Chapter 26 The Cats Bow

When Blind Li was dragged out of the Death-Abandonment Kiln by the Big Black Dog, he only had half a breath left.

Meanwhile, a strange transformation was already taking place in the adjacent kiln.

That black cat, which had crawled into the Old Woman's kiln, did not seem to be an ordinary wild creature; its pair of vertical pupils emitted an eerie, pale red light in the darkness.

It paced around the Old Woman, who was breathing her last, its throat occasionally emitting low, strange noises.

They did not sound like cat calls, but rather like some ancient incantation.

Then, the black cat stopped, stood upright, pressed its front paws together, and performed an extremely grotesque bowing motion toward the dying Old Woman.

It was like paying homage, or perhaps performing some sort of handover ritual.

It then leaped into the air, its body instantly turning into a phantom shadow, and dove straight into the Old Woman's mouth, which was wide open from hunger and thirst.

The Old Woman's body shuddered violently, then began to convulse intensely. Her thin, small frame curled up, and the bones throughout her body were forcibly snapped and rearranged, emitting a "clacking" sound.

At the same time, the wrinkles on her face writhed and deepened frantically, her skin turned a grayish-blue at a speed visible to the naked eye, and a layer of black fur pierced through her skin, spreading rapidly across her entire body.

In the blink of an eye, a humanoid monster with a cat's face was born, utilizing this body filled with despair and resentment.

The Old Woman—perhaps she should be called the Cat-Faced Old Woman at this moment.

She slowly propped herself up on all fours, examining her mutated hands with confusion, while emitting unintelligible guttural sounds from her throat, mixed with a human's pain and bewilderment.

It slowly closed its eyes, learning to adapt to and control this strange body, and the surroundings returned to silence.

Until a child stood before the kiln.

It was the beloved grandson whom Blind Li and the Old Woman held dear to their hearts.

A young lad, perhaps still harboring a trace of memory and curiosity about his grandmother, or perhaps it was just a child's mischievous adventure game.

He snuck to the Mass Grave, poked at the rubble of the Death-Abandonment Kiln, and peered inside.

"Grandma?"

The child's voice had a milky tone, filled with deep curiosity.

But what answered him was not the kind voice of his grandmother, but a sharp claw covered in short black fur, with pitch-black fingertips.

Along with a cat's face whose features were completely twisted and a mouth full of fangs.

"Snap! Gurgle—"

The child's exclamation stopped abruptly, replaced by the hair-raising sound of gnawing and chewing; a few drops of warm, crimson blood splattered onto the rubble at the entrance.

Blind Li was awakened by the sound of chewing close at hand.

The sound was sticky and wet, accompanied by the crisp cracking of bones and the faint whimpering of a young child.

He could not see, but having been blind for many years, his other senses had been honed by time to be as sharp as blades.

He could hear the rhythm of the eating—savage, greedy, and definitely not the sound of a human eating.

He could smell the metallic sweetness of blood, and could even faintly distinguish the milky scent often found on his little grandson mixed within it.

Blind Li's mind was shaken, and his withered body trembled violently and uncontrollably.

Immediately after, two terrified voices rang out, mixed with the familiar scent of sweat from an adult man and woman.

It was his son and daughter-in-law.

"Dad, Mom! You..."

The son's distorted cry only lasted for half a sentence before it was abruptly cut off.

Then came the daughter-in-law's shrill scream, which also quickly transformed into a suffocating clucking sound and the sticky noise of blood gurgling and flowing.

Blind Li collapsed to the ground, his blind eyes wide open in vain, facing the direction of the sounds and smells.

He could not see the hellish scene, but under the influence of extreme terror and sensory information, it was clearer than if he had witnessed it with his own eyes.

His wife was using inhuman claws and teeth to tear apart and devour their son, daughter-in-law, and their beloved little grandson.

A scream of impending doom finally broke through Blind Li's throat.

It was not anger, nor was it sadness, but the final snapping of the strings of reason.

He clutched his head tightly with both hands, his fingernails digging into his scalp, wanting to gouge this terrifying image out of his mind.

The Cat-Faced Old Woman was attracted by the scream; she stopped eating and turned her head to lock onto Blind Li.

Her claws, stained with blood and bits of flesh, with the fluids of their loved ones still clinging to her fingertips, slowly reached out toward Blind Li.

Blind Li's wailing instantly turned into incoherent babbling and screaming; his final consciousness was completely destroyed by this extreme horror, leaving only boundless chaos and madness.

Seeing that the sharp claws were about to touch Blind Li's neck, the Big Black Dog, which had been lingering nearby, suddenly leaped into the air, let out a resolute roar, and used all its strength to knock the Cat-Faced Old Woman away.

The Old Woman stumbled from the impact, turned back to stare at the man and the dog, and let out a reluctant roar from her throat, but did not act immediately.

She had just completed the most critical transformation, and the demonic power from devouring her closest kin was surging uncontrollably within her body; she needed time to digest it.

She turned around and pounced on the remains again, continuing that horrific feast.

After a while, the Cat-Faced Old Woman finally looked up.

Greed, brutality, and the twisted pleasure derived from devouring her relatives in succession were all mixed together in her red pupils.

It suddenly raised its head and howled sharply.

At this very moment, a sudden change occurred.

Within the entire scope of Sangye Village, every household.

Anyone who kept cats, whether it was a tabby cat for guarding the house, a calico cat for catching mice, or a pet in the arms of the rich.

At this moment, they all fell eerily silent, and then simultaneously let out cries like the wailing of infants.

Chen Mu also saw a scene that made his pupils shrink.

He saw light, swift black shadows darting out from every household in the village, from atop courtyard walls, and between window lattices.

They were of different sizes and colors, but their movements were uniform, all rushing toward the direction of the Mass Grave.

Hundreds of cats gathered from every corner of Sangye Village and stopped in front of the demonized Old Woman.

They did not sit scattered like ordinary cats, but formed an eerie circle, surrounding the Old Woman in the center.

Like paying homage to a monarch, they pressed their front paws to the ground, curled their hind legs, and buried their heads deep.

Then, in absolute silence, these cats began to kowtow—not a simple nod, but the grand ritual of three kneelings and nine kowtows.

Foreheads touching the ground, rising, then bowing low again.

The movements were stiff, yet exuded a hair-raising, evil force.

With every kowtow, a faint red light, originating from the same source as the Old Woman's, flashed in their eyes.

And the Old Woman, sitting in the center of the cat pack, occasionally emitted strange "hehe" sounds from her throat.

After a long while, she raised her hands, which had transformed into sharp claws, and let out a hiss toward the moonlight, as if issuing a command to the evil creatures.

Immediately, the cat pack, having finished their kowtows, nodded in unison. They no longer looked at the Old Woman, but suddenly turned their direction.

Thousands of hungry eyes locked simultaneously onto Blind Li and the Big Black Dog, who were collapsed on the ground.

"Meow—"

It was no longer the gentle cry unique to cats, but a roar of alertness before hunting.

In an instant, the cat pack, like a surging tide, pounced fiercely toward the man and the dog.

The speed was so fast, and the number so great, that it was enough to tear them into pieces in an instant!