The Death of the Alley Cat

"First there was one, then it became four or five, so many cats were meowing! That sound! Haa... I heard someone upstairs open a window and curse, they even threw trash down, but the cats quieted down for a bit, then started again. All around were cat sounds, it was like they'd all burrowed into the express station. Then a cat jumped onto the windowsill, staring at me through the glass, I... I... I even hoped the people upstairs would drive the cats away, but they were like dead... No sound, nothing around, just cat meows! The people are gone! They must have done something!"

"Did those cats do anything else?"

"No, wait, they didn't have time! They were scratching at the door! The one on the windowsill was still pushing at the window! They want to get in and kill me! Just like they killed Kong Rongde and Su Zhuoqin... I'll be killed too!"

"Mr. Fei, please calm down. Have some water and rest."

"Hoo... Haa... Can I stay here with you?"

"Yes."

"That's great... Ha, that's great! Thank you!"

"One more question, did you see a strangely behaving cat yesterday? It was injured, limping when it ran, and its fur was dark, though it might have looked dark because of blood."

"That's the one! That's the cat that jumped on the windowsill! It kept trying to get in!"

"I see."

"Mr. Fei, we heard something before. The number of stray cats in the area you rent has increased recently, have you noticed that?"

"This... I think Su Zhuoqin mentioned it. He said stray cats were easy to catch. Before, you caught whichever one you could, but now you can pick the ones you like."

"Do you remember when this situation started?"

"It seems like it was not long after I moved in? He mentioned it in passing, I wasn't addicted then, so I just listened. I remember it because he seemed like a decent person, I didn't expect him to be so twisted."

"Did he mention if they killed any special cats while abusing them? Or anything else?"

"No. I didn't hear them say anything."

April 26, 2006. Blood analysis report confirmed that the blood sample collected from the green belt was identical to Kong Rongde's blood.

Attachment: Analysis and comparison report for samples 03520060419(1) and 03520060419(2).

April 28, 2006. Contacted Zhou Yanghui. Audio file 03520060428.wav.

"Brother Su is dead?"

"His body hasn't been found yet, but he's missing, and his disappearance is very strange. One of his roommates also disappeared in the same way before him."

"Oh..."

"Mr. Zhou, do you know something? We hope you can provide us with some information to help us find Mr. Su Zhuoqin."

"Mm..."

"Mr. Zhou, our investigation shows that you and Mr. Su Zhuoqin both engaged in cat abuse."

"You... you've found all that out, so what else is there to ask?"

"We believe this incident might be related to cats, but we haven't been able to find the root cause yet."

"Root cause? Pfft! What root cause could there be? Aren't those beasts causing trouble? Look at me, look at this! This is what those beasts scratched out! They gouged out my eyeballs!"

"We deeply sympathize with your experience. Mr. Zhou, can you tell us more about what happened?"

"What happened? What do you want to hear? Heh heh, you're here to watch a show, aren't you? You're not really looking for Su Zhuoqin, are you?"

"Mr. Zhou, you lost an eye, but you're still alive. Your former companion Zhu Bin died suddenly that year, and Su Zhuoqin and that roommate are missing, their whereabouts unknown. To be frank, it's highly doubtful whether you can continue to be so lucky."

"Get out! Get out!"

"If we can resolve this matter, won't you be able to rest easy? Why not cooperate with our work and tell us everything, maybe we can help you too."

"I don't need your fake kindness! Get out!"

BANG! CRASH!

"Hey, kid, try it if you dare!"

"A Miao."

"Boss, this guy..."

"I saw a cat outside."

"Hiss! You, what did you say..."

"I couldn't see clearly. It disappeared after it noticed me. That cat was a calico, short-haired, and looked very healthy."

"Ha... You saw it... It's still here... It's staring at me, just as I thought..."

"Zhou Yanghui, can we talk about your experience now?"

"...What's there to talk about? Didn't you see it all? That cat gouged out my eyeball! It's a ghost... It's got its sights set on me!"

"I already know that. What I want to know is what you, Su Zhuoqin, Zhu Bin, and the others did, and what happened after you returned to your hometown."

"I... I don't know how it happened... Su Zhuoqin, Su Zhuoqin liked to abuse cats! He started it! Zhu Bin was also a pervert! I threw up the first time I watched, but on his face, I saw it, he was smiling! I didn't mean to, but we lived together and worked in the same place. Su Zhuoqin was an old-timer at that restaurant, I couldn't fall out with him over a few animals, right? I didn't want to, I really didn't mean to..."

"Do you remember that calico cat? Was it one of the cats you killed?"

"Yes... That cat... I remember it was very quiet when Su Zhuoqin caught it, not making a sound. When he and... Zhu Bin abused it, it didn't react much. Su Zhuoqin cursed, and Zhu Bin also found it boring and killed it perfunctorily. I thought it was very strange... It seemed... it seemed like it really wanted to be killed, and even deliberately ran into Su Zhuoqin's knife."

"Was this before Fei Wen moved in?"

"Fei Wen? Ah... It was before he moved in."

"Did anything happen after you killed it?"

"Nothing happened before I returned. But when I went home for the New Year, the village cats all meowed at me and bared their teeth. The villagers looked at me strangely. I told them my roommate had a cat, so maybe I smelled like one. On New Year's Day, after visiting relatives, I saw several cats perched on the wall watching me. That cat was among them. It let out a yowl, and the other cats jumped at me. They scratched me, and my eyeballs... huff... huff... My parents and siblings were faster than me and had already reached home. They only turned back when they heard me shouting. They were making a fuss, and the cats all ran away. I went blind. My family wanted to kill those cats, but the villagers thought I had done something in the city, so the village cats had attacked me. My dad fell silent. They also thought I had done something wicked. They're just animals! Just animals!"

"And then?"

"My dad dragged me to the village graveyard, made me kowtow to our ancestral graves, begging them to protect me... He also made me kneel at the village entrance, burn paper money, and kowtow... Then he paid to feed those cats, serving them good fish and meat... I don't know which action worked, but the village cats would stare at me when they saw me, but they wouldn't come near me anymore. I didn't expect it was still here... It's been staring at me... It won't give up..."

"Boss, should we look for that cat?"