Even after awakening to the fact that she was a transmigrator, it didn’t really affect her life.
When Monday came, she still had to go to work as usual. Mondays were always the most hectic day of the week—sometimes even requiring overtime.
By the time Jiang Cheng finished work and got back to her neighborhood, the sky had already darkened.
The streetlights in the community garden weren’t as bright as those on the main road, nor were they densely placed. They were sparse, and the winding paths created a dim, shadowy atmosphere.
Property management had been getting increasingly lazy. One of the lights had even been broken for several days without anyone replacing the bulb.
Jiang Cheng had to go to the garden to collect the two stainless steel bowls she had left for the little black cat the day before. Seeing that the path ahead was pitch black because of the broken light, she made a mental note to file a complaint with property management and urge them to fix it quickly. Then she suddenly noticed someone standing in the darkness.
It was so dark that she only saw them when she got closer.
This was a gated residential community—robberies and the like weren’t a concern. Jiang Cheng didn’t think much of it and kept walking, planning to simply pass by the person.
It was only when she drew nearer that she noticed the person’s hands were positioned strangely around their waist.
By the time Jiang Cheng realized something was wrong, it was too late. The person’s hands were gripping the waistband of their pants. The moment Jiang Cheng looked at them, they gave a creepy smile and suddenly yanked their pants down, exposing themselves.
A flasher.
A total pervert!
Jiang Cheng stepped forward, swung her shoulder bag in a wide arc, and slammed it into him!
It hit the pervert square in the right side of his face!
The man yelped in pain, stumbled over his own half-pulled-down pants, and fell off the path onto the grass.
Jiang Cheng’s parents had died unexpectedly before she even graduated from university. Relatives had coveted the inheritance. She had sold the house in her hometown and moved far away to a big city. She had been living alone ever since.
When you only have yourself, no matter how slender or weak you are, you have to hold up your own sky.
Jiang Cheng always carried the smallest size dumbbell in her bag. It wasn’t heavy, but at times like this, it turned her purse into a flail—catching bad guys off guard.
Flashers usually targeted young women. Most young women, when frightened like that, would panic and run away. Few would respond like Jiang Cheng, immediately going on the offensive.
The flasher knew he had picked the wrong person this time. He rolled on the ground, hurriedly pulled up his pants, and tried to flee.
But Jiang Cheng wasn’t about to let him escape. Shouting “Stop right there!” she tried to grab his arm and collar. The man twisted around and shoved her hard—he was strong. Jiang Cheng stumbled and fell.
The pervert took the chance to bolt!
But suddenly, a black shadow shot up from the bushes!
It slashed across the pervert’s face—appearing like lightning and disappearing into the night just as fast. Jiang Cheng, just getting up from the ground, only saw a blur.
She couldn’t even be sure she had seen anything at all.
But the pervert’s scream, as he clutched his face, confirmed that something had definitely happened.
Clutching his face, the pervert lurched forward. Then the black shadow struck again, slashing at his face once more. This time, its claws raked across the arm he was using to shield his face. The pervert shrieked and flailed his bloody arm, trying to drive the shadow away.
The shadow flipped gracefully and landed firmly in a patch of light.
It was jet black, with glowing green eyes and long, agile legs.
A black cat.
Was it the same one from yesterday? Probably.
The black cat had attacked the pervert so fiercely that Jiang Cheng hesitated to approach.
When she had first started interacting with stray cats, she had been scratched several times. Later, a fellow cat feeder warned her: just because cats are cute doesn’t mean you forget they’re animals—all animals have wild instincts.
Cats were about the upper size limit of feline creatures that could be kept as pets. Among animals of similar size, cats ranked near the top in fighting ability.
“Fuck! Fuck!” The pervert finally realized a cat was attacking him and flew into a rage. He looked around on the ground and in the grass, clearly searching for something to use as a weapon.
The black cat hissed at him.
Hissing was a declaration of war.
But instead of attacking again, the cat glanced at Jiang Cheng.
That glance—after the cat had just hissed—held no hostility whatsoever.
It felt like an extremely faint, delicate electric current passing through her heart—not painful, not even really a shock, more like someone gently poking her with a fingertip.
Like a reminder.
As if snapped out of a trance, Jiang Cheng screamed at the top of her lungs: “Stop that creep! Someone help! Stop that creep!”
It was dinnertime, but that didn’t mean the garden was completely empty.
The pervert forgot about getting revenge on the cat and scrambled to get up and flee on all fours. But Jiang Cheng wasn’t about to let him escape. Still shouting “Help! Pervert!” she drop-kicked him from behind, sending him sprawling again, then lunged forward and pinned him down.
Caught off guard, the pervert found his arm twisted behind his back, her knee pressing into his lower back as she used her body weight to hold him to the ground.
