Whispering Verse

The cat's words really surprised Schad and Mr. Bernhardt, and its voice sounded like that of an underage girl.

Mr. Bernhardt asked Shade what was going on with his eyes, but Shade didn’t know either:

"Sorry, so you knew what we were doing here from the beginning, right?"

he asked the cat.

"This is the weirdest place around here. Aren't you looking for this place?"

The cat looked up at Shade and said.

"So, you actually have nothing to do with this place? You are not a victim here, nor are you an accomplice of this group of people?"

The cat licked its paw:

"When my body entered the sewer, you were probably not born yet, and the person next to you was probably less than 20 years old. I just know this place, and I have nothing to do with them. You are very capable people, and you should be able to help me. , so I brought you here. Can you help me now? Let’s set off immediately.”

Shade and the Vampire Seed Lord looked at each other again:

"Sorry, I don't know how to express it. Let's put it this way, do you know what your situation is now?"

The cat nodded:

"You know, I'm dead and powerful. I've been wandering in the sewer pipes for more than 20 years."

It said it simply, and after finishing speaking, it lowered its head to lick its fur, and the fur also changed direction as the cat licked. The details of this change in body hair are normal for ordinary cats, but to the soul, it is another manifestation of the materialization of a powerful wraith.

"How did you become like this?"

Shade asked again, and the cat in his arms became a little impatient:

"Humans are really troublesome. I've helped you, and you have to help me, isn't that right? If you want to ask questions, I'll tell you after you help me."

It jumped from Shade's arms to his shoulders, and then lay down very comfortably:

"Let's go now, humans are really troublesome."

Shade and Mr. Bernhardt looked at each other again. Shade nodded slightly, and Mr. Bernhardt asked the last question:

"I'm curious, why do you want us to help you instead of letting others? Isn't it possible that you have only encountered us in the sewers for so many years?"

"Because he seems very pleasing to the eye and seems like a good person."

The cat patted Shade on the shoulder, and Herr Bernhardt understood.

What the cat wants the two to help do is very simple. Although it is powerful, it cannot leave the sewer, and it wants to go to the surface to meet someone, so it needs the help of a "capable person" like Shade.

Just listening to its description, Shade and Mr. Bernhardt knew that it was bound within a certain range by its own body, so just moving the body could make it realize its wish.

As for the cat's own story, it is very simple. One day about twenty years ago, it was crushed to death by a carriage on the road and then thrown into the Tatton River. The body drifted with the river and somehow ended up in the sewer. Its soul consciousness was very vague at first, and it took many years before it acquired its current abilities.

And its body is still in the sewer, so Shade and Mr. Bernhardt temporarily sealed the secret passage and followed it away. When it led Shade and Mr. Bernhardt to find the body in the pipe, they saw that the cat body with only half of its skeleton was covered under a few rocks.

"This is."

"I brought the stones. Don't humans always cover corpses with stones and soil? So I have to do the same."

said the cat.

Because it was unclear who this cat was looking for and what it would do after finding that person, and considering that its essence was still a powerful wraith, Shade and Mr. Bernhardt decided to accompany it. Go to the ground. The black cat's soul was very happy and kept praising Shade and Mr. Bernhardt as "very good" humans.

Cat gave them the specific address, which was not far from here. It was a street-facing apartment in the north of the city. The powerful cat spirit does not feel any discomfort even under the sun - this may be related to the fact that the sky in Yuewan City is always shrouded in black mist. After squatting on Shade's shoulder and walking to the street, people only thought it was a cat. Ordinary cat.

"No. 16, Alley of the Martyrs, that's where it is."

I found the building according to the address. The ordinary three-story apartment had nothing special even though it was located in the rich Yuewan Bay.

Shade stood behind with the grudge cat and asked Mr. Bernhardt to knock on the door. The door was opened by a fat woman wearing a headscarf. Mr. Bernhardt chatted politely with her for a while before retreating to the street and saying:

"The Denver family moved away 12 years ago."

"Moved."

The black cat said with a dazed expression. Shade immediately covered its mouth and looked to the left and right. Fortunately, no one was looking at it:

"You just promised us not to talk."

“Don’t worry, even though it’s been so many years, the current residents know where their family has moved, and I think we still have a ways to go.”

