Pet King

Chapter 489: Imagined Landscape

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Zhang, today was really an eye-opening experience! See you later!”

Liu and Wang parked the car in front of the pet shop and waved goodbye to Zhang Zian.

“Come in for dinner. I’m just about to order food, I can order some for you.” Zhang Zian invited them.

“No, thank you. We asked for the day off, there are a lot of chores for us to do when we go back tonight,” Liu said.

Zhang Zian knew what he said was true, so he didn’t insist on dinner. “Well, have a safe trip and drive slowly.”

After watching them drive away, Zhang Zian and Famous went into the pet shop.

“Home, sweet, home.”

Zhang Zian patted the cashier desk to greet Lu Yiyun, who was focused on painting. He made a phone call and ordered two servings of food, one of which was for Lu Yiyun.

Famous looked up and saw that everything in the pet shop was the same as usual. The energetic Galaxy was playing hide and seek. Fina was taking a nap on the highest branch of the cat tree, its tail waving in the air. Snowy Lionet was mesmerizingly staring at Fina’s tail and murmuring “raw beef brisket.” Old Time Tea was watching TV on the electric blanket in the corner, while Richard was commanding Old Time Tea to change the channel.

Lu Yiyun rapidly put on her jacket. After ordering dinner, Zhang Zian asked her about her day. It seemed that everything went smoothly.

Famous was more tired than usual because not only did it fight the Mastiff King, but it also ran back and forth several times in the scene where the wandering group of Tibetan Mastiffs chase the police dogs. It would really like to find a place to rest before supper. Since it had nothing to do, it walked over to the TV, wondering what Old Time Tea was watching.

It was a martial arts movie set in the ancient times. When the energetic music, a handsome, young man jumped and kicked his enemies with fierce leg techniques.

Old Time Tea was fascinated by the movie, its eyes twinkling. Whenever a kick was executed properly, Old Time Tea applauded the man. How it wished it could engage in the fight too.

“Change the channel! This horrible movie is so fake. Why do you like watching it? I want to see the freaks of the United States. No! America’s Got Talent!” Richard hated martial arts movies. It flapped its wings, trying to grab the remote from Old Time Tea. It always failed.

With its eyes on the TV screen, Old Time Tea could make Richard exhausted by moving the remote from its left paw to its right paw, and then from right to left.

Famous felt bad for Richard because even if the parrot practiced for thirty years, it may not ever be able to grab something from Old Time Tea’s paws.

“Old Time Tea, how come you chose a different movie?” it asked.

Famous and Zhang Zian knew that Old Time Tea’s favorite movies were the ones with Ye Wen. Whether the movies were old or new, it watched the movies of Ye Wen multiple times. Its second favorite movies were those starring Bruce Lee. The protagonist of the movie currently on the TV was neither Ye Wen nor Bruce Lee.

When the martial arts sequence ended, Old Time Tea looked away from the screen and said pleasantly, “It’s a bit boring watching the same movies all the time. It’s not bad switch things up occasionally. This series is about a martial arts master named Huang in the Foshan region. Although this man is not quite the same as the man I remember, the martial arts scenes are so amazing that they kind of make up for the inconsistency in storytelling.”

Famous remembered that a few days ago, Old Time Tea was watching the first installment of this series. Back then, Famous was worried about the Mastiff King matter, so it didn’t pay enough attention to know what the movie was about.

Old Time Tea thoughtfully glanced at Famous’s legs and smiled while it said, “Famous, have you been on any adventures recently?”

Famous was stunned and asked in wonder, “How did you know?”

“I may be old, but I can still see. I can see that your posture is different yesterday. You’re striding powerfully, in a way that can only be obtained after years of diligent practice. This change is inexplicable unless you’ve had adventures like the protagonists in the martial arts movies,” Old Time Tea stared at it and laughed. “You’ve either here or on set, and you’re never in these two places alone. Is there a secret martial arts manual hidden in somewhere in this shop?”

Famous went silent for a moment, then it nodded and said, “Indeed, this is true. A secret martial arts manual is hidden in somewhere in this shop.”

“Oh?” It was Old Time Tea’s turn to be surprised. It couldn’t tell whether Famous was joking or telling the truth. Based on common sense, Famous should be joking. Then, how did that explain the changes in Famous’s posture?

Old Time Tea had not been to the set, so it didn’t know about the jaw-dropping events of Famous’s day. It just detected something had happened to cause a change in Famous’s posture. Such a posture required diligent practice, it couldn’t be attained overnight, so Old Time Tea was exceptionally confused.

