Chapter 28

Ah-choo!

Ling Yue got out of the car and sneezed, wondering who was gossiping about her behind her back, when her steps halted and the system's notification sounded in her mind.

【Congratulations on completing the mission, rewards have been issued: Spirit Communication Eye, Supreme Flexibility Technique.】

Ling Yue stumbled, having done so many tasks she had long figured out the system's rules: it requires the wisher's acknowledgment and factual evidence of future development, so how could it suddenly be completed now?

Mystic Cat Queen!

The next moment, she almost turned and ran.

At that moment, inside Capital University, the class bell had just rung, Xu Zhang walked onto the podium, clearly no different from usual, yet it inexplicably gave him a chill.

His gaze swept the room, inadvertently catching a few students who were slacking off; he paused, then began today's lecture.

There are diligent students who study hard, and naturally there are those who slack off; the teacher won't remind them, they're adults now, they should be responsible for themselves.

Among the students Xu Zhang didn't care about, a group stared fixedly at the windowsill, where a jet-black cat sat, sunlight shining on its fur, casting a red glow.

Isn't this the Mystic Cat mentioned in the book?

A group whispered exclamations, and in their conversation, eight out of ten sentences revolved around the cat.

The lazy Mystic Cat lifted its head, pale yellow vertical pupils gazing toward the podium ahead; above, Xu Zhang, who was speaking eloquently, suddenly felt a palpitation, his heart racing as if it might leap out of his throat.

He constantly felt as if some terrifying creature were staring at him, his hands and feet turning cold, a layer after layer of sticky cold sweat soaking his back.

His intuition told him he couldn't stay here!

'Students…' he said two sentences, casually making an excuse to placate the students, his feet already stepping over the threshold, his eager demeanor surprising the students.

'What's happening?' The teacher looks very nervous.

At that moment, by the window, stray cats popped up like bamboo shoots after rain, yet they all timidly dared only to show half a small head, like limited-edition cute cat mushroom heads.

Each seemed to be coaxing the students, as if saying: 'Come pet me~ come pet me!'

The students couldn't help taking photos; many had their eyes glued to it, unable to look away.

'Hehe, cute kitty look here, rub rub rub~'

'Waa waa waa so many kitties, I'm going to die of happiness!'

'If I could rub every one of them, just look at this little belly, see that adorable little head—have all the stray cats on our campus come?'

Not only that.

The gorgeous Persian cat licked its paws, shifting poses at any moment: 'Everyone, look over here, or else the boss will do something big later and scare you to death!'

The laid-back Daju flopped onto the ground, truly sleeping wherever it went; the chubby orange cat instantly soaked up most of the attention.

'Wow, there are kitties here too!'

'It rubbed against my foot, waa waa waa the kitty is so soft and warm my heart is about to melt!'

Only then did everyone realize the whole classroom had been surrounded by a kitten legion; facing the kittens' mass cuteness attack, no one thought of resisting.

Especially after discovering that only their class in the entire grade and building received this treatment, they couldn't help posting a photo to the forum, captioned: 'Chosen Class!'

Even more shamelessly, they provoked: 'Hehehe, just after class started we got a huge surprise—here, here, everything is—do you have kitties where you are?'

The Mystic Cat Queen appeared on the lectern at some point, its vertical pupils deep and nearly black, like a pool of unfathomable water, silently gazing at the man.

Xu Zhang's scalp tingled; having never encountered such an eerie cat before, he who didn't know how many stupid cats he had tormented would one day actually fear cats.

An unfounded malice was stirred; he could barely control his hands, clearly wanting to leave yet inexplicably drawn closer.

No! This isn't it!

I clearly want to leave, why is this happening?!

He lamented in his heart, face grim, body feeling heavy as if bearing a thousand‑jin burden.

But that's exactly how it is.

Dust‑covered Ling Yue rushed over and saw this scene, her scalp tingling as she halted, nearly shocked as she stared at him.

Today is overcast, the sky dim, but no matter how dim, Ling Yue wouldn't mistake it: Xu Zhang's body was covered with big and small cats, a scene that should have been warm and cute, yet shrouded in an ominous blackness.

