Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 360 - Chapter 360 Chapter 353 Bah

Chapter 360: Chapter 353: Bah! Chapter 360: Chapter 353: Bah! Zheng Tan had a hard time finding the four students who stole bikes. It was even harder to capture them stealing during the broad daylight, so he could only wait in the yard behind “Sai Ma Car Shop,” knowing they would eventually show up there after each theft. They always arrived together because there needed to be accomplices around to handle any potential situations.

For instance, when stealing women’s bikes, there would be at least one guy around. If caught, and an argument ensued, a man could step in and dominate the scene, making the relatively weaker girls more likely to evaluate the situation and back down from continuing the argument. When stealing men’s bikes, that same girl would definitely be nearby. If a fight broke out between the thief and the bike owner, a seemingly gentle female student intervening to mediate could defuse the situation since most men wouldn’t physically assault a woman. Moreover, since they were all students, their temperaments were somewhat simpler, and many didn’t have the nerve for confrontation, generally preferring to keep the peace. This only emboldened the thieves.

Upon arrival at the back of the shop, Zheng Tan jumped onto the courtyard wall and flipped onto the second floor balcony, where a nondescript gray-black cell phone lay.

Once he had turned it on, Zheng Tan looked around to ensure no one was watching, grabbed the phone, and then went looking for the bike that the girl who posted online had lost. The bike was freshly painted, but its seat hadn’t been replaced. Zheng Tan quickly took a few more pictures, then returned to the second floor balcony to keep watch, forgoing lunch as well.

The gang likely chose to strike during midday, when students often stepped out for lunch off-campus, so leaving right now meant risking missing them.

Right around one o’clock, the courtyard door opened, and the same four people came in, pushing a freshly stolen bike. Zheng Tan immediately activated the camera on his phone and began filming, careful to breathe softly to enhance the microphone’s capture of their conversation.

The group discussed how they had almost been caught stealing the bike earlier that day, remarking on the high quality of the bike that could fetch several hundred yuan if refurbished.

Later, they swapped out the freshly painted bike’s basket and seat, a routine aspect of their operations, making Zheng Tan grateful he had taken extra photos earlier. They were quite cautious.

Zheng Tan didn’t know how long the “Liu Ba” model phone could continuously record. Normally, cell phones don’t record video for very long, but this one managed a half-hour before indicating it needed to restart.

Zheng Tan was satisfied with the clarity and quality of the footage captured.

In the courtyard, the people laughingly discussed how much money they had made from selling the stolen bikes over the last few days, completely oblivious to the fact that a cat was hiding behind a pile of clutter on the second floor balcony, secretly recording their every word and action.

By 2:00 p.m., three of them had left, leaving one person continuing to refinish a bike. Zheng Tan seized the opportunity to leave when that person went to the bathroom. He left the phone behind, as it was too conspicuous to take it in broad daylight and there was nothing left worth filming. He planned to return in the evening to retrieve the phone.

After leaving the shop, Zheng Tan headed straight for Jiao Wei’s family’s small restaurant, as he hadn’t eaten lunch and was hungry.

By then, the peak lunch rush had passed, and there were hardly any students left eating. When Zheng Tan arrived, the last two students were just leaving and Jiao Wei’s parents were cleaning up.

Seeing him arrive, Jiao Wei’s dad warmed up some food for Zheng Tan while Jiao Ma called Mr. Jiao.

“Heitan just came by, looks like he missed his lunch. Probably got too caught up playing this afternoon. We’re warming up his lunch right now.”

Zheng Tan, “…” Auntie, could you come up with a better excuse? “Got too caught up playing” is going to get me scolded when I get back!

After eating, Zheng Tan returned to Sai Ma Car Shop to see if there was any other evidence he could record. He went back home around five o’clock to wait for dinner. At half-past seven, he donned a vest and headed back to retrieve the phone from the shop.

He tucked the phone into his vest and headed back to the Old Tile House District on campus.

Turning the volume down, he watched the videos and listened to the recordings on the phone, feeling a sense of achievement. With these videos, and after analyzing Sahara’s behavior that day, he thought he should be able to present the facts clearly.

However, Zheng Tan’s joy soon cooled, and he began to fidget nervously.

He suddenly remembered a very important issue.

The phone lacked a data cable.

Liu Ba hadn’t given him a data cable!

What about a memory card?

If there was a memory card, Mr. Jiao might have a card reader.

Zheng Tan flipped through the phone, studying it for a long time. He found the SIM card slot but saw no slot for a memory card.

Knowing the data port wasn’t compatible with standard cables, and finding no card or given a data cable, how could he publish the evidence he had collected?

The phone did have Bluetooth, but the Jiao family’s desktop didn’t have Bluetooth capability!

Zheng Tan was frustrated.

But after thinking it over more thoroughly, using the Jiao family’s computer to disseminate this information seemed risky. After all, it was a university network, and identifying the uploader would be straightforward. Zheng Tan wasn’t a computer whiz capable of outmaneuvering IT professionals.

If this caused trouble for the Jiao family, that wouldn’t be good. Although Mr. Jiao fared quite well currently, he was far from the league of someone like Academician Ruan. At present, there were subtle battles happening at higher levels, and if Mr. Jiao became a target, it wouldn’t take much for someone to meddle in his affairs during selections or other minor issues. If Academician Ruan had his back, it might have been different, but some trouble was unavoidable. Mr. Jiao had his own plans and pace, and Zheng Tan couldn’t disrupt those.

This was Zheng Tan’s own undertaking and had nothing whatsoever to do with Mr. Jiao.

What to do?

As Zheng Tan gazed at the softly playing video on the phone, he thought it over and finally decided to leave it to Liu Ba.

Had Liu Ba anticipated today’s issues when he left the phone?

Dealing with these people, so intelligent and quick-witted, was truly exhausting. Zheng Tan reflected inwardly.

No matter what, since he had been busy up until now, there was no reason to give up.

Zheng Tan sent a text to Liu Ba, who replied quickly. He wasn’t in the city, dealing with a task, but he asked Zheng Tan to send the videos directly to him using a software installed on his phone. With this software, Liu Ba, even being out of the state, could download the videos Zheng Tan uploaded and then post them on the Chuhua University forum as Zheng Tan had envisioned.

Zheng Tan hadn’t seen that software before, not even before he had turned into a cat. He’d never even heard of it, yet, since Liu Ba said it would work and was secure, having no other options, Zheng Tan sent them directly.

While sending them, Zheng Tan also wondered how much it would cost by the data plan, but he continued to send messages after it was done without receiving a notification for a low balance. Zheng Tan didn’t worry much about it, believing Liu Ba would handle if anything came up.

After uploading the videos, Zheng Tan also edited some related materials he had found and sent them to Liu Ba, who said he could get it done by tonight.

However, Zheng Tan couldn’t get online tonight and would only be able to check on the progress the next morning.

Regarding the data cable issue, there wasn’t much Liu Ba could do now, merely telling Zheng Tan where the memory card was located. It wasn’t integrated; it was just installable and quite hidden — Zheng Tan just hadn’t found it before.

Following Liu Ba’s hint, Zheng Tan struggled to find it due to his inflexible paws, making it inconvenient to use a phone, but fortunately, he found the spot eventually. Liu Ba told Zheng Tan not to use it impulsively and to ask for his help if needed.

After thinking about it, Zheng Tan agreed, considering his poor skills, he’d better steer clear of messing around.

After arranging everything, Zheng Tan shut down the phone and went back. He removed the battery of the new phone to charge it at home with Jiao Ma’s universal charger the next day. Luckily the battery could still be used that way; otherwise, having only the device without a data cable or charger would be annoying.

Meanwhile, after Liu Ba had sent the message and downloaded the videos, he suddenly realized that he hadn’t treated the other party as a cat at all. The interaction felt just like chatting with a familiar friend, just like when talking nonsense with Jing Gui.

Liu Ba shook his head with a laugh and continued with his work. Having one more friend meant having another helper, as long as his own interests weren’t harmed.

From the information Zheng Tan provided, Liu Ba compiled an article, inserted many pictures, and embedded a few video links. Even if someone deleted the post, they could still access the content on the video site where the videos couldn’t be easily removed.

Beyond that, Liu Ba let Jing Gui look into the Sai Ma Car Shop, quickly gathering relevant information which he also included in the post.

After hitting the post button, Liu Ba thought Chuhua University would be bustling once again, a pity that no one would suspect it was the work of a cat.

Liu Ba impulsively checked recent posts on the Chuhua University forum, grinning as it seemed quite amusing. He looked forward to the excitement.

The next day, the students at Chuhua University exploded.

Whether they were students who hadn’t finished their exams, were planning to go home after finishing, or were already at home in front of their computers, they were all stirred up by the post’s content.

Those who were angry were mostly students who had their bicycles stolen, especially those who had just recently lost theirs. Whether it was those four people’s doing or not, the blame was put on them. Others felt these four had shamed Chuhua University, disgracing them all as schools all over were laughing at them.

The post by the user named HT detailed the campus bicycle theft ring and the activities of the Sai Ma Car Shop, revealing the four thieves involved.

A female student, whose bike was stolen near the Shao Bing Store, directly went to the thief’s dorm to cause a scene, reportedly a fiery incident, with pictures on the forum as proof.

There were many male victims too, who couldn’t argue as much with female students. They were upset but couldn’t just lash out at the girls; so, they confronted the other three thieves instead.

To many, it was just a bicycle, was it worth creating such a fuss?

But to the students, even buying a two or three-hundred yuan bike required a long haggle, and having it stolen shortly after was something others couldn’t understand.

When frustration accumulated to a certain point and found a way to erupt, it was hard to contain. It also goes without saying, these four hadn’t been low key recently.

According to the post, these four had stolen close to three hundred bikes, reselling a good one for two to three hundred yuan, or even more. Once, they had even sold one for over a thousand. For lower-quality bikes, though only worth a few tens of yuan each, accumulated to a significant amount, especially unbearable for students not yet working or earning much.

Using our bikes to fill your pockets?

No discussion, just beatings!

Student solidarity?

Solidarity my ass!

Acting pitiful?

Pah!

Admitting your mistakes?

To hell with that!

Pulling the same old confess-and-re-offend trick everyone knows, who are you fooling?

A new post even had a photoshopped image, featuring a crowd of students raising their fists at the four bike thieves, with a speech bubble beside them: Let’s get them together, no need for any underworld rules! (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, welcome to support by voting at NovelFire.net. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.NovelFire.net.)