Chapter 133: Car Model

Ten minutes later, Jiao Wei and the person who had retrieved the airplane model from the tree came together.

The person who had been playing with the Rubik's cube placed the already-solved cube, with all six faces restored, on the nearby wooden rack.

The wooden rack was old, with many scratches, and its legs had been chopped. This rack, as well as some similar tables and chairs inside the building, had been repaired to varying degrees; the repaired parts were much newer than the original, yet they also showed wear, indicating that people often came here.

"Since everyone is here, let's begin." Cheng Shixiong said as he stood up.

Zheng Tan stood by the windowsill, watching these people take out model cars one after another; their appearances varied—some were like miniature sports cars, very delicate, some like miniature off-road vehicles, and some like unfinished works, with incomplete or missing bodies, leaving some parts exposed.

These people were indeed playing with toy cars. Zheng Tan couldn't even look down on them now; frankly, he also felt a bit of sour grapes, since he didn't even have a toy car himself.

On the cleared field inside, there were several circular tracks, nested one inside another; each track differed—some were relatively flat, some had sand spread on them, some had small stones scattered inside, and some even had slopes installed, as if simulating different road conditions.

Zheng Tan didn't have time to observe anything else, as several people had already placed their toy cars on the relatively flat track. After the countdown, four miniature race cars started running.

All four cars ran very fast. Compared to Liu Yao, the operators here were much more skilled, partly due to age, and likely because these people were all veterans.

After watching the cars on the track for a while, Zheng Tan suddenly felt something was off; after thinking, he realized it was too quiet.

Not to mention Liu Yao, that sullen, ill-tempered brat; the people here weren't exactly introverted either—just moments ago Zheng Tan had heard them boasting and chatting, yet now, when they should have been cheering things up, it was eerily silent.

Naturally, the clearest sound was the cars running. There was none of the cheering or encouragement Zheng Tan had expected. Could it be that older children playing with toy cars are always like this? They don't shout excitedly like kids do.

Zheng Tan shifted his attention from the moving cars to the people standing at the edge of the track.

The four people operating the toy cars stood there, their expressions changing with the cars' movements—tense, excited, or regretful—but they made no sound. As for Jiao Wei, he was like the others, watching the cars on the track while holding a notebook and noting something down. A few steps away, someone else stared at the instruments on the table; Zheng Tan didn't know what they were for.

After about ten minutes, Zheng Tan heard Cheng Shixiong shout "Stop," and only then did the four cars come to a halt.

Finally, after ten minutes of silence in the car area, it became noisy again, and quite intensely so—much livelier than before the start.

However, in what Zheng Tan heard, little was said about speed or rankings; instead they discussed coefficients and equations, some theoretical technical matters he didn't understand, and even when he saw the pages of data in their hands, it was as incomprehensible as heavenly script.

It seemed these people weren't just playing with toys; they were delving deeper, striving for perfection.

Jiao Wei guessed that, being a newcomer, he didn't speak much, usually just taking notes and listening to others' explanations and advice; as he lifted his head preparing to speak, he suddenly spotted a black cat stretching its neck to look this way from the corner window.

Jiao Wei: "?!!"

He no longer needed to get close or call its name; a single glance was enough to recognize that cat!

How did it get here?! Jiao Wei suddenly had a bad feeling.

The person beside Jiao Wei noticed his odd look and followed his gaze, also spotting Zheng Tan.

"Ha, another cat is watching our race cars." that person said.

"Again?" Jiao Wei looked around doubtfully at the people nearby. He had expected them to be surprised, but most seemed quite calm.

"Well, this area is all old houses, with few residents now; cats often wander around, and occasionally a curious one will come over, but not many, since most cats are rather timid." that person explained.

Precisely for that reason, even if someone had previously noticed Zheng Tan crouching at the window looking this way, no one would have made a fuss.

But this cat was different. Jiao Wei wondered to himself.

Having been discovered, Zheng Tan didn't bother hiding, but he didn't jump in either; he moved to a windowsill closer by and continued watching from there.

They ran several rounds, each with different car models and varying tracks; after each run they did discuss the results, but mostly they talked about technical topics, all of which were completely beyond Zheng Tan.

When he was still human, Zheng Tan had bought a car, and someone had given him an automobile model, which he kept as a toy; such items are often collected by many. Most people still think that controlling a toy car with a remote outdoors is something only immature kids do, at least that's what Zheng Tan believed.

Zheng Tan didn't know how much progress had been made in automobile modeling in the years since, nor had he bothered to find out; but seeing these people play with model cars now, he was genuinely interested.

