Once at the pool, I felt it was worth the trip. Not just because of the university girls in bikinis. Su Ying’s swimming skills were exceptionally advanced. As soon as we arrived at the poolside, before I could even admire her figure, she had already dived into the water. By the time I got into the water, she had already swum ten meters away. She turned back to call to me and then dashed back to my side with another stroke. Her speed was astonishing, and her freestyle arm stroke and kick were both elegant and rapid. She lifted her head from the water, flicking her long hair back, immediately drawing the attention of everyone in the pool, especially the men. She seemed completely unaware, laughing loudly before diving back into the water. This time, she stayed underwater for a long while. I was startled, thinking something might have gone wrong, and scanned the entire pool. After a moment, I finally saw Su Ying surfacing in the deep end, far away.
I took a look, and she had swum about fifty meters underwater in one breath. I was secretly amazed and swam over to her. She performed a few more somersaults in the water, then lifted her head, looking unsatisfied, and said to me, “This pool is too small, not thrilling enough. I can easily swim a hundred meters underwater in one breath.” She wasn’t even out of breath and spoke as if it were nothing, which I found somewhat terrifying. Originally, I had agreed to come swimming with Su Ying for an important reason: swimming was once one of my strengths. I had learned to swim for a while as a child and remembered being praised by my teacher. Four Lives of the Black Cat’s End (2) But now, Su Ying made me feel ashamed. Her body seemed as slippery and agile as an eel, moving effortlessly through the water without splashing much, making me wonder if she was actually a mermaid. With another splash, I didn’t know what antics Su Ying was up to now. She kept swimming around, sometimes deliberately splashing water to make loud noises. I had never seen her look so nearly crazily happy since we met. Su Ying’s performance in the pool made her the center of attention from the moment she entered. Many boys stared at her unblinkingly, occasionally giving me, who was leaning against the poolside, suspicious glances. The girls, on the other hand, cast envious looks at Su Ying, whispering among themselves, and some even started berating their boyfriends. I jokingly thought to myself, could Su Ying’s swimming prowess come from spending all day in a bathtub? Then, scenes of Su Ying’s conversations over the past few days flashed through my mind, and I found myself pondering a question: with her excellent swimming skills, how come I never thought to ask where she grew up? An absurd thought crossed my mind but was quickly dismissed. Impossible. Although she had an abnormal enthusiasm for sea people, always talking about sea people and being exceptionally good at swimming, these alone couldn’t prove anything. After leaving the pool, Su Ying seemed not quite satisfied and started talking to me about ocean knowledge. I responded casually while still pondering Su Ying’s background. Perhaps her enthusiasm for the ocean made her particularly fond of swimming. Soon, we were walking along the main road on campus, with more and more students passing by. I realized that if her classmates saw us walking together, it might cause her some trouble, but seeing her nonchalant demeanor, I didn’t want to bring it up first, lest it seem like I was feeling guilty. However, she spoke first, “Ah, those are my classmates,” pointing towards a group approaching from afar. I was about to think of a way to explain to avoid awkwardness, but the classmates Su Ying mentioned walked towards us. Facing Su Ying’s greeting, their response was somewhat cold. Some deliberately looked away, while a few nodded slightly, then looked at me with a very strange expression, making me feel uncomfortable. Su Ying seemed indifferent to her classmates’ lukewarm reaction, perhaps she was used to it. It appeared she wasn’t very popular. I recalled how she sometimes seemed lonely, perhaps for this reason. How could such a beauty have such poor interpersonal relationships? Were there too many beautiful women at the university? I observed the numerous girls and couples passing by, but there was no sign of this being the case. Maybe it was because of her beauty that she was isolated by other girls, I thought to myself, recalling her performance in the pool. I remembered during my university days, we would react this way only when we encountered someone who usually didn’t socialize, was extremely cold to classmates, and only focused on studying, suddenly walking with a beauty. I imagined Su Ying might have similar social dynamics at school. As we neared the school gate, Su Ying suddenly remembered something and exclaimed softly. “What’s wrong?” I asked, wondering what trick she was about to pull. “I forgot to take something, left it in the dorm. You go back first.” “Dorm?” “I used to live in the dorm, but I wanted to live alone, so I moved out a few months ago, but I didn’t get around to checking out, and there are still a lot of things left there.” “Oh, okay.” I thought if I followed her to her dorm, it would complicate things even more. “Let’s chat tonight,” she added. “See you tonight at home!” “Ah? Okay. See you!” I had to agree. Back at Zhidan Garden, it was already dusk. After all, I had just finished swimming, and my mind was