Chapter 2175: The Cat of Farewell

Chapter 2175: Chapter 2175: The Cat of Farewell

After listening to the black cat’s story, Shard and Mr. Benhart were silent for a long time. The Outlander didn’t understand why in this world, animals either didn’t speak or when they did, they always left such a deep impression on him.

"So why didn’t you go then?"

Mr. Benhart gently asked in the glow of the sunset, and the cat naturally replied:

"Because I haven’t said goodbye to Little Janet yet! I was supposed to stay with her all along, but now I’m going to find my mom, so of course I have to tell her, otherwise she’d be sad."

As it spoke, it licked its fur again:

"You are a good and capable human. Without you, I’d probably have to wait a long time until Little Janet had to leave before I could see her. Don’t worry, once I meet Little Janet, I’ll tell you anything you want to know."

Mr. Benhart once again looked at Shard, who could tell that he was also affected by the story.

As evening approached, the black mist covering the sky dissipated a little, revealing the increasingly enchanting sunset. The licking black cat stood steadily on Shard’s shoulder, narrating to Shard and Mr. Benhart stories from its past with "Little Janet." But at a certain instant, it stopped, grasped Shard’s shoulder, and leaped to look towards the east side of the street, before exclaiming:

"Oh, it’s Little Janet!"

With those words, it jumped off Shard’s shoulder. Shard and Mr. Benhart didn’t chase after it but advised:

"Don’t scare her!"

At this time, from the east side of the street came a middle-aged woman holding a paper bag, with two children - one big, one small - trailing behind her. She looked nearly forty, appeared tired, and coughed as she walked. Behind her, the two children, the older looking about fifteen or sixteen, and the younger around eight or nine.

The black cat ran over with a hop, and it was the children who first noticed it, excitedly tugging at their mother’s sleeve and speaking animatedly. Then the middle-aged woman, who looked unwell, gazed over the paper bag she held, and saw the black cat squatted just ten steps from them, wagging its tail and meeting her gaze.

The scene of sunset is eternally beautiful; the dusk light streamed into Moon Bay, drawing the woman’s shadow obliquely towards the flowerbed beside the street. The black cat had no shadow, just obediently squatting there, looking up and meeting the gaze of the girl it once knew well. The woman opened her mouth and froze in place.

Still relying on Illusion Technique to hide themselves, Shard and Mr. Benhart watched from the fence of an unknown family’s little garden as the woman, after realizing, hastily told her two children to carry the paper bag and head home first. Once the children left, she covered her mouth, gazed at the cat with reddened eyes, crouched down, and patted the black cat that then joyfully darted into her arms, holding it tightly.

The cat seemed quite content, curled up in its owner’s arms and closing its eyes.

"It’s unexpected that after more than twenty years, that lady still recognizes that cat."

Shard sighed.

"So the cat’s depiction of its past life was not exaggerated. When it was alive, it truly lived a fairy-tale-like childhood with that little girl."

Mr. Benhart gazed distantly at the reunion of the cat and its owner, his eyes flickering in the sun’s rays. Shard didn’t know what he was thinking.

"Mr. Watson, to be honest, just now I was worried. If that lady didn’t recognize that black cat, what if the black cat became a mindless monster? This isn’t the place for a fight. But fortunately, this didn’t happen. There are still some... beautiful things and beautiful stories in this world. You know, I’m starting to like this world again."

They watched together as the woman wept while standing with the cat in her arms, and the black cat, with eyes closed, wore a serene expression as it was held. Presumably, a long time ago, when the woman was "Little Janet," and when the black cat was just "the black cat," they interacted just like this.

"Did you notice anything? That woman’s physical condition seems off."

Mr. Benhart suddenly said to Shard, who lacked the skill to diagnose illnesses from afar:

"I can only tell that her heartbeat is irregular, but that could be because of excitement."

"No, her body temperature is high, and just now, when she stood up from a crouching position, it was obvious she almost fell."

The Vampire Kind closed his eyes as if sensing something:

"Yes, she has heart disease, and there’s also a blood disease. In other words... a critical illness, unlikely to live beyond this winter."

Both were silent for a while:

"Natural disease?"

"I think so, the birth, aging, illness, and death of ordinary people are always like this... That black cat being able to see her at this time can be considered a kind of solace... Wait, what’s it going to do!?"

The white specks of light that only a Circle Sorcerer could see began to scatter from the black cat’s body. Mr. Benhart almost rushed out to stop the cat’s actions, but Shard held him back. He had experienced this scene before, only then the white light rain on the summit of Sicarl Mountain was more overwhelming:

"This is its own choice."

The weak specks of light made the black cat’s body increasingly transparent, and as the light seeped into the woman’s body, she clearly felt something different from before. She was a bit surprised, but at this moment, the cat quickly jumped back to the ground from her arms.

It still crouched ten steps away from her, watching her under the sunset. When the woman wanted to step forward again to hold it, the cat stood on all fours and spoke:

"Goodbye, Little Janet! Take good care of your offspring and let them be as happy as you were when you were small."

After saying that, it shook its tail and ran towards the distant street, disappearing completely into the sunset within a few breaths. The woman covered her mouth with reddened eyes, looking at the empty street, and then squatted down to cry into her hands.

The two children who had gone home first immediately ran over, and behind her, the man carrying more paper bags also walked over in confusion, then put down what he was holding in surprise to comfort his wife.

"Let’s go."

Shard looked away from the family of four, bent down and picked up the cat that was so weak it could barely open its eyes, and left with Mr. Benhart. The exhausted Ghost Cat then fell into a deep unconsciousness. When it opened its eyes again, it was already with the two men, facing the sea at the pier, watching the sea view under the sunset.

"You, you are all good humans."

It struggled to stand up from Shard’s arms, its weak appearance completely different from when it first appeared in the sewer hours ago:

"Little Janet lived very happily, and without me, she’s doing just fine. Finally, finally said goodbye, now I can go see Mom."

It struggled to climb onto Shard’s shoulder, rubbing its cheek against him, and let out a weak "meow~".

Mr. Benhart looked at it worriedly, and Shard wanted it to rest a little more, but the cat still struggled to speak:

"I know what you want to know.

The bad people and monsters originally in the sewers have moved to further sewers, places I can’t reach. They are using, using a very strange scale, to create those frightening monsters. But what you saw today was a defective product, the most powerful one escaped into a woman’s body. It’s really powerful; kind humans, be careful."

Although a ghost does not breathe, the weak cat was still gasping for breath. The light of the sunset completely penetrated its body now, even though it was once incredibly powerful, it had finally reached the end point in the living world:

"I actually don’t know much, but some among them can see me. Luckily, I’m more familiar with the environment of the sewer. I, I once saw them discussing what supposedly are sentences left by ancient women. I know it’s important, kind humans, you might like this sentence: The dragon is not important, justice is important, the sword bearer also wields justice."

This sentence, possibly a "Fragment of Poem Chapter," when relayed by the black cat, immediately evoked more thoughts in Shard. And upon finishing these words, the black cat seemed to have expended all its energy.

Turning its back to the dock and looking towards the sea, the sun was half-sunk on the distant horizon. The black cat’s body was becoming transparent, the once exceptionally strong Wraith Spirit, having exhausted its soul power to heal its former master, had finally reached its end in the living world.

It lay in Shard’s arms, and together with the cat and the Outlander, they looked at the half-sunken sun.

Before disappearing, the cat was still mumbling to itself:

"In the end, I still didn’t see Mom coming to pick me up."

Shard’s breathing suddenly changed, he bent down and placed the black cat beside Mr. Benhart on the pier, and then, under the puzzled eyes of the Blood Seed and the cat, he stepped off the pier, his feet stepping onto the sea.

The pier under the sunset was still a busy time, Shard did not activate any Illusion Technique, but no one had looked this way yet. Mr. Benhart and the cat didn’t know what Shard was up to, they just watched as he walked ten steps along the sea, then stopped and turned, facing them with his back to the half-sunken sun, and spread his arms.

In Mr. Benhart’s terrified gaze, a pitch-black rift appeared out of nowhere in front of Shard. The instinct of the living made him step back, while the instinct of the deceased made the weak cat take two steps forward, to the edge of the pier.

The crack expanded, revealing a silent mudflat and a calm black water surface, and at the end of that black water surface was a huge silver moon half-sunken into the water.

Somehow, the scene behind the rift seemed to resonate with the scene the Spellcasters were in reality. Clearly afraid of the scene beyond the rift, Mr. Benhart was instinctively drawn to it.

Then, the rift seemed to expand, but also seemed to contract. The calm black water area merged with the real sea surface, and the half-sunken silver moon also seemed to fuse with the half-sunken sun in reality.