After that day, Zheng Tan often came to this area in the afternoon, basking in the sun on a low, blue-tiled house not far from the old building, and would go over to watch whenever he heard movement inside.

After two weeks, Zheng Tan learned that these people came every Monday and Thursday at 3 p. m. to run their cars here. They came from different departments—mechanical engineering, electronic information, mathematics and statistics, physics, chemistry, and so on—brought together by their shared hobby. Their leader was precisely that "Cheng Shixiong." As for more details, Zheng Tan didn't know, and it was too hard to find out.

Each time they came to "run the cars," they would also bring some simple portable instruments; after finishing, they would take what they needed, and anything they didn't want to carry was just left in a cardboard box on the high rack. When they left, they would also close the building's doors and windows, lock the main gate, and since nothing left behind was particularly valuable, they weren't worried.

Moreover, from Jiao Wei they learned Zheng Tan's background—that he was the cat of a professor from the Life Science Institute—and knew he was acquainted with Jiao Wei; thus, whenever they saw Zheng Tan watching, they would also give him some little snacks.

Unfortunately, Zheng Tan wasn't interested; he'd glance at the snacks and ignore them. Some people, trying to amuse a cat, would sway a piece of fur rope or roll a tire back and forth to attract his attention, which Zheng Tan looked at as if they were idiots. Then he would turn his gaze back to the moving model cars on the track.

Can't get a car. At least getting an eyeful will do.

After getting familiar with these people, Zheng Tan no longer lingered by the windowsill when he came; instead he simply went inside and stood on the high rack, looking down from above.

Around five o'clock, they finished up, each beginning to pack their things.

As Zheng Tan jumped down from the high rack to leave, and when he leapt onto the windowsill, he suddenly heard someone behind him talking about him, and his steps slowed.

"Why would a cat be interested in this kind of toy car?" someone asked, glancing at the black cat with its back to them on the windowsill.

"Cats are naturally interested in small moving things; there's nothing strange about that."

"No way—my sister's cat would bolt at the sight of such a thing, let alone hang around to watch."

"Don't cats all like fluffy stuff? Here it's just a bunch of hard materials or parts."

"My uncle's cat likes to sit nearby and watch my nephew play with his remote-control car, but it never gets up close."

……

Hearing their conversation, Jiao Wei twitched the corner of his mouth. These people weren't familiar with that black cat, treating it like any ordinary cat, but he knew the cat was probably listening to their talk—didn't they see its ears prick and swivel toward them? And that rhythmically hooking tail also proved the creature was pondering something.

But Jiao Wei couldn't say what he was thinking; Associate Professor Jiao had once talked to him about these matters, and he clearly remembered the precautions regarding such cats, so now he just muttered to himself.

After Zheng Tan returned to the Jiao family for dinner, he thought it over and then decisively ran out.

His goal was the old tile-house area. These days Zheng Tan's mind was full of those running model cars—more precisely, miniature automobiles. Some of the model cars in those people's hands could no longer be called toys; they were high-end goods packed with technical content.

During this period, constantly thinking about cars, one day while lounging on a tree branch basking in the sun, he overheard two college students walking below discussing the term "car model," and his first reaction was actually "automobile model" rather than "car model" (as in fashion model)! Only when he heard those two students talk about the coldly gorgeous or flamboyantly sexy beauties did he realize that this "car model" was not that "car model."

Zheng Tan suddenly felt he had become much purer; recalling how hearing the term "big waves" used to make his thoughts wander far astray.

He looked up at the sky; the moon was bright, the stars sparse, and it was not bad.

The old tile-house area had hardly any streetlights—only near the edges of a few roadways did they exist; most of the area was pitch dark. The school probably figured the district would eventually be demolished and rebuilt, so there was no need to replace the lamps.

Zheng Tan was walking along the path toward the house where Jiao Wei and the others ran their cars when he suddenly felt he was being followed. Due to the wind direction, he couldn't smell anything unusual, but he could hear the faint rustling of grass, and his intuition told him someone was watching him—yet without malice.

A black shadow leapt from the bushes and lunged straight at him.

Zheng Tan stayed alert; he knew the direction even before the black shadow launched. Seeing it pounce, he dodged and slapped at it a few times, with light force—about the level of play between cats.

Zheng Tan really hadn't expected to run into the constable here; this fellow had hardly been seen at night lately, but now it seemed he had come out to play. Besides, the straight-line distance from this old tile-house area to Dongqu Dayuan wasn't that great, and with few people and many cats, the nights often echoed with howls. (To be continued...)