Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Because he had brought more things this time, and because they were heavy things and even pets, it would be very troublesome to call a taxi, so Wang Qian drove Zhang Zian to Binhai Airport in the Wuling Hong Guang MPV after lunch.
“Master, do you need me to help you move things in? It won’t be convenient to bring them in alone, right?” Wang Qian asked.
The Holy Cat Statue was too heavy. In addition, Zhang Zian had his own luggage, UAV suitcase, accessories suitcase, pan tilt camera suitcase, and small bag with infrared trigger camera. All unloaded from the car and piled up into a small luggage hill, it was a headache to look at. No matter what, it would be impossible for a person to move them all at one time. Left outside unattended, wouldn’t they be stolen? What’s more, Zhang Zian had to go through the pet consignment formalities with Famous.
Zhang Zian glanced to the side and said, “There’s no problem. You can go back now. There’s someone here to fetch me already.”
Wang Qian looked out of the window and saw an older middle-aged man in simple clothes and three young men of different weights coming to his side quickly. That was Professor Wei Kang and his three male disciples. They had taken the first step to find out that Zhang Zian had a lot of luggage. He He, the only female disciple, was responsible for keeping watch over the luggage in the terminal hall. Four of them had come to take care of the luggage.
“Alright then, master, you take care. Have a safe trip.” Wang Qian waved his hand, driving the Wuling Hong Guang MPV back to the pet shop.
When Wei Kang and the others came to Zhang Zian, the four people and eight eyes did not look at him. Instead, they all stared at Fina. The looks made Zhang Zian want to say, “Don’t look into its eyes and not be able to pull yourself out…”
Not only were they looking, but other passengers arriving at the airport were also looking at Fina strangely. First of all, it wasn’t common to bring cats to the airport and not keep them in cages. Second, Fina’s fur color and markings were too rare.
Fina yawned lazily, used to these kinds of looks. As long as they did not use their hands, everything was alright.
Wei Kang exchanged glances with his several disciples. Although he did not make a complete examination, he was at least 80% sure that it was a living fossil which occupied a key position in the domestication history of domestic cats. It was in the transitional stage between African desert wild cats and modern domestic cats.
Nature magazine had mentioned that the Ashmolean Museum in Britain had a tomb mural from Thebes, ancient Egypt. It showed a cat enjoying fresh fish under the hostess’s chair. It was noteworthy that the patchy pattern on the cat’s body was quite different from the patchy pattern on a modern Egyptian cat. It was called a mackerel pattern.
Zhang Zian told Wei Kang that the ancient Egyptian capital of Thebes had been moved in 2000 B.C., and before that, it had been Memphis, so the age of this mural was less than 4000 years.
Where was the transition between spots to mackerel markings over the long 4000 years?
However, Fina had mackerel markings and spots on her body, which were similar to modern Egyptian cats in terms of appearance, yet not exactly the same. Everything seemed to show that her origin was mysterious and extraordinary.
It was wrong to say that it was a wild cat, but it was not a modern Egyptian cat, so Wei Kang and others believed that even if it was not a primitive Egyptian cat, it must have been very close.
Previously, because Zhang Zian had made it clear that he did not want to send Fina as a research sample, nor would he agree to the visit the Department of Biology of Binhai University, they had to adopt the principle of curve salvation to observe Fina through video.
Where would the video come from? Of course, in the footage from Snowy’s live video, when she showed the whole picture of the pet store to the audience on her mobile phone, there would always be a flash of Fina.
The combination of videos and screenshots made up the first-hand information that Wei Kang and the rest were researching.
However, the videos and screenshots were not especially clear, and could not compare to seeing it with their own eyes.
Wei Kang and his three disciples had come to pick up Zhang Zian, but now they had left him and were arguing around Fina that its mackerel markings and spotted coat were most likely the representative of the primitive Egyptian cat of how many years ago?
Wei Kang concentrated on learning and was a good speaker. Xiao Tianyu and Gao Ke were not very ambitious about learning, but they were willing to prove that they were still learning by arguing and throwing out some fantastic speculations during arguments.
“Teacher, I don’t think it’s too late for the mackerel and spots pattern to be mixed, otherwise it’s not conducive to the spread of the primitive Egyptian cat to Eurasia, so I think this pattern should have appeared… about 3,500 years ago,” Xiao Tianyu said. As for how these 3,500 years had come about, of course, he’d come up with the number spontaneously.
“That’s not right.” Wei Kang shook his head. “During the New Dynasty, 3500 to 3000 years ago, another tomb mural was unearthed which depicts the ancient Egyptians bringing cats to far away places to go hunting…”
“What? Bringing cats to far away places to hunt?” Gao Ke cut in, to take part in the fun. “Don’t you bring dogs to hunt? What can cats do?”
Gao Ke’s words were obviously discriminatory against cats. Fina glared at him angrily. Unfortunately, he did not own cats. He was unconscious of it and thought it liked him.
Wei Kang also glared at him, exasperated, and said, “Cats are natural hunters, especially good at catching birds and fish in marshes and wetlands. These areas are not conducive to the development of dogs. How did you learn your previous biology?”
Gao Ke knew Wei Kang was going to nag again about the same things, and hurriedly spoke first to explain, “No, I don’t mean that. I mean… Cats are natural hunters, but when they catch their prey, they eat it. As a result, the cat is full and the owner is hungry… Eh? Does this cat seem unhappy?”
When he was talking about it, he found that Fina’s eyes were wrong, its body was puffed up in a circle, and its ears were standing up. Even if he was bad at biology, he had studied cat evolution with his teacher, and vaguely remembered that it was a sign that the cat was about to attack.
Zhang Zian didn’t want to witness a bloody airport tragedy before they departed. He dared not stand by and just watch the drama. He interposed, “You’re wrong. You haven’t had a cat, have you? Are these things you say casually based on impression and hearsay?”
Gao Ke coughed dryly, “I currently don’t have plans to keep a cat…”
In order to calm Fina’s mood, Zhang Zian explained before he finished. “Dogs will take their prey back to their owners and cats will also do so, provided you have a good relationship with the cat,” he said. “When the cat catches any insects, birds, mice or other small animals outside, it will bring the prey back to you… Of course, modern people may not need these prey, and even feel sick at the sight of the bloody corpses of small animals, but this is enough to prove that cats can be used for hunting purposes.”
