Chapter 254: That Cat in the Night

On the third day after arriving at the internship base, the students, already divided into groups, left the internship base following their group leaders.

The four members of the Jiao family went together with one of the groups; the two group leaders of that group had a good relationship with Jiao Ba, and while walking up the mountain into the woods they chatted about their past experiences leading groups.

When heading out into the field, everyone wore long sleeves and pants and shoes suitable for climbing, and brought sun hats; the woods on the mountain had many insects and mosquitoes, and although it was broad daylight, once they entered the woods they realized how fierce the mosquitoes were. So the students all packed insect repellent, essential oil, and some anti‑insect medicines in their bags.

Zheng Tan didn't think it was a big deal; one reason was that he was now covered in a layer of cat fur, which served as protection; another was that he had grown accustomed to it, usually roaming through the woods anyway, so he felt fine as he was, and wearing anything else would just be in the way.

The group leader, while walking, pointed out some plants and introduced them to the students; if a plant seemed worth making a specimen of, they would pick a bit and store it, to be made into specimens together later; as for the plants that are very common in Chu Hua Shi, they couldn't be bothered.

On the first day of the field internship, the group leader didn't plan to take the students straight to a remote spot, but instead led them up the winding mountain road. The concrete road was paved smoothly, probably mainly for tourism; after the traffic thinned, they hardly saw any vehicles along the way, and instead, every stretch of road would reveal one or two crabs sitting boldly in the middle of the path. People say "to block a chariot with a mantis's arm," but these crabs were "using their claws to block a chariot"; although there were no vehicles here, there were many people.

Jiao Yuan followed the students; every time they saw a crab on the road he would rush forward, bottle in hand, as if injected with chicken blood, and he didn't even need to reach out to grab it directly. One student would chase the crab from behind, and Jiao Yuan would place a wide‑mouth bottle in front of it, waiting for the crab to crawl in. However, the more alert and quick crabs were harder to catch; crabs climb faster than shrimp, and if one wasn't careful they would slip from the roadside slope down into the stream below.

A crab crawled toward Zheng Tan; he lifted his paw and quickly flipped it toward Xiao Youzi's side. Xiao Youzi was also prepared—she wasn't afraid of crabs, she just clapped a bottle over it. Other students naturally came to help. They wouldn't pass up this chance to curry favor with the teacher; helping the teacher's child might let the teacher go easy on them at the final exam, so they wouldn't fail.

Along the way the group caught quite a few crabs. Except for a few individuals who kept one or two crabs in their own bottles, the rest of the crabs caught were placed into a bag for temporary storage.

After walking another stretch, the group deviated from the main road and climbed up the mountain. This area still had some signs of habitation; occasionally one could see a household or two of villagers living on the mountain. However, unlike the well‑built residences near the base earlier, these villagers' houses were all simple tile‑roofed huts.

Along the way, besides lecturing the students about the plants they saw, the group leader would also talk about the insects he knew; Jiao Ba also told the two children a few things.

"Huh, there's a cat over there!" Jiao Yuan said, pointing at a spot.

Zheng Tan looked in the direction Jiao Yuan pointed; indeed there was a cat running about, but it quickly left everyone's field of view, darting into the bushes. Those who were slower to react saw nothing of the cat by the time they looked. That cat was probably frightened away by the group's movement and noise.

"That must be a feral cat," said one of the group leaders. "Around here there are many feral cats; some are house cats that returned to the wild, and after several generations of breeding they become feral."

After saying that, feeling uneasy, the instructor added a warning to the students: "When you see those feral cats on the mountain, be careful; these cats are not like the pet cats you keep at home. For one thing, they have bad tempers, and besides, they haven't been vaccinated, and running around the mountains all day they could be carrying who knows what germs, so it's best to keep your distance from now on."

Everyone looked at the cat belonging to Associate Professor Jiao's household—a cat that didn't need a leash yet always followed along without causing trouble—and then thought back to the cat they had just seen, which vanished at the slightest movement; indeed, that was the difference between a house cat and a feral cat.

"Cats are naturally quite wild, and their survival ability is strong; when they return to the wild, many manage to survive. Too bad about the birds, though—two years ago the Bird Protection Association sent people specifically to catch cats, and not long after a cat‑loving organization came to protest, sigh." Another group leader said.

Zheng Tan reflected inwardly: Indeed, the cat‑loving and bird‑loving organizations are really at odds.

He thought this topic wasn't suitable for the students and might even stir up conflict, so the earlier group leader dropped it and instead said, "What do you guys think—could we possibly encounter an albino animal on this outing?"

"Heh, wishful thinking—albino animals aren't that easy to find; even the field survey teams can't guarantee they'll see one every time, most discoveries are just lucky breaks, the odds are too low," another group leader laughed.

"You also said it's a random event—no one can predict when one might show up; maybe it'll be a red‑tinged animal instead!"

