cat
At 9 PM, after returning to the dormitory following the group discussion, Liang An realized he had left his notebook in the lab. Ling Xiao went to the convenience store to buy a late-night snack, so Liang An decided to go back to the lab alone to retrieve his notebook.
He encountered Wen Zhi on his way to the laboratory.
"Liang An, want to go for a walk?" Wen Zhi greeted him warmly. After leaving Liang An, his chest tightness returned, making it difficult to sleep in bed, so he had to go for a walk. Meeting Liang An on the street felt like seeing a savior.
Liang An shook his head and casually replied, "I'll go to the lab to get my notebook."
"Me too, I left my notebook in the lab too, let's go together," Wen Zhi said, making up a story.
Liang An remained silent, ignoring Wen Zhi, and quickly walked towards the laboratory. Seeing this, Wen Zhi followed closely behind Liang An.
The science education base was located in the suburbs, and at night, the entire base was enveloped in a deep silence. Liang An glanced at Wen Zhi; in the moonlight, Wen Zhi's face appeared somewhat pale.
They walked along the stone path toward the long corridor, where some lights were on and some were off, creating patches of light and shadow.
The two walked side by side down the dimly lit corridor. A night breeze blew in through the half-open windows, carrying the distinctive scent of grass and trees from the suburbs. Portraits of scientists from various dynasties hung on both sides of the corridor, and in the dim light, their deep eyes seemed to be watching the two young men walking alone in the dead of night.
They turned a corner, and the old teaching building housing the laboratory came into view. It was a standalone three-story building that looked ordinary during the day, but under the cover of night, it exuded a strange loneliness.
"The lights are all off," Wen Zhi said, a sudden unease rising in his heart.
Liang An didn't respond and walked straight to the entrance. The heavy glass door was ajar, revealing even deeper darkness inside. They pushed the door open and entered; the only light in the empty hall was the eerie green glow of the emergency exit signs.
Just then, a faint sound entered my ears.
Liang An stopped in his tracks: "Did you hear something?"
Wen Zhi listened intently. The sound came again, faint as a whisper, like the cry of a kitten, intermittent, carrying an indescribable pain. The sound seemed to come from upstairs, yet it also seemed to be everywhere, creating an eerie echo in the empty corridor.
“It sounds like a cat meowing,” Wen Zhi said, but his brows furrowed slightly.
Liang An hesitated for a moment, then continued walking towards the second-floor laboratory. The kitten's cries came and went, sounding particularly eerie in the quiet night. Liang An felt a strange unease, as if something was lurking in the darkness, watching their every move.
The physics lab was at the end of the corridor. The door was ajar, and there were no lights inside. The kitten's cries seemed to be coming from there.
Liang An and Wen Zhi exchanged a glance, both seeing the doubt in each other's eyes. Liang An pushed open the door and reached out to press the switch next to it.
With a "snap," the fluorescent light flickered a few times before lighting up steadily, emitting a cool white light. The laboratory was instantly illuminated, and the familiar lab benches, instruments, and blackboard appeared before our eyes.
The light dispelled the darkness and the damp, uncomfortable feeling. Liang An breathed a sigh of relief and walked to the spot where he had been sitting during the day. His notebook was indeed still there, lying quietly on the desk.
Wen Zhi followed closely behind him, his expression wary as he looked around.
Liang An picked up his notebook and turned to leave.
Just then, a slight scraping sound came from the direction of the podium.
The two turned their heads simultaneously. Something seemed to be moving behind the podium. Then, a figure slowly stood up.
It's Teacher Zhang Rui.
Her appearance was so abrupt that Liang An and Wen Zhi were both stunned. Zhang Rui stood behind the podium, her hand on the edge, a smile Liang An had never seen before on her face—a smile that seemed so eerie in the night, like a mask she was trying to maintain, a stark contrast to her usual cheerful and enthusiastic demeanor.
"Liang An, Wen Zhi, why are you back?" Zhang Rui's voice sounded a little tense.
“We…left something behind and came back to get it,” Liang An replied, his eyes involuntarily scanning the entire laboratory. Everything seemed normal, except for Professor Zhang Rui’s sudden appearance.
"Take it and head back to the dorm quickly, it's getting late," Zhang Rui said, her body slightly turned to the side, seemingly trying to hide something behind the podium. One of her hands remained under the podium, and Liang An noticed a small dark stain on her cuff.
"Teacher Zhang, are you still working? Why didn't you turn on the lights just now?" Wen Zhi suddenly asked.
"Yeah, I was organizing some documents. It seems there was a short circuit just now; the light suddenly went out, but I didn't expect it to turn back on." Zhang Rui answered too quickly. "It's too late. You guys should go back to your dorms and rest early. You have to get up early tomorrow."
A sense of unease crept into Liang An's heart. He took a deep breath; there seemed to be a faint, almost imperceptible smell of rust in the air—like the smell of blood. He looked at Wen Zhi and noticed that Wen Zhi's nose twitched slightly as well.
"Then we're leaving, goodbye Teacher Zhang." Wen Zhi tugged at Liang An's sleeve and said to Zhang Rui.
