Jiao Yuan stopped doing his homework, his dictation only half way done, when the loud clamor sounded from outside. Jiao Yuan, like the others, immediately recalled the incident with the thief last time. He set down his pen, looked around and realized his family cat had not returned home yet.
Papa Jiao put down the year six language and literature textbook down, going over by the window and peeping out. The young men from the surrounding buildings gradually streamed out, some curious children leaning against the window or the balcony and looking outside but being pulled back inside the room by their parents.
"Sit down!" Papa Jiao yelled at Jiao Yuan who was about to move to the window. He took his phone out and asked others, he also made a call to the old lady living on the first floor since those that live on the first floor get the news faster.
After hanging up, Papa Jiao thought for a while before walking out of Jiao Yuan's room and opening the front door. Coincidentally, Qu Xiangyang who lived across the hallway also opened his door after hearing the noises and looked this way.
"Hey, Brother Jiao did you hear that..."
"Qu, just in time, I was going to look for you!"
A minute later.
Qu Xiangyang sat on the couch in Jiaos' living room, assistant professor Jiao had asked him to stay here and look after the kid while he himself hurried downstairs.
The sound of a stir in the eastern staff courtyard had become too loud, the transition from silence to disturbance was so momentary, even the cat catcher didn't predict the event to progress this way. They didn't encounter such a situation when they were cat catching in other residential areas.
After hearing the loud cat cries from the osmanthus trees, the cat catcher quickly climbed over the wall and ran towards the spot where the cage was. He didn't dare to delay because he had already heard dog barks heading this way.
A perfect leap as he flew over the row of rhododendrons, that person didn't slow down, he lowered his body and rushed towards the bottom of the osmanthus tree. Before he could get a clear look of the location of the cage, four cat claws gashed at him.
Fatty doesn't flash his claws, but when he does it would astound you. Even if he wasn't as strong as Zheng Tan, his moves were ruthless and well-executed. Plus the places that he aimed for were all near the eyes, if he had been a little stronger or his claws were any longer, the eyes of the cat catcher would have been blinded.
Even if he hadn't been blinded, the deep bloodstains that ran from the tip of the brows to the eyes and to the nose looked as if the blood would spill from those claw marks.
Fatty did not consider whether the person would be blinded or whether he would need to carry the burden of other consequences. The training that he received was to strike back with all his might. As to the problems that would rise from his actions, someone will settle them for him.
Likewise for Zheng Tan, he scratched around the same spot as Fatty did. Since he had controlled the strength exerted, it would only temporarily damage the person's sight, but he didn't let him off easy. Zheng Tan's scratches were much longer than Fatty's, extending to the neck. He also kicked him when he ran up, using strength that had slightly more force than the strength of ordinary cats, he didn't use all his strength that might expose himself.
"Ah--"
A screech sounded, not too loud, but it was clear that it had came from an inability to hold back the pain.
The person covered his face. The speed that he had when he rushed over was too fast, and his footsteps didn't stop, resulting in him colliding into the osmanthus tree.
After the first strike had went smoothly, Fatty quickly retreated into the distance, watching from ten meters away and didn't approach any closer.
Zheng Tan, on the other hand, didn't attempt to avoid him. The cat catcher stood up in a haste and didn't even try to retrieve the cage anymore, prepared to head towards the courtyard wall. Zheng Tan would never allow for this person to escape. Even if they couldn't knock him out, there were still other means.
That person's eyes were probably wounded, coupled with a dark environment, he couldn't see his surroundings clearly. He bumped into a few trees and wasn't able to escape yet.
Seeing that the person had turned his back to him, Zheng Tan dashed over, leapt towards him, and caught the person by the pants.
Strip!
Unfortunately, the person was wearing pair of jeans with a belt tied around his waist, Zheng Tan was unable to pull it off him.
The person felt his thigh being scratched. Without a careful look, he turned and kicked with all his force. However, he didn't get the cat with that kick but tripped on a branch beneath his feet and fell on his back.
The cat catcher couldn't comprehend how this time the cat catching turned out this way. The cat didn't go inside the cage and had, on the contrary, dared to scratch him. Didn't they say that house cats were mild tempered? Those cats that he had previously caught in other districts were not this cranky. The cat that he faces now wouldn't give up after the first strike, it continuously struck again and again. If he had been wearing sweatpants, then his pants would have been stripped off.
Nevertheless, the current situation offered the cat catcher no chance to think. He needed to escape, fast.
However, before he even had the opportunity to crawl back up, he felt a burst of anguishing pain from his butt.
Zheng Tan and Fatty who were squatting on the sideline scratched their ears.
'Mighty, you are so f*cking awesome!'
This fellow, Mighty, had bitten someone before, and had the guts to do it again. This was what happened, he didn't even take into consideration whether or not there would be any danger, delivering a bite as he rushed up.
