Chapter 181: 181 Chapter 181: 181 In the woods, Zheng Tan was left alone. He raised his foot to leave when he remembered the stolen wallet that had fallen in the bushes. He ran over to check it out. Since it was dark around and nobody paid attention to this area, Zheng Tan stood upright and picked up the wallet with his front paws, slowly walking toward the edge of the woods.

Zheng Tan had no intention of keeping the wallet for himself, nor was he interested in looking inside to see what was there. Although he had not taken a close look at the wallet, the fragrance emanating from it led him to conclude that it was a lady’s wallet.

As one of the campus’s landscaping grasses, Black Grass had a decent greening effect, but Zheng Tan did not enjoy moving around in this kind of thicket. The sensation of grass blades scraping against his body was not very comfortable. Looking around, there were not many people walking on the small path next to the little woods at that time.

When Zheng Tan reached the edge, he happened to see an old grandpa who was watching the door near the teaching building walking by with a radio, humming a traditional opera tune. When loitering around the school, Zheng Tan had also recognized the doormen of each teaching and department building, although he did not know how principled this particular doorman was. Zheng Tan simply wanted to get rid of the wallet quickly. He threw the wallet on the path the old grandpa would invariably take when he was distracted, and then retreated to the trees to watch.

The old man had probably just gone out for a stroll. After picking up the wallet, he muttered something to himself, looked around, didn’t notice anyone nearby, and walked toward the square.

Zheng Tan followed a short distance behind him. He saw the old man walk to the sports hall next to the square, stop in front of the notice board, write a lost and found notice with a pen, and then talk to the security personnel nearby.

After dealing with the wallet matter, Zheng Tan squatted on a decorative stone platform near the entrance of the sports hall.

“Hey, what’s with that cat?” The old grandpa pointed at Zheng Tan, puzzled as to why a cat would sit so calmly here. It was odd because the surroundings of the square were quite lively, the music audible even here, and the sports hall entrance was teeming with students and teachers coming to exercise and relax. Yet the cat did not seem to be frightened at all.

The security personnel at the entrance turned to look and said, “That’s Mr. Gu’s cat, waiting for Mr. Gu to finish dancing before they head back home together.”

This sparked the old man’s curiosity, and he started discussing Zheng Tan with the security personnel until Jiao Ma finished dancing and came to retrieve her bag and bottle.

Hearing others praise her cat made Jiao Ma quite proud, and she wore a constant smile on her face on the way home with Zheng Tan that night.

Zheng Tan, however, did not take these compliments to heart as his mind was preoccupied with thoughts about another cat.

Ever since discovering the thief cat had set its sights on Chuhua University, for the next few days, Zheng Tan remained vigilant, paying attention to unfamiliar cats while patrolling, but the cat that suffered from his claw had not appeared again.

That day, having heard the weather forecast predicting rain at night, though unsure when it would start, Zheng Tan stayed quietly at home after dinner. However, he felt somewhat restless and uneasy. He gazed at the darkening sky outside, which seemed to grow dark earlier than the previous days, probably due to the weather, as the clouds obscured the expected evening glow.

After spending some time on the balcony enjoying the breeze, Zheng Tan returned to the living room to join Little Youzi in watching a cartoon while lying on the couch. Jiao Ma was washing dishes, and Jiao Yuan was playing on the computer in his room.

Around ten o’clock that night, it began to rain, and it wasn’t long before the sound of raindrops pelting the windowpanes and rolling thunder could be heard outside.

While Zheng Tan was dozing off next to Little Youzi, his ears twitched at the sound of a ringing telephone from the master bedroom.

Who would be making a call at this weather? Aren’t they aware of the danger? Although the buildings here were equipped with lightning rods, it wasn’t 100% safe.

Due to the thunder and the sound of rain hitting the windows, Zheng Tan couldn’t hear what Jiao Ma said on the phone. After a while, there was no more noise from Jiao Ma’s direction, probably because she had gone to sleep. Zheng Tan flicked his ears with his paw, then burrowed into the blanket to start feeling drowsy.

Zheng Tan did not sleep well that night; he was inexplicably restless.

At breakfast the next morning, Jiao Ma asked Zheng Tan, “Have you seen the sheriff, Heitan? Do you know where he went?”

Zheng Tan was about to bite into the egg in his bowl when Jiao Ma’s question made his heart skip.

Although the sheriff liked to mingle outside, he always came back on time and rarely stayed out all night, not to mention there was bad weather last night. Following his usual habits, he should have returned home early.

Seeing her cat staring blankly at her, Jiao Ma sighed inwardly, figuring that her cat probably didn’t understand her. She didn’t pursue the matter further. When Jiao Yuan and Little Youzi asked about it, she did not elaborate much and just reminded the kids to focus more on their studies and not worry about other things.

As for Zheng Tan, he had lost his appetite. No wonder he had felt uneasy since yesterday.

Not wanting Jiao Ma to notice anything amiss, Zheng Tan forced down the egg and a little bit of noodles in the bowl. If he had to go and handle matters, he needed to eat well to have the energy.

When leaving, Jiao Ma reminded Zheng Tan to come straight home after dropping off Little Youzi, and not to run around everywhere. Jiao Ma would have liked to keep her cat locked at home, but that was impossible! In the end, it was Mr. Jiao’s fault—for giving the keys to the cat, even providing a door access card. Whose cat has these things? And yet, these frustrations couldn’t be voiced to others, as Mr. Jiao had mentioned before—standing out too much wasn’t a good thing. Sigh, having a cat that’s too smart isn’t really such a carefree thing!

Zheng Tan dropped off Little Youzi and then wandered around, specifically targeting the spots where those gossip-loving aunties usually gathered to eavesdrop.

It didn’t take much time for Zheng Tan to hear from a few aunties who had just returned from buying groceries about why Jiao Ma had asked that question during breakfast.

Last night after nine o’clock, a teacher from the West District courtyard, returning home after the evening classes, discovered his cat lying by the roadside, gravely injured with scratches and bite marks all over, and blood matted in its fur. When the teacher shone his flashlight, he saw bloodstains stretching from the roadside into the woods, suggesting that the cat must have crawled out from there.

The teacher urgently took it to the 24-hour clinic at the Pet Center. After confirming that there was no threat to its life, he heaved a sigh of relief. Had his cat not been so fortunate to be found by him, it probably wouldn’t have survived another half hour in the rain that was coming.

After settling his cat, the teacher was fuming with anger. The veterinarian had said that the wounds were inflicted by a cat. The only cat that didn’t get along with his was the “sheriff” from East District. Previous scuffles were one thing—they both usually only suffered minor injuries—but this time it was too much!

Thus, the teacher went straight to confront the owner, only to discover that the sheriff hadn’t come home either, not even when it started to rain.

Now the sheriff’s owner also realized something was amiss. Cats getting into occasional scuffles and ending up with scratches was normal, and the sheriff’s owner had gotten used to it. The cat was usually in good spirits and would come home on time after a night out, usually calling out for her owner to open the door around nine or ten o’clock at night. Plus, the peak season for cats going missing during the holidays had already passed. Given this, the owner hadn’t been too concerned until now—now she couldn’t stay calm any longer.

People speculated whether another cat had entered the campus and was responsible for the vicious attack, as it was unlikely to be one of the campus cats—otherwise, why had things always been peaceful before?

Having learned the details, Zheng Tan was also worried. No wonder his owner was still making phone calls late at night, seeking help despite the bad weather, and even went out searching in the rain until after midnight without success. The cat hadn’t come home even after the rain stopped this morning. The sheriff’s owner had even gone to the security office to ask for surveillance footage. Not all the cameras in the school were for show, but the areas covered were frequented by people, not cats.

Many said privately that it was unlikely that the sheriff would return.

Zheng Tan felt the incident might be related to the cat he had clawed. The low growl and the look in the eyes as that cat left suggested it was a fierce one, not to be trifled with.

Moreover, Zheng Tan guessed that there was more than one cat involved. If it had only been that one cat, it wouldn’t have left the cat from the West District so severely wounded and nearly dead. And the sheriff remained unseen to this day. These two were considered some of the toughest and most experienced cats in the respective East and West family districts, not easily overcome by ordinary cats.

Last night’s rain had washed away many scents, making it unlikely for Zheng Tan to track any suspicious smells.

If the sheriff had merely been captured by the instigator behind the thieving cats—the Cat Tamer they had yet to meet—then perhaps he was not in immediate danger? Senior Hetao had said, after all, that the Cat Tamer took an interest in cats with talent, and the sheriff was talented indeed, being able to bark like a Chihuahua with such authenticity—quite an oddity among cats.

But if the Cat Tamer had not recognized the sheriff’s talent and instead had allowed his cats to attack ruthlessly…

Zheng Tan checked several forested areas, places where the sheriff often fought. Near the forest where the West District cat was discovered, Zheng Tan indeed picked up some scents: the sheriff’s, the West District cat’s, that of the one he’d clawed, and at least three or four unfamiliar cat scents.

Regrettably, he couldn’t find anything beyond the edge of the woods. If only it hadn’t rained last night.

After searching around, Zheng Tan lay restlessly on a large sycamore tree, gasping for air.

Even though the sheriff was just a cat, since becoming one himself, Zheng Tan had formed a small group with the other three scamps from the East District courtyard. He considered the sheriff an important playmate, a brother in arms. With his brother in trouble, Zheng Tan couldn’t stay calm, angst and anger bubbling up. He even had a lump in his throat searching the woods, afraid of finding the stiff body of a cat.

Annoyed, he scratched his ear and his tail whipped against the thick tree branches, making a snapping sound.

On the bright side, if the sheriff wasn’t captured and could still run despite his injuries, or had a chance to escape during the attack, where might he be hiding? The sheriff wasn’t the brightest, but he wasn’t just dumb either.

The swinging of the tail slowly decreased, and as the tip rhythmically twitched, Zheng Tan recalled all the places where the sheriff might hide.

The sheriff was also active around the campus and should be familiar with the area.

Zheng Tan began to recall and filter through places one by one.

Suddenly, Zheng Tan thought of a place the sheriff frequently visited—the Old Tile House District within the school!

When the weather was nice, it served as a small cat gathering spot!

Without hesitation, Zheng Tan immediately leaped from the tree and headed towards the Old Tile House District.(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep