Chapter 136

Zheng Tan didn't run away to a place far away like those cats; while the man hadn't reacted yet, he grabbed a low stool and threw it.

Bang!

Another strike.

Blood flowed from his nose, sticky between his fingers. The man felt dizzy, but even so, he knew one thing: there was definitely someone inside, and given the force of that thrown object, it definitely wasn't a child. Damn, how could there really be someone?!

In the darkness, Zheng Tan moved to another spot, standing beside another low stool; if that man still had the strength to pick up the wrench on the ground, Zheng Tan wouldn't mind throwing the stool hard again—he didn't smash it because he wasn't sure whether swinging with that force would kill someone; compared to the thieves at Dongqu Dayuan back then, his grudge against them wasn't high. He also wasn't afraid the man would discover him, as long as he didn't rush out, the motion of throwing a chair wouldn't be exposed in the moonlight, and no one would think of him.

Actually, Zheng Tan wanted to jump over and kick a few times and slap a few times, but he didn't want to be discovered acting strangely, so he hid as much as possible, merely preparing to create the illusion that someone was actually inside.

As for that woman, she had many devious thoughts but little courage; the sudden incident really frightened her, and she wanted to see if there was any long tool on the ground for self-defense, those cats looking particularly thin. But as soon as she lowered her head, she directly met a pair of bright cat eyes.

She saw the cat standing two steps away, motionless, just staring at her. From those eyes, bright from reflection, no emotion could be discerned—whether friendly, curious, or wary—all was obscured by that glare.

The woman was terrified, not caring about anything else; she pulled something from her small shoulder bag and threw it at the cat in front of her, without even noticing what it was.

In this situation, the only cats in Dongqu Dayuan that would dare to face a person directly, besides Zheng Tan, were Da Pang—unfortunately that fat one was building up fat at home. If A Huang encountered it, he'd flee without a word. But now the cat facing this woman is Jingzhang. It would also flee, but if given the chance, before fleeing it would first swipe a claw—and Jingzhang indeed did that.

What's cherishing fragrance and pitying jade? He meowed, completely clueless.

Jingzhang finished swiping a claw and darted back, jumping onto a rack. To it, hiding up there was safer, while it pressed its ears, fur bristling, gazing at that woman like the other cats, letting out a low "woo-woo" growl.

Hearing such a growl in broad daylight normally wouldn't provoke much reaction, but in this environment, with cats scattered throughout the house emitting that sound simultaneously, listening to it makes people's hearts go creepy.

Zheng Tan glanced aside, saw the woman covering her face, let out a scream, then turned and ran out.

Given the woman's height, it's quite possible Jingzhang could have jumped up and scratched her face; it's just unclear how severe the scratch was. Maybe Jingzhang learned that move from peeking at girls fighting, pulling hair and scratching faces? Anyway, this guy's behavior is getting increasingly fierce.

As soon as the woman ran, the man who had been preparing to retaliate also turned and fled. After finally regaining a bit of clarity, but the situation inside remained unclear, and he didn't know how many people there were; if he had to face them alone, he had no idea what to do, so fleeing was better.

When the two blocking the door ran off, the cats inside also ran out some.

Zheng Tan didn't chase, nor did he immediately run away; he squatted in place and thought.

It's getting late; by his usual habit he should go home, otherwise if it's later Jiao Ba and Jiao Ma will have objections, fearing Zheng Tan might get into trouble again. But now…

There are still bloodstains on the ground; even if the door were closed, next time Jiao Wei and the others come by they'd likely be startled, but no one would know what happened. If one really wanted to investigate, after a long time nothing would turn up, and taking preventive measures now would be too late. Today is Thursday, and there are still three or four days until they come again; no one can say whether thieves will visit during those three or four days—once there is a break-in, there will be a second. The things left here aren't worth much money, but that's only relative; even if they could only sell for a few hundred or thousand yuan, thieves would still take notice.

Those who play this probably aren't short of money for most people; Jiao Wei and his like are the minority. But those people put effort into organizing this place like this; if it were messed up and some parts were lost, they'd definitely be very unhappy.

Should we go warn them, or just mind our own business?

Just leaving is also fine; everyone here knows that although few cats settle here, many cats roam the vicinity, and they wouldn't think of Zheng Tan; besides, this place was burgled, not cats deliberately causing trouble, so blame would fall on the thieves, not the cats.

Zheng Tan doesn't want to meddle, but if this time he could make those people grateful to him, then even if he later ruined their cars, they probably wouldn't get angry.

Rather than thinking about asking others for help, it's better to make them owe you a favor; this is what Zheng Tan summarized after experiencing some things and getting to know some people.

Like He Tao, Ye Hao and their ilk—if you beg them, even offering some benefits in exchange, at most it can only temporarily satisfy your demand; but making them owe you a favor is different, that's a long-term investment.

After deciding, Zheng Tan put the car he'd just played with and its remote back where they belonged, then walked to the edge of the circular track.

To create atmosphere, the inner and outer lanes of the circular track had small flags inserted—red, yellow, white, black, blue—all colors present. There were also drawings and words those people had painted and written on them.

Zheng Tan pulled out some of the small flags and tossed them randomly on the ground; otherwise pulling just one would be too conspicuous,

He picked up the white flag with writing on it, let its tip rub in the still-unclotted bloodstain to pick up blood, then Zheng Tan carefully took hold of the cleaner flagpole and ran outside.

