Pet King

While the three cats were fiercely battling Liu Yonghui, Vladimir did not take part in it. Instead, it stood at the side watching the battle. That made Zhang Zian feel reassured, because he knew Liu Yonghui definitely could not stand against its punch full of gathered belief… It would probably cause him to become a man-made satellite.

When Liu Yonghui really could not stand it anymore, he quickly escaped. The three stray cats happily jumped around to celebrate their victory. Vladimir, on the other hand, was not happy. He walked over to them seriously and had them gather together. He explained the strengths and weaknesses of the battle they just had, and especially critiqued the bearded stray cat’s impulsive actions that went against the offensive doctrine and the opportunism doctrine Vladimir had taught them. If it was not for the fact that Liu Yonghui’s right wrist was injured, there was a high possibility he would have caught the bearded stray cat and thrown it on the ground, which would have killed it.

The three stray cats listened seriously and respectfully to Vladimir’s lesson.

Liu Wenying worriedly pulled Zhang Zian away, saying in a soft voice, “These cats are so fierce. It can’t be that they are… crazy cats, right? Let’s not go too close, just in case they scratch us…”

Zhang Zian did not admit Vladimir’s relation to him. Instead, he comforted her. “Don’t worry. They don’t seem like crazy cats. It could be that A Hui normally bullies cats too much, which caused stray cats to retaliate against him.”

Liu Wenying had always believed in Zhang Zian’s knowledge of pets, and on hearing that, a lot of her doubts were removed.

At that moment, the small white cat was no longer in danger. It walked towards the grass patch at the side, meowing and lowering its head as it wandered about.

Zhang Zian walked over and separated the grass. He saw that there was a white female cat lying in the grass, its body covered in blood. It had been dead for a long while.

The small white cat was licking and pulling on the female cat, continuously wailing, but the female cat did not move. Its body became colder and colder.

Zhang Zian saw that the back of the female cat had a part that was dented in. Its body was twisted in an unnatural way, and it was clear that it’s backbone had been hit by Liu Yonghui’s metal bat, which caused it to die on the spot.

“So evil! It’s a cat with a kitten…” Liu Wenying had followed Zhang Zian over, and could not help but turn her head to the side when she saw the cat. She could not bear to look at it. She was also a mother, and what she could not stand the most was the separation of family members. Any bit of sympathy she had towards Liu Yonghui instantly vanished.

The good thing was that the young white cat had already been weaned off milk. Otherwise, it would have been hard for it to survive without its mother.

Vladimir and the other three stray cats heard the small white cat wailing and also came over to see the tragic scene. Vladimir clenched its teeth, its green eyes––that had a tinge of gold at the sides of them––had a fire burning in them.

It led the other cats to sit next to the body of the female cat. They all sat and lowered their heads like they were silently mourning.

“For the existence of those martyrs of lofty ideals, we dare to call the day and night to get a new day!” Vladimir said, pausing after each word. It placed its front paw on the body of the female cat, closing its eyes that had yet to be closed.

The other three cats seemed to have gotten immeasurable strength from its words and raised their heads, their gazes full of sorrow. Their gaze made Zhang Zian’s heart stop for a while.

“We can’t leave the body out in the cold here, it will get germs. I’ll get something to keep it in, then find a place to bury it.” Liu Wenying sighed.

“I should have a plastic collection container.” Zhang Zian walked quickly, taking out a suitably sized, empty collection container from the trunk of the Wuling Hong Guang MPV. They put the female cat’s body inside the container then covered it with a lid.

His original idea was that he could bury it himself, but Liu Wenying insisted that she would go and bury it. She wanted to bury it next to Fluffy’s tomb so they could accompany each other.

Zhang Zian agreed, then passed the collection box to her.

“I’ll bring it upstairs first. Yue Yue is probably hungry, so I’ll do it after we eat. I just so happen to have some ice packs, too, so I can use them to help it lower its temperature,” she said in a low voice.

“Be careful. I’m also going back to the pet shop now,” he said.

“Be careful driving on the way back,” Liu Wenying nodded and instructed.

She hugged the collection box and walked for a short distance before she heard a sound from behind her. When she turned her head back to look, she saw the small white cat was following behind her. It stopped from time to time, not daring to get too close.

When it saw that she stopped walking, it backed away a few steps. It noticed some dry fish that Liu Yonghui had thrown down to the side and it walked over to sniff it. It didn’t seem to care that there was dust on the dry fish, and lowered its head to wolf it down.

“Poor child, you’re hungry, right…?” Liu Wenying squatted down and picked up the leftover dry fish. She cleaned the dust off and put it in her hand to signal to it. “Come and eat.”

The small white cat did not dare to go near at first, but perhaps because it was too hungry, or it could be that when Liu Wenying was holding the female cat’s body, it slowly came closer after a short while. It used its tongue to bring the dried fish into its mouth.

There were very few pieces of dried fish, so its stomach was not full in the slightest. After it finished eating, it did not even hesitate to lick Liu Wenying’s palm clean.

Liu Wenying hesitated for a while before she muttered to herself, “I think there is still quite a lot of cat food left at home. It’d be a waste not to use it…”

She stood up, walking towards the doorway of her apartment building. When she turned her head back, the white cat was even closer than before. When she stopped, it stopped; when she walked, it followed.

“I can’t stop it from following me… This is a public space, anyone can walk here,” she said to herself as if she was trying to convince herself.

After that, she did not turn back. Her gaze did not waver as she walked into the apartment doorway, and pressed the elevator button.

The elevator doors opened, and she walked in, disappearing from Zhang Zian and Vladimir’s sight.

The elevator door did not close for a long time––it exceeded the time where the doors should have automatically closed, as if someone was pressing the button and not letting the doors close.

The white cat reached the elevator doors, hesitated for a few seconds, then turned its head back to look at Zhang Zian and Vladimir. In the end, it carefully walked into the elevator.

“She’s a good person,” Vladimir assessed.

“There are still a lot of good people in the world,” Zhang Zian added.

Vladimir turned its head to look at him. “But there are still quite a lot of reactionaries in the world.”

“About that…” Zhang Zian wanted to explain.

Vladimir cut in, “Often, the good people are the ones that remain quiet. Even though there are only a few reactionaries, they are just like some rat sh*t––a few spoil the whole pot of soup!”

Zhang Zian was speechless. What it said was entirely true, especially the part about the good ones often remaining quiet. That phrase was too accurate.

Everyone knew that abusing cats was bad, and in all the online forums, the posts that talked about cat abuse were often full of people who were angry. But when cat abuse cases actually happened in front of their eyes, and a burly man like Liu Yonghui was doing it, then how many good people would be brave enough to go up and stop it?

Even, Liu Wenying, who Vladimir had said was a good person, did not go up to stop Liu Yonghui.

“She’s doing the most she can do. She’s a middle-aged lady close to 40 years old… Even if she wanted to do the right thing, she needs to first protect herself,” Zhang Zian explained on behalf of Liu Wenying.

Instead of saying anything harsh, Vladimir recited, “When the Nazis came to catch the Communists, I kept silent because I wasn’t a Communist; when they came to catch the Jews, I kept silent because I wasn’t a Jew; when they came to catch the trade unionists, I kept silent because I wasn’t a trade unionist; when they came to catch the Catholics, I kept silent, because I was a Protestant; when they came to catch me, there was also no one who spoke for me.”

That was a phrase that a Jew in Boston had written on its gravestone, and it was spread around a lot. Zhang Zian had heard it before, and Vladimir’s use of it there was quite suitable.

The people who abused cats had very messed up minds. They abused cats one day, and then the next they would be committing crimes against humanity.

If a large portion of good people kept quiet and watched from the side when they saw a cat abuse case, the next day, they could be suffering through the bitter fruits that they had grown.

Vladimir said, “According to my observations over the few days, the conclusion I came to was this: Hoping that humans would notice their own mistake and improve themselves on their own is not very possible. If stray cats want to help themselves, they can only use more severe methods––to change themselves!”

Zhang Zian was stunned. He was unsure what kind of change it was referring to.

Vladimir waved its paws towards its back, calling the three stray cats over. It introduced them to Zian. “They will be the contact points in this neighborhood in the future.”

“Contact points? What is there to contact them about?” He was even more confused.

“The reason why the stray cats were bullied by people was that, in front of the stray cats, there was always a plate of scattered sand. There were even fights in the same nest, so I need to unite all the stray cats,” Vladimir said seriously.

Every cat only had four toes on each paw, and it reached out a paw and used its other paw to cover a single toe of the previous cat so that only three toes were exposed.

“Anywhere that has three stray cats, we’ll build a Meow Meow Branch Organization!” it announced. It put down a cat paw, and pointed at the grey cat and said, “Its personality is stable, and it is suitable to be the head of the Branch Organization.”

Then it pointed at the calico cat. “Its ability to think is higher, and it is suitable to be the secretary of the Branch Organization.”

Then it pointed at the bearded stray cat. “It’s too young, and its personality is impulsive. It lacks experience and practice in fighting, so it can only become a member of the branch organization and accept the leadership of the other two cats.”

The three stray cats puffed out their chests, accepting their assignments. The bearded stray cat was obviously not very satisfied, and it seemed to be forcing down its temptation to show off.

Zhang Zian was speechless. You really know how to play!

Vladimir had already finished sorting out the roles, and it very excitedly said, waving its paws, “Every Meow Meow Branch Organization is a contact point, and we’ll contact each other through these points. Each branch organization will be the face of the organization. The farming communities surround the city from all four sides! In the end, it’ll become a full-scale net in order to bury the Holy Cat Statue and those cat abusers into the deep sea of the cat citizens fight!”

“Meow, meow!”

“Meow, meow!”

“Meow, meow!”

The three stray cats all happily called out.

In the end, there was a burning fire in Vladimir’s green eyes. They looked as if it wanted to burn everything. It said, “I believe, that the fire of meow meow can burn and return!”