Ling Ge pouted. “So you still don’t believe us, huh?” She held out her hand. “Stretch out your hands—both of them.”
Meng Yiran hesitated, knowing resistance was futile, and finally complied.
Ling Ge laid her hand in Meng Yiran’s palm.
Meng Yiran waited to see what would happen next. In the blink of an eye, Ling Ge—a full-grown person—vanished from sight, replaced in her palm by a round-headed little blue cat. Caught off guard, Meng Yiran nearly flung the cat away, but Ling Ge’s foresight in demanding both hands saved the day. At the last second, she steadied herself and cradled the little blue cat securely.
“Do you believe us now?” the little blue cat asked, speaking in perfect human speech.
Meng Yiran nodded frantically. “Yes! I believe you!”
She reached out with a free finger and gently touched one of the little blue cat’s paws, confirming the adorable creature was real and not some hallucination. “We’re all cats who can turn into people…”
Once the shock faded, a wave of immense joy surged in her heart. She beamed at Ling Ze, who stood a short distance away. “No wonder I always had this feeling that I was meant to become human. Can our race—the Golden Marten Clan—shift freely between cat and human forms?”
“Feeling?” The aloof Ling Ze finally spoke.
There in Meng Yiran’s palm, the little blue cat licked her front paw clean before transforming back into the spirited, pretty little girl.
“Yeah,” Ling Ge said. “Us Golden Marten Clan folks can master the trick of shifting into humans anytime with just a little cultivation.” She tilted her head, eyeing Meng Yiran appraisingly. “You must’ve turned human recently because you came of age—your energy built up too much and you lost control, right?”
“Yes!” Meng Yiran licked the corner of her lips. “I don’t even know when I’ll turn into a human, or when I’ll change back.”
She looked at Ling Ge expectantly. “Can you teach me?”
Being a little kitten that only needed to eat, sleep, and act cute wasn’t so bad. But how could a human soul be content to be trapped in a cat’s body for life?
Ling Ge nodded. “Of course. We came to find you precisely to help you.”
She was about to say more when Ling Ze interrupted from behind her. “It’s not convenient to talk here. Let’s find somewhere else.”
Ling Ge nodded, immediately falling in line with his decision, and grabbed Meng Yiran’s wrist. “Come with me.”
Meng Yiran stumbled along as Ling Ge dragged her forward, twisting her head to glance repeatedly back toward Rose Street. “Ah? Where are we going? Will it take long? I… I need to get back in time for lunch…”
Ling Ze halted up ahead. “Do you have any other Golden Marten Clan members nearby?”
Meng Yiran shook her head. “No…” She paused to think. “Or rather, even if there were, I wouldn’t know about it.”
Ling Ze frowned faintly. “Then why bother going back?”
Meng Yiran blinked in surprise, then caught on and shot back, “Even without Golden Marten Clan kin around, I still have my own friends.”
Ling Ge glanced back at her. “Friends? You mean humans?”
Meng Yiran nodded. “Yeah.”
“Humans aren’t our friends,” Ling Ge said, her tone laced with dissatisfaction.
But she sighed right after. “You’re a newly adult Golden Marten Clan member. You don’t understand a lot of things yet. Come with us, and we’ll explain everything.”
Meng Yiran hesitated a little, but she had no say in the matter. As Ling Ze and Ling Ge pressed onward with heads down and purposeful strides, she slipped back into the bound state from when Ling Ge had first hauled her into that alley. She couldn’t even speak, reduced to stewing in frustration as they led her toward the unknown.
The siblings knew the area like the backs of their hands, sticking to deserted back alleys with no one around. Meng Yiran’s anxiety mounted with every step. She dreaded that they might be taking her to some forsaken wilderness, miles from civilization, where she’d never find her way home.
But to her surprise, Ling Ge and Ling Ze didn’t lead her out of Clarity Town at all. After a series of twists and turns, the three slipped through a side gate into a picturesque garden community. Meng Yiran looked up and spotted the iconic gates of Clarity Magic Academy standing not far off. When young students in matching mage robes began appearing on the path—some nodding greetings to Ling Ge and Ling Ze—she finally pieced it together.
