Chapter 28: Someone Covered Her Mouth from Behind

"Is this possible?" Sang Ye asked with a winning smile.

Bai Qi stroked his chin, thoughtful. "It's not impossible, but do you know the location? Their house is quite large. If you don't know where to look, searching room by room might not be realistic."

Sang Ye thought for a moment and said, "I'll go and ask."

Then, Bai Qi witnessed what Sang Ye had described as only "slightly understanding" animal language.

Sang Ye walked toward the two black cats. They immediately arched their backs in alarm, turning as if to bolt.

"Wait, little black cats," Sang Ye called out, stopping them. "Can you tell me where the girl you mentioned—the one who is still alive—is being kept?"

She pulled out a dried fish to lure them. "I can trade you these dried fish."

The two small black cats were clearly startled by Sang Ye. They first leaped aside, but then, catching the scent of the dried fish, they paused and sniffed tentatively. The black cat with heterochromatic eyes eyed Sang Ye and said, "You can understand what we just said?"

Sang Ye nodded and crouched down. "Yes. You mentioned skinning someone to make a new doll, and that the girl is still alive. You heard her sounds. Could you please show us the way? If you lead us there, all these dried fish are yours."

She took more dried fish from her bag and offered them.

The heterochromatic cat stared at her warily. "Aren't you a human? Humans are the most cunning of all. You say you'll give us food, but what if you poison us or want to skin us, too?"

In response, Sang Ye broke off a small piece of the dried fish and popped it into her own mouth. "Do you believe me now?"

She deliberately waved the fish in front of the two cats. The aroma wafted into their noses, and the cats' gazes followed her hand—left, right, and then both cats turned their heads in unison.

Seeing their reaction, Sang Ye smiled gently and harmlessly. "The dried fish smells good, doesn't it? It tastes even better. Don't believe me? Try it."

Enticed by Sang Ye, the two black cats abandoned their caution and became slaves to the dried fish. The gold-eyed cat reached out first, swiping one with its paw and devouring it greedily. The heterochromatic cat, not wanting to be outdone, snatched one for itself.

After finishing their treats, the two cats’ appetites were clearly whetted, and they foolishly agreed to help Sang Ye.

Bai Qi rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Had Sang Ye actually reached an agreement with those two cats? If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it was real! He had heard nothing but meows from start to finish, yet Sang Ye had been holding a conversation with them.

Sang Ye left the dried fish for them and stood up, walking back to Bai Qi with a radiant, triumphant expression. "They agreed to show us the way."

Bai Qi finally shook off his shock and nodded. "I've been to their house with Li Yi before. They have a lot of security cameras. I know of a spot that only has one camera. I'll go in first and say I'm looking for Li Yi to draw their attention and block the camera, then you climb in from the back and I'll catch you."

Sang Ye nodded. "Fine, we'll split up."

If they just walked in, they would definitely be caught on camera, and they wouldn't be able to explain their presence.

Bai Qi swaggered to the main entrance to knock, while Sang Ye circled around to the back, hiding in the spot Bai Qi had described.

Once the black cats finished their fish, they leaped inside. The gold-eyed cat flicked its tail and called out, "Come in."

Sang Ye pointed to the camera. "My friend is going to block it."

The two cats looked at Sang Ye, then at the camera. With a sudden leap—*snap*—the camera was kicked aside and left dangling at an angle.

The cat that did it groomed its paw smugly. "You can come in now."

Sang Ye, witnessing this, was speechless. How could she have forgotten about these two "cheating tools"? They were far more efficient than Bai Qi trying to cover the lens.

Seeing the camera was disabled, she climbed over the wall. She looked toward the entrance; Bai Qi hadn't arrived yet. She had intended to wait for him, but the two cats were already urging her to follow.

She sent Bai Qi a shared location. He should have entered by now, and once he saw the camera was dealt with, he could find her via the GPS. She also set an automatic alarm to go off in twenty minutes if she didn't cancel it.

With that done, she followed the cats inside. With two agile cats leading the way, she encountered almost no one, and with Bai Qi acting as a distraction outside, the path was clear.

They soon arrived at the "skinning room" the cats had described. It was a basement with only a narrow window for ventilation.

Sang Ye leaned against the cats and crept toward the window. Looking inside, she immediately saw seven or eight exquisite dolls displayed there.

They were worthy of the high prices they fetched; the craftsmanship and features were extraordinary, far beyond anything one could buy in a store. Thinking that these might have been made by skinning those girls—how many lives had gone into those few dolls?—Sang Ye felt her face turn deathly pale.

Just then, she saw the girl the cats had mentioned. She was curled up on the floor, surrounded by bloodstains, a large patch of skin missing from her chest.

Sang Ye locked eyes with the girl. The despair and terror in her gaze made Sang Ye's heart skip a beat.

The more nervous she became, the clearer her mind felt. She knew she couldn't save the girl alone; exposing herself would not only fail to rescue the victim but likely cost her own life as well.

She could only hope that Xing Hao would arrive soon, or that Bai Qi would notice the camera had been destroyed and come to find her. The perpetrators might move the girl at any moment, so she had to capture evidence.

She reached for her phone, but her body had begun to tremble so violently that she couldn't pull it out at first. When she finally managed to grab it, her shaking hands almost failed to unlock the screen.

She opened the camera, focused solely on capturing the evidence to send to Xing Hao. She didn't realize that by exiting the messaging app to open the camera, she had automatically terminated the location sharing.

As she snapped the photo, the phone let out a loud *click*.

The people inside heard the sound and immediately walked over to look at the window.

Luckily, Sang Ye was quick enough to hide. The two cats helped by popping up at the window, meowing once, and then running away.

Sang Ye didn't dare hesitate and scrambled to retrace her steps as fast as she could. However, the occupants quickly opened the door, forcing her to change her route and flee in the opposite direction.

As the path ahead ran out, the sounds behind her grew louder.

*Click, click, click.*

Each footstep seemed to land on her heart, sending her pulse into her throat. She clenched her hands into fists and bit down on them to keep from screaming in terror.

The empty corridor echoed with the sound of approaching footsteps. Just as she saw a shadow growing clearer and the sounds drawing near, an arm suddenly reached out from behind her and clamped over her mouth.