"Sell... selling cuteness!?"
Master Fox, standing on the high platform in front of all the dogs and cats, raised his left hand in a fist and shouted about selling cuteness and getting by. The gold-trimmed hedgehog was so shocked that he almost threw out his back.
Master Fox had been laying the groundwork, describing the tragic plight of stray pets and the abundance and wealth of human society.
After all that, it seemed like Master Fox should be expected to shout, "How can lords and ministers be naturally noble?"
The gold-trimmed hedgehog was just about ready to flee.
He was afraid that the moment Master Fox started the uprising, he'd first hang him on a streetlamp, then order the animal crowd to start a looting spree in the center of Jiule City.
But when Master Fox introduced his 'Three Selling Concepts', the gold-trimmed hedgehog almost strained his back again.
Damn it!
Wasn't it just about selling the charming act? What was all the horrifying buildup for!
However.
The gold-trimmed hedgehog's thoughts flashed by without affecting Master Fox's ongoing speech.
"Exactly!"
"The first step in our plan for reform is to learn how to systematically sell our cuteness, to seduce humans, and have them utterly enchanted by us!"
"Whether you admit it or whatever feelings you have towards humans, one undeniable fact remains: humans are the world's most important productive force!"
"The dog food we eat, the doghouses we sleep in, the medicine that kills the fleas on us, the treatments that allow dogs and cats to live past ten years—all are produced by humans! Without humans, we on the streets wouldn't even survive to the third year!"
"Without humans, forget marinated drumsticks, we'd still be eating fuzzy chicken butts!"
Master Fox raised his hand and slapped the table, looking around at all the pets present, loudly questioning:
"So I say, is it wrong to agree that the happy life of dogs and cats needs to be built on humans? Now, answer me!"
Master Fox raised his hand, grabbed the microphone from the table, and swept it across the audience, pushing it directly towards a Border Collie that looked like it had been a family pet.
"Awoo... awuuu!"
Before the speech, Master Fox had specifically told the little pets to come forward. While those in the front row weren't as clever as the Spirit Beasts, thanks to the wolfpack traits of Abai, their intelligence and intuition had somewhat increased, allowing them to barely grasp the meaning of Master Fox's words.
The meteorite-colored Border Collie hesitated for a moment but then shouted loudly that Master Fox was absolutely right!
It had escaped from the pet hospital to avoid being neutered.
Back home, it ate high-end food, and there were beef nuggets every now and then.
Chew toys were never lacking.
After living on the streets, forget chew bones; it was nearly used as a chew toy by a Rottweiler from the nearby community.
"Woof—"
"Woof woof—"
"Meow meow meow!"
The Border Collie's recollection struck a chord with a considerable number of dogs and cats, stirring their emotions.
"Very good! Since we've reached a consensus and achieved initial goal alignment, let me tell you why we should sell our cuteness, sell our misery, and sell our charm!"
"Because... money!"
"With money, we can buy all the things humans produce!"
"There are thousands of us, scattered across different areas of Jiule City. You earn a dime, I earn two, it earns three bucks. The amounts may seem small individually, but if we pool it all together, we can cater the cafeteria!"
"Tell me! Do you want four dishes and one soup? Do you want fresh-cut fruit and a nap after meals?"
"Woof woof woof!"
"So if you want it, follow Master Fox and learn how to charm wild humans properly!"
"Watch the video!"
Master Fox called out loudly, raising a hand and pointing to the screen: "Cats, pay close attention, let go of your curiosity and mischief, shake those hips!"
In the video: "This year... just turned eighteen."
...…
Master Fox began targeted training.
He instructed the cats to let go of curiosity and refrain from mischief.
He told the dogs to temporarily abandon their territorial prejudices.
Forget about this and that; you don't even know where your next meal is coming from. What's the point of all that? No matter how big your territory is, is it bigger than Master Fox's?
Get money, get money, get money!
Earn enough for the cafeteria, rent a large dormitory, and then hire a bus to commute, eventually building a large estate!
In the future, whenever you go out, operate in groups of three.
A big dog leads a small dog and small cat.
The big dog sells misery, while the small dog and cat sell cuteness and charm, specifically targeting human wallets for sneak attacks.
Occasionally do a bit of human-like stuff to earn goodwill.
Master Fox organized the little ones, seating them in a parking lot to watch short videos. He deconstructed the elements of pets selling cuteness and analyzed why humans found it appealing.
Abai listened intently, while the golden-haired lion pondered.
The monkey troupe and the maids held cameras aloft, recording the majestic presence of Master Fox's speech.
Ansheng organized a meeting with the stray animals with the sole purpose of solving their food supply issues.
As the team grew, relying solely on raiding tax-free big consignments was too inefficient.
Moreover, Abai needed them, and Ansheng relied on them to monitor Jiule City. How could there be mischievous Spirit Beasts?
In a sense, they were invaluable contributors.
Ansheng educated them well. If they wanted to stay here in the future, they could, using their money to build specialized facilities for them, giving them a home.
From this moment on, they might not have certificates, but they had a place to shelter from the elements.
If they didn't want to risk life and limb, they could find a decent household to settle down with, a post-reform way of achieving peace of mind.
"Phew... after a few more days of training, they'll be ready to hit the streets and sell their charm. Abai, come help distribute the collars; my throat's dry from talking so much."
In the depths of summer's night, nearly two hours of speaking had exhausted Ansheng.
Once the day's lessons ended, Ansheng plopped down at the edge of the stage, instructed Abai, then asked Lin Bingyun for a bottle of ice-cold cola to soothe his throat.
"Tsk tsk tsk... quite an impressive speech! You almost scared Grandma just now. I thought the little ones were getting ready to shout 'How can lords and ministers be naturally noble,' hang a hedgehog Grandma to fire up the crowd, and then conquer the city."
A charming and seductive female voice, with a tone that could make any male's bones tingle, echoed by the stage as Lin Hao approached with a chopping board and the gold-trimmed hedgehog.
"Are you drunk? What nonsense are you talking about?" Ansheng said with an eye roll in response to the gold-trimmed hedgehog's teasing. "They've already had a tough life; I'm just trying to make things a little more comfortable for them and help them find a position in human society, instead of being seen as a destructive disaster."
Stray animals.
Whether cats or dogs, their placement in human society is regarded as a calamity!
They bring fleas into residential areas, and fleas can spread numerous diseases.
Packs of dogs can damage property and attack humans.
Cats can disrupt ecosystems since there are many wild animals, some of which are endangered, in urban areas outside of humans.
Cats are notoriously mischievous; even if they don't eat them, they'll claw at them a couple of times.
They're wild animals; you can't expect them to act otherwise, yet exterminating them all would spark public outcry.
"Rely on a pet uprising? Have I gone mad? I set my air conditioning to 23 degrees at home and grab a can of ice-cold cola from the fridge. Without humans, I'd probably have to power it all with love, right?"
Ansheng quipped in response to the gold-trimmed hedgehog's teasing.
Meanwhile, Abai had started distributing collars, taking care of the QR code collars for dogs. The golden-haired lion distributed all the cat collars. Lin Bingyun's maids and Hai Linglong's underlings were helping out.
Just as the collars were being handed out, two lights suddenly flickered in Ansheng's mind on the wish list.
Two wishes had been fulfilled, awaiting him to accept.
"Huh?" Ansheng was stunned, wondering why the wish list suddenly lit up when he hadn't done anything.