When the Tsundere Rival Turns Into a Cat - Chapter 22

“Now it seems there really is a major problem. Should we call the police?”

Lin Xie reminded Li Xingcan that if the principal and teachers were truly colluding, their small group might not be able to handle the situation alone.

Li Xingcan hesitated. First, Jiang Qingyue’s identity was special. Second, what reason could they give for calling the police? If a student went missing at school, the authorities would immediately contact the school administration—and then the school would still have full control.

After a moment of thought, Li Xingcan took out her phone and instructed Lin Xie and Fu Duosui while dialing, “I’ll call my family first, then I’ll go check the teachers’ apartments. You two go back to the classroom and rally the others to make some noise. At worst, it’ll be a false alarm and we’ll be laughed at for a few days. But if something really is wrong, the consequences could be much worse.”

“You can’t go to the apartments alone. I’ll come with you!” Fu Duosui stood beside Li Xingcan. “Let Mumu go back to the classroom to alert everyone.”

“Should we really take risks right now? Let’s all go back to the classroom first—”

Before Lin Xie could finish, a figure emerged from the shadows at the door. “Yes, why take risks now? For someone unrelated, is it worth it?”

Zheng Wenbai stood at the entrance, her demeanor a far cry from her usual nurturing teacher persona. Her cold gaze, reminiscent of some creeping shadow, swept over the three of them.

The sudden appearance of this silent figure sent chills down their spines. Li Xingcan stepped forward warily. “What have you done to Jiang Qingyue?!”

“What a nuisance.” Zheng Wenbai didn’t answer. Instead, she pondered how to discreetly deal with these meddlesome kids. Disposing of them outright wasn’t an option—their influential families would make it impossible to cover up. But letting them go would only invite greater trouble.

For now, she had to handle the immediate situation.

Li Xingcan and the others watched Zheng Wenbai’s movements warily. Exchanging glances, they silently agreed and bolted for the door. If they could just get out, three against one—they had the advantage…

But before they could take more than a few steps, Zheng Wenbai raised her hand and released a cloud of white mist. In an instant, all three collapsed to the ground.

Zheng Wenbai crouched to examine them. “Kids these days are still so naive.”

“What did they find out?”

A hoarse voice echoed from the dark hallway. Zheng Wenbai straightened up and entered the computer lab, her expression growing grave as she surveyed the open computers. “They found everything—what they should and shouldn’t have. Seems we underestimated these little pests.”

“I was careless. But didn’t you say Li Xingbai and Jiang Qingyue were on bad terms?” the aged voice questioned.

“Maybe she just likes sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong,” Zheng Wenbai replied, wiping all traces from the computers. “You go ahead. I’ll clean up here.”

“And how exactly will you clean up?”

A gnarled hand extended from the darkness, holding a bottle of pills. “These are Metamorphosis Pills. Feed them to the girls—they’ll temporarily turn into animals. That way, we can move them out unnoticed. Then issue a notice criticizing them for skipping class. You have one night—use whatever means necessary to make them forget this memory before bringing them back.”

Zheng Wenbai took the medicine bottle. “Understood.”

“How’s that little kitten doing?”

“Everything’s going smoothly, though her training has slacked off a bit these past two days due to exams. I told her that her mother is in danger and that she needs to master the incantation to open the demon realm’s gate as soon as possible to rescue her. I’d say she’ll probably get it by tonight.”

“Hurry up. Everything’s ready on my end—just waiting.”

With that, the sound of footsteps gradually faded down the hallway. Zheng Wenbai glanced at the three girls and fed them the medicine from the bottle.

Li Xingcan felt her head spinning, as if the world were tilting violently. She shook her head hard, and only then did her vision gradually clear.

Once her sight returned, she glanced to the side and was immediately startled by the dog face next to her.

“Woof!”

Where did that bark come from?

Li Xingcan’s eyes filled with confusion. The beagle beside her had its eyes closed—still unconscious—so how could it have barked?

She turned to look the other way, only to see another dog face—a border collie, also with its eyes shut.

Was there a third dog?

Li Xingcan looked around, then suddenly realized something was off. She focused both eyes toward the center and, this time, instead of seeing her own nose, she saw a dog’s snout!

“Woof!”

Her eyes widened in shock as she realized—that sound had come from her!

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

She tried opening her mouth again and confirmed it—that really was her own voice!

What was going on? Had she… turned into… a dog?!

She immediately tried to stand, only to nearly twist her leg. Looking down, she saw four dog paws instead of hands and feet…

Not only that, Li Xingcan felt like she was swaying—as if she were in the trunk of a moving car.

As for why she could still clearly see the two dog faces beside her in such darkness, she supposed she had her new canine vision to thank for that.

What the hell had happened?

Li Xingcan desperately wished this was a dream, but it clearly wasn’t.

Her mind buzzed with noise, but she forced herself to stay calm. Before losing consciousness, she had been in the computer lab of the science building with Fu Duosui and Lin Xie, investigating the principal and Zheng Wenbai’s suspicious activities. They’d realized Jiang Qingyue might be in danger, then Zheng Wenbai had appeared, sprinkled some kind of powder, and they’d blacked out—only to wake up here.

In other words, Zheng Wenbai must have done something to turn them into dogs. That meant the two dogs beside her were probably Fu Duosui and Lin Xie.

Having already witnessed demons firsthand, Li Xingcan figured her ability to accept bizarre situations was pretty decent.

By the time she’d pieced things together, the beagle and border collie beside her were slowly waking up—and their reactions were about the same as hers.

“Woo—”

The border collie cut off halfway through its bark, realizing something was wrong, then fell silent—clearly deep in thought.

That confirmed it for Li Xingcan—this one was Lin Xie. As for the other…

“Woof! Woof!”

“Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Awooo~!”

The beagle’s piercing barks tortured Li Xingcan’s newly sensitive dog ears. She covered them with her front paws. “Woof…”

Fu Duosui! Stop barking!

Helpless, though she had turned into a dog now, there was no way for them to understand dog language. All they could hear were barks, making it nearly impossible to discern the meaning. Thus, Fu Duosui couldn’t comprehend Li Xingcan’s words at all.

The trunk became extremely lively in an instant. Fu Duosui, having discovered she’d turned into a dog and was locked in with two others, couldn’t calm down at all—running, jumping, crashing, and barking wildly.

Li Xingcan, being the closest, got stepped on multiple times and was utterly fed up.

“Woof woof woof!!!”

Fu Duosui! Stop it!!

But the more Li Xingcan tried to restrain her, the more panicked Fu Duosui became. In her frenzy, she started rampaging through the trunk, and this time even the Border Collie huddled in the corner suffered the consequences.

The entire trunk was so noisy it made human heads throb—dog brains too—utter chaos.

Zheng Wenbai, who was driving, had truly reached her limit. After putting some distance between them and the school, she pulled over at the first empty spot she found.

She grabbed the same white powder from before from the passenger seat, determined to shut these creatures up immediately!

Holding the powder in her hand, she was about to open the car door when suddenly, a cat’s paw stretched out from behind the headrest. The sharp claws instantly tore open the sealed bag, and the fine, light powder scattered all over her in an instant, filling the driver’s seat with dust.

Before she could even process what had happened, she lost consciousness.

Jiang Qingyue held her breath, shifted back to human form, opened the car door, and stepped out. Barefoot, she walked a few paces before daring to breathe again. Turning back, she looked at the car still rocking wildly from the commotion and the cacophony of dog barks, rubbing her temples.

She had nearly been driven mad by the noise too—how could these people be so unbearably loud?!

Approaching the trunk, she opened it. The glow of the streetlight poured in, and the world fell silent in an instant. The three dogs froze mid-action, all lifting their heads in unison to stare at Jiang Qingyue.

Jiang Qingyue looked back at them: a half-dead Border Collie in the corner, the noisiest Beagle on the other side, and in the middle, a Husky trying to pin down the Beagle with its front paws.

“You’re safe now. Come out,” Jiang Qingyue said, stepping back and resting a hand on her hip.

Li Xingcan reacted first. She released Fu Duosui from under her paw and leaped out of the trunk. Though she nearly face-planted from the awkward landing, she managed to steady herself in time.

“Woof woof awoo!”

How is it you? Where’s Zheng Wenbai?

“It’s a long story. Zheng Wenbai is up front—I drugged her to knock her out temporarily.” Jiang Qingyue could understand all animal languages, so dog speech was no issue. She answered while sizing up the Husky before her. “Li Xingcan?”

“Woof,” Li Xingcan confirmed.

But this exchange caught Fu Duosui’s attention in the trunk. She sprang up, undeterred even by a face-first skid, and charged toward Jiang Qingyue in excitement. “Woof woof woof woof…”

Where’s Li Xingcan?! Where’s Li Xingcan?! Where’s Li Xingcan?!

“Shut up, Fu Duosui!” Jiang Qingyue’s head throbbed from the noise. She manually clamped the Beagle’s muzzle shut to silence her. “That Husky next to you is Li Xingcan! You were all drugged—this transformation is temporary. Stop barking already!”

Only then did the Border Collie in the trunk wobble to its feet and slowly hop down. “Woof woof…”

How long until we change back?

“I’m not entirely sure, but it shouldn’t be too long,” Jiang Qingyue glanced at Lin Xie, then turned to Li Xingcan. “Right now, I need to find you a place. This powder works fast but wears off quickly—for you two, it’s about half an hour, and Zheng Wenbai is probably the same. We don’t have much time.”

Li Xingcan spoke, “Woof woof.”

Let’s go to my place.

“Alright, everyone keep quiet and follow me.”

Jiang Qingyue nodded and transformed back into a cat, taking the lead. Fu Duosui’s eyes widened in shock, and just as he was about to speak, Li Xingcan swiftly raised a paw to cover his mouth.

And so, a bizarre scene unfolded on the suburban streets past ten o’clock—a beautiful long-haired calico cat leading three dogs running in crooked, haphazard lines down the road.

The area wasn’t far from the school, and naturally, it wasn’t too far from Li Xingcan’s home either.