Chapter 162

At Ye Hao's villa, Baizi reported to Ye Hao the information he had gathered over the past two days.

So far in the investigation, a lot has been found, but there hasn't been much progress on the most crucial point; Baizi also looks like he hasn't slept well for several days, obviously he's been busy during this period.

After Lai Er's strange death, several of his senior subordinates began to vie for power and profit; they knew something about what Lai Er was looking for, but they had no idea what that thing was actually used for, and Lai Er never told them. Nevertheless, this didn't dampen their enthusiasm—they all thought the same: find it first, and never let the others get ahead!

If we can find this thing, digging deeper will reveal the answer. Anything Lai Er valued enough to classify as top secret must be immensely valuable, whether in information or material terms, Baizi said.

It's not that easy to find this thing. Ye Hao actually had the idea of giving up; after learning of Lai Er's bizarre death, he lost interest in the rumored "material," and without Lai Er, everything would be simple.

After taking over several factories, funds and manpower have been tight lately; Ye Hao doesn't want to waste manpower and money on this uncertain affair. Earlier rumors were about Lai Er's black material, but now it seems not. Think about it: a person like Lai Er, when he moved against Chen La back then, if he hadn't taken back his own black material, how could he have acted so cleanly?

Baizi opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing. In his view, there still wasn't a definite conclusion; mainly, it was his own inadequacy, low efficiency, wasting time and manpower.

Just then, a knock sounded; after receiving Ye Hao's permission, a person hurried in. This person was from Tang Qiye's entourage, bearing a document per Tang Qiye's order.

Something urgent enough to be sent by someone Ye Hao absolutely trusts, he didn't dare take lightly. He opened the file; inside was a photo showing a golden object resembling a pocket watch.

Is this that thing? Ye Hao said. No wonder it's Tang Qiye—while Ye Hao was still guessing what it was, Tang Qiye had already pinpointed the exact target.

Yes. Tang Qiye calls it the Golden Compass, the person replied.

Gold? Ye Hao narrowed his eyes and looked again at the photo in his hand.

This name came from Tang Qiye's mouth—whether or not he coined it himself doesn't matter; as long as Tang Qiye accepts the name, it well demonstrates its value. This made Ye Hao, who was preparing to withdraw from the competition, change his mind. But at the same time, since he decided to get involved, he must prepare to pay a price; cutting in now will surely hurt.

While they were speaking, Long Qi also returned.

How is it? Didn't you say you had some findings? Baizi looked at Long Qi. He himself had made no progress, so he especially hoped Long Qi had discovered something.

Long Qi shook his head and briefly described the three people he had tailed, as well as the situation he saw when he went to that already-empty house.

After hearing this, Ye Hao sighed and told Long Qi, Put your work on hold for now and go with Baizi to handle what he has on his plate.

Okay, Brother Hao, by the way, I ran into that cat today. Long Qi's expression was quite torn.

Which one? Ye Hao asked.

... The black one.

Oh. Ye Hao and Baizi both understood; no wonder Long Qi looked so grim when he returned—they had thought it was due to lack of results, but now it seems the main factor was the cat.

Afraid it would interfere with my actions, I called Brother Leng, who told it to leave. But before it left, it gave me this. Saying this, Long Qi pulled the golden pocket-watch-like object from his pocket and placed it on the table before him.

As Long Qi produced the object, the person who had brought the document per Tang Qiye's order let out an audible gasp, while Ye Hao and Baizi stared fixedly at the thing in Long Qi's hand, their eyes following his movements.

Gold... Golden Compass? Ye Hao could hardly believe it; he looked several times, took the document, flipped open the photo, and indeed it matched the picture exactly!

Baizi felt like smashing his head against a wall. Damn it, I've been investigating for days and nights without proper sleep, just psyching myself up for a tough battle, and the result... is still not as good as a damn cat!

Meanwhile, Zheng Tan, who had already returned to Chu Hua University, had no idea how Ye Hao's side would react; he was currently being annoyed by the rising and falling cat cries.

Zheng Tan entered today through the west gate; the area he passed through is close to the West District Residential Complex, where the pet cat army is growing ever larger, and besides, this side is near those old residential areas outside, so outside cats often come over here to wander.

Many people don't keep cats because of the noise; the so-called 'cat nuisance' refers to cats in heat, and just like the cats now distributed around, they yowl desperately, sounding as miserable as possible, which is quite grating to hear.

Spring is coming, and even the cats are restless.

Zheng Tan may be human at heart, but frankly, he cannot keep his mind completely still when faced with these cat cries—that's nonsense; it's like you've been eating plain vegetarian noodle soup for years, then suddenly notice the person next to you eating meat-thread noodles—could your mind stay balanced?!

Spring, what a wanton season.

Zheng Tan shook his head; he would never indulge a cat in wantonness, even if beaten to death. But while he leads a pure, ascetic monk's life, he won't let those wanton bastards around him have it easy! When I'm pure and ascetic, you should be too! When I eat plain noodle soup, you must eat plain noodle soup too! At least in my presence, you should do that!

