Chapter 85 – Cat

“Is that so? …Right, I haven’t seen him tonight. Mm, okay. If he contacts me, I’ll call you.” After hanging up, Jiang Qianqian froze for a moment, then immediately called Zhu Hao. Sure enough, Zhu Hao’s phone wouldn’t connect.

“They suspect Zhu Hao killed someone?” Jiang Qianqian collapsed onto the bed. “But why would he kill a gate guard? Even if he lost control while teaching someone a lesson, the target should have been…”

The police had not come over to question her. They had only called, which allowed the anxiety that had seized Jiang Qianqian the instant she picked up the phone to settle considerably. But then she furiously hurled her phone at the floor. “That Zhu Hao is such a useless piece of trash! He can’t do anything right! How did he end up killing someone?!”

Jiang Qianqian felt terribly guilty. She was worried she would come under police scrutiny. Judging by the police’s attitude so far, though, they did not seem especially invested in this murder case. As for why that was, Jiang Qianqian had no idea.

Thud! The phone hit the floor with a muffled sound.

“Meow…” A cat’s cry immediately came from the cage not far away. But it did not sound frightened…

Jiang Qianqian stared at the cage. Through the gaps in the iron bars, the cat was staring back at her with a cold, observant gaze.

Jiang Qianqian was afraid of this cat, but the moment she thought of Su Lifeng’s warning, an inexplicable irritation rose inside her. She had never truly hated Su Lifeng before. At most, she had found him somewhat repulsive because of his relationship with Jiang Yushi. Yet this poor boy she had never taken seriously looked at her no differently than he would look at a stray cat by the roadside, and he had even humiliated her in front of Jiang Yushi.

“Qianqian, I suddenly heard a noise. Are you okay?” A worried voice came from outside the door. Then the door opened, and a boy with youthful features and a somewhat shy demeanor walked in. The moment he entered, his gaze locked onto Jiang Qianqian as if he could not tear it away. “Qianqian, you don’t look so good. Did something upset you?”

Jiang Qianqian glanced at the boy, and the irritation in her heart instantly grew worse.

He started talking nonstop the second he came in. And that look in his eyes. Did he have to act so deeply affectionate? Disgusting…

Still, this was his house…

Jiang Qianqian had not dared to bring the cat home after all. After thinking it over, she had remembered this boy.

The boy liked her, and he was different from those men who only liked her body. But he was too stupid. He did not know how to say even a single sweet thing. At first, Jiang Qianqian had found him somewhat refreshing and thought that kind of pure affection might not be so bad. But after enough time passed, she had grown sick of his endless devotion.

“I really do like excitement after all…” That was what Jiang Qianqian thought.

“Qianqian, why did you smash your phone?” Only then did the boy notice the phone.

“Enough, stop asking!” Jiang Qianqian cut him off impatiently, secretly rolling her eyes. So stupid. The phone was right by his feet. Could he not see it? Why ask when he already knew?

The boy’s expression immediately stiffened, and then he gave an awkward smile. “Sorry. I was just worried about you…”

But after staring at him in annoyance for a few moments, she suddenly turned to look at the cat. An idea immediately surfaced in her mind. “Han Meng, what do you think of this cat?”

“It’s… it’s pretty nice. A cat you keep would obviously be cute,” Han Meng said quickly, answering a little nervously. He had not expected Jiang Qianqian to start talking to him again on her own.

“Then…” Jiang Qianqian pressed her lips together, her eyes flickering. “Why don’t you hold it?”

Han Meng froze for a moment, but in the end, he nodded. “Okay.”

As Han Meng reached out to open the cage, Jiang Qianqian suddenly felt herself growing nervous.

She wanted to stop him, but the desire to prove that Su Lifeng had been talking nonsense won out in the end.

Maybe it was because the whole Zhu Hao situation had left her so rattled, but all of a sudden, she desperately wanted to prove Su Lifeng wrong.

“I didn’t do anything. The guard’s death had nothing to do with me. The police shouldn’t have called me…” The thoughts came flooding in all at once. By the time Jiang Qianqian came back to her senses, Han Meng was already holding the cat in his arms.

Seeing the cat lie perfectly still in Han Meng’s embrace, Jiang Qianqian suddenly couldn’t help thinking, Su Lifeng threatened this cat. That should work, right?

But it was already too late to be scared.

Fortunately, Han Meng was holding the cat, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary…

Jiang Qianqian secretly let out a breath of relief. Just then, Han Meng stroked the cat’s head, then looked up and smiled. “It really is cute. It seems to like me…”

“Ah!”

A short, sharp scream instantly made Jiang Qianqian’s heart leap into her throat again. The cat suddenly sprang up and sank its teeth viciously into Han Meng’s neck.

Han Meng’s eyes went wide. He grabbed at the cat, struggling desperately to pull it off, and his body dropped to its knees.

Jiang Qianqian was so frightened that she curled up on the bed, completely at a loss for what to do.

She felt as if one of the cat’s eyes was still fixed on her, with what seemed like a trace of mockery in it.

Soon, Han Meng stopped moving. His head drooped. But his chest was still rising and falling, and his heavy breathing gradually became the only sound in the room.

Jiang Qianqian felt as if her own heart had stopped. She forced her lips to move and asked tentatively, “You… what’s wrong with you?”

Han Meng was silent for a while. Then his head snapped up, revealing a smile.

Jiang Qianqian knew that smile very well. It was exactly the way she had just smiled at Han Meng.

A condescending, disdainful… sneer.

And then…

“Ah!!!!”

Jiang Qianqian fell sideways onto the bed, her head tilted at an angle. Her gaze landed directly on the mirror not far away.

In the mirror, her eyes were stretched wide open. A streak of blood was running down her forehead, and the five deep marks there looked as if they had been clawed out by a cat. A figure was crouched over her body. As the figure’s arm plunged into her abdominal cavity, her body continued to convulse.

“Ah…” Jiang Qianqian opened her mouth, her eyes filled with despair and terror, but she could not make a sound…

“Hey, buddy, are you getting in or not?”

A taxi had stopped, and the driver called out to Su Lifeng, who was still standing there with his hand raised to hail a cab.

Su Lifeng was still in a daze. It was only when the taxi driver shook his head and prepared to leave that he suddenly snapped back to himself and nodded. “Oh, yeah… I’m going.”

“Where to?”

“The entrance to the Holiday Plaza parking lot,” Su Lifeng said.

The facts proved that his guess had been right. The car had been sitting there for some time, and the police who had been watching it were gone as well.

He was not worried that they might see him drive the car away on surveillance or anything like that… After all, leaving it there indefinitely would only look even more suspicious.

“Next time they think about tailing me, they’ll probably give it a little more consideration. Better yet, they won’t have time to pay attention to me anymore.” But Su Lifeng soon realized he had been thinking too simply. As soon as he approached the residential complex where he lived, he saw patrol officers standing at the intersection, looking around.

After a brief surge of frustration, Su Lifeng simply parked the car in the alley behind the complex. Then he faced the wall, which was more than two meters high, jumped, and landed lightly inside the complex the next instant.

“Even going home is getting troublesome now.” Su Lifeng dusted off his palms and shook his head.