Xuan gritted his teeth, sat cross-legged, took a deep breath, and raised his right hand. Moving upward from his dantian, a faint red light began to glow from within his body, gathering at his throat. A round red orb, swirling with mist-like energy, emerged from his mouth.

  “You...” TuTu suddenly realized something, panic seizing her as she grabbed his hand, desperately shaking her head. “No! You can’t!”

  Before her words could finish, a gust of wind, thick with the stench of blood, descended from the sky. With every fp of the white wings, the gates of hell seemed to open a little wider.

  Xuan tightly clenched the red orb in his palm and forcefully pushed TuTu away. Before he could rise, the cold winds swept across his head. A sharp, piercing pain shot through him, and his mind rang with a deafening buzz. His body lightened, and his soul seemed to drift like a bde of grass, floating somewhere in the void. A burning sensation spread across his abdomen, as though a hand had reached inside, intending to hollow out his flesh and soul.

  The moonlight in the sky wasn't white, nor blue, but a faint red, like the st rays of the sunset. In those rays, there was a face—fuzzy, but familiar.

  The white cat, unscathed, descended from the air like a king. Its right front paw sank deeply into his abdomen, assuming the posture of an absolute victor. Under its wings and cws, Xuan was nothing more than an ant at the mercy of its power.

  The red orb slipped weakly from Xuan's loosened hand. Exhausted, Xuan moved his lips, gazing at the white cat with regret but no hatred. He wanted to stand again, but it was futile. In his final gnce, he gave it to TuTu, a look filled with complexity that only he understood. Wisps of cloud-like mist scattered from his body, and with each passing moment, his flesh and bones shrank. In the end, he transformed into a small bck cat, curled up on the ground.

  "Xuan...” TuTu murmured.

  She rose from the ground and locked eyes with the white cat.

  Fish and cats are destined enemies. The only role a fish can py is that of the cat's food. This is a universally accepted truth, a rule everyone follows.

  However, in the face of such a cat, TuTu smiled. Her smile was the kind that reminded one of the first drop of dew in spring, pure and clear, or the first flicker of a fme in a winter night′s hearth, warm and comforting.

  Xuan's core, quietly, was pced into her mouth.

  The white cat retracted its paw and licked the fresh blood from it. Its frost-covered eyes locked onto the woman smiling at it across from her.

  A cat eating a fish is a natural order.

  The white cat's limbs shot forward, clearing Xuan, the annoying obstacle. What it desired was right ahead, within reach. What was most gratifying was that its target showed no intention of resistance, not even attempting to flee.

  TuTu was just a fish. Even though she had lived for thousands of years, she was still just a fish that liked to eat ice cream. She didn't understand spells, didn't know how to kill, and didn't even know how to protect herself. The only thing she understood was one thing.

  The white cat's sharp teeth still carried the scent of Xuan. When its cws sank deeply into TuTu's shoulder, TuTu smiled brighter than ever. With her delicate, white hands, she gently cradled its face, kissing the mouth that intended to rip out her throat.

  "Kaī, I won’t leave."

  Before she closed her eyes for the st time, she said these final words to the white cat.

  Today is Cang Tongkai's tenth birthday.

  His father didn’t come back; he was in London, busy mingling with a group of financial moguls.

  On the wide wn of their home, the city′s most famous circus was performing outdoors. Joyful music echoed through the skies, with mountains of colorful food stacked high. Clowns, smiling brightly, handed out beautiful balloons to everyone. Each balloon had "Happy Birthday, Kai!" neatly printed on it.

  All of Cang Tongkai's cssmates were invited as guests, filling the air with ughter and joy.

  No one noticed that the birthday boy, Cang Tongkai, had already disappeared shortly after the grand celebration began.

  Cang Tongkai wandered alone on the beach, leaving a trail of footprints in the fine sand.

  Today is the weekend, and the weather isn't too great, so not many people are at the beach.

  In the evening, behind a cold drink shop by the seaside, a group of kids gathered in a circle, excitedly pointing and talking.

  "I was just eating an ice cream cone by the beach, and it jumped out of the water and bit off half of it!"

  "This fish is so strange! It's completely white!"

  "Do you think it's worth a lot of money? At my dad's seafood shop, fish like this sell for dozens of yuan per pound!"