They had brought her to the Magic Academy in town, and these two who claimed to be her kin were students there.
That layer of legitimacy put her instantly at ease with Ling Ge and Ling Ze. Her formerly reluctant steps now matched theirs smoothly.
Ling Ge, still gripping her hand, caught every subtle shift in her demeanor and turned with a grin. “I told you we’re here to save you. Just follow us obediently.”
Meng Yiran couldn’t speak. She wrinkled her nose in a small gesture of displeasure.
She didn’t feel like she needed saving at all. In fact, life with Tong Yuwu suited her just fine. But you don’t slap a smiling face, and she did need Ling Ge’s help to learn how to control shifting between cat and human forms. For now, she’d put up with the siblings’ half-forced brand of “assistance.”
They reached the checkpoint, where Ling Ze flashed something that looked like a badge and spoke with the administrator. Ling Ge kept hold of Meng Yiran as they waited behind. While Meng Yiran scanned her surroundings in distraction, her gaze locked onto two distant figures.
The Noble Miss moved forward with elegant poise and a blank expression, her steps unhurried. At her side hovered a wealthy young master acting every bit the flower knight, orbiting her while chattering away. For every ten sentences he uttered, he got at most a single word in reply. Undeterred, his eyes crinkled with delight as he pressed on with even more vigor.
They were Tong Yuwu and the Ming Family’s Little Young Master who had visited the Tong Family Villa before—Ming Yi.
Ming Yi spotted her too—or more precisely, Ling Ge at her side. Meng Yiran stood right there next to Ling Ge and heard the little girl mutter under her breath, “Damn, why is he coming over right now?”
Meng Yiran had no attention to spare for the implications of her words. Her eyes were fixed unblinkingly on Tong Yuwu.
She had always moved about in her kitten body before, so she rarely observed the other woman from such an angle or at such a distance. Although she had shifted back to human form that night, they had been pressed so close together then—their ears brushing, their eyelashes nearly touching—that the sensation felt utterly different from this moment.
From a normal person’s perspective, Tong Yuwu was breathtakingly beautiful. Her skin was like flawless ice and jade, her eyebrows dark and delicate, her lips softly pink; there wasn’t a single imperfection whether viewed from afar or up close. She lifted her skirt and glided forward gracefully, as if she had just stepped out of a medieval European oil painting.
The beautiful noble miss shared no telepathic bond with her little white cat. Even as Meng Yiran stared at her steadily, Tong Yuwu never spared her so much as a glance. The realization hit Meng Yiran like a wave: they were two individuals from entirely different worlds. Even sharing the same time and space, the gulf between their souls was impossible to bridge.
Other people could stir similar feelings in her, but only Tong Yuwu provoked this one—and it left Meng Yiran feeling truly sad.
The outgoing Ming Yi created an unexpected intersection for the two parties who should have simply passed each other by.
“Hmm? Little Ling Ge?” He glanced at Meng Yiran, whose wrist she had seized. “A friend of yours? Pretty eye color.”
Ling Ge yanked Meng Yiran behind her, hiding her. “Stay away from us.”
Ming Yi arched a brow. His voice still carried a smile, but he was clearly picking a fight. “I’m just wondering—isn’t she from our school? Students who sneak outsiders into Clarity Magic Academy get demerits and points deducted, you know.”
“She’s Teacher Liya’s relative,” Ling Ze said. He had just finished his errand and returned, positioning himself in front of Ling Ge and Meng Yiran to explain to Ming Yi. “The teacher asked us to look after her for a few days.”
Ming Yi extended his hand. “Where’s the authorization letter?”
Ling Ze pressed his lips together in silence. Ling Ge glared at Ming Yi. “Why should we show it to you?”
Ming Yi’s smile widened. He made no move to withdraw his outstretched hand—instead, he pushed it forward insistently. “As captain of the School Inspection Team, it’s not my shift today, but I still have the authority to enforce discipline.”
