A Hero

Zheng Tan didn't run away like the other cats. He saw the man was still in shock and picked up a chair and flung it at him.

Bang!

He landed another hit.

The man covered his nose, he could feel blood and was starting to feel nauseous. He knew one thing though; there was someone in this room. Judging by the strength with which things were thrown at him, the person was not a child. Why was there someone here?

Zheng Tan found another stool. If the man picked up the wrench, he didn't mind throwing another item at him. He didn't do it yet because he was worried he might accidentally kill the thief. His hatred for these two was not on the same level as his hatred for the eastern quarters thieves. He wasn't scared the man might discover him either. As long as he stayed hidden in the dark, no one would know it was him.

Zheng Tan wanted to go over and slap the man, but he was worried people might learn his secret. He could only fake the illusion that a human was here.

As for the woman, she might not be a good person, but she was easily scared. She was looking around for something she could use to defend herself. However, when she looked down, she looked right into a pair of bright cat eyes.

She saw the cat was two steps away from her and was staring at her. Those eyes were shining in the dark, and she couldn't tell whether the cat was hostile or just alert.

She was frightened and threw the first thing she grabbed out of her bag at the cat.

The only cat in the eastern quarters that would dare fight the woman under these circumstances was Fatty. Tiger would be long gone. Sheriff would try to run away too. Unlike Tiger, though, Sheriff would try to land a scratch before running away if he got the chance - and he did.

He was a cat and had no idea what gentlemanly behavior meant.

He scratched the woman and escaped onto some shelves. He felt it was safer up high. He hissed at the woman.

The hissing noise wouldn't have bothered the woman during the day. However, in a dark room, the hissing gave her the creeps.

Zheng Tan glanced over and saw the woman had covered her face and ran outside shrieking.

Judging by her height, it was probably Sheriff who jumped up and scratched her. He didn't know how serious the wound was. He wondered if Sheriff learned it from watching girls fight each other by pulling hair and scratching. No matter why he decided to do what he did, Zheng Tan applauded his bravery.

The man decided to run as well. The pain had subsided, and he had regained his ability to think. The situation in the room was unclear. He didn't know how many people were inside and it was best that he not try to stay and fight alone.

Since the people blocking the door had left, the cats in the room started running out as well.

Zheng Tan didn't chase after the thieves. It was getting late, and he should be going home. If he wasn't home soon, Papa and Mama Jiao would be worried. But...

There was still blood on the floor. Even if he closed the door, Jiao Wei and his friends would be in for a real shock when they come here next time. No one would know what happened and it would probably be impossible to find the thieves since too much time had passed. It was too late to make amends by that time. It was Thursday, and the club wouldn't meet again for another three or four days. Who knew if the thieves would be back? Even if the stuff here wasn't worth much, a few thousand yuan was enough to entice some people.

The club members didn't lack money, except for Jiao Wei. However, if they found out their beloved clubhouse was ransacked, and their precious cars were stolen, they would be very upset.

Should he mind his own business or alert the club members?

He could just leave. Everyone knew no cats lived in the area, and certainly no one would think he had anything to do with the mess. If the place got robbed, everyone would blame it on the thieves and not cats.

Zheng Tan wanted to stay out of other people's affairs. However, if he earned the club's gratitude, he could probably do whatever he liked with their cars. He preferred that they owe him a favor rather than him having to beg them. He had learned this from personal experience.

He had dealt with people like He Tao and Ye Hao. Even if you got their cooperation by promising them benefits, the relationship would only be temporary. However, if they owed you, the relationship could become a long-term investment.

Zheng Tan scattered a bunch of little flags on the floor. If he only took one, it would be suspicious.

He rubbed a white flag in the pool on blood on the floor. He held the flag in this mouth and left.

Sheriff followed him. However, Zheng Tan was too fast. Sheriff wagged his tail and returned to look for other cats to play with.

Zheng Tan took the flag to Jiao Wei's family's restaurant. Business was booming, and Jiao Wei would always stay till ten to help out.

Jiao Wei was wiping a table when Zheng Tan arrived.

Zheng Tan jumped onto the table, and a few footsteps appeared on the newly cleaned table top.

Zheng Tan laid the flag in front of Jiao Wei and hoped that the boy would recognize from where it came.

Jiao Wei hesitated for a moment; then he picked up the flag. He looked at the blood on the flag then he looked at Zheng Tan. He checked Zheng Tan and found he wasn't hurt.

"Whose blood is this? Wasn't this flag in the clubhouse?" He recognized the writing on the flag. They sometimes wrote racing results on these flags as a joke.

Only after he posed the question did he realize he was talking to a cat. He quickly made a phone call.

"Are you sure the door was locked? Oh...it's nothing...I'm just asking."

Jiao Wei hung up the phone. He told his parents he was going out, then rode his bike over to the clubhouse.

Zheng Tan watched him leave and rolled his eyes. How dare the boy leave the hero here! He jumped off the table and followed Jiao Wei to the clubhouse. He still needed the club to realized he had done them a favor.

When Zheng Tan got to the clubhouse, Jiao Wei had just finished phoning everyone from a public phone booth.

Everyone who had gotten a phone call jumped up immediately when they heard someone had broken into their clubhouse. They were all on their way here.

Zheng Tan couldn't find Sheriff around the clubhouse. He probably went home already. The other cats had all left as well. The clubhouse was empty.

The light was on, and the blood on the floor had dried. Jiao Wei had left the bloody wrench and stool where they were.

When everyone got there, these 'weapons' were the first thing they saw.

"F*ck! Was there a fight here? Why is there blood? Are you okay, Jiao Wei?" someone asked.

"It's not me. It was like this when I got here," Jiao Wei explained the situation to them.

"Someone picked the lock. I saw scratches," someone else who was standing by the door said.

Zheng Tan sat quietly on the side and listened to them talk. Jiao Wei had told them how Zheng Tan brought him a flag. The group all praised him; some even tried to question him. Zheng Tan pretended not to understand what they were saying and acted the way a normal cat would act. He was glad they recognized he had helped them.

"There's no point questioning a cat. It was already a miracle he notified Jiao Wei," Cheng said.

The person standing beside him nodded. "F*ck. If I find out who did this..."

"I would never have expected thieves to be interested in this place."

"People will do anything for even a little bit of money."

"But this is a good school..."

"There are plenty of smart bad people."

...

No matter how upset the group was, the only thing they could do now was clean up and replace the lock. After they were done, it was already 11.

"Sh*t! It's 11 already. The dorm's locked. The dorm manager is going to be so upset."

"Curfew is 11? It's 11:30 at my dorm."

"That's because you live in the graduate student dorm. All the undergrad dorms lock up at 11. Cheng, you got to help us. The dorm manager will make our lives hell for the next week."

"Why do we need Cheng?" Jiao Wei seemed puzzled.

The person who had been talking was a third-year student in Jiao Wei's department and lived in the same dorm as him.

"The manager won't say a thing if Cheng's there with us," someone else explained to him.

"Dormitory managers might look like some regular old guys, but they might be a relative of some school official. There was a student in our building who got into a fight with the manager and was summoned by his advisor the very next day. The manager's son worked in administration and was high-up."

Zheng Tan didn't stay to listen to them talk. It was already 11. He was in for a tongue lashing too when he got home. Mama Jiao would never let him hear the end of it.