Chapter 10

Zheng Tan squatted on a tree, a place he had found after much effort and deemed suitable. About two hundred meters away, there were a few households, two of which still had lights on, and occasionally, human voices could be heard. Most of the surrounding area was farmland, but with the not-so-bright starlight, Zheng Tan could see that there were not many crops in the fields. This area was likely to be demolished soon.

He changed to a more comfortable position, lying down, closed his eyes to rest, and kept his ears perked up. He couldn't be too careless outside.

The last light went out, and some cat calls came from a distance. Occasionally, a dog barked from the direction of the households.

The temperature in the suburbs was slightly lower than in Chuhua. The wind made Zheng Tan feel cold, and the drowsiness that had been creeping over him was gradually fading away.

Just as Zheng Tan was pondering whether to find something to do, he heard a sound. It was footsteps, very light, but cats could still distinguish them.

Zheng Tan looked through the leaves in the direction of the footsteps. A person wearing a loose hoodie, one hand in the pocket, which seemed to contain something, and the other hand holding a small shovel, walked over.

The person wore a cap, so Zheng Tan couldn't see their face or determine their gender. However, at this time, those who dared to come out alone were usually men, right? Judging from the situation... could they be planning to kill and bury someone?

Zheng Tan's curiosity rose, but he didn't dare to follow recklessly. Even as a cat, he couldn't be sure he wouldn't be eliminated.

The direction the person walked towards was a row of dilapidated tile-roofed houses, which hadn't been inhabited for a while, with weeds growing everywhere.

When the person stopped in front of a half-collapsed small tile-roofed house, Zheng Tan decided to squat and watch from there. After all, it wasn't too far away.

The person squatted at a corner of the wall, facing away from Zheng Tan, and it wasn't clear what they were doing. Zheng Tan didn't hear the sound of bricks being hit, but there was a faint sound of glass containers colliding.

When the sky started to brighten, the person left the dilapidated tile-roofed house. Zheng Tan jumped down to take a look but didn't dare to get too close because he smelled a pungent odor, like pesticides.

Zheng Tan was curious but valued his life more, even if it was a cat's life.

Taking advantage of the residents not being awake, Zheng Tan jumped into a household's yard, found a faucet to wash his paws, to avoid sticking to the pesticide-laden soil from the dilapidated house. The water was too cold, and there were no tissues to wipe with, so Zheng Tan didn't want to lick himself. He looked around, saw some clothes hanging outside, and wiped his paws on a long dress made of the best material, stomping on it to leave a series of gray marks. After wiping his paws, Zheng Tan casually picked a persimmon from a persimmon tree in the yard, washed it, and carried it away.

A few barks came from the neighboring house, probably because Zheng Tan's movements had been heard by the dog there. The barks were somewhat immature, indicating a young dog.

When Zheng Tan returned to the tree, the sky was much brighter.

Soon, voices came from the households, including some scolding, because of the dress Zheng Tan had used to wipe his paws.

As the sun rose, the temperature gradually increased.

Feeling the warmth of the sun, Zheng Tan yawned, stretched lazily, tore open a bag of thumb cakes, and started eating breakfast. If it was too dry, he would nibble on the persimmon.

A small brown and gray dog ran out of a house and played in the fields. This was probably the young dog whose barks Zheng Tan had heard earlier.

A few hens were pecking in the unmanaged fields. The small dog ran over and chased them, making them cluck. One fat hen crouched down when the small dog approached and didn't move. The small dog paused by the fat hen, nipped it symbolically a couple of times, probably not even touching the skin, and then continued chasing the other hens, running and chasing more and more.

Every time the fat hen saw the small dog chasing it, it would crouch down and stay still, avoiding being chased around.

Indeed, big fat people can be very smart.

The small dog, tired from chasing the hens, ran along the edge of the field with its tongue out. Suddenly, its ears perked up, and it stopped to look around. It looked at Zheng Tan, then ran over.

Zheng Tan chewed on a thumb cake, making a crunching sound, and watched the small dog circling the tree, barking. He threw a piece of the thumb cake, which was only as long as a fingernail, down. The small dog paused, then walked over, sniffed the ground, and found the piece of thumb cake in the grass, eating it with its tongue.

