Chapter 24

() Wei Leng called to find the person was the uniformed man Zheng Tan had seen when he went out before, and also Wei Leng's senior martial brother.

Zheng Tan had previously called him "Hetaoshixiong" when listening to Wei Leng's phone calls; as for this senior brother's specific name, Zheng Tan didn't know. However, Zheng Tan heard that this Hetaoshixiong could get promoted as long as he solved this case.

Originally, Hetaoshixiong could have been promoted last month, but this guy is being obstinate, just as he said back then—he feels embarrassed to move up without solving this case.

For such a person, Zheng Tan thinks his brain was kicked by a donkey; all connections are set, he's just waiting for promotion, yet this guy insists on nitpicking, being dead stubborn.

Wei Leng called Hetaoshixiong several times in a row, but the line was always off. This made Wei Leng look worried; after thinking, he called another number, not Hetaoshixiong's.

Their conversation involved some jargon only they understood; Zheng Tan couldn't make sense of it at all and had no interest in listening further. Having helped what he could, he didn't care about the rest, leaving Wei Leng to worry on his own.

After yawning, Zheng Tan ran back to the living room, jumped onto the sofa, and prepared to continue napping.

Cats naturally sleep long; Zheng Tan usually gets up in the morning to run and exercise at the same time as Jiao Yuan and the others, at seven o'clock. Today he got up an hour earlier. Having risen an hour early, he must make up double the sleep, otherwise Zheng Tan feels he's losing out.

Perhaps this counts as a kind of compulsive behavior?

Never mind; now he's a cat, Zheng Tan tells himself over and over—what is a cat like? When hungry, eat; when tired, sleep; frolic outdoors; cause mischief at home.

Although that Hetaoshixiong had turned off his phone, it seems the brothers still have other ways to know each other's location, likely a tracking device or the like; Wei Leng is currently looking for someone to help locate him.

Ten minutes later, Wei Leng already knew Hetaoshixiong's approximate whereabouts.

After finishing that call, Wei Leng quickly grabbed his jacket and headed out, but upon reaching the door he turned back and asked Zheng Tan: "Want to go out and play?"

Zheng Tan, who was squinting his eyes to cultivate sleepiness, heard this, thought a moment, then immediately sprang up and ran toward the door. He was very willing to go out for a run; being stuck in Chu Hua Da Xue campus every day, seeing the same scenery, he always felt his life range was narrow, which from a psychological standpoint is not a good phenomenon.

As for Jiao Yuan and Gu Youzi's side, Jiao Ba has two classes in the latter half of this morning; after finishing them he will go directly to pick up Jiao Yuan and the others, so Zheng Tan isn't needed either. Jiao Ma has improved a lot over the past two days, her recovery is good, no danger to life, and the stitches can be removed in about a week. At the hospital there is an intern student whom Jiao Ba knows; they met when collaborating on a project with a professor from Chu Hua Da Xue's medical school last year, so Jiao Ba asked that intern to help look after Jiao Ma while he goes to class.

Since they decided to take the cat out, Wei Leng still called Jiao Ba to inform him. As expected, Jiao Ba had no objection, only reminding Zheng Tan to be careful and asking Wei Leng to help look after him.

This time, Wei Leng was in a hurry, so he used the motorcycle he often keeps in the residential area's carport.

This motorcycle looks nothing special outwardly, ordinary and unobtrusive, but Zheng Tan feels it's just ordinary in appearance; its performance is definitely fine, Wei Leng has modified it, so at least when riding it won't chain-drop like Yi Xin's secondhand bicycle.

Zheng Tan approached the motorcycle, looked at the front—no basket! Looked behind—no trunk either! So Zheng Tan jumped straight onto the seat. He pressed down on the seat with his feet, feeling the seat was not bad,

After putting on his helmet, Wei Leng looked at the black cat already crouched on the seat, then glanced at his own motorcycle, went to the guardroom for a trip, and came out with a large red travel bag slung on his back that had two holes torn in it.

"Good thing the guardroom had a bag." Wei Leng swung onto the motorcycle, patted the opened zipper of the travel bag behind him, "Come in."

Zheng Tan tugged his ears, reluctantly jumped into that travel bag with a torn outer strap; he guessed the bag hadn't been used for some days, still smelled mildewy, and some stains on it hadn't been washed.

While in the residential district area, the motorcycle's speed was still gentle, but after leaving the gate of Chu Hua Da Xue, Wei Leng increased the speed.

Zheng Tan didn't know where Wei Leng was headed; the route was unfamiliar to him, the surrounding buildings were strange, so he poked his head out of the travel bag and watched the streetscape rush by.

For a vehicle, the trouble in the city is the many traffic lights; even if a motorcycle can go fast, it still gets stuck at those red lights.