The cats lay on him, each biting his flesh; the cat on his shoulders, belly swollen, left and right, stiff paws covering his eyes.

Ling Yue saw him stumbling like a blind man, slumped before the podium, staring straight at the Mystic Cat Queen.

Glimpsing the collar around its neck, his face finally changed dramatically: 'It's you! It's you!'

That little black cat from the villa has come for revenge!

On the man, the big and small cats sensed Ling Yue's gaze and turned to look; the plump, lazy Daju that should have been basking in the sun had an empty stomach, while the mischievous Nainiumao had its limbs severed.

They're just little animals, knowing nothing; obviously they were just starving, ate human cat food, why must we suffer this?

Aren't you the ones who love kitties the most?

Their dying resentment lets them persist, but only in the form they had just before death.

'Do you want to help him too? But he's a bad person.' A wobbly little cat stepped forward, tiny, so small it seemed too small even cupped in one's palm.

It lifted its head, and Ling Yue saw that where its eyes should be were set two glass beads.

Ling Yue never shied away from assuming the worst with maximum malice; facing the truth, she realized some people are actually scum worse than beasts, wearing human skin.

'We hurt so much, so hurt… so hurt…' the kittens' voices rang in her ears.

Ling Yue covered her face and burst into tears, useless; facing Xu Zhang's plea for help, what a joke—he deserves to be bitten to death by cats, that scoundrel!

But how could a wicked person be easily subdued?

Especially Xu Zhang, such a heinous villain, he lunged straight at the Mystic Cat Queen, unaware he was playing right into her hands.

A miserable scream suddenly rang out!

The sound pierced the classroom; students instinctively looked, then all stepped back half a step: 'Holy shit, someone got killed!'

The Mystic Cat Queen retracted its claws; the eyeballs it had ripped out dropped straight to the ground, a sight too horrible to behold.

Those cats kept burrowing into his body, wailing in agony, their faces about to burst, like a slick loach writhing painfully on the ground.

Ling Yue did nothing; she only said, 'Is he sick? Is he mentally ill? I heard mentally ill people who kill aren't held responsible.'

No one dared to step forward to stop him; everyone frantically dialed 120, some female classmates vomited outright, the bloody smell mixed with a foul stench, and Xu Zhang, in extreme agony, crawled on the ground, his exposed skin being scratched by the Mysterious Cat Queen, leaving one bloody mark after another.

He won't die; it's just tit for tat, making him feel the pain and panic of his blood draining dry.

Isn't it more terrifying to watch your own death helplessly?

"Save me! Save me!" he cried, dragging a shocking blood trail across the ground.

"Classmates, hurry and save me, quickly get me away…… ahhh!! Don't bite! Don't scratch! I'm human, I'm the king of all things! What's wrong with me killing you?!"

The sudden change meant even the compassionate students dared not utter a sound, let alone lend a hand.

He's gone mad!

They were all discussing how he'd gone mad, that this teacher might have contracted a madness.

The Mysterious Cat Queen silently watched him, then turned to Ling Yue: "You say, was the day my master died as desperate as today?"

"And these cats, they clearly did nothing, how did they become like this?"

Ling Yue had no time to answer when a piercing siren suddenly blared; the students grew restless, and the belated school leaders, drenched in sweat, anxiously led the way.

At this point, they finally understood clearly what had happened: something had occurred, and the school was truly in major trouble!

Looking back, they discovered that Ling Yue and the cats had vanished.

The members of Team Two had received the news early and rushed over, but when they tried to enter the teaching building, they were blocked by suddenly appearing cats; only when Lin Shaoze strode in did they see this gruesome scene, immediately furrowing their brows.

Should he feel fortunate that this person is still alive?

Afterward, the arriving nurses lifted him onto the ambulance; the doctor, after checking, nearly exclaimed in shock: "Who saw his eyeball?"

The somewhat braver student pointed at the nearby tile while retching; there, Xu Zhang had already crushed his own eyeballs into pulp.

Watching the vehicle depart, Ling Yue knew the Mysterious Cat Queen's revenge had only just begun.

