World-saving Plan: The Only Savior

"Oh my God, what is this nightmare!?"

Zhang Xiaoman stared at the photos in shock.

"Could it be that what this forum poster said is true? Their home really was surrounded by feral cats."

Zhang Xiaoman had thought this post would be as exaggerated as the others he had seen before, but he didn't expect that something so bizarre had actually happened, which took him by surprise.

"Could this also be related to those strange occurrences?"

He felt he might be getting a bit paranoid now, instinctively linking such abnormalities to that matter.

As he scrolled down through the post's comments, a flood of replies appeared.

"A strong showing of feral cats spotted in the community, the original poster must be a huge salted fish."

"OP, did you plant catnip around your place? I once saw a field of catnip and there were feral cats lying all over it..."

"omg! Scared the baby! May Ye Ge, Brother Ru, Ye Ge, Brother Zhou, and Brother Chun bless us! Evil spirits begone!"

"Amitabha, my observations of the photos reveal that this place is certainly within a villa; considering the OP's attire, undoubtedly a lady in her twenties. If this humble monk isn't mistaken, the original poster must have the family name Bai and is named Fumei..."

"Damn! Master, what keen observation! Are you looking for disciples by any chance?"

"You flatter me, but our school has rules, we do not accept disciples with the last name 'Ai' (short), so please return."

"..."

Zhang Xiaoman couldn't help but feel embarrassed as he looked at the increasingly off-topic thread.

He casually wished the original poster safety in a reply, then closed the post.

As for the incident, although Zhang Xiaoman was somewhat surprised, he didn't take it to heart.

After all, it was just a bunch of feral cats; it didn't really prove anything.

Moreover, even if he had some ideas, given his current situation, he was helpless to act.

But just as he was closing the post, he inadvertently let go of the dog leash he was holding, and by the time he looked up, Jin Bao had already run off into the distance.

"Jin Bao! Come back!"

Zhang Xiaoman immediately shouted and hurriedly chased after him.

However, Jin Bao, the dog, ignored his owner's calls and joyfully frolicked on the grass ahead.

He wasn't too worried.

Firstly, it was already late at night, and there was no one around.

Secondly, this had happened before, and after a minute or two, once that silly dog got its excitement out of its system, he'd be able to catch it again.

Therefore, he just jogged behind, trying to keep the dog within his line of sight.

"Woof woof woof!"

Jin Bao kept running ahead, as if playing a game of chase with its owner.

Zhang Xiaoman was helplessly resigned to the chase. If you walked slowly, the dog walked slowly; if you tried to run after it, it would sprint away.

The main problem was that you couldn't outrun it, so you could only watch helplessly as it frolicked ahead.

Zhang Xiaoman followed step by step, but as he walked, he suddenly realized something was amiss.

It dawned on him that this damn dog was heading towards the man-made lake inside the community—a place it usually was reluctant to go near.

"Damn it! Jin Bao, come back! Don't go there!"

He immediately quickened his pace to chase after it.

However, anyone who has owned a dog knows that when you first start walking them, that's when they're most excited.

If the leash slips from your grasp at that moment, it's nearly impossible to call them back.

And that was precisely the situation now.

Jin Bao ran ahead, and when it heard its owner catching up, it immediately sped up into a frantic run and quickly covered quite some distance.

"Jin Bao! Roll back here now, or you'll believe I'll sort you out when we get home!"

Zhang Xiaoman shouted loudly.

The dog Jin Bao was still unaware of the fury it was about to face from its owner, happily doing as it pleased, and in just a moment, it had already arrived at the edge of the small lake.

Zhang Xiaoman was feeling quite troubled now, as he generally did not like to come to this area for a simple reason—it was home to many stray animals.

The community was filled with stray cats and dogs which, having nowhere to go at night, would sleep in the pavilion on Lake Island, gradually forming their own little groups over time.

If the dog Jin Bao ran in there, it was not just a matter of whether it would get beaten up by other dogs. If it were attracted by the scent of a female dog in heat and ended up fathering puppies, it probably wouldn't come out for hours.

It was so late now, he surely couldn't just wait outside for it.

"Sigh..."

After sighing, Zhang Xiaoman had no choice but to follow, although he really didn't want to go into that place.

It had been raining a lot lately, and not to mention how muddy it was, taking two steps might just land his foot in a warm pile of poo, which would be horribly unlucky.

"Huff, huff, huff, huff..."

He followed the dog Jin Bao to the lakeside. He only saw a yellow figure dash across the stone bridge leading to the small island in the lake and disappear into the not-so-large thicket.

"Dog Jin Bao, you better not let me catch you..."

Zhang Xiaoman muttered to himself somewhat breathlessly, then glanced at the small lake again and stepped forward.

As he was slowly moving forward, he suddenly felt as if he had stepped on something soft.

Looking down, he couldn't help but jump with fright.

It was a cat!

A dead cat!

"What's going on..."

Zhang Xiaoman quickly moved his foot away, bent down to take a closer look, and felt a bit creeped out.

"This, this must have just died not long ago, right? But why..."

He was making judgments in his mind while cautiously moving his feet away.

"Jin Bao? Jin Bao?"

Zhang Xiaoman softly called the dog's name, hoping it would come out on its own.

Unfortunately, his wish remained unfulfilled, as the yellow figure remained unseen on the pitch-dark island.

After calling Jin Bao's name a couple more times but still without any result.

"Dog Jin Bao, I'll beat you to death when we get back!"

He cursed under his breath and thought of the dead cat on the ground, feeling an increasingly ominous premonition.

"Drip~"

Hurriedly turning on his phone's flashlight, a blinding white light appeared, and Zhang Xiaoman could finally see the surroundings clearly.

Although Master Liu often told him ghost stories, he had developed some resistance to them.

But hearing them in good spirits and actually stepping into such a scene were two entirely different things.

When engulfed in such a terrifying atmosphere, a person's body instinctively feels fear of the unknown, which is hard to suppress.

A trace of hesitation crossed Zhang Xiaoman's face.

He looked inside twice, but didn't see the dog.

Clenching his teeth, he took out the bottle of Holy Water from his pocket.

"It's said that it can dispel evil spirits, but I don't know if it's true..."

He murmured to himself, holding that item in his hand, he at least found some psychological comfort.

Refocusing his attention on the darkness ahead, he flashed his phone's light inside. His footsteps halted as his mind couldn't shake the image of the cat's grim corpse.

Logically speaking, although a dead stray cat wasn't a common sight, it wasn't something to pay much attention to.

But after experiencing the previous monster attack, Zhang Xiaoman couldn't help but make that association.

Just as he hesitated for a moment, he suddenly felt the light around him dim sharply, and an inexplicable bone-chilling sensation crept up from the depths of his heart.