This time Mighty didn't aim for the calves, perhaps he had felt his mouth widened or some other reason, but this time he made a change for the butt.
Now that Mighty has arrived, Daisy and Sahara will arrive in no time.
Daisy doesn't bite people, but she sure can bite other things. Seeing that her friends had all had a bite, she found something to bite as well.
The cat catcher was wearing a hooded top, so Daisy clenched the hat on his top and dragged back while shaking her head. Tearing the top while making a deep growling sound.
Initially Daisy didn't treat it seriously, like what she did when she was playing with her toys, but the cat catcher lifted his hands and slapped towards the dog to try release his hat from Daisy's mouth. However, this slap incited Daisy's anger, just because she's mild tempered doesn't mean she won't get angry. Besides, with the two companions foiling the atmosphere, Daisy began to solemn up. Her strength increased and the tearing motion became much more violent than before.
The cat catcher was moved from side to side along with Daisy's tearing swings, making his already dizzy head even more light-headed.
Zheng Tan remembered a movie that had some years to it, "Cujo". A movie that had once made the St. Bernard an embodiment of terror.
When his mind retraced back, Zheng Tan looked at the situation there again. Funnily enough, Daisy was pulling at the person's hat while Sahara gripped the trunk of his pants between his teeth. The two dogs were dragging in the opposite direction of each other, in addition to that Might was biting him in between. Needless to say, the cat catcher was suffering some rotten luck.
The cat catcher at that moment felt terrible, his face had a scorching pain, his ass was in the mouth of a dog, both ends had a dog pulling him, and his head was becoming dizzier and dizzier by the second. He took a deep breath, no longer trying to waste his energy on trying to combat the dog, his hand dug into the pocked and searched.
One dig, nothing.
Second dig, still nothing.
Try another pocket, still freaking nothing!
Where's the knife?!
Zheng Tan knew what he was looking for just by watched his movement. However, in the flash of a moment when that person fell and Mighty rushed up to get a bite, Zheng Tan was able to take that opportunity and fish the knife out of his pocket. To prevent that person injuring the three dogs with this knife, he threw it aside.
The people from the courtyard weren't slow either, they soon arrived. The first person that came over was the old gatekeeper, the security guards from the security post followed his footsteps.
The gatekeeper acted straightaway after receiving the old lady's phone call. He was a retired soldier, coming here to do some light work. Although his relatives helped him in getting this job, it was mainly the old lady's credit since his son had helped arrange his work , so most of the time he would help the old lady out.
A call from the old lady outlined the situation, he immediately went over to the security post to notify them. He himself also carried a torchlight and a handy weapon, he couldn't let the staff in the courtyard take the risk themselves.
However, even the gatekeeper couldn't do anything, the three dogs were so into it that their temper had been incited, if he suddenly walks up he would be implicated too.
Scratching his head, the gatekeeper looked towards the two cats that squatted on the side, "What should I do?"
Zheng Tan threw him a glance and then walked over to the cat trap.
The gatekeeper shone the torch at the direction that Zheng Tan was heading, he quickly recognized this cage's purpose. He walked over and lifted the cage up, examining the sparrow that had ceased moving and the marks on the cage. Clearly this cage had trapped a number of cats.
"Yo, you got a lot of guts to dare venture into the staff courtyard and try to kidnap cats!" The gatekeeper said, his lips curled up as he looked at the Fatty who longer had any interest in the matter, then at the cat catcher who was being bullied by the three dogs.
Was he trying to court death, coming here to kidnap cats?
Even if the laws of our country were not comprehensive in this area, if you got caught you would definitely not be allowed off the hook easily, especially when that fat Dragon Li was involved.
Others from the courtyard had also came, using the dim torchlight to see what the circumstance was over here. They heard the use of this cage, so none of them went up to aid the cat catcher, they stood along the side and chatted with the gatekeeper. It was the first time that they had seen these cat traps and they were rather curious.
"Cat thieves like this one usually sleep during the day and come out in the night around twelve O'clock to steal cats. They work from midnight to five or six in the early morning, and usually steal ten to twenty cats. Didn't a lot of people lost their cats last time? That was the work of these people. But it's quite odd, this guy looked like an experienced cat thief, yet he dared to come here to steal and it's only eight to nine in the night." The gatekeeper shook his head as he talked.
Zheng Tan was crouching somewhere not too far from them, listening in to their conversation, wanting to know some things about this subject. After all, he didn't care of the world when he wasn't a cat before, but he was now forced to since it had become a matter of life and death.
"All those cats he stole were pets? Even if they eat them, weren't there producers that could breed them? Like chickens and pigs and other livestock for food, weren't there special farms that breed them? Why would he steal family cats?" A young fellow asked.
