The morning mist condenses into frosty flowers on the floor-to-ceiling window.
"Brother Jing, we meet again!"
Lin Xiaocan stands in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, morning light gilding her with a soft gold edge. Today she's wearing a cream-colored knit dress, its hem falling just above her knees, revealing a pair of long and slender legs. The V-neck of the dress perfectly reveals her delicate collarbones, and beneath them is a faint tattoo of a small ginkgo leaf.
Her long hair flows like a waterfall, glossy black with natural soft curls at the ends, cascading down to her waist. When she turns, her strands draw a graceful arc in the air, falling slowly as if in slow motion. Sunlight streams through the hair, refracting into fine halos, enveloping her entirely in a haze of misty light.
Tall and well-proportioned, her waist is slender and curves captivating. Her skin is fair and delicate, almost transparent under the sunlight, with pale blue veins visible underneath.
Looking at Shen Jingqi, Lin Xiaocan smiled. Her eyes curve like crescent moons, shallow dimples appear at the corners of her mouth, exuding a warm radiance that is completely different from Li Baiyu's aura.
Lin Xiaocan walked barefoot, lightly to the rattan chair by the window. The silver gradient cat lay curled in the sun, its fluffy tail idly tapping the cushion. She crouched down, extending her fingers to gently scratch the cat's chin.
"Tuantuan, why are you so well-behaved today?" Her voice was as sweet as honey, her fingertips gliding along the cat's back. The silver gradient cat squinted its eyes, purring, but froze when she touched its tailbone.
Lin Xiaocan picked up the cat, letting it rest on her shoulder. Her fingers threaded through its silvery fur, gently massaging the scruff of its neck. "Brother Jing says you've been running to the study lately," she whispered into the cat's ear, "Have you found a secret?"
Sunlight filtered through the sheer curtains, casting delicate spots of light onto the cat's pupils. Suddenly, Shen Jingqi noticed the cat's golden-green irises changing—its pupils contracting into fine lines, and the irises' surfaces showing a grid pattern, like the scanning lines of an old CRT monitor.
"Oh dear, it's been discovered." She chuckled softly, pressing lightly behind the cat's ear with her fingertip. The cat's pupils suddenly dilated, and the grid pattern on the irises began to shift, projecting a holographic image—scenes of Shen Jingqi conducting psychological counseling for Cong Nanxue.
The cat trembled in her arms, the grid pattern in its pupils gradually disappeared, turning back to the normal golden-green. Lin Xiaocan lowered her head to kiss its forehead, a meaningful smile playing on her lips.
The sunlight remained warm, but the silver gradient cat's fur stood on end. It leapt from Lin Xiaocan's embrace, quickly darting to the study, its tail fluffed up like a brush. Lin Xiaocan watched its retreating figure, softly humming "Moonlight Sonata." The source of this content ɪs ɴovᴇl(ꜰ)ir(e).nᴇt
Shen Jingqi held a warm cup of milk, watching Lin Xiaocan walk barefoot across the carpet. A silver chain was strapped around her ankle, tinkling like wind chimes with her movements.
The morning light refracted diamond-shaped patches of light on the blueberry jam jar. Shen Jingqi poked at the pancake with a silver fork, indigo syrup oozing from the caramelized honeycomb structure. Lin Xiaocan stood before the mist-enveloped floor-to-ceiling window, as the violin bow grazed the E string, the silver gradient cat's pupils split into hexagons.
"Brother Jing, eat it while it's hot."
She pulled out a lively tune of "Spring," her left hand dancing along the neck of the violin, while the ginkgo leaf earring glimmered red. Suddenly, the pancake wriggled, and the cream filling opened eyes filled with bloodshot veins.
Shen Jingqi's fork clattered to the floor. Lin Xiaocan tapped her toes to the beat, her ponytail swaying with the melody, the trailing ends stirring data ripples in the air. The silver gradient cat leaped onto the dining table, its claws dipped in maple syrup sketching a coastline on the surface.
"This is Burgundy wine sauce."
Lin Xiaocan suddenly switched to the G string, the violin's sound turning viscous. The eyes on the pancake began to spin, cream pupils revealing a frozen chamber code—CNX-17. The syrup map beneath the cat's paw seeped into the wood grain, forming a 3D model of the Bohai Bay trench.
Shen Jingqi pressed on his twitching temple. The rhythmic friction of the bow syncs with an ECG monitor deep within his memory, and he sees Li Baiyu wearing a breathing mask, convulsing on the hospital bed to the sound of Lin Xiaocan's music. Frost clings to the inside of the oxygen mask.
"Try my improved recipe." Lin Xiaocan's bow suddenly pointed at him, the E string vibrating out infrasound waves. Shen Jingqi involuntarily took a bite of the pancake, blueberry juice bursting open with a bloody taste on his tongue. An image flashed across his retina: Cong Nanxue tapping Morse code inside a frozen chamber, her eyelashes adorned with ice crystals.
Lin Xiaocan approached, stepping in time with the "Monday Tremolo," data cables extending from the violin case wrapping around Shen Jingqi's wrist. Pancake crumbs on the table formed geolocation coordinates, swept into gibberish by the cat's tail.
"The scaling hides positioning parameters."
She suddenly played in reverse, the strings slicing her fingertips. Blood droplets suspended mid-air, refracting seventeen different angles of surveillance footage—all scenes of Shen Jingqi and Yang Haotian talking.
The milk cup suddenly tilted. The milky liquid spread across the tabletop like a snowy plain, Cong Nanxue's phantom running within it, her mint green scarf torn into pieces by a data storm. Lin Xiaocan's violin sound abruptly sharp, the cold milk solidifying into chains wrapping around the phantom's ankles.
Shen Jingqi overturned the dining table. The pancake smashed against the floor-to-ceiling window, blueberry jam painting vascular networks on the glass. He saw his reflection melting, the white coat transforming into a diving suit, the stethoscope morphing into an oxygen regulator.
Lin Xiaocan's laughter fused with double-stop trills. She waved her violin bow, morning mist condensing indoors into snow, each snowflake engraved with Li Baiyu's medical record number. The silver gradient cat trod around in the snow, creating a Möbius strip, its golden-green pupils now playing operating room surveillance: Cong Nanxue extracting a luminous stream of data from Li Baiyu's temple.
"Cognitive synchronization rate 89%." She suddenly used the bow to lift Shen Jingqi's chin, rosin dust falling into his pupils. A holographic projection exploded on his retina: Cong Nanxue opened her eyes within the frozen chamber, speaking in unison with Lin Xiaocan, "Come find me."
The silver gradient cat leaped onto the violin, its claws scraping the strings emitting an ear-piercing noise.
The morning light suddenly turned a cold blue.
"Final movement." Lin Xiaocan let loose her ponytail, her long hair wildly dancing in the data storm. The violin autonomously played a requiem, the strings slicing the air to form a black hole. The silver gradient cat burst into a pixel flood, creating a countdown in the vortex center: 00:07:23.
Shen Jingqi rushed towards the entrance.
Behind him came the hydraulic sound of the violin case opening, mixed with Lin Xiaocan's sigh: "Brother Jing, this is a unique breakfast!"
The doorknob was encrusted with frost. The moment Shen Jingqi turned it, a tidal wave of memories surged forth—one week ago, he personally opened the door to Li Baiyu's villa, letting the silver gradient cat run out.