Mr. Bernhardt also said.

"If it's far away, you don't have to stay with me."

The cat answered with a depressed expression, but Schad and Mr. Bernhardt still wanted to stay with it.

We found the carriage at the street corner and set off again, this time heading all the way from the north of the city to the southwest of the city, and got off at "Williamt Street", which was one street away from the dock area.

This is a typical residential neighborhood for middle-class families in Yuewan City. There are single-family buildings with gardens neatly arranged on both sides of the street. The lawn in front of each house is neatly trimmed. It was a peaceful place here on Tuesday afternoon. If it weren't for the fact that they were well-dressed and well-mannered, these two strangers, Schade and Mr. Bernhardt, would probably have immediately received suspicious looks from the residents of the neighborhood.

The target this time was No. 9 William Street, but unfortunately the courtyard door and the door were locked, and Shade didn't hear a heartbeat inside the house.

"No one seemed to be in the house."

Shade said, and Mr. Bernhardt also looked inside:

"We found the right place. The woman just now said that the daughter of the Denver family married a man named Mahat. Look, that's the last name on the house plate. The life of this family looks good, the house is newly painted, and the lawn must be It was trimmed by someone. I could see the piano through the window, and the doorbell on the door was really high-end."

"I'll just wait here, you guys."

Nekomata said, and was rejected by Shade and Mr. Bernhardt:

"We'll accompany you."

They simply used illusions to cover their figures, and stood in front of the door together chatting. Of course, the main thing is that Shade and Mr. Bernhardt know who the Miss Denver the cat is looking for is.

"Of course my master, little angel Janet!"

When talking about this topic, the black cat's eyes lit up:

"She is the cutest child in the world, cuter than you can imagine. My mother gave birth to me in a trash can in the alley, and that winter she went to a place far away that I haven't been able to go yet. Place. My brothers and sisters then left separately, and little Janet found me clinging to the wall in the heavy snow, and then I had a new home."

Although its tone is cheerful, both Shade and Mr. Bernhardt know that this is a very sad story.

"Little Janet has lived with me since then, and my responsibility is to protect and accompany her as she grows up. Most human cubs are naughtier than cat cubs, so this is not an easy job, so I spent I spent a lot of time with her. But I loved those days. We read together, slept together, ran on the lawn together, and waited for dinner together at the table."

This time it was definitely not an illusion, the eyes of the vengeful black cat were really shining:

"But human cubs always grow up very fast. I thought that she would always need my company and protection, and that I would always need me to play with her. But one day, while I was looking down to count the ants on the ground, Little Janet's mother asked her what she was going to do later. Instead of playing with me, she went to the study to read. So when I looked up at her, she suddenly grew up."

The cat tried to stand up and spread its two front paws to express "grow up". Because it was invisible through illusion, Shade did not stop it. This is a strange metaphor for a cat. It is not a complete transformation of body and soul like a witch awakening, but a child becoming sensible.

Shade pursed his lips, feeling inexplicably heavy. Looking again, the vampire seed Lord also had a similar expression on his face:

"It turns out that this is how pet cats treat their human owners."

"After? Life will continue after that! Little Janet has grown up and no longer needs me to accompany her. I have more free time, and she will still want to play with me."

The black cat still said excitedly in the voice of a human girl:

"I just lay on the window sill of the house, watching her walking back and forth in front of me, waiting for her to occasionally think of me. She became taller and taller, and her hair became longer and longer, but she also grew bigger and bigger. There are more and more troubles. But what can I do, I am just a cat."

Shade felt that his mood became even heavier. It was almost evening, and a little sunset was hanging on the horizon, and the black cat illuminated by the sunset had an inexplicable strange luster.

"But little Janet has never forgotten me, because when she was a child, she made a promise with me that I would always accompany her. So the big tree was bare and then covered with leaves, and the leaves were like beautiful butterflies. After falling, it became bare again. One day, I had a full meal and wandered outside as usual, and then I died."

Saying that, it also "meow~". But unlike the two men who pursed their lips, the black cat didn't have a sad look on his face:

"It was really amazing. I knew at that moment where my mother had gone in the winter when I was born. She never abandoned me, and she was forced to leave the people she loved just like me."