By the banks of the Houghton River, Imuel struggled to climb onto the shoal.

At this moment, his face was deathly pale, yet his features were overly gorgeous, and his clothing was incredibly opulent. When these attributes were combined, he looked like a beautiful ghost that had crawled out of hell.

The beautiful ghost was completely drenched. His pitch-black long hair was soaked through, clinging to his cheeks in wet strands. There was a terribly deep wound on his abdomen; the oozing blood and tissue fluid stained his luxurious robes. Every step he took brought heart-wrenching, excruciating pain.

Imuel clutched his waist and abdomen, spitting out a curse: "Damn it."

This was a shoal in the suburbs of Illyria. The Houghton River meandered through the main city, and here the current slowed down, forming a large alluvial plain along the shore. Imuel had struggled for a long time before finally climbing ashore.

His physical strength was no longer enough to support him in finding the next shoal.

But as Imuel looked around, a look of despair appeared on his face.

This place was simply too remote in the suburbs.

The riverbank was covered in black mud, and along the shore were large swathes of leafless birch trees. Ravens rested on them, their cries hoarse—this place was desolate, with no signs of human habitation.

But Imuel desperately needed treatment. His wound was deep and had already deteriorated from infection. He was delirious and running a fever. If left untreated, he would die on this silent riverbank.

"...No, I can't die yet."

Imuel bit his lower lip. He bit down incredibly hard, his teeth piercing the skin, filling his mouth with the metallic taste of blood. Only by doing this could he barely manage to stay awake.

Imuel crawled two more steps, still clutching a ruby in his hand—if someone found him, he would use it as an exchange to beg for some treatment and medicine; if someone took the ruby but didn't provide treatment, he would tempt them with even greater benefits, promising a hundredfold reward, and then return for revenge once he regained his position. But now the shoal was completely deserted; Imuel was full of schemes but had no way to use them.

At this moment, a familiar burning heat surged from his lower abdomen. Then, the muscles all over his body began to twitch and deform. A sharp pain spread throughout his body. Imuel almost shattered his teeth from clenching them so hard. He trembled as his lips moved, "No, no, why right at this moment..."

The ruby slipped from his fingertips and rolled into the dirt.

Imuel bit down even harder on the soft flesh of his mouth, but this little bit of pain was completely unable to resist his body's instincts. His fingers hung down weakly. Then, the human form beneath the luxurious robes suddenly changed, like a balloon drained of air. Subsequently, a light-golden, long-haired cat crawled out from the clothes.

It was a very beautiful cat with eyes of a deep lake blue. Its fur was thick, and its bone structure was well-proportioned. It could fetch a high price in the pet market.

However, he was extremely weak. His two front paws struggled to move forward, dragging out a long trail of blood on the riverbank, which was then washed clean by the river water.

Imuel's eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Ultimately, his vision went black, and he completely passed out by the riverbank.

Bai Yu crossed the embankment and walked to the edge of the Houghton River.

He had just had a calm exchange with the System, gaining a preliminary understanding of the world's background and his identity.

The scientific development level of this world was roughly equivalent to mid-to-late nineteenth-century Europe. He was a doctor in an underground clinic, mainly engaging in illegal medical practices, organ trafficking, and other such operations. These things were very common in Illyria. And his current mission was to find a cat on the riverbank.

The Houghton River meandered on, its coastline stretching long. Bai Yu pushed his glasses up his nose. "Are you sure a cat will appear here?"

55 shrank to the side. "Yes, I'm sure."

With the previous two hosts, 55 liked to lie on their shoulders. However, Bai Yu had a cold personality, wearing silver-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, looking like a polite scum. Furthermore, he was a psychopathic cat-killer. 55 was a bit afraid of him and only dared to float by his side.

55: "If my positioning isn't wrong, it should be about 50 meters to your right."

Bai Yu looked over as told, and sure enough, he vaguely saw a cat lying on the ground.

He walked over quickly and immediately furrowed his brows.

This cat was severely injured.

