Chapter 147: His Courage is Really Great!
“Name?”
“Luxianbei.”
“How old?”
“I’m… almost nineteen.”
In the questioning room of Mudan Street Police Station, the expressionless boy behind the desk answered the police officer’s questions but couldn’t help but have some strange thoughts pop up in his mind.
Haven’t there been too many of these situations in the past month or so?
He’s been to the hospital, the police station, and a mysterious organization already. I don’t even know what comes next…
Bah! What kind of ridiculous thought is that? This time is definitely the last! Luxianbei thought.
What’s wrong with this kid’s way of speaking? It feels like he’s up to something strange. After hearing Luxianbei’s answer, the police officer glared at him with a dark face and slammed his hand on the table.
“Bang!”
“Be serious! Stop fooling around with me. If you properly explain the situation, we can let you out earlier. Of course, if you want to stay longer, you can keep this arrogant attitude.”
I actually want to fool around, but I really can’t do it!
Luxianbei thought to himself, sitting up straight and saying seriously, “There’s no arrogance, no arrogance. I just thought that since we’re like family, I could be a bit casual, and everyone would be relaxed, right? You continue, please.”
In that situation, I came down honestly from the attic, thinking of properly explaining and getting home sooner, now I don’t even know if I can make it back in time to cook. Luxianbei thought.
The police officer, “…” This guy seems pretty good-looking, but why is he so talkative?
The police officer glared at Luxianbei, then continued to ask, “So, what did you want to do when you entered Mr. Wu’s frozen food store between 3:15 and 3:45 PM?”
“I…”
…
Half an hour ago, at Market 96, in the frozen food store, within the attic.
When Luxianbei started chasing the ugly, strangely sneaky tortoiseshell cat, he realized how difficult it is for a human to catch a cat that is deliberately avoiding them without using any tools.
Even though his current physique—both strength and speed—exceeded that of an average human, while chasing the tortoiseshell cat, he only managed to touch its body a couple of times with his fingertips.
When he took a moment to use his blackjack pistol, the tortoiseshell cat easily dodged it as well.
When Luxianbei noticed someone entering the shop below, he originally wanted to stop chasing the tortoiseshell cat and hide in the attic to observe the situation or wait until those people left before continuing.
However, that cat had a wicked mind; once he stopped, it began to scratch and scrape its claws on the floor, producing an irritating sound, as if it did this to attract the attention of the people downstairs.
Then it had to be a quick decisive action! Luxianbei thought, stepping forward and charging at the strange tortoiseshell cat.
…
“Meow—!”
After dodging Luxianbei once more, the tortoiseshell cat leaped gracefully onto the ice coffin, let out a soft meow, and looked at Luxianbei with deep, meaningful eyes, filled with a hint of provocation, as if to say, “Look, Stinky Sister, you can’t catch me!”
Luxianbei, “…” Did I just get mocked by a cat?
d*mn it! This cat definitely has issues. If I don’t catch you and take you to the Siye Society today, I’m not a man!
Is this your choice? A perfectly good cat, and instead of developing into an assassin, what do you pick, the taunt skill?
Luxianbei thought, his gaze sharpening, pushing with his legs, and bounding forward three to four meters, getting closer to the ice coffin.
Just as Luxianbei was about to grab the tortoiseshell cat, he saw a flash of mockery in its eyes.
In the next moment, it vanished at an astonishing speed from Luxianbei’s view, as if its figure vaporized instantly.
When the tortoiseshell cat reappeared in sight, it was already squeezed between the ice coffin and the wall, its front paws propped against the wall while the hind legs stood on the side of the ice coffin, its body slightly bowed, suddenly exerting strength…
Luxianbei was not sure how strong a cat could be, but he thought that a normal cat should never be able to easily push a several hundred-pound ice coffin.
When the ice coffin tipped toward him, he was momentarily stunned and instinctively jumped back a short distance.
“Thud—!”
The ice coffin hit the attic floor with a muffled sound, and this sound immediately attracted the attention of the stall owner and patrol officer in the shop below.
“Who is it, get out, come out!”
Hearing the shout from the patrol officer downstairs, Luxianbei remained silent, turning to look at that damned cat. What he saw made him freeze in disbelief.
He saw the tortoiseshell cat, its mouth twisted into an exaggerated arc reaching its ears, its sharp, white teeth on display.
It was laughing, silently emitting a crazy and disdainful mockery.
It started to slowly retreat, letting the dark shadow engulf its small body. Despite no wind blowing, its mottled fur seemed to move on its own, rapidly growing, giving birth to chaotic shadows that swayed like tiny hands struggling in pain.
An ominous aura approached, like ants crawling over Luxianbei’s body, and his eyes began to burn with intense pain.
As the tortoiseshell cat retreated little by little into the darkest corner of the attic, strange and twisted shadows began to emerge behind it.
