Bobcat
"Miss!"
In front of Liu Jingyu, the four people suddenly seemed to have thought of something. They looked panicked and hurriedly stepped forward to surround her, talking at once:
"Miss, after we saw the strange scene in the city last night, we immediately came to look for you, but we didn't see anyone in the next room! What's going on, Miss?!"
"Yes, yes, are you okay, miss?!"
"Miss, did you leave the inn last night?"
"That's not right. When we went to the next door last night, I saw that the room was full of dust and no one lived there. Did we go to the wrong place?"
"That's not right. When we left the room at night, there was no movement in the inn at all. Even if we went in the wrong direction, there wouldn't be no movement from the lady's side."
Liu Jingyu remained calm as she quietly retreated from their encirclement. Before she could even utter a word, the plain-clothed woman next to her exclaimed in astonishment, "How could this be?! We went looking for you next door last night, but we didn't see you either. The room next door was just as you said, covered in dust, with no sign of anyone having lived there!"
"This..." Hearing her words, the four chattering people suddenly showed a look of astonishment and looked at each other.
The plain-clothed woman only then recalled everything that had happened last night. Cold sweat broke out on her back. Trying to remain calm, she said, "Not only that. Last night, the young lady saw something on the street outside the window of her room. And, on the way to find you, the young lady also encountered something in the hallway!"
Hearing this, the four of them quickly looked at Liu Jingyu, who was silent on the side, their eyes filled with deep worry.
Liu Jingyu paused for a moment, a faint, reassuring smile appeared on his face. He shook his head and said, "I'm fine. I did see something. It was the same thing I saw on the street and in the corridor of the inn - I can be sure of that.
"But I don't know if they are two different ghosts or the same one."
Then, while recalling, she described the ghost with a cat face and a human body in detail.
Liu Jingyu pursed her lips, a faint smile playing on her lips as usual, but her eyes were filled with coldness. She said seriously, "In the corridor on the second floor of the inn, I kicked the ghost away. The ghost knocked off most of the wooden railings, and the wood fell to the ground on the first floor.
"But I didn't hear the sound of the ghost hitting the ground on the first floor at that time—
"It's normal that the ghost didn't die, but the strange thing is that we didn't encounter any ghosts afterwards. Aside from that strange howling sound, the two of us lived in peace in the room for the rest of the night."
As several people listened, their brows unconsciously furrowed deeply, their eyes filled with heaviness.
Years of cooperation allowed them to easily understand Liu Jingyu's worries just by listening to her description without her having to explain in detail.
——Sometimes, showing calmness is far more terrifying than facing an attack directly, and it makes people feel at a loss as to where to start.
After figuring it out, several people turned pale and panicked, and could only cast their eyes on the girl in front of them. It was only then that they noticed that Liu Jingyu's face was pale in the sunlight. Their faces suddenly flushed, and their hearts were filled with shame.
You know, the five of them are the young lady's guards, but in the end, the young lady had to go through so much trouble to save them.
"How useless..." Almost at the same time, these words flashed through the minds of the five people.
Liu Jingyu pondered for a moment, raised his eyes and made a decision: "Let's try to see if we can get out of the city first." Although the probability of Ping An being released from the city in such a situation is generally very low, it is better to give it a try first.
"Yes!" The five people were cheered up and answered in unison.
——Since you can’t offer any advice, then just obey. For this, I would rather die than refuse.
As expected, when the group arrived at the city gate, they found it tightly shut. Surprisingly, there was no one guarding the gate, only a few groups of outsiders gathered there.
A gust of cold wind blew past the crowd, rolling up the dead leaves, and the dozens of people standing at the city gate looked at each other in confusion.
All present were monks, but no one attempted to scale the walls of this dilapidated town or push open the gates. Unless necessary, they wouldn't take the risk—it was too obvious, too strange, that the tightly closed city gates wouldn't be easily opened by them.
The scene was quiet for a moment, and then, with all sorts of complicated emotions, they put on smiles and started chatting and making friends. Intentionally or unintentionally, they inquired about the various news and clues that each other held.
Liu Jingyu listened silently for a while, then left with his men without looking back.
These people did not talk about any useful clues, or rather, even if they had clues, no one would be stupid enough to hand over the information and clues in vain until the last moment.
Clues and information are a kind of invisible bargaining chip, which can save a person's life when necessary.
Liu Jingyu and the others walked away, but the sound of continuous discussion could still be heard from far behind them.
They kept discussing well-known questions like "Why is the city gate closed?", "The crying last night was so scary!", "I didn't see anyone else when I left the room. Isn't this a deserted city at night?!"
No one wanted to say anything special about what they had seen or heard, not even mentioning the cat-faced, human-bodied ghost. But no one would leave. They gathered at the city gate, each one determined to pry open the others' mouths.
Liu Jingyu heard it, but she didn't feel the slightest bit of extra emotion about it - people in this world are always used to keeping to themselves.
——What does other people’s affairs have to do with her?
