"Lan Chiyu, come back."
With Gu Yuan's call, my body suddenly trembled, as if my soul that had left my body was pulled back.
I gasped for air, feeling as if I had just been on a roller coaster. The intense sense of weightlessness was so uncomfortable that it was suffocating.
"Ah, I'm so scared." I buried my head in Gu Yuan's arms, almost crying.
Seeing how scared I was, Gu Yuan gently stroked my hair to comfort me.
"It's okay. I'm here. Nothing will happen."
I nestled in his arms and glanced down at my phone. The call had already ended.
"What just happened?" I asked Gu Yuan.
Gu Yuan gently patted my shoulder and said, "It's okay. A little kitten just wanted to find a friend."
A little kitten wanted to find a friend? Gu Yuan said it so casually. Was it really that simple?
"Is Li Xue going to be okay?" I asked worriedly.
Gu Yuan didn't answer my question. Instead, he told me to go to sleep obediently and that we would talk about things tomorrow.
As soon as he finished speaking, I felt sleepy. Vaguely, I saw Gu Yuan get out of bed. I really couldn't keep my eyes open, and soon I fell into a deep sleep.
...
Suddenly, a ray of sunlight shone on my eyes. I kicked my feet and thought of Li Xue. I sat up abruptly. It was already broad daylight.
I glanced to the side. As expected, Gu Yuan wasn't there. I quickly put on my clothes and ran out of the room.
I saw Gu Yuan sitting on the sofa looking at his phone.
"Why are you here?" I asked.
"I knew you'd be anxious. Go wash up quickly. We're going to your school." Gu Yuan said calmly.
I responded and after washing up, I drove to school without even having time to eat breakfast.
I called Yan Lin in the car. To be honest, I was a bit scared to hold the phone, afraid that the voice on the other end wouldn't be Yan Lin's.
"Hello? Lan Lan, what's up?" As soon as the voice came out, my heart skipped a beat.
It was Li Xue's voice.
"Li Xue? Why do you have Yan Lin's phone?" I asked.
Li Xue replied, "She's still sleeping. When I saw it was your call, I answered it for her."
"Where's your phone?" I asked.
"I lent my phone to Yan Lin yesterday, and she didn't give it back to me. Wait a sec. I'll get her to answer the phone."
"Tell her not to wake Yan Lin up." Gu Yuan suddenly said.
"Never mind. Don't wake her up. I'll be back at the dorm soon." I was starting to worry about Yan Lin. I didn't know what was wrong with her.
"Okay. Then I'll go back to sleep. I didn't sleep well at all last night. I couldn't even get up this morning."
After hanging up the phone, Gu Yuan stepped on the gas pedal. The car sped through the road like a cheetah.
The journey that usually took forty minutes only took twenty minutes.
"Gu Yuan, tell me the truth. What exactly happened last night?"
I wasn't a fool. His casual words last night were probably because he was afraid I'd be worried and scared.
"The Blood Pact of the Spiritual Cat. Your friend is playing with fire. If it's not dealt with in time, she won't live for more than three days."
"Ah? Could it be that the one who talked to me last night was really a cat?"
Recalling the cat's voice, I couldn't help but shiver. That voice was like someone pinching a cat's neck, with a kind of magic. One word could pull a person's soul out.
"What did that cat call me for? It almost made me lose my soul." I asked puzzledly.
"I'm afraid it was eyeing your body." Gu Yuan said.
"Ah? Eyeing my body? Am I that charming?"
Gu Yuan was completely defeated by me. He added, "It's your yin bones that are causing this."
I smiled awkwardly and said, "I know. I just didn't want you to worry about me."
"I thought you'd be very anxious, so I didn't tell you directly last night." Gu Yuan said while driving.
I gave him a determined look: "With you here, I have nothing to worry about."
Gu Yuan didn't say a word. He reached out a hand and firmly held mine.
"What does the Blood Pact of the Spiritual Cat mean? Did a person make some kind of agreement with a cat?"
"More or less. Your friend must have exchanged something with the spiritual cat."
I didn't say a word. I tightly squeezed Gu Yuan's hand.
"I'll only know the specific situation after I see your classmate."
After arriving at school, Gu Yuan waved his arm and concealed his figure. This way, when I took him to my dorm, no one would notice.
I pushed open the door of the dorm. Li Xue was having breakfast.
"Lan Lan, perfect timing. Want some breakfast?"
I forced a smile and glanced at Yan Lin's bed. Sure enough, she was still lying in bed.
"Li Xue, I want to tell you something. Don't be scared."
Seeing me being so mysterious, Li Xue swallowed the noodles in her mouth and said, "What? Is there anything that can scare me? I listened to the cat meowing all night last night and I wasn't scared. Is there anything else that can scare me?"
Gu Yuan said beside me, "The meowing last night should have been made by Yan Lin."
The more he said, the more worried I became. Now I was standing in the middle of the dorm, not knowing what to do.
"What should I do now?" I asked in a low voice.
Seeing me acting so strangely, Li Xue put down her chopsticks and scanned the area. She quietly stood up, looking a bit scared.
She whispered to me, "Don't scare me. Did you see something unclean?"
I pointed at Yan Lin lying in bed and said, "Was she normal last night?"
"Nothing unusual. She just said her head hurt yesterday and went to bed early. She still hasn't woken up."
"The meowing last night was made by Yan Lin."
Hearing this, Li Xue almost spat out the food in her mouth. Her face turned bright red. I quickly stepped forward to support her and made her sit on the chair.
"Go and check on Yan Lin. See if there's anything strange about her."
Gu Yuan took out two square pieces of yellow paper, bit his index finger, drew a talisman on the yellow paper, and handed it to me.
"No matter what you see, cover her face with the yellow paper, put clothes on her, and then I'll get her down."
I looked up at Yan Lin lying flat on the upper bunk. I still couldn't see her face at the moment. Her black hair was scattered down a bit along the railing of the upper bunk.
A thin quilt was wrapped around her body. She probably wasn't wearing a top. Since it was a girls' dormitory, there were no taboos. We basically just wore a pair of underwear to sleep.
No wonder Gu Yuan didn't go up.
I stood still for a moment. To be honest, I was really worried. I was worried that when I went up, I'd touch a cold corpse. I was worried that Yan Lin was dead.
But with Gu Yuan beside me, even if he asked me to carry a zombie now, I'd do it without hesitation.
I steeled myself. As I climbed up the ladder along the handrail, I didn't know what was on the ladder. My foot slipped, and my face happened to stick to Yan Lin's.
I felt a puff of white smoke from my nose being inhaled by her.
Gu Yuan shouted, "Be careful. Hold your breath."
But it was already too late.