Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 421 - Chapter 421 Chapter 402 Regret_2

Chapter 421: Chapter 402 Regret_2 Chapter 421: Chapter 402 Regret_2 The old man sat back down and waved his hand, saying to Ermao and the other two, “Go.” He was of an age where it was impossible for him to go out searching with them.

“Master, here…” Wei Leng looked at the old man.

“Don’t worry, they’re here, everything will be fine. Just be careful yourselves,” the old man pointed to the group accompanying them, including people who had come from the provincial city to help with the investigation and a few well-connected villagers, all there to guard the place and ensure no harm came to the elders and children during their absence.

The three fellow disciples worked better together than anyone else, and the old man had great confidence in his pupils.

As Dashan led Ermao and the others into the forest, Zheng Tan had just woken up from a nap. Although the quality of sleep wasn’t great, the rest had significantly refreshed his spirit and restored his energy.

He observed that there were six people at the site, the same five he had seen previously plus the one who had taken Pei Jie.

It was lunchtime, and the six men gathered around a tent, eating and talking–likely discussing their next moves. They had accents and spoke rapidly, which made it hard for Zheng Tan to understand. He could only catch a few words here and there, which made no sense when strung together, so he had to rely on their tones to interpret what was being said.

One of the six sat at the tent entrance, half inside and half outside, remaining alert to the surroundings while occasionally speaking with the others.

For Zheng Tan, this was an opportunity. Since all six were gathered here, it meant no one else was around.

Circling to the rear, Zheng Tan quietly approached the fabric shed. The three tents didn’t seem like places where hostages would be kept; the most likely place was this fabric shed holding animals. Moreover, from the subtle words and actions of those people, Zheng Tan deduced that Pei Jie must be inside.

Stealthily making his way to the back of the fabric shed, Zheng Tan found a spot that wasn’t secured. The shed was only fixed at a few points, and at an unsecured spot, he could slightly lift the fabric and crawl through.

This was the advantage of his size. If he were any bigger, trying to get inside would certainly have alerted those men.

After listening carefully and confirming that all of them were still by the tent, he carefully lifted the hanging fabric of the shed that wasn’t secured and quickly crawled through.

Inside the shed was much darker than outside, but this didn’t much affect Zheng Tan, who could clearly see the interior.

Inside were the same five cages he had seen before, two holding monkeys and three holding red pandas. Near these cages, in one large enclosure, sat a child in the corner–clearly Pei Jie, without a doubt.

Pei Jie was sitting with his legs hugged to his chest, his head resting on his knees, seemingly asleep.

The animals in the five cages appeared as listless as before, unwell and not noticing Zheng Tan. Only the animal next to Pei Jie’s cage seemed a bit more alert and watched Zheng Tan as he approached, but it made no sound, merely staring curiously.

This was fortunate since these animals seldom made noise, which was beneficial under the current circumstances.

The little red panda just stood by the edge of the cage, looking at Zheng Tan, while also lifting a paw to fiddle with the fur around its mouth.

Zheng Tan walked over to Pei Jie’s side. The metal mesh of the cage was quite dense; he couldn’t squeeze through, so he could only extend his paw to gently push Pei Jie.

Pei Jie wasn’t sleeping deeply, and woke up after being pushed, looking around somewhat confusedly. It was still a dim environment with the stench of animal excrement. However, having been forced to smell it all day, Pei Jie had become somewhat numb. Besides, the stench also included his contribution since he had urinated a few times.

Not noticing anything unusual, Pei Jie was about to continue sleeping when his arm was touched again.

Turning his head, he met a pair of eyes.

Pei Jie almost screamed in fright, but, having good psychological quality, he managed to hold it back. After a close look, he realized that what had pushed him was a cat.

There was no helping it; the environment was too dark for Pei Jie, and the place where Zheng Tan was staying was even darker. Pei Jie couldn’t see the objects here as clearly as Zheng Tan could. Moreover, Zheng Tan was already dark in color. If it weren’t for his eyes reflecting some light, Pei Jie probably wouldn’t have noticed Zheng Tan so easily. He didn’t think it was Zheng Tan himself but assumed it was some wild cat from the woods.

The cage was too small for Pei Jie; even sitting in one corner of the cage, he occupied nearly a quarter of the cage’s cross-section. Pei Jie couldn’t stand upright in the cage either; he had to bend his waist when getting up.

Zheng Tan also thought that Pei Jie hadn’t seen clearly, glanced around, and then walked over to a small window left on the side of the canvas tent.

The light slanting in from outside the window cast on the uneven ground. Once Zheng Tan walked over there, Pei Jie could finally see clearly.

“Hei… Heitan?!” Although he was very excited, Pei Jie remembered he was trapped here, and, fearing his voice would draw those people, he kept his voice low.

Zheng Tan was very satisfied with Pei Jie’s reaction and walked back to the edge of the cage.

Watching Zheng Tan, Pei Jie started to cry. Since Zheng Tan was here, his dad and Uncle Ermao must be nearby, right?

Suddenly, Pei Jie felt as if his dark childhood had seen the light once more. The self-proclaimed manly young man, who claimed men don’t cry blood but tears, couldn’t stop his tears now.

“Whimper, Heitan, I was wrong, I shouldn’t have taken your things without permission, I shouldn’t have tried to pick the lock without consent…” Pei Jie kept his voice low as he admitted his mistake. Because his voice was so suppressed, sometimes you could only see his mouth moving without any sound coming out. However, Zheng Tan could still tell what the child was saying from the few words spoken and the movement of Pei Jie’s lips.

The tone was very sincere, and coupled with his expression, it was quite touching, but somehow, Zheng Tan felt these words were spoken by Pei Jie too smoothly, without any pause.

Pei Jie had indeed said similar things many times, but at this moment, he truly felt regret. If he hadn’t been curious about the box, if he hadn’t moved the box out of the yard, would he have met that stranger? Would Uncle Lin not have been knocked out? Would his younger siblings not have fallen into danger? Would he himself not have been carried here like a little chicken by the bad people?

Regret, he truly felt regret! (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian (NovelFire.net) with a recommendation or monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.NovelFire.net to read.)