Netherworld Investigator

“The suspect has already confessed,” I told them. “You should go upstairs and record his formal confession.”

“How did you do it?!” asked the shocked Officer Liao.

“By employing a simple trick,” I explained. “It’s half-past eleven now. I’m going to feed the cat spirit Yu Jun’s blood so you won’t be in danger anymore. You can go back in there now.”

To be honest, I understood these officers’ feelings, and I don’t blame them for their present timidity. They were scared by Yu Jun’s threats not because they were stupid or superstitious, but only because they’d witnessed first-hand how effective and brutal the curse had been. Besides, they had no knowledge of how magnetic fields could affect human psychology. From their perspective, it was only logical to err on the cautious side.

The Wealth Beckoning Cat was placed in Officer Liao’s car, so we asked him for the key and went to the parking lot. But when we found the car, we noticed that the window had been broken and there was nothing in the back seat!

“But how is this possible?” exclaimed Huang Xiaotao. “The car was parked within the police station area. If the glass was broken, the alarm would’ve rung! Why didn’t we hear anything?”

“Perhaps there are some supernatural forces at play...” I conjected.

I took out a packet of flour and sprinkled it on the door and found a small handprint on it. I immediately thought of the little girl!

“But didn’t her relative pick her up?” asked Huang Xiaotao.

I recalled the events of that night. The little girl and the cat spirit appeared at almost the same time. There was a possibility that the little girl was also on the cat’s kill list, but perhaps it let the girl live on the condition that she helped it get out of its prison.

I was aware that my inferences surpassed the normal realm of logic, but when it came to this mysterious case, it seemed that nothing was impossible.

“Let’s split up and look for her!” I said. “We must get the cat figurine back before midnight! The suspect can’t just die now!”

We split up and searched all over. When it was only a few minutes before midnight, I got a call from Huang Xiaotao who told me that she found a little girl holding the cat figurine on a pedestrian bridge over a highway.

I rushed to the place. Wang Yuanchao was already there, holding his gun. He and Huang Xiaotao stood at opposite ends of the bridge, and the little girl was in the middle, holding the cat figurine.

“Be a good girl and give hand that thing over to me,” said Huang Xiaotao, stretching a hand towards the little girl.

I noticed that the girl’s eyes looked normal, which meant that she was not possessed by the Wealth Beckoning Cat. She held the cat figurine tightly to her chest, not saying a word.

“Huang Yuanyuan,” I said to her, “the murderer who killed your family has confessed his crimes. He will be sentenced to death soon. You don’t need to go this length to punish him!”

Seeing that she was ignoring me, I slowly approached her step by step.

“Please listen to me,” I continued, “you have to hand that cat figurine to us!”

The girl suddenly raised her hands and lifted the cat figurine over the highway. Our hearts almost jumped out of our throats when we saw what she was trying to do!

“After Mommy and Daddy died,” she said with a shaking voice, “the kitty found me and confessed to me that he killed them. But I don’t hate him, because I know he was forced to do it!”

“You can communicate with it?” I was genuinely surprised.

“I can understand him.” The girl nodded.

So it was true what people said about children having pure eyes that can see supernatural beings.

“I know the bad guy forced him to do it,” the girl added. “I feel bad for the kitty. I want to help him!”

“Don’t worry,” I reassured her. “The bad guy will be punished by the law, and you can hand this thing to us. We’ll deal with it appropriately.”

“No!” shouted the girl. “It’s not a thing! It’s a poor kitty! I don’t trust you adults! You only think of the kitty as a tool to get money! You’ll do bad things when you take him away!”

“No, not all adults are bad people!” I explained.

She still shook her head adamantly. Her thin arms that were holding up the cat figurine were shaking as if they could no longer bear its weight.

“Song Yang, there’s only one minute left!” reminded Huang Xiaotao.

Just then, the girl flung the figurine down onto the highway, and it smashed into smithereens. We screamed. I rushed to the edge of the bridge and used Cave Vision to search the highway below. I found hundreds of pieces of figurine fragments, but the cat body inside was missing.

Then I heard a faint ‘meow’ and looked up. A black cat was perched on a tree branch by the road. It was staring at our direction with a quaint look in its eyes. Perhaps it was thanking the little girl who gave it freedom. A few seconds after that, it was gone and I couldn’t find it anywhere, not even with my Cave Vision.

“He’s free!” The girl jumped in joy.

“Will it go back to take revenge on Yu Jun?” asked Huang Xiaotao.

“There is that possibility.”

I asked Wang Yuanchao to take the girl back home, while Huang Xiaotao hurried back to the police station. On our way, we met Dali, who was late as always.

“Did you find it?” he asked.

“Counting on you to be reliable is like counting on pigs to climb up trees!” snapped Huang Xiaotao.

It was already past midnight when we reached the police station, but we found Yu Jun safe and alive. We all heaved a sigh of relief. The cat didn’t take revenge on its former master after all.

And so, the case was finally over. After that, the judicial process began, and that was the part where we couldn’t do much at all, so our job was considered done. We went back to our hotel and slept until nine in the morning of the next day. At noon, Huang Xiaotao treated us to a hearty meal at a nice restaurant. By afternoon we were ready to leave for Nanjiang City.

Officer Liao and the other members of the task force bade farewell to us.

“The case was finally solved because of you, Song Yang,” said Officer Liao. “If the murderer hadn’t been captured, I’m sure many others will perish in the future. Therefore, on behalf of the people of Wuqu City, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!”

Then, he and the police officers saluted me in unison. This made me feel quite uncomfortable, and I told Officer Liao, “You’re too generous with your praise. I just had a lot of good luck that helped me with this case!”

Officer Liao sighed and replied, “You’re such a rare talent. It’s a pity you’re not a police officer!”

I laughed.

“I can still contribute to society even if I’m not a policeman,” I said. “Our objectives are the same after all—to bring criminals to justice and clear the names of those wrongly accused.”

“Well, you’re always welcome here in Wuqu City! All of the police officers here owe you a big favor. If you had any trouble here at all, we will definitely do all we can to help you!”

“Don’t be so formal, Officer Liao! I’ll make sure to drop by whenever I come here in the future.”

I then learned from him that Yu Jun had been transferred to a prison, and Director-General Cheng went to the Supreme Court himself to figure out how to handle this special case. I asked him what happened to Bai Yidao and Luo Weiwei.

“Bai Yidao will be suspended for a year for his dereliction of duty. Luo Weiwei came to work today, but she seems to be angry at you for some reason.”

I laughed. That was unsurprising, considering how I rejected her pleas the last time we met.

“What a great thing it is to be the director’s son!” mocked Huang Xiaotao. “You don’t even need to spend a day in jail for breaking the law!”

“What about the little girl? She won’t be punished for destroying the evidence, will she?”

“Because she is only twelve years old, she won’t be charged for anything. But her aunt will pay for my broken car window, of course.” He then paused and smiled, “What do you think we should do, Song Yang?”

“I’d say let it go. She was right—the Wealth Beckoning Cat was just a tool in our eyes, only she understood that it was just a cat that wanted to be free. Perhaps this is exactly how God intended it to end.”

I looked up and stared into the clear blue sky.

Officer Liao nodded, himself lost in thoughts.

After saying goodbye to the police officers, we drove back to Nanjiang City. Dali ate a lot at lunch so he fell asleep in the back seat. Wang Yuanchao seemed very relaxed as he took sips from his small flask while silently looking out the window.

Huang Xiaotao and I didn’t talk at all along the way. She accidentally touched my hand once. We merely looked at each other and smiled.