Xu Ye struggled slightly as she carried a watermelon, nodding politely to greet some familiar residents. As she walked closer to her apartment building, she suddenly felt something was off. It was 7 p.m. in summer, yet the sky was as dark as early dawn. The streetlights on both sides were unusually dim, and a few even flickered intermittently.
The neighborhood where Xu Ye lived was known for its excellent property management, pleasant environment, and good security. She found it odd that the streetlights were all malfunctioning at the same time.
It wasn’t just the dim sky and streetlights—there were no elderly people cooling off under the big trees, no children playing by the fountains. The entire neighborhood was empty and silent, as if she were the only one left.
Still, Xu Ye’s mood was completely dominated by the pleasant prospect of a Friday night. At the moment, she was planning how to enjoy the perfect weekend.
Xu Ye quickened her pace, and the only sound in the quiet neighborhood was the “tap, tap” of her heels on the concrete ground.
As she approached the entrance of her building, she suddenly heard a faint meow nearby. The sound didn’t seem to come from the small path or the lawn beside her—it seemed to come from above. She followed the sound and looked up slightly, spotting a completely black cat perched on the streetlight near the garbage bins.
The cat was so black that it blended into the night, but its pale yellow eyes shimmered faintly, like stars in the night sky. The top of the streetlight provided only a small footing, forcing the black cat to keep its four paws close together.
Xu Ye watched the cat adjust its posture repeatedly on the streetlight and assumed it was stuck. She didn’t notice that the streetlight was only as high as a single floor and stood right next to a soft patch of lawn. Placing the watermelon at her feet, Xu Ye raised both arms and said gently, “Jump down, I’ll catch you.”
Although the light was dim, staring directly into it still stung her eyes. Xu Ye tilted her head slightly and squinted.
The black cat stopped meowing. It adjusted its posture again, then simply stood still, staring at Xu Ye from the streetlight. Xu Ye also stood there with her hands outstretched, the dim light of the streetlamp casting a soft glow around her. After a moment, Xu Ye gave up and lowered her hands. How could she expect a cat to understand her words?
The streetlight was too tall for her to climb. Xu Ye retracted her hands and prepared to call the property management office. Xu Ye rarely contacted the property management; she didn’t like bothering others. But she couldn’t just leave the cat up there.
She took out her phone and started searching her contacts for the number. When she glanced up inadvertently, the cat suddenly arched its body and leapt down, staring intently at Xu Ye as it did.
Instinctively, Xu Ye reached out and caught it. The soft, small black cat landed perfectly in her arms. At the same time, her phone fell heavily onto the concrete next to the lawn, shattering with a piercing crash in the silent night.
The cat was stunning, with sleek and glossy black fur, not at all like a stray. The black cat glanced at Xu Ye once more before swiftly leaping out of her arms and darting across the lawn.
Xu Ye watched it disappear, then turned her attention to her now-ruined phone.
The phone’s screen had cracked into a spiderweb pattern, and the back cover had separated from the body. She bent down, gathered the broken pieces of her phone, and stuffed them into her pocket, planning to take it to a repair shop the next day. If it couldn’t be fixed, so be it. Out with the old, in with the new—she’d just buy a new phone.
Xu Ye smiled easily, her mood unaffected. She picked up the watermelon and headed inside.
In the shadows where Xu Ye couldn’t see, the black cat’s pupils contracted, staring intently as she entered the building.
With her phone broken and unable to play games, Xu Ye stayed up late binge-watching an anime series. The next morning, she slept in until after ten before heading out to get her phone repaired. To make payment easier, she brought along an old phone she kept as a backup. It was a bit laggy but had all the necessary apps and was still somewhat usable.
Xu Ye pulled out the fragments of her broken phone piece by piece. Even the repair technician couldn’t help but be shocked. “Wow, this phone is… I’ll do my best, but honestly, it looks beyond saving.”
“Alright.”