Ling Ze cut in before Ling Ge could respond. “The teacher had something come up earlier. I’ll go get the authorization letter sorted out later.”
“No can do.” Ming Yi tsked and shook his head. “I can let the bringing her in slide, but if you’re taking her into the Dormitory Area, you need proper paperwork.”
The atmosphere grew tense in an instant. Meng Yiran noticed nearby pedestrians detouring around them, clearly unwilling to get involved in the trouble. Curiously, a little couple of unknown background from a short distance away pressed on toward them undeterred.
Ling Ge’s face flushed red with fury, her free hand balled into a tight little fist. “So we should thank you for your boundless mercy, then?”
Ming Yi waved it off. “No need. Within the bounds of the rules, the Inspection Team is always happy to do a favor for fellow students.”
Ling Ge gritted her teeth, on the verge of lunging at him, but Ling Ze held her back.
“Understood.” Ling Ze nodded to Ming Yi. “We’ll go find Teacher Liya first.”
“Thanks for cooperating.” Ming Yi waved them off.
He turned sideways, spotting the little couple who had drawn near. His lips curved into a grin as he shifted gears to greet them. “Senior Kelly, fancy meeting you here.”
“Long time no see.” Kelly’s gaze flicked to Tong Yuwu standing behind him. “New girlfriend?”
She nodded approvingly. “Nice. Way prettier than the last ones.”
Meng Yiran, being tugged along by Ling Ge, whipped her head around at the words, glaring daggers at the girl for her wild guess.
Perhaps from twisting her neck so sharply that her brain suffered a momentary lapse in blood flow, Meng Yiran swore she glimpsed a faint, translucent arched barrier hovering over the little couple’s heads. It vanished in the blink of an eye.
Meng Yiran turned back and shook her head.
Ming Yi let out several hearty “ha ha” laughs before drawling his explanation. “Nah, she’s not—Watch out!”
A beam of white light hurtled straight toward them from behind the little couple. By the time Ming Yi shouted his warning, they were far too close to evade it. He instinctively threw an arm back to shield Tong Yuwu, pulling her away as he watched the light slam into the couple.
In the blinding white chaos, Ling Ge released her grip at some point. Meng Yiran felt the restraint vanish and immediately ducked her head, scanning herself and her surroundings.
By some stroke of luck, all seven people present—including her—emerged unscathed. Those brushed by the white light, and even the little couple who had taken the blast head-on, were all completely unharmed. The six of them exchanged bewildered glances, but Tong Yuwu—the only one avoiding eye contact—frowned toward the eastern sky.
The once azure sky had inexplicably taken on a layer of pale gray, shrouding the space around them in shadows as well. Everything appeared unchanged on the surface, yet the group felt as though they had tumbled into a bizarre realm identical to the one before.
Regaining their composure, everyone slowly turned their gazes toward the little couple, awaiting an explanation.
“What rotten luck!” Kelly raked a hand through her disheveled hair, clutching the cross necklace pendant at her chest as she shrugged apologetically at the others. “Sorry, I accidentally triggered damage sharing.”
Her words expressed regret, but her face showed none. The moment she finished speaking, she whipped around to her tall, handsome boyfriend. “Elfa, are you okay?”
Elfa shook his head.
He scanned their surroundings and gave voice to the question weighing on everyone’s mind. “What happened? Did we get attacked at school?”
Ming Yi still found the situation amusing enough to crack a grin. He teased Kelly, “One of your enemies come knocking again?”
Kelly threw up her hands. “Beats me. I’ve got too many to count.”
In the midst of their confusion, a clear, pleasant male voice rang in Meng Yiran’s ear.
“Sorry for pulling you into this illusion realm.”
Her eyes widened in shock as she glanced around, noticing varying degrees of surprise on the others’ faces. She realized the voice wasn’t meant for her alone.
It continued, “I never meant to harm you, but you refused to see me. This was the only way. I just hope we can talk one more time.”