Liang An nodded, glanced at Zhang Rui one last time, and then followed Wen Zhi toward the door. Before leaving, he glanced back and saw Zhang Rui still standing there, a stiff smile on her face, her eyes fixed on them until the door was completely closed.
The kittens' cries in the hallway had completely disappeared.
On the way back to the dormitory, they remained silent. It wasn't until they were almost at the building that Wen Zhi suddenly spoke: "There was blood on her cuff. Did you smell it? That smell..."
Liang An nodded silently.
“And…” Wen Zhi paused for a moment and said, “She doesn’t want us to get close to the podium.”
What do you think she's doing?
Wen Zhi shook his head, without giving a direct answer.
"Never mind, let's go back to the dorm first."
Wen Zhi stared intently at Liang An, clearly wanting to continue pestering him.
Liang An frowned, looking at Wen Zhi with disdain. [Sigh, that jerk Wen Zhi, nothing good ever comes of it...]
Liang An waved goodbye to Wen Zhi in front of the dormitory building. When he returned to his room, Ling Xiao was already back, with dumplings and soy milk bought from the cafeteria on the table.
"I was just about to come find you." Ling Xiao greeted Liang An, his eyes sweeping over Liang An's face, keenly sensing a hint of seriousness: "What happened?"
Liang An put down his notebook, sat down at the table, and recounted his experience in detail.
"Do you think she...is abusing cats?" Ling Xiao asked after listening.
“I don’t know. I think I heard a faint meow, but… I can’t be sure. There seemed to be bloodstains on her sleeve, and there was a faint smell of rust in the air…” Liang An shook his head. “I can’t think of any other explanation.”
Ling Xiao fell into deep thought and hesitated before saying, "Teacher Zhang Rui... she's usually so warm and cheerful, and so kind to her students, it's hard to... associate her with cat abuse."
"Hmm...that's why I'm not sure..." Liang An lowered his head, his mind a jumble of thoughts.
Ling Xiao handed the hot soy milk to Liang An, gently patted his back, and said softly, "Drink some hot drinks to warm your stomach first, and observe him again tomorrow."
Liang An nodded and leaned into Ling Xiao's arms.
"Next time... don't go out alone, okay?" Ling Xiao tightened his arms and said softly.
"good..."
-----------------
In the lab, after Liang An and Wen Zhi left, Zhang Rui let out a long sigh of relief, her shoulders slumping. The stiff smile disappeared from her face, replaced by a complex expression—a mixture of exhaustion, relief, and a hint of indescribable excitement.
She looked down at the back of the podium. In a cardboard box, a black and white kitten lay curled up, barely alive. Its hind legs were bent at an unnatural angle, and a deep wound ran across its abdomen, blood soaking the old towel beneath it. The kitten's eyes were half-open, but they had lost their luster, and it could no longer utter a painful cry.
Zhang Rui looked at the kitten, a flicker of pity crossing her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by another emotion. She reached out and gently stroked the kitten's head, her movements unusually tender, a stark contrast to the harm she had just caused.
“I’m sorry, little one,” she said softly.
Beside the cardboard box, her phone screen was lit, displaying a video call interface. The person on the other end hadn't hung up, silently watching everything Zhang Rui did. Only a blurry outline could be seen on the screen; it was impossible to tell if it was a man or a woman, nor could any background details be discerned.
“They almost found out,” Zhang Rui said into her phone, her voice eerily calm.
A processed, robotic voice came from the phone: "You handled it very well. They didn't see anything, did they?"
“Probably not. I blocked their view,” Zhang Rui replied, wiping the bloodstains from her cuffs with a wet wipe. “But those two students should have some suspicions.”
"Does it need to be addressed?"
Zhang Rui was silent for a moment, then shook her head: "No, they are still just suspicious. If we take action, it will only attract more attention."
She looked down at the kitten in the cardboard box; it had stopped breathing. Zhang Rui carefully wrapped the kitten's body and placed it in a black plastic bag. Her movements were methodical, clearly not the first time she had done something like this.
"I told you, you'll enjoy and become addicted to their cries, that helpless, pure pain...it's very special."
Zhang Rui didn't deny it, but continued cleaning up the scene. She wiped the podium and floor with disinfectant to make sure no traces were left. She carefully placed the black plastic bag in the lab's waste bin, intending to dispose of it the next day.
"Have you prepared the materials for next month?" the voice on the phone asked.
"That's about right," Zhang Rui replied. "Has the frequency been... a bit too high lately?"
"What? You want to back down?"
"No..." Zhang Rui shrank back slightly, but her eyes hardened. "I will behave."
After cleaning up, Zhang Rui looked around. The laboratory was back to normal, with nothing unusual to be seen. She turned off the main light, leaving only a faint green glow from the emergency exit. Before leaving, she glanced at the podium one last time to make sure everything was in order.
Her footsteps echoed in the empty corridor. The base was silent at night, save for the occasional chirping of insects in the distance.
Zhang Rui walked towards the teachers' dormitory building, her face regaining its cheerful and enthusiastic expression, as if nothing had happened in the laboratory.
The moon outside the window was obscured by clouds, plunging the earth into deeper darkness. The training base slept in the night, unaware of what tomorrow would bring.
Night is passing, and dawn is approaching. But some shadows, once they appear, will not easily disappear.
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