Chapter 434: Campus Pet

Generally, security work for this kind of campus concert is still done well.

Security is tight; even the various department heads of the school student union have to show identification several times to get in, let alone those without credentials. But nobody expected a cat to suddenly appear.

Cats are such animals that sometimes you can't keep them out; a moment's carelessness and they jump out to make their presence known.

With such a huge crowd, so many people, deafening sound effects, and shouting audiences, normally animals would stay far away, but Jingzhang is an exception; perhaps it's because the venue had just become much quieter, plus A Jin playing 'Cat's Fantasy,' which drew this cat over.

Because of Jingzhang's sudden appearance, the other band members on stage were surprised; they truly hadn't arranged this bit, having rehearsed every segment several times, since this was the final stop of the campus tour concert, and with A Jin's connection to Chu Hua Da Xue, everyone placed special importance on it, yet a cat suddenly appearing completely exceeded their expectations, especially when it happened while A Jin was playing 'Cat's Fantasy.'

Even A Jin, who was playing, paused his hand movements upon seeing it, but after recognizing the cat that had jumped onto the stage, he raised his hand to stop the staff member who was about to come over and pick up the cat, then continued playing as before.

Many in the audience also wondered whether Newboy's people had deliberately arranged this; although some had seen Jingzhang before, there are so many cats like this nationwide that nobody could be sure, so they could only watch with strong curiosity, their gaze originally on A Jin now mostly shifted to the cat on stage.

Jingzhang's courage is sometimes indeed great, something Zheng Tan has experienced; unlike Da Pang's steadiness and A Huang's cautious timidity, Jingzhang always manages to show everyone its special trait.

After jumping onto the stage, Jingzhang looked around, then lifted its head and puffed its chest, walking toward the still-playing A Jin, all the way to A Jin's feet, swaying its tail leisurely, apparently thinking up some little scheme.

A Jin had been standing, but after Jingzhang approached, A Jin sat directly on the ground, legs crossed, and continued playing.

Many in the audience were already holding up their DV cameras to film. Regardless of what they were guessing in their hearts, Jingzhang's appearance was indeed like an Easter egg popping out during this transitional phase of the concert.

Some people whispered in surprise, 'Look over here! Look over here!'

Others advised those nearby not to make a sound, otherwise they'd scare it away—what then?

Fortunately, Jingzhang is bold. It merely glanced down at the audience a few times, ignored them, then crouched nearby, its eyes fixed on the guitar and on A Jin's hand plucking the metal strings, its head slightly tilted.

Seeing Jingzhang's tail hooked and swaying, Zheng Tan knew it had found something interesting again.

Sure enough, after just a few seconds, Jingzhang lifted a paw and hooked it onto the guitar strings.

Thus, a sound that didn't match the original tune appeared.

But A Jin didn't stop, continuing to play; after Jingzhang tried once and found it fun—having played before, it suddenly felt the urge again—so it lifted the paw it had just lowered to cause more disturbance. Fortunately, with A Jin there, these jarring tones didn't sound bad; instead they added a unique flavor.

The halo on stage was almost completely drawn away by Jingzhang.

One band member couldn't help covering his face and laughing. They weren't worried about the concert being ruined, nor about the cat stealing the spotlight; perhaps the cat's appearance could help them gain many headlines.

After A Jin finally finished the piece, he didn't rise immediately; he pushed the guitar toward Jingzhang, who looked at A Jin, then at the guitar in front of it, flicked its tail, then lifted both front paws and began to pluck A Jin's guitar—at first tentatively, slowly, then apparently getting hooked, plucking faster and faster.

Zheng Tan wanted to cover his face. Jingzhang's disregard for the noise made by the staff on stage was truly embarrassing—was this cat art? Too bizarre!

However, the students in the audience didn't dislike it; on the contrary, many clapped, finding the cat really interesting, and some even shouted loudly in encouragement.

Fortunately, Jingzhang didn't intend to keep playing; after plucking for about ten seconds, it retracted its claws.

Hearing the audience start to discuss again, A Jin raised his hand and pressed down in the air, and the lower area quieted.

"Many people have asked us about our emblem: why do we keep dogs but our emblem is a cat? I've said before that Newboy could get to where we are today thanks to a black cat that helped us a lot; thank you very much. We will keep using this emblem, and it will witness Newboy's step-by-step march toward glory." A Jin said.

The audience remained silent, waving their glow sticks and placards, holding up DV cameras and cameras, all expecting A Jin to continue talking about that mysterious black cat and reveal more, but A Jin didn't continue on that topic; instead he said, "And the song 'Cat's Fantasy' I composed back then, I also told you it was because of a cat—when I came to Chu Hua Da Xue, I wondered whether I would meet that cat from back then."

Some students in the audience had already guessed what A Jin would say next, covering their mouths and beginning to get excited.

Sure enough, A Jin continued: "Now I have finally seen it again, and moreover, I can perform on stage with it."

"Ah—" some students in the audience finally shouted out in excitement.

Is this it?

Was it because of this cat that A Jin was inspired to create the divine song 'Cat's Fantasy' back then?

Suddenly I feel so honored!!

Coming to the venue on Christmas Eve to listen to the concert was indeed worth it!

This is our Chu Hua Da Xue's cat! A cat full of artistic talent!!

A Jin is awesome, keep spilling the gossip! Keep telling us things we don't know!

However, the audience's excited reaction startled Jingzhang, which arched its back and jumped a few steps backward, as if to say that if they kept shouting like that, it would run away.

A Jin raised a finger to his lips, making a 'shh' gesture toward the audience, and the audience immediately quieted down further.

"Everyone, don't scare it away," A Jin said with a smile.

A Jin passed the guitar to a teammate, then turned sideways and picked up Jingzhang.

Jingzhang didn't resist; probably because of the earlier cooperation, it felt this person was okay, not dangerous, and was very compliant.

"Thank you very much for giving me inspiration back then, and also thank you for coming today," A Jin said to Jingzhang, also reaching out to pat its cat head.

"Cat's Fantasy" indeed made A Jin famous for a while, and Newboy also gained some visibility; if expectations are correct, after tonight's events, Newboy will again gain a lot of visibility in the entertainment industry. This is a good thing for Newboy. He should thank the cat, whether it was that black one or this black-and-white one.

After A Jin finished speaking, Jingzhang let out a 'meow' that sounded like a response to his words; the sound was clearly transmitted through the audio equipment to everyone present.

Some people in the audience began to imagine translating that sentence; many students even laughed good-naturedly.

The Newboy people, including A Jin, hadn't expected Jingzhang to respond so cooperatively with a sound, thinking this cat was indeed divine!

However, only Zheng Tan, who knows Jingzhang well, knows that Jingzhang actually made that sound because A Jin's way of holding the cat was uncomfortable, causing it to grunt in displeasure; who knew the timing of that grunt would be so coincidental, leading everyone to misunderstand it.

At that moment, presumably someone from the school was walking a dog nearby; the dog heard Jingzhang's voice amplified through the stage audio equipment and immediately began to howl loudly. It recognized the voice as that of the cat it usually doesn't get along with, so it howled especially fiercely and loudly.

At this time there was no overwhelming sound to cover it up, and the venue was relatively quiet, so some people present heard the dog's howl coming through.

Even while being held by A Jin, Jingzhang's ear twitched toward the direction of the sound and it began to protest with barks: 'Woof woof woof woof woof!!'

Newboy: "……"

Staff: "……"

Audience students: "……"

Zheng Tan: "……" Damn, Jingzhang is showing off its foreign language skills again!!

Others simultaneously thought in their hearts: 'Holy shit!'

Alpacas were galloping across the entire venue.

Many people couldn't hold it in and shouted it out directly.

If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, many would have thought this was definitely arranged by Newboy, like fake voices and such; but obviously, it's real.

Then another wave of discussion came; someone recognized Jingzhang, followed by shouts and whistles sweeping across the entire venue.

However, the reaction of these students in the audience clearly frightened Jingzhang, which broke free from A Jin's hand, darted off the stage in a flash and disappeared; even if someone wanted to keep it, they couldn't catch it, as a cat's movements are truly agile and swift, and besides, it's nighttime, Jingzhang's fur has a lot of black, making it hard to find.

However, the saying goes you can outrun the monk but not the temple, you can outrun the cat but not its den; since it's confirmed to be Jingzhang, those who know Jingzhang thought they'd go find him after the event to take more photos together and post them online to show off—look, this is the cat that did a joint performance with newboy.

After Jingzhang left, the concert continued, but everyone was still thinking about what had just happened with that cat.

After the concert ended smoothly, everyone dispersed; the autograph session had already been held during the day, so after the conclusion everyone went their separate ways, and newboy's people didn't linger either.

In Chu Hua Da Xue's campus forum, it went viral, with the vast majority discussing tonight's "Easter egg"; Jingzhang's identity was also exposed by everyone, and after being revealed by insiders, those who usually don't pay attention to cats and don't know about the Staff Family Compound finally learned—Jingzhang's eccentricities go far beyond this, and the fact that this cat can bark like a dog is also true!!

Many people shouted that they definitely had to go see it tomorrow, to get up close and touch that legendary cat, while others hurried to post tonight's experiences online; those who took videos also uploaded them to video-sharing sites, although they were far away and the footage wasn't very clear, only showing a faint shadow and catching the sound, netizens could still tell what had happened on this unusual night.

The next day, many entertainment news headlines reported last night's incident; although newboy pales in comparison to other current A-list stars, this incident was enough to attract attention.

"An unexpected Easter egg! A magical cat!"

"What newboy's lead singer and the cat have to say"

"Who was the song 'Cat's Fantasy' written for back then? Another main act shone brightly at last night's Christmas Eve concert!"

It must be said, because of Jingzhang's unexpected appearance, it also gave newboy a strong boost in presence; some people who weren't fans of newboy also started paying attention to newboy because of this incident. And newboy's company seized the opportunity to push it, polishing its image as well.

This morning, Lan Lao Tou discovered that many students had entered the compound, with some students still being stopped outside the gate; he didn't go over to ask what was up, and rather than gossiping, he might as well go look at the flowers.

But when Lan Lao Tou walked over to the Small Flower Garden, he found that even more students were guarding its gate; if it hadn't been renovated, some people would have probably climbed over the wall to get in.

The dog inside the Small Flower Garden, sensing many strangers moving outside, kept barking; sharp-eared students noticed it was indeed three kinds of barking, confirming the rumor that had exploded on the forum yesterday.

In the days that followed, some people kept loitering around the Small Flower Garden, including many from other schools; since they couldn't enter the Staff Family Compound, hanging out here was fine, and many who came to Chu Hua Da Xue to hang out with classmates would stop by to try their luck, hoping to see the university's miraculous cat.

And Jingzhang, unintentionally, became the mascot of Chu Hua Da Xue. (To be continued...)