Chapter 5: Haunted!
Even Tom began to tremble all over, with a high intensity of shaking. Ignoring the fact that he was a living being, Bai Song felt as if he had tied a massager to his leg, shaking it to the point of numbness.
Compared to the fearless Tom who had bravely faced Ryuunosuke, whose size far surpassed his own, they were like two completely different cats.
If being tough didn't work, then they had to try a softer approach.
"It's okay, trust me, we just need to go in and open a door." Saying that, Bai Song patted Tom's head, trying to calm down this frightened cat for some unknown reason.
"After you go in, all you need to do is open the door. Don't be afraid, and even if there are ghosts, you'll be fine... right?"
When Tom heard Bai Song's first sentence, he had already managed to calm down a bit. He even slightly loosened his grip on Bai Song's legs. However, just a few seconds later, Bai Song's uncertain words directly scared Tom to the core again.
The entire cat turned white.
Yes, he was truly frightened, a white-out kind of fright.
If one had to describe it, it was as if someone had poured a bucket of white paint on him, completely draining the color from the cat.
After a few seconds, Tom's color gradually returned. He vigorously shook his head at Bai Song, with such speed and amplitude that Bai Song could feel a gust of cold wind.
"Well, there's no other choice. I originally planned to use the saved rent money to buy you cake and milk, but it's a pity." Saying that, Bai Song pretended to walk outside, moving slowly to give Tom some time to think.
This was just talk, after all. He was a person with no legal status, and yet he managed to find a haunted house to rent. Moreover, even if he had a legal residence, he still couldn't afford a house. The only reason was that Ryunosuke's wallet was too empty.
Perhaps Ryunosuke had money somewhere else, but it was no longer relevant. Since he didn't know how to deal with Ryunosuke, should he kill him? But Bai Song couldn't bring himself to do it. Should he let him go? That would be like releasing a tiger back to the mountain. In the end, he could only rely on Tom, who seemed to be able to produce Ryunosuke from a four-dimensional space. In the beginning, Tom carried Ryunosuke, but as they went further, Bai Song was surprised to find that Ryunosuke had disappeared. However, when he asked Tom, it could still be retrieved as if it existed in a four-dimensional space.
At this point, Bai Song was just teasing Tom since he had no other options. If Tom didn't respond, Bai Song would have to smash the window. In any case, Bai Song had settled in this house.
Tom couldn't sit still anymore. The thought of losing the food that was about to be his was unbearable. No, it absolutely couldn't happen!
The difference between being full and being hungry, he understood it well.
After realizing this, Tom immediately let go of Bai Song's leg. His eyes instantly became sharp, and he decided to go inside and open the door!
Feeling the relief in his lightly shaken legs, Bai Song knew that his previous provocation had succeeded. He turned around and saw that Tom was already adorned with 'armor' he had somehow found. He had a small pot on his head as a helmet, held a trash can lid as a shield in his left hand, and wielded a frying spatula as a defensive weapon in his right hand.
With a proud and determined stride, Tom headed towards the door. However, the closer he got to the entrance, the more his body shrank and the more uncertain he became. When he reached the door, Tom took a deep breath. His upper body squeezed through the door crack and his lower body ran outside, trying to squeeze his entire body through the gap. Soon, he made it inside.
Once inside, Tom immediately began surveying his surroundings. Everywhere he looked, there were spider webs, giving a creepy and eerie vibe, but there didn't seem to be any ghosts. However, just as Tom let out a sigh of relief and prepared to turn around and open the door, he caught a glimpse, from the corner of his eye, of a floating white figure at the end of the corridor. Its eyes even emitted an eerie red light.
If Tom could speak now, he would definitely shout in fright, "Wow, it's a real apparition!"
"%$&%^%&$%&" In an instant of shock, Tom abandoned his equipment and let out a scream before leaping up and clinging to the ceiling with his claws, trembling.
The apparition, upon seeing Tom, hardly hesitated and prepared to fly towards him. However, before it could make a move, a mid-length-haired girl dressed in a blue kimono with a red coat over it appeared behind the apparition. With a flash of a blade, the apparition was instantly cut in half, its spirit dissolving and disappearing from this world.
"With that, the last ghost here has been dealt with. Seriously, what kind of world have I been dragged into? The number of ghosts here is just too exaggerated... Hmm?" Just as the girl was about to wrap things up, she suddenly noticed a light blue cat hanging above the doorway.
"What the heck, just a cat? But why would there be a living cat here?"
Although she found the cat a bit strange, the girl didn't pay much attention to it. After she sheathed her small knife, she opened the window and left the house.
After Tom, who had observed everything from the ceiling, confirmed that the apparition had disappeared, he quickly jumped down and opened the door. Then he pounced on Bai Song like a hungry tiger, continuing to tremble.
Seeing Tom burst out of the door, Bai Song immediately started questioning him, "What was that scream all about just now?"
As soon as Tom entered, he suddenly screamed, giving Bai Song, who was outside keeping watch, a big fright. Just as Bai Song was about to crouch down and observe the situation inside through the door crack, Tom jumped out directly.
Upon hearing Bai Song's words, Tom jumped down from him, his hands pulling the corners of his mouth to reveal his sharp teeth. He then raised his hands like claws and waved them in front of him. Next, Tom picked up his frying spatula and swung it into the air in front of him. He then threw the spatula aside and returned to the spot where he had swung it, continuing to act like a ghost. He placed his hands over his heart and leaned forward.
With that, Tom's dual-role pantomime performance came to an end.
"So, you're saying there was an apparition inside... and you defeated it with a single swipe of your spatula?" Bai Song struggled to comprehend Tom's actions.
Tom was about to shake his head, but then he thought to himself, if he let his new owner believe that he had handled the situation, wouldn't that mean a bigger cake for him later? So he immediately nodded, proudly raising his head and straightening his body. He placed his left hand on his waist and used his right hand to give a thumbs-up to his own chest.
Seeing Tom nod, Bai Song's eyes lit up, and he immediately raised his thumb, exclaiming, "Oh? Tom, well done!"