While waiting for the green light, a bus slowly swayed over and stopped beside Wei Leng's motorcycle, also waiting for the light. By Zheng Tan's window, a person was eating an orange, rolled down the window and spat out the seeds. Then that orange seed traced a parabola in the air and hit Zheng Tan squarely on the forehead.

Zheng Tan: "..." Damn it! People who spit seeds on the ground should be fined until they have nothing left, not even their underwear!

"Holy crap, the guy riding the motorcycle is carrying a cat! And it's a completely black cat!" the orange-eater shouted loudly.

"Where? Where?"

"It really is a cat; I thought it was a simulated cat toy!"

"Mom, I want to see the cat too!"

"Don't crowd, don't crowd, it's just a cat—why are you all squeezing over?"

"Make way, let me look..."

……

At that time, phones weren't as smart as they would be ten years later, so there weren't many "phone bowers" in the car. For a while, the people who were bored on the vehicle all turned their gaze to Zheng Tan's head poking out of the travel bag.

The red travel bag, with the black cat's head, was especially conspicuous.

Zheng Tan felt he was like a monkey on display for people to gawk at.

The bus driver looked outside, then continued staring ahead, shouting reminders for passengers to pay attention, as the green light was about to come. Unfortunately, many didn't hear him.

When the green light came on, the motorcycle shot forward, pulling farther and farther ahead of the bus; however, Zheng Tan had just seen, when the bus started moving, the person inside who had been spitting orange seeds hit the front seat with a "thud".

Zheng Tan grinned, his mood instantly improving considerably.

After leaving the urban area, traffic lights became less frequent, and Wei Leng increased the speed further.

Around here are factories one after another; going further brings one close to the Third Ring Road. However, Zheng Tan saw the signs hung around—this whole area is zoned for demolition. Because of environmental protection and other reasons, the government plans to relocate these factories; after all, there is a lake nearby, and the lakeside land freed up has already caught the eye of property developers.

Wei Leng rode the motorcycle to the side door of a factory, parked, looked around, and pulled out his phone to call someone.

This factory in front of them used to be a food processing plant; it had just moved away, leaving the interior feeling very deserted, with only some pictures left on the surrounding walls telling people what used to be done here.

Wei Leng's call to his senior brother still wouldn't go through, but he could now confirm the person was inside the factory. The factory doors were all shut, so the only way in was to climb over the wall.

"Follow behind me; if someone approaches, tell me right away. Of course, at the proper moment you can also help provide cover… Forget it, I doubt you'd understand."

Having said that, Wei Leng leapt directly over the outer wall in one motion, the movement light and appearing easy.

Zheng Tan also jumped onto the wall and looked inside from there. He was purely following Wei Leng out of curiosity and thrill, and unlike Wei Leng he didn't need to conceal his movements much—after all, Zheng Tan is now a cat, and people aren't as wary of cats. Moreover, there are many house cats and strays around; while on the motorcycle Zheng Tan had seen several, so a black cat entering the factory isn't anything novel.

Having taken off the collar tag and keys when leaving the Jiao Family's home, Zheng Tan shows nothing special; even if someone noticed, they'd only remark "What a sturdy cat," not suspect a suspicious person approaching.

Inside the factory everything had been moved out, looking quite desolate; the floor was littered with broken bricks and tiles, discolored advertising paper, and various processing waste, while the surrounding air still smelled of lingering auxiliaries and additives.

Zheng Tan followed close behind Wei Leng, his upright ears picking up faint sounds—human noises, like the groans of someone beaten down, but not those of Hetaoshixiong.

Fifty meters east behind a wall there were people, at least three; Zheng Tan heard their conversation, and from their low-voiced exchange he understood they were waiting for the person inside the front warehouse to come out so they could strike.

Zheng Tan glanced at the warehouse not far ahead—few windows, doors and windows tightly shut; entering would likely make a big noise. Is Hetaoshixiong inside? Nevertheless, the groans of someone beaten down are indeed coming from within.

The people hiding behind the wall hadn't noticed Wei Leng's presence; perhaps they simply didn't care about such things, focusing all attention on the warehouse door, and also because Wei Leng was concealed too well—even when he moved quickly it was hard to spot him.

While Wei Leng hid in the shade, pondering how to first take care of the guys behind the wall and then find a way into the warehouse, Zheng Tan's gaze fell on one of the warehouse's exhaust fans.

The exhaust fan's exterior had no wire mesh guard, yet the gaps between its blades were just right for Zheng Tan to slip through.

Go, or not go?

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Happy Halloween to the kids who celebrated Halloween~

In the blink of an eye it's November; the days are flying by damn fast.

Thanks, Chen Mo〓van, En Yao, Ou Fei Mo Si, say a few words, enter Ruoye Creek, some ice leaves, nicknames must not contain sensitive words, Hui Ye Wang Yue, Yue Yin Bie Li, the pet dog is called Wang Cai, Gui Nai Liang, lazyorange, if there is a heavenly reward!

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