"Here."
"This one."
"It should be here this time."
A sheen of cold sweat was on Matsuo's forehead. He studied the cat. It had managed to correctly identify the bowl that contained food every single time.
He jumped. "Momo, did you just laugh at me?"
The ginger cat looked up at him innocently.
Matsuo let out a ragged sigh of relief.
"Silly me. Cats don't smile. We're done for tonight. Let's continue playing tomorrow."
The next day, he won every game he tried his hand at. Winning had become the norm and it no longer excited him like it used to.
At night, he played the same guessing game with Momo. It was supposed to be fun, but it did not feel fun. In fact, being with Momo made the hairs on the back of his neck stand.
Matsuo swore that he could see Momo smiling at him from the corner of his eyes. However, every time he tried to take a closer look, the cat's expression was blank.
He fell into a fitful sleep. He stirred when his body sunk deeper into the mattress. It felt like there was a weight on him and it was pushing him down.
Matsuo's eyes snapped open to meet a pair of bright green eyes staring right back. There was a crinkle in the corner of the eyes, as if its owner was grinning from ear to ear.
He let out a terrified scream.
Meow~
"Momo? What are you doing in my room?" Matsuo stammered, "Did I forget to shut the door?"
That was but the first of a series of frightening events.
Shortly after, when Matsuo was bathing, he spotted the same pair of green eyes in the gap between the shower curtain and the tiled wall.
The once aquaphobic Momo had actually ventured into the bathroom to peep on him.
The cat did not turn away or hide when Matsuo saw it. Instead, it continued to stare, lips parted in a sinister smile. For some reason, it reminded him of the creepy 80-year-old grannies in horror movies.
"Momo!" Matsuo cried, "You're not allowed in here! Get out!"
That night, he checked if the door was locked multiple times before he headed to bed.
Unfortunately, that was not a good enough deterrence. Weird s**t kept happening.
His slumber was disturbed when the sound of children laughing reached his ears. The giggles were so clear and felt too close.
His eyes snapped open.
Once again, a familiar pair of bright, green eyes looked into his. Beneath it was a wide, open mouth that was raised in the corners. No sound came from it, but it looked like it should emit raucous laughter.
"Ah!" Matsuo screamed, flinging Momo off his body and across the room.
He saw Momo streak out of the door. He shut it with a loud bang.
Panting, Matsuo turned around and propped his back against the door.
His eyes landed on the orange cat that was sprawled across his bed, staring at him, mouth open in silent laughter.
*
A deep groove was etched between Zhao Yao's knitted eyebrows.
He studied the building before him, which was swarming with spirits.
"You guys stay here."
With that, he snapped his fingers and robbed the debt collector of their senses. They instantly fell into a heap on the ground, completely unconscious.
He sent a telepathic message to his cats, "Activate supercat armor."
His call was answered quickly. One by one, his team of supercats emerged from his mouth. The last item to appear was a long, black robe.
Zhao Yao draped it over his shoulders in one swift motion.
The cats scrambled to their rightful positions in seconds. Once Roly Poly made Zhao Yao's head invisible, he took one leap and flew straight to the building's entrance.
He landed gracefully, but the impact of his arrival was far from elegant. The ground beneath his feet cracked from the collision, creating a resounding boom.
There was an echo of clicks as every SWAT officer cocked their weapon and pointed it at him.
Zhao Yao did not even throw a glance their way. His eyes were firmly set on the building that was in front of him.
"I'm going in to take a look," he announced, "Stay outside and do not do anything stupid."
Inspector Ho motioned for his team to stand down.
He shouted at the Headless Horseman, "Do you know what's happening in there?"
"Nope," Zhao Yao replied, popping the 'p' at the end of the word.
He charged towards the front door, breaking it down with ease. A swarm of spirits tried to smother him, but they were reduced to dust before they could even reach him.
Within seconds, the Headless Horseman had turned a corner and disappeared from view.
"Who is that?" an officer asked Inspector Ho, "Is it okay for us to just let him in without question?"
The inspector looked up at the legion of spirits that circled the office. He rubbed the top of his bald head thoughtfully.
"If he can't solve this, no one can."
*
The spirit of the teenage girl shut her eyes.
She was still up on the balcony. Even here, she could access what her spirit army was seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting. She could even control their actions and make them behave as she wished.
Everything that had gone down in the office building was her handiwork.
Xiao Yu and her friends were being cornered into defeat. It was just a matter of time before they were destroyed.
The building was surrounded by law enforcement, but that did not pose too much of an issue. They could not stop her from leaving even if they wanted to. Anyone with a healthy respect for and fear of death would not dare enter the building either.
However…
"Huh?" she tilted her head, puzzled.
She cut from the point of view of one spirit to another, trying to get a better glimpse of the man in black that had broken into the building.
She laughed, "Seems like there are some who do not fear death."
She smiled coldly as she commanded a large horde of spirits to attack the Headless Horseman. She knew this was what he called from snippets of the SWAT team's conversation.
It did not take long for him to wipe the smug smile off her face.
The Horseman did not panic as the spirits closed in on him. In fact, he seemed to ignore them completely. He focused on racing up the stairs at an unbelievable pace.
Not one spirit could get closer than five meters from him. The ones that reached that small radius would instantly dissolve without a trace.
Her eyes narrowed. "He doesn't even have to do anything to destroy them. How is this possible?"
She knew she had to up her game.
A dozen spirits emerged from the sea of ghostly figures. They looked different. They looked a lot more concrete and solid than their incorporeal counterparts. Their eyes were shining with an eerie green light.
They headed straight for the Headless Horseman.
Some of the spirits in her legion had superpowers. Since she could command them to use their powers as if they were just another limb.
The special dozen launched themselves at the Headless Horseman, each initiating their powers. There were flashes of fire, lightning bolts, force fields, arrows, and all sorts of other things hurled his way.
This time, she finally got the Horseman's attention.
He did not seem worried or afraid. Instead, he simply stopped moving to stare at the incoming assault.
"Oh?" he muttered.
In the next moment, the collision happened.
A profusion of powers hit the Headless Horseman, but he remained rooted on the spot, unaffected and unfazed. It was as if he was a black hole and he was swallowing all the powers whole.
They could not inflict any damage on him at all.
In response, he raised his right fist and threw a punch in the direction of the dozen. The force of the punch sliced through every power that was still coming his way and reached the spirits, banishing them in an instant.
Having hit its targets, the remaining energy splintered in all directions, destroying every wall that stood in its path. It was completely spent when a truck-sized hole was made in one of the building's exterior walls.
A cacophony of cement and plaster rained onto the ground.
The teenager did not look pleased at all.
She sent the spirits to call for Ishida.
"Leave the two girls. We've got bigger problems on our hands."
"Here."
"This one."
"It should be here this time."
A sheen of cold sweat was on Matsuo's forehead. He studied the cat. It had managed to correctly identify the bowl that contained food every single time.
He jumped. "Momo, did you just laugh at me?"
The ginger cat looked up at him innocently.
Matsuo let out a ragged sigh of relief.
"Silly me. Cats don't smile. We're done for tonight. Let's continue playing tomorrow."
The next day, he won every game he tried his hand at. Winning had become the norm and it no longer excited him like it used to.
At night, he played the same guessing game with Momo. It was supposed to be fun, but it did not feel fun. In fact, being with Momo made the hairs on the back of his neck stand.
Matsuo swore that he could see Momo smiling at him from the corner of his eyes. However, every time he tried to take a closer look, the cat's expression was blank.
He fell into a fitful sleep. He stirred when his body sunk deeper into the mattress. It felt like there was a weight on him and it was pushing him down.
Matsuo's eyes snapped open to meet a pair of bright green eyes staring right back. There was a crinkle in the corner of the eyes, as if its owner was grinning from ear to ear.
He let out a terrified scream.
Meow~
"Momo? What are you doing in my room?" Matsuo stammered, "Did I forget to shut the door?"
That was but the first of a series of frightening events.
Shortly after, when Matsuo was bathing, he spotted the same pair of green eyes in the gap between the shower curtain and the tiled wall.
The once aquaphobic Momo had actually ventured into the bathroom to peep on him.
The cat did not turn away or hide when Matsuo saw it. Instead, it continued to stare, lips parted in a sinister smile. For some reason, it reminded him of the creepy 80-year-old grannies in horror movies.
"Momo!" Matsuo cried, "You're not allowed in here! Get out!"
That night, he checked if the door was locked multiple times before he headed to bed.
Unfortunately, that was not a good enough deterrence. Weird s**t kept happening.
His slumber was disturbed when the sound of children laughing reached his ears. The giggles were so clear and felt too close.
His eyes snapped open.
Once again, a familiar pair of bright, green eyes looked into his. Beneath it was a wide, open mouth that was raised in the corners. No sound came from it, but it looked like it should emit raucous laughter.
"Ah!" Matsuo screamed, flinging Momo off his body and across the room.
He saw Momo streak out of the door. He shut it with a loud bang.
Panting, Matsuo turned around and propped his back against the door.
His eyes landed on the orange cat that was sprawled across his bed, staring at him, mouth open in silent laughter.
*
A deep groove was etched between Zhao Yao's knitted eyebrows.
He studied the building before him, which was swarming with spirits.
"You guys stay here."
With that, he snapped his fingers and robbed the debt collector of their senses. They instantly fell into a heap on the ground, completely unconscious.
He sent a telepathic message to his cats, "Activate supercat armor."
His call was answered quickly. One by one, his team of supercats emerged from his mouth. The last item to appear was a long, black robe.
Zhao Yao draped it over his shoulders in one swift motion.
The cats scrambled to their rightful positions in seconds. Once Roly Poly made Zhao Yao's head invisible, he took one leap and flew straight to the building's entrance.
He landed gracefully, but the impact of his arrival was far from elegant. The ground beneath his feet cracked from the collision, creating a resounding boom.
There was an echo of clicks as every SWAT officer cocked their weapon and pointed it at him.
Zhao Yao did not even throw a glance their way. His eyes were firmly set on the building that was in front of him.
"I'm going in to take a look," he announced, "Stay outside and do not do anything stupid."
Inspector Ho motioned for his team to stand down.
He shouted at the Headless Horseman, "Do you know what's happening in there?"
"Nope," Zhao Yao replied, popping the 'p' at the end of the word.
He charged towards the front door, breaking it down with ease. A swarm of spirits tried to smother him, but they were reduced to dust before they could even reach him.
Within seconds, the Headless Horseman had turned a corner and disappeared from view.
"Who is that?" an officer asked Inspector Ho, "Is it okay for us to just let him in without question?"
The inspector looked up at the legion of spirits that circled the office. He rubbed the top of his bald head thoughtfully.
"If he can't solve this, no one can."
*
The spirit of the teenage girl shut her eyes.
She was still up on the balcony. Even here, she could access what her spirit army was seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting. She could even control their actions and make them behave as she wished.
Everything that had gone down in the office building was her handiwork.
Xiao Yu and her friends were being cornered into defeat. It was just a matter of time before they were destroyed.
The building was surrounded by law enforcement, but that did not pose too much of an issue. They could not stop her from leaving even if they wanted to. Anyone with a healthy respect for and fear of death would not dare enter the building either.
However…
"Huh?" she tilted her head, puzzled.
She cut from the point of view of one spirit to another, trying to get a better glimpse of the man in black that had broken into the building.
She laughed, "Seems like there are some who do not fear death."
She smiled coldly as she commanded a large horde of spirits to attack the Headless Horseman. She knew this was what he called from snippets of the SWAT team's conversation.
It did not take long for him to wipe the smug smile off her face.
The Horseman did not panic as the spirits closed in on him. In fact, he seemed to ignore them completely. He focused on racing up the stairs at an unbelievable pace.
Not one spirit could get closer than five meters from him. The ones that reached that small radius would instantly dissolve without a trace.
Her eyes narrowed. "He doesn't even have to do anything to destroy them. How is this possible?"
She knew she had to up her game.
A dozen spirits emerged from the sea of ghostly figures. They looked different. They looked a lot more concrete and solid than their incorporeal counterparts. Their eyes were shining with an eerie green light.
They headed straight for the Headless Horseman.
Some of the spirits in her legion had superpowers. Since she could command them to use their powers as if they were just another limb.
The special dozen launched themselves at the Headless Horseman, each initiating their powers. There were flashes of fire, lightning bolts, force fields, arrows, and all sorts of other things hurled his way.
This time, she finally got the Horseman's attention.
He did not seem worried or afraid. Instead, he simply stopped moving to stare at the incoming assault.
"Oh?" he muttered.
In the next moment, the collision happened.
A profusion of powers hit the Headless Horseman, but he remained rooted on the spot, unaffected and unfazed. It was as if he was a black hole and he was swallowing all the powers whole.
They could not inflict any damage on him at all.
In response, he raised his right fist and threw a punch in the direction of the dozen. The force of the punch sliced through every power that was still coming his way and reached the spirits, banishing them in an instant.
Having hit its targets, the remaining energy splintered in all directions, destroying every wall that stood in its path. It was completely spent when a truck-sized hole was made in one of the building's exterior walls.
A cacophony of cement and plaster rained onto the ground.
The teenager did not look pleased at all.
She sent the spirits to call for Ishida.
"Leave the two girls. We've got bigger problems on our hands."
