Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 338 - Chapter 338 Chapter 331 Another call

Chapter 338: Chapter 331 Another call Chapter 338: Chapter 331 Another call Liu Ba had been busy with matters outside and hadn’t been in Chuhua City for a while. As for the number with the four sixes he had always been paying attention to, every time he called, it was turned off, leading him to believe that the person had abandoned the number. He even recharged two hundred yuan into that number, but to no avail–until now there’s been no news; the other party showed no reaction whatsoever.

Zheng Tan didn’t even know someone had recharged his number; he hadn’t turned on his cellphone. Apart from the initial novelty of having the phone, he quickly got bored. After all, who could he call for a chat? What would he say? Meow?

The number of people he knew was limited, and besides, he couldn’t talk, so the cell phone was left aside for the time being.

When Zheng Tan saw Liu Ba, he had just eaten his fill and was climbing out of Boss Cai’s resting room through the window, coincidentally spotted by Liu Ba.

“Hey, Cat stealing food!” Liu Ba called out to Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan: “…” Steal your sister, do I need to steal food when I come here to eat?

After shooting Liu Ba a glance, Zheng Tan intended to ignore him and leave, but Liu Ba followed him.

Liu Ba had just returned to Chuhua City not long after going out, and was dragged to Shiwei for a meal by Jing Gui.

Jing Gui really enjoyed the dishes at Shiwei and had recommended them to Liu Ba several times. With new dishes available, he had dragged Liu Ba over.

They had just finished their meal and were planning to return to Jing Gui’s place when they bumped into Zheng Tan, prompting Liu Ba to change his plans. He decided to walk with Zheng Tan to aid digestion, claiming that walking anywhere served the same purpose, and he didn’t have anything particular to do; he had come to Chuhua City intending to rest well for a few days. That morning, he had called the number again, and it was the same old story–the call was switched off. He wondered what to do; out of boredom, maybe he should go to a bar tonight and find a girl to spend a good night?

Zheng Tan initially had no intention of acknowledging the two following him and didn’t deliberately speed up his pace. Why walk so briskly just because of the two people behind? No need to trouble himself for them. Out of sight, out of mind, he treated the duo as if they were nothing.

But after hearing what Jing Gui said to Liu Ba, Zheng Tan couldn’t help but pay attention to their conversation.

According to Jing Gui, Liu Ba was planning to go to a small city in Northern Shu at the beginning of next month, probably having accepted another job. It was already April, and next month was May. At the start of May, Liu Ba was heading to Northern Shu…

Zheng Tan couldn’t help but think of the natural disaster he had secretly posted about on the forum some days back. Zheng Tan hadn’t paid much attention to the disaster when it happened and knew only the rough details. At that time, he was still a carefree fool, immersed in gaming and fooling around with girls, squandering his days away. Now, he wanted to share what he knew with more people, but his post was banned and deleted within a minute, the reason being alarmism, spreading rumors, and disturbing harmony–with no room for negotiation.

Well, Zheng Tan didn’t know what to do now either. It would have been a bit easier if he were human, but as a cat, his methods were limited. It seemed like none of the people he knew well were going that way. Zheng Tan had been troubled over it for several nights.

However, now that he heard Liu Ba was going to Shu Bei, Zheng Tan had an idea. There were things he couldn’t do himself, but he could make use of others. The question was whether Liu Ba would believe him.

Back at Chuhua University, Zheng Tan rarely checked his phone, which was now powered off and needed to be charged. Fortunately, the phone was of good quality; after lying idle for so long, it still worked just fine once charged and turned on.

There were many text messages and alerts. Zheng Tan read and deleted them one by one, and he was surprised to find a recharging message. Looking at the subsequent messages from Liu Ba, which didn’t explicitly say so, Zheng Tan could deduce that it was Liu Ba who had recharged for him.

Zheng Tan didn’t contact Liu Ba immediately. Instead, he sent a text message a week later asking if Liu Ba was changing his number next month.

Liu Ba, who was bored watching “Animal World” and yawning on the sofa, instantly perked up at the sight of that familiar number and immediately called it, only to be rejected as usual.

But after reading the text message, Liu Ba replied seriously. He would still be using the same number next month and provided another number; if the first one was unreachable, the other should work–one of them would always be available.

Zheng Tan then inquired if Liu Ba was going on a long trip the following month. After some time, Liu Ba responded, confirming that he was going away but not mentioning the destination. He couldn’t divulge business-related matters to Zheng Tan as he would with Jing Gui.

Having gotten the information he wanted, Zheng Tan turned off the phone again.

After trying several calls and listening to the familiar voice prompt, Liu Ba hung up, pondering what the other party meant. He always felt that the person seemed to want to tell him something incredibly important.

Because he constantly had this matter in mind, on the day he left Chuhua City, Liu Ba called that number again. It was turned off, so he sent a text message saying he was leaving Chuhua City today.

Zheng Tan looked at the calendar hanging on the living room wall, calculating the days. He almost went to turn on his phone every day, at no set time, sometimes in the morning, sometimes at night. Because of this irregularity, Liu Ba never caught him, so the phone was always off when called.

After receiving the message that Liu Ba had left the city, Zheng Tan didn’t reply, knowing a reply would certainly unleash another barrage of calls.

