Chapter 55

Chapter 55: Hatch

Feng Ling followed Su Yu Qing’s requirements and put on the earpiece and the clip-on radio. Then she borrowed an Inspection Bureau vehicle and drove toward a large supermarket nearby.

At this hour it would be closed, but she couldn’t think of anything better. She’d pry the door open, take what she needed, and let Su Yu Qing handle the aftermath.

Her real worry wasn’t the lock.

It was the meat.

One of hatch’s conditions was fresh blood and flesh. But she’d never done this before. First time being a “mom,” as ridiculous as that sounded. How fresh was fresh?

Six hours after death?

Twelve?

Was it enough as long as it hadn’t rotted?

Halfway there, she slammed the brakes and grabbed her head.

“Am I being made stupid by the corruption level?” she snapped, voice rising. “Supermarket meat is processed. There’s barely any blood… Ah!”

Frustration tore out of her like steam from a ruptured pipe.

A slaughterhouse?

But the slaughterhouse was far outside the city. A round trip would take until dawn. If she’d known, she should’ve used the corpse on the boat. Disgusting, sure—but it would’ve solved the problem immediately and lightened her load.

Too late.

During the two hours she’d been resting, cleaner had already gone in and scrubbed everything away—blood, scraps, evidence. Like it never happened.

Feng Ling’s grip tightened. “Damn it.”

She started slamming her forehead into the steering wheel.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang…

In the passenger seat, Huang Fu Miao Miao clutched the seatbelt and didn’t dare make a sound. She’d sprayed perfume over and over in the van, trying to survive the air and Feng Ling’s mood. If it didn’t work, she honestly had no backup plan.

Feng Ling’s thoughts spiraled, hot and vicious. For a moment she considered dragging the nests straight to the hotel and dealing with everything in one bloody sweep.

But what little sanity she had left shoved back.

Too dangerous.

She didn’t know how many aberrants were inside. She didn’t know what they could do. If she took a fatal wound again, she couldn’t afford another two-hour recovery.

Mother Nest was almost impossible to kill. Almost.

Not absolute.

So she needed to draw on every last drop of energy inside her body.

All of it.

“Damn it,” she muttered again, shaking. “Why now? Why does it fail me now?”

A cat meowed.

Feng Ling froze and looked out the window.

A skinny orange stray stood by the roadside, tail cocked, meowing at the car as it trotted closer and rubbed itself against the wheel.

A stray.

The kind nobody noticed. The kind that could vanish and no one would ask questions. No one would mourn. No law would even blink.

Feng Ling opened the door and stepped out.

The orange cat immediately hurried over, meowing and rubbing against her pant leg like it had known her forever.

That was strange. Every stray she’d met before ran from her on sight.

Huang Fu Miao Miao got out too. When she saw the cat, she dug out a sausage, tore the wrapper, and offered it.

The orange cat sniffed it, let out a satisfied little sound, and ate near her feet.

Strays didn’t approach humans unless they wanted something.

Feng Ling watched, arms loose at her sides, eyes cold. After a moment she asked, “Where did you get that?”

“I have a lot,” Huang Fu Miao Miao said quickly. She pulled a heavy backpack from her storage slot. It was stuffed with snacks—sausages, cookies, chips, milk, self-heating hotpot, enough food to look like she was preparing for a siege. “We were going into the maze. I didn’t know if there’d be anything to eat in there, so I prepared…”

She glanced at Feng Ling. “Do you want some? I wanted to ask earlier, but you looked like you were… not in a great mood.”

Feng Ling wasn’t in a great mood. Today had been nothing but grit in her teeth.

“Done feeding it?” she said flatly. “Then move. Let’s go.”

The thought of killing the cat flickered through her mind like a blade catching light—and vanished just as fast.

Not because she was kind.

Because killing something weak filled her with a violent, twisting self-disgust.

She liked fighting strong opponents. She liked the edge. She liked the challenge.

Killing a cat?

Stupid.

“Huh?” Huang Fu Miao Miao said, confused. “You’re not eating anymore?”

She nudged the sausage toward the cat again.

The cat backed up, stopped chewing, and started meowing insistently.

“It’s acting weird,” Huang Fu Miao Miao murmured. “Why isn’t it eating…? Should I just leave it here?”

Feng Ling lifted an eyebrow. “It wants you to follow it.”

“Huh?” Huang Fu Miao Miao blinked. “Why?”

“How would I know?” Feng Ling’s patience frayed. “Just follow it and find out.”

Huang Fu Miao Miao hesitated. “But you said you wanted to find somewhere to eat. Maybe we should—”

The orange cat raised its voice.

“Meow! Meow! Meow—!”

Feng Ling’s irritation spiked so hard it went white. “Make it stop!”

Huang Fu Miao Miao flinched and stepped toward the cat.

Immediately, the cat darted forward a short distance, then turned back and meowed again, beckoning.

Stop and go. Stop and go.

The cat led them into an alley choked with garbage.

In a battered cardboard box, they found four tiny kittens.

Huang Fu Miao Miao’s face shifted with sudden understanding. “It wants us to take care of its babies.”

The mother cat grabbed the kittens by the scruff, carried them one by one to Huang Fu Miao Miao’s feet, then nudged their fragile bodies with her head, meowing urgently as if she could force meaning into sound.

“What do we do?” Huang Fu Miao Miao asked, helpless, looking to Feng Ling.

Feng Ling crouched, frowning. She lifted one kitten with a fingertip and examined it.

Too small. Maybe a month old. Crusted discharge clung around its eyes. Scabby patches mottled its ears.

“This one’s about to die,” she said, setting it down. She checked the others, her hands calm, clinical. “This one too.” Her fingers paused, then moved again. “These two are already dead.”

The mother cat let out a long, strained meow.

Feng Ling stared at the kittens for a beat, then made a decision.

She scooped all four into the fold of her clothes and looked at the mother cat. “I’ll find a doctor for them. If they can be saved, I’ll find them a proper owner.” Her tone stayed even. “The two that are dead… consider them a gift.”

The mother cat sat and watched her, eyes fixed and unblinking.

Feng Ling didn’t expect a cat to understand. She turned and walked away with the bundle.

Huang Fu Miao Miao hurried after her. When she glanced back, the mother cat wasn’t following. It lowered its head and ate the sausage Huang Fu Miao Miao had left behind.

Huang Fu Miao Miao swallowed and caught up. “Where are we going to find a doctor?”

Feng Ling didn’t answer.

She returned to the car, opened the back door, and set the kittens on the seat. Then she flicked her left hand.

The silver ring snapped into motion—splitting into two ability cards that floated up and began circling her body like pale, silent moons.

Feng Ling picked up the two dead kittens.

No hesitation.

She tossed them straight into the ability cards.

“Hatch!”

Silver light swallowed the tiny bodies. They dropped onto the grass beside the road as if thrown out of a different world.

And then they changed.

Flesh twisted. Bone reshaped. Forms unfolded fast and wrong.

One kitten became a black cat with eight legs, spider-like and low to the ground.

The other became a white cat-bird—wings spreading, hooklike claws catching the light as it moved.