Strange Way of Eating

A woman in her 30s stood downstairs. Her bun was tied to the right, donning the coiffured hairstyle of a wife. Holding a bottle of disinfectant, she could not stop spraying it on the road. A strange noise came from the nozzle.

Psst, psst.

The lady boss of the convenience store was disinfecting the entrance. When she turned around and lifted her head, she happened to see Ke Meng leaning against the window on the second floor.

"You've woken up early today, Boss Ke." The woman smiled gently.

As the sun peeked out of the thick clouds in the sky, the sunlight penetrated the clouds, so the sky turned extra bright.

The concrete jungle gleamed golden in the morning light when the light shone from the streets far away all the way to the back of the road.

The woman's shadow was extended on the ground clearly. The shadows of a couple of tentacles spread out on the ground.

When Ke Meng blinked, the woman remained standing there gently. She was smiling at him, and there was nothing strange with her shadow.

He must have seen an illusion.

At that moment, a tiny girl walked out. She wore a loose t-shirt with a baby octopus on it. The tiny ponytail on the back of her head bounced when she shook her head.

She giggled while her tiny arms shook. Her eyes beneath her bangs were pure and bright. She called out with a muffled voice as she wore a mask, "Good morning, Brother Meng!"

"Good morning," Ke Meng said while leaning against the window, "I woke up very early today. Do you have dried anchovies?"

"Yes, I'll give it to you. It's complimentary," the lady boss smiled and said.

Ke Meng was her landlord, so it was nothing for her to give him two packets of dried anchovies for free.

"You're too kind. I'll just buy a packet to try."

Just when Ke Meng was going downstairs, the lady boss's daughter suggested, "Brother Meng, I'll bring it to you."

"Thanks!" Ke Meng thought he would stay put since someone was bringing the snacks to him.

The girl was smiling even wider now that the sunlight hit her face. However, the mask covered her smile.

"Get me a savory crepe and some soy milk please." Ke Meng looked at the little cart that had just been pushed out downstairs. There were fried crullers, soy milk, and savory crepes on it.

"Alright!" The girl got some soy milk and a savory crepe immediately.

Ke Meng transferred the money to the stall owner on WeChat. He then got the girl to leave his breakfast and dried anchovies at his door.

As the landlord of the building, he had two four-story buildings under his name. The third and fourth floors were rented out while the first floor was leased to a shop. He had another building in his hometown.

Even if he had no job, his simple life was comfortable.

Ke Meng lived on the second floor. Soon, someone came knocking on the door.

Chen Momo's lively voice came from outside the door, "Open the door, please!"

Ke Meng opened the door with his mask on and saw the girl holding a plastic bag. She peeped behind Ke Meng, but there was nothing there.

"What are you looking at?" Ke Meng said doubtfully.

"Nothing." As the girl shook her head, the ponytail at the back of her head swayed too.

Then, Ke Meng saw Chen Momo's new hair accessory. It was a hairpin in her hair that looked like a red, cute little octopus.

"Is that a new hair accessory?" Ke Meng pointed at the cute hairpin on the girl's head.

"Yes, is it cute?" Chen Momo stared at him, showing it off to him happily.

"Yep, it's quite cute," he commented.

The girl left happily, sprinting downstairs in joy.

When Ke Meng returned to his bedroom, the big-faced cat remained sitting in the cat basin. Its body was facing the same way, whereby it was still staring at the camera.

There were two packets of dried anchovies, a savory crepe, and soy milk in the plastic bag.

Ke Meng squatted down and tore open the dried anchovies' packaging. Then, he took one out and placed it next to the big-faced cat's mouth.

He heard that besides cat food, cats would eat meat, milk, bread and so on.

Ke Meng had never kept a cat before, but this big-faced cat must be different from regular cats. This cat could survive by eating one dried anchovy per day. There might be some mysterious power in its body that would provide it with energy. The dried anchovies were merely a surface requirement.

The big-faced cat's mouth did not move even though the dried anchovy lingered before its mouth.

Ke Meng shoved the treat further, and the dried anchovy's head was pushed into the cat's mouth. There was little resistance as it entered the cat's mouth like a piece of cake.

