Chapter 185: Chapter 185: The Curtain Falls Chapter 185: Chapter 185: The Curtain Falls Zheng Tan had indeed heard the shouts from Jiao Ma and the others, but he didn’t stop. After all, it had not been easy to catch this Cat Tamer, and he couldn’t let the effort go to waste.

Although the Cat Tamer looked somewhat disheveled and was surprised by Zheng Tan’s sudden pursuit, the route he took to escape showed that he had prepared well. He was familiar with the layout of the surroundings and wasn’t running around blindly.

The man was surprisingly fast and, despite not looking robust, had quick reflexes. Almost as soon as Zheng Tan charged at him, the Cat Tamer turned and fled, jumping over railings and obstacles with ease.

Zheng Tan chased after him but remained cautious. The Cat Tamer’s route didn’t stick to the main paths of the campus, and moreover, these areas didn’t have security cameras installed, which explained why the security personnel hadn’t found any clues from the footage.

As the Cat Tamer vaulted another fence, he glanced back and caught sight of the pursuing black shadow under a nearby street lamp, cursing inwardly. Though he hadn’t been caught, that cat had been right on his tail nonstop. In all his years taming cats, he had never seen one with such stamina. Damn it! Luckily, he was prepared…

The Cat Tamer looked at a small grove ahead and made several strange noises. The sound was soft, resembling some kind of insect chirping.

Zheng Tan could hear it clearly, and he had heard this noise before in the woods, only that it had been mixed with cat cries and he hadn’t paid much attention to it at the time.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

Four figures burst out from the woods.

This was the Cat Tamer’s backup plan. Just in case, he had brought some cats that were not fighting in the woods; two were healthy and two were not seriously injured. They were now assisting in the Cat Tamer’s attempt to escape.

Zheng Tan wasn’t afraid of the uninjured “Boss,” so these few cats didn’t worry him. His primary target was still the Cat Tamer, and he chose to ignore the cats for now.

As the four figures charged from slightly ahead, Zheng Tan leaped over the lead cat that pounced at him and knocked aside the second one that blocked his way. As for the other two, he had already left them behind.

When the Cat Tamer turned to look back to check on the blockade, he saw Zheng Tan forcefully knocking the obstructing cat aside. He almost spat out blood. Was this really a cat and not a fighting dog? Which cat would handle a situation with such brute force?!

The Cat Tamer had only hoped that his cats could delay Zheng Tan long enough for him to break free, but evidently, they had no effect. Thinking of the fierce cat, the Cat Tamer continued running despite feeling unwell.

However, since the Cat Tamer was unfamiliar with the area and didn’t have a cat’s excellent night vision, he tripped over a raised patch of grass while crossing a lawn. Though he didn’t sprain his ankle, the stumble slowed him down for a few seconds. Just as he was about to pick up speed again, a strong force hit him from behind. He fell to the ground, his chin hitting the grass — which, though softer, still hurt and made his head dizzy.

The Cat Tamer shook his head, got up, and reached into his waistband to pull out a stun baton, but before he could locate his target, a kick to his back sent him tumbling forward again. However, since he had turned around to search for the target, he ended up crashing into a nearby decorative stone.

Hitting the rock was not like falling on grass; moreover, he hit it face-first. Already dizzy, his head spun even more, and blood flowed from his forehead and nose. The stun baton also fell to the ground. Though his head was fuzzy and his thinking wasn’t clear, driven by instinct, the Cat Tamer made some urgent insect-like noises, summoning his cats for help.

Zheng Tan kicked the stun baton into a nearby artificial lake and then scratched the Cat Tamer’s face, leaving claw marks.

The Cat Tamer screamed in pain, struggling to stand. His head was dizzy, and he couldn’t run as swiftly as before. He couldn’t even spare a thought as to why he was knocked down, considering it was just a single cat chasing him. Could a cat really have such strength? This question would only occur to him once his mind cleared.

As he watched him stand again, Zheng Tan leapt up and kicked him, watching as the man fell for the third time.

Perhaps tired and still dizzy, the man decided not to get up again. He pulled his hood over his head and curled up face down on the ground to shield his face from further scratches.

Zheng Tan looked at the man acting like a turtle and didn’t immediately rush up. After seeing the stun baton, he suspected the man might have other devices on him. To be safe, Zheng Tan decided not to engage in close combat anymore. But if the man thought he couldn’t be touched without getting close, he was sorely mistaken.

Zheng Tan looked around. Recently, the school had paved the grassy areas with square lawn bricks, and some broken bricks that hadn’t been cleaned up were by the bushes. Zheng Tan walked over, picked one up,, and hurled it at the man playing turtle.

There were no other people around, no cameras, and it was dark enough that no one saw. Zheng Tan stood up on his hind legs, then grasped the chunk of brick with his front paws and began hurling it. A cat came seeking revenge but was swiftly sidestepped by Zheng Tan, who continued his assault with the bricks.

The man initially cried out in pain, but then stopped shouting, probably unable to bear it. When he finally turned over, he swung a thin whip in a circle around him. It was uncertain whether the whip was meant for taming cats.

The force of the whip was impressive, and the movement looked seasoned, but unfortunately, Zheng Tan was out of the whip’s range.

Zheng Tan was now quite glad that he hadn’t gone for close combat, otherwise he would most likely have gotten whipped.

After flailing the whip around several times and finding he hadn’t hit his target, the man, already unsteady on his feet, decided to walk over and lean against a tree. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain on his face, and his consciousness, which had just started to clear, became muddled again.

After tossing the brick, Zheng Tan watched the man fall to the ground once more, pondering whether to go over and check, maybe scratch him a few more times or kick him a few times to help the sheriff get some revenge and let off some steam when he heard someone running towards him.

The newcomer was Ermao.

There wasn’t much light from the streetlamps in this area, only allowing a vague view of shadows. Ermao turned on a flashlight and saw a person half-dead on the ground, while Jiao Ma’s desperately sought-after Black Cat was calmly sitting atop a landscape rock.

“Black Coal, hurry back, your cat mom is looking for you. I’ll handle things here,” Ermao said to Zheng Tan.

Seeing Ermao, Zheng Tan decided not to tangle any further with this Cat Tamer and stepped over the Cat Tamer before leaving.

Finally, seeing her own cat, Jiao Ma’s hanging heart finally settled, but after the worry came anger.

Jiao Ma was very angry, and the consequences were severe. She demanded that Zheng Tan hand over the house keys. Zheng Tan played dumb; as long as the keys were well hidden, and as long as Da Pang didn’t betray him, Jiao Ma wouldn’t find them.

The previously noisy East District quickly returned to quiet after the police arrived.

Zheng Tan didn’t know how Ah Wu and his three cats were doing, but from what he heard the next day from Ermao, the Cat Tamer had been personally taken away by Senior Hetao, along with several cats, including the “Boss” whom Zheng Tan had fractured. Ah Wu took his own cats with him.

Neither Senior Hetao nor Ermao planned to publicize the Cat Tamer incident, or else not only the cats in the school but also those in Chuhua City would be mistreated by people, especially by those whose wallets had been stolen, no matter whether it was by cats or not. They would surely vent their anger on cats, and those already hostile towards cats would definitely throw more accusations their way.

Senior Hetao and Ermao did not want the first reaction of people seeing a cat to be associating it with thieves, plus with the recent “Love Cats” campaign, exposing this would be a huge humiliation. It was better to keep it under wraps. They had also agreed with the university’s senior administration not to disclose the event publicly, just to say they captured a thief at midnight. After all, catching a thief was actually true, and thus not a complete concealment of the truth, and saying so didn’t contradict their principles.

Zheng Tan stayed at home today, not planning to go out, and he wouldn’t for the next few days either. He would just roam within this building at most, at least for the short term. Since he hadn’t handed over the apartment key, Zheng Tan voluntarily stayed home for “self-reflection”, waiting for the day when Jiao Ma’s anger subsided, then he could go out for a walk again.

While basking in the sun on the balcony, Zheng Tan saw a familiar car parked in the courtyard; that was Da Pang’s cat dad’s, so Da Pang must be at home eating instant noodles. Only his cat dad came to urge him because the old lady had pity.

Zheng Tan wondered what it would be like if Mr. Jiao were at home. In the end, he couldn’t figure out the most likely scenario, as Mr. Jiao was too unpredictable to be judged by ordinary standards.

The most annoying thing for Zheng Tan was that Little Youzi no longer allowed him to burrow under the quilt and sleep on the bed; these last few days, Zheng Tan had been sleeping on the cat tree.

The more he thought about it, the more irritated Zheng Tan became. He picked up a small clump of dirt from the flower pot beside him and threw it towards the fourth floor, hitting the iron net. General, who was drooping his head listlessly wondering about something, heard the noise and immediately came running over, looking around.

Zheng Tan had no mood to deal with the bird and, after rolling around boredly on the balcony, decided to go online and check out some gossip. This time, Zheng Tan didn’t visit pet forums but instead went to Chuhua University’s own forum. The posts that were being discussed heatedly were all related to the recent incident.

The cat had left, the Cat Tamer had left, but people’s discussions did not stop and were becoming eerily more intense.

The aunties of East District had exaggerated the story, saying the local cats and dogs had once again helped catch a thief. Having experienced similar stories previously, this one was spread even more miraculously. However, most outsiders took it as a joke and did not take it seriously. In comparison, the students’ discussions were explosively heated.

That night, the range of the cats fighting and running in the grove had expanded, reaching near a student dormitory area where some students who couldn’t sleep heard the creepy cat cries which seemed to last a long time and made the temperature feel like it had dropped several degrees. When they heard news the next day that a thief had been caught in the school, discussions burgeoned.

Zheng Tan couldn’t help but mock as he read on, as these students were really overthinking it, even bringing up demons and ghosts.

Some students suspected that the school used the thief incident to cover up the truth, claiming that cats can see ghosts and doppelgängers, convinced that they must have seen something dirty, especially since these dorm buildings had had incidents before. Rehashing these old events and combining these students’ comments gave a chilly impression to anyone who read them. There were also discussions about keeping cats to ward off evil spirits. This incident eventually was ranked as one of the top ten supernatural events of the year at Chuhua University. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep