Chapter 182: Chapter 182: If There’s Anger, It Must Be Ventilated Chapter 182: Chapter 182: If There’s Anger, It Must Be Ventilated Since it had just rained, the Old Tile House District was damp, and Zheng Tan hadn’t seen a single cat when he arrived; today was indeed not good weather for lying on the rooftop and taking a nap.

After getting his hands on the small vehicle, Zheng Tan didn’t frequent this area as often, only stopping by occasionally during his walks to check on Jiao Wei and the others playing with their car and airplane models.

Jumping onto a relatively tall tree, Zheng Tan surveyed this area and ruled out the few tile-roofed houses frequented by students.

But, before that…

Zheng Tan took a deep breath.

“Awoo—”
He howled several times. A few cats from the East District courtyard knew this call. If the sheriff was around and could hear, it would be best if he ran out, although the possibility wasn’t great, he still had to try.

After howling, he heard no response from the sheriff, but there were a few students cursing as they opened their windows from a tile-roofed house where some activity was taking place.

“Fuck, which lunatic is howling in broad daylight!”

They simply thought it was someone being bored or playing a prank and would never associate the noise with a cat.

Zheng Tan didn’t have time to argue with those students. Not seeing the sheriff and not hearing any response from him meant either the cat wasn’t there or couldn’t hear or had no ability to move. It was fifty-fifty. He had to try if there was a chance, and he had to hurry. With the injury of the cat from the West District courtyard fresh in his memory, Zheng Tan didn’t dare just wait it out.

Although the rain had washed away many scents on the ground, getting close to those old tile-roofed houses, he could still sniff out something. Zheng Tan began to search one by one after eliminating some possibilities, his black silhouette darting through the Old Tile House District, occasionally pausing by some windowsills or doors riddled with holes, rust, and gaps before immediately running to the next house.

When he arrived at the eighth house, Zheng Tan discovered some bloodstains at the doorway, with more likely washed away by the rain. There were distinct bloody paw prints at the entrance. After sniffing, Zheng Tan confirmed it was indeed the sheriff’s. However, the doors and windows of this tile-roofed house were tightly shut. The sheriff must have only stopped here briefly before leaving.

Following these sparse bloodstains and faint scents, Zheng Tan found another tile-roofed house not far from there.

The door of this house was made of wooden planks, and there was a gap in the lower right corner of the door with bloodstains around it. According to the smell, it was indeed the sheriff.

Zheng Tan tried and found he could squeeze in through the gap.

Inside the Old Tile House were stacked some old tables, chairs, and cabinets, probably discarded from the canteen and some teaching buildings, and stored here undisturbed for a long time, all covered with dust, and there were many spider webs in the corners.

Moving his nose, Zheng Tan followed the scent and found the sheriff lying under a table deeper inside.

Zheng Tan didn’t know what the wound on the cat from the West District looked like, but he could see from the sheriff’s body that last night’s fight had been fierce. What relieved Zheng Tan was that this fellow was still alive, although in bad shape.

He lightly pushed the sheriff with his paw, no response, although its ears twitched slightly.

Next to the sheriff lay a partially eaten mouse, looking quite fresh, probably from last night’s encounter with the sheriff’s mouth. Likely, the energy from this sustenance helped the sheriff maintain its current condition.

It appeared the sheriff couldn’t move on his own. Zheng Tan could move him out, but he couldn’t carry the sheriff all the way to the Pet Center, right? Not to mention making headlines, it would take too much time to carry him all the way to the Pet Center, and besides, it was uncertain whether the sheriff could handle being jostled around.

He needed to find help.

Zheng Tan first moved the sheriff a bit closer to the outside. The gap in the door was still too small, and Zheng Tan couldn’t move the sheriff out through such a space. After darting out and making sure there was no one around the house, Zheng Tan jumped up and kicked towards the door. He didn’t aim for the lock but right at the gap.

After one kick, a piece of the wooden plank fell off, enlarging the hole.

Moving the sheriff closer to the door, he didn’t take him outside, as the wind was somewhat strong, and Zheng Tan wasn’t sure if the fellow could handle the draft. To be safe, he left him inside the door. After checking the sheriff’s condition again—he was breathing weakly but not worsening, and had uttered a faint sound just now, still not very conscious—it was essential to hurry and get him treated at the Pet Center.

After leaving the house, Zheng Tan sprinted toward the Life Science Institute’s building. At this time, he didn’t know where Jiao Wei was attending class, Jiao Ma was at work, and it was unknown whether Ermao was home, having been quite active lately… Thinking it over, the best option was to go to the Life Science Institute to find the “nanny.”

Inside Mr. Jiao’s office, Yi Xin had just finished copying the organized slides into a USB drive. Picking up some printed materials, he stood up to head to the meeting room. There was a report meeting today, and the dean himself was presiding over it.

Just as his hand touched the door, Yi Xin heard the sound of the window being briskly opened. Turning around, he saw the black cat from his boss’s family jump in.

Before Professor Jiao went abroad, he had informed his graduate students about certain sudden circumstances at home, and of all the graduate students, Yi Xin was the most familiar with Zheng Tan’s habits. So when Zheng Tan started tugging at his trouser leg, dragging him outside, Yi Xin sensed that something was definitely wrong. Seeing bloodstains on Zheng Tan from moving the sheriff truly frightened him. For a moment, he forgot to call Jiao Ma for details; watching Zheng Tan run out the window, he quickly put down what he was holding, rushing out of the institute building.

Zheng Tan, waiting outside, soon saw Yi Xin riding out on a small motorcycle he didn’t know whom he had borrowed from.

Zheng Tan led the way up front, with Yi Xin following behind. The Old Tile House District wasn’t too far from the Life Science Institute building; Zheng Tan ran fast, choosing routes that were easy for motorcycles to navigate. At this time, there weren’t many people on the main campus roads, and even less so in the remote areas towards the Old Tile House District, so Yi Xin sped up a bit. He was anxious thinking about what he would do if anything had really happened to the three members of the Jiao family?

However, Yi Xin soon realized that the cat was taking him to the Old Tile House District, a place he rarely visited. And when Zheng Tan pushed the sheriff out of the door, Yi Xin was stupefied.

The cat’s claws had torn several holes in his pants, which were basically ruined; he had been absent from an important report meeting presided over by the dean himself, and in the end, it was all for a cat he didn’t even know who owned…

When he left, Yi Xin told the dean there was an emergency. The meeting was about to start then, and the dean didn’t ask too much. But after the meeting, the dean would definitely ask for details. What should be told? Telling the truth was definitely not an option; he would certainly be reprimanded.

Sigh!

No matter what, since he was here, he definitely had to save this cat.

Unable to find anything else at that moment, Yi Xin took off the coat he was wearing. It wasn’t worth much and hadn’t been washed for over ten days anyway. He wrapped the sheriff in it, placed it in the motorcycle’s rear trunk, which was a bit cramped, but it would have to do for now.

Zheng Tan jumped onto the motorcycle himself; this time, he just needed to follow along to the Pet Center.

However, when Yi Xin rode to the school gate, he suddenly realized he wasn’t quite sure which road to take to the Pet Center. He knew that the best nearby pet hospital was the “Mingming Pet Center,” but he had only heard of it; he had never been there.

Fortunately, there were quite a few taxis coming and going at the school gate. After parking his small motorcycle, Yi Xin carried the cat and flagged down a taxi that had just dropped off a passenger. He opened the door and sat in, with Zheng Tan following and leaping into the car as well.

“Hey, your cat…”

“Master, saving the life of a cat is more meritorious than building a seven-level pagoda!”

The taxi driver: “…”

In the end, the driver grimaced, looked at the injured cat Yi Xin was holding, then at Zheng Tan squatting on the seat, and warned that he would charge extra if the cat defecated, urinated, or vomited on the back seat, before driving off.

Drivers who often operate around that area were very familiar with “Mingming Pet Center,” and since it wasn’t too far away, they arrived in no time.

The veterinarian who checked the sheriff for injuries was puzzled. Why were there so many cats with scratch injuries lately?

After confirming that the sheriff had no life-threatening injuries, Zheng Tan pondered over the veterinarian’s complaints. Besides the cat from the West District and the sheriff, were there other cats that had been attacked?

The sheriff stayed in the Pet Center for treatment. At noon, Yi Xin called Jiao Ma and simply explained the situation. Jiao Ma immediately rushed to the Pet Center. To thank Yi Xin, Jiao Ma specifically called the dean of the Life Science Institute to say that she had a situation and that Yi Xin had come to help her and missed the meeting as a result.

After Yi Xin left, Zheng Tan didn’t need to worry about the rest. Jiao Ma notified the sheriff’s owner, and also called Jiao Wei, telling them not to look for Zheng Tan for lunch.

The sheriff would have to stay in the Pet Center for a couple more days to observe his injuries. After being sent back to Chuhua University by Jiao Ma, Zheng Tan once again went to the Old Tile House District. Previously, he had been in a hurry looking for the sheriff and didn’t notice other details. Now not in a rush, Zheng Tan decided to search thoroughly.

Since the sheriff had chosen to hide here instead of running directly towards the East District courtyard, the place where the fight occurred must be close by.

The thief cat had run into the sheriff and the cat from the West District when it left that day, and with so many cats on campus, there would have been more than just the sheriff and the cat from the West District out and about last night. Why were only these two seriously injured? The most likely explanation was that the thief cat, seeking revenge for the clawing it received, unfortunately didn’t encounter Zheng Tan himself, resulting in the sheriff and the West District cat “catching the bullet.”

The rain last night was too coincidental; perhaps the attacker didn’t continue pursuing the sheriff because of it. Otherwise, given the severity of the injuries and the ruthless attack, it’s almost as if they were fighting desperately; they wouldn’t have let the sheriff go so easily. After all, compared to the cat from the West District, the sheriff’s injuries were slightly less severe.

Finally, Zheng Tan found some signs of a cat fight at the edge of a small wood in the Old Tile House District. Not only that, when Zheng Tan arrived, he saw Gui Yuan, the cat with the white body and black tail, sniffing around in the woods as if searching or recognizing something. Upon seeing Zheng Tan, it quickly left.

Senior Hetao had mentioned that Ah Wu had been warned not to appear at Chuhua University, but his cat hadn’t been warned. This cat might have been sent by Ah Wu and probably wasn’t involved in last night’s incident.

Whether or not Ah Wu’s cat would face off with the thief cat, Zheng Tan couldn’t swallow this grievance.

Although Mr. Jiao had said they should keep a low profile, it didn’t mean they had to endure humiliation and keep silent! On his own territory, it was only gratifying if he took action himself.

Since they hadn’t caught him last night, those cats would definitely come again. Well, once they come, they shouldn’t expect to leave.

Zheng Tan stood up and sharpened his claws on a thick tree trunk, ripping off several pieces of bark.

A cat’s claws must always be sharpened to maintain their best condition. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to vote for it at Qidian (qidian.com), and your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep