When Li Yuheng returned to the second-floor room that was slated for demolition, he immediately noticed the things placed on the half-broken sofa.
A plastic box about the size of a palm.
Li Yuheng stopped at the doorway, his nose twitching slightly.
It's yogurt.
He walked over and sniffed it.
The box was cold, clearly having just been taken out of the convenience store.
Only he and the cat knew about this place.
Li Yuheng stared at the box of yogurt for a few seconds, then let out a short, mocking laugh.
He could almost picture how Shu Bai, with a stern face, used his claws or some other method to get the thing out of the store, carry it all the way here, and throw it on his shabby sofa.
That scene must have been hilarious.
He pawed at the yogurt container.
The inexplicable irritation I felt in the alley just now, like a punctured balloon, deflated completely in an instant.
The feeling that had been weighing on his mind suddenly eased.
He lowered his head and carefully licked it.
Cool, slightly sour, and smooth as it glides down the throat.
It's definitely not bad to drink.
It tasted better than many things he had tried before.
He quickly licked the carton of yogurt clean, leaving no part of the carton clean.
He slapped the empty box on the ground with his paw, it rolled twice, and stopped in the corner.
He jumped onto the sofa, found a reasonably comfortable spot to lie down, and licked his lips.
Um.
This stinky cat, at least has some conscience.
…
After a few days, Li Yuheng and Shu Bai indeed discovered the problem.
Before each ritual, the master would bury small black stones with strange runes carved on them in inconspicuous corners, such as the corners of stairwells or under windowsills.
Those stones are imbued with a faint, malevolent aura that can slowly influence the spirits of nearby living people, creating symptoms similar to being possessed by an evil spirit.
When he performs the exorcism, he takes the opportunity to retrieve the stones, and the symptoms naturally disappear.
The evidence is conclusive.
The next step is to figure out how to expose him.
Directly destroying those stones would easily alert the enemy.
The best way is to catch him red-handed.
The opportunity came soon.
Shu Bai tracked down the news that the master would be performing a ritual in another residential building tonight.
Li Yuheng and Shu Bai sneaked into the building ahead of time.
They hid behind the clutter in the stairwell, watching the man in the Taoist robe with a goatee furtively slip a black pebble above the door frame of a third-floor apartment.
After doing all this, the man revealed a smug smirk, turned around and went downstairs, preparing to come back and reap the rewards in a few days.
Just as he reached the corner on the second floor, thinking he had gotten away with it unnoticed...
A smooth, round pebble rolled out from somewhere and came to rest right at his feet.
The man paused for a moment, then subconsciously looked down.
The pebble looked ordinary.
But it was precisely those things he had planted before.
Then, the second one, the third one...
More and more pebbles rolled out of the shadows, landing around him with a clattering sound, forming an irregular circle.
The man's expression changed drastically. He looked up abruptly and shouted sharply, "Who?! Who's there?!"
In the darkness, only his own echo could be heard.
He looked at the pebbles on the ground with surprise and doubt, and bent down to pick them up.
Just then, the pebbles suddenly seemed to come alive, bouncing up and raining down on him.
"Ouch!"
Pebbles hit my face, head, and body.
It wasn't too painful, but it was extremely humiliating.
The man frantically tried to block, his Taoist robe torn and disheveled.
"What kind of demon are you! How dare you mock this master!"
He was both shocked and furious. He pulled a peach wood sword from his sleeve and waved it wildly.
His response was two clear sneers coming from the corner.
The man looked in the direction of the sound and could vaguely see the silhouettes of a cat and a dog in the shadows at the corner of the stairs.
"Well, you beasts dare to laugh at me?!"
He raised the peach wood sword, chanting incantations, and a faint yellow light shot out from the tip of the sword, heading towards Li Yuheng.
Li Yuheng didn't move at all, he just tilted his head slightly.
The yellow light disappeared with a "poof" sound when it was half a meter away from him, as if it had hit an invisible wall.
The man's pupils contracted: "You... what exactly are you?!"
Li Yuheng was too lazy to answer, but simply raised his paw and beckoned to him.
The next second, the man felt himself being lifted off the ground.
