That whole ordeal really drained us. Huang Xiaotao said Team Leader Liao had already secured an arrest warrant and was taking people to apprehend Yu Jun.
Since we had nothing else to do, we headed back to the hotel to rest for a bit. Around five in the afternoon, Team Leader Liao called to say Yu Jun was caught and in custody. We rushed to the police station and found him in the interrogation room. His previous bravado had vanished. The moment he saw me, he shouted desperately, "Officer, you're just in time! Please, let me go home—there's an emergency!"
"What emergency?" I asked.
"My wife's sick. I need to take care of her..."
I sneered. "You don't want to care for your wife—you want to care for a cat."
I told him Bai Yidao had been arrested, and the Du Cai Spirit Cat was now in our hands. Yu Jun's face instantly drained of color. He begged, "Please, give it back to me. I'm begging you."
"Why should I?"
Lowering his head, he stammered, "That thing is hard to take care of. Every midnight, I have to feed it my own vital essence, or it will turn on me."
I glanced at his hand, covered in bandages—just as I suspected.
...
...
I said firmly, "Unless you confess to the murders, don't even think about it."
"Please, please. You're a generous man. Do me a favor." He reached out to shake my hand but was sharply rebuked by the guarding officer: "Behave yourself!"
"So you admit the curse is real?" I asked with a smirk.
Yu Jun's face turned ashen. He said nothing.
I continued, "Confess, and I'll ask Team Leader Liao to arrange bail for you. Then you can go home and feed your cat."
"How can a police officer threaten me like this?" Yu Jun exploded angrily.
I kept my real identity hidden and calmly replied, "Yu Jun, if the curse doesn't exist, why should we believe you'll be killed by it? This isn't a threat—it's simple logic."
He clenched his lips, glaring at me fiercely.
I gave him a moment to think. As we left the interrogation room, Yu Jun suddenly burst into a manic laugh inside: "Wherever it is, that thing brings bloodshed. All of you will die! All of you!"
His words unsettled the officers. They sent a representative to ask me if it was safe to keep the Du Cai Spirit Cat at the station.
I believed the cat couldn't kill people at will, but the officers were terrified. So I found a compromise: we locked the cat in a car parked deep in the lot. Only then did everyone calm down.
The rest of the day was spent waiting at the station. Even dinner was there, essentially a silent psychological battle with Yu Jun.
Confess and live—or resist and die.
By eleven o'clock, everyone was bored out of their minds, and phones were almost dead.
Wang Dali muttered, "This guy's not going to confess. He's killed seven people. He's definitely looking at the death penalty..."
I replied, "Not necessarily. Everyone fears death. If there's a chance to live one more day, he'll give in."
Suddenly, a cop rushed over. "Bad news! Yu Jun's in trouble!"
"What happened?" I asked.
"It's complicated. Come see for yourselves."
We arrived at the holding cell and saw Yu Jun clutching the bars, banging his head until it bled. He murmured strangely, "I am the Spirit Cat Great Immortal. I am the Spirit Cat Great Immortal. You dare lock me up? At midnight, I'll make you all die!"
The officers froze. Team Leader Liao looked worried. "He's probably possessed. There are too many people in the station. We should transfer him somewhere else."
Everyone agreed.
If not for what happened earlier with Wang Dali, Yu Jun's act might have scared me. But I immediately saw through it. The Spirit Cat's possession doesn't look like this.
I sneered, "Keep pretending, Yu Jun. Midnight's almost here. Just wait for death."
Yu Jun swayed, still ranting, "Impudent mortal! How dare you speak to the Spirit Cat Great Immortal like that? I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" He pressed his bloody forehead against the bars, blood running down his nose, looking ferocious.
"In a few minutes, I'll unleash my power and make you all kill each other!"
The whole room's atmosphere shifted. Everyone looked nervously at one another, afraid they might die by a colleague's gun.
I leaned in and said coldly, "Stop pretending. I've seen what possession by the Spirit Cat looks like. You're a terrible actor."
That broke his mental defense. His lips trembled and his eyes darted anxiously.
I added, "I know what you're thinking—scaring us to get your way. Keep acting. Let's see who lasts longer."
I motioned Huang Xiaotao aside to whisper instructions, then told everyone else, "Step outside. I'll handle him."
Team Leader Liao hesitated but eventually agreed. The officers left.
Huang Xiaotao glanced at the clock. "Shit, Song Yang, only ten minutes until midnight."
Yu Jun sneered at the clock and regained confidence. He started the same lousy act—swaying and frothing at the mouth: "The Spirit Cat Great Immortal will manifest! Obey me and live; defy me and die!"
I dragged a chair over, crossed my legs, and sat facing him. "Then we'll wait ten minutes and see who dies—us or you."
Wang Dali whispered nervously, "Song Yang, what if he's telling the truth?"
"Impossible," I said confidently.
Wang Dali didn't know Yu Jun was acting and was terrified. I told him if he wanted, he could leave and hide a bit.
"No way," Wang Dali insisted. "I'm not a coward."
Time ticked down. Huang Xiaotao suddenly gasped, "Hey, Wang Dali's gone."
I looked around. Wang Dali had snuck under a table, trembling and clutching his head. Huang Xiaotao and I scolded him silently: "Coward!"
Only two minutes left before midnight.
Yu Jun finally broke. His voice returned to normal. "I confess, I confess! I killed both families!"
"How did you kill them?" I demanded.
He explained, "I wrote down their birthdates, burned them to ash, then fed the ashes mixed with my blood to the Spirit Cat. Then I gave the cat to the person I wanted dead. The cat emits a bio-magnetic field that drives them insane." He bit his middle finger viciously—probably tearing off a chunk of flesh. I winced watching it.
Then he held out his bleeding finger eagerly. "Feed it my blood quickly! That cat's sly. If it doesn't get fed, it causes trouble!"
I asked slowly, "Then what?"
"The sculpture is the prison holding it down. My blood is mixed into it. Every midnight I must drip my vital essence into the small holes to reinforce the seal. Otherwise, it breaks free and takes revenge on me! I rented the house opposite Huang Youcai's to feed it in time. That cat's a demon, always trying to break free from my control." Yu Jun shouted anxiously.
My heart jolted. No wonder Wang Dali risked everything to smash the sculpture earlier—this Spirit Cat was enslaved.
"Do you sneak into the victims' homes every day to feed it blood?" I asked.
"No need to touch it. Just dripping blood near a red candle within twenty meters is enough to lure it with the scent of blood," Yu Jun replied.
"Where did you get this cat?" I asked.
"A wandering Taoist sold it to me. Officer, don't ask. Just take my blood and feed it, please! I beg you!" He kept banging his head on the bars like he was kowtowing. This pitiful scene was worlds apart from the arrogant man from this morning.
I pulled out my phone and held it in front of him. "Look at the time."
Yu Jun's face drained when he saw it—like he'd just been slapped.
Earlier, I told Huang Xiaotao to set the wall clock ahead by half an hour while the officers weren't around. It was still only eleven-thirty.
But I had already recorded everything Yu Jun said on my phone—enough evidence to send him to justice.