Chapter 1044: Vladimir’s Reflection
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhang Zian and the rest were nervously watching the fate of the puppies that were being operated on. Vladimir watched from the side, but it was not very concentrated and was instead observing its surroundings.
Just as a puppy was having its ears cut off, it heard a gentle noise from the plastic ceiling, as if something had jumped up on the roof. It looked up and saw a black cat with no ears staring at it. The cat glanced at the puppy, whose ears had been cut off on the table, and seemed to experience some unpleasant memories.
Was it the set time already?
Vladimir saw that Zhang Zian and the rest were not paying attention on it, so it quietly slipped away. It ran on the ground, and the black cat without ears leaped from roof to roof; they ran towards the set venue together.
There were a lot of people in the dog market, and it was very messy. On the way there, the people in the market saw a blue cat that seemed like it did not have an owner, and they wanted to capture it and bring it home. It agilely avoided everyone, and as to those that tried to capture it, it would play with them until the person gave up in despair.
It saw a lot of cats that were kept in cages on the way there. They were not as lucky as the cats in the Amazing Fate Pet Shop that could play and run about in the shop freely as they waited for a suitable owner to bring them home.
Was it better to be a house cat that had good living conditions, or was it better to be a carefree, stray cat? If one was not a cat, how would they know about the happiness of a cat?
Vladimir had contradictions hidden deep in its heart. On one hand, it encouraged stray cats to resist oppression. On the other hand, it was not a stray cat itself. It slept in a fixed and safe place every night. That was also reflected in its att.i.tude towards the yellow and white kitten. It still hoped that the yellow and white kitten could find a master, and did not have to live the life of a stray cat. It knew how hard the stray cats had it. Although they had freedom, they lived a precarious life.
It hoped that all stray cats could step on the other side of happiness––where they had freedom, but didn’t have to worry about their safety. They could share food and happiness, and would never have to live without warmth… They would no longer need to beg, no longer need to hide under the hood of a car to avoid the wind, and no longer face the risk of getting hit by a car and killed while crossing the road.
It firmly believed that one day its long-cherished wish could be realized. The future was bright and the road was tortuous. It could take several generations of cats’ b.l.o.o.d.y struggle to achieve it, and the fulfillment of the dream would be resisted by a large portion of humans because humans would not agree with another species being on the same level as them.
So… It stopped and turned its head back to look towards Zhang Zian. Although his figure was already covered by the many humans, it knew he was there and was shocked because of its sudden disappearance.
If it wanted to lead the stray cats on the path of rebelling against humans, would Zian understand it or not? Probably not. After all, humans all said, “Not my species! My thoughts are completely different than anyone else’s.”
So, on that path, it was destined to be lonely.
The number of people in front of them became fewer and fewer, and it seemed that they were slowly leaving the dog market. They had separated themselves from the strong smell of dog p.o.o.p and cat urine, and could finally breathe in fresh air.
The earless black cat had already jumped down from the roof and was running next to Vladimir––or, to be accurate, it was behind it by half a body to show its respect.
Vladimir slowed its step multiple times, wanting the earless cat to go at the same pace as it; however, the earless cat would decrease its speed accordingly, always making sure Vladimir remained in front.
It did not wish for that, and felt that there was a problem with it. It did not wish for the stray cats to be overly respectful of it; it did not want to be treated like a G.o.d. It wanted them to believe its beliefs and thoughts, but it did not want to be treated as a human… It wanted to be treated as a cat.
But, what it could not deny was that it was not against it in its heart. Everyone liked being respected by their same species… No one was an exception.
He was not a saint––at least not a saintly cat… It had already tried to control itself the best it could, but sometimes it was happy because of the respect the stray cats had for it.
It often said, “I’m not a G.o.d,” because it was scared that it would forget that sentence one day and treat itself as a G.o.d. If the stray cats treated it as a G.o.d, then one day, if it lost its clarity of mind, then it stood the risk of becoming something it hated.
Its whole purpose was to overthrow the G.o.ds. If it became a G.o.d itself, then what was the purpose? It was a never-ending circle, the cycle of emperor dynasties. It hoped that it would be able to break the cycle, not succ.u.mb to it.
It hoped that there would be someone constantly reminding it, “You are not G.o.d.” It wanted people to tell it, “You can make mistakes,” and tell it that it did not need to take the burden of all the stray cats on itself. It needed to know that it could rely on the intelligence of the cats, and give full advantage to the subjective initiative of the cats.
Zhang Zian seemed to be the best candidate. As long as Vladimir gave him sufficient time, then perhaps he could do it.
As long as it gave humans enough time, humans could understand their own mistakes and repent. But Vladimir had no time, and it could not continue to watch stray cats get abused and slaughtered by humans.
It was a cat, so it knew the joy of cats, and it also knew how tough it was to be a cat. It could only bring forward the plan it had established.
The sudden attack against stray dogs was only practice for the actual battle. It did not care about the stray dogs at all… It was a definite victory for it.
The Holy Cat Statue had not been put in front of its eyes. It is only a lifeless, paper tiger. The celestial net targeting the Holy Cat Statue had gradually taken shape. The Holy Cat Statue was like a gra.s.shopper after autumn. It could no longer jump, and it would soon fall into war with the cat citizens.
Among the three mountains, the unattainable one gradually appeared in front of Vladimir––a mountain that no other species had ever climbed.
There was a village in front of it, and it could hear the sounds of barking from afar.
The earless black cat meowed loudly during while it ran, which meant that the village had the most concentrated area of stray dogs and evil, domestic dogs. Children and old people were often attacked, and cats were often killed.
Vladimir returned to its senses from its thoughts and followed the earless black cat. They turned left and right, walked through a green wheat field, and ran lightly on the land to a plateau full of wild gra.s.s.
“Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow!” A stray cat that was in charge of policing the area appeared from the wild gra.s.s, stopping them in their path. It raised up a front paw and said the secret signal.
“Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow!” The earless cat used the same posture to reply to the secret signal. Even though it sounded the same, there were some small differences in their tone and emphasis.
The policing stray cat made way to let them pa.s.s, and the earless black cat and Vladimir were able to continue their journey without anyone else stopping them.
The area with the wild gra.s.s was an empty plain, and it was already filled with a few hundred stray cats of different kinds and colors. The few hundreds of pairs of eyes turned to stare at Vladimir.
It took a deep breath, and with its front paw in a fist, it shouted loudly, “Eliminate human tyranny. The world belongs to cats!”