With one week to go before the date Zheng Tan had circled, he thought Liu Ba should be settled on his end, and it was time to discuss the matter. After dinner, he slipped out and made his way to the Old Tile House District.

At night, the Old Tile House District was always very quiet, which spared Zheng Tan a lot of trouble. If it were noisy with other sounds, he was worried that Liu Ba might deduce the exact location by sound.

After turning on the phone and reviewing a few messages–Liu Ba seemed to be busy with a task and thus texting less–they were all trivial messages asking what matter Zheng Tan wanted to discuss. Deleting them, Zheng Tan then composed a message to Liu Ba, inquiring about what he was doing at the moment. He didn’t want to call directly and potentially disrupt Liu Ba’s mission, as Zheng Tan was wary that Liu Ba might not cooperate.

The reply from Liu Ba came quickly: “Taking a dump.”

Zheng Tan: “…”

At this moment, in a decent hotel in a small city in Northern Shu, Liu Ba was having dinner with others. He left halfway through to go to the bathroom, to relieve himself and have a smoke to relax. Since there were too many people coming and going, he simply chose a stall, closed the door, and sat on the toilet cover undisturbed, which was convenient for thinking and waiting.

The stall next to him had just been occupied by a man and a woman who were drunk but very enthusiastic, embroiled in an intimate encounter. They didn’t care whether it was a men’s or women’s bathroom, and their amorous sounds were relentless. Several people who came to use the toilet whistled lewdly, even though they couldn’t see the actions inside.

Liu Ba planned to squat inside a bit longer to listen since the group in the private room was drinking merrily. He intended to return after they had drunk a bit more. However, it was at this moment that he received that text message.

The text message that Zheng Tan had received was the one that Liu Ba had replied to while sitting on the toilet cover.

After thinking it through, Zheng Tan sent another message, “I have something to tell you.”

“Ok, I’m all ears.” Liu Ba, sitting on the toilet cover, took out a compact earpiece from his pocket, put it on to block out the ambient noise, so he could hear the phone call better.

Liu Ba was just about to dial when a call came from the other end.

Liu Ba raised an eyebrow, surprised. It was rare for this mysterious guy to take the initiative to call. Could it be that he needed help with something?

His mind raced as he quickly answered the call, concentrating on the sound coming through the earpiece. However, after waiting a while, he realized there was no response from the other end.

When the call first connected, Zheng Tan nearly spewed out his dinner. Recognizing certain sounds from the other end of the phone, he didn’t speak for a while. One could imagine what was happening on Liu Ba’s end. He seriously doubted whether Liu Ba was actually attending to nature’s call or spectating some R-rated activity.

After Liu Ba said “hello” twice, Zheng Tan moved on to the important matter at hand. Zheng Tan hadn’t sent a text message about this matter. Instead, he chose this method for a reason.

With the earpiece, although it was noisy next door, Liu Ba could still hear the voice from the phone clearly. Moreover, if the call involved secret information, the sounds from next door could serve as cover, ensuring that others wouldn’t overhear the conversation. After all, everyone was paying attention to the activities next door.

There was still no human voice on the other end of the phone, only the ticking of a keyboard through the earpiece.

Liu Ba was prepared. As soon as the call connected, he took out a foldable pen and a small piece of paper from his pocket and began writing down a message formed by the tapping sounds coming through the earpiece.

Liu Ba looked at the sentence on the paper, doubting whether he had understood or spelled it right even after going over it three times.

The call had already ended, and a text message followed, “Did you get it?”

“I don’t think I understood,” Liu Ba said, still in disbelief as he looked at the paper.

Zheng Tan didn’t believe that Liu Ba truly didn’t understand. It was normal to be skeptical upon hearing such news for the first time.

“If you understand, tell as many people as possible.”

After sending that message, Zheng Tan turned off his phone. He had chosen Liu Ba to help because of intuition; he felt that Liu Ba could do what he couldn’t, wouldn’t leak information, and would handle things more smoothly.

Meanwhile, Liu Ba was in quite a dilemma. Rationally speaking, the credibility of the message wasn’t high. After all, no one could predict the future, especially not such a chilling message.

If it had been someone ignorant, it might not have mattered, but Liu Ba had experienced many disasters, both natural and man-made. Precisely because of this, a short sentence allowed him to conjecture several dire outcomes.

Putting the earpiece back in his pocket, Liu Ba sat on the toilet cover, staring at the piece of paper in a daze.

Next door, the intense action continued, but Liu Ba was oblivious. He didn’t have the time to think about anything else as he closely analyzed the likelihood that the message on the paper was true or just a ploy to fool him.

When Liu Ba came back to his senses, the people next door had left, and the bathroom was empty and quiet. The soundproofing of the place was excellent, making the noise from outside inaudible.

Liu Ba shredded the paper and flushed it down the toilet.

Inside the restroom, a drunk must have hit the lights with their phone; there was a broken phone on the floor, two of the ceiling lights were broken, dimming the room, with one flickering erratically, adding a touch of eeriness.

The restroom had a window open, and the night breeze was blowing in, a bit chilly.

When Liu Ba walked out of the restroom, he touched his forehead, covered in cold sweat. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with your recommendation ticket or monthly ticket at Qidian (NovelFire.net). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.NovelFire.net.)

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.