The gatekeeper smiled, "Breed? How is that possible? It's not as cheap or fast as stealing cats. Cats are not like dogs, they are easy to catch. Plus, these cat thieves have their techniques, they only aim for the big cats and let the smaller ones go. They would wait for another year, then kidnap them again. Anyhow, they don't need to use their own money to feed those cats."
"No way! So those people that go through all the trouble to feed their cats and wait for them to grow, is like feeding them for these people? Beside, isn't it still common to see stray cats? Just catch those stray cats, why would they dare to catch the pets!" The young man exclaimed.
"There are only so many strays, there's a high volume of demand from the market. These people had set their eyes on family-bred pets, these cats are much well kept, no illness and could sell for much higher prices. But, it would be unfortunate for those that lost their cats."
A middle-age teacher from the side also chipped in: "Indeed, keeping a cat for so long, there are even some bonds. Those people that lost their cat would be upset for a long while, isn't this the case with that person, he lost all his appetite for food and drinks after his cat went missing."
Zheng Tan knew the person who the middle-age teacher was referring to, he had also lived in the eastern courtyard but his cat didn't play with Zheng Tan and others. Once that cat climbed into the first floor balcony of building B and ate Fatty's ration, it was given a serious lesson by Fatty. However, during the period of the new year's celebration, he heard that the cat had gone missing. Zheng Tan didn't think too much of it at the time, but now that he recalled, Zheng Tan couldn't help but lament.
"How much would a cat sell for?" The young man eagerly asked.
"Not much at all, couple score of dollars, same price for native and exotic cats, they sell it for cheap. After they caught the cats, some strip their skin off then transport to some fur market in some other places. As for the cat meat, they either sell it to restaurants or barbeque stalls, those barbequed meat and kebabs from the street side vendors might contain some cat meat in it, some other food products may also be mingled with these. Many people didn't know when they ate it.
Some cats were thrown into a boiling pot and burnt to death. I heard that if you cut the head and the feet off then process it, you could pass it off as rabbit meat or some other meat, that's for those in fur and cat meat businesses. There are also some organisations that do live-cat businesses, they catch the cats then send it to the south , full cars were transported out one by one... In the big cities, if you get this whole entire car full of cats, it's probably going to steal cats."
"So that's why Sister Ling keeps her cat locked at home, it's been a while since I have seen Tiger. Oh, are there many cat theft organisations?" The young man enquired.
"Lots and lots."
"Why won't they catch them?"
The gatekeeper paused for a second, then answered: "The number of cat stealing organisations are beyond what you can comprehend for, its everywhere across the country. There are some complex thing in this, too many matters that it involves. Some people with their cars full when they head south get stopped half-way, but they got licenses and certificates. There will always be some valid reasons for them to get away, you can't catch them."
Zheng Tan suddenly felt a chill came creeping over his body while listening to their conversation. Now that he's a cat, that feeling of immediate connection had strengthened.
Connecting the dots with the conversation that he just heard between the gatekeeper and others, Zheng Tan realized that cat who ate Fatty's ration was lost, and was never going to come back.
The people from the courtyard began to gather over here, the workers from the security post had also rushed over.
The three dogs were hailed back by their owners. As to the cat catcher, he was in a state of disarray, his face was covered with cat claw marks, the trunk of his pant had been ripped, his buttock was still bleeding and his clothes were torn to pieces.
But nobody pitied him.
The mistress of the family that had lost their cat as just mentioned was in an extremely upset mood. She raised her palm and was about to run over, but was stopped by her husband.
Under the osmanthus tree, the cat thief lied there covering his face, there was blood that streamed from between his fingers. The man was quickly taken away by the people from the security post, however, the discussions between the residents of the courtyard didn't cease.
Zheng Tan rushed over when he saw Papa Jiao, there was indeed a stronger sense of security being with your own family.
The reactions that Fatty had when he saw his own old lady was very excited, he hurried over and leaped onto the old lady's torso.
The old lady made use of the momentum and hugged him, it was evident that she had done these things a couple hundred times.
Zheng Tan watched from the side in awe.
Hell, that thing was okay a minute ago, and now he acts all in shock?! Sh*t little Fatty, look at your weight, why don't you take considerations of the lady's old age?!
Sensing Zheng Tan's sight, Fatty lifted his head, winked his eyes and quivered his ears, then buried his head into the old lady's arms, continuing to seek comfort. Every time he pulls a pitiful face, the old lady would give him more portions during mealtime as well as more snacks when they go back.
Papa Jiao headed to their building with Zheng Tan and the old lady, on the way the old lady started telling him that Fatty could identify the cat traps.
"Fatty has been trained. My son said that a cat's biggest enemy is that thing, so every time we went to his place, he would train Fatty to avoid all sorts of cat cages and other types of cat traps. Eh, the cat thieves nowadays, virtueless..."
As the cat thief was taken away, the crowd in the yard began to disperse, a person at the courtyard gate also headed away and left.