Chapter 2
As they left the clinic, fine rain indeed began to fall from the sky.
The cat owner, named Tang Qi, had been on the phone thanking the cat rescue organization while the doctor bandaged Wen Xin’s wounds. It was clear how much he cared about his beloved cat, Huan Huan.
Looking at Wen Xin’s arm wrapped in bandages, Tang Qi still felt guilty. “I’m really grateful to you for what happened today. Sorry for causing you trouble.”
He said regretfully, “I clearly checked the windows before leaving today; they were closed tight. I don’t know how they got opened.”
They might need to check the surveillance footage to find out exactly what happened.
Wen Xin said it was no problem.
Their homes were very close, in adjacent buildings.
After politely declining Tang Qi’s offer to treat him to a meal, Wen Xin parted ways with him downstairs.
“Meow…”
The little cat Huan Huan remembered that Wen Xin was her savior. Before leaving, she stretched her neck and meowed reluctantly.
Tang Qi carried her into the building, his murmurs drifting back: “You really scared me to death, you little rascal.”
It wasn’t a complaint or shirking of responsibility; rather, his fear and worry finally had a place to rest, and he was immensely relieved.
The kitten meowed sweetly several times, rubbing here and licking there, comforting her frightened owner.
Watching the man and his pet disappear around the corner, Wen Xin felt a bit empty inside for some reason.
He moved his feet but didn’t go upstairs. Instead, he turned and began searching the neighborhood garden.
However, after searching every corner of the garden, he still didn’t see the familiar black furball.
*
Autumn nights always came quickly. Unnoticed, the streetlights flickered on. Dark clouds hung low, seemingly about to fall, and the air carried a chilly mist.
Wen Xin felt a layer of moisture on his bandages. Remembering the doctor’s advice not to let them get wet, he had no choice but to go home first.
Just as he was going upstairs, the black furball silently landed where he had just been standing, gazing at his departing figure.
After quickly returning home, Wen Xin unhesitatingly grabbed an umbrella from the shelf.
Just as he was about to head out, he recalled what the counselor had said:
“Stray animals usually don’t get enough to eat. Be practical—bring cat food and canned cat food. When the little black cat sees so much food, he might just follow you home.”
Wen Xin had already prepared some cat food and canned food in advance.
Driven by some inexplicable sense of caution, he took a plastic bag and filled it to the brim with cat food and canned food until it looked bulgingly full. Only then did he turn and go downstairs.
He thought it would take some effort to find the cat, but before he even left the building, he unexpectedly met eyes with the black furball.
Wen Xin immediately slowed his pace.
The black furball hadn’t expected him to return so quickly and looked a bit startled, momentarily unsure whether to run.
By now, the sky was completely dark, and the streetlights swayed indistinctly in the wind and rain.
In Wen Xin’s view, the black furball stood alone in the rain, its fur soaked into strands, head slightly raised.
Its back was straight, still proud, but it looked more like a small figure lost in a dark world, surrounded by an aura of loneliness.
Wen Xin’s heart instantly softened.
He opened his umbrella and tiptoed over to the black furball, squatting down. The heavy bag dropped to the ground, revealing an abundance of cat food and canned food.
Gazing into its slightly trembling pupils, Wen Xin said gently, “It’s going to rain heavily soon. If you get wet and don’t dry off, you’ll get sick.”
“I’ll make sure you have enough to eat, and I’ll groom you.”
“Come home with me, okay?”
The black furball lowered its head.
It stared at the bag Wen Xin had brought, seeming to sense a bit of sincerity from it. Unlike before, it didn’t turn and leave.
Wen Xin tentatively reached out his hand.
First, he felt a layer of cold rainwater, then fur as hard as scales.
As he touched it again, the black furball’s tense muscles suddenly relaxed, and the whole furball collapsed into his palm.
Realizing something was wrong, Wen Xin quickly picked it up. His fingertips moved through the wet fur to the skin, which was alarmingly hot.
Oh no.
The black furball was usually agile in avoiding people; he hadn’t expected it to be ill.
He needed to get to the hospital immediately.
But in its dazed state, the black furball seemed to have a clear consciousness. As long as Wen Xin headed toward the community exit, it would start struggling desperately, with such force that he almost couldn’t hold onto it.
Helpless, Wen Xin could only take it home first.
With the earlier incident in mind, he carefully locked all doors and windows before heading out with an umbrella to buy medicine from the pet hospital.
The round trip took about forty minutes.
When Wen Xin rushed back and opened the bedroom door, he was instantly stunned.
To welcome the little black cat’s arrival, he had ordered a cat bed online in advance. After bringing the sick black furball home, he had placed it inside.
Now, the black furball that should have been curled up in the cat bed was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the floor was covered with torn cotton stuffing, and there was a gigantic monster.
The monster was crouching on the ground, resembling some Jurassic-era reptile long thought extinct, its body covered in scales that shimmered with a cold light.
Each of its claws was as large as half a TV screen. Crushed beneath them, besides the cat bed’s stuffing, were fragments of a half-destroyed wooden table.
You should know that the table was made of solid wood; one can imagine how powerful the monster’s claws were.
Facing such a ferocious creature, Wen Xin’s mind went blank.
An illusion or a dream?
He had no time to think further.
Noticing the door opening and their proximity, the monster let out a roar and lunged forward, pinning Wen Xin to the ground before he could step aside.
Wen Xin felt as if he were being crushed not by a monster but by a mountain. Under the immense impact, his internal organs nearly shifted out of place.
He groaned in pain, suddenly locking eyes with the monster.
They were the unmistakable vertical pupils of a predator—brutal and fierce, as cold as metal, lingering on Wen Xin’s vulnerable neck, seemingly contemplating from which angle to bite.
Cold sweat broke out all over Wen Xin’s body.
Where on earth did this monster come from?
Was he going to die inexplicably like this?
Thinking of this, Wen Xin struggled even harder.
Just as the sharp claws were about to slice his skin, the monster suddenly squinted in pain, as if regaining some clarity. The grip of its claws loosened slightly.
For no apparent reason, Wen Xin sensed restraint and endurance.
His first impression of it was a man-eating monster, but how could a man-eating creature show signs of self-control in its eyes?
Moreover, those golden vertical pupils bore an uncanny resemblance to the black furballs.
…Wait a minute?
In a flash of realization, an incredible thought crossed Wen Xin’s mind.
—After opening the door, he didn’t see any sign of the little black cat. Even if the monster had eaten it, there should have been obvious traces of blood in its mouth.
Wen Xin bit his lip.
Finally, under the monster’s cold gaze, he reached out and touched the claw that could easily tear him to pieces, calling softly, “Xiao Hei?”
“Xiao Hei” was the nickname the elderly in the neighborhood had given the black furball. After Wen Xin became familiar with it, he often called it that too.
Hearing Wen Xin call it in his familiar voice, the monster indeed lifted the claw pressing on him and retreated slightly.
Receiving a response, Wen Xin’s heart didn’t slow down; instead, it beat even faster.
His mind was filled with disbelief.
A stray cat turning into a monster—he thought this only happened in sci-fi films, but he hadn’t expected to witness it himself.
Whether through science or common sense, he couldn’t explain the bizarre scene before him.
Was the little black cat inherently a demon, an alien, or a monster that had escaped from some secret laboratory?
Was this world still the one he knew? Had he unintentionally stumbled upon some great secret? Would he be silenced for it?…
No one could tell Wen Xin what to do now. It seemed the most rational action would be to find the relevant authorities.
After a few seconds, he moved his stiff body, stumbling as he got up. He reached into his pocket for his phone but hesitated.
…If he really called the police, what would happen to the little black cat?
Wen Xin’s mind was a mess until the monster’s suppressed growl snapped him back to reality.
He turned around abruptly.
The monster that had been so aggressive moments ago now lay weakly on the ground, as if enduring immense pain, trembling nonstop.
Those golden eyes stubbornly fixed on Wen Xin. In the next second, he saw it turn away, quickly disappearing toward the doorway.
Wen Xin ran away?
The monster’s pupils constricted, and it let out an angry yet low roar!
What Wen Xin didn’t know was that before meeting him, the monster had encountered many seemingly kind humans.
Those humans approached it with the same gentle manner, making solemn promises to take it home. But when its body mutated, each one invariably let out screams of fear and sought other humans to deal with it.
It had been utterly disheartened with humans before.
But it still trusted Wen Xin!
Excruciating pain tormented its limited sanity. In frustration, the monster shredded the remaining half of the cat bed completely, stumbling toward the window.
It had to escape quickly because before long, a group of uniformed police would arrive.
Those officers couldn’t harm it but would alert the people who had created it. At that point, it would face unbearable torture.
“Xiao Hei?”
A gentle voice came from behind. The monster froze and quickly turned its head, vaguely realizing that Wen Xin hadn’t run away.
Behind him, there was nothing—he hadn’t called others to attack it.
In his haste earlier, Wen Xin hadn’t grabbed the medicine he was holding. He had spent some time retrieving them.
He had everything: fever reducers, skin ointments, bandages, hemostatics…
Just in case, the pet doctor had suggested he bring the sick cat in for a detailed and comprehensive check-up.
On the way back, Wen Xin had been worrying about how to coax the black furball to go.
But at this moment, faced with a monster towering over him, the original problem suddenly wasn’t a problem anymore.
Would human medical treatments still work on the little black cat? Wen Xin couldn’t be sure.
He sighed and walked toward Xiao Hei.
As he took a step forward, the monster took a step back. Before long, it was backed up against the windowsill.
A fierce and gigantic monster was being forced to retreat repeatedly by a thin human—an indescribably comical scene.
Seeing this, Wen Xin showed a puzzled expression.
The monster, meeting his gaze, instinctively looked away, but perhaps feeling that such evasive behavior was embarrassing, it turned its head back, letting out a series of low growls at Wen Xin, trying to drive away this audacious human.
But Wen Xin saw through the monster’s fierce exterior to its inner weakness.
At that moment, he seemed to return to an hour ago, when he saw the black furball’s lonely figure in the continuous rain.
Wen Xin was momentarily stunned, then suddenly no longer afraid. Even the trepidation caused by their vast difference in size vanished.
He walked forward slowly and, despite the monster’s silent resistance, insisted on hugging its cold body.
The black furball’s fur had always been hard and prickly. Previously, Wen Xin suspected it was malnourished, leading to dry and coarse fur, and he had worried about it for a long time.
Now, feeling the hard and uncomfortable scales, he seemed to understand the real reason.
Half sighing, half relieved, Wen Xin softly said something that made the other shudder slightly.
“Without a doubt, you’re still the Xiao Hei I know.”
