Infinite Nightmares

"I hear a cat! Black Cat is still alive, it’s not dead!"

Hearing the continuous meowing from a distance, Song Jianguo was overjoyed. She immediately put her fingers in her mouth and whistled softly, trying to call the little cat in the darkness to come back quickly.

However, no matter how many times she called, the meowing remained in the distance, and the sound grew weaker and weaker.

"You can understand what cats are saying, can’t you? What’s it saying now?" Zhang Wenda couldn’t help but ask her.

"It... It’s crying out in pain!" Heartbroken, Song Jianguo took off in the direction of the sound. "It can’t see! Something in the darkness attacked it!"

At his side, 2826 was also gripping a flashlight tightly. He said to Zhang Wenda, "Be careful. I feel like something’s wrong. If Oil Bab was this easy to collect, it wouldn’t be this expensive on the market."

"I know." Seeing the reckless Song Jianguo, Zhang Wenda quickly rushed over and grabbed her. "Don’t panic. The more you rush, the more chaotic things get!"

Then, he raised his flashlight again and carefully aimed it toward the distant meowing. In the beam of light, they did indeed find a black cat.

"That’s him!" Song Jianguo’s heart leaped with joy. She was about to rush over, but Zhang Wenda grabbed her again. "Wait, something’s wrong with that black cat! It doesn’t have any eyes!"

The three of them, regrouped, looked toward the black cat and then realized that this black cat truly had no eyes.

"Is it facing away from us?" 2826 offered a reasonable explanation.

"It’s still crying in pain! It feels like it’s about to die!" A tear formed in the corner of Song Jianguo’s eye.

Hearing Song Jianguo say this, Zhang Wenda found the distant black cat even more suspicious. ’If it’s in that much pain, why is it able to stand, and why is it facing away from us?’

With this in mind, Zhang Wenda began to walk slowly in that direction, on high alert.

Just as everyone was focused on the crouching black cat, something began to churn on the pitch-black ground behind them.

A few dozen seconds later, when Zhang Wenda reached the black cat’s side and saw its true form, his pupils contracted.

He saw that it wasn’t a black cat at all, but a cat-shaped shadow. The real Black Cat lay on the ground with its joints twisted and a bloody hole where one of its eyes should be, wailing miserably.

Several black hooks shot out from the shadow cat, latching onto Black Cat’s flesh. As the shadow cat moved, it dragged Black Cat across the ground like a dirty rag. This was the reason it was in pain!

’Shadows? Shadows!’ Suddenly realizing something, Zhang Wenda swung the flashlight in his hand behind him.

Then, in the light, he saw that their own shadows had, at some point, risen up. They were raising stones, attempting to attack them from behind!

"Watch out! The shadows are ambushing us!" Zhang Wenda raised his flashlight to block a swinging shadow and immediately shouted a warning to the other two.

Song Jianguo was agile, and the battle-hardened 2826 immediately defended against his own shadow’s attack. But they all missed one thing: it wasn’t just them who had shadows—the cats did too.

The shadows of Song Jianguo’s group of cats instantly leaped out of the darkness, breaking free from their hosts’ control and pouncing toward them.

These shadows clearly possessed intelligence. They unhesitatingly swarmed 2826, who posed the greatest threat, almost completely enveloping him.

Just as 2826 was being attacked by the cat shadows, he was viciously struck on the head with a rock by the shadow behind him.

"2826!" Zhang Wenda wanted to rescue him, but his own shadow blocked him relentlessly.

He then saw 2826’s shadow raise a rock and frantically attack 2826. Not only did it look like 2826, but it also knew his weaknesses and strengths.

Just as 2826 was about to raise his flashlight, the surrounding cat shadows pounced, biting down hard on his limbs as a bloodied rock came crashing down.

A suppressed groan of pain sounded out. Both his hands were smashed, and he could no longer use the flashlight.

After smashing all of 2826’s limbs, his shadow also drew black hooks from its body, pierced them directly through the flesh of his chest, and began dragging 2826 haphazardly along the ground as it walked toward Zhang Wenda.

At this moment, 2826’s shadow had taken his place, and 2826 himself had become its shadow, leaving a trail of blood where they passed.

Seeing the swarm of cat shadows that had attacked 2826 begin to surround the remaining two, Song Jianguo blew her whistle forcefully.

The next second, all the now-shadowless cats charged over, merging into a giant paw that crashed into the tangled mass of all the shadow cats.

In the midst of this chaos, Zhang Wenda only wanted to save 2826. ’It seems these shadows don’t want to kill, just to torture. 2826 is still alive.’

However, his own shadow wouldn’t let him pass. No matter how many times he attacked, it could predict his every move, constantly blocking his path.

It wasn’t trying to attack Zhang Wenda; it was only defending passively, clearly waiting for its companions to surround and attack him together.

’This isn’t just a simple case of shadows coming to life. They have intelligence, they know everything about their hosts, and they even have some of their hosts’ memories!’

Watching the situation rapidly deteriorating, Zhang Wenda was frantic, but he could only force himself to calm down.

’Calm down, calm down... What do I have that it doesn’t?’ Zhang Wenda stared intently at his shadow’s featureless face.

Just then, a thought struck him. He quickly fumbled for something with his right hand and threw it directly at the shadow.

The instant it hit, Zhang Wenda’s shadow vanished with a WHOOSH.

And in Zhang Wenda’s hand was a flattened enamel mug. ’If I can’t attack it, I’ll just trap it.’

With the obstacle gone, Zhang Wenda charged toward 2826’s shadow again.

It tried to fight back, but it met the same fate as Zhang Wenda’s shadow and was sucked in as well.

But that was the limit. The object could only hold that much; it couldn’t fit any more.

"Hey, are you okay? Hang in there." Zhang Wenda helped the wretched 2826 up from the ground, then pulled out a lollipop and was about to stick it in his mouth.

However, he discovered that the other had no mouth at all; there was nowhere to put it.

The weakened 2826 looked at the chaotic scene before him, then glanced down at his own broken hands.

After a moment of thought, he looked up at Zhang Wenda and said, "I’ll say it, you do it. Quickly. Three red, two yellow."

"What?" Zhang Wenda didn’t quite understand what he meant.

2826’s voice was extremely rushed, and he looked very anxious.

"No time to explain! It’s too dangerous here, we have no chance of winning if this drags on! And with all this commotion, God knows what else we’ll attract! We have to end this fast! Raise your emitter! Now, follow me! Three red, two yellow!"

Zhang Wenda raised the flashlight in his hand high. It began to flash rhythmically in the darkness, emitting two different colors of light: red and yellow.