Before I could burst out with my usual arsenal of curses, Jiang Yuyan clamped his hand firmly over my cat-mouth, muffling me.
"Not a word," he warned coldly.
Then, bang, he kicked Lu Wei backward with one sharp motion. "You heard wrong."
But Lu Wei was a brute-coward hybrid. Instead of retreating, he scrambled forward like some oversized crab, dragging his knees until he planted himself right back at Jiang’s shoes.
Jiang glanced down, cold annoyance thunder clouding his face.
Meanwhile, Lu Wei’s gaze drilled into me, eyes wide and wet as if he was staring straight into the afterlife. Cat-me panicked, heart racing, and I quickly turned my whiskers away.
Jiang’s composure was straining. I heard the grind of his molars, the sound of patience snapping like glass underfoot.
Maybe it was time to light a candle for poor Lu Wei. He was playing chicken with the wrong man.
But then Lu Wei blurted:
"I saw Lu Zhen the day before it happened."
The words hung heavy like a bomb. Something dark flickered in Jiang’s eyes. In one smooth motion, he planted his polished shoe hard onto Lu Wei’s chest, pinning him flat against the graveyard soil. His voice dropped into a frigid growl:
"What do you know?"
I curled deeper into Jiang’s arms, eyes slitted, pretending to be asleep but ears stiff, unfolding like radar dishes.
Lu Wei’s voice cracked, wobbling with grief as he tried to speak under the pressure. "That day he went out, and I cursed at him. I told him, if you leave, don’t bother coming back. Just me being an ass. And then he never came back. The moment I saw Li Haofang collect the body, I swore it couldn’t be true. My brother couldn’t be gone. Not like that."
My claws dug into Jiang’s coat. The flow of emotion, the ragged words, punched unexpectedly deep.
A brother who wept over me, for that my little cat heart swelled painfully warm.
"Yes, I was crushed between metal and steel. Yes, my body broke. Shattered. Identified only by my stupid wallet ID."
A stray gust slipped over us, and I almost felt my spirit unravel again.
Jiang’s palm smoothed over my ear sharply. He asked, low and deliberate:
"Did he say where he was going?"
Lu Wei wiped at his face, choking. "That whole last month he wasn’t right. Walking around grinning stupidly at his phone all day. Like a lovesick idiot. And that last morning he even put on cologne."
He heaved a sigh, then concluded bluntly: "I’m telling you. He was definitely off to meet some woman."
I jolted upright, fur bristling. "Bullshit. Outrageous slander."
Lu Wei froze, finger trembling as he pointed. "I told you this cat talks. It is him."
Then his eyes rolled back. Collapse, round two.
And just like that, the masquerade was shredded. My identity lay in tatters.
Lu Wei spent the next hour see sawing between consciousness and horror, repeatedly fainting when his brain connected Lu Zhen equals neutered tomcat. Each time he woke, the realization hit all over again. Eventually he let loose a booming laugh.
"Hahaha, Lu Zhen. Boss Zhen. The infamous legend of Beihai. And now somebody’s neutered housecat?"
That was it. I launched an onslaught of rapid-fire paw smacks right at his face. My cat-fists rained like justice.
"Listen here, traitor. Let’s clear one thing first. I was not out that day to meet some woman."
Lu Wei gasped, clutching his cheek. "Wait. Then what, huh? Don’t tell me you were finally meeting a man?"
My fur stood fully upright. Before I could launch another barrage, Jiang cut in, flat as a command. He explained, brisk and clinical, about my condition, my missing body, the seal, and the cat vessel.
Lu Wei listened wide-eyed until silent reverence overtook him. Then his thick hand wiped over his mouth and he spoke carefully:
"So, President Jiang, I misjudged you. That night when your men dug the grave I thought you’d truly come to desecrate. My brothers attacked your people. I was wrong. I’m sorry."
He lowered his head and let out a rueful laugh.
"You’re a real good man."
Jiang’s eyes narrowed like frozen blades. His thanks was a dry "Don’t."
But now with Lu Wei on board, the trail widened.
He offered to dig into my movements that day while Jiang and I sought out the officers handling the crash.
The old files were dug from cabinet drawers by Officer Chen, who had worked the case. He slid the yellowing papers across the desk.
"The crash on the ring expressway. Two declared dead on scene one driver, one passenger. Lu Zhen was found in the crushed back seat. This was the license plate."
He pointed at the records. "Driver was also the car’s owner. All confirmed."
But Lu Wei jumped in at once.
"No way. We had witnesses. Several of our guys swore Zhen left on his own wheels that morning, driving southbound. The ring road’s north. Doesn’t add up."
Puzzle pieces began to grind unpleasantly.
So in the morning I had headed south in my own car. Hours later, I somehow reappeared crumpled in another car, traveling eastbound where I didn’t belong.
One problem. I blinked and meowed.
"Wait. You’re saying I had a car? Since when?"
Lu Wei gaped. "You little bastard, since when did you have money, let alone hide a car from me?"
Jiang’s investigations swiftly confirmed it. Two days before the crash, I had bought a second-hand sedan, black, battered, cheap.
The seller even remembered me.
"Oh yeah, that guy. Cocky smile. Pretty boy looks. Annoying mouth. And tightfisted as hell."
I wanted to dig a grave my grave and cry into it. Humanity wasn’t worth reconciling with.
Jiang pocketed the license plate number with care.
I asked hopefully, "If you find the car, does that lead to my body?"
He shook his head. "I don’t know. But it’s a lead. And for us, right now, that’s something."
Still, the months had stretched too long. Evidence bled into cracks, threads brittle. Reconstructing the truth demanded manpower, time, resources.
All I had was waiting.
Jiang carried a weight I had never seen in him before. Between handling his company business and working my case, he seemed carved down by pressure. Nights when restless insomnia gnawed me, I padded the dark halls only to see his study lamp still burning at 3 a.m.
Through it all, Lu Wei sometimes came, sat on the floor, and chatted with me. He gossiped about our old crew. Who got married, who had kids, whose dumb ass was now playing house.
I listened, but the faces smudged in my memory. The details blurred. I couldn’t call them back sharp anymore.
More and more, the fog claimed my ghost mind. The cat body demanded rest. I drowsed endlessly, curled in Jiang’s apartment, even longing sometimes for the cold hard cot in my Netherworld rental.
At times, Jiang lowered his hand to tap me awake, studying my breath with sharp unease, as if afraid I would vanish.
Then one night, he nudged me softly awake.
"Come on."
Groggy, bleary, I blinked up at him. Poker-face still as stone, but there it was. A faint, honest smile breaking his perfect lines.
"Let’s go play."
So we went.
We traveled. East to the lush islands, sea salt warm against our fur. West to the flaming deserts and Gobi, the wind sweeping infinite. We roamed far past my living reach.
And in each place, the world cracked open wider.
I had never imagined life or death could show beauty like this.
Then came that day. That silence.
I stood proud, chin high, in the vast grass plains, wind soaking like a green ocean against my fur.
And then a shrill ringtone shattered the moment.
I looked back. Jiang Yuyan’s face was splintered, breaking.
He hung up, walked slowly toward me, and lifted me firmly into his arms.
"Lu Zhen," he breathed. "We’re going back."
Chapter 04
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