Chapter 35

I didn't respond, but instead recalled the smell of the abandoned park where the car had stopped.

I can guarantee that there are animals there. As for what kind of animals they are, the majority are edible livestock such as cattle, sheep and pigs. The air is filled with this smell. Even the driver is covered with an almost inaudible sheep smell. Although he covered it with soap when he went out, I could still smell it.

So there is the scent of my companions there, and I can smell it too. I can vaguely detect the smell of cat feces.

The driver was undoubtedly the cat-stealing driver. He hid the cat in other livestock pens and used this kind of irony to mislead others. Even if he was caught, he could still cover up his crime.

I sniffed, the man's scent still lingered on the road, and I could follow it back the same way.

Privately, I shook my head at Teng Zheng, saying I didn't understand what the driver was talking about. In reality, I was already thinking about when I should follow the scent back home today.

Just as the driver said, there were not many people in the hotel. The owner was very enthusiastic about Teng Zheng and my check-in, as if he had never seen a person in his entire life and was now seeing his true self.

Teng Zheng is rich, but he is not as stupid and rich as I thought. Since we are both men, there is no need to spend dozens of dollars to book another room. We can just stay in a double room.

There were two beds in the dim room. Teng Zheng ran straight to the one near the door, rushed over, and fell straight onto it.

He sighed comfortably, "It's really great."

Ignoring his indecent posture and strange noises, I walked straight to the other bed, sat quietly on it, twisted my neck a bit, and took a quick look at the narrow space.

Teng Zheng turned his head to look at me: "What's wrong? Are there any cockroaches?"

After saying that, he suddenly stood up and ran to the door to turn on the lights in the room.

A bright white light instantly illuminated the room. Teng Zheng's fear didn't seem feigned; the terror on his face was fully visible to me. I thought it was interesting, so I pretended there was something behind him, acting terrified, pointing behind him and opening my mouth in a hoarse voice, reminding him that there was something behind him.

My meaning was very easy to understand. Teng Zheng understood my gesture immediately. He was jumping on the spot like crazy, spinning in circles and waving his hands, trying to prevent the dirty thing behind him from getting close to him. He kept shouting, just like a pig that knew it was going to be slaughtered and was almost tied to a rack to be slaughtered.

Teng Zheng looked really funny. His movements were so large that they left afterimages. I couldn't help laughing after seeing it.

"What on earth is that?" He ran over to me and didn't forget to observe it. "What do you see?"

I lowered my head and smiled without saying anything. Teng Zheng went from initial fear to suspicion, then to angrily laughing, and finally hooked his arms around my neck.

"You bastard, you're just trying to tease me for fun! Do you know that I've been terrified of flying insects since I was a kid?"

Noticing that his hand was shaking as he hooked mine, I began to realize that he was really scared. I couldn't help but look up at him, then put away all my ridicule of him: Sorry, I didn't know.

It was rare that he could pretend to be calm and took out his mobile phone to take a picture of my gesture to translate the meaning. My lips, which had been suppressed, lifted up again.

Maybe it was because I had apologized, or maybe he wasn't too angry in the first place, so he forgave me without further ado: "I won't hold it against you. I'm so tired, I need to clean up and get ready for bed. I have everything in my bag. If you're hungry, you can just eat here. Otherwise, I'll order takeout for you after I shower... I'm really impressed. I don't even know if you can order takeout in this remote place. Forget it, we'll talk about it later. You can handle it yourself. I'm going to shower."

The bathroom light was dim, the door opened and closed, and after a few seconds, the sound of running water came from inside. He said a lot of things, and I only knew that he would probably sleep for a long time tonight. Maybe I could leave early while he was asleep.

When I thought of this, I breathed a sigh of relief, poured everything in the shopping bag onto the bed, and picked and chose among them, finding a few foods I liked for dinner tonight.

About half an hour later, dinner was finished.

An hour later, a soft snoring sound was heard in the room.

I stood up from the bed and quietly left the room.

It was dark when I left the hotel. Late spring nights are like that, neither too hot nor too cold, but still a bit chilly if there's a breeze, unless you're wearing a sweater.

Tonight, the spring breeze and the moon were not there, and there were no animal calls around. Instead, there was a group of insects surrounding the street lights.

I looked towards the south and the north, and even with the lights on, it was still pitch black.

This county area is nothing like the commercial streets in the city. This time should be the time when everyone gathers together to chat after dinner, but here there are only two or three old men sitting in front of the shop with stools, fanning themselves with palm-leaf fans, as if they were sitting on a recliner, holding one bent leg with one hand, swaying lazily from side to side like a cat, until they change hands to fan, or feel tired and pack up and go back to the house.

