Pet King

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Early the next morning.

The first thing that Zhang Zian saw when he opened his eyes was a blue-gray tail moving left and right under the curtains. Vladimir seemed to have woken up before the sun was up and it was just sitting on the window sill and looking outside.

Zian sat up and began to put on his clothes.

Vladimir poked its head out of the curtains and leaped lightly down from the window sill. The Russian Blue cat’s body, which was completely different from the British shorthair, was clearly very agile.

“What time are we heading out today? My iron fist is already hungry and thirsty!” It clenched a front paw and was very excited.

“We don’t have to rush this. Are you sure you don’t need me to prepare a place for you to sleep?” Zhang Zian asked.

Before going to bed last night, Zhang Zian had planned to find an old blanket for it to temporarily sleep on. From there, he would find out what kind of bed it prefered before he bought it online. But it didn’t really care and had turned down Zian’s idea, then it chose a random spot to lie down and fell asleep.

“There’s no need,” Vladimir said with a forthright smile. “Those in our line have the four seas as our home, the sky as our blanket, the ground for our bed, a steel gun as our comrade-in-arms, and the grassland as our canteen. It’s nothing exquisite, but it’s enough as long as we have a place to shelter us from the wind and rain. Why would I need a bed?”

Zhang Zian was speechless. It really had a way with words.

Zian was a little worried that he was neglecting Vladimir, but he didn’t expect it to really feel that it didn’t have to sleep on a bed. Since it was forthright in character, Zian no longer had to worry about where it was going to sleep.

“Moreover, when I think of the hundreds and thousands of stray cats being bullied and oppressed outside, I can’t sleep at ease on a bed,” Vladimir said as it pointed towards the outside.

Old Time Tea had just woken up and happened to hear what Vladimir said. It then praised, “The worries of the world always comes first––punish oneself with a big cup of wine!”

Zhang Zian shook his head and smiled bitterly. If Vladimir wasn’t joking, then the difference in their level of thoughts made him feel ashamed of himself. Although he knew that there were still many poor people in the world who couldn’t eat and sleep, he still slept well when it was time to sleep…

After all, those things were too far away from him, and those poor people were just strangers to him. Zian knew himself, and he wouldn’t make saving the poor people in the whole world his goal. Just like what Confucians often said: “Keep yourself safe when you’re a nobody; however, give back to the world when you’ve become somebody.”

Zian was currently in the position where he was keeping himself safe, and only when he was as rich as Father Ma would he consider giving to the world.

For those who were still thinking about the world when they couldn’t save themselves were either mad men, were naive teenagers, or was a person––or cat––who actually could change the world…

At that time, the other elfins woke up one after another. Having spent a few days in the capital, especially the capital’s attractions which encompass a great deal of space, they were all very tired. They had gone to bed early the night before and naturally woke up early that morning.

Pi jumped and skipped its way into the bathroom and washed its face, then jumped back on the chair and started to type away.

When Vladimir heard the typing sounds, it jumped up on the desk with no difficulty and put its face close to the screen. It stared at the Word document on the screen and asked, “I wanted to ask last night––what are you doing sitting in front of the computer all the time? Are you writing a novel? ”

Pi was surprised, and it nodded nervously. “Zhi zhi.”

Zhang Zian said on behalf of Pi, “Its name is Pi, and its currently working on a serialized online novel. Although it can’t talk, you can communicate with Pi through its typing.”

Pi was quite shy and it had an inferiority complex because it couldn’t talk. The night before, when everyone was talking around Vladimir, Pi sat silently in front of the computer as it worked on its novel.

Vladimir gaped in amazement and said seriously, “Writing a novel? That’s amazing!”

Pi embarrassedly typed, “It’s not that good.”

“No, no, it’s awesome that you are able to write novels!” Vladimir said seriously. “I respect every writer. Each writer is like an engineer of the human soul.”

Zhang Zian was speechless. I think I heard this sentence from my elementary school teacher, but I’ve already forgotten the source… Anyway, it couldn’t have originated from the elementary school teacher. Although the sentence had often been used as “teachers are the engineer of the human soul,” the actual original text was “writer.”

Speaking of which, he kind of admired Vladimir. Each time it spoke, it easily recalled famous quotes.

Pi was even more embarrassed; it felt that it didn’t deserve such praise.

“Keep it up. Once you complete this novel, I will read it,” Vladimir encouraged. “But you should also pay attention to your health. Don’t always sit still, and remember to rest. You rest so that you can work better. Don’t jeopardize your own health. Novelists always want to care about ‘the destiny of people,’ but they always forget to care about their own destiny. This is their tragedy and you shouldn’t embark on the old path of the predecessors.”

Pi was a little confused, but it still nodded. Zhang Zian had also said similar words, though he didn’t use such quotes.

“But,” Vladimir changed his tone and became strict, “Now, many human beings have lost their noble souls and have become despicable and shameless, bullying creatures that are weaker than them. For such reactionaries, we must throw away all imaginations and prepare for a fight!”

Even though its words were impassioned, the problem was that some of the elfins couldn’t understand it, and others didn’t care.

