Chapter 11

The calico cat hung upside down from the shower grab bar, tightly bound by black shoelaces. Its abdomen had been sliced open in a long, deep gash, exposing its internal organs; due to its frantic struggling, they were on the verge of spilling out. Blood dripped steadily, soaking the cat’s chin before splashing onto the aged, white-tiled floor.

It wailed piteously, though the sound was mostly muffled by the volume of the television, which had been turned up for that very purpose.

The male student likely had not expected anyone to barge in without permission. He hadn't had time to clean up the bathroom, and his blood-stained gloves lay discarded on the vanity.

Zhou Huaixia stared coldly at him, suspecting that the two dreams she had previously experienced were now manifesting in reality. "How many cats have you killed?"

After she had pushed open the bathroom door, the student had clearly panicked, frozen in place. "I don't know what you're talking about. The cat fell, and I was trying to save it."

Beside her, Lü Jin, who had already caught the scent of the thick, heavy stench of blood in the room, was horrified by Zhou Huaixia’s question. She immediately released the student and strode toward the bathroom. Upon seeing the sight inside, she finally realized what was happening and whipped around to roar, "You’re full of crap! We saw that cat perfectly fine on the first floor just a moment ago!"

Her voice was loud enough to drown out the television. The apartment door remained open, and the girl from across the hall had already been peering inside curiously. Just then, Professor Yang, who had heard Zhou Huaixia’s frantic knocking, was making his way upstairs.

Seeing someone else approaching, the girl from across the hall felt emboldened. She stepped inside and walked over to the bathroom to get a look. Upon seeing the scene, she couldn't help but gasp, though she quietly pulled out her phone to take photos.

Lü Jin scanned the room, grabbed a wooden chair from the living room, and rushed into the bathroom. She placed the chair near the wall's grab bar, took off her backpack, and rummaged through it for supplies. Using scissors, she cut the shoelaces. With one hand, she carefully cradled the cat and set it on the chair, moving it as little as possible.

"What is going on here?"

Professor Yang stood at the doorway, frowning as he looked at the young students confronting each other inside. He had heard the commotion and rushed up, fearing something had gone wrong.

"Professor," Zhou Huaixia said, "this man is a serial animal abuser."

Upon hearing this, Professor Yang immediately walked in. "Liu Wen, what is the meaning of this?"

The student was a graduate in the medical school. He and his advisor knew each other, so they would exchange greetings when they ran into each other in the building.

The student named Liu Wen denied it. "I don't know what she's talking about."

"The cat has been gutted and you still don't know what she's talking about?" The girl from across the hall stood in the bathroom, her expression full of rage. "Professor, come take a look for yourself."

Professor Yang frowned and walked to the bathroom door. He saw Lü Jin, wearing gloves, pouring saline onto sterile gauze. On the chair lay the cat, its fur matted with blood and its abdomen sliced open. With nimble hands, she wrapped and secured the damp gauze around the cat's belly.

"Liu Wen, did you do this?" Professor Yang asked, turning back in shock and anger.

Liu Wen’s mouth twitched. "I was just trying to practice surgical sutures."

Professor Yang stared at the student, his brow furrowed. "Liu Wen, I am a doctor too. Are you lying to me? You can practice sutures on silicone skin, or even pig's trotters or chicken. You’re using a live cat?"

Anxiety and guilt crossed Liu Wen’s face. He bowed deeply. "Professor Yang, I’m sorry. I was just impulsive and curious. This is the first and last time; I will never do it again."

Zhou Huaixia suddenly let out a cold laugh. "The first time? On September 22nd, around 1:15 PM, didn’t you kill a white cat with a black-tipped tail that you caught in the Bamboo Garden?"

Liu Wen, who had just straightened up, felt his pupils contract violently. The skin on his cheekbones trembled. "W-what?"

Those two dreams had not been from a first-person perspective, and Zhou Huaixia had not been sure if they were occurring in sync with reality, as had been the case with the senior student who hanged herself at the medical school. She had just been trying to bluff him, but seeing Liu Wen’s expression, she knew immediately.

"On September 22nd, at 10:17 PM, you put the dismembered cat parts in a black plastic bag, walked to the Fifth Avenue of the Second Library, opened manhole cover 013, and threw the pieces inside." Zhou Huaixia’s expression was icy as she stared at the hypocritically guilty Liu Wen. "Did you think that without surveillance, no one would ever find out?"

"I saw you," she said, pulling out her phone. "The video is in here."

Liu Wen’s stubbled lips trembled. His hands, hanging at his sides, clenched into fists. He stared fixedly at her phone, remaining silent.

"Did you realize that the Second Library and the Bamboo Garden had surveillance, so you couldn't find a chance to catch any more cats lately?" Zhou Huaixia coolly fabricated. "Because I’ve already turned the video over to the President's office and the security department, they’ve been watching you for a long time."

***

"Liu Wen, you are not a first-time offender; you are a serial cat killer," she continued.

Professor Yang and the girl from across the hall in the living room were stunned.

Professor Yang looked at Zhou Huaixia, then back at Liu Wen. "You..."

He had never imagined that this student, who usually seemed normal and even a bit shy, would be capable of such long-term behavior.

"What Bamboo Garden?" Lü Jin carefully carried the chair, bringing the cat out of the bathroom. Having only caught the gist of the conversation, she set the chair down and looked at Zhou Huaixia. In a flash of realization, she added, "Are you talking about that white cat with the black-tipped tail that I used to pet?"

Liu Wen’s face twitched violently, then settled into an eerie calm. He wore an indifferent expression. "So what? I’m under too much pressure and I just needed to vent."

He shrugged, seemingly relaxed. "Are you going to send me to jail? Killing a cat isn't illegal, is it?"

Liu Wen looked at the stunned expressions of the three people in the room and laughed out loud. "At worst, the school will give me some psychological counseling. Maybe I'll realize the severity of my actions then."

"Damn it!" Lü Jin was furious. She pointed a finger at Liu Wen. "I have connections! Don't talk about just the school—I’ll make sure you can’t survive in any hospital in S-City!"

"Xiao Lü, don't talk nonsense!" Professor Yang grabbed Lü Jin’s shoulder and glanced at the cat on the chair. "Get the cat to the animal hospital and find a vet to treat it immediately."

Some things could not be said openly.

After making a few calls on his phone, Professor Yang looked at the others. "Liu Wen, you cannot act like this. If you are under psychological pressure, you should seek treatment. Your advisor and counselor will be here shortly. You three shouldn't stay here any longer."

They couldn't just carry the chair to the animal hospital. Lü Jin borrowed a cutting board from the girl across the hall, wrapped it in a towel, and used it as a makeshift splint to keep the cat stable while they carried it.

When she finished and stepped out, Zhou Huaixia was still leaning against the stairwell wall, looking down at her phone. Lü Jin’s backpack sat at her feet.

Lü Jin carefully carried the cutting board, which now served as a surgical stretcher. "Zhou Huaixia, let’s go."

Zhou Huaixia bent down, picked up the backpack, and stopped at the door across the hall. She said to the girl, "Were you posting on the forum just now?"

The girl looked embarrassed. "You saw me."

Zhou Huaixia pulled out her phone. "I have a recording of Liu Wen admitting to his long-term abuse of cats. Do you want it?"

She had edited out the parts about the video, the surveillance, and the comments made by Lü Jin and Professor Yang.

"Yes!" The girl received the recording from Zhou Huaixia, then asked hesitantly, "Is this... all that will happen?"

Zhou Huaixia said with a hint of self-mockery, "Liu Wen was right. Even if he’s been killing cats for a long time, there’s not much that can be done to him."

She looked at the girl's phone. "I hope your post has some effect—at least enough to make the people at school keep an eye on him."

The two of them walked out of the staff dormitory building. The car they had called was waiting downstairs. Lü Jin and Zhou Huaixia carried the cutting board into the car and headed to the animal hospital.

...

The calico cat survived.

Because it was found in time and Lü Jin had provided first aid, the animal hospital’s vet was able to save it.

But the white cat that had been dismembered and thrown into the sewer—its remains could not even be recovered.

As for Liu Wen, just as he had predicted, the school arranged for psychological counseling and contacted his parents. Because multiple people had provided testimony, the school issued him a formal demerit according to their regulations.

That was all.

Only the forum was in an uproar.

The post made by the girl from across the hall—with its provocative title, content, and bloody photos, not to mention the depravity of Liu Wen’s actions—went viral across the campus almost overnight.

Everyone knew Liu Wen was a cat abuser and was dissatisfied with the school’s disciplinary outcome, but the only effective evidence was the photos the girl had taken of the blood-drenched calico cat in the bathroom.

That was as far as the school was willing to go.

"There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask," in Dorm 407, Lü Jin turned her chair to look at Zhou Huaixia, who was slumped over her desk with her hands hanging at her sides, eyes closed. "How did you know Liu Wen had caught that calico cat? We were together the whole time."

"I dreamt it," Zhou Huaixia replied.

"I’m asking you seriously," Lü Jin said.

Zhou Huaixia didn’t even flutter an eyelid, as if she were fast asleep.

Lü Jin asked, "Did you really see Liu Wen throw the white cat into the sewer?"

"Yes."

"I don't believe you," Lü Jin adjusted her glasses. "You sent the recording to the girl across the hall, but not the video, and you cut out that part about submitting it to the President's office and security."

She concluded, "You definitely weren't at the scene."

Zhou Huaixia remained silent.

Lü Jin continued, "It’s strange. You were able to pinpoint the exact time Liu Wen killed the white cat. I suspected you had installed micro-cameras on the stray cats, but you couldn't produce any footage, and Liu Wen never found any, which means there were no cameras."

She asked again, "Zhou Huaixia, how exactly did you do it?"

Zhou Huaixia still had her face pressed to the desk, only her mouth moving. "You actually believe the time I made up on the fly when he returned to the dorms?"

Lü Jin looked down at her phone’s call logs. "That’s not right. On September 22nd, at 10:20 PM, you called me for no reason. When the library closed at 11:00, what were you and the security guard doing at the entrance?"

The more she thought about it, the more contradictions she found.

"Yeah," Zhou Huaixia’s eyelids flickered. "That was when I saw him throwing the cat. I wanted to see what was in the manhole, but the security guard caught me."

Lü Jin still had a vague feeling that something was wrong. "I think you’re lying to me."

Zhou Huaixia opened her eyes, slowly sat up, turned around, and pointed two fingers at her own eyes, then pointed at Lü Jin. "I have a special ability. I can see all evil."

Lü Jin replied with a blank expression, "Ha, ha."

Zhou Huaixia raised an eyebrow and said nothing more. She leaned back in her chair and opened Weibo to pass the time.

Her gaze landed on the top trending topic. She paused, tapped on it to read for a moment, and then slowly stood up. "Liu Wen is, at the very least, going to be expelled."