Seeing the technician shaking his head and sighing, Xu Ye started browsing for new phones on the spot. She carefully looked around and finally settled on the latest model from Grape Brand.
She decided she’d buy it later. The price wasn’t too high, the reviews were great, and the design was sleek.
Xu Ye was already gleefully planning what apps to download on her new phone when the technician exclaimed in surprise, “This phone must have nine lives!”
Xu Ye immediately leaned over curiously. The technician explained, “Aside from the outer casing and screen cracks, everything works perfectly. Look, the screen’s practically shattered, but the touch is still super responsive. Just replacing the outer screen will make it good as new.”
Xu Ye tore her gaze away from the Grape phone and mentally bid it farewell.
After the technician replaced the screen, Xu Ye took her phone and left the shop. She casually swiped across the screen to test it and found it surprisingly smooth—almost as if it worked better than before it had been dropped.
As Xu Ye locked the phone screen, a black icon flashed in the corner of her eye. She immediately unlocked the phone and swiped right in one smooth motion. Her eyes fell on a black, cat-ear-shaped icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Xu Ye was extremely familiar with all the apps on her phone. There was absolutely no way this icon had been there before.
At the bottom of the app, four characters were written: “Cat-Dog Alliance.”
Xu Ye had a strong sense of caution and refused to allow any unknown software to linger on her phone. She immediately pressed and held the app, intending to delete it. But no matter how long she pressed, the “Uninstall” option never appeared. Even her anti-fraud software didn’t issue any alerts. She lifted her finger and decided to try uninstalling it through the app management settings.
Just then, a passerby bumped her arm. Her finger accidentally tapped the screen, and the app opened.
Xu Ye had no time to see who had bumped her, nor to examine what the app looked like. Her anti-scam instincts surged to their peak. She remembered reading about what to do if you accidentally tapped on an unknown link. Following the steps from memory, she immediately powered off her phone and rushed back to the repair shop.
“Excuse me, could you help me remove the SIM card and reinstall the system? Thank you.”
While the technician reinstalled the system, Xu Ye pulled out her backup phone, logged into her banking and payment apps, and began changing the passwords.
She carefully checked one by one and confirmed that none of her money had been transferred out.
After finishing his work, the technician handed the phone back to her. Xu Ye reset the phone to its factory settings.
Once everything was done, Xu Ye turned the phone back on. Staring at the now-empty home screen, her eyes landed on the stubborn cat-ear icon.
She checked her account balances again, which remained unchanged.
Since the phone was now empty, Xu Ye decided to open the “Cat-Dog Alliance” app and see what this seemingly immovable software was about. The screen displayed an animation of a small black cat, followed by a large dog.
The sight suddenly reminded Xu Ye of the black cat from last night. However, as someone who didn’t keep cats, all black cats looked the same to her, so she didn’t dwell on the thought.
After the animation ended, two sections appeared on the screen: [Cat Zone] and [Dog Zone]. Apart from the two sections, the top of the screen displayed a line of small text that immediately caught Xu Ye’s attention.
In bold black letters, it read: “Fuli Mansion Community Forum.”
Xu Ye’s neighborhood was indeed named Fuli Mansion.
Her first thought wasn’t about anything supernatural but rather that someone with bad intentions had remotely installed a virus on her phone. She clicked on the leftmost forum called Cat Zone, and prepared to call the police at the first sign of trouble.
The page was structured like a typical online forum, with posts neatly listed from top to bottom. But the titles of these posts were bizarre:
[My little brother has been getting more arrogant lately. He demands dozens of kisses from me every day, and no matter how much I hit or scratch him, it doesn’t work.]
[Lili from next door said she fell from the 18th floor last time and didn’t die. I don’t believe her. I’ll try it later. Stay tuned for updates, brothers.]
[Just had a fight with a few neighbors. Feeling refreshed now, planning another brawl tomorrow.]
None of these posts seemed like things ordinary users would write. Xu Ye didn’t recall any resident ever falling from the 18th floor or hearing about neighbors getting into brawls.
Curious, she clicked into the second post.
[2F: Try it and die.][mfn]Tl’s Note: The F in the forums (e.g, 2F, 3F) is short for ‘Floor’, and it basically just means that it is the 2nd comment, or 3rd comment. In China, they literally call comments in some platforms the ‘nth’ floor to describe how high their comment count is, akin to a multi-storied building.[/mfn]
[3F: Lili? The Lili from Building 8? She’s full of it. She only survived because she first got caught in the net below, then fell onto a tree. Don’t ask me how I know. She hit me on the head when she fell out of the tree.]
Subsequent replies were either urging the original poster not to try or egging them on. But in the end, the original poster chose to cherish their life.
[17F: Thanks, everyone. I asked Lili, and it turns out it’s just like what 3F said. Life is precious. Don’t believe other people’s nonsense.]
[Administrator Reply: The forum is not a lawless zone. Do not incite others to harm themselves or others. Playful banter is fine, but any malicious behavior will result in a three-day account ban, and serious offenses will lead to a permanent ban. Offenders have been noted, and repeat violations will result in account bans.]
The administrator’s comment seemed normal, but the forum users’ reactions were oddly extreme. The ones who had egged on the original poster apologized profusely and promised the administrator they’d never do it again, as if being banned was a catastrophic event.
Xu Ye stared at the screen for a while. It didn’t seem like a scam app. It looked like a forum, albeit with a peculiar audience. She decided to study it further at home. Before putting her phone away, she refreshed the latest posts in the Cat Zone.
A new post appeared just a second ago: [Brothers! We’re heading off for our health checkup! Wishing this batch a clean bill of health!]
Xu Ye glanced at the post, put her phone away, and then froze. Her hand holding the phone curled slightly.
Her phone didn’t have a SIM card. How had she accessed the forum?
Xu Ye spent the entire walk home pondering the feasibility of browsing a forum without internet access. Her thoughts were interrupted when she reached the entrance to her community and heard a commotion.
A crowd had gathered around an open space, seemingly watching something. Xu Ye approached and tiptoed to get a better look.
Two young men wearing masks and gloves stood at the center. In front of them were four cages, each holding a cat.
Xu Ye briefly locked eyes with one of the men. He had slightly upturned phoenix eyes, made even more striking by the shadow of his bangs. He stared at Xu Ye for a moment before picking up a cage and heading toward a vehicle. From the chatter around her, Xu Ye pieced together what was happening.
Many kind-hearted residents in Fuli Mansion fed stray cats, which had led to an overpopulation issue. The two men were there to conduct health checks and rehome the cats. Most residents supported the initiative, and some cat owners even donated cat food on the spot.
She overheard someone remarking that the stray cats were unusually docile around the two men, willingly entering the cages without resistance. This was rare, as stray cats usually put up a fierce fight during capture, requiring several people to safely secure them without causing harm.
Xu Ye thought of the forum post about “health checkups” and refreshed the replies.
[4F: They’re off!]
[5F: The boss’ human contact is so reliable. I’m grateful!]
Xu Ye propped her chin on her hand, mulling over the reply on the fifth floor.
The boss? Human contact?
Author’s guidelines for reading:
1. Greasy male character alert. His storyline will not be deleted or altered. His role is minimal—barely even a side character—but he serves a purpose. If this bothers you, please avoid this story (this is very important).
2. The female lead is a gentle type and does not swear. Please do not criticize her personality. If you drop the story, there’s no need to inform me.
3. This is a light and sweet bedtime story with a slice-of-life vibe.
4. Reasonable suggestions are welcome and can be left under the latest chapter.
5. Minimal romance. The male lead is a junior, three years younger, and mostly a background character. The main focus is the sweet, everyday interactions on the forum between cats and dogs. If you’re looking for a sugary romance, this might not be the story for you.
6. No writing advice, please. This is amateur writing for fun.
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