It lay on the mud, its breathing faint and imperceptible. The wound on its abdomen was gruesome and terrifying. It seemed to be in terrible pain, its body twitching every now and then.

According to Bai Yu's experience, if not treated immediately, this cat wouldn't escape death.

Bai Yu furrowed his brows. 55 saw this; the host already looked cold by nature, and now that he frowned, he looked even colder and sharper than a knife.

The System shivered and said fearfully, "H-H-H-Host, let me remind you, according to the plot, this cat must be taken back. You can't torture it to death right now, otherwise your plot points will instantly drop to zero, Host—!"

It watched as Bai Yu reached his hand out toward the cat.

Avoiding the wound, Bai Yu picked the cat up and calmly observed its injury: muscle tissue adhesion and dislocation, external infection, bleeding and suppuration. The body surface temperature was quite high, meaning it was running a fever, which should be an inflammatory response caused by the wound.

Bai Yu usually had no expression, and he had even less expression when observing a pet's wound. The way he stared at the cat's abdomen looked as if he was pondering how to make the first incision, just like those perverted doctors conducting human experiments in horror games.

55 was frightened out of its wits, its voice turning shrill: "Host, Host, this is the mission target! You can't kill it, you can't kill it right now!"

Bai Yu gave it a glance, picked up the cat, and said coldly, "Back to the clinic."

He strode back.

Bai Yu was tall with long legs, and his pace was extremely fast. 55 followed bitterly behind, watching Bai Yu enter the small clinic.

This clinic was not running any legitimate business, and there were hardly any doctors doing legitimate business in a chaotic city-state like Illyria. Various medicines were casually placed on the cabinets. After Bai Yu checked the inventory, he placed the cat on a soft cushion, securing it to expose its soft abdomen.

The condition of the wound was not optimistic. He had to excise the rotting flesh, drain the pus, debride the wound, and stitch it up as soon as possible.

He took out a bottle of anesthetic from the medicine cabinet, turned on the examination light, and reached his hand out toward the System. "Give me the syringe."

The task of handing over medical instruments was usually done by an assistant. Now that there was no assistant, the System could make do.

55: "!!!"

Although the abuse in the novel did involve drugs and injections, 55 never imagined that the host was so perverted as to play with this right off the bat. It nervously shrank to the side, doubtful and alarmed: "...This is just a poor little kitten! It's even severely injured. Such a cute creature, and you're actually using needles on it?"

Bai Yu frowned: "Give me the syringe."

His tone was rather cold, carrying a strong sense of oppression.

55: "..."

The System turned around and stayed in the corner, refusing to cooperate.

Bai Yu inspected his surroundings and finally found a syringe in a drawer. The syringes in an underground clinic obviously didn't meet sterilization requirements and were all reused. But there were no proper conditions right now, so Bai Yu could only simply soak and rinse it with clean alcohol, then draw out the anesthetic, preparing to anesthetize.

At this moment, Imuel's eyelids fluttered.

He slowly woke up, his lake-blue eyes falling on the tattered, old dividing curtain of the clinic. He was slightly stunned for a moment before he saw Bai Yu beside him.

His pupils abruptly shrank.

The underground clinic had nothing, so Bai Yu just made do by wearing an unwashed white coat stained with blood. His glasses' lenses reflected the pale light of the incandescent lamp. He was holding a needle in his hand, drawing an unknown liquid from a dark brown reagent bottle.

The air in the clinic was filled with the pungent smell of the anesthetic, and the needle glinted with a cold light.

Imuel struggled violently.

He knew that Illyria was a place that hid filth and dirt. There were many obscure clinics where the doctors were ruthless and cold-hearted, walking between the black and white paths, and would even conduct in vivo experiments.

And this cold doctor in front of him was clearly not a trustworthy good person.

"...No." Imuel began to tremble all over. He tried to bargain with the doctor. "I am a high-ranking noble of Illyria. If you stop, I will promise you inexhaustible wealth. Using me as experimental material is far too wasteful. If you are willing, you can absolutely obtain much more value from me!"