It was again as aloof and unapproachable as when they first met; in truth, enduring until today was already its limit: "I'm going to take revenge!"

Ling Yue: "Hmm."

She fiddled with the agarwood beads in her hand: "I'll go with you; take this, it'll come in handy."

Ling Yue waited outside for it, but instead ran into Lin Shaoze coming out to smoke; the man lurked in the darkness, a flickering cigarette between his fingers.

"We've finished the interrogation; he's the culprit behind the villa murder case years ago."

Ling Yue: "So what are you trying to say?"

She replied just to kill time, not at all worried about the Queen's skills.

Lin Shaoze: "I don't want you to go down the wrong path."

Ling Yue couldn't help laughing: "What's wrong and what's right? If that's the case, Xu Zhang should die ten thousand one hundred times; someone like him, even in reincarnation, would be reborn as livestock, toiling as an ox and horse for countless lifetimes, and after death become a dish on the plate."

She had long known Lin Shaoze doubted her; this time it was almost blatantly put out in the open, Ling Yue remained unfazed, for she had thought it through completely: suspicion? A warning—do you have any evidence?

The revenge is carried out by the cats; what does it have to do with me, Ling Yue?

I'm just an ordinary person who happened to be at the murder scene by accident.

Lin Shaoze was lost for words, finally realizing her apparent gentleness was just sharp-tongued; he was about to speak when he suddenly heard Cheng Ziming's voice from the ward: "Dead! Xu Zhang is dead!"

Lin Shaoze's face changed abruptly; looking back, Ling Yue had already gone far, and at the corridor corner a black cat shot up and clung to her shoulder.

Ling Yue asked: "How is it?"

The Mysterious Cat Queen: "Everything went smoothly!"

It didn't mention the punishment it inflicted on Xu Zhang; what are his two eyes worth, is its clairvoyant eye merely for show? Grievances have heads, debts have masters; those cats will cling to him as long as he remains in this world. As for being scared to death, that was an outcome the Mysterious Cat Queen hadn't anticipated.

It gave a cold snort: "He got off easy!"

It placed the agarwood beads back beside Ling Yue, and countless cats suddenly surged out of the beads, returning to their original forms, appearing in the villa as soul entities.

"Wow wow wow, this place is so big, so big!"

"So much cat food, I'm so hungry, can I have a piece?"

"The cats can see again—I see Mommy! Mommy, you're so beautiful!"

A mother-and-daughter orange cat pair nuzzled affectionately; with the help of the agarwood, the cats grew better and better.

The Mysterious Cat Queen unknowingly softened, leaning against the pillow, eyes half-closed; not long after, those cats reverted to their most beautiful living forms, then gradually faded into nothingness in the air.

Ling Yue explained: "They are actually the lingering resentment left by the cats, clinging to hatred; only by letting go of obsession can they enter reincarnation, with two choices: release the hatred or fulfill their wish."

Ling Yue looked at the cats, their eyes crinkling: "They've gone on to reincarnate."

Just as she said. With great vengeance avenged, many cats, after shaking off weakness, simply dissipated into the air—not soul scattered, but reentering reincarnation.

Little Orange, led by its mother, bowed to them, the upturned corner of its mouth seeming to smile, utterly adorable.

The Mysterious Cat Queen licked its paw pad, then suddenly recalled something and told Ling Yue: "I previously promised you, besides the villa, there is also a reward left by the former owner."

The Mysterious Cat Queen's long, fluffy tail flicked, curling around Ling Yue's ankle: "Come with me."

Ling Yue felt her ankle itch from the rub, that itch tingling all the way to her heart's tip, she involuntarily followed its steps: "All right."

As for the reward, Ling Yue wasn't the least bit excited; whether jewels or gold, she already had them.

Until she saw the so‑called reward.

Ling Yue made her way to the study; the cats stepped onto the rim of the large porcelain jar holding the scrolls, lowered their heads slightly, and snatched up a scroll.

Ling Yue looked at it, a hint of doubt in her eyes: "No way, is the reward you mentioned actually this?"

The Mysterious Cat Queen lowered its gaze slightly, whether shy or guilty, Ling Yue knew best, hearing it say: "How could it not be?"