"Ah! Let me go! You monster! Let me go!" He struggled in terror, and the peach wood sword slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.
Li Yuheng controlled the ghostly power, shaking the man like a sack of potatoes until he was dizzy and disoriented, before throwing him to the ground.
The man was thrown heavily to the ground, his Taoist robe covered in dust, looking utterly disheveled.
He stared in horror at the cat and dog in the shadows, finally realizing that he had messed with something he shouldn't have.
"Spare me...spare me..." he begged, trembling. "I'll never do it again..."
Li Yuheng completely ignored his pleas for mercy.
He turned to look at Shu Bai: "How should we handle this?"
Shu Bai: "Let him reap what he sows."
Li Yuheng immediately understood what he meant.
He manipulated his ghostly power, causing the man's wallet to fall to the ground, scattering a large stack of banknotes and cards.
"Thief!"
Li Yuheng suddenly used his ghostly power to send those words directly into the mind of the resident on the third floor.
At the same time, Shu Bai pounded heavily on the door of that house with its claws.
"Who is it?" came a wary voice from inside the house.
Li Yuheng continued to use his ghostly power to influence the man's mind, causing him to reach out and pick up the silver coins in a daze.
The door opened.
The resident held up a flashlight and shone it on a man dressed as a Taoist priest who was lying on the ground, reaching for banknotes scattered all over the ground, where many strange black pebbles were scattered.
"Stop thief!"
The residents immediately shouted.
Soon, the entire building was alerted.
People surrounded the still dazed man, brandishing sticks and brooms.
"Isn't that Master Wang? Why would he steal something?"
"Look at those dark things in his sleeves, could they be some kind of evil stuff?"
"Call the police! Call the police now!"
Amidst the chaos, Li Yuheng and Shu Bai had already quietly left the scene.
A few days later, community workers posted a notice on the bulletin board, explaining the recent so-called "possessions of evil spirits" in scientific terms:
"An investigation has revealed that the recent insomnia and anxiety symptoms experienced by some residents are related to autonomic nervous system dysfunction caused by seasonal changes and temperature fluctuations. This is purely coincidental. Residents are urged to trust science and seek medical attention promptly..."
The rumors in the neighborhood gradually subsided, and people's lives returned to normal.
The uneasy clouds that had hung over the old street finally dissipated.
…
Autumn is deepening, most of the leaves on the trees have turned yellow, and the wind carries a chilly, desolate feel.
That day, Shu Bai was squatting on a flower bed in the park, watching several children kicking a tattered ball in an open space below.
The ball rolled to the base of the wall, and a thin boy ran over to retrieve it. He looked up and saw the bare white space on the wall.
The boy's eyes lit up, and he whispered to his friend, "Look! It's that cat!"
Another chubby boy came over, holding half a sausage he hadn't finished eating. He broke off a small piece and threw it at Shu Bai.
"Mimi, come here, have some!"
The small piece of sausage landed on the wall in front of Shu Bai.
Shu Bai didn't even lift its eyelids, it just flicked its tail to express its disdain.
The chubby boy was a little disappointed: "It won't eat."
The skinny little boy was quite understanding: "It's cool; it never eats food given to it by strangers. My grandma says that cats like that are intelligent."
The children were quickly drawn to the ball again and ran off.
Shu Bai looked at the small piece of sausage and was about to use her paw to pry it off when she heard a familiar voice from the side.
"Wow, they're quite popular."
Li Yuheng had arrived at some point and was looking at him with his head tilted to the side, his dog-like face carrying its usual mocking expression.
Shu Bai ignored him and swept the sausage away with one paw.
Li Yuheng watched as the small piece of meat fell to the ground and was snatched away by a passing sparrow, and clicked his tongue: "What a waste."
"Go pick it up if you want to eat it."
"I don't have that hobby." Li Yuheng lay down next to him, watching the children running around below. "You know, people seem quite nice when they're young, but how come they become so cunning as they grow up?"
His pale eyes reflected the yellow leaves of autumn:
"...When your heart grows bigger, your space becomes smaller."
When a person is filled with the desires, scheming, and complex rules of the adult world, the place in their heart that originally belonged to innocence and kindness is naturally squeezed smaller and smaller until it disappears.
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