Chapter 420: Thought

When Zheng Tan followed Da Shan as they left far away, Er Mao's phone began beeping an alarm. Because of the special device on Zheng Tan's cat tag, whenever Zheng Tan left a certain distance, Er Mao's phone would sound an alarm.

So, regarding Zheng Tan's outings, Er Mao was fully aware, but only because the master said Da Shan was there and it was fine, so Er Mao didn't act.

Not until afternoon, when they saw Da Shan and Zheng Tan return, did Er Mao and Wei Leng finally relax. Others didn't know, but the two of them were quite clear in their hearts: this black cat was far from merely obedient; it had a great talent for causing trouble. Besides, they had previously promised the Jiao Family that if anything happened, they would also have trouble explaining it.

Therefore, after Zheng Tan returned to the courtyard, he listened to Er Mao's opinion for about twenty minutes.

Da Shan goes out once or twice a week; if twice, it's rarely on consecutive days. So even the master didn't expect that the next day Da Shan would continue taking Zheng Tan out, and this time it would be much farther than the previous day, and they left in the morning.

Zheng Tan followed behind Da Shan; having yesterday's experience, he now adapted a bit.

Today's route mostly matches yesterday's, except that in the later section Da Shan chose a path that is difficult for humans. Whether narrow steep mountain trails or dense forest hard for humans to walk, for cats it's not much difficulty; Zheng Tan only needs to stay alert to possible dangers around.

Zheng Tan won't place all his hopes on Da Shan; even though Da Shan is an experienced mountain wild predator, he might not detect all potential threats around, so Zheng Tan still has to stay anxious and vigilant.

Previously Zheng Tan also went with the Jiao Family for outdoor training; when they found the red rat, Zheng Tan survived in the wild for a period. After several years, that tense feeling, with nerves seemingly twisted, rose again.

This is wild life: no mercy, only survival. Even a small oversight can lead to fatal results.

Nerves taut, Zheng Tan followed Da Shan onward. He knew there would be danger here, but he wanted to know what Da Shan's purpose was, yet he couldn't figure it out; Zheng Tan always felt something weighing on his mind.

Although it's already mid-to-late October. If it were in Chu Hua Shi, there would definitely be noticeable autumn, temperatures would drop, mosquitoes etc., and outdoors they would gradually dwindle, but here it's not.

Here the winter temperature is somewhat higher than in the central regions; unless it's on some high mountains, the whole winter hardly sees a snowflake. Probably because of the temperature, when Zheng Tan walks in the forest he can hear many mosquito sounds; sometimes those mosquitoes hover before his eyes, making one want to swat them dead instantly, but Zheng Tan restrained himself. Swatting mosquitoes is a big motion, easily startling dangerous species.

It was already approaching noon; Da Shan caught a bird to eat, Zheng Tan only found a few fruits to make do; unless absolutely necessary, Zheng Tan really didn't want to eat raw food in the wild again.

Da Shan saw Zheng Tan eating fruit and was rather curious, went over to sniff, then disdainfully walked away to continue eating its meat.

After eating something, he wasn't that hungry. Zheng Tan crouched on a branch to rest, thinking: around here there's no sign of people; after walking so long he hasn't seen any trace of human activity; how much farther will Da Shan go inward?

Having learned from the past red rat expedition, where leaving meant being gone for several days or even longer, Zheng Tan doesn't want to repeat that.

Or, should we head back now?

As he was thinking, Zheng Tan's ear twitched, and he suddenly looked in a direction.

If he hadn't misheard just now, it seemed that someone was speaking over there.

He turned his head to look at Da Shan on another branch; at that moment Da Shan was also looking that way, his face somewhat solemn, not much different from usual, but his eyes carried a chill. Zheng Tan had seen similar eyes many times: when a cat hunts and toys with prey to death, that's the look; however, compared to cats that hunt with interest, Da Shan's eyes had even more coldness, like a true natural-born icy killer, making Zheng Tan feel a chill in his heart.

Could Da Shan's purpose be those people over there?

Looking at Da Shan like that, he should know there are people over there.

In a place so far from villages and towns, almost entirely wild environment, yet there are people living; previously Zheng Tan thought such a place wouldn't have human activity.

Hearing the movement over there, Da Shan moved. His action was light yet swift, silently approaching that side.

Zheng Tan followed behind, judging from the sounds what might be happening over there.

From the sounds, there was more than one person over there, seemingly searching for something.

He glanced at the big cat ahead, Zheng Tan thought, could it be they're looking for this guy again?

But that also seems unlikely. Da Shan usually lives in the courtyard; even if he comes here, he doesn't come often, and he didn't come here yesterday; these people are probably looking for something that was just recently discarded.

But what exactly are these people doing?

