43: Mutation

When they left school, the setting sun was softening at a visible pace, painting the sky in a warm orange hue, but it was clearly still some time before nightfall. The distinctive, slightly noisy sound of books being packed away before evening self-study had already begun to drift from the high school teaching building.

Liu Yuqin's emotions had calmed down significantly, but a lingering trace of exhaustion and worry still remained between her brows. Lu Jianchuan stood with her under an old scholar tree not far outside the school gate.

"Xiaochuan, today... I really have to thank you." Liu Yuqin looked toward the school gate, her voice a bit raspy. "If it weren't for you, the two of us really wouldn't know what to do... It's just... will revealing your identity have an impact on you?"

"Auntie, don't worry." Lu Jianchuan's tone was steady as he gave her a reassuring look. "Everything I did was within the rules. Protecting children and clarifying the facts is my responsibility in the first place. Now that Uncle Li is gone, it's only natural that I should take care of these things."

He didn't say much, but his words carried a convincing power. Liu Yuqin nodded and turned her gaze back to the school entrance, waiting silently.

The school bell finally rang clearly, like a gate opening, and students poured out like a tide. Amidst the bustling crowd, they soon spotted Li Zhe. He carried a heavy backpack, but his pace wasn't as hurried as the other students; instead, he made a point of stopping as he passed the flowerbed inside the school gate.

Lu Jianchuan and Liu Yuqin both saw it—Li Zhe squatted down and pulled a small plastic bag from his backpack's side pocket, which seemed to contain cat food or bits of ham sausage. He carefully poured the food into a familiar, slightly worn plastic bowl by the flowerbed. Almost simultaneously, that plump Orange Cat emerged from some corner, affectionately rubbing against Li Zhe's pant leg before burying its head to focus on enjoying its "dinner."

The golden light of the setting sun spilled over the boy and the cat, outlining a quiet and warm silhouette. Li Zhe gently stroked the Orange Cat's round back before standing up, dusting off his hands, and turning to walk out of the school gate. As he crossed the road and reached Lu Jianchuan and his mother, although his face still bore a certain stillness from the recent turmoil, his eyes were no longer dim, but held a newfound firmness.

"Mom, Brother," he greeted them, his voice calm.

"Mm, let's go. Let's go home." Liu Yuqin reached out, wanting to help her son carry his backpack, but was gently brushed aside by Li Zhe.

"Mom, I'll do it myself."

The three of them walked side-by-side, merging into the bustling flow of people and vehicles at dusk. The school behind them gradually receded, while the road ahead extended into the depths of the city where the lights were just beginning to flicker on under the afterglow of the sunset.

A brief peace returned to the school entrance. That plump Orange Cat, having just finished the dinner Li Zhe provided, lay contentedly on the edge of the flowerbed. It washed its face with its paws, its round belly exposed to the cool air, looking completely defenseless and even possessing a hint of lazy arrogance.

Just then, three figures in tenth-grade school uniforms sauntered out from the shadows of the teaching building; it was the three bullies. The leader, the one with the Green Skin Head, had a bruise at the corner of his mouth that looked even more conspicuous in the sunset, and his eyes were full of resentment.

Hearing footsteps, the Orange Cat only lazily lifted an eyelid to glance over. Its long-term experience of being fed by the school's teachers and students had caused it to lose almost all basic wariness toward these two-legged beasts. Instead of hiding, it thought another "believer" had come to offer food or strokes, and even "graciously" rolled over on the ground, exposing its softer belly and letting out a long-drawn, slightly coquettish: "Meow—?"

It was waiting for the customary petting or another snack.

Green Skin Head squatted down, his face showing no sign of being charmed, only cold malice. He reached out, but instead of stroking the defenseless, soft belly, he flicked the Orange Cat's fragile ear hard with his fingernail!

"Meow-ow—!!!"

The sharp pain and the gap from its expectations caused the Orange Cat to let out a shrill scream. It suddenly sprang up from the ground, its fur instantly bristling like a startled orange hedgehog. It scrambled into a corner of the flowerbed, body low; its previously gentle round eyes were now wide, pupils narrowed into thin slits as it glared at the malicious humans before it, letting out a threatening and fearful "Hiss—hiss—" from deep in its throat.

Trust was shattered in an instant, leaving only the most primal fear and self-defense.

"Fuck, this fat thing really knows how to put on an act," Green Skin Head spat, standing up and looking coldly in the direction where Lu Jianchuan and the others had left.

"Boss," the Skinny Follower approached, his eyes gleaming with bad intentions, "Doesn't that kid Li Zhe treasure this fat cat? How about we... find a way to 'deal' with it? When he finds out his 'good friend' is gone tomorrow, hehe... he's bound to cry! It'll definitely hurt him more than it fucking did in the office today!"

Green Skin Head stared at the Orange Cat, which was shivering with fear and constantly hissing in the corner, and his mouth slowly curled into a hideously twisted grin.

"Fine," he squeezed out a word through his teeth with cruel satisfaction. "Let's kill it. Make him cry."

Dusk deepened, and cold malice flooded this small corner like a cold wave. The creature that had once greeted humans with trust and coquettishness now huddled there, an innocent victim of revenge.

"Find some tools!" Green Skin Head ordered with a smirk.

The Sturdy Follower immediately ran to a nearby pile of construction waste and picked up half a rough red brick. The Skinny Follower pulled a multi-functional folding knife from his pocket and flicked out the gleaming blade.

"Meow—hiss!!" The Orange Cat felt the lethal threat. It arched its back and let out its most shrill warning, attempting to squeeze through a gap in the flowerbed to escape.

"Want to run?" Green Skin Head kicked the side of the flowerbed, blocking its path.

The Sturdy Follower raised the brick and smashed it hard toward the cat! By animal instinct, the Orange Cat leaped to the side; the brick grazed its hind leg and smashed into the ground, sending debris flying. But at the same time, the Skinny Follower's knife slashed over; although it didn't pierce the body, it sliced off a small tuft of Orange Cat fur.

Fear and intense pain completely triggered its ferocity. Screaming, it used its relatively small size to its advantage and suddenly lunged forward, claws extending, and scratched hard across the back of the Skinny Follower's hand before he could pull it back!

"Ah—! My hand!" The Skinny Follower screamed in pain as several bloody gashes instantly appeared on the back of his hand, and the folding knife clattered to the ground.

"Useless!" Green Skin Head cursed. He stepped forward himself, found his opening, and kicked the Orange Cat hard in the abdomen with his hard-soled sneaker!

"Wooo-ow—!"

A dull, heart-wrenching wail. The Orange Cat was sent flying a short distance, slamming heavily against the concrete edge of the flowerbed before rolling to the ground. It struggled to crawl up, but its hind limbs seemed unable to exert force; it could only drag its body, letting out weak and painful whimpers. Blood foam seeped from the corners of its mouth, and in those round eyes, the life force was rapidly fading.

"Damn, it's pretty tough." Green Skin Head spat, looking at the dying cat on the ground and feeling it was enough. "Alright, that's enough to make that kid cry all night. Let's go!"

With a twisted sense of satisfaction after their venting, the three of them turned away grumbling, their figures merging into the dim twilight and disappearing into the depths of the campus.

They didn't look back.

Less than a minute after they left, the corner shrouded in cruelty fell into a dead silence. Only the Orange Cat's weak, intermittent gasps proved that life had not yet completely departed.

However, at this limit of death, at the moment when the unspeakable agony and survival instinct reached their peak—

The mutation began.

The Orange Cat's pupils, which had been gradually dilating due to blood loss and intense pain, suddenly contracted and then dilated sharply. A faint, yet definitely unnatural, murky yellow light flashed in the deepest part of its eyes.

Its plump body, lying limp on the ground, seemed to twitch very slightly. It was as if countless tiny electrical currents were coursing under its skin, or like some ancient switch that had been dormant for hundreds of millions of years was being forced open a crack by the act of violence at the threshold of life and death.

Evolution, that ancient spark following the coldest "survival first" Law, was ignited within this small, nearly broken body.