Chapter 59 Part 1

As they had guessed before going to sleep, the girl in the white T-shirt was indeed a resident of the neighborhood. Moreover, she was a long-term resident who would soon have lived there for two full years, so both the property management and the security guards were quite familiar with her.

The girl in the white T-shirt looked young, but she was actually two years older than Sheng Xu—a 27-year-old seasoned office drone with over five years of work experience.

“Officers, you’ve both seen my ID. There’s no need to doubt my age, right? I just look young because of my baby face,” said the girl in the white T-shirt—also known as Bai Fuling.

“Can I ask what my Orange did wrong? Did it break something important, or eat something it shouldn’t have?” Bai Fuling asked nervously.

“We’ll get to that. First, we need to ask you a few questions,” Lu Wuqi said, pretending to pull a small notebook and a clicky ballpoint pen from her crossbody bag.

“Alright, go ahead and ask, Officer,” Bai Fuling replied. She adjusted her sitting position, clasping her hands tightly in her lap.

“Do you know about the suicide incident in one of the neighborhood buildings three months ago?” Lu Wuqi asked.

“I’ve heard about it. A lot of people were talking about it in the neighborhood group chat at the time. She seemed to have been cheated on by her boyfriend, so she couldn’t think straight in the moment,” Bai Fuling recalled.

“There was an owner who parked carelessly, blocking the ambulance for five or six minutes. That delay meant they couldn’t save her in time, and she ended up in a vegetative state. She still hasn’t woken up.”

“What about the landlord trying to sell the house at a low price? Do you know about that?” Sheng Xu followed up.

Bai Fuling answered honestly, “Yes, the landlord posted quite a few messages in the group about it. Some owners thought the price was too low and would drag down the whole neighborhood’s property values, so they even got into arguments in the chat.”

Lu Wuqi pretended to jot something down in her notebook, but all she actually wrote was Sheng Xu’s name a few times. “So, were you planning to buy the house at that low price?”

“I was…” Bai Fuling scratched her cheek. “Officer, wouldn’t you be tempted by a house at nearly 80% off? Is it a crime to be tempted?”

“It’s not a crime. Does your Big Orange Cat know about these thoughts of yours?” Lu Wuqi asked.

“Huh? Orange? If it understands what I say, then it probably does,” Bai Fuling said with a slight frown. She couldn’t shake the feeling that these questions were a bit strange.

“Officer, can I know what my Orange did wrong to get labeled a criminal cat and taken away by you?” Bai Fuling probed. “If it did something wrong, can I pay some money to get it back?”

“Do you know about the recent falling incidents?” Sheng Xu asked, crossing her arms on the table. “Your Orange is very likely the culprit behind those falling cases.”

“What? Orange is the perpetrator in the falling cases?” Bai Fuling’s eyes widened. She slapped the table in agitation, her mouth agape. “Officer, I know the falling cases have caused a lot of trouble, but randomly grabbing a person and calling them the culprit isn’t any more reliable than grabbing a cat and saying it’s the culprit.”

“What crime could a little kitty commit? Orange’s biggest flaw is just eating a bit too much. You two officers can’t just make things up!”

Bai Fuling’s face was full of disbelief, which was entirely understandable. After all, she’d grown up with a materialist, scientific worldview for 27 years.

“Based on the clues we’ve gathered so far, your Orange might have caused those falling incidents for your sake,” Sheng Xu said calmly. “You’ve been living with your Orange all this time. You probably treat it like a companion and talk to it a lot, right?”

“Yes…” Bai Fuling nodded slowly.

“The Orange you raised might have gained some wondrous opportunity, acquiring superhuman powers that science can’t explain. To let you buy the house at a low price, it used its abilities on the resident on the third floor of the neighborhood.”

Sheng Xu paused for a moment. “You’ve probably said some things to your Orange unconsciously, which gave it ideas and led to those rumors spreading.”

Bai Fuling blinked in confusion. She understood every word individually, but put together, it all sounded so bizarre.

After a few minutes to process the shattering of her materialist worldview, Bai Fuling unscrewed the mineral water bottle in front of her and chugged several gulps.

“So, the Orange I raised gained sentience? It turned into a cat demon?” Bai Fuling blinked hard a couple of times. “But I had it sterilized. If it turns human, does that mean it won’t have… you know?”

Lu Wuqi: …

Sheng Xu: …

When they had caught the Big Orange Cat, they hadn’t really considered this issue. Would a sentient creature that understood human speech allow itself to be sterilized? Probably not.

“When did you start raising Orange?” Lu Wuqi asked, shaking her head to clear out the weird thoughts.

