I want to just drift through life in Type-Moon.

This is a dark alleyway, nestled between skyscrapers, a common sight in any metropolis. Several stray cats stand on trash can lids and walls, their glowing eyes fixed on this uninvited guest.

"Meow~" One of the cats he disturbed cried out. It was because of this meow that Yue Zhengling came to his senses. He turned his head and looked around, only to find that he was in a narrow passage between buildings, a path that could only accommodate one person at a time.

"Huh, how did I get here?" Then he looked at the place where the sound had come from, and there was a cat right in front of him—a cat that was completely black.

The black cat circled around a few times, then raised its head and stared at him with its bright yellow eyes, meowing again.

"Meow~~"

Black cats symbolize misfortune, a common perception, but the reasons behind this are not widely known.

In the East, black cats have been recorded since ancient times as representing warding off evil spirits, while in the West, black cats are seen as warnings, telling you that misfortune is about to befall you.

So Yue Zhengling wasn't scared. He squatted down, took out the homemade squid strips (sweet flavor) that he had been carrying in his bag but hadn't taken out to eat, and handed them to the cat.

The cat blinked but didn't come any closer.

After thinking for a moment, Yue Zhengling put the squid strips on the ground and took two steps back.

Seeing this, the cat meowed again, tentatively took a few steps forward, and when it saw that he didn't move, it lowered its head and started eating the dried squid.

The cats all around gathered around, and the squid strips were devoured in the blink of an eye. So, Yue Zhengling poured all the squid strips in front of him.

At first, the cats didn't move, until the black cat took the lead and walked up to him to eat.

Le Zhengling smiled with interest and reached out to gently stroke its head. The black cat neither avoided the touch nor stopped eating.

He could tell that this black cat was different from the other cats here. The other cats all had some scars, and their bodies showed signs of being thin due to lack of food.

But the black cat's fur was clean and shiny, and it looked very healthy.

Lok Ching Ling prefers cats to dogs; yes, he's a cat lover.

So when the cats gradually gathered around, he felt overjoyed, and his love for cats almost exploded. He couldn't resist the urge to hug them and rub them against him.

Just as he was about to put his cat-petting plan into action, he heard heavy footsteps behind him.

Upon hearing those highly recognizable heavy footsteps, Yue Zhengling's heart sank.

He had heard that kind of footsteps not long ago.

Araya Sōren—the name flashed through her mind, and Yue Zhengling immediately stood up and looked behind her. The figure had not yet appeared in her sight, but the footsteps sounded very close.

He didn't know if the other person was looking for him, but even if they weren't, he didn't want to run into Araya Zonglian. Ignoring the cats, Yue Zhengling bypassed them and ran into the depths of the alley, trying to avoid the person who was about to appear.

Among the cats, the black cat that led the way raised its head and looked at Le Zhengling, who had run away, with a hint of human-like curiosity in its eyes.

Le Zhengling darted through the maze-like alleyways, deliberately keeping her footsteps low as she ran, and choosing to escape from the brightly lit areas and the directions where people were talking.

After all, in various movies and TV shows I've seen before, some characters were caught because they panicked and made unnecessary noises.

Although he was clever enough to avoid these flawed escape routes, he made one mistake long ago—

That means he shouldn't go without eating anything. Even if he anticipated having to have his blood drawn, he should have eaten something after the examination.

That's why he's now so hungry and weak that he can only hope that the other party isn't really looking for him, otherwise he definitely won't be able to escape.

But just like Edward Murphy's theorem, which is useless except for being annoying, the footsteps continued to follow closely behind him.

Chapter Seventeen: Pursuit and Escape

For someone of Yue Zhengling's age, his physical strength is much better than that of children his age. After all, Chinese cuisine is very demanding on the body, such as tossing the wok and grinding the ingredients in a stone mill.

Having helped his grandfather since childhood, his physical abilities naturally developed. However, this was still compared to his peers. In addition, he hadn't eaten anything today, and the only small bag of squid strips he had was used to feed the cat. Now he was in dire straits.

"Ah, so that black cat foreshadowed this." Looking at the long shadow that had appeared at the other end of the alley, he leaned against the wall, panting heavily, while listening to the protesting sounds from his stomach.

Araya Sōren finally came into his sight. At the other end of the alley, a man shrouded in black shadows emerged. His face was so distressed that it made Yue Zhengling's face also turn sour.

"Why did you run away?" Araya Sōren asked in a low voice as he stopped.

"Because you're chasing after him..." Yue Zhengling replied irritably.

"Then why not run away now?"

“Because you’re not pursuing me anymore…” Yue Zhengling replied with a resentful tone.

Upon hearing this answer, Araya Sōren glanced at the distance between the two and then stood still without moving any closer.

Time seemed to stand still; neither of them spoke, standing at opposite ends of the alley, gazing at each other.

Just as Yue Zhengling was quietly recovering her strength, a crisp sound of an empty soda can being kicked over came from afar, causing time in this space to flow again.

"You know me?" Araya Sōren asked, sounding slightly confused.

Upon hearing his question, Yue Zhengling was stunned because he didn't know how to answer. But before he could deny it, the other party continued to speak.

"You said my name at the hospital just now, and I heard it." Araya Sōren remained standing in place.

Why are you so good at hearing?! I was speaking so softly back then that I could barely hear myself!

Le Zhengling panicked. If he said he knew him, he couldn't explain why or where he knew him. If he said he didn't know him, he couldn't explain calling him by name before. This was a desperate situation with no way forward and no way back.

Seeing that he couldn't answer, Araya Sōren didn't wait any longer. He knew that the other party had no strength left to continue running away. As long as he caught him, everything would be explained. Moreover, the other party's identity also made him very concerned.

Seeing that Araya Sōren was making a move, Le Zhengling could only sigh and try to continue running away. However, before he could even stand up straight, his stomach rumbled again.

Upon hearing this voice, he had no choice but to abandon his plan to escape and prepare to submit.

"Meow~"

Suddenly, a meow came from above Yue Zhengling's head. He looked up and found that the black cat from before was standing on the wall behind him.

The cat ran a couple of steps along the narrow wall, then turned back and glanced at him.

"You want me to keep up?" Yue Zhengling shuddered, then looked at Huangye Zonglian, who was less than ten meters away from him, gritted his teeth, and used his last bit of strength to run after the black cat.

Araya Sōren continued to hang leisurely behind him.

"Ha-ha-ha-" Gasping for breath as he ran, Yue Zhengling dared not look back, doing his best to follow the black cat into the unknown.

After running for about two minutes, he exhausted his last bit of strength. He kicked his right foot with his left and fell to the ground, completely drained of energy. Fortunately, he wasn't going very fast, so he wasn't injured even though he fell, but his lungs started to burn.

Seeing this, the black cat jumped down from the wall and came close to his face to look at him.

"No, I can't go on. I don't know where you want to take me, but I have no strength left," said Yue Zhengling, who was slumped on the ground with her eyes half-closed.

The black cat stuck out its tongue and licked his face, then pointed to the side with its left paw.

Le Zhengling turned his head and looked in the direction it was pointing. There was a hole there that could only fit a small child, and judging by its size, he could barely fit through.

"You want me to crawl through?" Seeing a glimmer of hope, he mustered his strength and asked the black cat.

"Meow~" the black cat meowed, seemingly in response to his "yes".

"Ah, okay, I believe you." With that, Yue Zhengling didn't care about getting dirty. He rolled on the ground twice and crawled into the hole on his hands and feet.

On this side, the lights were dim and there was no sound, making it very quiet.

"What should we do when we get here?" He turned around, wanting to ask the black cat, but the black cat didn't follow him in; it had disappeared.

“…Ah.” Yue Zhengling sighed and said with a wry smile, “As expected of a cat, so mysterious. Is this what they call feline nature?”

He wiped the sweat from his face, unconsciously making his face dirty as well. He was about to take a break when a loud clanging sound of metal striking metal came from the side he had just walked past.

Le Zhengling looked up in a panic, but the light was too dim for him to see what had happened.

Araya Sōren stopped in her tracks, looking at the I-beams that had suddenly fallen and the dust that had risen. This area was a new construction zone, so it wasn't surprising to see such large building materials, but what was strange was that such a large pile of them had fallen.

Looking at the road blocked by uneven steel, he looked up and saw a black cat standing on the roof of a high-rise building under construction.

"His familiar?" Araya Sōren possessed eyesight far exceeding that of ordinary people, so he could clearly see the cat and recognize it as the black cat that had just taken Yue Zhengling away.

"No, that child from the Yue family is just an ordinary person. In other words, this is an unowned familiar?" Although he was thwarted, he wasn't angry because he could still sense Yue Zhengling's presence.

"Too naive." Araya Sōren was about to push the pile of steel aside, but before he could do so, something in his pocket jolted, making him stop.

With a troubled expression, he frowned, took a flat button from his pocket, and received a message from someone in the distance.

After reading the message, his brows furrowed even deeper. He stared at the button for a long time before finally uttering a slightly puzzled sound.

Is it a coincidence, or was it deliberately arranged?

His tone was questioning, but he didn't expect anyone to answer. Then he turned and left without looking back, as if the chase had never mattered.

As Araya Sōren left, the black cat made no further move, only turning its head to look in the direction of Yue Zhengling, meowing twice before turning and walking into the darkness.

On the other side, Yue Zhengling, who had been resting on the ground for a long time, propped himself up and sat up against the wall. After that loud noise, he could no longer hear Huangye Zonglian's footsteps. Although he did not know exactly what had happened, he seemed to have escaped a disaster.

Chapter Eighteen: A Conversation Without Meeting

Without the pressure, Yue Zhengling's tense nerves finally relaxed.

His vision was a little blurry when he remembered something. He reached out and touched the small bag hanging at his waist. Luckily, it wasn't lost, or it would have been troublesome.

After sitting for a while, his breathing gradually calmed down. He felt his heartbeat and his heart was filled with slander against Nero Chaos.

That guy is a complete liar! He said I had a heart problem, but I've been healthy for over a decade, and I haven't had any heart problems even with such strenuous exercise. He's definitely lying.

The sun had completely set, and night had finally fallen.

He looked up at the sky between the skyscrapers of this bustling city, and naturally could not see the stars or the moon.

"It's so cramped, this view... Although life in a big city is convenient, you can't see the reality. This is what they call the emptiness of the city, the separation of beauty and ugliness. It seems that I, who can see fantasy, am really not suited to live in such a filthy place..." Unconsciously, Yue Zhengling uttered some very chuunibyou lines, his face full of melancholy.

Then he stuck out his tongue and laughed, "Hahaha! I can't take it anymore, that was so cringeworthy! Luckily no one heard me, or I'd be so embarrassed! At this age, still saying things like that..."

"No, at least I heard it." However, before he could finish speaking, a mature and pleasant female voice suddenly came from behind him.

Le Zhengling froze, and quickly looked around, but saw no one.

"Nobody's here. Am I hallucinating? Hmm, it must be hallucination. I must be too tired and hungry, which has made my body act abnormally..." After realizing that no one was around, he quickly reassured himself.

"Although I don't want to shatter your illusion, I still have to tell you that this is not a hallucination." The voice rang out again, finally forcing Yue Zhengling to face reality.

"Aren't you going to come and meet the person who heard your embarrassing remarks?"

Seemingly because he made no other move, the voice asked with a hint of curiosity.

"I'm sorry, it's just too embarrassing, I'm afraid that if I see you I won't be able to stop myself from committing suicide. But I'm so hungry right now I don't even have the strength to commit suicide. If that happens, I'll have to live with this embarrassing feeling, which is too cruel for me."

Speaking nonsense with a straight face, Yue Zhengling started chatting with this unseen person.

"How did you end up in a place like this?" the voice asked.

"You were being chased, and in your panic, you ended up here," Yue Zhengling replied.

"Oh my, it sounds like you've had an unusual experience..." The voice raised its tone slightly, sounding somewhat curious.

"Yes, it's a long story," he replied with a sigh.

Would you mind telling me?

"I do mind."

"...You're not playing by the rules."

"How could I possibly reveal my private information to a complete stranger who hasn't even shown their face?"

"I'm right here, you just didn't come over so you couldn't see me, it's not my fault, is it?"

"Then why don't you come over and let me see you?"

"Hehe, I'm someone who needs to make a living, so I won't leave my post during business hours."

"I see... You must have had a tough time being forced to be so cautious."

"I feel there's something else behind your words."

"No, you're definitely overthinking it. I absolutely do not believe you are a bound spirit."

"Didn't you just say it out loud?"

"Yes, because I did it on purpose."

"...You really are an interesting person."

"No, it's only at this moment that I become interesting. Normally, I'm a very boring person."

"That sounds like another story. It's awful that you're trying to pique my curiosity like this."

"Ha ha……"

"Judging from your voice, you don't seem very old. Are you sure it's okay for you not to be home at this hour?"