After eating, the small dog looked up at Zheng Tan, who was still munching on the thumb cake, wagging its tail happily.

Zheng Tan always chewed a thumb cake until only a small piece was left before throwing it down, then watched the small dog wag its tail and search in the grass or try to catch the thumb cake in the air.

Zheng Tan was having fun, and before he knew it, the bag of thumb cakes was almost empty. Just as he was about to sigh, he suddenly heard the sound of a lighter.

Zheng Tan was startled. When did someone come nearby?!

Following the sound of the lighter, Zheng Tan saw a man dressed like a worker. However, even in different clothes, Zheng Tan recognized him.

It was the man looking for the guinea pig!

The small dog had just noticed the stranger and was barking at him.

Zheng Tan curled his lip. You glutton, what good does barking do now!

However, the small dog didn't persist for long. Under the man's gaze, it ran away with its tail between its legs.

Zheng Tan didn't dare to run; he wasn't sure he could escape successfully.

He decided to stay calm and see what the man wanted, or perhaps pretend not to recognize him. After all, there were many black cats in the world. Zheng Tan thought to himself.

The man blew a smoke ring and said to Zheng Tan, "I recognize you even without your cat tag. You're really naughty, playing with a puppy."

Damn, he's not easy to fool!

Zheng Tan twitched his ears and tensed his muscles. Although the man's aura was currently calm, Zheng Tan's first impression of him was too bad, so he had to be cautious.

The man smoked and casually chatted, then suddenly asked, "Were you here all night? Did you see any strange people?"

Strange people? Could he be referring to the person in the hoodie?

"You really did see him!"

Wei Ling saw the subtle changes in the cat's eyes and expression and knew he had the answer. He had only been testing the cat and didn't expect to get any useful information, but the cat had indeed seen something!

"Alright, I won't ask more. I just want to know what that guy did or what he hid." Wei Ling held the cigarette and spread his hands, indicating he meant no harm.

Zheng Tan thought for a moment and nodded towards the dilapidated tile-roofed house.

"Thanks!"

Just as Zheng Tan was about to slip away, Wei Ling, who was heading towards the dilapidated house, called out, "Don't go yet, I have more questions. If you run, I'll catch you and bring you back. Do you believe me?"

Zheng Tan saw a thin metal sheet flash and land on the road in front of him. He stared at the metal sheet in front of his paws, which was still trembling, and squatted down, tapping it with his paw, amazed. He looked at the man by the dilapidated house and thought, how could something hidden by the person in the hoodie be found so easily?

Five minutes later, Wei Ling, wearing gloves, held a brown glass jar in one hand and a phone in the other.

"Hello, I have some good news... I said, I have some good news... Can you hear me? Hello... Hello... I said, on your end... Damn!"

Just as he hung up, the phone rang again.

"Hello... I said, I have some leads... Hello..."

He described a location and a brief situation for ten minutes, repeating it over and over. Zheng Tan was tired just listening.

Zheng Tan roughly estimated that in ten minutes, the man mostly said "Hello" and "Damn."

Wei Ling finally finished and put the phone in his pocket, "Damn, lousy phone!"

Looking at Zheng Tan, who was still squatting there, Wei Ling nodded, "Come with me. Don't think about running, or I'll find you at Chuhua University. You actually live there, right? I don't believe you never go back."

Zheng Tan: "..." This trip is really not going well!

"Wait here, I'll go get the car." Wei Ling said and ran off with the jar.

Zheng Tan waited for two or three minutes and saw the man ride a pink-painted women's bicycle over the bumpy gravel road.

Is this what he calls "driving" a car?!

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Thank you to red00fox, Lian Dong Feng Sheng, Wan Fu, Xue Rong Yao, Ye Wen Xiao Ci Wei, lazyorange, and Ruo Shui Nian Hua for your support! Thank you, Ruo Shui Nian Hua, for your 3 evaluation votes! Thank you all for your various support and help!

Regarding the door-opening issue mentioned in the previous chapter, it will be explained later. However, since many people have discussed it, I'll clarify here: many homes used to have a double-door system, with an outer metal grille security door and an inner wooden door. Opening the door using the metal grille security door is not difficult.

PS: To the guy who comments "IQ has no lower limit" every day, is that funny?

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