Chapter 249: Chapter 242 Cat Swarm Chapter 249: Chapter 242 Cat Swarm Zheng Tan climbed out of the window and headed in the direction of the sound.

The cat called out only twice before going silent. Presumably, the base’s security personnel had gone out to check, for the base housed a group of “Heaven’s Chosen Sons,” renowned university professors, and a few heavyweight researchers. Any mishap would be more than they could afford.

After climbing over the base’s wall, Zheng Tan looked around and noticed a team of security guards passing by. They hadn’t seen any suspicious wild animals, but from the look of it, they wouldn’t give up anytime soon and would continue to patrol the vicinity just in case.

Zheng Tan pondered for a moment and then headed towards the house that the cat frequented. It was probably a place the cat often visited, and maybe he’d run into it there.

The homeowner of that house was either sent to the hospital or had temporarily moved away. The house remained as it was, the room that caught fire had turned black all around, and all the specimens inside were said to be destroyed.

While thinking, Zheng Tan sensed something and glanced over to a patch of bushes.

There, the cat was making its way towards Zheng Tan, though it still looked around warily as it moved.

Zheng Tan wondered if this creature had adjusted after losing half its whiskers in the fire. It was lucky to run into Zheng Tan this time, but it couldn’t always be so fortunate.

After walking towards Zheng Tan, the cat stopped at the edge of the bushes, looked at him, then tilted its head and turned around, flicking its tail. After walking a couple of steps, it looked back at Zheng Tan.

Was this an invitation to follow?

Zheng Tan surveyed the surroundings; there didn’t seem to be anyone out and about nearby.

Lifting his foot to follow, Zheng Tan was curious to see where the cat would lead him.

Could it be treasure he was after?

Zheng Tan recalled the films he had watched with Little Youzi, in which animals would repay debts of gratitude. There was also a parrot that had lived for decades and revealed the location of a pirate’s treasure to a poor kid.

Treasure, huh…

The sheer thought was somewhat thrilling.

Seeing that Zheng Tan was following, the cat picked up its pace.

They descended a mountain with few residents on one side and continued in a certain direction. Zheng Tan didn’t know what lay ahead, but whenever he hesitated about whether to keep following, the cat would stop and motion for Zheng Tan to hurry up, with a disdainful look in its eyes as if it disapproved of Zheng Tan’s sluggish pace.

Zheng Tan was used to looking down on other cats, but now he found himself being sneered at by one. He took a deep breath and continued to follow, but he also kept an eye on his surroundings, making a mental note of the path.

Many of the cat’s wild instincts were worth emulating, like rubbing scents and marking territory with urine.

Now that he was out in the wilderness, with no one around, Zheng Tan didn’t care as much. Whenever he felt the urge, he would relieve himself by a landmark, not feeling embarrassed if no one was watching… Okay, the orange tabby cat nearby seemed to be a female… but a cat is a cat, much better than being watched by people.

By the time Zheng Tan realized the issue with time, he suddenly noticed the sky beginning to lighten.

Meaning he had been out running all night long.

Would he still make it back in time now?

Zheng Tan glanced back at the forest that blocked his view; the Jiao family must be worried, right?

But having come so far, turning back now would mean this whole night had been for naught, wouldn’t it?

So Zheng Tan decided to continue following.

In the mountain forest, it had rained during the day. Zheng Tan and the orange tabby found a place to shelter from the rain.

The cat liked to stay in the trees, and fortunately, the branches and leaves were dense enough this season to provide some shelter from the rain. Zheng Tan wasn’t accustomed to it and found a large-leaved plant he didn’t recognize, stripped a few leaves off, and placed them on the branches to make a makeshift rain shield. Although it wasn’t as effective as an umbrella, it was certainly better than just staying up in the tree.

After running all night, Zheng Tan was now both hungry and tired. He had only eaten a few berries along the way. Outdoors, Zheng Tan didn’t dare to eat recklessly. Many plants he didn’t recognize, he avoided eating. During his time at the base, he had learned from the field practice team about some edible berries, which were alright for a temporary fix. But cats are carnivores, and without meat to replenish energy, Zheng Tan didn’t know how much longer he could last. The orange tabby beside him hadn’t indicated how much farther they had to run.

To tell the truth, Zheng Tan now regretted coming along. Although he had made markings along the way, he was still anxious. What if he really got lost in the wilderness? Although he could use the sun to discern direction, Zheng Tan was not a true wild cat and couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t make a mistake.

He hoped he wasn’t far now, or else he would just return the way he came. If he retreated now, he should still have time. He didn’t want to end his precious cat life in these mountains where not a single human shadow was in sight.

Listening to the sound of raindrops hitting the leaves and other animals’ calls around him, Zheng Tan squinted his eyes, ready to take a nap and rest, when suddenly his ears tickled—the cat beside him was grooming him. This was a sign of good relations between cats, and sometimes the cats in the courtyard would groom each other, but Zheng Tan had never really gotten used to this behavior.

Pulling at his ear, Zheng Tan turned his head away slightly, and the other cat stopped grooming him, instead starting to groom itself. Cats indeed spend a considerable amount of their day grooming.

The two cats crouched next to each other on the tree to rest, and in the afternoon, when Zheng Tan opened his eyes, the rain had stopped, and sunlight had broken through the clouds, shining down on the forest. The birds around them started to chirp and chatter again.

The red-haired cat jumped down from the tree and dashed into the woods nearby, returning shortly after with a snake as thick as an adult’s thumb, which was still alive.

After bringing the snake over, the red-haired cat looked up at Zheng Tan in the tree, waiting for Zheng Tan to jump down before tossing the snake in front of him, meaning for Zheng Tan to eat it.

Zheng Tan looked at the snake on the ground, unsure if it was poisonous since he didn’t recognize it, guessing the snake probably wanted to escape. Meanwhile, the red-haired cat that caught the snake twitches its ears and, without paying attention to the snake, silently moved in another direction, as if it had spotted another, more enticing prey than the snake.

Zheng Tan looked away from the snake and then back again, feeling hungry. He had not eaten raw food before, but in this forest, surviving on fruits alone was impossible if he hoped to have enough strength to move around. That would be more dangerous, having no strength to escape would be as good as seeking death, let alone getting back home.

The snake still hadn’t managed to escape and ended up with its head smashed by Zheng Tan.

Mentally, he wasn’t really accepting of this kind of raw food, but his stomach accepted it completely. By the time Zheng Tan actually started to eat, the red-haired cat had already returned with a bird in its mouth that was slightly bigger than the magpies he had seen at Chuhua University, still alive and flapping its wings, but it soon stopped struggling and ended up in the stomach of the red-haired cat.

Watching a wild animal feast up close was not an altogether pleasant sight, quite bloody, and in need to replenish his energy, Zheng Tan tried his best to eat some of the snake, not looking at the ferocity of the cat eating its bird.

Zheng Tan didn’t finish the snake, only eating half of it. It was his first time trying something like this, and mental barriers prevented him from fully adapting. However, since there was a first time, there would be a second time, a third time. Zheng Tan decided he would catch something to eat by himself next time; he couldn’t always depend on the red-haired cat.

As for the bird, now only a few bones and scattered feathers tinged with blood remained on the ground.

Other wild animals came close, probably having picked up the scent, and Zheng Tan and the red-haired cat quickly left the area, finding a new place to rest. After eating, the red-haired cat began to spend time grooming again, its mouth still marked with the blood from its meal, but after grooming, it quickly returned to its usual look, lazy and completely different from its previous ferocity. Zheng Tan found some leaves to wipe away the blood. After the rain, many leaves and some stones had water on them, which made it possible for Zheng Tan to clean the blood off.

After resting for a while, Zheng Tan continued on his way, the more he walked, the more confused he became about the direction. Initially, he had been somewhat confident about finding his way back, but now… without that red-furred cat leading the way, Zheng Tan would definitely get lost.

Just as Zheng Tan was pondering when to head back, he spotted a red big fellow.

Across a stream, on the opposite side, there was a large wild boar. Zheng Tan guessed that the creature might weigh over three hundred kilograms, whereas the wild boars people usually encounter in the forest typically range from 150 to 200 kilograms. Even a boar that weighed just a couple hundred kilograms could cause significant trouble for people, let alone one of this size.

However, what made Zheng Tan more curious was the color of the boar’s fur. Under the sunlight, that red fur shone like burning fire, brilliantly eye-catching.

Zheng Tan felt that he should be feeling a sense of crisis right now, meeting a wild boar was not a good thing, but the feeling was strange, he felt that the boar had no intention of attacking him. The stream in the middle was very shallow, even if a person stood in it, it wouldn’t cover their knees, so it would be easy for the animal on the other side to cross over.

The red-furred cat growled lowly toward the opposite bank, the wild boar on the other side of the stream looked at Zheng Tan and the red-furred cat, then lifted its head and snorted, showing a sense of arrogance as it charged into the forest and quickly disappeared from sight, leaving only the sounds to indicate which direction the boar went.

After the boar left, Zheng Tan still hadn’t dismissed the idea of going back, but he turned his ears towards the rustling in the bushes and looked in that direction, where he saw another cat. This cat also had red patches on its fur, albeit with other mixed colors, the red not making up a large proportion, and was about the same size as the cat that had led Zheng Tan there; they even tussled and played for a bit.

Afterward, Zheng Tan saw several cats poking their heads out from the underbrush.

Zheng Tan now realized that the red-furred cat probably wasn’t leading him to treasure but to its home.

Since he was almost there, Zheng Tan wasn’t in a hurry to go back, he would still need this cat to find his way back, otherwise, he didn’t know the path.

In the lair of the red-furred patched cat, or rather, the territory they had claimed, there were about a dozen cats, each with red patches or spots on their fur to a greater or lesser extent. The one leading these cats was a completely red cat, about the same size as Lord, with a uniform color and not a speck of any other color.

Generally speaking, cats are not social animals, but here it was different, they lived in the same area, each with its own nest, not squeezing together. Besides playing and frolicking, they even slept and ate up in the trees. A very strange group of cats.

As for Zheng Tan, the outsider, a few cats displayed rejection and wariness, while others maintained an attitude that was neither friendly nor distant. The leader, the large all-red cat, spent most of its time lying high up in the trees, except when hunting.

These cats must all be related by kinship, right? Zheng Tan speculated.

The red-furred patched cat seemed to really want Zheng Tan to stay, but after all, Zheng Tan wasn’t a real cat. If he were a cat that had always lived in the forest, staying here would be a good idea, but Zheng Tan was more accustomed to human society and certainly did not want to develop a romance with a female cat. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep