6kv Chapter 104 Cat's Paws in the Shadows
Chapter 104 Cat's Paws in the Shadows
The midday sun pierced through the gaps in the branches and leaves, casting shimmering spots of light on the ground covered with a thin layer of decaying leaves.
Seven or eight men and women spread out, stepping lightly on the fallen leaves, their backs slightly tense, as they cautiously made their way forward.
Their eyes kept scanning the grass at their feet, the crisscrossing tree trunks, and even glancing into the hollows in the trees, clearly looking for something.
Under the shade of an old oak tree not far away, Chris stood leaning against the rough trunk, his fingertips casually touching the bottom button of his shirt. The silence in his eyes flashed for a moment before disappearing back into his gentle demeanor.
Constance stood beside him, her moon-white skirt sweeping across the clover on the ground, holding a box of dried fish that cats love to eat, her brows and eyes full of barely concealed anxiety.
Just now outside the clinic, Chris learned from Constance that Constance's beloved cat, a pure black shorthair named Little Black Tower, had run away again.
Constance said that when she ran into Chris last time, she noticed that Little Black Tower seemed to particularly like Chris's scent, so this time, she specifically wanted to ask Chris to help her find it, and promised to give Chris a corresponding reward.
Chris certainly wanted the payment.
He'd looked at a lot of houses these past few days, and even the most expensive one, the price Constance offered, was enough to cover at least a year's rent.
However, he and Constance had other guests with them at the time, and he felt embarrassed to directly accept the reward that he hadn't yet received for his work, so he could only politely decline for the time being, but he still agreed to help find the cat.
According to Constance, Little Black Tower disappeared completely after running into this forest.
"I'll leave it to Mr. Chris." Constance looked at him with a hint of apology in her eyes, and a little embarrassed that she was afraid of causing trouble for him.
"You're too kind, Miss Constance. It's my pleasure to be of help." Chris was still somewhat helpless inside, but he wore an impeccable gentle smile and spoke in a calm and polite tone.
Chris looked away and gazed back into the depths of the woods.
He only learned during his casual conversation with Constance that this woodland connecting to the hill behind the villa was entirely the private property of the Rockwell family, covering an area almost half the size of a small town.
The area is patrolled and cleared by forest rangers every week. Not only are there no ferocious wild animals, but even venomous snakes and insects are rarely seen. They can go in to look for cats with complete peace of mind.
Chris unconsciously pictured Little Black Tower's well-proportioned and slender figure, his always glossy black fur, and his round, bright eyes.
My thoughts drifted away, recalling the vivid dream I had last night, and the results of the astrological reading in the dream.
That was the first time he had tried to invoke spirituality and complete an astrological reading in a dream.
In the final vision, besides Vivian, there was a black cat with purple eyes.
In his dream, Chris thought that the black cat was the one Constance owned.
But just now at the villa entrance, he saw from afar the black cat Constance was holding in his arms. Its eyes had no purple color at all, just ordinary amber.
This made Chris wonder what the black cat he saw in his astrological dream last night really meant.
With these thoughts in mind, Chris didn't stop walking.
He carefully avoided the thorny low bushes and the dew-covered grass, walking steadily forward step by step, his eyes quickly scanning every corner around him, not even missing the crevices under the tree roots, trying his best to find traces of the black cat.
He didn't really think that with just seven or eight of them, they could find a tiny, all-black kitten that was the best at hiding in such a large wooded area.
But since he had already promised Constance, he had to go through with the proper formalities.
Between him and hereditary nobles like Constance, there was an almost insurmountable class divide. It was never a bad thing to leave a reliable and good impression on the other party through this small matter. Who knows, this favor might come in handy someday.
Moreover, the search for the cat wouldn't affect the party at all.
Chris never really fit into that kind of atmosphere anyway, so coming out to look for the cat was a peaceful experience, like going for a walk to get some fresh air.
He maintained a respectful distance from the group of servants who had also been sent by Constance to find the cat. He neither strayed too far from the group nor approached them to strike up a conversation, lest he get lost in the unfamiliar woods.
It's midday, the sun is at its highest, and perhaps because we're in the mountains and forests outside the city, the weather is exceptionally fine today. There are only a few wisps of clouds in the sky, and you can see the bright sun hanging overhead.
By the end of September, autumn had begun in Rom, and the weather was quite cool.
Chris walked leisurely for almost fifteen minutes, surrounded by trees and grass, without any interesting sounds. Before long, he began to feel a little bored.
He glanced at the group of people not far away, estimating that they were already more than a hundred meters away from him.
He looked back at the road he had come from, his gaze passing through layers of trees, but he could no longer see Constance at all, not even the roof of the villa.
"Searching aimlessly like this is not a solution at all."
Chris pondered to himself, and suddenly an idea came to him.
Should we try using the power of the Holy Path?
As long as he concentrates his mind and activates the power of the Holy Path, he can accurately detect the subtle airflow disturbances caused by the breathing and movement of all living beings within a certain radius.
This woodland looks like it is regularly maintained; the bushes along the roadside and the grass underfoot are not too dense, unlike the overgrown branches found in a wild forest.
But if a tiny kitten, no bigger than a palm, is determined to hide deep in the grass or bushes, it's easy to miss it even if you walk right past it without crouching down and searching carefully.
He hadn't held out much hope of finding the cat, but if he did, judging from Constance's adorable expression, he certainly wouldn't leave it unrewarded. It would be perfectly reasonable to accept a thank-you gift then.
His refusal of the advance payment was entirely out of courtesy.
After all, when the other party approached him, he hadn't done anything yet and wasn't sure if he could actually help. Taking payment for nothing would be a bad idea.
Now, he was all alone. The nearest servant was more than a hundred meters away, separated by several large trees, and could not see anything happening to him.
He could certainly try to use a little bit of the power of the Holy Path.
Chris slowed his pace, completely ceasing his aimless gazing. He narrowed his eyes slightly, focused his mind, and began to communicate with the Holy Seal hidden deep within his soul, belonging to the Holy Path of the Wind Incarnation.
In a daze, the chirping of insects, the sound of the wind, and the rustling of leaves in his ears all became hazy and distant, as if separated by a thick curtain of water.
The scene before my eyes became blurry and shaky, and the colors faded.
His hearing and vision did not disappear; they were merely temporarily covered by a more acute sense of perception.
At this moment, he could clearly perceive every rustle of wind and grass within a 30-meter radius around him. He could pinpoint the direction of the wind, how many leaves it brushed past, and how much the leaves swayed. He could pinpoint every detail with remarkable accuracy.
And this was only the result of him using less than a third of the power of the Holy Path. He hadn't even touched the power limit of the Holy Seal he was currently in control of, and he could have expanded his perception range even further.
Chris didn't stop and continued walking slowly forward.
As he continued to draw upon the power of the Holy Path, he intentionally controlled the expansion of his perception range, instead focusing on further enhancing the precision of his perception of details.
At this moment, he could even clearly perceive that, three meters away to his left, a black beetle the size of a fingernail was perched on a clump of low grass, flapping its transparent wings and creating ripples in the steady flow of air in the forest.
Ultimately, Chris steadily expanded his perception range to sixty meters.
At this distance, he could still maintain the precision to perceive the flapping of insect wings, and even the slightest movement of an ant crawling over a fallen leaf could not escape his perception.
With this level of perception, finding a cat is perfectly sufficient.
As long as the black cat enters his perception range, even if it doesn't move at all, just the slightest breath it makes, he is confident that he can pinpoint its exact location immediately.
Once locked on, as long as the black cat doesn't instantly run out of his perception range, he can easily track it down by following the airflow it creates as it runs and jumps.
In this state of intense focus on airflow perception, his original hearing and vision were significantly reduced. The sounds he heard were as if they were through a layer of eardrums, and the images he saw were as if they were through a layer of frosted glass, both becoming blurred to varying degrees.
But this did not prevent Chris from moving freely through the woods. He could predict tree trunks and bushes ahead by sensing air currents, and even avoid small puddles under his feet.
This was the first time he had fully entered this state, not relying on his innate hearing and vision, but using airflow to touch and perceive the entire world, as if stepping into a completely new dimension.
This feeling was wonderful; it brought with it a sense of novelty and a feeling of absolute control over everything around him.
Chris's attention was completely focused on finding the regular airflow fluctuations caused by the breathing of small creatures, and he didn't notice that he was going deeper and deeper, and the distance between him and the group of people not far away was getting farther and farther away, far beyond the safe range he had expected.
The treetops overhead grew denser, and the sunlight filtering through became increasingly fragmented and faint.
The shade grew thicker, carrying the dampness of the forest, gradually enveloping Chris's figure completely.
Just as Chris had done countless times before, he lifted his foot and took a step as usual.
His body suddenly stiffened, and he froze on the spot.
Disappeared.
All the subtle fluctuations within his perception range disappeared.
The subtle air currents created by the flapping wings and crawling of countless insects, which he had perceived so clearly, vanished without a trace the moment he stepped into this area.
In his perceived world, only the rhythm of the wind flowing evenly through the forest remained, eerily clean, without a single extraneous sound.
This completely illogical situation made Chris's hair stand on end instantly, jolting him out of his immersive state where he relied almost entirely on the perception of airflow.
His vision and hearing returned to normal in an instant. The chirping of insects and the sound of the wind around him rushed back into his ears, and the dim scene in front of him became clear. He deliberately weakened his sense of airflow, but he was still on high alert, capturing every slight change in the area.
Chris narrowed his eyes sharply, his brows furrowing tightly. His left thumb unconsciously touched the glass ring on his little finger, a hint of undisguised seriousness and vigilance flashing in his eyes.
He then realized that the surrounding environment had become very dark.
The treetops overhead were so dense they were almost intertwined, their branches intertwined like an impenetrable net, letting in very little sunlight, making it difficult to even see the ground clearly.
He looked up and saw a wall of trees less than ten meters in front of him, formed by countless thick trees and intertwined branches tightly twisted together, without a single gap, like a natural barrier.
The tree wall extends to both sides, disappearing into the distance among the trees, seemingly without end.
Right in front of him, there was a narrow entrance in the middle of the tree wall, just the right height and width for an adult to squeeze through sideways.
Chris looked into the entrance and could only see a few dozen centimeters of the ground inside. Beyond that, it was pitch black, so thick that not even light could penetrate.
At the edge of his vision, where light and darkness met, a furry, pure black cat's paw rested quietly on the damp, brown ground, without the slightest movement.