From those outlines, all appeared to be injured cats, some missing an ear, some with a leg missing, and some even with only half a body.
Those shadows seemed to merge into one and appeared like an illusion of a graveyard exclusively for cats, projected into this not-so-large attic space.
Pairs of glowing cat eyes opened in the depths of the dark, assessing Luxianbei with expressions of resentment, indifference, or curiosity.
Luxianbei felt influenced by the vast negative energy contained in those pairs of cat eyes, as he was bombarded with echoes of desolate, mournful cries in his ears.
The ominous shadows fell like a cloak, enveloping the tortoiseshell cat, and it vanished into darkness.
Then.
The bizarre scene in front of him dissipated, and the maddening cat calls faded away. Luxianbei stood alone in the empty attic, hearing the patrol officer’s urging from below.
“Did you hear? Come out immediately, surrender, or I will…”
…
“……”
“Officer, this is what happened—I really was just chasing a stray cat into that store. And as for why I ended up in the attic, it was all because the stray cat ran up first, and out of curiosity, I climbed up to take a look.” Luxianbei explained.
“As for why there’s a wake in that store and an ice coffin in the attic, I really don’t know! To be honest, I was terrified at that time. I even thought about calling the police, but I hadn’t gotten the chance before that patrol officer arrived.”
“By the way, not long ago, I also acted bravely to help someone. You can check that! I am definitely a good citizen who is enthusiastic and wouldn’t do anything shady!”
After hearing Luxianbei’s explanation, the police officer interrogating him fell into silence, scanning his face back and forth.
“……”
He doesn’t seem to be lying, and his attitude is sincere. It looks like he really doesn’t have any issues?
After pondering for a few seconds, the police officer stood up and said to Luxianbei, “Please wait here for a moment,” then left the questioning room.
…
That police officer turned left out the door and went to the police station’s household registration management office, found a colleague responsible for household registration management, and checked Luxianbei’s information. He quickly returned to the questioning room.
I have to say, Jiang Li’s work in forging information for Luxianbei was reliable; not only were his proofs real, but even the information in his household registration file had been prominently embellished.
Back in the questioning room, the police officer’s attitude towards Luxianbei had visibly softened, a hint of a smile appearing on his face. “Young man, you are quite impressive! Eighteen stab wounds, tsk tsk! You really have a good fate.”
“Yeah, right? I think so too, but it’s said that surviving great adversity brings good fortune.” Luxianbei replied awkwardly.
The police officer nodded in response, sighed lightly, and said, “Alright, you’ll wait in the holding room for now? Once we contact your family to come, you can leave.”
There wasn’t any evidence suggesting that Luxianbei had broken into the long-closed frozen food store to commit theft. Given the current circumstances, it could at most be considered disturbing the peace.
As for why he saw strange phenomena in the frozen food store and didn’t run away, it’s easy to explain—it’s probably just because he really does have a lot of courage.
The boy who bravely intervened and was stabbed eighteen times, how could he not have courage?
“Wait a moment, Officer!”
“What’s wrong? Is there something else?” The police officer turned to look at Luxianbei.
“Um…” Luxianbei hesitated for a moment and said, “I don’t have anyone else at home, so…”
Upon hearing this, the police officer froze for a moment. He indeed saw in the household registration office that the parents’ section of Luxianbei’s file read “deceased,” but he didn’t realize that he had no relatives left.
“Then you don’t have anyone else, um, I mean, is there someone relatively close that you can contact? According to regulations, if you want to leave, someone must come to pick you up; otherwise, you’ll have to wait twenty-four hours to leave.”
“This…” Luxianbei’s mind quickly spun through the list of people he could contact.
Jumeng definitely wouldn’t work, Professor Ma is recuperating, and it’s not good to disturb his elder. As for Water Brother…
He hasn’t been in touch recently, and he doesn’t know where he’s off gallivanting, probably going on business with some rich woman again. He’s done this kind of thing before.
Looks like I can only find Jiang Li.
“There’s someone, um, she should be my superior? Is that okay?” Luxianbei said.
If Jiang Li were to come pick him up, it should be no problem, right? Plus, he could also tell her about the things he saw in the frozen food store. Luxianbei thought.
…
Ten minutes later, in the V Office of the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Management Bureau.
Jiang Li was sitting at her desk, not playing mahjong, seriously reviewing the case files regarding more than twenty urban legend incidents solved by the V Office over the past month, when the phone on her desk suddenly rang.
She furrowed her brow slightly and answered the call, “Hello, this is the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Management Bureau.”
“He was caught by you? Why?”
“For trespassing into a private residence… to catch a cat?” Jiang Li’s mouth twitched uncontrollably, and after pondering for a few seconds, she calmly said, “I understand; I will go over there shortly.”