“About a month after I moved in here. Orange was a stray from around the neighborhood. I’d buy it canned food and cat kibble to feed it. But half a month later, one of its paws got injured somehow.”

“So I kidnapped—er, no, adopted it instead of buying a pet. I took Orange to the vet, got its injuries treated, and followed the doctor’s advice to have it sterilized before bringing it home.”

“Did it have any strong reaction when it was sterilized?” Lu Wuqi asked.

“Nope, it was all silly and clueless about it,” Bai Fuling said.

Lu Wuqi hummed in acknowledgment and couldn’t resist writing Sheng Xu’s name several more times in the blank space.

A flurry of expressions crossed Bai Fuling’s face in a short time, finally settling on an awkward curiosity. “You two officers aren’t joking with me, are you?”

“No, but your Orange probably won’t take human form. It’s more like an animal that’s gained some intelligence, and not for very long,” Sheng Xu said carefully.

From what she knew about such sentient creatures, none of them would willingly undergo sterilization after gaining awareness—they’d resist at least a little.

By that logic, the orange cat must have gained its abilities sometime in the last two years. The falling cases were likely its first use of those powers.

In other words, the Big Orange Cat’s powers had emerged in a very coincidental way, almost like something out of a daydream turned real.

With that thought, Sheng Xu instinctively glanced at the person beside her and met Lu Wuqi’s eyes.

Seeing the same doubt and cautious wariness in the other’s gaze, a faint smile flickered in Sheng Xu’s eyes.

Were their thoughts aligned once again? This simple falling case was indeed connected to something far more complex.

–

Thanks to the information from Bai Fuling, which confirmed that the Big Orange Cat just wanted its owner to have a new house, the Action Bureau didn’t sentence it to death.

After Bai Fuling signed a confidentiality agreement and paid the compensation, the Big Orange Cat—now permanently sealed from using its abilities—was sent back home.

Though the Big Orange Cat could no longer use illusion technique, the spiritual power in its body meant its lifespan would be much longer than an ordinary cat’s. With proper care, it might even live for fifty years.

“According to professional instrument tests, the Big Orange Cat doesn’t seem like it awakened its abilities on its own. It’s more like some ‘good Samaritan’ gave it a dose of extremely pure spiritual power, granting it those abilities.”

As they left the Action Bureau headquarters in Haishi, Lu Wuqi said thoughtfully, “Xuxu, in your judgment, what level of celestial master or ghost would have the power to bestow something like that?”

“If it’s a person, they’d need to be at least a level 6 celestial master. But even for one, handing over such pure spiritual power would be a significant drain. I’m leaning more toward a level 7 or level 8 celestial master,” Sheng Xu replied, walking alongside Lu Wuqi. Their hands occasionally brushed against each other with their swinging arms.

“If it’s a ghost or spirit, it’d need at least five hundred years of cultivation—enough to qualify as a great demon,” Sheng Xu added.

Lu Wuqi nodded slowly. Her time in this non-scientific world was still too short.

From May to July—that was less than two months. Amid her efforts to study the path of talismans, Lu Wuqi hadn’t had time to learn certain common knowledge.

“I was thinking of taking on the follow-up investigation task, but I guess I’ll have to shelve that for now. I’m not a high-level celestial master yet,” Lu Wuqi sighed lightly.

When Sheng Xu’s hand brushed hers again, Lu Wuqi clasped it. “Xuxu, my task is done, and the Action Bureau helped me fast-track the property transfer. Now my time is all yours?”

“You’re a native Haishi girl, so you should plan a good itinerary for me, right?” A clear smile and anticipation lit up Lu Wuqi’s face.

“Of course. As your host, I should entertain you properly, Wuqi,” Sheng Xu smiled back. “But I need to know how long you’ll be staying. A three-day itinerary is very different from a seven-day one.”

“Pretty long, I think. This year’s Mystic Gate Internal Exchange Conference is set for Haishi, right? I’ll stick around until the date’s confirmed, attend it, and then decide whether to leave,” Lu Wuqi said. With a flourish, she pulled out a set of car keys and pressed the button.

Beep beep—a black sedan similar to the one they’d seen the night before flashed its lights.

“This is the car I specially requested. I can use it freely while I’m in Haishi,” Lu Wuqi said. She led Sheng Xu to the passenger side, released her hand, and courteously opened the door with a slight bow.

“The exchange conference is after National Day, so the shortest I’ll stay is three months,” Lu Wuqi added, her smile deepening as she thoughtfully shielded the top of the doorframe.