Chapter 6: The Bizarre Human-Faced Cat (4) Part One

  "This beast's sense of smell is extremely keen, able to detect the stench of rotting flesh tens of miles away. Therefore, it often appears during grave relocation. Due to its face resembling a human face and frequently lurking in chaotic burial grounds, what's most astonishing is that when it attacks humans, it first targets the facial area, tearing off the entire skin with brute force. As a result, people who encounter this monster for the first time often assume it eats human faces, only later realizing its true form. This monster has accumulated an excessive amount of dark toxins on its body due to feeding on rotting flesh for extended periods. Once bitten by this creature, the wound will rapidly fester and rot, causing unbearable suffering until death."

  "Of course, there is another cat-faced person!"

  I exchanged a glance with Du Wei, then stared at the old man in surprise. So, people-faced cats are different too?

  The old man's eyes revealed a few strands of whiskers, and with that "paw" he gently rubbed the few hairs under his mouth. Note that I said a few hairs, not exaggerating, counting carefully there were only a dozen or so hairs, yet it gave him a somewhat dignified appearance.

  "Just now I didn't finish my words, the human-faced cat is a creature that likes to live in shade, it only gives birth to one egg in its lifetime, which is black and hard as a rock. Just like your egg, this egg is said to have the effect of warding off evil spirits, ordinary evil spirits do not dare to approach easily. The introduction of this egg has been around since ancient times, but the human-faced cat's egg is rare and hard to find, often it can't be bought even with a thousand pieces of gold."

  "There is a kind of cat with a human face that has been domesticated. It's said that domesticating a cat with a human face is an extremely difficult thing, and there's only one way to do it: by personally incubating the egg. Although this cat with a human face is extremely poisonous, it is also extremely loyal to its master. Once it recognizes its owner, it will follow them for life until the owner dies, after which it will hide underground. I just mentioned that the eggs of cats with human faces are rare and hard to come by, but incubating these eggs is even more mysterious. Some people have eggs in their hands, but they still haven't seen them hatch, and I'm not clear on the reason why."

  "Are there still so many rules?" I looked at him in confusion, and a sense of vigilance arose in my heart towards this strangely dressed old man. Who was he, and how did he know so much about the human-faced cat?

  "The egg in your hand has started hatching!" The old man said slowly as he stared at me intently.

  As soon as he uttered these careless words, I almost fainted, and hastily took out the egg from my pocket, holding it like a live grenade, and threw it to the ground.

  "What are you doing, you little scamp?" the old man said, picking up the egg and examining it carefully under the fluorescent light. Finally, he let out a long sigh and bellowed, "You young whippersnapper, this egg has already started to hatch! Once it starts hatching, it becomes extremely fragile. You almost smashed it to pieces with that throw!"

  "This... this... thing, if you like it, just keep it!" I said as I backed away, remembering the monster with a human face and cat body, my goosebumps rising suddenly.

  "Haha!" The old man burst out laughing, then rubbed his beard again and said, "If I had such great luck, this egg wouldn't be in your hands now!"

  His words made me even more stunned, could it be that he still has some connection with this egg? I took the egg and stared at the thin old man in front of me, carefully sizing him up from head to toe.

  "What on earth are you? How did you know so much about the Man-Faced Cat? What's the connection between this egg and you?" I asked all my questions in one breath.

  The old man hesitated and looked at me, then turned his head to look at the still struggling old scallion and said: "If it wasn't for my fault, maybe he wouldn't have become like this today. The egg in your hand is the first one I found!"

  As soon as the old man's words came out, Du Wei and I were shocked again. Is there still a story behind the old man that we don't know about?

  "My name is Ouyang Hong, and my ancestral home is in Sichuan. In our old hometown, the mountains are towering and majestic, with steep cliffs and hidden caves. The locals believe that the higher you go, the closer you get to the gods, which can preserve the body from decay and keep the soul intact. That's why many people chose to store their deceased loved ones in those caves, also known as hanging coffins. Another purpose of hanging coffins is to prevent grave robbery, as the terrain is extremely treacherous, making it difficult for ordinary people to approach. However, sending a coffin up there requires some skill. And my family has been making a living by setting up hanging coffins for generations." After a long pause, Old Man Ouyang finally opened his mouth.