C15 Chapter 15

Midnight. Geli was asleep in the apartment he rented, same as always—except tonight, he wasn’t wearing the jade pendant around his neck.

Before long, a chill swept through the room, and a black shape appeared on the windowsill. Sure enough, it was a black cat.

Its eyes glowed green as it stared at Geli for a moment. Then the green light flashed, and it sprang inside—landing at the head of his bed, jaws opening to bite down.

Geli, lying there, suddenly curled his lips into a strange smile. “A measly cat demon thinks it can take a bite out of me?” In one motion, I clamped a hand around the cat’s throat and tore off my mask.

Realizing it had been set up, the cat demon abandoned its body. A black spirit drifted out of the cat’s shell.

Just as I’d guessed—this thing was at least five hundred years old.

But even out of its body, it wasn’t getting away. I’d already sealed off the area with a barrier. I watched coldly as it slammed into the ward over the window, sparks flaring red.

While it was still dazed, I barked, “You lowlife spirit—cough up the souls you swallowed!” At the same time, my hands flew through a series of signs, and I struck toward the cat demon’s belly.

But the cat demon was insanely fast—it dodged the blow by sheer reflex.

I felt a jolt of surprise and shouted, “Liang Jing, Mo Ningning—hit it with the big move!”

“Yes!” Liang Jing and Mo Ningning popped out of the closet, each tossing out two pots, and then...

They dove right back in.

Me: “........”

Seriously?! That’s how you treat my beloved pots?!

The black cat let out a screech, black smoke curling off its body as it lunged at me.

This was bad. I immediately triggered the secret technique my father taught me—made specifically for dealing with quick, slippery spirits.

The four pots on the floor rose as if they had minds of their own, shooting up toward the cat demon in midair. No matter how fast it was, it couldn’t dodge four heavy pots coming from four different directions at once.

I quickly slammed the pot down and shouted, “Get in!”

In an instant, the cat-ghost shrank down to almost nothing and got trapped inside the pot. Even without a lid, it couldn’t force its way out.

Yeah, right—like our family’s ghost-trapping pot setup is something you can break that easily.

Liang Jing and Mo Ningning popped back out of the closet. “No way! Wu Xiaogang, that was insane! The props are kinda janky, but I didn’t think you were actually that good…”

I didn’t even get a chance to respond when the cat-ghost let out a freaky screech and suddenly sprang out. I froze. What the hell?

I lifted the pot to look—oh, come on. There was a hole in it.

Mo Ningning stuck her tongue out guiltily. “I think I smashed that in.”

Me: “…”

Seriously?! I didn’t even have time to yell at them before the cat-ghost launched itself at me. I threw my arms up to block, but it was way too fast—slammed me into the wall and opened its cat mouth, going straight for my throat.

I fought like hell, but it kept forcing its way closer to my neck. Oh, man… was this really it?

Suddenly, it hesitated. I squinted and saw Liang Jing trembling as she whacked it with a clothes hanger. The cat-ghost turned around and kicked her across the room.

Oh my god—seriously? A clothes hanger? What was that supposed to do? I almost cried on the spot.

The cat-ghost knew I was the real threat, so it didn’t even bother with Liang Jing. It turned right back and went for my throat again.

In my head, I kept chanting, I’m done, I’m done, I’m done…

Then it paused again. I forced my eyes open and saw Mo Ningning swinging the pot like crazy, hammering it into the cat-ghost’s back.

Okay—now we’re talking. A pot is way better than a clothes hanger.

Too bad it still only took one kick to send her flying.

“Uh…” I let out a sigh. “I’ll give you two this much—you’ve got heart. Even if it doesn’t help…”

Suddenly, another shout rang out. “Black Cat! Give me back my grandma!”

That one hit different—whoever it was sounded prepared. I looked over, hopeful, and saw Ge Li charging straight at the Black Cat… empty-handed.

Me: “…”

Man, go pick up a clothes hanger or something.

Just when I was about ready to give up on this whole crew of useless backup, I caught a glint of light. Because Ge Li wasn’t actually empty-handed—he was gripping a jade pendant!

Right! A pendant like that can ward off evil. That means it can hurt evil, too!

Sure enough, the instant the pendant slammed into the cat spirit, it let out a bloodcurdling scream. Its form started to wobble, flickering in and out like bad reception.

And then I saw something strange inside its belly. So that’s what it was…

I pulled out a kitchen cleaver—two quick swipes—and cut its belly open, yanking an elderly woman out from inside.

Hmph. In our line of work, the deadliest weapon is a kitchen cleaver!

I snorted, gripped the cleaver, launched myself into the air, and brought it down on the cat spirit’s head. The moment the blade fell, the cat spirit scattered into nothing.

Every evil spirit fears a cleaver…

Damn it! What a waste! That was perfectly good material—how did I go and chop it into oblivion? I burst into tears and punched myself twice.

“Grandma?” Ge Li stared at the elderly woman, overjoyed.

The elderly woman looked just as stunned. “Xiao Li… is that you? You heard Grandma calling you?”

“I’m sorry, Grandma. I came too late. You’ve suffered.” Ge Li whispered.

“It’s okay. I’m already satisfied.” As she spoke, her body began to fade, turning translucent.

“Grandma, what’s happening to you?” Ge Li asked through tears.

I let out a sigh. “She’s going where she’s supposed to go.”

The old woman smiled and said, “Xiao Li, your friend is right. Grandma’s finally free. But don’t worry—Grandma will always watch over you...” With that, she vanished completely.

Xiao Li stood there in a daze, staring at the jade in his hand.

I glanced at it and said helplessly, “What a shame. It was such a nice piece, but it got tainted by that filthy aura. Now it’s just an ordinary trinket.”

Ge Li shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. What matters is I know Grandma’s been by my side this whole time.”

Moonlight poured down over the big kid. In that pale glow, maybe he could see his grandma smiling at him.

I walked over to the wall and nudged Liang Jing and Mo Ningning with my foot.

“Get up. Quit faking it.”

Liang Jing sprang up. “Holy crap! You saw right through us!”

Mo Ningning popped up too. “Holy crap! Could you not be so blunt? At least let us save a little face.”

I rubbed my forehead. “That cat-thing had all its weight on me. There’s no way you two got hurt.”

They both went quiet.

I sighed and patted their heads. “But thanks.”

“Huh?” Liang Jing and Mo Ningning looked up, delighted. “So you’re saying we actually did pretty good?”

“Yeah. You did great. Just… kind of dumb.”

They went silent again, on the verge of tears...