Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
With the night fully in place, the dark had settled across the town like a blanket.
Without the full moon, the lone stars could only shine sparsely.
Right now, most people had only just finished their dinner and were watching boring soap dramas or variety shows on television, or browsing through their phones.
Vladimir stood on high ground, watching the village not too far away.
A street light by the border of the village was the first to go off.
Was it just a coincidence?
In this day and age, even unknown villages like these rarely had power outages, unless it was a season for high power usage, like summer. But it was barely May, and there was no need for air conditioning.
Besides, all these streetlights were solar powered. Even if the main circuit was interrupted, these streetlights shouldn’t have been affected.
Then another one went out.
Just like someone had flipped a switch, the streetlights and house lights started to go out one by one, and the darkness swallowed up the village, starting from the corner.
But the people had phones in their hands, and even with a power cut, they wouldn’t be plunged into complete darkness.
The people roamed around with their phones in the dark, complaining about the sudden power cut.
The kids were glad, because without light they wouldn’t have to do their homework. But seeing their mothers light candles, the glee on their faces quickly dimmed and instead became dismay.
Vladimir calmly watched everything as it happened, watching as the darkness fell over the whole village like dominoes.
“Picking up the steel roads, plucking out electricity poles, raiding the cruises in the middle of the sea! Even the great America is afraid, England, France, Russia, and Germany, crying constantly…”
He hummed a riddle from god knew how many years ago, pleased with the executive ability of the strays.
Electricity was the base of modern society.
Without electricity, human society would be as easy to tear apart as paper.
The first day, it would be alright. Some people might even be glad.
The third day, people would start to complain, but they could still bear with it.
The first week…
The first month…
With the darkness as their shield, the huge group of strays retreated from the villages after their successful attack.
Some of the families in the countryside had prepared their own generators in order to cope with the high usage during busy periods. Not long later, the roar of the generators rang sparsely, bringing light back into the world. But these bits of light couldn’t compare to the vast darkness.
People gradually left their hope, torchlights, and flashlights in their hands as they roamed, calling those that knew electrical engineering to check on and repair the circuits. They would find some silly malfunctions in those places, like a stinky pile of cat p*ss, or a dead rat.
They would fix those malfunctions quickly and bring light back to the village.
But this was just a small experiment to observe the humans’ reactions during the short break in electricity. And, predictably, humans were so fragile and helpless in the dark.
As for attacking the strays and vicious dogs, this was just a precursor to their experiment, removing any form of possible variable.
The strays gathered back at the high grounds. They’d suffered different degrees of injuries, some of them needing the help of their buddies in order to stand and move around, but they were all extremely excited from the win. They had just taught a huge lesson to the vicious dogs that had used to terrorize and harm them, making sure that the dogs would tuck their tails in fear the next time they saw the strays.
“Comrades, you have worked hard!” Vladimir announced, a paw raised high. “Let us adjourn for the day and go back to rest well and tend to our injuries, as a bigger challenge faces us in the future! Remember, we will definitely win the final victory, because death will not befall a believer of the Meow Meow Doctrine!”
The group hollered excitedly, not calming down for a long time. Finally they went back to their own territories.
Not too long later, the plot of land had gone back to the peace it once had.
Several of the guard cats wanted to send Vladimir back, but had met with its rejection. It didn’t need their protection, and…it still had some unfinished business.
Some time later, Vladimir was again left alone on the high ground…seemingly.
It didn’t leave, and it kept its eye on the village not too far away. The electricity had been restored to most of the village, except the streetlights, since they were too high up. Most of the families had returned to the light.
The people weren’t alarmed by the sudden break in electricity, and continued to laze on their beds or sofas, watching television or playing on their phones.
“Stop hiding. Come out.” Vladimir spoke without even turning his head.
It was quiet up there, the only sounds those of rustling grass and insects.
Was it talking to itself, or to the air?
“Meow! Galaxy was right, Vladimir is really good at hide-and-seek!”