still quite refreshed. However, as I reached the building, before I could recall the unpleasant cat, a sharp, eerie cat cry pierced my ears. This cry was sharp and shrill, the same one I had grown accustomed to hearing over the past two nights, but this time, the sound came from above. I looked up and saw a black shadow plummeting from the twelfth floor, accompanied by a hissing sound. Instinctively, I dodged to the side, and in that moment, the black shadow landed with a “thud.” I was genuinely startled, and even as the shock subsided, I could discern that it was indeed the long-absent black cat. It had landed heavily on the ground, flattened somewhat, looking like a lump of black mud, though not as exaggerated as when it was run over by a truck, it was still a gruesome sight. But this time, it didn’t spit out any blood. Four Lives of the Black Cat’s End (3) Gathering my courage, I approached and squatted down to look closer. The black cat’s face was misshapen from the fall, motionless. I thought, if this was the same cat that was run over by the truck, could it still be alive, clinging to life? After a while, it still didn’t move. I reached out to touch the cat, and to my surprise, all its bones seemed to be broken. I touched it again, something was wrong; there wasn’t a single bone to be felt, it was soft all over, like a… boneless cat! If it weren’t for the fur, I would have thought I was holding the body of a python or a giant eel, it was that kind of texture. With a mix of fear and curiosity, I lifted the cat, noticing its previously distorted limbs had seemingly regained their shape, as if made of rubber. What surprised me even more was that its skull was soft too, feeling like it could be molded into any shape. Could this be why the truck couldn’t crush it to death before? And astonishingly, it was still breathing, with faint heartbeats perceptible through its body.
As I was filled with doubt, the cat in my hands suddenly opened its eyes, which seemed to glow faintly. Its previously limp paws suddenly lifted, and with a sharp “meow,” it scratched me hard. Startled by the pain, I let go and stepped back, only to find three bloody scratches on my hand. The cat fell to the ground with a thud, then shakily stood up and darted into the nearby bushes. Its limbs were clearly bent at odd angles, further confirming my suspicion that it was a boneless cat. It wouldn’t die from being run over by a truck or falling from a building, but its movements were unsteady. Why had this cat become like this? I remembered the eyes of the cat, which seemed filled with sorrow and even a hint of tears. I let out a long sigh. What was it trying to do? Did it jump from the 12th floor just to attack me? And why? I looked up towards the roof, hearing the fierce rustling of wind, sending chills down my spine. Just then, my phone rang urgently. It was Su Ying, who seemed to still be at the university, but I couldn’t figure out what was going on. She always brings me new troubles. “Hey, Nado, hurry… come to the university!” Su Ying’s voice on the phone was frantic, almost breathless. I was very surprised, “What’s wrong? What happened?” “Weird… weird things. It’s terrifying, something strange is happening here, come quickly!” I could clearly hear the screams of girls coming from beside Su Ying on the phone. Having just experienced a strange incident myself, my nerves were on edge again. I rushed towards the community gate while asking, “What exactly is happening?” “Cockroaches! You need to come, come quickly! I’m in Building 1, Room 308!” With a series of increasingly loud screams, as if coming closer, Su Ying hurriedly hung up the phone. Without much thought, I quickly hailed a taxi. In the car, I speculated that cockroaches are indeed disgusting and can be deadly to girls, but they shouldn’t cause such chaos. Could it be that thousands of cockroaches appeared at once? I imagined swarms of cockroaches flooding out, covering the floors and corridors, and felt nauseated. Such scenes seem only possible in Hollywood movies, unlikely in real life. Although Su Ying mentioned “weird things” in panic, if there were really that many cockroaches, those girls would have probably fainted from fright. However, I couldn’t help but think of the boneless cat, and my mind was in turmoil. I decided I needed to go to the university first. Maybe Su Ying was just being overly dramatic. Still, I hoped the scene full of cockroaches wouldn’t come true; going there would just scare me half to death for nothing. I hoped to act heroically in front of the girls. Fortunately, I had been to the university a few times before, so I soon arrived at Su Ying’s dormitory building. From afar, I could hear screams, and a crowd had gathered downstairs, with boys occasionally rushing upstairs, probably called by their girlfriends. At the entrance, the guard was still blocking boys from going up. I showed my journalist ID, saying I needed to check it out, and she let me in immediately. I ran upstairs, hearing the guard mutter something about never encountering such ghostly cockroaches in her decades of life, saying it was truly bizarre. Ignoring that this was a girls’ dormitory, I quickened my pace. The entire building was brightly lit, filled with screams, and people were constantly running down the stairs in panic. Some boys were comforting their girlfriends as they descended, while others shouted, “Step on it! Crush it!”
The End of the Nine Lives Black Cat (4)