Thus, in a corner of Chu Hua University, in this grassy thicket where cats nearly 'occupy' the area at night, as piercing cat cries rang out, an extremely abrupt, weird, even more piercing howl suddenly drowned out all surrounding sounds; and this howl grew stranger with each utterance, somewhat like a wolf's howl, yet different—dogs hearing it would have to retreat, and it was even more grating.

The rising and falling cat cries stopped abruptly at the first howl; moreover, some cats, upon hearing that call, simply turned and fled, especially the few from the West District Residential Complex that Zheng Tan had beaten—they ran especially fast.

They knew that in this area, only the Black Overlord cat from the East District Residential Complex could produce such a weird call; even unaware cats would be frightened away by that howl.

After Zheng Tan finished howling, he twitched his ears, heard no more of those piercing noises, felt satisfied, balanced; he flicked his tail, went home, took a bath, then burrowed into Xiao Youzi's blanket to sleep.

I don't know if it's because Zheng Tan's few howls stimulated them, but lately the surrounding cat noises have diminished greatly—except that the cat in the East District Residential Complex that yowls the most remains unchanged.

Zheng Tan lay on the balcony, listening to the heart-rending cries echoing around the compound's walls, and twitched his ears.

That idiot chief of security yelling around the compound is useless; around here there are only men and eunuchs, the sole female cat is still underage, and her owner guards her well—if you want to hook up with a female cat, go to the tile-house area, that is, where Jiao Wei and his crew race; there are many cats, and many female cats.

Speaking of racing, a few days ago Tong Qing brought Zheng Tan to Cheng Zhong's place to test the modified car. Cheng Zhong had never seen a cat drive before; he simply lowered the steering wheel per Fang San Ye's suggestion, not really understanding at the time, but after seeing Zheng Tan drive, he got it.

After lowering the steering wheel, even if Zheng Tan himself drove the car outside, others wouldn't think a cat was driving, because if they didn't look closely they wouldn't see him operating the wheel; they'd just assume someone nearby was using remote control. These days there are already some children's toy cars of that scale, and perhaps in another year or two there will be more, so Zheng Tan might then be able to drive his cat car out for a stroll.

Because they had signed a confidentiality agreement, Cheng Zhong wouldn't speak of this to outsiders, but when he saw Zheng Tan's expression while driving the cat car, he was indeed quite shocked—no wonder Fang San Ye earlier demanded they sign a confidentiality agreement and its supplement.

Now Cheng Zhong is making a second round of modifications and adjustments; having seen Zheng Tan drive, he knows what's needed, but finishing the car improvements still requires some time.

However, Zheng Tan isn't in a hurry; he can wait, and even if the cat car were ready now, he couldn't openly drive it around outside.

Yawning, Zheng Tan set aside the cat car matter and pondered: how are things on Ye Hao's side? If Long Qi produces that thing, what will their reaction be?

Ahchoo—

Zheng Tan lifted his paw and rubbed his nose; this was his tenth sneeze today—could he have caught a cold? No, he felt nothing wrong with his body, his spirits were fine, his temperature normal. He just had a vague bad premonition, which made him unhappy.

After dinner, Jiao Ma and Jiao Ba chatted in the living room. Jiao Ba had been busy these days; it was rare to have an evening free, so he stayed in, sat on the sofa, and listened smilingly as Jiao Ma recounted some things that had happened lately.

One of the teachers in our English department keeps a cat at home; I haven't seen it myself, but I've heard other teachers say it's very pretty! Jiao Ma said.

Zheng Tan, lounging at one end of the sofa, flicked his ears; no matter how pretty, it's just a cat—no big breasts or wide hips, no gentle charm—thumbs down.

She said she'll come tomorrow to see Hei Tan, wanting to find a little boyfriend for her family's Nai Tang; after all, Nai Tang is already over a year old and can have kittens. As she spoke, Jiao Ma chuckled hehehe.

Zheng Tan looked in horror at Jiao Ma, who was laughing with a beaming face.

Lit—tle—boy—friend?!

This can't be real; it definitely isn't!

Sure enough, the bad premonition came true.

Jiao Ma, you can't do this! Your cat son, I'm a cat with a human heart——

Jiao Ma glanced at Zheng Tan, then said to Jiao Ba, Hehe, look, Hei Tan seems pretty eager.

Zheng Tan:... I'm not looking forward to a damn thing!

Zheng Tan wanted to bang his head on the ground, but doing it a few times wouldn't change Jiao Ma's decision; seeing her enthusiastically discuss with Jiao Ba the female cat named Nai Tang, he wondered whether he should skip home tomorrow—better to take two days off just to be safe.

Tsk, Xiao Guo's shop has so many resources, and there are even famous cats there—all with looks and temperament, fed the shop's premium cat food, each one plump and sturdy, very healthy; lounging there they look like nobles. Aside from low intelligence and weaker fighting ability, they outclass ordinary street cats by miles. Nai Tang's mother cat, if she wants a male cat, also has to look among those in Xiao Guo's shop.

Besides, Peanut Candy and Li Yuanba both live at the pet center, don't they? We can push Peanut Candy out.

Hmm, it would be great if Milk Candy and Peanut Candy had a bunch of peanut milk! (To be continued...)

ps: (2.14)