Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Before this, every time the Warding Off Evil Cat appeared, it was always hiding; no one had seen its real self.
Zhang Zian had always thought it was a black cat because it was always able to totally blend into the dark shadows, but upon careful observation, he found that its fur color was not completely black. Instead, it was a dark blue color with hints of gray under the sunlight.
Famous had seen many kinds of pet cats in the pet shop, but not that one. It asked Zhang Zian, confused, “English Shorthair? It’s an English Shorthair?”
Zhang Zian shook his head slightly. “No, it’s not an English Shorthair.”
English Shorthairs were dominant in China. Many people would open their mouths and say that it was an English Shorthair when they saw a blueish gray cat. Even Famous was no exception, but Zhang Zian could tell at a glance that the Warding Off Evil Cat was not an English Shorthair.
“If I did not identify it incorrectly, from the unique features of its appearance, it is a mixed breed of the Russian Blue and a native cat,” he said.
The Russian Blue, the France Chartreux Cat, and the English Shorthair were called the world’s three biggest blue cats, but the other two were rare in China. When they appeared, they were also mistaken for English Shorthairs.
Zhang Zian had not interacted with a Russian Blue in real life before, but he was, after all, running a pet shop, and normally he would try to increase his professional knowledge. If he was stumped by the questions of the customers, he could not act knowledgeable anymore.
The unique part about the English Shorthair was that its eyes were circular, its face was circular, its claws were circular, the tip of its tail was circular, and its torso was circular; it had various kinds of circles all over.
Although the Russian Blue was also blue, compared to the British Shorthair, the Russian Blue was slender. It had slender limbs, and a small and sharp face. If it was impossible to distinguish between them, there was a better way to distinguish between them. The Blue Shorthair had yellow eyes, while Russian Blue cats had green eyes with a hint of a gold rim. Of course, their pupils were black or brown.
Compared to the purebred Russian Blue cat, the Warding Off Evil Cat’s fur color was darker. It could be mistaken for black and gray in the dark. Some details were different from the pure Russian Blue cat. It was due to the integration of native cat’s genes into its body. The Russian Blue cat’s trademark golden-edged green eyes made it such that Zhang Zian could not mistake it for anything else.
The Warding Off Evil Cat walked over as if there wasn’t anyone nearby. It commented, “You’re a little interesting. You’re one of the few bright spots in this indifferent and selfish world. I had high expectations for you at first, but you finally disappointed me a little. If the full score was 100, I could barely give you 60 points.”
Zhang Zian did not know what kind of points it was giving him, but he thought it seemed like it was talking about the process he went through to save the infant. Even Old Time Tea, who had high expectations and was strict, gave him very good reviews. What right did it have to give him 60 points?
In all fairness, in the process of saving the infant, there were some details that were not that good. If he had time to think carefully, perhaps he could find a better way to solve it. Even so, he had to have done better than just barely passing… Right?
And it was talking way too big. It said that the world was indifferent and selfish… Even if the world was flawed and bad, at least most people were good people, right? For example, the traffic policemen and assistant policemen who helped. Without them, that problem from earlier would not have been solved so smoothly.
Old Time Tea shook its head slightly, disagreeing with the Warding Off Evil Cat’s comments.
“What are you referring to? Are you talking about the things just now? Did you see everything?” Zhang Zian asked, finding it strange.
“Of course.” The Warding Off Evil Cat nodded, chuckling. “Did you think that it was a coincidence you met those two swindlers that could be human traffickers?”
Zhang Zian was stunned. What did it mean? If it was not a coincidence, could it be that… it had purposely lured him to that special street, let him meet that young man and woman, and then took the opportunity to observe his reaction?
He had thought that they had set a trap to corner the Warding Off Evil Cat, but the truth was that he had already fallen to the Warding Off Evil Cat’s scheme. It purposely calculated a plan and give him an invitation into the urn…
At that time, on the nearby walls and roofs, a number of different stray cats appeared, staring at them from afar.
Since the stray cats could inform it of Zhang Zian’s movements, it could also inform the young man and woman’s movements to him. It was not running around in the old city before, but instead it was looking for the right time for him to meet young man and woman… It could have even been traced back to the moment when it appeared on the eaves of Taihe Hall. Since then, it had been luring the enemy in.
Zhang Zian was shocked. What a deep scheme! What a careful plan!
In front of it, he felt that he had really become an idi*t that felt like he knew everything.
“When I noticed you on the parade square, I already felt that you were quite interesting, so I planned a small test for you. However, you disappointed me a little.” It shook its head with pity.
“Where did I disappoint you? You said you gave me 60 points. I want to know where you reduced the other 40 points. Was it because I hesitated in making some decisions?” Zhang Zian asked, unsatisfied.
The choices he were talking about, of course, were the moments when he made a choice between pursuing the Warding Off Evil Cat and pursuing the young man and woman. He did hesitate because he was not sure whether the young man and woman were human traffickers. But even so, even if he had chased them earlier, the result would not have changed. It was not so bad to deduct 40 points…
“No, of course not. Under this kind of situation, hesitating is normal.” The Warding Off Evil Cat rejected his guesses. “At that time, I saw that you had clenched your fist, am I correct?”
“That’s right,” Zhang Zian admitted. When he felt that the two people could be human traffickers, he had clenched his fist in anger.
“Then why didn’t you punch them?” it asked with a matter-of-fact look.
Zhang Zian: “…”
“Under normal circumstances, no one would punch them, right?” He was full of insults. “At that time, I was not sure if they were actually human traffickers or not…”
“But you could at least confirm that they were cheating money, right?” it continued to ask.
“That’s right,” he admitted. “But cheating a few tens or hundreds of yuan does not require punching them… Furthermore, that was a woman. As a man, hitting a woman because of that kind of small thing is really…”
“See, that’s where your problem lies. You are too benevolent––you’re like a woman!” The Warding Off Evil Cat cut off his explanation. It widened its eyes and said sternly, “In your eyes, that’s a woman, but in my eyes, that’s a reactionary!”
Zhang Zian said, “…It isn’t so bad that you need to call her a reactionary right…?”
It said indignantly, “You recognized the real face of the reactionaries, yet you still went to great lengths to track down and seek help. You almost let the reactionaries flee. This is the worst strategy for fighting!”
“Then what’s the correct fighting strategy?” Zhang Zian asked.
It was exasperated at his failure to improve. It raised its front paw, then hit it heavily on the ground. “You need to have physical fights, not literary fights!”
