Super Gene

When Han Sen touched the pendant, he was scalded by the heat it had generated.

“The pendant did not have a reaction to the leader of Blood Legion, assuming that was who he was. But why is it reacting so strongly to this? Is this the real Nine-Life Cat? Or maybe what I saw was an apparition, and the bones of the leader actually reside in this coffin.” There was a lot to question and a lot to be wary of.

Still, assuming that was true, Han Sen noted that it would be very strange for the coffin to be placed where it was. Authority figures or leaders of much renown weren’t known for making their resting places at the entrances of their palaces.

The group walked forward until they were only three meters away from the coffin. There, they could now see the creature clearly, and make out all of its distinct features.

The so-called beast was curled up, and it had its head tucked beneath its tail. There was not, however, any lifeforce that Han Sen could detect.

But suddenly, the tail moved. Unsure about what this meant, everyone stopped in their tracks and remained dead still. They peered at the creature with intense, twitching eyes.

“It’s alive!” Xu Yanmeng hollered.

The creature’s tail swung again, like the slow lashing of a whip. The creature unfurled to look at the group that was approaching, and it did so with eyes that looked like a couple of red sirens.

“It’s alive!” Zhong Sanxiao also called out, trembling as he took one step back in fear.

The creature really did look like a cat, complete with oval eyes. Its gaze was menacing and cold, but it wasn’t directly threatening.

Everyone readied themselves for a fight. The group that had come before them encountered this creature and died shortly after, after all.

But the motionless standoff went on longer than anticipated. The cold, uncaring gaze of the cat developed into one of disinterest after a certain amount of time elapsed.

After a while, with the prospect of immediate danger diminishing, Zhong Sanxiao said, “Now is the time to strike. It’s not attacking, so let’s take advantage of that.”

Everyone knew it might be for the best to remove the stranger-danger that cat might-or-might-not pose, but they’d have to do it together, if they chose to attack it.

“No,” Mister Li said, with a resolute voice. “It is not hostile to us. If we provoke it, and make it hostile, we may not even live long enough to regret it.”

“We can’t just stand here, though,” Zhong Sanxiao pleaded.

Mister Li said, “We can continue to approach it delicately, and assuming it does not do anything more, we will try to open the coffin.”

Everyone in the team looked at each other, to see how they each felt about that. Although they were all worried about what might happen, they all agreed it was best to approach the coffin slowly without directly inviting hostility from the cat.

Each step they took was slow and steady, exercised with great care and caution. And each time one foot settled back on the ground, they looked at the beast intently, to see if it had moved at all.

When they reached the coffin, the cat had not moved an inch. It merely looked at them, with its tail brushing softly against the coffin it rested upon.

Everyone approached the coffin from a different direction, surrounding it. Strangely, the creature seemed to be watching Han Sen.

“Get a firm grip around the edges, and lift it up,” Mister Li commanded softly.

They placed their hands around the smoothed edges of the coffin and dug their fingers as far they could underneath it.

They did not care much for the coffin or what might rest inside. Their main worry was how the creature would behave once they began moving the lid. They feared it was ready to pounce.

“Three… two… one…” When Mister Li finished the countdown, everyone heaved the hefty lid up.

The combined strength of the group removed the lid with ease. They lifted it as high and as straight as they could, and strangely, the cat did not move an inch.

The beast looked as disinterested as it first had, and it didn’t seem to care about what they were doing.

Their mission was to find out what was in the coffin. Once they caught a glimpse of what was inside, they could return. With the lid safely removed, they all stole a glance inside. What they saw surprised them.

It was empty. There was not a single thing inside it.

“It’s empty? Why is it empty?” Wang Zhao asked aloud.

Old Qiu then drew attention to the vacant lid of the coffin, with a voice that trembled and shook. “The creature is gone.”

Everyone turned to look where Old Qiu was staring.

The cat was gone. It was as if it had completely vanished into thin air.

“Where did it go?” Xu Yanmeng asked, looking around in a near-panic, fearing a sudden ambush or pounce.

Everyone thought it most strange, and did the same. But no one was able to see where it might have wandered off to.

“Look, we’ve seen what’s inside the coffin. We can leave now; we’ve done what was requested of us. We really should get moving before something ill falls upon us,” Wang Zhao suggested, trying his best to conceal the nervousness that tried to break up his words.

“Okay. Let’s put the lid back before leaving,” Mister Li said.

When they lifted the lid up and set it back down on the coffin, their faces changed.

It made Xu Yanmeng scream at the top of his lungs, and he yelled, “The suction! I can’t get my hands free.”

“Me, too! Oh f*ck.” Zhong Sanxiao tried to pull his hand free, but he was unable to.

Everyone was suffering the same misfortune, finding their hands to be stuck in a vacuum stemming from the coffin. They couldn’t get their hands free.

Han Sen held onto the lid like the rest, pretending he was suffering the same fate. Truthfully, the suction that gripped the others didn’t seem to be affecting him.

His compatriots already thought poorly enough of him as it was, so he made sure not to reveal his fortune.