The Haunting

Ghostly Shadow

Old Chen had barely caught a glimpse of a shadow, but Li Bai spotted the residual heat signatures of footprints on the ground, fleeing in a panic. He zoomed in as far as he could and made out what looked like paw prints shaped like plum blossoms.

The only small feline likely to appear in the village was a domestic cat. Lynxes wouldn't have the nerve to come here, let alone a leopard cub.

Following the paw prints with the thermal imager, Li Bai saw that the cat seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

The trail abruptly ended after retreating two or three meters.

But Li Bai smiled. He'd found more traces: the faint outlines of several shoe prints near the cat's paw prints.

If he guessed correctly, someone had come over quietly while carrying a cat, but for some reason had put it down and left halfway there.

Li Bai had an idea why. The cat's paw prints started forty meters away, so it had probably been frightened off by Qingyao Demoness's snake scales. If it hadn't been carried over, it likely wouldn't have dared come close at all.

He had no idea what the other person had intended to do by bringing a cat over, but it was clear they'd been up to something—and ultimately hadn't succeeded.

What had they brought the cat over for? Li Bai was completely at a loss.

"A cat? I'll shine my flashlight over there!"

The night-vision goggles couldn't make out the scene clearly, so Old Chen pulled out his flashlight and prepared to shine it toward the spot where he'd seen the shadow move.

If it was a cat, maybe the beam would draw it out. Or he might catch its face in the light and see a pair