thefictionvixens Page 101
Page 101
"Look carefully outside!"
Zhang Chu pointed to the scene outside the window—a scene of utter ruins, collapsed houses, shattered streets, and smoke-filled ruins, as if a war had just taken place.
"This is your masterpiece!"
Tom and Jerry's faces were pressed against the cold glass, their distorted little noses and round eyes staring intently at the apocalyptic scene outside the window.
They all swallowed hard, and their little bodies began to tremble uncontrollably.
"I'm giving you one last chance!"
Zhang Chu's voice was like a cold wind from the abyss.
“If you don’t restore this place to its original state—repair every house, pave every street, and clean up all the garbage—I’ll turn you two into something just like the view outside the window! Do you understand?!”
Tom and Jerry were terrified, nodding frantically so fast they were almost blurry, tears streaming from their eyes.
"If you know, then get to work!!!"
Zhang Chu roared and swung his arm violently, throwing Tom and Jerry out the door like two unwanted potatoes.
Two soft thuds and a cry of pain came from outside the door.
The emergency room fell into a deathly silence.
Everyone held their breath, listening intently to the sounds outside the door.
At first, there was silence, then some faint, clanging sounds came, followed by the sound of sawing wood, and then a more intense sound, as if dozens of workers were working at the same time...
The troupe leader carefully walked to the door, pushed it open a crack, and looked out.
Outside, a jaw-dropping scene unfolded on the street: Tom and Jerry had somehow acquired countless miniature construction tools—small hammers, small saws, small bulldozers, and even a truck with a mini crane!
The two of them had a clear division of labor, and their movements were so fast it was like watching a movie on fast-forward.
Tom used his retractable arms (?) and amazing strength to move huge stones and timbers, while Jerry used his unparalleled finesse to precisely assemble and repair them.
The collapsed walls rose again at a speed visible to the naked eye, the broken floor tiles flew back to their original positions one by one, and even the charred marks left by the shelling were quickly cleaned up and painted over...
The efficiency was frighteningly high, and the technique was as professional as that of a thousand-year-old craftsman, but the style was still full of cartoonish exaggeration and illogicality.
The ensemble leader gently closed the door, leaned against it, and let out a long, long sigh, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders.
She glanced around the room. Kaiya, Barbara, Qingyu, Erkang (whose mind had returned to normal), and Zhang Chu, who had just stopped hopping on one leg and looked visibly shaken, all wore the same expression—
The exhaustion of surviving the ordeal, and a sense of relief that "this nightmare is finally fucking over."
Mondstadt may finally be able to restore its former tranquility thanks to the "redemption" of this cat and mouse...maybe.
At least, that should be the case until the next pair of "surprise" visitors from another world arrive.
Chapter 120 Cat and Mouse Ascend to Heaven
"Huh...huh..."
Tom and Jerry sat back to back on the newly laid Mondstadt square floor, which still smelled of fresh wood. Each of them held a tiny towel that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, and vigorously wiped the exaggerated, waterfall-like sweat from their foreheads.
Their chests heaved violently, their faces were etched with exhaustion, but their eyes revealed a sense of accomplishment after completing a grand project.
Looking around, Mondstadt, which had looked as if it had been ravaged by a Category 10 hurricane and an earthquake, was now completely transformed!
The collapsed houses were not only rebuilt, but Jerry also used his nimble little hands to draw cute doodles on the walls (although some parts were not drawn quite right, such as adding two mustaches to the wind god statue).
The shattered streets were paved smoother and more even than before, so smooth that people could even see their reflections in them.
The areas blackened by artillery fire were painted snow-white, and the corner of the Knights of Favonius headquarters that had been smashed was repaired seamlessly by Tom using some unknown material, making it even shinier than the surrounding area!
The entire city of Mondstadt seemed to have undergone a magical renovation, even cleaner and more beautiful than before—if you ignore the occasional cartoon decorations with a slightly jarring style.
Standing on the newly repaired balcony of the Knights' headquarters, Commander Qin looked down at the "peaceful" scene below and finally let out a long sigh of relief.
She felt her blood pressure, which had soared to almost break the sky, finally slowly return to within a safe range.
She even showed a rare, tired but genuine smile.
It's over... This nightmare is finally over...
Thanks to the wind god, peace has finally been restored to Mondstadt...
Perhaps we could consider giving those four guys a break? No, forget it, their rest would probably be even more terrifying…
However, the leader of the troupe, and all the Mondstadt people who thought the disaster was over, were too quick to rejoice.
The peaceful scene lasted only... about the length of a song.
Just as Tom and Jerry caught their breath and glanced at each other—their eyes no longer held the life-or-death tension of before, but instead carried a hint of mutual respect and camaraderie—
It's unclear who started it; perhaps it was just an unintentional exchange of glances, or maybe Jerry thought Tom's mustache was a bit too irritating, or maybe Tom just thought Jerry was being too smug wiping his sweat...
In short, the next moment!
"boom!!!"
A red, crackling firecracker flew out of someone's hand and hit the other person squarely on the forehead, exploding into a small cloud of smoke and sparks!
A brief moment of dead silence.
"Squeak squeak squeak!!!" (How dare you attack me from behind!)
"Meow!!!" (You started it!)
"Comrades-in-arms" who were just fighting side by side can instantly turn against each other!
A new round of even more intense and reckless chases and explosions is unfolding once again in the newly renovated Mondstadt!
Moreover, because they had just "rebuilt" the city, they knew every corner and every secret passage inside and out, making the chase even more dazzling, and the destructive power... more precise and efficient!
"Why are they making a scene again?!"
Having just returned to her office and barely settled into her chair, the troupe leader Qin was startled by the explosion and familiar screams coming from outside. She jumped up from her seat, clutched her head, and let out a near-hysterical scream!
She felt her blood pressure, which had just dropped, spike again as if she were on a high-speed train, her temples throbbed, and her vision even began to blur.
She practically scrambled to the desk, her hands and feet trembling as she pulled open the drawer. She grabbed the blood pressure medication that Zhang Chu had "kindly sponsored" her with, supposedly from Bubulu. Without even glancing at it, she uncorked the bottle, tilted her head back, and poured the entire bottle of pills into her mouth, swallowing them down without even drinking any water!
(Zhang Chu's inner monologue: That bottle is for emergencies, two pills at most at a time... Commander Qin, I wish you a healthy stomach...)
The office door was pushed open, and Miss Lisa from the library walked in with faltering steps.
Her usual languidness and elegance were completely gone. Her once beautiful purple witch's hat was askew, and her face and mage robes were covered in black ash, as if she had just crawled out of an exploding alchemical furnace.
She raised her hand, which was blackened by smoke, and waved it weakly.
"Jin... my dear commander... please think of something... I just wanted to go to the library to find a quiet book to read, but those two little rascals threw in a smoking 'gift' from somewhere and blew my hardcover copy of 'Advanced Theory of Elemental Reactions' into dandelions... If this keeps up, my library, no, the entire Mondstadt will be torn to shreds a second time by them..."
Looking at her disheveled best friend and listening to the incessant explosions and the sounds of cats meowing and mice squeaking outside the window, the last thread of her rationality snapped.
She cast a pleading look at Zhang Chu, the only one in the room who remained relatively calm (on the surface).
"Lord Zhang Chu..."
The zither's voice was choked with sobs, almost a plea.
"Please... by any means necessary... stop them... permanently..."
Zhang Chu's face, which was always hidden by a metal mask, showed no expression, but the low pressure and black resentment that began to emanate from him, almost solidifying into a tangible force, caused the temperature in the entire office to drop several degrees.
He didn't speak, but silently and steadily hoisted his enormous thunder hammer, which was now crackling with dangerous arcs of electricity again.
He walked out of the Knights' headquarters with heavy steps, like an executioner walking to the execution ground.
Outside on the street, Tom occupied a newly repaired fountain pool as a "fortress," holding a handful of colorful firecrackers in his hand, with a familiar sly grin on his face, throwing them one after another at Jerry, who was nimbly leaping on the roof of the opposite building, causing water to splash and stone chips to fly everywhere.
It was so engrossed in playing that it didn't notice a huge, ominous figure that had silently appeared behind it like the Grim Reaper.
Zhang Chu raised the thunder hammer high in his hand, without conjuring lightning, relying solely on physical force—
"boom--!!!"
A dull, jarring thud that made your teeth ache!
The side of the hammer slammed solidly into the back of Tom's round head!
Tom's sly grin froze instantly, his eyes bulged out, his tongue lolled out uncontrollably, and his entire body seemed to have its bones removed, being flattened and compressed at a visible speed...
Finally, with a "splat," it stuck firmly to the ground, becoming a cat pancake with even thickness, neat edges, and the outline of a tail and whiskers.
Zhang Chu didn't even glance at the "cat pancake" at his feet. He calmly pulled out a uniquely shaped grappling hook gun from behind his back and aimed it at Jerry, who had just stopped attacking because Tom had stopped and was now standing triumphantly with his hands on his hips on the hands of the wind god statue.
"Whoosh—crack!"
The grappling hook precisely gripped Jerry's slender waist, then suddenly contracted, pulling him back to Zhang Chu in an instant.
Jerry hadn't even realized what was happening when he felt a dizzying sensation and then met Zhang Chu's cold (and murderous) gaze from behind his mask.
It looked at the thunder hammer that Zhang Chu was holding in his other hand, which was still emitting a little blue smoke, and then at the familiar, motionless "cat pancake" on the ground, and instantly understood its predicament.
"Gudong..."
Jerry swallowed hard, his small body began to tremble like a leaf, and his eyes instantly filled with tears as he looked at Zhang Chu with a pitiful, desperate gaze.
Zhang Chu ignored its cute antics, placed Jerry on his other palm, and then raised the Thunder Hammer again—
"boom--!!!"
Another heart-stopping thud!
Jerry followed in Tom's footsteps and became a thin, terrified-looking mouse pancake.
Zhang Chu bent down expressionlessly, picked up the "cat cake" and "mouse cake" from the ground, and roughly kneaded, squeezed, and folded them like two pieces of clay...
Finally, they were forcibly rolled into a bizarre blue and brown mixed cat and mouse ball!
He placed the "ball" on the ground, and then pulled out a gleaming, professional-looking golf club from somewhere.
He assumed a standard hitting stance, his gaze sharply locked onto the "cat and mouse ball" on the ground, took a deep breath, and then, leveraging his waist, swung his arm out powerfully—
"call out--!!!"
The golf club whistled through the air and struck the "ball" with pinpoint accuracy!
The ball formed from Tom and Jerry, as if given a rocket booster, instantly transformed into a blue-brown meteor, shooting into the sky at an extremely unscientific speed and angle!
It flew higher and higher, faster and faster, piercing through the clouds and cutting through the sky, leaving a faint, distorted trail on the azure backdrop before finally disappearing from everyone's sight, turning into an invisible "star" in the daytime.
Zhang Chu silently withdrew his gaze, casually tossed the expensive golf club on the ground like trash, clapped his hands, turned to the completely petrified Captain Qin, Lisa, and the group of Knights of Favonius who were secretly watching, and said in his signature calm tone: