Strange Life of a Cat

Chapter 20

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Someone had once suspected that the robberies were the work of a group.

Zheng Tan was no Sherlock Holmes, but he knew it was more likely that committing a burglary in the residential quarters required at least someone on the outside as a lookout.

However, the police that came to investigate didn"t find anything, so the matter was put to rest. During that time, all the residents who rented their place out had to come back to explain their situation to the resident committee. Eventually, they all signed an agreement to promise to ensure the trustworthiness of their tenant.

Zheng Tan heard a "clang". It came from the security door out front.

These two thieves had access cards and were very familiar with the building. Their target should not be the few retired faculty members.

Most retired faculty lived an austere lifestyle, even if they were actually very rich. Most of them bought bags of white buns from the school cafeteria to have with porridge. None of them lived luxurious lives that could attract thieves.

Besides, if they wanted to rob the retired faculty, why wait until now?

So, excluding the retired households, that left the residents on the fifth floor. Why did they choose today? Mama Jiao was in an accident and Papa Jiao was not home, leaving two elementary school children incapable of defending themselves at home. Was it a coincidence?

Zheng Tan saw one of the thieves enter the building. Calculating the time, he went from the balcony to the front door.

He checked the clock on the wall, it was ten past two. In general, this was when most people were sound asleep.

On the other hand, if their target was not the Jiao family, he would stay put. There was no point in waking the children. They"ve had a rough day. As for other people, he really didn"t care about their well-being.

To be honest, people were always partial. What was it to him that other people got robbed? These people were thieves, not murderers after all. Even if he was to do something, he would wait until they were leaving. Unless absolutely necessary, Zheng Tan didn"t want to cause any trouble at home.

However, things rarely went according to plan.

The man paused after reaching the fifth floor. He confirmed that the residents on the fifth floor were asleep, then headed directly to the Jiao house. Soon, he started picking the lock.

Listening to the footsteps outside the door, Zheng Tan twitched his ears. His claws appeared.

The person outside had no idea that inside, a black cat was waiting at the entrance. As the footsteps came closer, the black cat"s posture changed. His legs were crouched, his body low, The tip of his tail stopped swaying, he was ready to strike.

Ka— the door opened.

Zheng Tan could sense a stranger.

The person at the door carefully pushed it open ajar. But before he could come in, he felt a sudden stab of pain on his face. A few gashes from his left eye to the right corner of his mouth appeared. Each gash oozed out blood.

Before he could really feel the pain on his face, something hit him right in the chest. He stumbled backwards falling to the ground. The lights in the corridor were off and in his scramble to get up, he dropped his little flashlight.

The man was in a panic and thought he was caught. They must have made a mistake beforehand; clearly, there were more than two kids at home!

He let out a yelp of pain, then hurried up and ran downstairs. His flashlight was not bright enough to show the staircase clearly. To make things worse, the blood from his wounds was trickling into his eyes, blurring his vision. He couldn"t think clearly from all the pain; he stumbled and fell down a flight of stairs. He regained his footing at the corner and hurriedly got up to continue his rush down.

Zheng Tan closed the door and chased after his target. These people had been checking out this location more than once. He wouldn"t be satisfied until he got them.

The man was familiar with the stairs of the building, or he wouldn"t be able to run so fast without lights and with a hurt eye.

When he chased the man to the first floor, he saw a person lying on the ground at the security access. A woman, to be exact. And next to her, was Fatty"s owner. The lady nearing her seventies was standing there with an electric bat. Fatty was sitting at her feet.

Fatty had sounded the wind chime alarm not for Zheng Tan, but for the old lady. She was very sensitive to the sound of wooden plaques. Despite her age, she was very athletic or else the young woman would not be lying here.

This woman"s a.s.sociate had no intention of helping her, He dashed right past her. The old lady had caught one thief, so she didn"t bother stopping the man. After all, she wasn"t young and had no advantage over a stronger man.

Instead, she shouted out, "Thief! Catch the thief!"

In an instant, all dogs living in the quarters began barking, mixed with the meows of a few cats.

Zheng Tan chased after him. Although the man"s face was injured and one of his eyelids were fused together by dried blood, he was not slowing down.

Behind Zheng Tan, a white figure appeared. Although it was slower, it kept on track chasing after the culprit.

The man was fast, but Zheng Tan wasn"t slow either. His month of training had been worthwhile. Zheng Tan considered his attack plan whilst running. When the man turned a corner near a patch of flower beds, Zheng Tan accelerated. He jumped up and gave the man a push from behind.

The man did not antic.i.p.ate this. He lost his balance, falling onto the cement edge of the flower bed.

He was dizzy for a moment, lying there, unable to get up. Before he could regain consciousness, the white figure was beside him. It bit down on his calf, drawing blood.

"Ah--"

He screamed once again. This scream was not like his yelp outside the Jiao house. After experiencing the terror of being found, chased and caught, the pain on his calf made him want to express his fear. His loud screams were slightly frightening at this time of night.

That man broke free and dealt a few kicks to the side.

Despite being kicked aside, Mighty got up in an instant and attacked again, even more ferociously. He gave the man another bite, while growling at the same time.

Zheng Tan saw the whole thing inside the bushes nearby. He couldn"t help but admire the four- month-old terrier. "Good boy! Mighty!"

It looked odd, but he had to admit that bull terriers were fighters! Zheng Tan felt pain in his legs even looking at it bite. The man"s calf was a b.l.o.o.d.y mess after enduring two bites.

Zheng Tan was hiding in the bushes, because he felt that the lady"s "roar" was probably going to wake everybody up. He did not want to expose himself. The scratch marks on the man"s face was enough. He"d leave the credit to Mighty. No one saw his chase after all.

He looked up. The Jiao family had their lights on. In fact, every occupied apartment in building B had their lights on. With all the barking and shouting, it was sure to wake up everyone.

Zheng Tan left the site of the crime and went home. The two children were probably scared.

When he reached the fifth floor, the door was still closed the way he left it, but the living room light was on. Zheng Tan could hear Jiao Yuan talking in hushed tones to his cousin.

Zheng Tan meowed twice then scratched the door gently. The door was immediately opened. Jiao Yuan greeted him, holding a rolling pin, followed by Gu Youzi.

Zheng Tan: "…"

Who taught these kids to grab a rolling pin whenever there was trouble? Last time, Xiong Xiong had one, this time Jiao Yuan was doing the same.

Seeing their cat, the kids relaxed a bit. At the same time, Qu XiangYang came out, still wearing his SpongeBob Pajamas, looking completely lost.

Many stayed up all night because of the incident. The two thieves were arrested. People who were robbed last time were demanding an on-site interrogation. They wanted to get to the bottom of this and were not easily fooled.

Obviously, the situation wasn"t simple like people thought. Normal students wouldn"t be able to do this.

Jiao Yuan and Gu Youzi followed Qu Xiangyang downstairs to figure out the situation; after all, there was blood on the fifth floor. Without finding out what happened, they couldn"t rest easily.

Apparently, the thieves were targeting the Jiao family.

Auntie Ling, who came out to chase her cat, got the info after slapping the thief twice. Because the thief they caught was a young woman, the men in the quarters were hesitant to use force. The woman was crying, looking very pitiable. She was soft spoken and quite pretty in a girl-next-door sort of way. No one could have guessed she was a thief in any other situation.

Suffering two slaps to the face, the woman started crying harder, which could almost melt the heart of anyone. Just not Auntie Ling, who slapped her again. If not for the people holding her back, she probably would have started kicking.

Zheng Tan followed Jiao Yuan downstairs, but avoided the crowd of people. The kids had Qu and Auntie Ling looking after them.

Zheng Tan went to look at Mighty, who was sitting next to his owner, Mr. Yan. He was immensely proud and very happy. He praised his dog while wiping blood off its face.

"Mighty, you"re such a good boy. Tomorrow, no, today, I"ll go buy you a big bone as soon as the markets open."

Mighty barked. It wasn"t clear if he understood anything, but he was furiously wagging his tail.

Since Mighty came to the quarter, he slept in the corridor in Mr. Yan"s building. The building at been robbed before, so everyone figured it was good to have a dog watching out for them. Someone came out when Fatty"s owned called out, letting him out as well.

Auntie Ling did not notify Papa Jiao of the events that night. He had to stay with Mama Jiao in the hospital anyways. He didn"t find out until dawn and allowed the kids a day off from school. He called their teachers while the kids were taken to the hospital by Qu, who was taking a rare trip outdoors.

Qu Xiangyang had a car, Zheng Tan didn"t have to hide inside a backpack to take the bus again. He still had to be smuggled into the hospital though.

He peeked out from the gap in the parking lot and saw Zhuo who came for a check-up at the hospital.

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