“What’s going on?” Several neighbors rushed over at the commotion. “What happened?”
Men were strong, and Jiang Cheng was struggling to hold him down. She quickly explained: “He exposed himself! Help me! Hurry—”
The pervert tried to roll over and escape. But his pants were still unfastened. As he struggled, they slipped down even further, exposing half his bare backside—confirming that he wasn’t wearing any underwear, just as the young woman had said.
A few male neighbors rushed over to help pin him down. “Stay still!”
“Thank you, thank you!” Jiang Cheng stood up, gasping for breath. She picked up her bag from the ground and pulled out her phone. “I’m calling the police right now.”
She held the phone to her ear, waiting for the call to connect, her eyes scanning the surroundings.
The black cat was gone.
And yet, it was the real hero of the day.
The local police arrived quickly.
This area was connected to several residential developments, with a fairly dense population—dense enough to support nearby businesses. A police substation had even been set up nearby, making it easy to respond at any time.
The situation was simple. Jiang Cheng gave her statement to the police in under three minutes.
The officers ordered the pervert to pull up his pants, handcuffed him, and escorted him into the patrol car. As the one who filed the report and the victim, Jiang Cheng went along to the local police station.
At the station, she wrote up a clear, concise account of what had happened, signed her name, and was told she could go home.
By then, night had fully fallen. The garden in her neighborhood had actually gotten a bit more crowded than before—many residents had come downstairs for an after-dinner stroll.
Jiang Cheng walked back to the bench, hoping to see the cat. To her delight, the black cat was sitting there on the bench, gazing at the path under the streetlight like a human deep in thought.
“Kitty.” Jiang Cheng’s eyes curved into a smile as she slowed her approach.
She had come back hoping to find this black cat. If it hadn’t been for the cat earlier, the pervert would likely have gotten away after shoving her to the ground. That stretch of path had been pitch black—she hadn’t even gotten a good look at the man’s face. If he had escaped, they probably wouldn’t have caught him.
She really had this little black cat to thank.
The black cat glanced at her. It showed no unusual reaction to her approach—just calm.
Relieved, Jiang Cheng sat down on the bench.
“Thank you so much for today,” she said. “We caught that pervert because of you.”
But the cat just gazed calmly at the path and the greenery under the orange-yellow streetlight.
Then again, how could a small animal really understand human speech? In the chaos today, that one look the black cat had given her had seemed almost human—that was what made her think maybe it could understand.
But in reality, it couldn’t.
Under the night sky, on the garden path, there was only one human and one cat.
“Anyway, you’re the real hero,” Jiang Cheng said.
She reached out a hand. Probably because she had already petted it once before, and now there was also the bond of having fought side by side, the little black cat didn’t dodge. It let her stroke its head.
It even enjoyed the petting so much that it tilted its chin up. Jiang Cheng obligingly scratched under its chin. She was getting better and better at interacting with cats.
After the petting session, Jiang Cheng pulled a cat treat stick from her bag and waved it. “This is a thank-you gift for you.”
The black cat stared at the treat.
As soon as Jiang Cheng tore it open, the tempting scent wafted through the air.
Whether lured by the smell of food or feeling it had earned a reward, the little black cat moved. For the first time, it actively approached Jiang Cheng and began eating from her hand, licking noisily.
When the treat was finished, Jiang Cheng happened to notice a few cat shadows crossing the path and slipping into the bushes in the distance.
She couldn’t help saying, “Why are you always alone? Do you not get along with the other cats?”
The black cat seemed to dislike that remark. It turned away and began licking its paw, washing its face.
In the lamplight, its black silhouette looked somewhat lonely.
Just like Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng was lonely too.
In this city, she still hadn’t truly built a life of her own. Work was just a means of survival. Colleagues were just people she had to cooperate with on the job. Her current state was barely even living—it was just existing.
After all, this was a big city, and she was completely alone. All her social interactions stayed on the surface, because her roots weren’t here.
When both parents were gone, a person didn’t even know where their roots were anymore.
Jiang Cheng suddenly paused.
Were these feelings and memories her own—or “Jiang Cheng’s”?
She couldn’t tell.
She looked at the little black cat again.
She had never been able to make up her mind about actually adopting a companion animal. But in this moment, watching the black cat’s back, a desire suddenly stirred within her.
“How about…” she said. “You come home with me?”
The little black cat, mid-wash, froze. It turned its head to look at her.
How strange. Did it understand human language or not? One moment it seemed oblivious; the next, almost human.
Jiang Cheng looked at the black cat, full of hope.
The black cat held her gaze for a moment, then leaped to the ground and vanished into the bushes.
Oh well. Not interested?
I’ll take care of you, you know.
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