Cat 122: Hanging on the Wall

Chapter 122 Hanging on the Wall

Yan Jiyun was telling the truth: ever since he was a month-old kitten, his hearing had been excellent. Not a word of a lie.

Qi Feng and Chu Mo had already discovered his keen hearing back in the Demon Forest, but even so, they didn’t expect it to be this extraordinary—he could catch sounds from afar without so much as pressing his ear to the ground.

With years in the game, they’d seen all manner of marvels and oddities, so this was hardly astonishing. Their earlier reaction was mere instinct, not real curiosity.

The three of them had gained a ritual array in the sanctuary, but the sound of the guards’ horses was getting ever closer. With no other way out, they could only retreat again to the church roof.

They had assumed the church was the way out, but all they’d found was a magic circle on the floor, with no clear way to activate it.

This was medieval arcana—Yan Jiyun truly had no idea how to trigger an array.

Still, he noticed that Qi Feng’s sketch of the array was strikingly accurate.

When they finally huffed and puffed their way back to the upper story, they realized the three dragons were no longer on the roof—they’d taken to the skies and were fighting above.

No wonder the guards had found them; so much commotion could hardly go unnoticed.

Dragons were hardly easy to control. Without transportation, their escape was impossible.

So it seemed. Clearly, fate demanded another solution—perhaps the array really was the key.

Chu Mo said, “Looks like hitching a ride out of here isn’t an option. Let’s draw the array ourselves.”

Qi Feng swiftly completed the last details in his notebook and handed it to Chu Mo. “Here.”

Chu Mo pushed it right back. “I meant you should draw it.”

Yan Jiyun nodded as well. He trusted Qi Feng to recreate the array faithfully. Yan Jiyun’s memory was good, but his drawing not so much.

Qi Feng fished several colored chalks from his pocket.

Yan Jiyun was a bit amazed. “Just what don’t you have in those pockets?”

Qi Feng, full of energy, set to work. “Picked them up—sometimes you need to mark things.”

After copying the ground floor’s array once, he had a good idea of how to draw it—even without needing the notebook except for occasional glances to check for accuracy. The rest, he filled in with smooth confidence.

Yan Jiyun leaned near the rooftop rail and gazed at the black and silver dragons still spewing fire at each other. The red dragon circled, trying to mediate, but to no avail.

He had to admit—teaming up with this “litter scooper” made tackling dungeons comfortable. When he went alone, he was always cautious to the point of paranoia.

But he also recognized that this could breed dependence and laziness, causing him to lose the ability to think independently—a terrible habit for a player. Moreover, he noticed that Qi Feng, knowing he was a newcomer, went out of his way to look after him. Qi Feng was good-natured; he himself was just too weak.

Chu Mo, meanwhile, was mumbling to himself as he calculated something about the passwords.

The mounted guards were only five hundred meters away now.

Yan Jiyun’s ears twitched. He alerted Qi Feng, “They’re almost here.”

Qi Feng continued drawing lines in his notebook. “Still about halfway. There are too many fine details—it isn’t easy.”

Yan Jiyun was unconcerned. “They’re probably targeting Lucifer and the others.”

Chu Mo, now beside Yan Jiyun, agreed. “Looks that way.”

But just as Qi Feng was nearly finished, he realized his chalk might run short.

Regretfully, he said, “I don’t think I’ll have enough to finish the array. Can one of you go find a charcoal stick? There might be some in the church kitchen.”

Yan Jiyun volunteered. “I’ll go.”

Chu Mo offered, “I’ll come with you.”

Yan Jiyun refused outright. “No need. I’ll be back quickly. You help Qi Feng keep an eye on those guards—they’re after more than just Lucifer, but also gladiators from the arena. With one more of you up here, the array’s that much safer.”

His experience card was almost out; he could turn into a cat to stretch his limbs, and he knew the kitchen’s scent. It would be quicker for him to go alone.

Chu Mo was a bit surprised. “You heard that too?”

Yan Jiyun turned and replied, “Just a guess.”

Qi Feng had expected Chu Mo to volunteer, but the newcomer beat him to it. As Yan Jiyun turned to go, Qi Feng had an ominous premonition. He shot a glance at Yan Jiyun’s retreating back, but in the end said nothing.

The church windows were overlaid with stained glass, blocking the sunlight and casting the stairs into darkness.

Yan Jiyun, reaching the next floor, relaxed and shifted back into a cat. Guided by the scent of bread, he headed to the kitchen.

By now, the guards were arriving at the church, intent mainly on capturing the three dragons. They carried plenty of rope and other restraints.

Yan Jiyun’s goal was to quickly find a charcoal stick and let Qi Feng finish the array so they could leave the Dragon Gate as soon as possible.

The aroma of fresh bread led him on.

In the kitchen, a plump cook stood with her back to Yan Jiyun, peering into the oven.

Yan Jiyun circled the kitchen but found no charcoal outside—the sticks were all piled in a corner inside.

As a human, he’d surely have been driven out by the cook, who’d think him a bread thief—she looked strong, and he doubted he’d do well in a brawl.

Spotting some bread on the table, Yan Jiyun thought up a plan: lure the cook away, then return for the charcoal.

The fresh loaves looked appealing. He hopped up and prodded one with his paw.

It was hard, not the pillowy sort he’d imagined—he half wondered if his teeth would survive a bite.

But the bread’s consistency was irrelevant. He picked a smaller loaf, clamped it in his jaws, then deliberately kicked over a small basin. The clatter got the cook’s attention.

She turned and spotted the black cat with the bread in its mouth, startled and stepping back. “Oh my heavens, where did this black cat come from? Give me back my bread!”

Yan Jiyun bolted, expecting her to chase him—but she didn’t.

What kind of NPC broke the rules like this?

He hid in a corner, listening to her mutter prayers. “Lord, I’ve seen an evil black cat—please drive it away, thank you, Lord! Please let it leave, it’s too scary!”

She clutched a wooden cross and prayed madly.

Yan Jiyun hadn’t expected an NPC to react like this—maybe the cook simply couldn’t run, or wisely realized she could never catch a cat, and decided not to bother.

One missing loaf wouldn’t ruin her work anyway.

Plan failed.

He needed a new way to get the cook out.

Meanwhile, Angel City’s guards had reached the church below.

Yan Jiyun tossed his loaf to a group of hungry stray tabbies outside. Back again, the cook was still at her oven.

This time, he decided to take a bigger loaf—surely this would force her to give chase.

He crept into the kitchen, batted aside the cover over the bread, picked a long loaf, and found it was softer this time.

He then deliberately toppled a salt jar.

Clang! Sure enough, the cook whirled.

“Oh my heavens, that cursed black cat is back! Out, out!”

She waved her cross at Yan Jiyun. “Lord, drive it away!”

Yan Jiyun held his ground. She dared not approach.

All right, he understood—the cook NPC was coded to fear cats.

Any other NPC would have chased him for hundreds of meters by now.

If she wouldn’t chase, he couldn’t get the charcoal. Unless—reverse the plan. Make her flee.

Yan Jiyun tossed down the loaf, bared his teeth, then circled just out of reach, slowly herding her toward the door.

Sure enough, the plump cook, brandishing a baguette, backed away. “Evil black cat, don’t come any closer!”

First time as the villain, and he played the role well, steadily forcing her out.

He even feigned a lunge, sending her shrieking and running down the hall.

He’d thought most game NPCs would be generic—never expected such variety. It was a brilliant touch, keeping players on their toes.

Only after she’d gone did Yan Jiyun revert to human form, wrap several charcoal sticks in a cloth, and hurry upstairs.

At the same time, some guards were approaching the main church building.

He took the stairway two at a time, slamming the doors on each floor behind him—there were no locks, but every bit of delay helped.

Upstairs again, Qi Feng was putting the finishing touches on the array, his pencil worn to its final nub.

Yan Jiyun handed him the charcoal sticks.

Chu Mo asked, “Didn’t you run into the guards? I saw them enter the church.”

Yan Jiyun replied honestly, “They’re coming up the stairs. I just shut the mid-stair doors, but they’re not locked—a brief delay at best.”

He and Chu Mo began barricading the rooftop door, to buy Qi Feng as much time as possible.

Qi Feng used up the last of his chalk and seamlessly switched to charcoal.

Who knew if the array would even work? But at least it was almost done—it wasn’t as large as the one below but still impressive.

There wasn’t much to block the door with, but they found a few boards to wedge it shut.

Yan Jiyun could hear the guards’ ascent growing near—so could Chu Mo.

They exchanged glances.

“All set?” Yan Jiyun pressed Qi Feng.

Qi Feng, bent over the array, drew one final line. “Just this last stroke—done!”

But nothing happened.

Yan Jiyun tried not to dampen his spirits. “No big reaction—maybe it needs a trigger?”

Chu Mo recalled, “I think some arrays need blood as a catalyst.”

Who would have guessed a side dungeon here would feature Western fantasy elements? They’d all been materialists before entering, never bothering to study magic.

Yan Jiyun was surprised by the idea of drawing blood—a very real concern. “What if you get tetanus?”

At that moment, Lucifer and the silver dragon abruptly ceased fighting, raining fire down on the knights below the church instead.

Fireballs fell, charring some of the tools the knights had brought.

Lucifer was especially fierce, diving to swat the knights aside with a wing.

Yan Jiyun heard the knights pause on the stairs, apparently torn between capturing dragons or dragging gladiators back to the arena.

Both the gladiators and the dragons had escaped from the same place.

But after hesitating, the knights pressed on up the stairs.

Clearly, they still meant to capture Qi Feng and Chu Mo.

Yan Jiyun caught Daniel’s voice—he was ordering the guards to bring them back alive.

Yet Qi Feng’s array remained inert.

Chu Mo wedged plank after plank against the door, murmuring, “What if the array doesn’t work at all?”

Qi Feng couldn’t be sure, but remained calm. “Possible. Magic’s an odd thing. Worst comes to worst, we fight our way out.”

Yan Jiyun glanced at the fire-breathing Lucifer. Since this was a Western-fantasy setting, surely magic circles should work? Maybe the array wasn’t meant for them but for the dragons?

He crawled to the roof’s edge and called down, “Lucifer! We can send you home now!”

Lucifer and its companions, still furious, longed to incinerate the very knights who’d imprisoned them. They harbored a mean grudge.

But Lucifer understood him. Wheeling around, it started to ascend.

The knights, determined to recapture the dragons, spared no effort—even losing some tools to fire. There were plenty more weapons—fire couldn’t destroy them all at once.

Just as Lucifer neared the rooftop, a volley of arrows, each bound with ropes, shot at the three dragons.

Lucifer dodged too late—one arrow lodged itself in the vulnerable, thinly-armored flesh of its underbelly.

The knights roared in triumph, “Hit! Hit! Again!”

Yan Jiyun saw Lucifer crash halfway onto the rooftop. He had to duck to avoid being crushed by the dragon’s massive form.

“Damn, they’re really dead set on these dragons.”

The arrow pierced Lucifer’s side. Yan Jiyun moved in for a closer look just as the knights below tried to pull Lucifer down by the rope.

But Lucifer could still fly—though the pain in its stomach had driven it almost mad.

Qi Feng tossed his charcoal aside, drew the sword from his back, and severed the thick rope. “Break the arrow—better yet, pull it out if you can.”

Yan Jiyun warned, “The arrowhead probably has barbs—pulling it out might rip out flesh.”

Qi Feng was decisive. “That’s better than being dragged. There may be poison—leave it in, they’ll die for sure.”

Chu Mo braced against the door, straining as knights began to ram it. “You’d better hurry—they’re coming through, I can’t hold much longer!”

Yan Jiyun relinquished the arrow-removal task to Qi Feng. “Your hands are steadier—how about you do it?”

Qi Feng was stronger, too—he could pull it in one go.

Turning to calm the enraged Lucifer, Yan Jiyun soothed, “Hold still, Lucifer. We’ll pull the arrow out.”

Qi Feng didn’t waste words. “Keep him calm.” He pressed on the wound, aligned with the entry, then yanked the arrow cleanly out. The wound, already widened by the knights’ tugging, tore further as the arrow came free.

Lucifer’s blood dripped onto the freshly drawn array.

Yan Jiyun barely had time to bemoan the defacing of Qi Feng’s hard-won work before he saw dragon blood activating the circle. Dark red globules traced the array’s lines, igniting it with energy.

The array began to glow faintly. As more blood fell, the light intensified, spreading wider.

Yan Jiyun stared at Qi Feng in astonishment. “Your array’s working.”

Overhead, the silver and red dragons saw the increasing brilliance and turned back—they were drawn by a mighty force.

Watching Lucifer, arrowed and now growing quiet, Yan Jiyun realized the arrow was coated in tranquilizer.

He came close, met Lucifer’s gaze, and stroked its head. “You can go home now, Lucifer.”

Dragon blood activated the magic circle—plainly, Lucifer didn’t belong here; this was his only way out.

Qi Feng’s array was large enough. The blood spread, energizing it further, enveloping Lucifer, and the red and silver dragons still aloft.

Yan Jiyun felt a gusting wind rising in the circle. At the same time, Chu Mo was still bracing the door, but he couldn’t hold much longer.

Seeing the circle come alive, characters within swirling, Yan Jiyun urgently called over. “Chu Mo! Get over here! We’re leaving!”

Chu Mo dashed across and plunged into the array as its runes spun.

The array was a gateway—their way out of the Dragon Gate.

Lucifer’s fierce blood energized it further. Suddenly, a whirlwind erupted, sweeping all three men and all three dragons into its heart!

Yan Jiyun felt his face nearly torn away by the blast. He hadn’t expected such a violent reaction. He clung with all his might to the nearest thing—Lucifer’s neck.

Of the three, Chu Mo was always the first to complain, and even now, he couldn’t help himself. “I swear, this can’t be the Dragon Gate exit! Why do we keep spinning? I’m going to puke!”

Yan Jiyun and Qi Feng were battered by the gale, forced to keep their mouths shut, barely able to keep their eyes open, much less reply.

The tornado felt strong enough to launch them skyward—was this a teleportation portal?

It could even swallow multi-ton dragons.

Yan Jiyun started to wonder if the portal really sent them back to Angel City.

The three were sucked up in the whirlwind. Dizzy with vertigo, Yan Jiyun took a blow to the head from Lucifer’s thrashing, and passed out before he could even register the pain.

Just before he blacked out, the sound of the wind faded, and he saw Qi Feng and Chu Mo spinning further away from him.

Bursting onto the rooftop, Daniel and his men found neither dragons nor humans—only scorched stone and the traces of a used ritual circle.

Daniel knelt, brushing the burnt dust on the ground, muttering, “The dragons have finally returned to where they belong.”

And then he realized his memories of the dragons were fading. Presently, he stood there, confused.

“Eh? What was I doing here again?”

Yan Jiyun was roused by the aroma of baking bread.

Instantly on alert, he opened his eyes. Could he still be in the church kitchen?

No. He’d turned back into a cat. He lay motionless, assessing his surroundings—good thing, too, for he was wedged between two narrow walls, held in place only by a pair of crossbeams jutting from the right-hand wall. One misstep to the left and he’d drop.

That magic circle was something else!

The gap was barely thirty centimeters wide, the walls at least ten meters tall. One slip and he’d be pulp at the bottom.

How had he ended up here?

Where were Qi Feng and Chu Mo?

What about the dragons—had they returned to their world?

He didn’t rush to climb down, but opened his temporary inventory. There was a new information card, and he checked it: the card depicted a powerful black dragon.

According to Daniel’s words when he’d first entered the Dragon Gate, gladiators had to defeat a black dragon to obtain a card.

But now, they’d gotten the information card without a fight, without needless risk.

He heard nearby players discussing how to leave Angel City. No mistake—they’d returned through the array.

But more than that—he heard a familiar sobbing.

Yes, crying.

“Uuu, thank god, we’re back!”

“I don’t have to die at the hands of those barbarians—finally, I’m useful again!”

Wasn’t this the whimpering player famous for clearing games with only brains and zero physical ability?

How did he get back too?

On reflection, it was simple: with no dragons left, the side story’s focus was gone. A novel-shaped world needs a protagonist; with none, the world collapses, and the system simply booted the players out.

Yan Jiyun thought sourly that the hardworking never had such luck.

Other players were dropped straight onto the ground—yet he, he was hung ten meters up a wall.

Aaaagh!

How was he supposed to get down?

He couldn’t turn human—not in a thirty-centimeter gap, unless he wanted to be squashed like a fool. The five-minute experience card would have him dead before it expired.

Still, he had to climb down somehow!

The experience card didn’t sit in his main inventory, but appeared in a separate slot. Without the youth system, even his million casino chips were useless for exchanges.

He’d spent over an hour in the Dragon Gate—hang on, he distinctly remembered activating another 30-minute card before leaping in. Why was he back as a cat?

He’d been unconscious here for over half an hour?

Quickly, he checked how long until Angel City closed.

[Time remaining in Angel City: 12 hours 59 minutes 09 seconds]

They’d been out of the Dragon Gate for a whole hour!

He had only one hour—sixty minutes—of his experience card left, just twelve uses at five minutes each. But he’d never be able to time every use so precisely.

He took a deep breath, cursing for the lost half-hour. He’d have to ration carefully from now on.

At least he had a fair idea where the Angel City exit was.

But first, he had to get down from this crossbeam.

He couldn’t just slide all the way to the ground—the puddles below looked vile; he’d have to bathe for days if he fell.

He wanted to leap for the roof, but the eaves were blocked off—down was the only way.

Forget it, here goes nothing!

Yan Jiyun splayed his limbs, pressing all four paws against the wall, inching diagonally downward, as cautiously as possible.

His whole body stiff with tension, he feared slipping and landing with a splash below.

One step, two steps, three steps—

The brainy player wept with relief, his wailing a constant distraction.

Gnashing his teeth, Yan Jiyun promised himself: once I get out of here, I’m giving that guy a punch!