of debris, it was clear that even if the cat was physically strong, its internal organs would still be shattered into pieces.

Before today, Diego probably never imagined he'd be robbed by a cat, and even engaged in a back-and-forth fight with it. If Johnny Joestar saw this, his reputation would be ruined.

Diego looked down at his arm. Three shallow scratches were barely visible on the skin that had been replaced with hard skin. These injuries, which probably wouldn't even bleed, were the only result achieved by this beast with all his might.

It's hilarious.

"Meow……"

Diego looked at Yimi, who seemed to have broken his spine and was unable to stand normally.

"As a semi-domesticated creature, I can only compliment you for being able to do this. The price is that I, Dio, will rip your stomach apart at the beginning and become part of the supplies for this tournament. Of course, I will let Johnny Joestar test the poison for me first!"

This was just a habitual remark, but he didn't expect that he really felt a sense of emptiness in his abdomen, and even made a clear "gurgling" sound.

He said he was hungry.

No, that's impossible.

Free food was provided to the competitors at every checkpoint, and some even thought, "Eat your way back to your money, even if you don't place, it's no loss." Even if Johnny had made him feel completely down, he would always replenish his energy before moving on. How could he feel hungry again in less than half an hour?

When he realized this, the hunger had become more and more obvious. At the same time, Yimi, who was lying on the ground, stood up again like a cat and shook his head. The internal organs fragments around his mouth were nothing.

"Meow~"

It was not an illusion. The hunger had already made Diego weak, and the effect was still increasing. After being transformed into a dinosaur, he began to show primitive irritability and desire to attack. He finally understood what had happened to those dinosaur rats.

In contrast, the cat absorbed his nutrients to heal its own injuries and even became stronger and stronger!

"How dare you!"

Diego used his left claw to cut off the injured piece of flesh without hesitation, successfully stopping the increase of hunger, but this still could not save the nutrients he had lost and his body that was so hungry that he wanted to chew grass.

This is Yimi's stand ability.

“‘It makes people thin and hungry!’”

Chapter 9 Keycaps

It can strengthen itself by cutting down enemies and possesses agility that is no less than that of a terrifying beast. This completely brainless stand undoubtedly restrains him. When he was scratched for the first time, he could only rely on close combat with the opponent, and he was almost halfway defeated.

Because he was so weak, he could hardly avoid the subsequent attacks. His hungry instinct almost prompted Diego to open his bloody mouth and bite the cat's body. Of course, if he really did this, Diego would be the one who was sucked dry in the end.

"Main Quest: Collect all the Saints' Remains (1.5/10)"

Like Diego who had already given up and lost the overall situation, the eyeballs of the corpse automatically fell off his body and rolled towards Imi who had the spine.

It was an eyeball with a golden pupil, and around the black pupil was a circle of golden letters - TURBō

It was swallowed by Yimi, and then automatically emerged from the skin and moved towards the head, eventually replacing the cat's azure left eye, looking particularly bizarre.

"Damn it, my Dio actually..."

It was not just hunger, but also the pain of dehydration and even a series of nutrient deficiencies that made Diego, who was on the verge of losing consciousness, have blurred vision, tinnitus, and dizziness.

Compared to the hunger in his stomach, the fact of being robbed by a cat was obviously a greater trampling on him, almost on the same level as using boots to hold porridge.

This cat is accustomed to taking its left foot first, and when dodging, it also tends to head left first. The most troublesome thing about this distance is that it might get splashed with cat blood. If it absorbs its own nutrients again, not only will its injuries heal immediately, but it could also be in danger of death...

He cherished his life very much, as did those who loved money; they could spend money only if they lived. But what was the point of cherishing one's life when one was almost certain to die?

Finally, let me tell you what the biggest difference between humans and beasts is, stinky cat!

Yimi seemed to smell something.

"Here, is the cat the President is looking for!"

Perhaps it was because Diego had to talk so much when fighting that he successfully attracted the president's confidant who was not far away.

After all, the reason he appeared here in the first place was because he had an appointment with the President.

"Meow!"

Hearing the human's shouting, the cat, which had already got what it wanted, simply didn't stay and climbed up the wall to quickly escape the scene.

"Hey, are you okay? Was that the cat that attacked you?"

The president's confidant, who had no stand ability, could only watch it leave and squatted in front of Diego to show humanitarian concern that was in line with his status.

Turning Diego over, he was shocked to find that the young man who looked strong when he crossed the finish line of stage 4 had become noticeably thinner, and even his skin showed a tendency to sink. Some of the places scratched by his claws were even cut off by him with skin and flesh.

"How tragic! I'm afraid I won't be able to continue participating in the competition..."

"Miserable? What nonsense are you talking about? If you hadn't come to make trouble, I, Dio, would have smashed its head into pieces long ago." Diego gently slapped away his hand that was trying to support him, pretending to be nonchalant.

Accepting the organizer's help would mean losing the qualification to participate in the competition, although the purpose of his negotiation was actually to let the president act as a black referee.

The confidant followed Diego's gaze and saw through the manhole cover held open by Yimi that several unknown creatures with sharp teeth and beaks were dragging an oil barrel from somewhere. There was a hole bitten through the bottom of the barrel, causing the liquid inside to continuously pour out and mix with the methane. Not far away, there was another dinosaur rat biting a square box.

The light was too dim for the confidant to see clearly, but that didn't stop him from guessing it was something like a match or a lighter, and he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

Did this guy just try to blow up the entire street?