Pet King

“This… I sometimes feel that there is. Other times, I feel that there isn’t. Sometimes I feel that there should be, while other times I feel that even if there isn’t one, it’s no big deal,” Zhang Zian answered truthfully. The truth was that was the same attitude most people had.

He recalled the producer of the game Pet Hunter and added, “I think there may be something higher in the dark, but that’s not necessarily God.”

Vladimir smiled and did not say anything.

Zhang Zian did not know whether he was right or wrong to encourage it, but he felt that its efforts had really worked. It had encouraged a group of scattered, stray cats to unite and concentrate on major things.

“Speaking of nature, you just asked the kitten why it couldn’t get down after it climbed up the tree, right?” He drew the topic back to the original question.

“I don’t think it’s afraid of heights… How could it climb so high if it was afraid of heights?” Vladimir nodded with a strong thirst for knowledge. “Is this the same nature that cats have when they meow at people?”

Not everyone had kept a cat before, and even those that had kept a cat before only had one. Even if they had more than two cats, they seldom paid attention to the interactions between cats, especially when the cat owner was not present. Simply put, when there were no human beings present, cats would not meow at each other, because there was no need. Even if they did meow, there would not receive any food…

Meowing was a cat’s evolved skill to please humans. One had to admit that the evolution was undoubtedly successful. It made humans willing to become sh*t shovelers, which was probably Darwin’s theory.

“Wait for a little while.”

When Zhang Zian returned to the store, he saw that the clerks had finished their meals and were packing up. He went up to the storage room on the second floor, found a folding ladder, and carried it down.

The clerks were puzzled to see him carrying the ladder out, but he explained truthfully that a kitten was trapped in a tree.

He returned to the tree with the ladder on his shoulder, set up the ladder, then shook it firmly to check its stability. He then climbed to the top of the ladder, pulled the branches and leaves away, and reached out to the yellow and white kitten.

The kitten was a little scared. After all, it was a stray cat. It had not interacted very closely with people, nor had the mother cat taught it how to deal with human beings. It shrunk away to escape from him, but there was nowhere to hide between the narrow branches. Finally, Zhang Zian put his hands under its armpit and took it down.

“Why could it go up the tree, but it couldn’t come down? Look at its claws carefully.” Zhang Zian raised its front claw to let Vladimir take a look.

“The claws of cats, including those of other animals, are mostly crooked and bent towards the palm, which is for hunting purposes. It prevents their prey from escaping, and it also helps their body when they climb and jump,” he said, bending his fingers like a hook.

Vladimir raised its front paw and lowered its head to take a look. He nodded in agreement.

“It’s very easy to climb the tree with such claws, so the kitten could easily climb to the top, even though it may not have climbed a tree at all before… But when it wants to come down from the tree, it has a problem.” Zhang Zian twitched his lips towards the tree. “Vladimir, you can try for yourself. Practice is the only criterion for testing the truth.”

Without hesitation, Vladimir leaped to the edge of the tree, reached out his sharp claws, and climbed up the tree quickly.

“Now you can come down,” Zhang Zian said. “Take note, you can’t jump down. You need to slowly climb down the tree.”

Vladimir instantly noticed what the problem was.

It often leaped over walls and climbed trees, but it depended on its own flexibility. It always jumped down after it climbed to the highest point. If it was too high, it would use its strength to jump down onto a shorter branch, like a step. With its fierce temper, there had never been a precedent for walking down slowly.

At that moment, it was trying to slowly climb down from the tree, and after changing to many positions, it felt that it was very awkward.

Zhang Zian reminded it from under the tree, “You climbed up with your head on top and feet below. If you want to climb down, you still have to have your head on top and your legs below, and back down. Only in this way can your claws grab the trunk and bark of the tree.”

Vladimir listened to his advice and turned its body around. It was like it had recorded its actions when climbing the tree and rewound it, slowly backing down the tree.

“It’s very awkward,” it said, totally uncomfortable. “It’s still more comfortable directly jumping down.”

“Of course, but kittens like this do not dare to jump directly.” Zhang Zian put the yellow and white kitten on the ground. When he was carrying the ladder, he dropped a can of cat food in his pocket, opened it, and pushed it in front of him.

The yellow and white kitten wanted to run, but when it smelled the smell of fish in the can, it couldn’t help but come over and sniff it. It plunged its face into the canned food and hurriedly ate it.

“But how did you know that?” Vladimir asked.

He smiled and said, “I run a pet shop. That’s common knowledge. I’ve seen many cats do this. They climb up and are trapped. They won’t come down by themselves if there’s no mother cat to teach them.”

This yellow and white kitten had probably been separated from its mother very early on. Its mother did not teach it the necessary skills to climb the tree, so it could only slowly learn things. When it grew up, it would directly jump down like Vladimir had wanted to.

If a human were to climb up high, they would know that they should climb down the same way––with their heads facing up and their legs down. Cats, however, were not used to retreating. Even when they came down from high places, they always wanted to go down with their heads facing down and their legs on top. Their paws determined that they could only have their heads facing up and their legs facing down, and from there they could move their buttocks down slowly. Otherwise, their claws could not hook the tree bark.

When the yellow and white kitten wanted to climb down the tree, it found that its claws could not hook onto the tree, and so it continuously slid downwards. It did not dare to jump, so it was just stuck in the tree.

Zhang Zian gazed into the distance and recalled, “When I was a child, my parents told me a story. It was said that long ago, cats were the most powerful animals in the forest. Even tigers, which are much larger than cats, worshiped cats as teachers and learned from them the skills of foraging, fighting, and surviving. The cat was rigorous in learning and teaching, and the tiger was very serious in learning. He learned almost all the skills of the cat, but tigers had bad intentions. After learning their skills, they dominated the forest and even wanted to eat the cat. But the cat was already on guard. It didn’t teach the tiger how to climb the tree on purpose. When the tiger came to eat it, it climbed to a very high tree and made the tiger stare at the trunk under the tree. Later, people made up an allegorical saying based on the story that cats taught tigers: ‘Always hold back a trick when teaching others.’”

The story had spread very far, and many different versions had appeared, but the main story was similar.

Vladimir listened very seriously and was very interested.

Zhang Zian smiled and said, “When I heard this story, I thought it was unbelievable. What’s so difficult about climbing a tree? Why did they need cats to teach them? If a cat can go up, why can’t a big tiger go up? But in fact, it really needs to be taught. Otherwise, it may be trapped after going up. Even the tiger, that is the king of beasts, is the same. After all, the tiger is also a cat. The person who compiles this story is not just making it up. He had observed life carefully.”

Vladimir suddenly realized something. “It’s an interesting story. Later, when I encounter cats trapped at high altitudes, I can show them how to climb down. I don’t have to specially go and find you to carry the ladder over.”

“Master! Store Manager, we’ve finished clearing up. We’re going to go home! The shop is not locked.” The store employees had finished their work and found that Zhang Zian had yet to return. They walked out of the shop and saw him standing under a tree a distance away.

“All right. Be careful on the way back.” Zhang Zian also waved his hand in response.

The shop employees left in groups, and like usual, they first sent Lu Yiyun back to her rented house, and the other three returned to the school dormitories.

Vladimir turned to look in the distance and said to Zhang Zian, “It’s still early. You go back first. I have something to do. Just leave the window cracked as usual.”

“Well, you should also be careful. Don’t put yourself in a bad situation. If you are confronted with something you cannot deal with, you can come back and ask us for help.” Zhang Zian was still worried about whether it would encounter the Holy Cat statue alone at night. Even though it was confident, the Holy Cat statue was not easy to deal with, after all.

It smiled. “Don’t worry. Death does not belong to the Meow-Meow Doctrine Believer.” After saying that, it turned around and walked off with fast and light steps.

“Right, there’s one more thing.” Zhang Zian raised his voice slightly, and said towards its silhouette, “Vladimir, if you want to do anything, just go for it! Even if you make any mistakes, we will try our best to help you make up for it!”

Vladimir stopped for a while and did not turn back. It just raised a front paw to show that it understood.

“Also, if possible, try to come back earlier,” Zhang Zian added.

That time, it did not have any reaction and did not stop. It ran towards the darkness in a straight line.

He did not know when, but Old Time Tea had appeared next to Zhang Zian and looked at Vladimir’s back, holding its beard. Its eyes narrowed. It said slowly, “It is true that a generation of new cats will replace old ones. I can only save a few cats, even if I put my all into it. With Famous’ help, we can save thousands of cats at most, while Vladimir can save tens of millions of cats… In this era, there is no need for warriors anymore.”

Zhang Zian smiled and said, “Grandpa Tea, you’re too humble. This earth no longer needs warriors, but the warrior spirit will continue on forever, as long as you have a warrior in your heart. Everyone is a warrior.”

Old Time Tea nodded happily, leisurely charmed.

Vladimir suddenly stopped before running out of his vision. It turned around in the shadows of the evening and its voice floated from far away. “I think you’re wrong. There’s no God on this earth at all! Even if a God appears in front of me, I’ll let him taste my Meow Meow Doctrine Iron Fist!”