Fina yawned and rubbed its sleepy eyes, “This queen also feels that some humans are no longer able to recognize their own position. Now, they even have the gall to climb above the cat family. They must be disciplined!” As it spoke, it coldly swept its gaze at Zhang Zian.

Zhang Zian interjected, “Wait a minute, Vladimir, you don’t fully understand the situation, since you’ve just arrived. Indeed, the incidents of cat abuse in Binhai City have been happening frequently and are slowly spreading across the whole country. There’s also a related QQ group chat on the Internet where the group owner has muted all chat functions only to publicly stream a cat abusing video for fun… But there’s a deeper reason for all this.”

Vladimir glued its eyes on Zian and listened carefully.

Zhang Zian continued, “In the past, there have been occasional cat abuse incidents occurring in most areas, but none of them were as serious as the one now. This time, it’s a concentrated outbreak over a short period of time. It is completely different from previous situations and can’t simply be attributed to humans. I don’t mean to make up excuses for humans by saying this, after all, the ones abusing the cats are indeed humans. But there’s someone pulling the strings behind this series of cat abuse incidents, and that is a Holy Cat statue from ancient Egypt.”

“Holy Cat statue?” Vladimir was both surprised and confused. “The Holy Cat statue has such an ability?”

“It’s a long story. The statue isn’t the real thing, but a vivid imitation, and it was given to me as a gift from someone. Initially, it was just an ordinary decoration, but god knows what happened. It suddenly disappeared…”

Zhang Zian told Vladimir about the Holy Cat statue, including the part about him, Old Time Tea, Famous, and Galaxy tracking it to the unfinished building. Although they had missed the Holy Cat statue, through reasonable speculations, they were able to make out what had happened earlier. The Holy Cat statue had kept itself hidden in the dark as it observed how the cat abusers abused the cat for their own enjoyment.

“I suspect that, as an elfin that’s in the process of materializing, the Holy Cat statue may be able to influence and manipulate the mind of human beings to a certain extent. So ordinary people with psychological problems would bring out their bloodthirsty side, and as the process of the cat abuse gets bloodier and crueler, it will become stronger.” Zhang Zian shared his own speculations.

Old Time Tea and Famous both agreed with his point of view and added some of their own thoughts accordingly.

“I see.”

As a witness of the incident, whenever Zhang Zian recalled the scene at that time, he couldn’t help but feel creeped out. However, Vladimir was still calm after hearing the story. It laughed and said, “So, the reason why all of you are behaving so cautiously is because of that Holy Cat statue? That’s it?”

Zhang Zian was speechless yet again. He then exchanged glances with Old Time Tea and Old Time Tea shook its head slightly. Although it was fond of how Vladimir worried about the world, Old Time Tea found the words that Vladimir had just used to be too arrogant.

With good intentions, Old Time Tea interjected from the side. “You should never underestimate your opponent! The Holy Cat statue is extremely ferocious, and its whereabouts are erratic and strange. This will inevitably lead to a great disaster… The most important thing is that it seems to exist between life and death. It’s neither a living thing nor a dead thing, so what is it and what can we do about it?”

“Hahaha!” Vladimir laughed towards the sky, then raised a front paw and slammed it on the ground. “Although I have never seen the Holy Cat statue, I know that all the reactionaries are just paper tigers that hold no threat!”

Zhang Zian also wanted to persuade it not to underestimate the enemy, but just as he was about to, he heard it say, “You can rest assured that I would never underestimate the enemy. Since the Holy Cat statue is able to cause such a big scene, it must have a thing or two up its sleeve… But the principles of a battle are to despise the enemy strategically and attach importance to the enemy in our tactics! This is how to remain invincible!”

Zian then dismissed the idea of ​​persuading it because he felt that its statement was somewhat reasonable.

Ever since the Holy Cat statue had ravaged Binhai City, both he and the elfins would turn pale whenever the Holy Cat statue was brought up. Even Old Time Tea, who didn’t flinch at anything, would find itself in a sticky situation. None of them knew how to deal with the ghost-like monster… The two sides had not officially met each other, and they were already beating themselves up. In other words, they were already afraid before the battle had even begun, and that was a taboo when it came to warfare.

After listening to its words, Old Time Tea seemed to have caught on to something.

It was not that Old Time Tea’s standard and awareness wasn’t high, but it was because Old Time Tea had always been a lone ranger. It was better at thinking about problems on an individual and tactical level, while Vladimir thought from a higher level and set its sights further and wider, just like a strategist that examined the issue from a strategic perspective.

Zhang Zian recalled when Old Time Tea and Famous snuck into Love Lovely Pets Breeding Base and, out of a moment of outrage, they took action and released all the pets that were being treated unfairly in the breeding base. However, they didn’t consider the arrangements for all those pets, and as a result, many of the cats and dogs had become homeless. Objectively speaking, that was also the trigger for the current cat abuse incident.

If Vladimir was there at the time, it would have definitely looked at the problem from all angles, then it would have made a plan and moved forward with it. It would not act hastily, like how Old Time Tea and Famous did.

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