Chapter 10: Hidden Very Deep
Translator: Vicky_ Editor: Vicky_
After hearing Hans"s exclamation, Li Du felt somewhat puzzled. "Why is that?"
"This little cat is worth way more than two thousand dollars!" Hans excitedly explained. "Don"t tell me that you didn"t know its breed beforehand."
Li Du more or less understood what Hans was talking about. "Do you mean that this is a very rare breed?"
"Of course. Do you not know what it is? Just look at its appearance, can"t you tell?"
This time, Li Du closely examined Ah Meow. The most eye-catching detail about this cat was its two pearl-like round eyes that emanated a feeling of intelligence. It also had hair with patterns like that of a leopard, two black streaks across its face, and two pairs of long limbs and a tail.
At Hans"s hint, he gasped, "My G.o.d, don"t tell me that this little one is a jaguar or a leopard!"
Hearing that, Hans rolled his eyes before shouting, "Where have you seen jaguars or leopards this small!?! This is a cat, but it is an ocelot!"
"Oh, so it"s still a cat." Li Du meekly smiled. "Then that"s good, I was afraid that I had brought a leopard home."
"We have no common language," Hans sighed. "Do you actually know how much these cats can sell for?"
Li Du shrugged. "I don"t know, but I don"t care either. I plan on taking care of it until it"s better and then returning it to the wild. No matter how precious it is, I"m not going to sell it."
"You are planning on doing charity?!"
"Yeah, of course, this time."
Hearing this, Hans went to the bank. When he came out, he stated, "We don"t have much to work with this time, so we need to plan ahead."
"Didn"t you go to the bank to withdraw money?" Li Du asked.
"No, I was transferring funds to a homeless shelter," Hans shrugged.
"Like I would believe that," Li Du smirked.
He had believed that he rescued a normal yellow cat, so on the way home, he went online to search for info on ocelots. It was only then that he found out that this breed was an extraordinary cat with the potential to grow over three feet long!
Could a three-feet long cat still be called a cat? Li Du felt that it should more accurately be described as a tiger.
As for the price, Li Du had a basic understanding of how exorbitant it could get, but he didn"t search for a more precise price. He was worried that he would sell Ah Meow if he knew how much the cat was worth.
With its lower half locked in casts, and in an unfamiliar environment, Ah Meow became very alert. When they got to Li Du"s bedroom, the cat immediately hid within the bed sheets, only its eyes visible to observe its surroundings.
"As long as you know the rules," Li Du patted its head. "If you are disobedient, I"ll just give you to the zoo."
Detecting the threat in Li Du"s voice, Ah Meow immediately hid even further under the covers, not even daring to show its eyes.
Earlier at the hospital, Li Du noticed that the cat"s stomach was somewhat deflated; probably due to thirst and hunger. He went to get it a piece of chicken breast and poured some water for the little guy.
As soon as the chicken breast appeared, Ah Meow immediately jumped out from the covers.
With wide eyes, it continued to stare at the piece of meat while swallowing its saliva. Seeing this, Li Du laughed as he placed the food in front of the cat.
Who would have predicted that the cat would then let out a "meow" before directly slapping the chicken away? Ah Meow gave Li Du a look that said: "I"d rather die than eat this lowly food."
Li Du was not bothered. He simply walked away to browse for more information about public auctions.
Suddenly, Ah Meow let out a shout of "Meow!"
As Li Du turned his head to see what was wrong, all he saw was Ah Meow looking at him with eyes full of expectation. As for the chicken, it was nowhere to be seen.
Li Du brought out another piece of chicken breast. This time, Ah Meow desperately crawled towards him, dragging the cast and its lower half like a soldier crawling through mud while letting out a series of "Meow, meow, meow!"
Ah Meow finally calmed down after another four slices of chicken breast.
However, when it was bedtime, it started to meow again.
At this, Li Du only helplessly looked at the little cat. "Alright, stop it. You"ve already eaten enough. Go to sleep, okay?"
"Meeeoooowww!" Unfortunately, the cries only became more desperate.
He stopped paying attention to the little cat, which went back under the bed covers again. However, the next time the cat revealed itself, not long after came its shriek and the horrible stink of feces.
After this incident, Li Du finally understood why animals in the cat family cared about hygiene; if they didn"t, they"d probably all suffocate to death by the stench.
The unfortunate thing was that the little ocelot needed to go to the bathroom every hour, but Ah Meow was incapable of moving, so it relied on Li Du waking up constantly.
Li Du wasn"t able to sleep very well through the night; he wished that he could use the next day to rest up.
Unfortunately, the Bachelor Public Storage Company"s auction was on February fifth, leaving them without much time to prepare. So he had to bring the ocelot to do an initial sweep of the motorcycle.
There weren"t many units being auctioned by the Bachelor Public Storage firm, only five.
"These five storage units belong to Tony Baders; he is a very famous motorcyclist in Flagstaff who bought a heavy model of Harley Davidson just last year. It should be stored here," Hans said.
"In that case, why is he throwing it away?"
"Because he"s dead. That guy was drag racing when his motorcycle was run over by a truck. So if you want to live, the best bet is to stay as far away from motorcycles as you can."
The five storage units weren"t in the same place, so Li Du had to exert a bit more effort than usual. After the experience of locating the ma.s.sage chair, however, he"d gotten a lot more used to this work.
When he went to the first unit, he was somewhat disappointed when he saw that the motorcycle could be seen very clearly.
However, just at this moment, a trace of hope appeared because what he saw wasn"t just one motorcycle, but two. However, they weren"t Harley Davidsons, but Yamahas.
There was a red one and a white one, and both appeared to be brand new, giving off a s.h.i.+ny l.u.s.ter. However, after a closer inspection with the little bug, Li Du found that it was only a sh.e.l.l; the engine itself had been removed, so it was apparent that it was not worth much anymore.
Shaking his head, he guided the little bug toward the other items.
However, like the storage with the ma.s.sage chair, there was a variety of other stuff and still not a sign of what he came for. After going into the second storage unit, he saw another motorcycle, but not only was there a cover hiding the back part, it was obviously a self-a.s.sembled bike and not his target.
The next three units all contained signs of motorcycles, or at least the skeleton of one, adding another degree of difficulty to his struggle.
Seeing so many kinds of motorcycles, Li Du felt that everything started to blend together, so he had to retrieve the little bug and study the picture of the Harley once more.
After having used the bug a few times, he became a lot more experienced at controlling it. Now, he could control the bug avatar for close to five minutes, and this was continuous. If he took a break in the middle, for every time he retrieved the little bug, his stamina would decrease by about thirty seconds. The whole process was like driving a car. Every time he started the engine, it cost more fuel, and the process of retrieving and releasing the bug was like the shutting down the car.
There was a total of five units, but Li Du couldn"t find any sign of the Harley in the previous four. All his energy had been exhausted, so he had to leave and restore his strength.
The next day, he came back to the storage area, but he spent the whole time searching the fifth unit.
It seemed that Hans"s information was correct. There was a large motorcycle in this fifth storage unit. In addition, it looked like he hadn"t wasted his energy. For better maintenance, every part of this motorcycle was carefully placed in different boxes. If someone didn"t physically open the boxes, then there was absolutely no chance that anyone would be able to see the motorcycle!