Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

Chapter 416: A World Full of Trouble Seekers

Zhao Youyue decided to take control of a cat in this world. Through its eyes, she finally saw her own body. Her clothes were worn-out and simple. Her face was not exactly unrecognizable. She could not tell if she was hallucinating when she thought that the body was a combination of Xu Jing, Yu Shengfan, Chu Luoxun, Wen Qingyu and Hua Xiaomao. That though, perfectly answered the question as to why she could use all of their abilities.

Zhao Youyue was satisfied with the outlook of the body. It was not the typical body structure of beautiful lady in the real world. It was close to aneroxic.

The body did not start acting like a cat when she took control of it. Surprisingly, it had dropped to the ground limply.

Zhao Youyue could not help but wonder why did such a powerful cat appear coincidentally. All spirits started retreating as she strolled along the tombstones across the hill, as if they feared her wrath.

Zhao Youyue almost certain of her place in this spirit world. WIth an identity as a powerful cat, which spirit dare to disturb her?

Most supernatural novels included a cat among their pages. Some black cats would be portrayed as an embodiment of a wraith. This had misled a lot of people into believing that black cats brought bad luck.

Zhao Youyue suddenly became aware of a certain connection to spirits when she morphed into a black cat. Those “dirty things,” as described by humans, were able to fuel her by providing “negative energy.” Perhaps this was why people often suffered from misfortune whenever they ran into a black cat?

Black cats loved to mix with spirits, hence they had their methods of deterring spirits. People stumbling upon a black cat would be troubled by spirits that the cat just chased away.

Upon learning that this was a spiritual world, Zhao Youyue was greatly disturbed. As soon as she realized that her ability to morph into a cat gave her unparalleled advantage over spirits and spells, this worry quickly fled. Just like the cowardly lion who found his courage, she feared nothing at all.

As she was basking in the security of her new found bravery, an athletic man walked towards her. He seemed delighted to see the black cat, running all the way to her. While catching his breath, he said to her, “Xiao Hei, finally, I’ve found you. I would not dare to enter this village without you…”

As the man spoke, he carried the black cat in his arm, and prepared to walk away. She soon realized, perhaps this man could carry her “unconscious” body along too?

He was a decent looking guy. Thanks to his glasses, he looked like an intellectual. Somehow, his face seemed familiar to Zhao Youyue. That was why she felt that she could trust him.

She broke free from the man’s arm easily, and led him towards the unconscious young girl.

The man looked at the unconscious young without the slightest hint of being impressed by her beauty. Instead, he shivered in the cold. He carefully examined his surroundings, remaining on guard. All he wanted was to hug the cat that saved his ass countlessly…

He was Zhao Song, a professional writer. His articles were all about the supernatural, written honestly and rigorously. His readers were always able to immerse themselves in his story, hence his work was always in high demand. He came with his adventurous friends to this “Feng Men village”[1] to gather information.

Despite the urban legend that spread across the internet, it was a village that housed a beautiful scenery. A broad span of light-blue sky severed the earth below, surrounded by layers of green trees that stood silently on the mountains. Xiao Yao river curved along the edge of Feng Men village like the subtle sweep of a painter’s brush, all the way down the valley. Pebbles and rocks squeezed each other, inviting people to step on an even path they formed. Reddish leaves waltzed their way down on each side of the bank, while the jeweled-blue stream rushed its way down the forest.

Many of Zhao Song colleagues did not believe in supernatural phenomena and theories. On the other hand, as an author of supernatural articles, he believed in ghosts and respected them. Most importantly, he did not cross the line… Even though most his novels started off with protagonists deliberately looking for trouble.

Nobody knows why this world was full of trouble seekers, just like his friends who suddenly wanted to perform some spirit-summoning ritual in this Feng Men village, which happened to be famous for supernatural phenomena.

Were not they trouble seekers?

Every family in this village had placed a coffin in their house. Who knows what kind of culture they practiced?

Nevertheless, Zhao Song did not stop these people from being idiots. Where else could he look for writing inspirations if they did not stir something up?

After all, he had Xiao Hei. He worshipped Xiao Hei the same way he worshipped his ancestors. He took care of it, as his life depended on it!

He could not help it. He had gone through a lot of scenes in his supernatural stories, and believed that ghosts and spirits sustained this world. The best thing he knew was to protect himself by staying away and running away from trouble.

Therefore, the unconscious Zhao Youyue scared the living light out of him, and his first thought was to run away as far as possible. A young girl lying unconscious, deep in the wilderness; it was way too eerie, was it not?

In his novels, those troublemaking characters would not hesitate to save people. In fact, those people they saved were not humans; they were ghosts!

One by one, everybody would die mysteriously as they played the savior!

Her pretty face was deadly, it was far too deadly. It was a trap that baited people into saving her. But not him, he loved his life more than hers.

This was no joke at all. Zhao Song had witnessed such a scenario many times over. He never understood why were there so many fearless souls who ignored the practice of maintaining harmony with spirits. They often crossed the line and became his source of writing inspiration.

His novels retold actual, real-life incidents. Readers often argued about the legitimacy of trouble-seeking actions as described in his novel, eager to prove the existence of ghosts!

Ghosts definitely existed in this world, even if one chose not to believe it.

Zhao Song could not move away from the scene, no matter how much he wanted to. The cat that he worshipped as his protection did not want to leave, unless he took this unconscious young girl along.

Zhao Song could not shake the feeling that he had just became a side character in a novel. All this while, he had been an author who had observed the world savely, omnisciently.

There was no way for him to become a character in any supernatural story!

However, he had to save this potential ghost magnet to persuade his black cat – ancestral protector.

That’s right. He was convinced that he was saving a ghost, and prayed she was, not an evil one.

Translation Note:

[1] Feng Men Village, （封门村）located in the rural area outside Qinyang town of Jiaozuo City in He Nan Province. Since the year 1981, villagers moved out of the village due to its location was not strategic and caused inconvenience to reach outside world. It was completely vacant in the year 2007. Some sports lovers started to spread rumors and ghosts stories about that abandoned village since 2008, which were purely made up stories.