Pet King

Into the night.

“Ah!” Jiang Feifei sighed with the bento in her hands. “Store Manager, why is your luck always so good? Every time you go to the beach, you’re always able to encounter whales, whether they are alive or dead. Why can’t I meet one?”

A “closed” sign was hung on the shop door, otherwise, fans of Famous and customers would still visit in the middle of the night. Although Zhang Zian was happy to do more business, it was just like the famous saying that Vladimir often said, “Those that don’t know how to rest, don’t know how to work.”

Including Zhang Zian, everyone else was pigging themselves out on the bento in their hands.

The evening news of the local television station was being broadcasted on the television, and the content was about the whale that got beached and died.

The cameraman carried the camera on his shoulders and filmed the scene from above. The focus of the shot was not on the whale’s carcass, and it was censored with mosaic. Even then, however, the bloodiness of the scene was clear to everyone; the entire beach was almost painted red with the whale’s blood.

A large number of firefighters wearing full protective gear were constantly coming and going. Some were cutting the whale meat with a cutting machine, while others pushed a small, sled-like cart and transported the whale meat away in batches, most likely to incinerate them in another location… The greatest exaggeration was that sometimes the firefighters had to use a chainsaw or a cutting machine to drill into the whale’s belly to cut it up, and the pungent smell was just too overwhelming. Many people were probably going to stay away from meat for a very long time.

In addition, the remaining firefighters took a high-pressure water gun to flush the blood and bits of meat into the sea. The sea water soon turned dark red and white whale blubber was floating everywhere.

As the weather got warmer, soon enough, many people would come to the beach for a walk. But after that incident, no one would want to swim in the water for a long time.

A reporter interviewed Ke Shaohui on the spot. It was obvious that it was Ke Shaohui’s first time being interviewed, and his first time to be on television. He stuttered through the interview, but he was still clear about the process.

He gave a detailed recap on how he got a call from Zhang Zian and learned that a whale had been beached and was already dead. He then talked about the process from when he brought his men down, to how they solved the problem of the whale potential explosion. He then closed off the interview with an appeal to the public––that if they were to encounter another incident of a beached whale, whether the whale was alive or dead, to please call the administration of fishery immediately. He added that no inexperienced person should attempt to deal with it alone, for there was a lot of potential danger. In closing, he repeated the contact number of the administration of fishery.

The reporter was also affected by the bloodiness on the beach. He repeated Ke Shaohui’s words to the audience again and again. He also mentioned that the administration of fishery had already started a project, and was prepared to set up new signs on the entire coastline of Binhai City to warn the public of the correct procedures to take if they encountered a beached whale.

Wang Qian stuffed a mouthful of rice into his mouth, then said while chewing, “Master, just tell us the truth––did you chop open the whale’s belly with your bare hands?”

“What? At most, he just used the fingernail on his pinky finger!” Li Kun corrected Wang Qian with rice spurting out from his mouth.

Zhang Zian was too lazy to entertain them, but his silence was taken as consent on their end.

Lu Yiyun wasn’t interested in the topic, and she wasn’t courageous enough to look at the images on the news. She silently sat in front of the cashier counter as she dug into her bento, eating and checking the contents of the day’s business statements to ensure that nothing was overlooked.

Jiang Feifei pleaded repeatedly for Zhang Zian to call her if he ever came across another beached whale.

Zhang Zian promised her that he would, but he said that he would decided whether or not to call her depending on the situation. Also, who was going to look after the store if she was gone?

“Right, Store Manager.” Jiang Feifei remembered something. “Welder Zhao visited earlier today and took two clownfish home with him. He mentioned that he had an agreement with you and told me to let you know.”

“Well, we did have an agreement, but I forgot to tell you about it.” Zhang Zian nodded, and sincerely hoped that he wouldn’t have any further involvement with Welder Zhao. If things were to continue on like that, then one fine day, he would become the next victim of the jinxed old man.

A blueish gray figure flashed by while they were talking. Zhang Zian glanced over and saw that Vladimir was walking out of the store.

Basically every night at that time, Vladimir always snuck out alone. It used to wander outside until morning, but it now came back before midnight as long as Zian left a little gap at the window. Anyway, the weather was warm now, so it was pretty comfortable to sleep with the window open.

Jiang Feifei had her full attention on the news while Wang Qian and Li Kun were gossiping about all kinds of things. Only Liu Yiyun, who was quietly eating, noticed what Vladimir was doing and told Zian, “Mr. Manager, this cat is running out alone.”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to worry about it.” Zhang Zian waved his hand to reassure her. “It’ll come back by itself.”

He thought that Vladimir would return sometime during the middle of the night, so he didn’t really bother. After he was done eating, he threw the bento box into the trash can. Just as he was about to go wash his hands, he heard Lu Yiyun say, “Oh, it really did come back.”

Zhang Zian stopped and turned around. He saw that Vladimir was back, but it didn’t enter the store. It stood by the entrance and stared at Zian. The golden part of its eyes were sparkling under the light. It looked like it had something to say.

Zian then gave Vladimir a look and followed it out of the store. When he saw that no one was around, Zian asked, “What’s going on?”

“Come here.”

Vladimir took him to a nearby tree and said, “That kitten seems to be trapped in the tree.”

Zhang Zian looked up, but his eyesight at night wasn’t as good as a cat’s. After observing closely, however, he found a yellow and white kitten in the tree, and it looked like a stray cat.

Zian turned on the flashlight function of his phone and faced it towards the kitten. The kitten squinted its eyes and writhed its body uneasily, trying to avoid the glare as it meowed softly.

Zhang Zian noticed that the kitten wanted to get down from the tree, but it seemed to be afraid of the height.

“Let me bring a ladder over and carry it down,” Zian said as he turned off the flashlight.

“Wait.” Vladimir stopped him.

“What’s wrong?”

Vladimir seemed to be thinking about some difficult problem. It looked at the kitten in the tree. “I want to know why it can’t come down on its own.”

“Why it can’t come down by itself?” Zhang Zian asked, not understanding what it meant.

Vladimir nodded and said, “When I left earlier, I saw this kitten, and I was about to ask if it would like to join the Meow Meow Branch Organization of the small community opposite of ours, but I noticed that it was still too small. It isn’t at the appropriate age to participate in our business, so I gave up on that thought. Indeed, it’s still small and playful. It can climb up the tree by itself, but it can’t come down after climbing up. I asked if it required any help, but it didn’t respond to me, so I went back to find you. It started to meow after you came here.”

“Oh, so it’s like this… In fact, cats generally only call out to humans. They don’t usually meow at each other,” Zhang Zian explained.

Vladimir was surprised. “Is that the case?”

Its question showed that Vladimir was indeed a fantasy elfin, and was not a real cat that had existed in history.

“Well, it’s because cats don’t need to communicate through their meowing; they can judge each other’s intentions through their eyes, movements, and smell. Only when they’re far away from each other do they scream with a sharp voice.” Zhang Zian then laughed and explained, “How do you put it… meowing is like something cats intentionally do to communicate with humans.”

Vladimir started to think about what Zian said. It recalled the kittens in the pet shop, and in most cases, they didn’t meow at one another, but they communicated through their movements and their eyes. For example, they licked each other’s hair, or rolled around while they clung onto one another, or they chased each other. When they saw humans that they wanted to communicate with, they would softly meow to Zhang Zian, the staff, or customers.

“Then let me ask you––what if I were to let the stray cats use their meowing sound as a form of a secret signal between each other? Would it be against their nature?” it asked seriously.

“Why are you asking this?” Zhang Zian asked.

It gazed at the dimly lit streets and the endless vehicles, then slowly said, “To have the stray cats unite and defend themselves against foreign enemies… It’s a road that no men or cat has ever walked, and I am lonely on this road. I don’t know if this is really good for them. Maybe it’s just their nature to be free and lax. Even if they are bullied and oppressed, haven’t they lived for thousands of years that way?”

Zhang Zian was surprised. He had always thought that Vladimir drove himself forward with his passionate beliefs, and never questioned whether or not it had made a mistake. But obviously, it did self-reflect occasionally; it just didn’t easily reveal it to others.

But the problem was too big, and he was not a cat, so Zian couldn’t put himself in the cat’s point of view to think about the problem.

He gave it some thought then asked again, “If there’s the possibility that you will make a mistake, does that mean that you’ll not do it?”

“How’s that possible?” Vladimir looked up and said firmly, “Even if it’s the wrong way, you would have to go through it to know!”

Zhang Zian nodded in agreement. “Vladimir, I hope that you can remember that you’re not a god––you’re just an ordinary cat. As long as you’re a cat, you may make mistakes. You’re no exception. But so far, you’ve done very well, so even if you make mistakes in the future, they won’t erase your achievements.”

Vladimir’s eyes started to shine. It clenched a front paw into a fist. “Yes! I’m not a god! I don’t want to be a god! There’s no god in this world! Only fools and cowards put their hopes in god! I firmly believe that our cause is just! No enemy can break the cause of just!”

Its former presence had returned, and it was even more vigorous than ever. The flames burning in its eyes showed its courage, which could match a thousand warriors. “There has never been a savior! And we don’t depend on the Deity Emperor! To create happiness for cats, we can only depend on ourselves!”