"At first, it was one voice, then it became four or five. So many cats were meowing together! That sound! Heh... I heard someone upstairs open a window and curse at them, then throw some trash down. The cats quieted down for a while, but then they started again. There was nothing around but the sound of cats. It was as if they'd all gathered at the delivery station. Then a cat jumped onto the windowsill and stared at me through the glass. I... I... I was still hoping someone upstairs would chase the cats away, but they seemed to be dead... There was no sound. There wasn't a sound anywhere, just the cats meowing! The people were all gone! They must have done something!"
"Did those cats do anything else?"
"No. No, that's not right—they didn't have time! They were scratching at the door! The one on the windowsill was pawing at the window, too! They wanted to get in and kill me! Just like they killed Kong Rongde and Su Zhuoqin... I'm going to be killed, too!"
"Mr. Fei, please calm down. Have some water and rest for a bit."
"Whew... Heh... Can I stay here with you?"
"Of course."
"That's great... Ha, that's great! Thank you!"
"One more question. Did you see an unusual-looking cat yesterday? It had blood on it, ran with a slight limp, and had dark fur—or maybe the blood made its fur look dark."
"That was the one! That was the cat that jumped onto the windowsill! It kept trying to get in!"
"I see."
"Mr. Fei, we learned something earlier. The number of stray cats in the area where you rent has increased recently. Have you noticed?"
"Well... I think I heard Su Zhuoqin mention it. He said stray cats were easier to catch. Before, you just caught whichever one you found, but now you could pick one you liked the look of."
"Do you remember when this started happening?"
"I think it was not long after I moved in. He mentioned it in passing. Back then... back then I wasn't addicted yet, so I didn't pay much attention. I remember because he looked so respectable. I never thought he'd be such a freak."
"Did he ever mention killing any unusual cats while they were torturing them? Or anything else?"
"No. I never heard them say anything like that."
April 26, 2006: Received the blood analysis report, confirming that the blood sample collected in the greenbelt matched Kong Rongde's blood.
Attachment: Analysis and comparison reports for samples 03520060419(1) and 03520060419(2).
April 28, 2006: Made contact with Zhou Yanghui. Audio file 03520060428.wav.
"Brother Su is dead?"
"We haven't found his body, but he's missing. His disappearance was extremely strange. One of his former roommates disappeared in the same way."
"Oh..."
"Mr. Zhou, do you know anything? We hope you can give us some information to help us find Mr. Su Zhuoqin."
"Mm..."
"Mr. Zhou, our investigation found that you and Mr. Su Zhuoqin both tortured cats."
"You... You've found everything out, so what's the point of asking?"
"We believe this incident may be connected to cats. We just haven't been able to find the root cause yet."
"The root cause? Hah! What root cause could there be? It was those beasts' doing! Just look at me! Look at this! Those beasts clawed this out! They gouged out my eyeball!"
"We're deeply sorry for what happened to you. Mr. Zhou, could you tell us in detail what happened?"
"What happened? What do you want to hear? Heh, you're just here to laugh at me, aren't you? I don't think you're here to find Su Zhuoqin at all."
"Mr. Zhou, you lost an eye, but you're still alive. Your former companion Zhu Bin died suddenly back then, while Su Zhuoqin and that roommate are both missing, with their fates unknown. Forgive me for being blunt, but it's hard to say whether you'll continue to be this lucky."
"Get out! Get out of here!"
"If we can resolve this, you'll be able to feel safe again, won't you? Why not cooperate with us and tell us everything? Maybe we can help you."
"I don't need your fake concern! Get out!"
Bang! Crash!
"Hey, kid, try laying a hand on me!"
"A-Miao."
"Chief, this guy..."
"I saw a cat outside."
"Hiss! You, what did you say...?"
"I couldn't get a good look at it. It disappeared as soon as it noticed me. It was a large, multicolored cat with short fur. It looked healthy."
"Ha... You saw it... It's still here... It really is watching me..."
"Zhou Yanghui, can you talk about what happened to you now?"
"...What is there to talk about? You saw it yourself, didn't you? That cat gouged out my eyeball! It's a ghost... It's got its eye on me!"
"I already know that. I want to know what you and Su Zhuoqin, Zhu Bin, and the others did, and what happened after you returned to your hometown."
"I... I don't know how this happened... Su Zhuoqin—Su Zhuoqin liked torturing cats! He was the one who started it! That bastard Zhu Bin was a freak, too! The first time he watched, he threw up, but I saw his face—he was smiling! I didn't want to do it, but we lived together and worked at the same place. Su Zhuoqin had been at that restaurant for years. I couldn't ruin things with him over a few beasts, could I? I didn't want to. I really didn't mean to do anything..."
"Do you remember that large, multicolored cat? Was it one of the cats you killed?"
"Yes... That cat... I remember how quiet it was when Su Zhuoqin brought it back. It didn't make a sound. When he and... Zhu Bin tortured it, it barely reacted. Su Zhuoqin cursed at it, and Zhu Bin thought it was no fun, so he killed it quickly. I thought it was strange... It seemed... seemed like it wanted to be killed. It even deliberately threw itself onto Su Zhuoqin's knife."
"Did this happen before Fei Wen moved in?"
"Fei Wen? Oh... Yes, it was before he moved in."
"Did anything happen after you killed it?"
"Nothing happened before I went back, but when I went home for New Year, the village cats meowed at me and bared their teeth. The villagers looked at me strangely, so I told them my roommate had a cat and I'd probably picked up its scent. On the first day of the New Year, I came back from visiting people and saw several cats crouched on top of the wall, watching me. That cat was among them. It meowed once, and the others jumped at me. They clawed me and gouged out my eye... Whew... Whew... My parents and brothers had walked ahead of me and were already home. They heard me yelling and came back to find me. They were making a commotion, and all the cats ran away. I'd gone blind in one eye, and my family wanted to beat the cats to death, but the villagers all thought I'd done something in the city, so the village cats had attacked me together. My dad fell silent. They thought I'd done something wicked, too. They were just a few beasts! Just a few beasts!"
"And then?"
"My dad dragged me to the village cemetery and made me kowtow at our family graves, begging them to protect me... Then he made me kneel at the entrance to the village, burn paper money, and kowtow... He even paid to feed those cats, giving them good fish and meat... I don't know which of those things worked. The village cats still watched me whenever they saw me, but they stopped coming near me. I never thought it was still here... It's been watching me all along... It won't stop..."
"Chief, should we look for that cat?"