The catgirl narrowed her eyes, watching Old Man Xue staring blankly into the distance.
"Why is it still this old man? Damn it. Beating up the same weakling over and over is so annoying."
She looked down, counting on her fingers. "One, two, three, four."
"I've already snatched two, so—"
She folded down two of her four raised fingers.
"That leaves two."
The catgirl looked up, eyes narrowing as she watched the old man slowly start to move the sacks.
"I guess I'll just kill him this time."
"Who are you going to kill?"
The catgirl let out a yelp and leaped from the canopy as if someone had stepped on her tail. Ears pricked and teeth bared, she looked back up at the branch she had just been crouching on.
A rather good-looking man stood on the branches of that very canopy.
He looked down at her, a strange expression in his eyes.
The catgirl narrowed her eyes, unable to hide the murderous intent in her half-obscured pupils.
She recognized him.
They had tried to rob him before, but he had turned the tables and killed her accomplice.
Of course, the catgirl had no thoughts of revenge for that dead accomplice. They were just wandering vagrants who had happened to bump into each other.
Every day people joined, and every day people left or died.
Not long after that accomplice's death, she had left the small gang of vagrants.
She was leaving this place.
Which was why she needed carts.
And the man before her was likely the owner of the handcarts—here to take back the ones she had already stolen!
Li Ban looked down at the catgirl of this world. Her fur was puffed up, making her look as if she were about to lunge up and fight him.
But just as Li Ban wanted to test her skills, the catgirl—who had seemed ready to kill him a second ago—suddenly spun around and bolted.
Just like her failed robbery last time, she fled without a moment's hesitation.
Li Ban stared at her retreating back in astonishment. As he watched, he suddenly noticed something.
"Where is her tail?"
His Little Cat treated her tail as one of her weapons.
Maintaining balance, binding enemies, assassinating from the shadows, acting as a third hand...
In short, it was incredibly useful.
But this catgirl didn't have a tail.
Perhaps Li Ban's questioning gaze was too intense; the fleeing catgirl suddenly reached back and covered her backside.
Li Ban froze, then somewhat awkwardly averted his gaze.
Yet even as he looked away, he materialized directly in the path of her retreat.
The catgirl jolted, slamming on the brakes and kicking up a spray of dirt.
"A Priest?" The catgirl raised both hands. Her two-centimeter nails instantly lengthened to five centimeters. "They sent a Priest to kill me over two handcarts?"
"You actually know about Priests?" Li Ban smiled. "Your nails have gotten shorter. They used to be able to grow twice as long."
Seeing that Li Ban stood before her with no intention of attacking, the catgirl lowered her hands slightly, though she remained ready to fight or flee at a moment's notice.
"They could have grown three times as long, originally," the catgirl muttered. "But it's not like I can use elements anymore."
She glared at Li Ban. "What exactly are you here for? I can't outrun you, but don't think you can kill me easily either."
"I actually have no desire to kill you right now. I just think you have good skills. It's a pity for you to be a vagrant bandit."
"What I am has nothing to do with you!" the catgirl shot back instantly.
Li Ban rubbed his chin. Even he felt his previous statement sounded a bit like something a villain would say.
"Alright, I have no intention of interfering with your life either. But can we get to know each other first? My name is Li Ban. I'm currently the vice-captain of the Cliffside Camp's Guard Team."
He really is from the Guard Team, the catgirl thought. But to send a vice-captain just for two handcarts... Could that cart-pulling old man be the camp leader's father?
The catgirl still hadn't lowered her hands, but she answered Li Ban's question. "You can call me Tail."
Doesn't she go by Catgirl here?
"But you don't seem to have a tail."
The catgirl clenched her hands tightly, her eyes full of anger. "It got chopped to pieces!"
Li Ban's eyes narrowed. "By who?"
The catgirl—now going by the name Tail—didn't understand why Li Ban had suddenly gotten angry. She curled her lip. "I already chopped him to pieces."
Realizing he had accidentally conflated the two catgirls again, Li Ban smiled bitterly to himself. They aren't the same person. This catgirl obviously didn't meet a slave named Ban when she entered the Death Prison. Still, their personalities are pretty much the same.
His journey of tempering his heart in the Recycling Station didn't just involve changes to his identity and circumstances. It also brought about changes in his state of mind after facing people who felt so familiar.
Priest Chu Zhan of the Imperial Dynasty had once taken Li Ban for a stroll through the Imperial Palace, allowing him to observe the Crown Prince's canonization ceremony from a high vantage point.
He had told Li Ban then that once someone saw enough of the world, they wouldn't be easily surprised.
Therefore, facing different scenarios and different challenges was also a part of a Priest's mental cultivation.
This was probably why most Priests constantly traveled through the minor worlds of the Shattered Realm.
Collecting Wizard Embryo Fragments was one aspect; the mental changes that came from broadening one's horizons was another.
Perhaps he should interact more with the Tail in front of him; that way, he wouldn't constantly confuse her with his Little Cat.
Just like with Zhu Yao in the Recycling Station—he no longer mixed up the two versions of Zhu Yao at all.
