Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 359 - Chapter 359 Chapter 352 Photo Taking

Chapter 359: Chapter 352 Photo Taking Chapter 359: Chapter 352 Photo Taking Since he had decided to help Sahara clear his name, Zheng Tan immediately sprang into action. He knew he had to act fast; in another week, a large number of students would be heading home, and revealing the truth then wouldn’t have the same impact.

If this couldn’t be settled, it was likely that from now on, Sahara wouldn’t be able to frolic around campus without being the subject of ridicule. Although Sahara didn’t understand the more complicated human language, many animals, especially those who had lived in human society for a long time, were quite sensitive to people’s emotional gazes. They could distinguish between goodwill and malice to a certain degree–Zheng Tan had seen many such examples, and Sahara was among them.

Being an animal wasn’t easy.

It seemed the bike thieves also planned to make a few more scores before the winter break, as many students would move their expensive bicycles into their dorms before leaving campus. Most days, people found it too bothersome to move them in and out, especially if their rooms were on higher floors. But when vacation came, they wouldn’t hesitate; the bikes would be moved into dorms or rooms of friends who lived on lower floors for safekeeping, to prevent theft and protect them from the weather. Storing a bike in the dorm was safer than leaving it in a bike shed.

With the good bikes locked up inside the dorms and under the dorm managers’ watch, the thieves wouldn’t target them. Since old bikes left outside wouldn’t sell for much, they were not worth the thieves’ efforts. Therefore, these thieves were likely to strike a few more times during this period.

Zheng Tan wasn’t a professional in this field, and considering his current form, his methods were quite limited. The most compelling evidence would be photos and videos, but Zheng Tan couldn’t just install cameras and listening devices everywhere–he lacked the equipment and the capability. However, secretly snapping a few photos was still feasible.

Speaking of taking pictures, it seemed his only usable tool was a cell phone.

Arriving at the Old Tile House District and squatting in front of the old wooden table, Zheng Tan pondered over the opened drawer.

Inside the drawer lay two cell phones, one he had previously used, and the other left by Liu Ba.

He had thought that he wouldn’t need them for a long time, but now, it seemed he would indeed have to use one.

After some thought, Zheng Tan decided to install a new SIM card as well.

Once the battery was in place, the cell phone powered on. It had several apps installed that Zheng Tan didn’t know the use of. Trying out the camera, he found its function to be quite decent. Even though it couldn’t compare to the phones four years later, it had significant advantages over other phones from the same period.

The turnover of electronic products was extremely fast. What cost three to five thousand yuan two years ago might only be a few hundred dollars now. The old phone Zheng Tan used to have was a high-priced model at the time, but it could no longer keep up with the pace. As someone who had been through it all, Zheng Tan knew all too well that even this newer phone would soon be obsolete to Liu Ba.

To keep up with the times was just like this.

Luckily, Zheng Tan didn’t have high demands at the moment. All he needed was the ability to make calls, send text messages, and take pictures. The old phone’s pixel quality was insufficient, so he had to use the one from Liu Ba.

Zheng Tan dared not show up openly during the day; he could only wait until nighttime.

Zheng Tan didn’t know the names of those four individuals, they never used full names when referring to each other, nor did he know which department they belonged to. What he could ascertain was that all four were students from Chuhua University.

When returning to the campus, Zheng Tan saw the old bike that Sahara had urinated on. An unfamiliar student was riding it, chatting with a classmate. Upon arriving at the campus gate, the student parked the bike in a shed near the entrance.

“Can’t you ride it outside? Why park it here?” the student on the old bike asked.

“Dude, it doesn’t matter where you park that beater of yours, but I can’t afford to lose mine. I heard it’s not safe outside. It’s better to park inside the campus,” said the student on a mountain bike, securing the lock, “My girlfriend’s folding bike, which wasn’t bought too long ago, got stolen last month. At the time of purchasing, we specifically chose an eighty-yuan lock, not the kind that sells for thirty to fifty, and still, it got stolen. It was parked near a restaurant outside the campus, and we haven’t found it to this day. It’s best to park where there are surveillance cameras,” pointing at the nearby camera.

“I think it’s better to buy an old bike. Like this one I just bought, it cost only 50 yuan. I’m not afraid of it being stolen, and if it’s stolen, it wouldn’t hurt too much.”

“For that junker, thirty would have been a good price, let alone fifty. Did you get taken for a ride? Where did you buy it?”

“Right over there at Sai Ma Car Shop. But they said they had just replaced the brakes, and it came with a lock and keys.”

“Replacing a brake cable at the bike repair spot on campus only costs 1 or 2 yuan, so the costs are even lower. As for the lock and keys, who sells a bike without them?”

After the two had walked away, Zheng Tan approached the old bike. The wheels still had a faint smell of dog urine, not easy to detect; it must have been washed off. The bike frame hadn’t been repainted, probably because the thieves found it too troublesome. The Sai Ma Car Shop mentioned by the student a moment ago was the very shop that Zheng Tan had been watching, where the thieves handled the stolen bikes.

Zheng Tan left the Old Tile House District wearing a vest after dinner, equipped with the cell phone, and headed towards “Sai Ma Car Shop.”

No one paid attention to Zheng Tan at night; his black vest made him less visible, and in the dead of night, no one bothered to watch a cat.

When he reached Sai Ma Car Shop, the store had yet to close. Several people were sitting inside, including the owner whom he had seen during the day. Zheng Tan did not recognize the others. The four bike-stealing students were not present.

Zheng Tan entered through the small alley next to the shop and jumped onto the back wall of the yard.

Several bicycles were parked in the yard, and there was still a smell from the paint sprayed during the day.

The women’s bicycle that was lost outside the pancake shop had its skin replaced, the original paint was sanded off, and a different color of paint was sprayed on. The first thought for many people who have lost their bikes in finding them is to see if the color matches their own. With a new layer of paint, it is no longer so easy for the original owner to spot it.

The yard was very quiet, with lots of goods and parts piled up behind the shop, and no one around the back door, which was closed. Perhaps because the yard gate was locked securely, no one paid much attention to the back door area.

Zheng Tan listened for any signs of activity nearby and, making sure there was no one around, took out his phone to take photos.

Photographs taken at night require a flash to be clear, and Zheng Tan was worried that the flash might draw attention. So he took one photo, then carefully checked his surroundings, paying attention not only to the Sai Ma Car Shop but also to the residential and storefront buildings nearby. After confirming that there were no unusual movements, he proceeded to take the second picture.

The few people inside the shop were engrossed in their card game and would never have imagined that, at this very moment, a cat was in their backyard covertly taking photographs with a cell phone.

He didn’t take many photos, just the key ones, and after that, Zheng Tan jumped onto the courtyard wall to look around.

Zheng Tan planned to take more photos during the day, but it was inconvenient for him to carry the phone in daylight, so he decided to hide the phone nearby that night. The next day, he could come over to take photos covertly without wearing a jacket.

The balcony on the second floor of the shop was quite narrow, cluttered with various items that hadn’t been moved in ages, and the door at the back of the second floor was also closed. The traces there suggested it was rarely used.

Zheng Tan jumped onto the second-floor balcony, carefully cleared a space among the cluttered items so that the junk on either side would block the line of sight from other residential units, and found a gap between two boxes by the railing that offered a hidden spot for him to take photos without being easily noticed by those below.

After trying it out, Zheng Tan was quite satisfied with the spot. Thinking it was adequate, he put down the phone and made his way home with ease.

The phone that Liu Ba gave him had a lock feature that would shut down the device after three incorrect password attempts, and all data would be cleared. This feature made it somewhat safer than other phones, especially for covert activities like this, reducing the risk of discovery.

It wasn’t going to rain tomorrow. If there were rain or snow, those four wouldn’t leave the bikes outside since, after all, they were vehicles meant to be sold for money.

The next day, Zheng Tan didn’t leave home right away but sneakily went online to check the discussions about the Sahara incident on the school forum.

The popular thread was still active, and there were also posts about Ruan Ying apologizing to the students of the school, with some students asking Ruan Ying to take Sahara for a veterinary check-up.

For humans, this situation would be analogous to being called mentally ill, a lunatic, and being told to go to the hospital for a check-up–refusing the check-up would amount to admitting being both mentally ill and a madman. For humans, this would undoubtedly be seen as an insult, but when it’s about an animal, it seems perfectly normal. Many were demanding Ruan Ying provide health records from the veterinarian and show recent check-ups, almost relentlessly.

Zheng Tan would not believe for a second that there was no one intentionally stirring up trouble.

Students wouldn’t casually pressure a teacher, let alone an academician. Even if they had the gall, they’d likely deem it unnecessary. Yet these few not only made such statements but also stirred up others to talk nonsense. They had just been discussing the dog, but soon after, the talk shifted to project funds, raising suspicions about embezzlement of research project funds through fake receipts.

Some students had already sensed something amiss and had stopped making random comments.

Scandals involving major figures at universities happen every year, even at prestigious colleges, and Chuhua University has had its share in the past. However, no news of that sort had surfaced in recent years. Now that the topic was brought up, it was no longer in the students’ purview to handle. Making post-event comments was fine, but amid unclear circumstances, it was better to remain silent.

Offending someone was something these small fries couldn’t withstand. There were plenty of past examples: young teachers being marginalized after falling out with some influential big shot, graduate students clashing with their advisors and being delayed for years from graduating… These kinds of incidents were not uncommon, and they were often a topic of gossip among students.

Although fewer people were speaking up on the forum, the number of watchers hadn’t decreased–students and teachers were both watching, and while they dared not speak out, that didn’t mean they couldn’t observe. After all, it didn’t concern them personally, so watching the drama unfold was always an option, right?

Some even bluntly said “let them fight each other like dogs,” not knowing the extent of their grudges.

Looking at the latest discussions, no one mentioned the female student who, along with her bike, was knocked down by Sahara anymore. Even Sahara was less and less frequently brought up. It seemed that the fight had reached its main topic, and who knew when the school authorities would delete the threads.

After browsing for a while, Zheng Tan was about to shut down the computer and leave when he noticed a post from the previous day just bumped up by a recent reply–it was about the theft of a bicycle.

Upon clicking in, he saw that the post was made by a female student. She detailed when and where she lost her bike and posted old photos of it, asking anyone who saw it to notify her.

The photo proved it was the same bike Zheng Tan had seen.

Zheng Tan noticed that one of the images the girl posted showed the bicycle seat, with a string of English letters printed behind it–her name spelled in pinyin and written in cursive, which might be mistaken for the bike brand by the unaware.

It was solid evidence.

Zheng Tan hadn’t noticed the seat when taking the photos the previous day. After looking over the images a couple more times, he shut down the computer and went downstairs. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian (NovelFire.net) with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.NovelFire.net).