18 Search ? (1/2)

Drip, drop, drip, drop. A dripping sound reverberated in the pitch-black room.

Bounded by a rope at her feet and her mouth stuffed, a middle-aged woman hung upside down on the wall.

Her neck sliced with a thumb-long cut, streaks of crimson-red blood oozed out of her fresh wound which then converged at the back of her head, leaving behind a gory pool of blood.

The woman's eyes were filled with terror. She struggled and struggled but to no avail, unable to escape from the tightly bounded rope.

In front of her, a middle-aged man gently placed his finger on her lips, signaling her to keep quiet as she vigorously shook her head in fear.

”Don't you move darling, the more you struggle, the more blood you will lose, and the faster you'll die.”

At this moment, the woman's eyes filled up with tears which streamed down her face like a waterfall. She looked at the man with a pitiful and frightened look in her eyes.

”Don't beg me. Did you show mercy to the cats you abused? Did they not plead with you, the same way you did to me?” The man led out a wicked laughter, licked his lips and whispered into her ears, ”When a prey meets a predator, the prey doesn't even have the right to plead.”

Having said that, the man sat right in front of the woman; his eyes fixed on the fresh dripping blood. He saw as the terror in the woman's eyes turned into hatred and eventually despair.

The man's eyes lit, and his lips curved in malicious pleasure.

”You love to abuse cats, while I simply love to abuse people like you. If you live through this, perhaps we could even be good friends.”

At this moment, the doorbell rang. The man calmly turned his head around and over at the front door was another middle-aged man -- a man that shared a similar physical appearance as him.

As the man at the door stared at the pool of blood below his wife's hanging body, blood drained from his face, and he stood motionless in horror.

Before he could even let out a cry, he felt a stabbing pain in his chest as a wave of fear rushed through him. The man choked the husband by the neck and pinned him against the wall.

”Exsanguination... Amputation... Fire... Poison... Electrocution...”

”If you were to die, which would you love most?”

.....

Back in the pet hospital, after several hours of hard work, the 18 cats, Elizabeth and Matcha had all been thoroughly screened.

Doctor Liu reassured Zhao Yao, ” The stray cats seem to be in good shape, with the exception of a few bugs and minor malnutrition, and there seems to be not much a problem. We will proceed with the vaccination now, and we should be good by then. This cat, in particular, is very healthy, it's skin firm as ever and very well nourished. As for this ragdoll...”

Zhao Yao eyes widened and urged, ” What's the matter with her? ”

Elizabeth was the key to completing the mission, and if anything were to happen to Elizabeth now, they would not be able to gain experience for half a year. This made Zhao Yao extremely worried.

Elizabeth turned her head towards the doctor. It was obvious that even though she always claimed that she was fine, she was actually still very concerned about her own health.

Doctor Liu replied, ”This ragdoll... She ate too much.”

”?” Zhao Yao gave a confused look.

Doctor Liu shook her head as she continued, ”Ragdoll's do not have a good digestive system. This ragdoll's stomach was packed with raw meat and bones and has expanded more than three times its original size. Having eaten so much, it is without a doubt that she would get indigestion; vomiting is completely natural.”

”V..V...Vomiting?” Zhao Yao stuttered, ”You mean...”

”It isn't blood that she is vomiting. They are undigested meat.” Doctor Liu frowned and nagged, ”I understand that you cat lovers really love your cats, but you can never feed them too much. Domestic cats usually lack self-control and will eat more than they actually need. What makes it worse is that ragdolls already have a weak digestive system which makes it even easier to develop indigestion.”