A black and white cat slowly walked out of the tall grass.
Vladimir turned over, staring at Galaxy as he asked, “Are you here to stop me?”
The flame still burned in its eyes, green with a mix of gold, the burning desire gathering within its small frame.
Due to the worship from all the strays, he felt his own power growing—growing so much that it had almost reached its peak!
“We are justice!” it insisted. “No one can stop justice!”
In contrast to Vladimir looking like it was about to face a huge monster, Galaxy was sitting on the floor casually, swatting at a mosquito that had landed on its nose with a paw.
“Meow! Galaxy’s here to play hide-and-seek!” Galaxy shook its head then, denying its guess. “But there are so many mosquitoes here, it’s not fun to play here. Let’s go home.”
Vladimir was confused. Galaxy definitely didn’t seem to be here to stop it, but certainly it was not here just to play hide-and-seek.
It didn’t know when Galaxy had arrived here, but it had noticed that there was something or someone observing it, just like it had observed Zhang Zian on the ground. Back then, just by observing his actions and words, it had noticed that there was something else following them that it couldn’t see.
Vladimir was confident in its observation skills, or it wouldn’t have been able to command a whole army and gain victory in a battle so far away just by using a crude map drawn with its claws.
If Galaxy really was here to stop it, then this would definitely be a tough war to win, so it had quickly ended the pep talk with the strays and gotten them to leave first just in case things got out of hand.
Even though the other seemed strong, it was still confident that it would win, because death did not befall a believer of the Meow Meow Doctrine!
It had already lost all hope towards humankind because most of them were only silent bystanders.
Galaxy turned around without any reservations, walking towards the slope before turning back again. “Meow! Vladimir, are you not going home?”
“Home?” Vladimir was stunned and immediately followed. “For justice, the world is my home!”
Galaxy looked up at the starry sky. “Meow! Galaxy likes to be free and unrestrained too, but it’s nice to have a place to go back to after you’re tired from running around.”
Vladimir was silent.
Galaxy’s eyes turned down and landed on its face. “Meow! Maybe after a few days, you will change your mind.”
Vladimir didn’t think too much of that. It didn’t think it would change its mind, and neither would humans change.
“Besides, Vladimir, did you not see? You and your strays will soon meet an even greater challenge, and not one from the humans.” Galaxy’s gaze went past Vladimir, staring at a certain spot very far from him, its gray eyes reflecting countless stars.
“What?”
Vladimir immediately turned in shock, trying to see what Galaxy was looking at.
That was a place even further south than the dog market, even further away than Binhai City. It was a plot of undeveloped land taking up a huge amount of space between Binhai City and the next city.
It was too far away, and with the lack of light, Vladimir couldn’t see anything.
“What are you saying…?”
He turned back, wanting to ask Galaxy if it was just joking.
But Galaxy had already disappeared from its spot, as though it had never appeared in the first place.
The high ground was empty again, with only the sound of the wind rustling the leaves and shrubs. Vladimir really was alone this time.
It hesitated a bit before looking back at the plot of empty land.
“What the meow! Why did it say such mysterious random rubbish…? Forget it, let’s just go back today…”
It hadn’t planned on going back today initially. The long road back was just discouraging. It seemed like a comfortable life had already made Vladimir complacent.
Besides, after it ran all the way back, who knew if there would be a gap left for Vladimir on the second floor window?
“It’s okay! No matter how tough it is, just think about where you came from!”
It pumped itself up.
Vladimir mumbled a myriad of jingles from years ago under its breath, walking off the high ground via its original route.
This was the first time it had gone to the dog market and was unsure of its geography. If it wanted to go back, it could only walk the route that it had come from—going back to the dog market and then from the dog market to the pet store.
It started to run back, and thank goodness it wasn’t going against the wind. That made things a lot easier.
“Run with the wind. Lend me the power to fly into the sky!”
Even if so…
“Jesus meow, this really is tiring!”
