Pet King

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

Zhang Zian silently listened to Ms. Sun’s recount while Wang Yaning, on the other hand, said with disdain, “It’s obvious that he’s the culprit, yet he wants to push it all onto a statue to deliberately mystify the incident… Does he think that he can fool the teachers and parents with this? Boys are all like this. They have the guts to do it but they are cowards when they’re held responsible. All of them are so daring when it comes to causing trouble and behaving mischievously, but when they’re caught, they cry louder than girls, and they always lie…”

Ms. Sun hesitated for a moment before she nodded her head in agreement. “We’ve searched the area here, but we have not found any strange statues. This also isn’t his first time causing trouble… He’s a notorious problem student in class. He doesn’t do his homework, always lies that he lost his homework, and sometimes he has sticky fingers… His family environment isn’t very good, though. His parents are divorced, and they were quarreling frequently before the divorce. Now he lives with his father, but his father is also busy with work and has no time to care for him, so the father pushed the responsibility of disciplining him to the school…”

It seemed that the school and teachers had already determined that the child was lying. After all, he had a string of records before him. Although it was always said that everyone should be given a second chance, when something bad happened, the first person to be suspected was always the one that had a criminal record.

Zhang Zian, however, believed the child’s words. The child had never seen the Holy Cat statue before, so it was impossible for him to just make that up out of nowhere. But in any case, it was also true that the child had personally inflicted harm onto the kitten.

Ms. Sun asked, puzzled, “The thing about the child who met the weird statue… Only a few of us who were there at the time knew about it, and we didn’t disclose anything regarding that in the WeChat group. How did you hear about it?”

Their search for the statue was unsuccessful, so naturally, the teachers thought that the child was habitually lying and wanted to shirk his responsibilities. When they reported it to the school and parents, such detail was automatically removed. Now if Zhang Zian hadn’t reminded her, even she would have forgotten about such a detail.

“Because… the statue’s a missing item from my shop.” Zhang Zian carefully chose his words. “It’s a replica of an ancient Egyptian artifact, and according to the legends, it’s engraved with imperceptible textures that create a sense of dizziness when its stared at for a long time. It was a mechanism created by the ancient Egyptian pharaohs to deter grave robbers. So when the child said that he felt dizzy at that moment and couldn’t control himself, I think it might be true…”

Zian made everything up and told this non-existent legend of his as if it was real because he hoped that the responsibility on the child would be slightly relieved. Although the child had indeed done something wrong, everything he said was true, and it was very depressing to be suspected by everyone.

A few days previous, Professor Wei Kang had added Zian into the WeChat group for the expedition team to let him familiarize himself with the other team members. The other team members were either graduate students or teaching assistants, all very energetic and lively, and they often shared information like the curse of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh. Since they would be dealing with some of the local archaeologists on their trip to Egypt, they were trying to learn as much as they could from the murals of the tombs to find the mystery of the evolution of the original Egyptian Mau. The girls in the group were a little scared from looking through the information, so they told the boys not to send such stuff anymore. What if there was really a curse?

In order to prove himself, he also pulled out the photo album on his phone and asked Ms. Sun to look at the photo of the Holy Cat statue he had taken before.

Ms. Sun took in a breath of cold air. “So there was such a statue here at the time? Why couldn’t we find it? Was it taken away by someone? In literature it is often written that within the tombs and pyramids of ancient Egypt there exists the curse of the Pharaoh, and those who enter without permission will die tragically. I have never believed it, but could all that have been true?”

Vladimir smiled and said aloud, “There are still people that believe in the old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits from thousands of years ago? No wonder the Holy Cat statue still exists… In order to break free from the remnants of superstition, there is still a long way to go!”

Of course, to Ms. Sun, the blue cat had simply meowed a few times.

Zhang Zian just gave her a smile that carried a hint of secrecy. He didn’t answer her series of questions directly. “If you don’t see what you hear, who can ascertain if it’s true or not? Can you? I can’t say much about the Pharaoh’s curse, but there are many gif images online that can cause dizziness if one looks at them for a long time. I’m sure you’ve seen those before right, Ms. Sun––those that make use of the changes in the lighting to create those effects? The principle is the same.”

Ms. Sun seemed to be convinced. She was very young, and she often mingled in the chat groups of various classmates, colleagues, and parents. She had seen many gifs that were always rotating or changing, and if she were to focus on them for a while, she would feel a sense of dizziness. I there were similar patterns on the Holy Cat statue, combined with the sunlight and the shadows of the bamboo, it just might have a bewitching effect…

“Okay, I understand. The child might not have hurt the kitten entirely out his own intentions. I will explain this to the school and the parents.” She nodded reluctantly.

If it was just his suspicions earlier, then Zhang Zian was sure of it now: The half-elfin Holy Cat statue did have some kind of bewitchment ability that called forth a person’s worst memory and brought out their inner dark side. It was also only through bloodthirst and torture that they could regain their senses…

Zian looked at Vladimir. If it came to bewitchment, the Holy Cat statue might be even worse than Vladimir…

While they were talking, Ms. Sun turned to look back. She gasped in surprise and asked, “Where did Wang Yaning go?”

Zhang Zian also felt that he hadn’t heard Wang Yaning’s in a long time. He turned and looked, but saw that Wang Yaning was no longer around.

Ms. Sun looked at him and asked, “Did Wang Yaning go home already?”

Zhang Zian was speechless. “I didn’t come with her… Why would you ask me? How would I know where she went?”

However, from Ms. Sun’s perspective, Wang Yaning did come with Zhang Zian. “Wang Yaning isn’t such an impolite child. Even if she was going to leave, she would’ve said something,” she said with certainty. It seemed like Wang Yaning had left a very good impression on her.

Vladimir lifted a paw and pointed to the side of the bamboo forest then said, “She noticed something and went that way alone.”

Zhang Zian also pointed to that side and said, “She went that way. Could she have needed… to pee?”

Ms. Sun glared at him. “Wang Yaning isn’t a boy. How could she relieve herself just anywhere?”

“That can’t be said for sure. That kid always has a few sides to her: one in front of others and one behind…” Zhang Zian didn’t continue the futile argument, but instead he softly whispered the statement to himself.

Just then, a sudden scream came from within the bamboo forest. The voice was sharp and crisp; it sounded just like Wang Yaning.

Zhang Zian and Ms. Sun looked at each other with shock, then quickly ran over together.

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