Da Shan didn't get too close; stopping at a certain distance, he hid in a large tree, the dense branches concealing his silhouette.

Zheng Tan also hid himself, watching the people approaching over there.

Those people spoke with a regional accent; Zheng Tan couldn't understand much, but from their actions he knew they were indeed searching for something. Moreover, Zheng Tan sensed a bloody smell on them.

These people are dangerous, the type to stay away from. This is Zheng Tan's intuition.

There were three of them, looking about thirty years old, likely often active outdoors, with dark skin. They spoke softly, their gaze occasionally sweeping over the surrounding bushes and grass.

Zheng Tan hid behind the shrubs; as the three people drew nearer, he grew tense, his breathing becoming careful.

Fortunately, when they were about ten meters away, they apparently thought the shrubs here were too dense to pass easily, and seeing no suspicious traces, they changed direction and left.

After those people walked far away, Zheng Tan finally took a long breath.

Then Da Shan jumped down from the tree, the branches making a rustling sound with his movement; fortunately those people had already gone far, so they couldn't hear it.

After jumping down, Da Shan looked in the direction the three had left, twitched his ears to confirm they weren't returning, then started moving again.

Zheng Tan followed Da Shan; he didn't know what this one intended, but he could be certain it was absolutely related to those people active deep in the forest.

What next?

Just two cats; even if they had a grudge, what could they do to those people?

Even if Zheng Tan turned into a human, he couldn't oppose any one of those three. Of course, if he used other means, that would be another matter.

Da Shan seemed not to intend to chase after those three, but instead headed in another direction.

Half an hour later, Zheng Tan saw a simple shelter made of cloth and wood; from the sounds coming from inside, he could tell some animals were confined in the wooden hut.

Poachers?

No, although there is indeed a large expanse of wild mountain forest here with many wild dogs, wolves, wild boars, etc., there aren't many rare animals, as Er Mao told Zheng Tan.

If they really wanted to poach, what would they hunt here? Wolf pelts?

At that moment, two people came out of the tent; one yawned, a bit drunk, walked into another tent nearby; the other strolled around, then leaned against a tree, sat down, lit a cigarette and smoked; hearing something, that person suddenly looked over.

Whoosh—

A brownish-yellow figure flashed through the grass and vanished quickly.

That person's wary gaze vanished instantly. As long as it wasn't a person, they didn't care about other animals.

Zheng Tan hid behind the cloth shelter, watching that person notice Da Shan, then leisurely lean against the tree and sit down again, seeming not worried at all.

This person is very alert.

Da Shan's earlier movement was actually quite slight; just when approaching the cloth shelter he paused a bit, likely due to the animals' scent inside, and stepped onto a thin branch.

After that person sat down again, Zheng Tan lightly lifted the heavy cloth curtain hanging from the cloth shelter to the ground. He didn't go straight in; he merely lifted a bit to peek inside.

The cloth shelter had a ventilation opening, letting in outside light. Thus, even though the interior was relatively dim, Zheng Tan could still use that modest light to see inside clearly.

Inside were five cages: two cages held monkeys, three cages held small pandas—not the small kind of panda, but the animal with much reddish-brown fur, also called the red panda.

Whether the two monkeys or the three small pandas, their condition seemed poor, listless, and they hardly moved in the cages.

Zheng Tan again doubted whether these people were really poachers. Letting them live, yet not paying much attention to their health — is that what poachers do?

While he was watching, Zheng Tan's heart suddenly tightened; he quickly lowered the cloth curtain, then hurriedly left the place he had been.

After Zheng Tan left, the person who had been sitting leaning against the tree appeared beside the cloth tent.

"What's wrong?" the person who had previously entered the tent came out and asked.

"Nothing, other animals are approaching." the person beside the cloth tent said.

"Oh, as long as it's not a person, it's fine." The person's tension instantly dissipated, he yawned, then went back into the tent, "I'll sleep a bit; when I wake up I'll take over your shift."

Zheng Tan, hiding behind a tree not far away, looked at the two people over there. Compared to the three people he had encountered earlier, he could still make out a few words from what these two were saying, guessing the meaning.

Zheng Tan did not go over to investigate further; Big Mountain also seemed to know they couldn't approach there, so he planned to go back, but Zheng Tan felt that Big Mountain actually still had a bit of reluctance.

Being unwilling is no help; those people, Zheng Tan didn't want to provoke them.

On the way back, Zheng Tan also pondered the two people just now, as well as the monkey and red panda locked in cages inside the cloth tent; he only paid attention to whether there was danger around but not to his feet, suddenly feeling he stepped on something, Zheng Tan paused, lowered his head to look.

On Zheng Tan's foot there was some sticky substance; he didn't know what it was, felt quite disgusting. And Big Mountain was wary of it, nervously looking around, as if there were some dangerous object present. (To be continued...)