Even though they looked exactly the same.
In the beginning, Li Ban had searched for similarities between the two identical people. Now, he needed to search for their differences.
"Tail, are you willing to join my squad?"
Tail took a half-step back. "I have no interest whatsoever in joining your Cliffside Camp."
Because Li Ban possessed the strength of a Priest, she was willing to explain a bit more, hoping he would give up quickly and stop delaying her cart-stealing.
"Even the Underwoods Camp next door wanted me to become their vice-captain directly, and I still didn't agree."
Inviting a vagrant bandit to be a camp vice-captain wasn't a rare occurrence in the Recycling Station.
As long as it allowed the camp to survive, a vagrant bandit could become a vice-captain, and a vice-captain could occasionally moonlight as a vagrant bandit.
Li Ban wasn't in a hurry to persuade her. He asked instead, "Then why didn't you agree? Or rather, do you have other plans instead of joining a camp?"
Tail frowned, reluctant to answer. But seeing how determined he was to drag her into a heart-to-heart chat—and that he wouldn't let her leave otherwise—she could only reply dryly.
"In my previous camp... someone put meat in the porridge."
Li Ban suddenly remembered hearing about this.
A powerful camp had turned into a new monster nest almost instantaneously.
It was also from then on that very few people ate anything other than wheat flatbread.
However, Li Ban felt that Tail probably had other reasons as well.
"We only eat wheat flatbread now. Besides, I'm not inviting you to join the Cliffside Camp. I won't be staying here for long, anyway."
Tail showed a sliver of interest. "You're leaving too?"
"I'm heading closer to the Continental Center. Right now, I'm thinking of Wanghai Cliff."
Tail's eyes widened slightly. "You're going to the Rift?"
Li Ban cupped his chin. "You guessed it so quickly. Don't tell me you're going there too?"
Tail finally lowered her hands completely. "I came from over there, and I have to go back there."
She looked Li Ban up and down. "I'll have to think about it. When do you set off?"
"Once I'm ready. No more than three months, but no less than one."
He had just found the tomb building where waste elements were concentrated, and he still hadn't figured out black wheat cultivation. He couldn't leave too soon.
Moreover, he was still screening candidates to take with him.
"That long?" Tail muttered.
"Of course I have to prepare as much as possible. Since you've already left the Rift once, you probably wouldn't want to be forced back immediately after arriving, would you?"
Even if Tail didn't explain, Li Ban could roughly guess what she had been through.
She had likely been just like Zhu Yao, stubbornly charging into the Rift only to fail and suffer heavy injuries. Unable to establish a foothold in the Continental Center, she had dragged herself to the safer outer periphery to survive.
Tail looked at Li Ban and asked with utmost seriousness, "Then can you guarantee that when we reach Wanghai Cliff, you will still have the strength you have now?"
She was asking about spiritual rhinoceros. Evidently, Li Ban expending spiritual rhinoceros just to track her made her doubt whether he was too reckless with it.
"Of course," Li Ban said with a smile. "If it had been anyone else here today, I wouldn't have even bothered giving chase."
Li Ban naturally meant that he thought highly of Tail's personal abilities.
"Alright, then." Tail stomped her foot. "I'll come back here in exactly ten days at this time to find you. If I don't show up, just find someone else."
"Deal. If I'm not here, just tell whoever is dumping the trash to arrange a meeting for the next day."
Tail didn't actually want to interact with anyone else from the Cliffside Camp, but figuring that a vice-captain like Li Ban might be busy, she pursed her lips and reluctantly agreed.
"I'm leaving." She turned to go.
"Wait."
"What now?"
"Can you return the two handcarts you stole?"
"No. I need them to transport my luggage."
"Pushing carts is too much of a hassle. I'll provide a Tricycle."
"I have a Tricycle. I stole one before."
"Before you ambushed us?"
"Yep!" Tail puffed out her chest, showing zero shame.
"Then why do you still need flatbed carts?"
"I have a lot of luggage. I need to hook them all together."
Li Ban pressed a hand to his forehead. "I'll handle the luggage transportation, alright?"
Tail remained somewhat reluctant. "My luggage has to stay with me."
What did she mean, her luggage had to stay with her?
"Your luggage isn't a person, is it?"
"Of course not. I live alone right now." Tail took a step back in compromise. "Fine. If we leave together, just remember to prepare a large transport vehicle."
"Alright. While you're deciding whether to join me over these next few days, you can also think about what you want to bring."
"The way you say that..."
Why did he sound so absolutely certain that she would join him?
"I'm leaving." Tail tossed her head and ran off into the distance.
This time, Li Ban didn't chase her.
Even though Tail hadn't promised to return the carts, since she had told him to prepare a larger transport vehicle, those handcarts were probably useless to her anyway.
Li Ban watched her figure disappear into the woods. Clasping his hands behind his back, he leisurely strolled back to the mud pit.
Old Man Xue was still leisurely dumping the trash.
It was like watching a slow-motion sequence.
"The vagrant bandit is gone." Tossing out those words, Li Ban turned and left as well.