Chapter Forty-Three: Vanished
Page 1 of 3
Maomao stood atop a high-rise apartment building, his blood-red eyes gazing down from more than a hundred meters above, surveying the Pegasus Pet Hospital below.
The hospital’s winged horse emblem glowed softly in the night.
On Maomao’s back, the spread of human fingers resembled wings, but they were an eerie and terrifying parody, utterly different from Pegasus’s graceful image.
He tilted his head back, crouched low on all fours, and leapt as if airborne, tracing an arc through the darkness. His long tail, trailing countless sharp bird beaks, swept through the night sky with him.
Maomao landed silently within the residential complex near the pet hospital, darting noiselessly between the apartment blocks. He moved like a whirlwind—one might only catch a fleeting shadow sweeping across the asphalt before vanishing into the undergrowth.
...
The doctor leaned against a tree trunk, his phone held sideways in his hand.
A video was playing.
On screen, a gaunt, pain-ridden grey cat crawled laboriously across the ground. The background music wept and pleaded, and elegant handwritten words appeared:
[Maomao knows he is dying of illness. His only wish is for Lu Meimei not to grieve so much.
He doesn’t want Lu Meimei to witness his death.
He struggles free from her embrace, wanting to escape, farther and farther away…]
The sick cat on screen dragged itself beneath the yellow glow of a streetlamp, inching into the darkness of the shrubbery.
[If I die here, perhaps no one will find me.
I hope Lu Meimei never sees me dead, never cries for me again.]
The words faded, and in their place, ink-like stains blossomed across the video—a montage of Maomao’s memories, the fragments of his days with Lu Meimei.
The ink spread like tears, falling beside Maomao.
The music vanished, replaced by a faint, crystalline cry from the video: “Cat—cat—”
Maomao’s emerald eyes dulled, and just as they were about to close, they snapped open.
The doctor’s cerulean eyes watched the phone intently. Amid his ten fingernails, laughter and weeping rose together.
...
Maomao crushed the branches beneath him, landing on the asphalt inside the complex.
His blood-red eyes reflected the looming darkness of the apartment block ahead.
A wave of disappointment rose within him.
The grove was gone.
The strange man in the white coat had vanished too.
He still remembered the man’s deep blue eyes—eyes more terrifying than the night sky, the deep sea, the universe, more fearsome than the monsters in the films Lu Meimei had shown him, and yet more beautiful than all those dreamlike scenes combined.
In that instant, he seemed to see the gentleness in Lu Meimei’s gaze.
...
The moment those green feline eyes opened, they burned with a desperate will to live.
Elegant handwriting appeared once more, this time bold and powerful:
[How he longed to keep living with Lu Meimei.
He couldn’t leave her alone…
She only had herself…
From the moment they met, that young girl had been utterly alone—no family, no friends, seeking warmth only from this cat.
If even he were to leave…]
“Meow…” A faint, almost imperceptible cry.
Yet that mewl seemed to summon sunlight.
In the video, a beam of light appeared before the sick, weary cat.
He struggled forward, crawling.
Emerging from the shrubbery, his body bathed in sunlight, the world before him suddenly clear.
The video seemed to shift with special effects: Maomao crawled all night, darkness giving way to day; it was as if he passed through a dream, entering another realm.
Before Maomao stood a tree, its roots twisted and gnarled, entwining to form a hollow—a filthy cat’s nest.
Maomao dragged himself forward, his paw hooking onto the nest.
Rustle… rustle…
The sound of footsteps on fallen leaves could be heard from the video.
A figure’s shadow fell over Maomao.
He lifted his head, gazing hopefully at the person by the tree.
His green eyes shimmered with almost overflowing light.
The doctor, holding his phone, pressed the exit key and put it away. The noisy fingernails fell silent.
His cerulean gaze shifted forward, and suddenly, he began to hum.
The fingernails joined in chorus.
The song was gentle, entirely free of sorrow.
...
Maomao remembered the blue-eyed man giving him an injection. He didn’t know what medicine had entered his body, but he knew he’d changed. Not only was the sickness gone, but he had gained something neither feline nor human.
He survived, staying by Lu Meimei’s side. Over time, she made friends, found love.
Though she had few friends, though she fell in love for the first time at almost thirty, she was no longer alone.
And he was a nineteen-year-old cat—his life nearly spent, his body at its limit.
Those things within him, not feline, not human, the things that kept him healthy, began to stir with his aging.
He heard strange sounds inside himself.
Something churned behind Maomao’s crimson eyes. The fingers on his back writhed, the bird beaks at his tail opened, letting out a hoarse, grating cry.
Maomao suddenly reared up, his mouth—propped open by four fangs—spilling forth finger after finger.
More than three joints each, endlessly linked, the fingers grew impossibly long, bending and twisting with unnatural grace, dancing through the air like ribbons.
Suddenly, all the fingers pointed as one.
Maomao twisted his head, the fingers retreated into his mouth. He pushed off with all fours, racing away at impossible speed.
...
Page 2 of 3
Shengyao pushed open the glass door of the Monster Clinic.
He took two steps outside before realizing he’d forgotten to ask the doctor about Bai Xiao’s condition.
He didn’t know why the doctor was keeping Bai Xiao at the clinic, what tests were being done every day.
It seemed no tests at all had been performed…
He thought of the folders clipped with patient names and medical records.
He’d ask the doctor tomorrow. If he could see Bai Xiao’s records himself, even better.
With this decided, a chill crept up his spine, every cell and nerve taut with tension.
Shengyao stopped, not looking back, focusing all his senses behind him.
Suddenly, he caught a faint sound. Instinctively, his body snapped tight, and with a forward leap and roll, he landed crouched, back arched like a panther about to strike, staring at the spot where he’d just stood.
A gust of wind like a cannonball struck the sidewalk.
He felt the ground tremble.
Before him, a colossal shadow loomed, two eyes like rubies embedded within.
Those eyes, larger than a human head and red as blood, reflected Shengyao’s poised, battle-ready form.
Sweat beaded on his brow.
His agility, his wariness, seemed laughable before this monster. Its fangs alone towered above a man; its body stretched over five meters, and behind it, a tail longer than a giant anaconda, raised high like a threatening rattlesnake. Around the tail, sharp bird beaks jutted, making it all the more menacing. Before the tail, enormous fingers splayed wide—their grotesqueness more chilling than the tail itself.
The beast’s gaping maw was nearly pressed against Shengyao’s face. The gap between those fangs could easily swallow him whole.
At such close range, Shengyao saw what lay deep in that cavernous mouth—things like sea anemones—human fingers.
Why were human fingers in the beast’s mouth? Had it devoured people…
Wild thoughts flashed through his mind, then snapped to a halt.
For those anemone-fingers extended from the monster’s mouth.
They flicked out like serpents’ tongues, sweeping across Shengyao’s face.
In that instant, he felt countless fingers caress his skin.
Goosebumps rose, his body frozen, not daring to move.
The creature suddenly stepped back, its massive frame illuminated by the clinic’s interior lights.
He finally saw the cat’s face, the cat’s claws.
“Maomao?” Shengyao asked cautiously, comparing the monster before him to the mutated Maomao he’d once seen.
Maomao showed no response. He turned, staring straight at the Monster Clinic.
The glass door was pitifully small before his enormous body.
Shengyao’s heart leapt into his throat.
Bai Xiao was still inside…
That thought had barely surfaced when he straightened and charged at the monster.
Yet Maomao’s body moved like water, surging into the clinic faster than Shengyao could react.
The glass door did not shatter.
Maomao slipped through as if plunging into a pond, leaving only a ripple on the surface.
Shengyao was a step too slow. His fingers brushed Maomao’s hard tail, a bird beak scraping his palm like a hook. His reddened hand smacked against an even harder wall.
Bang!
His arm went numb.
The fluorescent lights vanished.
The entire street was plunged into darkness, only the moon above casting a faint silver veil over all.
Shengyao stared in disbelief at the wall before him.
He pressed his aching, tingling hand to it, then stepped back and looked up.
The Monster Clinic’s tacky, flickering neon sign was gone. The sign now read “Neighbor Realty” in bold letters. Beside the realty office stood the community wall, and taking a single step revealed the neighborhood’s unity and goodwill murals.
Shengyao let out a bitter laugh, patting the wall, knocking on it with all his might.
No secret hinges, no illusions.
It was just a wall.
He dug into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and dialed Bai Xiao.
Ring… ring…
Only the endless busy tone.
“Damn!” He cursed, slamming his fist against the wall.
Eyes burning, he clutched his hair with reddened fingers.
The phone fell to the ground, bouncing twice before coming to rest.
In the silent night, only Shengyao’s breath remained.
For a moment, he was dazed.
What was that just now? Was that Maomao? Had Maomao become a monster?
Why had the clinic vanished?
Monster, clinic, doctor, Bai Xiao… were any of them real?
A sudden panic seized him.
He remembered handling his father-in-law’s funeral, leaving the community… but he hadn’t exited from the west gate, hadn’t passed by the west gate at all.
He’d seen the Monster Clinic’s sign across the street as he crossed the road.
Where exactly had he gone?
Had he really visited the Monster Clinic Boss Le had recommended?
And Bai Xiao…
The Bai Xiao he’d met, the Bai Xiao he’d begged the doctor to revive…
He remembered carrying Bai Xiao away from the cemetery, not far before he saw… it was outside the graveyard, in the wilds beyond, that he saw… the Monster Clinic…
Were these things real?
Could the dead truly return to life?
Page 3 of 3
Shengyao hung his head, his blurry gaze falling on a dent in the sidewalk.
The spot where he stood looked as if a truck had rolled over it, the paving stones slightly sunken.
On impulse, he reached down and ran his hand over the ground.
That was where Maomao had landed…
He sprang up and darted to the realty office.
Through the dim glass, he saw listings for homes for sale and rent.
And in the reflection, he saw himself—young, just nineteen.
It was all real.
Every bit of it was real!
And the missing clinic, surely…
He whipped around, took three strides, and snatched up his phone from the ground, scrolling through his contacts and dialing Boss Le.
The call connected swiftly.
Boss Le barely had time to say “Hello?” before Shengyao cut in.
“Where is that Monster Clinic?” he panted. “What’s the address?”
As he spoke, he glanced at the realty office’s street number.
Boss Le sounded puzzled, “I never really paid attention… It’s right by my shop, turn right and go halfway round, next to a realty office…”
From the Little Angel Pet Shop, turn right and loop halfway round, which brings you to the west gate of his father-in-law’s complex. Next to the realty office…
Shengyao pressed a palm to the wall, closed his eyes. “I know. Thanks. I’ll hang up now.”
He ended the call, then dialed Liu Yu.
Liu Yu’s number, he’d never called before. But after reading Liu Yu’s medical file, he’d memorized it.
Ring… ring…
Those few seconds felt endless to Shengyao.
He didn’t know what had happened to Maomao, what would happen to Maomao inside the Monster Clinic, whether Bai Xiao was safe…
He shouldn’t have waited so long with Maomao.
Lu Meimei hadn’t refused his visit outright; she’d just hesitated, busy caring for the kittens, and so he hadn’t insisted.
He’d spent more time with Bai Xiao.
Their regained time together was precious beyond measure.
But what if Bai Xiao died again because of his mistake?
He knew, he knew—the doctor was strange; the medicine injected into patients was suspicious…
Ring…
“Hello?” Liu Yu’s puzzled voice came through.
“That Monster Clinic, the one you went to—where is it?” Shengyao asked urgently. “After you left the convenience store that day, which way did you go?”
Liu Yu paused.
“Please, this is important, think carefully—after leaving the shop that day, how did you get there? Was it the way I said? Out the door, turn right, right again at the intersection, walk ten or so minutes…” Shengyao pressed.
He heard the scrape of a chair through the phone.
Liu Yu must have covered the phone, but Shengyao still caught his muffled voice.
“Sorry, let me take this call.”
Young voices, male and female, replied, “No problem.”
Shengyao held his breath.
Liu Yu’s footsteps faded, then stopped.
“You’re the guy I met at the convenience store, right? You even visited my complex a while back,” Liu Yu said calmly.
Shengyao’s heart skipped a beat.
He realized he’d been exposed, but there was no time to care. Maomao had become a monster and stormed the clinic, and Bai Xiao had vanished with it. All he could do was hope Liu Yu would vent his anger and answer him.
He exhaled, ready to plead.
“I wanted to tell you last time. You came to see me for a reason, didn’t you?” Liu Yu asked.
Shengyao admitted helplessly, “Yes. The clinic you went to…”
“After you left that day, I was still out of sorts, but I remembered what you said. I didn’t follow your directions to the Monster Clinic, but on my way home, I saw it,” Liu Yu said calmly. “A lot happened after that. When I figured things out, I went looking for the clinic again. After all, I never paid my bill. Ha…”
He laughed softly, then sighed, “But when I went back, the clinic was gone. I even checked the convenience store across from the bus station and walked the route you described. I never saw the clinic again—day or night.”
Shengyao’s heart sank.
“Sorry, I can’t help you. That place… maybe it’s like a fairyland—once you leave, you can’t go back.”
He wanted to correct himself—the Monster Clinic was nothing like a paradise. It had given him a new life, but it was also deeply unsettling.
Suddenly, a head with a messy topknot popped up in front of Liu Yu.
“Hurry up,” the young woman mouthed, hands pressed to the wall. She wore no makeup, her lips pale, her eyes ringed with huge dark circles.
Liu Yu smiled, nodded, watched her duck away, then apologized into the phone, “Sorry, I just started a new job, lots of overtime lately. Can it wait a bit? I’m free all Sunday. We can look for the clinic together. Two pairs of eyes are better than one.”
He could hear the other man’s urgency, but searching for that elusive clinic couldn’t be rushed. Perhaps in a whole lifetime, they’d never find it again.
After all, it was miracle enough to encounter such a wonder once in a life—twice would be asking too much.
Liu Yu had made his peace with it. He hoped the other would too.
“I understand. Thank you,” Shengyao replied, his hand trembling.
Boss Le could visit the clinic regularly. Shengyao himself had gone often to see Bai Xiao. It couldn’t be as Liu Yu described.
It must be because of Maomao.
It was Maomao’s intrusion that made the clinic vanish.
Shengyao hung up, opened his chat with Lu Meimei, and pressed her profile picture.