The big-faced cat remained the same expression despite Ke Meng shoving food into its mouth. It had no reaction at all.

"Is it dead?"

He tried pushing the dried anchovy further in. As if the dried anchovy was entering the coin slot of a vending machine, it disappeared as he shoved it further on.

Ke Meng blinked because he did not see how the cat ate it. He fed it another dried anchovy.

As soon as the anchovy went into the cat's mouth, Ke Meng pulled the tail out. Only the tail remained. The head and middle parts of the anchovy that were shoved into its mouth was completely gone.

"Holy guacamole!"

Ke Meng did not expect that feeding the cat would be this horrifying.

How was that eating? The cat had skipped the eating process. Its mouth was like the coin slot of a coin machine, whereby the dried anchovy disappeared as soon as it went into its mouth.

Ke Meng retreated half a step back, staring at the big-faced cat for half a minute. It still looked silly with a frozen expression, and it did not look like it had any ill intentions.

'Maybe I misunderstood it.'

Ke Meng turned around and took a pair of chopsticks from the kitchen. He picked up the remaining anchovy tail with the chopsticks and shoved it into the cat's mouth. He then pulled out the chopsticks from its mouth.

The dried anchovy was gone whereas the chopsticks were perfectly fine.

According to the strange feeding knowledge the big-faced cat transferred to Ke Meng, it did not need to poop or pee. A single dried anchovy per day was sufficient.

The people in the Cat-faced People Mountain Village would usually feed it like that too. It did not have any signs of malnourishment or any signs of its body deteriorating.

Ke Meng placed the dried anchovy packet aside. He checked the video recording frame after frame and analyzed the feeding process.

In the video where the camera was pointing, the dried anchovy happened to be in the shadows when it entered the cat's mouth. The dried anchovy would disappear as it entered the dividing line. However, the chopsticks did not disappear.

Ke Meng opened his little notebook and documented it with his pen.

"After feeding, the dried anchovy disappears, but the chopsticks are still here. Does it mean that the big-faced cat doesn't eat things that are made of wood?

"It's expression froze because it has stopped thinking.

"You'll gain strange knowledge when you stare at its eyes for 15 seconds when there's something strange around. This is important, so I must circle it.

"I'll put the big-faced cat's safety as somewhat safe for now."

It was his tiny habit of writing things down. Every time when he had his interest piqued in something, he would analyze it by habit and write it down.

Ke Meng flipped through the little notebook, reading the various analysis that he had written down before.

For instance:

"Can phone batteries be used to make fire in the wilderness? It works! Burn a patch of grass and put out the fire safely with a fire extinguisher."

"Is the quantum speed reading that went viral on the internet real? It's fake! I didn't remember a word after reading for half a day."　　

"Is the Ouija board real? It's fake! It's controlled by humans!"

There were a series of analysis. Most of them were nothing meaningful. He thought those documents could be an admiration of humans' curious behaviors.

He recalled something as time passed by quietly.

The cat came from a foreign world. Could it bring a virus from that world?

However, it was futile to only recall it now. From the moment he woke up, the big-faced cat had stayed in the house with him. It would be futile no matter how he tried to prevent it. If it came with a virus, it would have definitely penetrated his body now.

Ke Meng made up his mind to stay at home to quarantine himself for a little while.

After all, due to the recent pneumonia pandemic, it was pretty normal for one to be home-quarantined.

However, the people living in the city he was in had begun to go back to work in their masks and eat outside.

Meanwhile, the mother and daughter downstairs would put on their masks when they worked. They had done everything as prevention, hence he sure hoped that they were alright.

Ke Meng added another annotation in his little notebook as he thought about this point: "This big-faced cat might have come with a virus from the foreign world. I'll be home-quarantined for a little while."

He recalled the girl and her mother downstairs. Then, he added a note in his little notebook: "Monitor the health of the tenants downstairs."

How would he monitor that? Naturally, he would ask them if they had any signs of illness through QQ.

However, it would be too early to ask that now. He would ask them that at night, as well as once everyday.

Ke Meng picked up the paper roll and patted the silly cat's head. "Can you talk?"