Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 416 - Chapter 416 Chapter 400 Mutation

Chapter 416: Chapter 400 Mutation Chapter 416: Chapter 400 Mutation Dashan’s curiosity was also strong, and to play with the lighter, he went to find Zheng Tan every morning, holding the lighter in his mouth.

Zheng Tan only taught Dashan how to use the lighter when no one else was around; he would never teach him with others present.

It had to be said that Dashan’s learning abilities matched his curiosity. Although he couldn’t compare to Zheng Tan, when it came to other cats or feliform animals, Dashan was already quite clever.

After Dashan learned, he no longer clung to Zheng Tan and would go out on his own with the lighter to find a place to practice. Zheng Tan could only hope that the guy wouldn’t end up burning down a tree by playing with the lighter.

With Dashan gone, Zheng Tan had the time to follow Ermao and the others to see turtles in the village.

Having been here so long, Zheng Tan hadn’t really had a chance to wander around the village. The day before yesterday, Ermao and the others went to see a household’s sow giving birth to piglets. Zheng Tan wanted to see it as well; there were many breeders here, and he heard that it was a small fragrant pig, which he had only eaten, never seen giving birth, so he was keen to go for the novelty. But he was stopped by Dashan, who wanted to be taught how to play with the lighter, causing him to miss the chance to see the piglets.

Today, Ermao and the others were going to see the money turtles, and Zheng Tan was going to join them.

You wouldn’t think it, but despite the seclusion here, it didn’t look like a place of wealth; in reality, many families had assets worth millions or tens of millions, with houses built like lavish villas.

Like the household they were visiting today, which had spent a million yuan on security surveillance alone, and the money turtles they bred were worth over ten million yuan in total.

But, in Zheng Tan’s view, those money turtles priced at two or three hundred thousand each weren’t anything special. He lost interest after a glance and yawned from boredom while squatting off to the side.

After touring the breeding facility, Ermao and the others were led to a place to rest, sitting and drinking tea on a large balcony on the second floor.

The person taking Ermao and the others on the tour was about the same age as Ermao, someone they called Da Hao, and it seemed the people here liked to add the word “Da” (big) in front of names, even though they were all just twenty- or thirty-something-year-olds.

At that moment, Da Hao was boasting to the three of them about his rags-to-riches story over the past few years. He was quite familiar with Ermao and the others, having played together here before. The idea of breeding turtles was actually suggested by Ermao initially. Later, this guy got more and more successful, and now he was a millionaire.

“Who is that guy?” suddenly asked Wei Leng.

Da Hao stopped speaking and followed Wei Leng’s gaze downstairs.

The balcony here was already behind Da Hao’s house, and they could see the path outside the back door, where a person was passing by. The person Wei Leng pointed to was this passerby.

As Wei Leng and the others looked down, the passerby also looked up towards the balcony. After a brief eye contact, the person then looked forward again and continued walking, maintaining the same pace and rhythm as before.

Zheng Tan felt strangely that the passerby’s gaze was somewhat odd.

Da Hao glanced up when the person looked up, then shook his head, “Don’t recognize him, probably a relative or friend visiting someone’s house.”

As Da Hao intended to continue his story of fortune, Ermao interrupted, “Da Hao, whose house is that over there?”

Da Hao looked in the direction pointed by Ermao and said, “Oh, that’s Da Kang’s house. They’re the famous Snake King’s family around here. The brothers Dazhi and Da Kang breed snakes. Dazhi was once invited to the zoo, while Da Kang has always been breeding snakes. A few years ago, Dazhi encountered some problems; it was said that due to negligence at the zoo, several large snakes died, after which I haven’t seen Dazhi much. I heard that after leaving the zoo, he was hired by someone with a high salary to breed snakes for them. Probably making a fortune somewhere now, as you can see their house has been built so beautifully.”

The three brothers Ermao exchanged glances, then Ermao said, “Da Hao, are you familiar with Da Kang? I’m quite interested in snakes. Do they have any large ones, like pythons or something?”

Da Hao conspiratorially said, “Sure they do!”

Many of the breeding activities were, strictly speaking, not in accordance with some local rules, so Da Hao didn’t speak too loudly about it. Had he not been acquainted with Ermao and the others, he wouldn’t have disclosed much.

“They have many kinds of snakes; I’ve seen a huge python at their place, this thick! It’s said to have been purchased at a high price from somewhere else,” Da Hao gestured, and Zheng Tan estimated that it was about as thick as the one he had seen in the forest a few days ago.

“But there was an incident a while back. That big python escaped and ate livestock from several households, almost causing a fatality. Afterwards, the village made a rule, forbidding them from keeping such large snakes and venomous snakes as well, in order to prevent panic. However…” Da Hao lowered his voice, “I think they’re still breeding them in secret, just keeping it out of sight.”

Da Hao led Ermao and the others towards the household of the so-called “Snake King.” It wasn’t far from Da Hao’s house, just a hundred meters or so down the road and around a bend, and they could see the Snake King’s house from the balcony on the second floor.

When they got to the door, Da Hao began knocking, “Da Kang! Da Kang, are you there?”

Da Hao was about to knock again when Ermao stopped him.

Ermao took out a thin wire and began fiddling with it, and within seconds, the door lock was picked.

Da Hao: “…Your skills are as sharp as ever.”

Ermao gestured a “shush” sign to Da Hao, as Wei Leng and Pei Liang had already silently entered.

Although Da Hao didn’t fully understand why they were doing this and felt something was amiss, he trusted Ermao because he knew that Ermao and his brothers were much wealthier than himself and wouldn’t covet what he and Da Kang had. So, if it wasn’t a financial issue, then there must be some real trouble. He was aware that Ermao and his brothers had their capabilities.