Martha's Cat and the Chimney

Lin Mo had just pulled the repair shop's roll-up door halfway down when he heard old Martha scream from the hallway, sharp enough to pierce his eardrums, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. His heart skipped a beat. He threw down his wrench and ran upstairs—Martha might have had a bad temper, but she was one of the few people in this building who genuinely cared about him.

When he reached the third floor, he found Martha pacing in circles in the hallway. The sleeves of her floral shirt were rolled to her elbows, her hair was a complete mess, and she still clutched a half-smoked cigarette in her hand, ash falling all over her clothes. "Snowball! My Snowball!" she kept repeating, her voice trembling with tears. It was the first time Lin Mo had seen her lose control like this.

"Mrs. Martha, what happened?" Lin Mo steadied her by the arm and felt her hand shaking.

"Snowball fell into the chimney!" Martha pointed toward the roof, tears welling in her eyes. "That damned cat insisted on jumping onto the roof to sun himself, and then... then he fell in!"

Snowball was Martha's orange tabby, fat as a furball. Usually, all he did was eat and sleep, and his greatest hobby was lying on Martha's lap and purring. Lin Mo had seen him a few times. The cat was so lazy that he could not even be bothered to lift an eyelid when a mouse ran past him. Lin Mo had never expected him to climb onto the roof.

"Don't worry. I'll go take a look." Lin Mo looked up at the chimney on the roof. It was an old-fashioned chimney, rusted and weathered, with an opening no wider than a bowl. It was pitch-black inside, impossible to see into.

"Can you do it?" Martha looked him up and down, her eyes full of doubt. "That chimney's deep. A few years ago, a kid fell in there, and the fire department had to come get him out."

"I'll give it a try." Lin Mo did not think twice before turning and running up to the roof. He knew how much Martha loved that cat—last time Ted accidentally kicked Snowball, she chased him down half the street, yelling, "Snowball's worth more than an unemployed bum like you!"

The wind on the roof was strong, whipping Lin Mo's hair into a mess. The chimney stood near the edge of the building, with discarded planks and sheets of metal piled beside it. Lin Mo lay on the ground and peered inside. It was black as ink. He could see nothing, only hear faint, intermittent meows filled with fear and helplessness.

"Snowball?" Lin Mo called out. His voice echoed through the chimney, amplified until his ears rang.

The cat inside meowed more urgently, as if answering him.

Lin Mo took a deep breath, removed his jacket, rolled it into a ball, and stuffed it into the chimney opening to block some of the soot. Then he reached inside. The chimney walls were coated in grease and ash, slick beneath his fingers. He had barely reached in half a foot before his arm got stuck. Black soot filled the gaps beneath his nails, making him cough hard.

"Come down if you can't do it!" Martha shouted from below, sounding anxious. "I already called the fire department!"

Lin Mo did not answer. He was unwilling to give up. He could sense that Snowball was not far below, perhaps one or two meters down, but his arm was too short to reach him. He tried using Basic Phasing Ability. The familiar numbness spread through his fingertips, like passing through a sheet of thin paper—his nails actually sank into the chimney's rusted metal wall!

There was a chance! Lin Mo's eyes lit up. He focused and imagined his hand passing through the thick metal. He could feel the numbness in his fingertips growing stronger, like passing through warm water, and then—his hand really did pass into the chimney wall!

"Meow!" Snowball cried out even louder, startled.

Lin Mo's heart raced as he carefully moved his hand, feeling around in the darkness. The space inside the chimney was cramped, squeezing his arm painfully, and the soot stung his eyes until tears streamed down his face, but he did not dare stop. Suddenly, his fingertips touched something soft and furry, trembling beneath his touch—it was Snowball's tail!

Got him! Lin Mo hooked Snowball's tail with his fingers and slowly pulled upward.

Snowball must have been terrified. He suddenly began struggling, kicking wildly with his paws and scratching Lin Mo's arm until it burned with pain. Lin Mo gritted his teeth and refused to let go, continuing to pull. Then his wrist suddenly grew hot—it was the wristband!

Pale blue words flashed through his mind, swift as lightning: [Basic Phasing Ability temporarily enhanced. Duration: 10 seconds.]

Lin Mo had no time to react. His arm suddenly felt weightless, as though it had no mass at all, and it passed straight through the chimney wall as he grabbed Snowball in one swift motion! The fat cat was still struggling in his arms, smearing soot all over him until he looked like a ball pulled from a coal pile.

"Don't move!" Lin Mo growled, raising Snowball with all his strength. His arm passed through the chimney wall as if it were air, meeting no resistance at all. A few seconds later, he emerged from the chimney opening with Snowball in his arms and collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.

Snowball trembled in his arms for a long time before finally recognizing him. He rubbed his head against Lin Mo's neck and let out aggrieved little meows.

"He's out! He's out!" Martha cheered from downstairs.

Holding Snowball, Lin Mo slowly got to his feet and headed downstairs. The moment he reached the third floor, Martha snatched Snowball from him, hugging and petting and kissing the cat as she kept saying, "My good baby, you scared Grandma to death..."

Snowball comfortably narrowed his eyes in Martha's embrace, completely forgetting his earlier terror.

Martha suddenly seemed to remember something. She looked up at Lin Mo and scanned him from head to toe. His arms were covered in scratches, while his face and hands were smeared with black soot. He looked like a miner who had just crawled out of a coal pit. "You... how did you do that?" the old woman asked, her voice trembling slightly. "That chimney was so narrow. How did you get your arm inside?"

Only then did Lin Mo realize how abnormal his actions had been. He could not exactly tell her that he had phasing abilities, could he? He wiped the ash off his face and gave a foolish grin. "I got lucky. I just barely reached him. Maybe... maybe Snowball jumped up on his own."

"Bullshit!" Martha glared at him. She clearly did not believe him, but she did not press further. Instead, she pulled a few crumpled bills from her pocket and stuffed them into Lin Mo's hand. "Take it. Buy yourself some cigarettes."

Lin Mo could not refuse, so he accepted them. To his surprise, there were fifty dollars. "Thank you, Mrs. Martha."

"What are you thanking me for?" Martha said, holding Snowball as she turned to leave. At the door, she paused and looked back at Lin Mo. Her voice softened. "Come over for dinner tonight. I'll stew some chicken soup for you. You need to build yourself back up."

Lin Mo paused, then smiled. That was probably the gentlest thing old Martha could say.

When he returned to the basement, the first thing he did was take a shower. The hot water washed away the soot, revealing the scratches on his arms. They stung fiercely, but he did not care at all. Instead, he felt happy—this was the first time he had used Basic Phasing Ability to save a life, even if it was only a cat, and he had succeeded.

As he dried his hair and stepped out of the bathroom, he saw the wristband glowing. Pale blue words were clearly visible on it:

[Detected that the host used an ability to save a life (animal). Basic Phasing Ability proficiency +5%.]

[Current proficiency: 30% (can attempt to phase through 2 meters of non-energy matter).]

[Countdown: 357 days 20 hours.]

Lin Mo's eyes lit up. So abilities could be strengthened through use! He focused and looked at the concrete floor in the corner, imagining his hand passing through it. The numbness in his fingertips was much stronger than before, and his nails actually sank half a millimeter into the concrete!

"Great!" Lin Mo was so excited that he nearly jumped up. This meant that as long as he practiced diligently, Basic Phasing Ability would grow stronger. Maybe before the sign-in, he would gain the ability to protect himself—and even protect others.

He took out the leg booster he had made yesterday and began improving it. With his enhanced phasing ability, he could cut the components more precisely, secure the motor more firmly, and add a non-slip pad to the bottom to prevent it from sliding.

He was halfway through the modifications when old Martha called up from downstairs, "Little Lin! The chicken soup's ready!"

Lin Mo smiled and ran upstairs, still holding something in his hand—a little bell he had made for Snowball from scrap parts. A cat paw print was carved into it, and he had used Basic Phasing Ability to make a small hole so it could hang around Snowball's neck.

A large pot of chicken soup sat on Martha's dining table, filling the room with its aroma. Beside it was a plate of cookies Aunt May had brought over, supposedly "to calm Snowball down." Snowball lay on Martha's lap with Lin Mo's bell around his neck. Every time he moved, it chimed, and he looked quite pleased with himself.

