Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Other than the few Meow Meow Branch Heads that were closer to Vladimir, this was the first time the normal strays had heard his statement. They were all stunned into silence, the tension in the air so thick it seemed to seep into everyone’s pores.
Many of the strays had been abused by humans in some way or another. For example, getting chased out by adults, or getting stones thrown at them by kids. Some cats had even gotten poisoned when they ate poisoned dead rats. But there were also good humans that fed them. They had a love-hate relationship with humans, but whether the feeling was love or hate, they were all aimed towards humans as individuals. They had never considered viewing humans as an entire group before.
To pull humans down from their throne on the top of the food chain—how would that be possible? Humans were so strong and had so many powerful weapons in their arsenal. With the meager strength of the strays, wouldn’t they just be trying to block bullets with sponges?
After the shock, the strays had finally regained their composure, and a cacophony of meows rang out.
Vladimir seemed unfazed by it at all, raising his voice over the ruckus. “Before humans, many species had ruled the earth, but they merely rose to the throne and fell from it in time!” he said. “Don’t rejoice for anyone’s rule, and don’t be sad for one’s fall either! Humans will not rule the earth forever, and they’ve already passed their peak. They’re reaching their doom, so it’s time for strays to take over!”
Another roar rushed over the strays, but it was no longer one of chaos. What Vladimir had said, they had witnessed it with their own eyes. They had witnessed the cold murder between humans in the safety of the night, and they had witnessed the cruelty that humans had shown to strays. These were things that no beast would do. Most beasts wouldn’t even think about killing their own kind, but humans would.
Therefore, their confidence grew, and they felt that Vladimir might be speaking the truth.
“Humans may seem to be strong, but they have their weaknesses and faults too. Their biggest weakness is that they are arrogant and ignorant—arrogant enough to think that they’re invincible, and ignorant enough to think that nothing can end their reign. Let me tell you, they couldn’t be more wrong!”
He raised a paw, pointing it at the blood-red sunset in the west. It was near evening, and the dark storm clouds had started gathering in the northwest, dimming the sunset so quickly it would be perceptible even to the human eye. The whole village was shrouded in partial darkness, the shadows of the buildings were exceptionally long, and the dogs’ barks were exceptionally piercing.
Pairs of eyes started to light up in the dark, the cats’ pupils as bright as the full moon, as spectacular as a sea of stars.
“This is the fall of the humans! The night is near, and the world belongs to the strays! We will definitely claim the final victory, because we are doing what is right, we are exercising justice, and no one can bring down an empire built on it!”
This was the time he had been waiting for—making use of the exchange in between night and day, using the shadows as their cover to begin their attack on the strays and vicious dogs in the vicinity.
“Tonight, we will test our strength and strategy on strays. These strays often bully our cats, and some of them constantly prey on us!”
Vladimir gave a look, and the black cat with a chip in its ear brought over a few strays. They were either missing an ear or half their tail, or their skin was scratched so badly they had yet to heal. Some of them were so bad that bone was visible.
“Look at your comrades. Their injuries were the work of these vicious dogs!”
Looking at how badly injured their fellow strays were, the group of cats burned with anger and were anxious to begin their retaliation.
Seeing that most of them were adequately motivated, Vladimir raised a paw. “We cannot sit back and just watch as we are bullied!” he commanded. “We must give them a taste of their own medicine! If they don’t surrender, then they must perish!”
The morale of the strays was at an all-time high, their anger overriding their fear of the vicious dogs. They only wanted to flood in, to avenge their fellow cats with their sharp claws and teeth.
Big Orange jumped over, adding on to Vladimir’s speech. He expressed that these strays and vicious dogs were all servants of humans, but the stray dogs were more pitiful. They had been abandoned by humans too, so they could let them off easier, but the vicious dogs willingly reduced themselves to slavery at the hands of humans, and they deserved to be the target of this attack!
The time had come. Vladimir determinedly gave Big Orange, the short-haired white cat, and the grey Scottish Fold a paw sign, and the three of them immediately brought their men out with them, advancing towards the village silently in three different paths.
The black cat with a chip in its ear led a few cats that were sterilized and some other strays that had a more gentle disposition, leaving later than the rest. They were in charge of bringing the injured strays off of the battlefield.
Not long later, there were only a few strays left in the field. Other than Vladimir, the rest of them were specially hand-picked. They were the most agile and alert of the bunch, the policemen and messengers. They were here to protect the commanding base, and were also tasked with spreading information should the need arise, from the battlefield to Vladimir, and from Vladimir to the scene of war.
Vladimir didn’t need anyone else’s protection, and he would have loved nothing more than to be involved in the fight itself. But the purpose of this fight was to train their troops. Only with experienced troops at their core would the strays have a good pillar of support when fighting the humans.
He sat on high ground, squinting as he observed the terrain of the village, before drawing a crude map on the ground with his claws. The lines represented roads, and little stones represented buildings and houses. Three arrows represented the three directions in which the armies would be attacking.
The messenger cats ran between the commanding base and sites of conflict tirelessly, bringing the latest news from the war back to the base. Vladimir erased the arrows and drew new ones according to the news. For each area where a vicious dog was defeated, he would throw away the corresponding stone with a huge sigh of relief and draw a cross in its place.
Its eyes scanned the messenger cat’s face. In its rush to get to Vladimir, a layer of dust had covered its entire body and face. Both limbs and claws were dirty beyond belief as well. But its eyes were burning with a determination so very bright. They were burning with the desire to give itself up fully for a righteous cause.
The map was simple, but it was alright. This was an army born out of the poorest of the poor, an army born from the mud. They had no tanks, no planes, and no bombs. They only had small dried fish and rifle guns, but they were determined to win their victory!
Vladimir looked at the sun being devoured by the storm clouds and started to hum a song he had learned from Old Time Tea’s television with a smile.
“The sun’s setting in the west. The humans’ end is near! Playing my beloved old pipa, singing the musical melody…”
