《Stellar Remnant: City Rebellion》

Chapter Thirteen: Cat Form Unlocked — Speed Beyond Perception

The training room of the Scrap Iron Society had been temporarily modified. Eight metal pillars stood evenly spaced around the perimeter, each wrapped with pale-purple energy sensing lines connected to the instruments on the central control console. Su Xiaoxiao crouched behind the console, adjusting parameters. Fusion data from Lin Feng’s dual energy systems flickered across the screen. Her brows were slightly furrowed as she occasionally tapped the instrument casing with a tool, producing crisp metallic sounds.

Lin Feng stood at the center of the room, several sensors still attached to his body. After yesterday’s initial experiment, his dual-system fusion rate had stabilized at 35%, while energy compatibility had risen to 68%. The numbers filled him with confidence about unlocking a new form.

“Are you ready?” Su Xiaoxiao looked up, her tone as serious as ever. “Unlocking a biological form relies more on perception than the mechanical type. The core of the cat form is speed and agility. You need to let the biological energy conform to your body’s structure and mimic the energy flow patterns of a feline.”

“Understood.”

Lin Feng nodded, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. Following her instructions, he first separated the dual energies and circulated only the biological energy through his meridians. A warm current spread throughout his body, bringing a sense of lightness—completely different from the heaviness of mechanical energy.

“Guide the energy toward your limbs and spine. Imagine yourself becoming a cat. Feel the flexibility of your joints and let the energy wrap around every muscle,” Su Xiaoxiao instructed. The instruments began to beep softly as the sensing lines glowed faintly, outlining Lin Feng’s energy silhouette.

Lin Feng did as told, directing the biological energy toward his limbs. But the moment he pushed too hard, the energy destabilized. The previously warm current turned restless, surging chaotically through his limbs. He let out a muffled groan as his body trembled. The screen instantly turned red, energy fluctuation curves spiking violently.

“Stop!”

Su Xiaoxiao shouted, immediately shutting down the equipment. “You’re rushing it. You’re controlling biological energy like mechanical energy. Forcing it will only cause loss of control. Cat-form energy is flow, not injection. Let it move naturally with your body instead of forcing a breakthrough.”

Lin Feng opened his eyes and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. His limbs still tingled from the instability. He had been too eager to gain strength and had overlooked the essence of biological forms.

“I’ll try again,” he said.

This time, he adjusted his breathing and didn’t rush to mobilize energy. Instead, he focused on sensing his body, visualizing a cat leaping and sprinting.

Su Xiaoxiao restarted the instruments without urging him, quietly observing the data. The room fell silent except for the hum of machinery and Lin Feng’s steady breathing.

After nearly ten minutes, Lin Feng slowly guided the biological energy. He deliberately slowed the pace, letting it flow like a stream, spreading naturally along his limbs.

“Very good. The energy fluctuations are stable,” Su Xiaoxiao said, unable to hide a trace of excitement. “Keep going. Try condensing the energy behind your ears and at your tailbone. Those are the core nodes of the cat form.”

Lin Feng felt a stir in his heart and guided part of the energy toward the area behind his ears. A faint prickling sensation followed, and a pair of pale-blue energy cat ears materialized, their fluffy outlines clearly visible under the lights. A similar sensation came from his tailbone as a slender energy tail slowly extended, tipped with soft, glowing fur.

“So this is… the prototype of the cat form?”

Lin Feng opened his eyes and instinctively swayed the energy tail. He immediately lost balance and staggered back two steps. Looking down at his hands, he noticed that no claws had formed. Instead, his fingers had become slimmer and more flexible, a thin layer of energy fur covering his skin and heightening his sense of touch.

“The form isn’t complete, but you’ve taken the first step,” Su Xiaoxiao said, scanning him with an energy detector. “Fusion has increased to 40%. However, maintaining the form consumes continuous energy, and your endurance isn’t sufficient yet. Next, we train stability and burst speed. I’ll set up moving obstacles—you’ll need to avoid all of them while maintaining the cat form.”

She pressed a button on the console. The eight metal pillars began rotating, each emitting pale-red energy beams that crisscrossed into a dense energy net. The beams moved rapidly and constantly changed trajectories, making the challenge immediately obvious.

“Begin!”

Lin Feng stabilized the cat ears and tail, crouching slightly into a feline pouncing stance. Locking his gaze onto the moving beams, he inhaled sharply and dashed forward.

At first, his speed was modest, barely enough to dodge frontal attacks. But as he grew accustomed to the form, his movements became increasingly fluid. Energy flowed smoothly between his limbs.

Suddenly, the biological energy inside him erupted.

His speed multiplied instantly.

His body blurred into a pale-blue afterimage, weaving effortlessly through the dense energy net.

“So fast!”

Su Xiaoxiao’s eyes widened. The timer showed his movement speed had reached—and was even edging past—the limit of a standard morph-level shapeshifter. She instinctively increased the beam speed, yet they still failed to touch him.

Lin Feng was completely immersed in the sensation of speed. He could clearly perceive each beam’s trajectory, even predicting their paths in advance. His energy ears twitched constantly, capturing subtle sounds, while the tail helped maintain balance, allowing sharp turns and sudden stops at extreme speed.

Bang!

Lin Feng twisted midair, dodging three beams at once, and landed firmly at the far end of the room. He dismissed the cat form, the ears and tail dissolving into light. His breathing was heavy, but his eyes sparkled.

“I did it. I unlocked the cat form!”

At that moment, the training room door opened. Uncle Tie entered with several members of the Scrap Iron Society, drawn by the noise.

“How did it go?” Uncle Tie asked with a grin.

“Uncle Tie, I unlocked the biological cat form! My speed increased a lot!” Lin Feng said excitedly.

“Oh? Let us see!” one member urged.

Su Xiaoxiao reactivated the energy net and nodded. “Show them.”

Lin Feng took a breath. The pale-blue ears and tail reappeared instantly as he blurred into the net once more. Beams screamed past him, unable to touch even his shadow. He sprinted, stopped, pivoted, and executed several high-difficulty flips with ease.

The onlookers stared in shock.

“My god—he’s insanely fast!”

“It’s practically invisible!”

“With that speed, dealing with Alliance patrols will be much easier!”

“Lin Feng really is a rising star of the Scrap Iron Society!”

Uncle Tie watched with clear pride. “Good. Very good. Dual-system awakeners really do learn fast. With this speed, you’ll have much better survivability in real combat.”

After the demonstration, Lin Feng dismissed the form and walked over. Su Xiaoxiao handed him a bottle of energy solution.

“Replenish. Burst speed drains energy fast. We still need to train endurance,” she said, pausing before adding bluntly, “Barely acceptable. Speed meets the standard, but duration is too short. You’ll need serious energy reserve training.”

Lin Feng drank it in one go and smiled. “I’ll work harder.”

Unlocking the cat form had boosted his confidence. He could clearly feel his strength improving, bringing him closer to protecting the Scrap Iron Society and standing against the Alliance.

Over the next few days, Lin Feng devoted himself fully to training. Under Su Xiaoxiao’s guidance, his form duration lengthened, his speed increased further, and he could even launch simple attacks while moving at high speed. Society members frequently came to watch, each time stunned by his progress.

That afternoon, after finishing training, Lin Feng sat resting by the door, absorbing the thin star-core energy in the air. Suddenly, the star-core jade pendant on his chest grew warm. A strange energy fluctuation surged from it, resonating intensely with his biological energy.

Startled, Lin Feng looked down. Golden lines surfaced across the pendant, energy flowing faintly within them. The fluctuation was stronger than before, carrying an ancient, mysterious aura. When he tried to sense it with biological energy, he realized it was aggressively drawing energy from his body.

“What’s going on…?”

He frowned, struggling to regain control, but the pendant absorbed energy faster. Weakness washed over him, his vision darkening. Suddenly, a vague image flashed through his mind—a gigantic energy cat chasing a fragment glowing with golden light.

The vision vanished.

Lin Feng snapped back to reality. The pendant had returned to normal, the heat gone. He gasped for breath, gripping it tightly, unease filling his heart.

What was that energy?

Why did it resonate with his cat form?

And what did that vision mean?

Most of all—had the Alliance’s detectors sensed it?