Jingzhang ran out after him, but just a few steps past the door he lost sight of Zheng Tan, flicked his tail, turned back, and went to find his own amusement. Anyway, there were still a few cats inside that hadn't left, so he could keep playing awhile.

Zheng Tan ran toward Jiao Wei's family shop with the blood‑stained small flag in his mouth; during this period Jiao Wei's small restaurant was doing well, and Jiao Wei would help there until after ten before returning.

At that moment, Jiao Wei was helping wipe the tables; the last batch of customers had just finished eating and left.

While he was wiping the tabletop, a figure suddenly lunged over, jumped onto the table, and left several paw prints.

Zheng Tan placed the small white flag before Jiao Wei, wondering in his mind whether this kid could tell where the little white flag came from.

Jiao Wei saw the small flag placed before him, blinked, noticed the writing and bloodstain on it, looked at Zheng Tan, then at the flag, lifted Zheng Tan to examine him left and right, and found he wasn't injured.

"Whose blood is this?! No, the flag wasn't in that house over there, was it?" The words on those small flags were written when they were joking around, with signatures and match records. This small flag, however, bore the match results from the performance test last Monday. Jiao Wei could certainly recognize it.

After speaking, Jiao Wei then realized the one before him was just a cat, said no more, and immediately used the shop's phone to call someone.

"……Did you really lock the door? Oh……it's fine……I was just asking."

After hanging up, Jiao Wei told his parents, then rode his secondhand bicycle toward the old tile house.

Zheng Tan, squatting on the tabletop, watched Jiao Wei go away. He cursed inwardly: "He actually abandoned the meritorious one and ran off himself!" Then he jumped down from the table. Not heading straight home, he planned to go to the old tile house to see the excitement, since the credit for delivering the message hadn't been decided yet; otherwise he'd have wasted his effort.

When Zheng Tan arrived, Jiao Wei had just finished calling the others and was walking that way. In the old tile house area, beside the road near the vehicle lane, there was an IC‑card public phone, and that's where Jiao Wei had made the call.

Whoever answered the phone—whether they were playing games, chasing girls, or sleeping—upon hearing that the door to the sports car place had been pried open, immediately dropped what they were doing and ran over, meanwhile notifying others they hadn't reached.

As for the interior of the old tile house, when Zheng Tan arrived he didn't see Jingzhang; he guessed it had gone home, and the remaining few cats likely fled after seeing Jiao Wei, leaving the place empty.

The light was on, the bloodstains had dried, but the bloody wrench and little stool at the doorway remained where they were, and Jiao Wei didn't move them.

After the others rushed over, they immediately saw the wrench and stool at the doorway.

"Holy shit! Was there a fight here? There's blood everywhere! Jiao Wei, you're not hurt, are you?" one person asked.

"It's fine, it's not mine; it was like this when I arrived." Jiao Wei briefly explained how he had come.

"The lock has been pried open; although it's not obvious, you can still see some scratches." Another person standing at the doorway said.

Zheng Tan quietly squatted beside them, listening to their discussion, waiting for Jiao Wei to say what had happened with him carrying the flag; after that, several people gathered around Zheng Tan—some praising, some asking questions. But Zheng Tan kept a blank expression, pretending not to know anything and not understanding what they were saying, appearing no different from the other cats; in his heart he finally settled, as long as these people didn't deny his contribution.

"Forget it, you can't get anything out of a cat; the fact that it could find Jiao Wei to pass along the news is already pretty good." That "Cheng Shixiong" said.

One person beside them nodded, "Yeah. Damn it, if I find out who pried the door, I'll beat him to death!"

"I never thought this place would still be targeted."

"Tsk, nowadays people will do petty, sneaky things for the tiniest profit."

"But our school is so good…"

"Ability and moral character aren't proportional."

……

No matter how angry they were at the moment, they still had a lot to do. They tidied up the things on the floor, checked what was missing, and even changed the lock. When they finished, they discovered it was already eleven o'clock.

"Holy crap! It's already eleven, the dormitory building is locked, and we're going to get chewed out by the dormitory supervisor."

"Do you guys lock up at eleven? We lock up at eleven-thirty."

That's because you're in the graduate building; our undergrad dorms close at eleven. Cheng Shixiong, this time you have to help us, otherwise that gatekeeper old man will nag us for a week.

"Why does Cheng Shixiong have to step forward?" Jiao Wei was somewhat doubtful.

The person who just spoke was in the same college and the same dorm building as Jiao Wei, only he was a third-year.

"Just swipe your face, judge people by what they order." Someone nearby interjected.

"You can't afford to offend the dorm supervisor either; that unassuming old man might be a relative of some school leader. Before, a student in our building argued with the dorm supervisor, thinking he was just a stinky old man in charge of guarding the gate, a low-level worker. Who would have thought the next day he'd be called in by the counselor for a talk. Only later did we learn that the old man's son works in the school administration building and supposedly has some authority."

Zheng Tan stopped listening to their conversation, hurrying home; it was already eleven, and when he got back he'd surely get scolded, and on top of that Jiao Ma would nag him for ages, a week… probably even longer. (To be continued...)