"Try my cooking." Martha filled a bowl for Lin Mo, with big chunks of chicken and codonopsis root floating inside. "When my son got hurt, I used to stew this for him. It's good for building you up."

Lin Mo took a sip. The soup was rich and fresh, with a faint medicinal flavor. It warmed him from his throat all the way to his stomach. "It's delicious."

"If it's good, drink more." Martha looked at him, with less harshness in her eyes and more grandmotherly affection. "Don't keep doing foolish things in the future. That chimney was dangerous. What if you fell in too?"

"I'll be careful," Lin Mo said with a smile, though his heart felt warm.

While they were drinking soup, Peter suddenly ran in, holding up a test tube filled with green liquid. "Lin! Look at the plant growth agent I made! It can make seeds sprout early!" The boy's eyes shone like light bulbs, completely oblivious to the scratches covering Lin Mo or the chicken soup at Martha's house.

"Peter!" Aunt May's voice came from the doorway. She was holding a cake. "How many times have I told you not to bring your experiments into other people's homes..."

"Aunt May's here too!" Lin Mo quickly stood up and pulled over a chair for her.

Aunt May smiled as she sat down and placed the cake on the table. "Martha said you saved Snowball, so I baked a cake to celebrate." She looked at the scratches on Lin Mo's arm and frowned. "What happened? Did the cat scratch you?"

"It's nothing. Just a minor injury." Lin Mo did not think much of it.

But Peter leaned closer and stared at his arm. "These scratches are very neat, like they were made by some kind of animal with sharp claws. Lin, did you run into danger?" His eyes gleamed with detective-like curiosity. "I read that there are stray coyotes in Queens that attack people..."

"Snowball scratched me," Lin Mo quickly interrupted, afraid Peter might connect it to something supernatural. "That cat may look fat, but his claws are sharp."

Peter seemed unconvinced, but he did not ask any further questions. Instead, he eagerly began telling Lin Mo about his plant growth agent. "I used fragments of spider genes and found they can promote cell division. Do you think if it were used on people, it could speed up wound healing?"

Lin Mo's heart skipped a beat. Wasn't that Wolverine's healing ability? Could Peter naturally have an interest in this kind of research? "That... might be a little dangerous, right?" he said cautiously.

"I know!" Peter nodded. "That's why I only test it on plants. Oh, Lin, there's a science fair this weekend. Can you go with me? Aunt May has to work, so no one can accompany me."

Lin Mo looked at Martha and Aunt May. Both older women smiled and nodded. "Sure," he agreed.

After dinner, Lin Mo returned to the basement feeling full of energy. He took out the leg booster and continued improving it. This time, he used his enhanced Basic Phasing Ability to make several small holes in the motor to reduce its weight. He also adjusted the angle of the gears to make the speed more even.

After testing it several times, the results were much better than yesterday. With the switch pressed, he could steadily run back and forth across the basement at speeds close to those of a professional athlete. "It'll be even better with some added shock absorption," Lin Mo muttered, his eyes full of anticipation.

He knew this was only the beginning. As his ability grew stronger, there would be more and more things he could do. He was no longer as anxious as he had been yesterday, because he understood that abilities were not something one waited for—they were trained.

Moonlight shone through the small window and fell across his workbench, illuminating the scattered parts and blueprints. Lin Mo touched the wristband on his wrist. The countdown was still ticking, but he no longer cared about it as much.

Because he knew that no matter how many days remained, he would work hard to become stronger and protect the warmth and kindness within this apartment building in his own way.

The next day, Lin Mo went to work at the repair shop in an especially good mood. Carlos looked at the scratches on his arms and whistled. "Get into a fight with a cat? Or did some girl scratch you?"

"I saved a cat," Lin Mo said with a smile, picking up a wrench and getting to work.

"Oh? Our computer repair kid saves cats too?" Carlos teased, handing him a cup of coffee. "Not bad. You've got a good heart."

Lin Mo accepted the coffee and took a sip. It was bitter, but his heart was sweet. He looked out the window. The sun was shining brightly, and the streets of Queens were packed with traffic and full of life. He knew this world was still dangerous—robberies, mutants, supervillains... But as long as he kept growing stronger, he would be able to protect the people he wanted to protect.