Just then, there was a knock on the door from upstairs.
Mu You opens the door, only to find that Little Ya was standing at the doorstep.
Little Ya was casually dressed, a bag swinging over her shoulder, and a half-eaten bun still in her hand.
With the door opened, she saw Mu You with his dark eye circles once again, and was instinctively prone to nag, but she immediately sniffed something strange, "Boss, have you been brewing Chinese herbs?" she inquired.
"Came up with a little something..."
Mu You was embarrassed, is the smell really that obvious?
"That said, didn’t I tell you guys not to work today? Why are you still here," questioned Mu You, a befuddled look on his face.
"Oh, Sister Xue sent a car to take me home this morning, and when I got home I had nothing to do, so I thought I’d swing by," explained Little Ya.
Speaking of which, Little Ya quickly finished the bun in two or three bites, sudden exclaimed, "Oh right Boss, let me show you something fun!"
"What?" Mu You was taken aback.
"You’ll see after you look at it!"
Lively as ever, Little Ya rushed into the store, walked to the guest resting area, and took out a glass bottle from her bag.
To Mu You’s surprise, there was a dark green mantis sealed inside the bottle.
"I found it in the green belt this morning when I was returning to my neighbourhood. It was resting on a leaf and I didn’t see it, so I touched it and it bit me. But what’s weird is afterward it kept following me wherever I went. So eventually it followed me home. I got a bit scared and hence caught it inside the bottle," explained Little Ya.
Little Ya hastily handed the bottle to Mu You, "Boss, quickly see what it is. Why on earth would it follow me?"
Upon seeing the mantis clearly, Mu You experienced a momentary contraction of his pupils, because he am shook to find a clear magical power fluctuation emanating from the creature.
Clearly, this is no ordinary mantis, but a magical creature!
"Eh? This is a Thunder Mantis meow!"
Just in time, Cola jumped onto the table. Having spotted the creature in the bottle, he expressed his surprise in Mu You’s mind.
"What’s a Thunder Mantis?" Mu You whispered.
"A Thunder Mantis is a natural born insect hunter. Their blades are incredibly sharp, their speed is exceptionally fast, and they also possess the ability to shoot out small Thunder Arcs. They are a natural enemy to all kind of insect demons. If an insect demon was targeted by them, there is practically no chance of escape," explained Cola.
"Really that amazing?"
Mu You glanced at the mantis in the bottle and saw a faint red mark on its forehead.
Mu You was very familiar with this mark because the little spider in his bag has an identical mark. This mark is called the Contract Engraving.
Mu You immediately turned to Little Ya: "Did it draw blood when it bit you?"
Little Ya stretched out her right hand, showing the Band-Aid on her index finger, "But it only bit a small hole, nothing serious."
Mu You had connected all the dots. Evidently, this mantis was one of the creatures that appeared on Earth during the creature’s outbreak the day before. Its location was a bit off though, so it was not caught by players, but was accidentally contracted by Little Ya instead...
Thinking of this, Mu You looked at Little Ya quite envyingly: "Congratulations, Little Ya, this is called a Thunder Mantis, a very rare kind of magical creature."
"Magical creature? Boss, what are you talking about?" Little Ya looked at him blankly.
Mu You shook his head without explaining but passed the bottle to Little Ya, "You should let it out. If it’s been cooped up for too long, it might get suffocated."
"Let it out? But what if...it bites me again?" Little Ya still felt scared recalling her previous encounter. She’d never encountered an insect that seemed intelligent one, following her all the way home.
"Don’t worry, it’s following you because it has taken you as its master. It won’t bite you again and would even protect you when you’re in danger," Mu You said with a laugh.
"Taken me as its master? Protect me?"
Little Ya gave Mu You a weird look, almost making her ask if he’d been reading too many novels lately.
Nevertheless, she obediently unscrewed the bottle cap.
Within the next second, the mantis agilely crawled out from a crevice and quickly climbed onto the back of her hand.
Little Ya’s hand trembled slightly, and she almost dropped the bottle. She was about to shriek, but then she froze.
Just as Mu You said, the mantis didn’t attack her after crawling out. Instead, it curled up on her hand, rubbing her clothes with its head, appearing to be very obedient.
"Huh? It really won’t bite me!"
Little Ya felt as if she’d discovered a new world. She extended her other hand to play with the mantis, which cooperated fully, playing around her fingers, but was careful to keep its razor-sharp forelimbs retracted to avoid hurting her.
"Boss, look, this is impressive! How can there be such smart creatures!"
Excited, Little Ya’s perception of the mantis quickly changed from ’dangerous and horrifying’ to ’smart and cute’.
"Boss, what does it eat and drink? How should I take care of it?" Snapping back to reality, Little Ya eagerly asked for advice.
She had decided to adopt this small creature as a pet.
Mu You smirked and said, "Get a breathable resin box with a lid from the store, make a nest for it, and put it in your bag. Let it follow you around. About its food, don’t worry. It will go forage by itself when it’s hungry."
Upon hearing Mu You’s words, Little Ya quickly put the mantis back on the table and rushed to the pet supplies area to find some nesting materials for it.
Now free for a moment, Mu You sat down to take a closer look at the Thunder Mantis.
The mantis seemed incredibly attached to Little Ya, but it was not as friendly towards others.
Looking at Mu You and Cola, who were leaning in close to it, the mantis raised its razor-sharp forelimbs, its body erect, wings spread open, ready to attack.
Cola, being a Miao Star cat, couldn’t stand the provocation and immediately hissed at the mantis. Simultaneously, it tried to swipe at the mantis with a lightning-fast three-hit combo.
However, the mantis reacted swiftly, making several jumps to dodge the attack easily while simultaneously clashing its forelimbs to create a spark of electricity which hit Cola’s paw pads.
Cola recoiled from the electric shock, twitching and stepping back instinctively. It glared ferociously at the mantis while hissing continually but dared not attack anymore.
Feeling the disdainful glance from the side, Cola quickly defended itself to Mu You, "Just this tiny mantis, I could beat ten of them back in my day!"
"At least you know to add, ’back in your day.’"
Mu You cast a teasing glance at Cola.
Ever since Cola arrived at the pet shop, it had been lazing around in utter indulgence - eating cat food, watching anime all day, completely immersed in an otaku lifestyle.
As a result of this overly indulgent existence, Cola had started to put on weight rapidly. In less than a month, the slender and nimble American Shorthair had packed on so much weight that it started resembling a chubby orange tabby. If one didn’t know any better, they would assume Cola was an orange tabby that had dyed its fur.
If Cola continued on this path, Mu You questioned whether its original owner would even recognize it when they finally met.