The route back wasn’t actually too long, but Vladimir had burned off too much energy using his brain on the high grounds, making sure that they brought back the victory from the war. Each step that it took felt flighty and unstable, and it just wanted to find a place to rest.
A black shadow appeared in front of him, and all kinds of smells from different animals floated in.
The dog market was right in front of it, and it decided to hang on a little bit longer.
The dog market had already ended its operations. People had left, leaving behind a mess of chicken feathers and cat and dog fur.
Occasionally, a vehicle drove off full of metal cages, carrying pets that they hadn’t sold off.
Vladimir avoided the vehicles as it roamed around the dog market. It didn’t know what it was looking for. Maybe a ride back?
“Hm?”
Vladimir suddenly spotted a familiar car. There weren’t many of these luxury cars in Binhai City, much less at the dog market. It was a Mercedes Benz G class Jeep with a foreign license plate.
There was a weak light coming from within the car, and from the outside, it could vaguely see a man lying against the steering wheel as he fiddled with his phone listlessly.
Don!
Vladimir jumping on the hood gave Zhang Zian a shock, and after seeing who it was on the hood, he opened the door for it.
Vladimir jumped into the car. “Why have you not left yet? Where’s the rest?”
“They called a taxi back,” Zhang Zian said. “Blackie was rushing back to give his dog the vaccine shot, worried that it would get sick. Snowy’s mom called her multiple times. She was so angry she screamed Snowy’s ear off several times. She was in a rush to go back too, so I asked them to leave first…Besides, I haven’t had enough of this car yet! There were a lot of people on the roads during the day, and it was just not fun! Now I can finally go all out! I’m the renowned God Of Cars of Binhai City, after all!”
Zhang Zian explained where everyone else had gone, put his phone away, and started the car, driving towards the pet shop.
The jeep was fast and stable as it ran down the road, the scenery on the sides of the road becoming a blur as they zoomed past.
“Where is Galaxy?” Vladimir looked around the car, and it didn’t see Galaxy. It even ran to the back seat and trunk just to check.
“Galaxy?”
Zhang Zian was stumped. “Did you have too good of a nap? Galaxy didn’t come with us!”
“Oh…”
Vladimir wasn’t too surprised by that answer.
Galaxy hadn’t come with, at least not by hiding on the car’s roof or the trunk.
But it didn’t think it was dreaming. Its memory of the high grounds was clear. Every single grass and tree was carved in its memory. It could even remember the smell of the wind. It couldn’t have been a dream.
Back in the shop, it had noticed that Galaxy was an elusive one. But as long as it paid a bit more attention, they could still find traces of Galaxy.
So, on the high lands, had Galaxy purposefully distracted Vladimir with its words and then run away in the meantime?
Vladimir didn’t know, but it wasn’t afraid.
No matter if it was the Holy Cat statue, or humans, or unknown challenges, a Meow Meow Doctrine believer had nothing to be afraid of!
So let the storm hit stronger!
“No matter whether the enemy has surrounded us, I am unafraid! The security is tight, and we will build a city for ourselves!” Its confidence was through the roof as it mumbled those words.
“What?” Zhang Zian hadn’t heard him clearly. “What did you say?”
“Nothing much.” Vladimir smiled. “Oh right, don’t you want to ask me where I’ve been?”
Zhang Zian eyed it for a short moment. “Do you want to tell me?”
“Not for now,” Vladimir replied.
“Then I won’t ask. You’ll tell me when you want to.” Zhang Zian kept his eyes on the road.
This person was definitely interesting.
Vladimir regarded him with a half-smile.
It was easy being with this man. There was no pressure from him to say things that it didn’t want to say or do things that it didn’t want to do. It could keep some secrets to itself.
Not everyone had that kind of understanding.
It looked at the scenery outside the window, once again humming the songs that it had learned from Old Time Tea’s television.
“The waves of the lake lapping against each other, killing the previous lakes on the sandy beach…”
Zhang Zian couldn’t help the panic in his heart at those words. He was this close to driving the car into the ditch.
