Strange Life of a Cat-Chapter 179 - The Thief is a Cat

Chapter 179: Chapter 179: The Thief is a Cat?

Chapter 179 -179: The Thief is a Cat?

No matter what Ah Wu said, even if he pointed it out directly, Zheng Tan had decided to keep up the act. After all, he was just a cat now. Besides, Ah Wu didn’t make a good impression on Zheng Tan, who always felt uncomfortable around him.

So, feeling proud, Ah Wu watched as Zheng Tan briskly turned his head, spun around, and without looking back, walked away.

Ignoring Ah Wu shouting from behind, Zheng Tan quickened his pace and ran toward the East District courtyard. He decided to ignore those three cats the next time he saw them. Zheng Tan wasn’t worried about Ah Wu spouting nonsense; after all, even if Ah Wu spoke out, others wouldn’t fully believe him. Even if they believed, it wouldn’t be completely because many animals that had lived with humans for a long time could indeed understand some simple sentences. Zheng Tan kept a low profile in front of most people; those who knew his background wouldn’t betray him. What was there to fear?

On Friday night, Wei Leng drove over to take Zheng Tan and Ermao to Night Building for a night out. It had been a while since they had seen Senior Hetao, who happened to be available, and the three brothers got together for a catch-up, with Zheng Tan hitching a ride.

The three brothers were very casual, not like the people at the last birthday banquet Zheng Tan attended, who wore masks and played cunning games. They even conscientiously peeled peanuts onto the plate in front of Zheng Tan, so all he had to do was sit, wait to eat, listen to the live music outside, and then nap on the couch once full.

However, Zheng Tan’s drowsiness disappeared the moment he heard Wei Leng and his brothers start discussing the “Cat Tamer”.

The topic started with a case that Senior Hetao had brought up, which was under investigation. Actually, there had been some thefts before the New Year, but everyone assumed it was just the holiday approaching, stirring up all kinds of characters trying to make a quick buck. Many didn’t take it seriously, as such incidents were common every year. Senior Hetao and the others attributed these to some people with criminal records, who if caught, were merely fined or imprisoned for a while – nothing serious.

But then, after the New Year, people continued to report cases, more than during the same period in previous years. Were it not for a chance occurrence, Senior Hetao might have thought it was just those individuals with a history of crime stirring up trouble.

“A cat?!” Ermao dropped the peanut he was peeling in surprise.

“Yes, the victim’s house is opposite a bookstore. Although it’s small, the bookstore owner has some money. Recently, due to ill health and not wanting to keep a close watch on the shop, he installed some cameras, including one at the door, which was not very noticeable, so many people didn’t know about these cameras as they had been installed only a few days ago. One of my people just got lucky and saw it, then asked the bookstore owner for the latest surveillance footage.”

As he spoke, Senior Hetao took out a photo.

Zheng Tan leaned in and saw that the quality of the surveillance footage wasn’t great, not as good as the cameras in banks and some big companies. However, he could indeed see a blurred figure in the photo, with an object in front of it, which must have been the stolen item.

The size of the figure, combined with agile movements, could only be a cat.

“I’ve kept this under wraps and haven’t released the information. The bookstore owner doesn’t know either. The footage is very brief and quite dark; unless one looks closely, no one would notice a cat,” continued Senior Hetao, explaining his suspicions. He believed that some of the reported thefts were committed by cats, but no cat could be as smart as Zheng Tan unless someone was training them specifically.

Upon seeing the photo, Zheng Tan immediately thought of Ah Wu. Could it be him? However, the figure in the photo didn’t look like Gui Yuan, Lianzi, or Babao.

Just as Zheng Tan was puzzled, Senior Hetao mentioned Ah Wu’s name.

It turned out that Ah Wu had come to Chuhua City after taking on a job. Initially, Ah Wu had only planned to stay in Chuhua City for a while to finish his work before leaving. He hadn’t expected the police to come knocking. And the job he took probably involved training that Leopard Cat.

“He is indeed one of the suspects, but Ah Wu, although not cleared of suspicion, seemed very interested in the case and offered to help with the investigation. Of course, since he hadn’t been cleared, we didn’t tell him about the progress of the investigation. He is still in Chuhua City. Often, he can’t be found, and the people we send to tail him always lose him. However, he’s always with those three cats, which are quite distinctive, and only comes out at night,” paused Senior Hetao, then sighed, “I don’t think the person directing the cats to steal is Ah Wu. He’s a proud man and doesn’t lack money. I’ve had his income investigated, and it even made me want to try taming cats myself.”

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The last part was clearly a joke. There are plenty who tame dogs, but those who tame cats are extremely rare. Cats are too temperamental; how else would they be the only domesticated animals that humans haven’t completely conquered? It’s been many years since cats walked into human societies.

Zheng Tan mulled over this while keeping an ear on the conversation between Senior Hetao and his brothers.

“I once asked Ah Wu, and he said that indeed, some cats have a ‘theft’ quirk, and they usually like to train cats that have ‘special talents’ and bring out their strengths. The cat that stole was probably trained by someone interested in cat taming,” said Senior Hetao.

“Doesn’t the Cat Tamer called Ah Wu know other cat tamers in this province? They should be in the same circle,” Ermao asked.

Senior Hetao shook his head, then his face took on an unnatural expression as he said, “I even called Master about it.”

Wei Leng and Ermao looked at Senior Hetao with an expression that said “you’re asking for trouble.”

“Master didn’t seem to have a good opinion of cat tamers. He also mentioned that he could only teach and guide Dashan, not force out some of his obstinate behaviors,” Senior Hetao said.

“Of course, with Dashan’s rotten temperament, it definitely wasn’t trained!” sneered Ermao. Dashan’s rotten temperament was undoubtedly learned in everyday life from the people around him, especially from Master.

Wei Leng kept silent on the side. When he heard Senior Hetao ask Master about the cat tamer, he even grimaced, probably cursing in his heart.

Ermao peeled two peanuts and threw them into his mouth, “I’ll pay attention to my surroundings and see if any cat looks suspicious, but I really don’t want to run into that Ah Wu.” Ermao had lately been taking Heimi out for walks, but he did not want the Cat Tamer to see his cat. He believed his Heimi was the talented and smart type that Senior Hetao always talked about, so he needed to protect him. Cat Tamer? Who knows what they might do.

“Then you can rest easy, Ah Wu won’t be going near Chuhua University anymore, at least not for the near future,” said Senior Hetao.

“Why?” Wei Leng was curious as well.

Senior Hetao smiled, “That fat cat called Big Fatty, its ‘dad’ approached Ah Wu a couple of days ago and warned him to stay away from Chuhua University. Plus, over a year ago when Ah Wu left Chuhua City, it seems it was also because of Big Fatty’s ‘Cat Dad’.”

“Big Fatty’s ‘Cat Dad’?” Ermao was confused, then suddenly it dawned on him. He then began to feel sentimental, these days even cats have more clout than humans.

Because of the heavy responsibilities his own father carried, Ermao had learned about some important people in the province. When renting in the East District, he had investigated the tenants, especially those in Building B. Heimi, Wei Leng had specifically mentioned, made Ermao realize that this ordinary-looking faculty housing was full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. So, he often helped the old lady at Big Fatty’s house move things around, earning some goodwill.

Zheng Tan was thinking that it was no wonder Ah Wu hadn’t appeared at Chuhua University since their last encounter. Zheng Tan had thought Ah Wu had given up on bothering him, but now it seems, it was all thanks to Big Fatty’s ‘Cat Dad’.

Thinking this, Zheng Tan once again felt emotional internally — it was an era of relying on one’s father, and whether it’s humans or cats, they were all part of it.

Actually, when Senior Hetao first learned about this reason from Ah Wu, he himself couldn’t help feeling sentimental: these days, many cats indeed seemed to have more swag than humans, like Big Fatty, and like, the Black Cat hanging its head down, not knowing what it was thinking about right in front of him.

Having learned the reason Ah Wu stayed in Chuhua City from Senior Hetao, Zheng Tan also paid attention to whether any strange, suspicious cats appeared around.

After a leisurely weekend, early Monday morning, Zheng Tan was picked up by Xiao Guo from the Jiao family’s place.

Today, there was a task. Xiao Guo, as the vice president of the Green Wings Association, took a crew from the Pet Center to shoot a public service advertisement, helping to boost the visibility of the Green Association and improve his influence within the association.

Zheng Tan was undeniably Xiao Guo’s ace in the hole.

Today, they chose a scenic spot thirty minutes’ drive from Chuhua University, near a lake. Because they had notified the local manager in advance, an area had been cordoned off by the time Zheng Tan arrived, and many things were ready there.

The public service advertisement they were shooting today would inform people about the dangers of chocolate and other highly stimulating foods for pets. It included some “high difficulty” acts like pretending to faint and vomit, roles only Zheng Tan could play, while the other cats from Xiao Guo’s Pet Center were there to look cute.

In Zheng Tan’s view, these advertisements were quite naive and relatively crude in production, but after all, it was just a public service ad for pets, and people generally have a higher tolerance for animals on screen than for humans. However, adhering to a principle of “professionalism,” during the shoot, Zheng Tan added some extra twitching acts, which turned the shooting crew pale with fear, sweating profusely, worried that the fake act might become real; otherwise, Xiao Guo would definitely fire them.

Everyone knew that boss Xiao Guo treated this Black Cat as the entire Pet Center’s Lucky Cat, which was untouchable and unharmed.

All in all, like usual shoots at the Pet Center, it went very smoothly, so Zheng Tan finished early, while the group responsible for dogs had only completed a third, and the crew had to continue there.

Vice President Xiao Guo was very busy. After arriving here, he was nowhere to be seen, probably negotiating with some VIPs. Entrusted with taking care of Zheng Tan was a young man in his early twenties named Charlie, which, to Zheng Tan’s disappointment, was unfortunately not a girl.

Charlie was definitely a native, but because of his name, people always mispronounced his last name, “Cha.” He was dug out by Xiao Guo earlier this year from Agricultural University, majoring in Veterinary Science and nearing graduation in his senior year. He had been interning at the Pet Center and was called here today to help.

Charlie was responsible for taking care of Zheng Tan, and Xiao Guo had explained to him the things he needed to be aware of, such as the disposable paper cup for water must be clean and unused, and the food should not contain any cat biscuits or cat food. Initially, Charlie explained the dangers of some foods to Zheng Tan, but later he realized that this cat was quite unique, so he didn’t mention it anymore. Today, he definitely wouldn’t bring it up, and he had to be more discreet about it; all of this contradicted what was depicted in the public service advertisement. With his limited skill, Charlie felt a bit insecure.

Zheng Tan didn’t want to stay here all the time and was preparing to take a walk around. Charlie had just been called away to help, and no one in the resting area was watching over Zheng Tan, so taking a rare trip here, it was nice to enjoy some scenery.

Slipping out from under the fenced area, Zheng Tan saw a small patch of pine woods and decided to walk through it.

Just as he entered the pine woods, he heard some noise. When he looked in that direction, Zheng Tan saw a flash of yellow before recognizing the presence of Zheng Tan, the figure paused for a second, glanced at Zheng Tan, and then quickly moved away.

It was a cat resembling Ah Huang, but Ah Huang did not have such sharp eyes.

Right before, the cat had been carrying a short men’s wallet. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)