But when he voiced it out, all that was left was a string of miserable sounds: "Meow meow meow meow meow meow."

Imuel despaired.

As a cat, he had no room to bargain.

Human lives were already worthless in Illyria, let alone cats. These ubiquitous mammals were the best experimental subjects for black-hearted doctors. They could be injected with potions and skinned of their fur, with no one caring or paying them any mind.

Imuel didn't know what kind of liquid the doctor wanted to inject into him. It could be an experimental drug, an auxiliary item for abuse, or even a corrosive solvent. He had heard that some solvents injected into the body would cause the muscles to melt and rot inch by inch, ultimately eroding a huge hole in the abdominal cavity, from which pink tissue fluid would flow out.

Imuel struggled even more violently, splitting open the wound on his abdomen. However, the doctor's binding technique was experienced, and he was far too weak. His movements were soft and powerless, completely unable to break free.

In Bai Yu's eyes, the platinum fluffball was merely lying on the examination table shivering, trying to curl up and protect its soft abdomen.

Bai Yu reached out and rubbed the fluffball's head, half helplessly and half warningly: "Disobedient little cat, be good."

"..."

Imuel felt humiliated. The Duke of Illyria was moody and tyrannical, and everyone treated him with the utmost respect. It had been many years since anyone had dared to rub his head.

But under someone else's roof, one had to bow their head. Imuel keenly detected the only negotiable part of the doctor's words—'be good'.

If he behaved a bit better, would he have a chance to survive?

Therefore, Imuel uncurled his abdomen, striving to appear obedient. This posture made him feel a bit ashamed; after all, cats didn't wear clothes, whereas the Duke's attire was luxurious and tightly wrapped, with his cravat even covering the skin on his neck. In fact, Imuel hadn't exposed any part of his body other than his face for many years.

Bai Yu praised: "Good boy."

Before Imuel could rejoice at escaping a disaster, he slightly pushed the plunger, squeezing out the excess liquid, then leaned down and slowly injected the anesthetic.

As the needle pierced his skin, the liquid was bone-chillingly cold. Imuel's hind legs twitched unconsciously. His pupils narrowed into vertical slits as he glared hatefully at the doctor, as if trying to carve his appearance into his soul.

He thought through gritted teeth: 'You'd best not let me survive. Otherwise, I will definitely rip this doctor's tendons out and skin him alive! I'll throw him into the Duke's dungeon and torture him ten thousand times! I'll use barbed whips, fire, waterboarding, and everything I can think of to make this doctor completely regret his actions today!'

Imuel cursed viciously, but Bai Yu had no idea what this cat was thinking. He skillfully completed the injection and began to observe the patient's reaction.

The anesthetic preparations of this era were quite different from modern ones. It was also Bai Yu's first time using pure anesthetic for anesthesia. He recalled the dosage from the textbooks and didn't dare to give the full amount the first time, instead carefully pushing in a little bit.

The kitten closed its eyes, its head tilting to the side.

Bai Yu then took out a cotton ball, dipped it in alcohol, and leaned over to clean the wound.

Imuel twitched twice.

He still maintained a sliver of consciousness. A burning pain came from his abdomen, as if someone had gouged a knife into the wound.

Bai Yu obviously also noticed the kitten's twitching, so he picked up the needle again and supplemented a little more anesthetic.

Imuel felt the needle pierce in once again.

The surgical conditions were rudimentary. The syringe needle Bai Yu used was for humans, which was too thick for a cat. But there was no substitute right now, so Bai Yu could only try his best to be gentle.

But no matter how gentle he was, the pain was real. Imuel thought in near despair: 'Wasn't that last shot enough? Does he still need to add more?'

The previous shot was already so painful, feeling like his intestines were being pierced and his stomach rotting. If another shot was added, he truly wouldn't be able to endure it.

...To actually die stark naked in a place like this. How ridiculous.

The anesthesia slowly took effect, and his consciousness slipped into the abyss. In the final moment before he passed out, Imuel heard the doctor's cold tone: "Where is the scalpel? I need a scalpel."