Famous did not answer, instead asked, “Old Time Tea, have you heard of the Foshan Invisible Kick?”

Old Time Tea inadvertently looked at the TV and said, “Not only have I heard of it, but I also know how to use it. However, due to my body restrictions as a cat, I can’t practice it more. The Foshan Invisible Kick was the ultimate weapon of Master Huang, but only three moves of this technique were passed on, to me coincidentally. I heard that you and Zian were having some difficulties while filming and I intended to teach you the Foshan Invisible Kick. However, teaching would be too slow to be helpful because you have to practice it for at least a year and half before you can see results. ”

Famous knew that Old Time Tea wasn’t lying. The Old Time Tea in the memory said something similar, that any kind of profound martial arts could only be achieved through persistent training. Even if the Old Time Tea in real life did teach Famous the three moves of the technique, it’d be totally useless because Famous neither had the time nor the place to practice.

“What are you guys talking about?”

While they were talking, the food had been delivered. Zhang Zian sent Lu Yiyun home, pulled down the shutters, and couldn’t help, but approach them when he heard them talking about martial arts.

Richard chimed in, “We are talking about if we should change the channel now.”

Zhang Zian automatically ignored it.

Famous felt it was time to tell them. “I want to tell you something. It’s very strange. Actually, I don’t know what it is exactly. I’m not sure if it really happened or if it was just my imagination.”

Since Famous sounded serious, Zhang Zian listened to attentively. He had been wondering about Famous’s magical performance today, but considering its mood, he held back his questions.

Old Time Tea paused the movie on the TV and hid the remote in its arms so that Richard couldn’t touch it. Old Time Tea also listened attentively because it felt like whatever Famous was going to say would answer the questions in its head.

Famous looked at Galaxy who was playing hide and seek with Wendy and said, “This is a very long story that starts with Galaxy.”

Then Famous robotically described its strange experiences that started ever since it appeared in the wax museum, its experiences that involved entering the memories of Galaxy and Old Time Tea.

Zhang Zian forgot to eat his dinner. He became more or less aware of what Famous saying, feeling like he was watching a movie.

Old Time Tea was enchanted by Famous’s story.

Richard, who asked for the remote control at the beginning, gradually listened to the story. Fina opened its eyes and listened with curiosity.

After it finished, Famous felt thirsty. It went to drink some water in its basin and walked back. “What do you think? Was I dreaming?”

It desperately needed some advice because it was confused and couldn’t tell which world was more real.

Both Zhang Zian and Old Time Tea were pondering. They didn’t want to speak until they finished thinking. Famous’s experiences were indeed strange, but they could explain everything that had happened recently, including the fact that Famous acted like Old Time Tea and defeated the Mastiff King so easily. The fact that, just like Galaxy, Famous also overcame its space issues.

Richard spoke up the instant it thought of something, “Quack! You idiots, I already know what happened!”

“Oh, tell me then,” said Famous skeptically.

Richard raised its head arrogantly. “You guys have been talking about ‘the inner world of Galaxy’ and ‘the memory node of Old Time Tea.’ Those terms are lengthy and inefficient. Have you ever heard of the Japanese term, Imagined Landscape?”

Zhang Zian and the other elves all shook their heads.

Richard was even more arrogant. “That’s what I thought! None of you ignorant idiots would know about this! The Imagined Landscape refers to a landscape of memories that emerges in one’s mind. It’s not 100% loyal to reality. Some things that are impossible in reality, are allowed in the Imagined Landscape! Can you think of anything? That’s right, Galaxy’s black box! The black box does not exist in reality, but in Galaxy’s Imagined Landscape. This term can accurately describe what happened to Famous.”

Although Richard’s tone was pretentious as usual, Zhang Zian remembered Famous’s characteristics as described in the Pet Hunter game, “Everything the Reincarnated Dog experiences in its heart is real.” Did the description refer to Famous’s Imagined Landscape?

Famous learned how to predict the future from Galaxy, learned martial arts from Old Time Tea. If Famous could learn something new every time it saw the Imagined Landscape of an elfin, then Famous would possess incredible skills.

The most important thing was that Famous didn’t need to learn these things in real life. It could have all the time in the world to practice the skills in its Imagined Landscape. Was the Imagined Landscape just like the “Room of Spirit and Time” in Dragon Ball Z?