After leaving the city gate, all they saw was the bustling crowds and the bustling streets decorated with lights. The plain-clothed woman asked worriedly, "Miss, what should we do now?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the others turned their heads and looked at the girl in the center.
Liu Jingyu pursed her lips and smiled faintly. Compared to them, she looked very calm and said in a relaxed tone, "It's so early in the morning, of course I'm going to have breakfast."
ah?
The five people's expressions were dazed.
A moment later, when they came to their senses, they saw a bright pink figure walking through the crowd ahead. Startled, the five of them hurriedly chased after it. When they reached Liu Jingyu, they slowed down their pace and followed her forward on the street covered with shredded red paper. No one expressed the slightest doubt.
Since you have decided to be a sword, you must obey orders and not have any extra thoughts.
The group of six stopped at a breakfast stall run by an elderly couple and sat down at a shriveled, old wooden table. While waiting for their breakfast of fried dough sticks, soy milk, and wontons, Liu Jingyu smiled and asked the elderly woman preparing the meal, "Grandma, why are the city gates closed lately?"
She didn't try to hide the intention of this matter, which was obvious no matter how she worded it. There was no need to. She didn't think that asking this question directly would lead to a sudden crisis.
If she really couldn't get any details this way, she would just try another place and try to get some vague answers. It wasn't difficult.
"Hey, that's because there's a celebration in our city." The old woman stretched out her rough hands, one holding a bowl of steaming wontons. As if unperceived by the heat, she walked steadily to the next table and set down the bowl. She wiped her hands with a linen cloth and said with a smile, "You people, every year you come to this remote place, always asking about it. You come in such large numbers every year, if it's not for the celebration, I wonder what else we have here to attract you."
"The celebration here is held once a year?" The woman next to Liu Jingyu couldn't help but ask.
The old woman uttered an "eh" and walked leisurely back and forth delivering wontons. She replied, "Only once every six months. A year is not enough. The mountain cat wakes up in six months."
As if she had been asked the same question countless times before, she continued, "'Bobcat' is the patron saint of our place. He blesses us with longevity, peace and joy. We hold a celebration for him during these five days of his awakening."
"Why are the city gates closed for a celebration?" The woman in plain clothes opposite Liu Jingyu turned her head and asked.
The old woman's face was covered with wrinkles, and her thick eyelids drooped limply, covering half of her eyes, making it look like she was squinting.
She continued to smile and said, "If we don't close the city gates, the lynx will run away. If the lynx runs away, we will have no guardian angel."
She paused, then added slowly, "Don't be impatient. You outsiders tend to get impatient easily. Just wait a few days. The city gates will open and you can leave."
As she spoke, she skillfully brought breakfast for the six of them to the table one by one.
Liu Jingyu and his group did not ask any more questions. They all lowered their heads and thought about the old woman's words while eating breakfast.
"What is 'mountain cat'?" Liu Jingyu picked up a wonton with a spoon and lowered her eyes in thought. Almost the next second after she heard the old woman say "mountain cat", she remembered the ghost with a cat face and a human body that she saw last night.
Is that the "mountain cat" the old woman was talking about?
A guardian deity? This doesn't sound like a mythical deity at all...
It was very cold in the early morning, and the wontons in the spoon were no longer so hot after staying in the air for a few seconds. While Liu Jingyu was lost in thought, she opened her mouth and took a bite of the plump wonton.
“?!!”
A sour smell mixed with fishy smell spread rapidly in her mouth. She frowned and subconsciously opened her mouth to spit out the wonton.
The smell choked her so much that tears welled up in her eyes. She coughed and reached out to take the hot tea on the table and took a sip.
"Cough, cough, cough..." Bending over, Liu Jingyu's shoulders suddenly shook and she coughed even more violently. Her mouth was filled with a lingering strange sour taste.
What’s going on?!
Liu Jingyu raised her hand to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes. When she looked up, she saw that several people at the same table had also spit out the contents of their mouths. Their faces were pale, and densely packed bumps appeared on the skin that was not covered by clothes.
"What's wrong? Doesn't it taste good?" Hearing the noise, the old woman slowly moved her feet, turned around and looked over, and asked.
There was still a smile in his tone, and I don’t know if it was because he had experienced similar events many times, or if he simply didn’t feel any different emotions about them.
Liu Jingyu paused, smiled, and said, "I got burned."
"Oh... then you guys, please eat slowly." The old woman smiled so hard that the wrinkles on her face deepened. She nodded slightly and turned around to take the wontons to another table.
The six people looked up at other tables and saw that everyone else was eating with their bowls in hand, sweating profusely. No one was willing to put down their bowls and chopsticks.
The bowls were raised higher and higher, and they tilted their heads back and stretched out their tongues to scoop up the last drop of oil from the edge of the bowl.
After they had eaten everything, they wiped their greasy mouths with satisfaction, stood up, put down the copper coins, and left.
The five people around Liu Jingyu stared with their mouths open, stunned and unable to utter a word.
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