Applied Immortality

Wang Qi smiled as the two kittens made a scene below. “It’s already so late, and yet you didn’t force them to sleep? You don’t have any relatives here anyway. Kids ought to sleep early to grow healthy.”
“Since two years ago, at every turn of the year, Argent Mountain’s Mistshroud Mountain Array undergoes a change, with flowing and mesmerizing lights, nya.” The girl gazed at the sky with longing in her eyes.
“Eh? That’s a thing?”
“Little Qi, you don’t seem to care about anything, nya, but it’s quite known and comes with every new year, nya.” Mao Zimiao put on an ‘unexpected and reasonable’ face. “Little Qi, why aren’t you asleep then? I knew you as someone who never cared about the New Year festival, nya.”
Wang Qi took out a new cup and poured himself some wine as he rolled his eyes. “My mood isn’t good. With nothing to do, it’s easy for my thoughts to spiral towards unhappy things. I wanted to drink this jar to calmly…”
“Solve a couple of problems?”
“Huge problem!”
Wang Qi laughed, gesturing with his hands how ‘big’ it was.
No one could tell he had been so sad he was ready to cough blood only moments before.
Mao Zimiao let out a chuckle at his look. “Ha-ha, Little Qi, you’re funny, nya.”
She then startled, giving him a long look. “Why do I feel like you’ve changed, nya?”
[Oh, lord, now that I’ve grasped the resolve of an edgy and brooding badass, has my protagonist’s fate awakened? Have I finally gained the power to charm souls with but a smile or frown?]
He was a little eager seeing Mao Zimiao’s sizing eyes.
In the end, the cat-girl held her hands in a clap, “Right, Little Qi would never crack jokes I’d understand, nya.”
She said, while gesticulating, ‘big problem.’
“My poor heart.” Wang Qi grabbed Mao Zimiao’s ears with a flat look. “Do I look like a mental case with a weird humor to you?”
Mao Zimiao flushed faster than lightning. “Nya! Let go, nya! The children, they’ll see, nya!”
Wang Qi slanted his head in thought. He recalled, vaguely, that it was shameful for demonborns to have their demonic parts played with. If he messed with this silly cat in front of her younger siblings…
[Shit, is this a shame king?]
“Wa-ha-ha-ha, more excitement! I just can’t stop, wa-ha-ha-ha!”
“Let go, nya! Let go!”
Mao Zimiao’s struggles grew stronger, putting spiritual power into her hands and clawing at Wang Qi. As a distant bloodline talent, a spiritual power-infused claw would be very sharp. Wang Qi had to step back. Mao Zimiao, with her ever-red face, glared at him. “Don’t come closer, nya!”
Wang Qi shrugged, “As you wish.”
“Really,” the cat-girl huffed, and her ears shook. A voice came from below. “Nya! Sister, nya! Nya?”
Mao Zimiao’s younger sister, Mao Zimin, waved at them, with the little tyke beside her going after putting snow in her shoes. Mao Zimiao jumped down. “What is it?”
“Nya, I want to nya nya with that brother up there…”
Wang Qi sent to Mao Zimiao as the little girl didn’t finish. “What’s nya nya?”
Mao Zimiao bopped her sister on her head. “Say ‘play together,’ nya.”
“Play together, nya.”
[Play together, nya… a most ambiguous suggestion…]
Mao Zimiao was at a loss. She knew her good friend’s character. Giving her younger siblings to that vile guy to play…
Wang Qi hopped down and crouched before Mao Zimin. “Sure.”
Mao Zimiao flinched, hugging the kids and putting some distance. “Little Qi, what are you up to? Little Min is still young, nya!”
Wang Qi looked excited. “The next line should’ve been ‘Leave my sister alone. Take me instead.’ Right, right?”
The cat-eared girl was horror-stricken. “What nonsense are you talking in front of the kids, nya?”
“I’m getting excited.”
“Excite your head, nya!”
Mao Zimin looked at her big sis holding her, then at Wang Qi. “Big brother nya is sister’s nya nya nya?”
Mao Zimiao blushed even harder. Wang Qi smirked. “I don’t speak cat. Could you translate that last part for me?”
“Nothing, nya!”
“Your face says differently…”
“Nothing at all!”
Seeing Mao Zimiao so determined, Wang Qi gave up. Mao Zimiao’s brother wrestled out of her sister’s grip and threw a snowball at Wang Qi.
“Brat, you call that playing with snow? Weak, weak I say!”
A powerful electromagnetic field dissolved the snowball, and, under Wang Qi’s control, snow gathered around into a huge, but soft, snowball. Mao Zhiya’s eyes widened, looking at the ball with excitement. The little girl behind mimicked him.
At the peak of their eagerness, the snowball picked up speed and smashed into Mao Zhiya’s face.
Wang Qi cackled like a madman. “That’s how you have a snow fight, brat!”
“Nya-whaa!” The boy replied by throwing another snowball at Wang Qi, with his second sister joining the fight. But not a snowflake passed Wang Qi’s electromagnetic field. He laughed without a shred of dignity at the children’s futile attempts.
“It’s time I show you what I’m made of. Brats, watch this! This is something you can never learn, the essence of a snow fight!”
The snow around moved.
Mao Zimiao looked on confused. “The guy’s even using the top Celestial Hymn Odyssey in a snow fight, nya!”
After having a blast thrashing the two kids, Wang Qi picked one up and hopped back on the roof. Mao Zimiao followed with the other one.
She sighed at her tired siblings. “I never thought you were capable of playing with kids, nya.”
Wang Qi sat down on his old spot and said, “It’s nothing, just looking for something to do—and I loathe brats. Teaching them that there’s always someone better than them is a must.”
“That’s no excuse to pick on little kids, nya…”
The sky brightened. The array covering the entire mountain range glowed with a bright color, like the immortal world above suddenly connected to this mortal world.
[Pretty.]
Wang Qi looked at the two kids leaning on their sister. “Don’t the brats want to see this? Wake them up.”
Mao Zimiao’s face was covered in mesmerizing hues from the light show. “They’re tired. Let them rest, nya.”
“Oh.” Wang Qi nodded, returning to watching the sky.
Mao Zimiao grabbed the white cup thrown at the side and poured herself a drink. “A good New Year to you, Little Qi!”
Wang Qi chuckled, laying down on the roof and gazing at the night sky. “Happy New Year.”
“Happy New Year? Is that a home village saying, nya?”
“Never mind.”
“Then, Happy New Year, little Qi.”
Wang Qi shook his head with a smile. He reached out with his right, either looking at the ring on his finger or trying to touch the sky.
[Old man, you were right. It’s always better to have someone by your side…]
Also, Happy New Year, Grandpa. I’m truly happy.]