There were people in the world that weren"t afraid of snakes but were terrified of frogs. These people could handle poisonous snakes, but frogs would send them running.
Long Qi could relate to these people. He could kill a man without blinking twice and would remain calm when facing even the most ferocious beasts, yet cats petrified him.
He wasn"t so scared of cats before he met Zheng Tan and Duke. Now, however, he froze slightly even when he saw other cats.
Long Qi had followed the three men from earlier here. He had been visiting the construction site. When he was about to meet up with Ye Hao, he saw someone he knew at a red light. Long Qi had seen this person on the material Ye Hao pa.s.sed out yesterday. Baozi was in charge of this business.
The person he saw didn"t stand out, but Long Qi recognized him immediately. His observational powers were superb. Even Wei Ling admitted it. This was also why he recognized Zheng Tan right away.
Long Qi was driving someone else"s car today. His car was in a garage being fixed. He had borrowed this plain Volkswagen which was perfect for tailing people. He had thought what great luck he had to run into these people today. Baozi wasn"t making much progress and he was hopeful he might be of help today. Now, however...
Long Qi cursed his luck.
F*ck! Didn"t this cat live on the campus of Chuhua University? Why was it here?
Did cats go on such long strolls?
He didn"t know about other cats, but this cat, at least, always showed up in places he least expected, no matter how far away from his house.
The man and cat stared at each other for a minute. Long Qi looked away first. He debated whether or not to continue his investigation.
He didn"t trust the cat and was worried they might get caught. However, he didn"t want to leave like this either. He knew the people he had followed had gone into the building. He didn"t hear knocking, nor did he hear anyone open the door. He knew those men didn"t live here, so they must have broken into the house.
He didn"t hear fighting so the house must be empty. The only apartment in which the lights were off was the one with the cat he hated.
Was there a way to make the cat stay put when he searched the house? Was there a way to make sure the cat stayed quiet and wouldn"t attract people to the house? Could he make the cat stay out of the apartment? The answers were all no!
F*ck!
Cats were indeed the most annoying animals on the planet.
Long Qi cursed Zheng Tan in his mind.
At the same time, Zheng Tan was hesitating too.
He hadn"t planned who to gift the watch to and was about to hide it. However, he ran into Long Qi. Maybe this was fate. Like Chen Zhe said, it was best to let fate make the hard decisions.
However, Zheng Tan didn"t trust Long Qi enough. Long Qi might kill him for all he knew. If it was Fang or Wei Ling who showed up, he wouldn"t have hesitated at all. Long Qi, on the other hand, disliked cats for some reason.
Long Qi had made a decision. He planned to leave. He would take a stroll around the neighborhood or take a nap in the cat. He would wait until the cat left.
So he took another glance at Zheng Tan then turned to leave. Before he could go, a black shadow sprang in front of him.
Zheng Tan thought Long Qi was leaving and hurried to stop him. He hadn"t made a decision yet. He didn"t want to keep the watch any longer. He had to go home tonight and didn"t want to take this back to the Jiaos.
Long Qi frowned. He turned to walk a different direction.
Zheng Tan stopped him.
Long Qi turned right.
Zheng Tan stopped him.
Long Qi turned to go back.
Zheng Tan stopped him again.
Long Qi"s temper was rising. The cat was toying with him. The worst part was he couldn"t do anything to the cat. Tang Qiye and Ye Hao had spoken. If he did anything, Wei Ling and Fang Shaokang would never let it pa.s.s, let alone his boss. Long Qi knew he couldn"t handle the aftermath of killing this cat. If someone had told him two years ago a cat would have him cornered, he would have laughed.
Long Qi pointed at the cat in front of him. "I"ll telling you, you"re crossing the line!" However, it was a bluff, and Zheng Tan knew it.
Wei Ling had told them to speak in human language to this cat. He didn"t respond to anything else. Long Qi waited to see how the cat would react.
Zheng Tan looked at him with disdain.
"Don"t think I didn"t see that look in your eyes!" Long Qi was furious.
He went back to his car and dialed Wei Ling"s number.
"Ling, I"m in a pinch here." Long Qi explained what happened. He didn"t mention what he was investigating and Wei Ling didn"t ask.
Zheng Tan saw Long Qi get in the car. He didn"t follow him. They weren"t close enough for him to jump into his car. Long Qi had shut the windows too. He had taken care to block the door when he entered to make sure Zheng Tan wouldn"t jump in. If Long Qi left without another word, then it was fate Ye Hao didn"t get the watch.
However, Zheng Tan saw Long Qi take out his phone. He didn"t appear to be leaving. Soon he got out again and came to him. He made sure Long Qi was holding a phone and not a steel pipe in his hand.
Long Qi didn"t turn on the speaker. He placed the phone on the ground and backed up.
Zheng Tan saw there was an on-going phone call, so he placed his head against the phone.
"Charcoal? Are you there Charcoal?" It was Wei Ling"s voice.
So Long Qi had called Wei Ling!
Did he call to tell on him?
Zheng Tan glared at Long Qi.
Long Qi was furious. He knew cats could show emotion with their eyes. They were evil animals indeed.
Zheng Tan listened to what Wei Ling had to say. He knew he was safe now that Wei Ling was involved.
He slapped the phone with his tail as a way to answer Wei Ling"s question.
Wei Ling laughed. "You should go home. It"s getting late and you"re too far away from campus..."
Wei Ling kept talking but Zheng Tan lost patience. He jumped onto the platform above the parking lot.
Long Qi saw Zheng Tan leave and thought Wei Ling"s words had taken effect. He thanked Wei Ling. He looked at the cat on the platform. There was a chain by the cat"s paws. It was too dark so he couldn"t see clearly what the chain was.
Zheng Tan tossed the thing down and Long Qi hurried over to catch it. He checked to make sure no one was approaching and looked at the thing in his hands.
Zheng Tan watched Long Qi"s reaction and knew Ye Hao didn"t yet know what he was looking for. However, he didn"t care. He had gotten rid of the watch and a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He felt much better.
He didn"t want to stay here any longer. He jumped off the platform and ran home without taking another look at Long Qi.
As for what Ye Hao would do with the watch, it was none of Zheng Tan"s business. Ye Hao was powerful enough to protect himself from people who wanted this watch. However, if he couldn"t find what this watch pointed to, then it was fate.
Zheng Tan left feeling good, but Long Qi was completely lost. He had searched the house but came up empty. He got a phone call from Ye Hao and left afterwards.