C20 I'll Hit You When I Catch You(1)

"Does being with us make you that uncomfortable? Would you really prefer to leap off a building than stay here?"

To Ruila, Shen Xiang's recent behavior could be summed up as zoning out by the window, then abruptly attempting to flee through it. After she hauled him back inside, she gazed into his eyes with a touch of melancholy and said, "We're perfectly capable of leaving on our own. There's no need to degrade yourself like that."

"No, that's not it."

Shen Xiang's head was throbbing, and he was still reeling from the scare. Sitting on the ground, he gasped for air, while even Ann crouched down beside him, looking at him with puzzled concern.

"I just wanted to check out that cat's scent and accidentally almost fell."

"Scent? What are you, a dog?" Rui could detect something too, but tracking it was beyond her—beyond even the keenest hound, since the scent was overpowering and muddled with countless other elements.

"Ah, yes." Shen Xiang nodded, grabbed a Coke, and downed it in one go. Feeling somewhat revived, he said, "I might have a method to track down that orange cat, but it's a long shot. Would you come with me?"

He was apprehensive about going alone; an unexpected encounter with the supernatural was not something he felt equipped to handle at the moment. But Rui exuded confidence and authority—her fighting prowess as the boss was unquestionable.

It was safer to have her accompany him. Whether they found the cat or not, she would be a valuable safeguard.

After studying Shen Xiang for a moment, Rui finally nodded and declared, "I'll join you. Ann, you're on house duty."

"Meow?"

"Time to hit the math books."

"Wuwuwuwu."

Rui retrieved her trench coat from the chair and wrapped her hair in it this time. She then pulled out a contact lens case from her pocket, put in the lenses, and when she looked back at Shen Xiang, her previously blue eyes were concealed, her allure diminished. She now looked like just another beautiful woman.

"Let's head out."

"Okay."

Upon reaching the ground floor, Shen Xiang adjusted the bag on his shoulder and turned to Rui, "Does anyone recognize you?"

"No, I've kept a low profile," Rui replied, shaking her head before inquiring, "How do you plan to find him?"

"By intuition."

Shen Xiang tapped his temple and instructed, "Just stay behind me. Don't question it, and keep quiet. I'll let you know when we've arrived. Just follow my lead."

"Okay."

Rui held back any further inquiries.

Observing Shen Xiang with his bag, she waited momentarily until she was taken aback by a sudden shift in his demeanor. His eyes dulled, and his presence transformed in an indescribable way, prompting her cat-like reflexes to emerge. Before she could voice her concerns, he began to move.

There was something off about him. He emitted an odd vibe, as if he was both alive and yet not.

Rui struggled to articulate this nuanced sensation; it was an unsettling discord that suggested the man before her had morphed from Shen Xiang into an entirely different entity—not quite human, but rather something devoid of life, chillingly aloof.

"Shen Xiang" paused by a trash can briefly, then doubled back to a clump of grass, seemingly scouring for something. After a short while, he abruptly quickened his pace and dashed to the entrance of another building's stairwell.

Rui trailed him unhurriedly, noting his several laps around the complex before they finally exited the neighborhood and set off.

Reflecting on it, Shen Xiang had always been an enigmatic figure.

Rui's recollections from her time as an animal were hazy, akin to the distant memories of human childhood—some moments were retrievable, but the details were not always crystal clear. Beyond the instincts etched into her animal nature, her most vivid impression of Shen Xiang was his peculiarities.

He was an odd mix of eccentric and formidable. When embodying both, he seemed to approach everything as though he were asleep, or rather, as if he could accomplish anything in his sleep.

His talents appeared to be exclusively invested in slumber and sloth. No matter the circumstance, he could find rest, always seeking the path of least effort. Among the things that stood out to her was his penchant for automation; he owned a cat and favored gadgets that operated on their own, never manually intervening. Even the toys, like those he got for Ann, were self-operating.

The feeding and watering machines were fully automated.

She even joked to herself that if she were pampered any longer, she might have to invest in an automated pile driver.

He was hardly a model owner.

What am I even thinking about?

Rui instinctively walked with her feet pointed outward to avoid the subtle sensations caused by friction. She touched her face, which felt slightly warm, and checked the time.

This was no time for such emotions. She composed herself and followed Shen Xiang outside.

Shen Xiang's actions were peculiar.

He would change his pace, occasionally stopping as if lost in thought.

He would take detours, circling around only to abruptly head in the opposite direction.

He even considered scaling a wall to enter another complex but halfway through, he sheepishly abandoned the idea.

Rui, with her own network, was on the hunt for the orange cat. Her two companions, leveraging their special abilities, could direct some birds and rodents within a certain area. However, due to the stringent investigations by the special office, they couldn't conduct a widespread search. She enlisted Shen Xiang's help, thinking that a human perspective might yield unexpected insights.

For now, she chose to just follow him.

After about an hour of walking, Shen Xiang stopped yet again. This time, he paused in front of a sewer manhole cover.

The manhole cover looked conspicuously new, out of place as if it had just been installed.

Mission Pause

Shen Xiang sensed his system urging him to enter the sewer, but he knew he couldn't actually go in. Unlike the spacious sewers depicted in some foreign films, which could house the homeless, the sewers here were due to past economic hardships – narrow one-meter diameter pipes meant solely for wastewater and storm runoff, impossible to navigate, let alone traverse.

Yet his system had directed him here, indicating that someone had indeed gone inside.

"You're suggesting it went down into the sewer?"