"Dream on—if you really did encounter a red‑tinged animal, forget about worldwide headlines; even the few leaders in our institute would be shaken. Too bad, those are just 'according to the data.' Although scientific expeditions have once seen red‑furred bats or the like, and last year someone in a nearby village claimed to have seen a red‑furred wild boar, there's still no truly convincing evidence. Foreigners flat‑out deny the existence of red‑tinged species, and in international authoritative journals they can only say, 'As of now, no fully red‑furred red‑tinged mammal has been discovered.' Even catching a single red‑furred mouse would be a major world‑shaking event and big news."

Thus, the so‑called "red‑tinged animal" is merely hearsay and legend.

Jiao Ba thought of something and smiled: "People used to joke that if you were to find a genuine, naturally occurring red‑tinged animal, the only place it could possibly appear is in Chui Shan Shi."

Albino animals can also be produced through long‑term artificial selective breeding and protective cultivation, such as the laboratory white mouse; artificial mutagenesis and breeding can indeed create many things, but a truly naturally occurring organism holds greater research value, and those in the field who study this know the research worth of albino and red‑tinged animals, with the red‑tinged ones being even more valuable.

They spoke those last few sentences in low voices, so only the two nearby group leaders and Jiao Ba's party heard them; the students resting a short distance away in the shade didn't notice.

Zheng Tan pricked up his ears to listen; according to the two group leaders, Chui Shan Shi has recorded many albino animals, and mammals are plentiful there—for example, albino squirrels, foxes, bears, and so on. Some have thought that the appearance of albino animals results from human development and activity expanding, shrinking animals' living space, reducing population numbers, and leading to inbreeding‑induced degeneration; but others feel that since albino animals have existed in this region since ancient times and are more numerous and concentrated here than elsewhere in the world, it's unlikely to be a simple albino phenomenon, and there may be other unknown causes.

When the topic turned to unknown causes, Zheng Tan's imagination ran wild—think secret organizations, aliens, and so on. But it was just idle speculation; even if someone claimed the cause was extraterrestrial, Zheng Tan wouldn't necessarily believe it.

As Jiao Ba said, the number of unrecognized biological species on Earth far exceeds those that are known; human knowledge may be advancing, but there are still plenty of unsolved mysteries. Perhaps, once civilization reaches a certain level of development, these riddles could be solved… it's just unknown whether the mystery of a cat with a human heart can be resolved.

Zheng Tan had just been thinking: if they really did find the red‑tinged species they'd been talking about, would it be immediately turned into a specimen? Only later would he realize that, if they actually caught one, it would surely be treated as an extremely precious specimen. Rare things are valuable, and indeed, for these researchers the worth of a red‑tinged animal surpasses that of any other animal.

Zheng Tan had killed white mice before, but he had never encountered a red mouse. He also looked forward to meeting a purely red‑tinged animal; that would make the trip worthwhile.

On the first day of the field trip, when they returned the students were so exhausted they just went inside and flopped onto their beds, lacking the energy of the previous two days. I heard another group had run into a snake that fell straight from a tree, nearly hitting a student below; that student is still shaken. I also heard that in another group a student was struck on the back of the hand by a mosquito‑sized bug of unknown species falling from a tree; although the bug quickly dropped to the ground and scurried away, the student's hand back swelled up like a pig's trotter, and supposedly they have to stay at the base for a few days without going out. But Zheng Tan felt the day had been all right; after dinner he still had the mood to go out for a stroll.

The two children had bathed and gone to sleep; under Jiao Ba's watchful gaze, Zheng Tan jumped out the window, climbed over the base's fence, and walked onto the concrete road outside.

All around were two‑ or three‑story villa‑style residences; it seemed that many of the people living nearby had some assets.

Gazing into the distance, all that met the eye was a range of uneven mountains; only in inhabited village districts would one see lights, but those were just scattered patches, and compared with the expansive dark mountain‑forest vista, the lit areas were pitifully small.

As he walked along the mountainside, Zheng Tan suddenly caught a faint odor that a human nose would hardly detect; he could notice it only thanks to his feline sense of smell.

That smell made Zheng Tan feel uneasy; it reminded him of the specimens he had seen in the museum. He knew that nowadays many people like to decorate their homes with wildlife specimens—deer heads, for example. There are plenty of such examples around here, but Zheng Tan always felt something was off.

Although curious, he also sensed that he wasn't familiar with this place and it gave him a chill; he couldn't risk an adventure, so Zheng Tan decided to leave.

But before Zheng Tan had gone far, he spotted a shadow flick past.

In the darkness, that shadow silently approached the building Zheng Tan had been looking at earlier; as it drew near, it glanced in Zheng Tan's direction.

Their eyes met, and Zheng Tan felt his fur stand on end all over.

That was a creature that had truly survived under nature's rule of survival of the fittest, not a pet that spends its days at home without worry of food or shelter.

It was a cat, but unlike an ordinary cat. Even without the size of Jueye, it was about the same as Peanut Candy, and it gave Zheng Tan a sense of threat and oppression not inferior to that of Jueye. (To be continued…)

ps: (5.12)