One hour earlier, on Blue Star.
Three thirty in the morning.
I went out with Yangyang, my eldest daughter.
The starry sky still glittered, and the bright moon hung high above.
Now and then, clouds drifted past, veiling the crescent moon overhead.
Darkness once more shrouded the world.
At three thirty in the morning, streetlights were already few and far between.
Only the main lamps along the streets were still lit.
The shops in the city that never slept, however, were still brightly illuminated, and pedestrians continued to pass by in ones and twos.
I didn't take my daughter to somewhere crowded and bright.
That wasn't the cat's battlefield.
The world that belonged to cats was sure to be underground parking garages with few people, the grass and garbage bins in urban villages, and countless abandoned buildings.
"Mom." Yangyang tugged at my sleeve, softly calling out to me on instinct.
Unlike her formerly independent personality, Yangyang now acted more like she had before turning six months old. She often gripped the hem of my clothes uneasily, letting me take her wherever I wanted.
In a completely unfamiliar place, her sense of security should have come from herself as well as someone she could trust. But right now, she wanted to be a little girl who knew nothing, with her mother as her only support and faith.
At the entrance to the urban village.
We hadn't even entered the village proper, yet the wind already carried the heavy smell of cooking oil. In many places, the ground was smeared with layers of grease built up over the years outside tiny eateries. It wasn't that the streets were dirty; they were simply more chaotic and cramped than those in the main part of the city.
"Don't be scared, baby. Mom's right here."