I withdrew my gaze, turned around, walked along the street to the bus station, hid in a secret corner and turned back into a cat, sniffing the scent and heading in the direction the taxi left.

The whole journey was so quiet that I could only hear the sound of my own contact with the earth and my slight breathing.

In order to avoid getting lost, I didn't take shortcuts. I just went where the smell was strongest. I was afraid of getting lost, and even more afraid of finding the wrong place. I had to go back to where the driver parked the car this afternoon and take a look at the dilapidated factory.

As the distance gradually shortened, the familiar smell I smelled became stronger and stronger, until I stopped in front of the iron gate.

This is it.

I playfully slipped in through the gap, walked around the unfamiliar yard, and found the dog sleeping in the corner.

It was a fierce dog named Tibetan Mastiff. Although it was tied tightly with a heavy iron chain and would not endanger my life, its barking was particularly rough and would definitely attract the attention of those who were interested. I could guarantee that I would not be caught by it, but I could not guarantee that I would not be caught by its owner, so I had to walk around it and make sure that it would not discover me next time.

I carefully searched every open house in the yard, but found nothing except large livestock. There was only one locked house, and I squatted by the crack in the door, sniffing carefully. There was no living creature inside. I guessed it was probably a warehouse. Besides the pungent smell of rust, the smell of dust was quite strong.

I reviewed it again in frustration, and in the end I found that there was no difference. There was clearly the smell of cat in the air.

I couldn't tell where the smell came from, as it was obscured by the smell of other livestock's feces. I could only vaguely sense that my companions must have been hidden in a secluded place.

Time passed by minute by minute, and I was getting extremely anxious.

I focused my attention on a door, which might contain the answer I wanted, but there was a Tibetan mastiff sleeping next to the door.

I don't dare to take the risk, but I don't want to give up either.

I retreated for a while, but finally chose to move forward.

Night crept in, windless, the scent of a Tibetan mastiff lingering in my nose, the tension growing thicker. I stalked slowly, hugging the wall, each step feeling like walking on clouds.

As the iron gate was approaching, the Tibetan Mastiff's breathing spread in my ears like thunder. I couldn't ignore it and glanced over there every few seconds until I squatted in front of the iron gate.

I turned my head and saw that the Tibetan Mastiff was still sleeping soundly in the same position as before, completely unaware of the existence of other creatures.

I used my beard to measure the distance between the two poles, and only after I was sure that my whole body could fit inside did I lift my foot and move slowly.

"Pah--click!"

"Woof! Woof woof!"

My hair stood up all over my body, I was terrified, and I climbed up the iron gate regardless of everything, hiding on the roof where the Tibetan Mastiff lived.

A light in the backyard came on, and orange-gold light poured over.

The big dog was still barking, and the iron chain was rattling. Its barking became more and more intense. I could hear it lying in front of the iron gate, slapping the door violently with its claws.

I never imagined that this iron door was not completely closed, but only loosely closed. Li Ying'an had taken very good care of me in the past few months, and I had actually gained some weight, so when I passed through this iron door, my body was pressed against the iron railings.

After I was completely free, the door bounced back due to the shaking.

I lay shivering on the roof, recalling what had just happened with lingering fear, my mind full of the tragic scene of being swallowed by the Tibetan Mastiff if I had been a little slower.

Suddenly, a white light came on in the yard. I looked up slightly and found that there were four street lamps standing in the middle of the yard, facing east, south, west and north respectively. As the light came on, the yard instantly became bright.

"Why are you yelling so late at night?" the man's voice echoed with the creaking of the iron door. "What did you see?"

I held my breath, concentrating so hard I didn't even know when the man arrived. I didn't hear his footsteps at all. But I recognized this voice; it was the driver Teng Zheng and I had met this morning.

The dog is still barking.

"I'm here and you're still yelling. Do you think you'll get disciplined if you don't get spanked every day? What the hell is going on up there?"

I thought I might be exposed.

If I were a human now, my back would have been wet with sweat, my teeth would have been chattering, and I would have attracted more attention in this quiet night.

But even if I am my original body now, I still can't get any benefit. I am scared to death. I don't want to throw my life here in a daze. I must unleash my endless potential.

The Tibetan Mastiff kept barking, and I realized that the man would definitely climb up to take a look. I couldn't just sit there and wait for death, so I tiptoed back behind a raised brick, kept steady breathing, and hid all my hair tightly, trying not to be discovered by the man.

After a few seconds, I heard the sound of footsteps on the iron gate. I didn't dare to stick my head out and huddled in the corner for a few seconds. When the iron gate made a noise again, followed by a barrage of low curses, I dared to stretch my neck carefully, look forward, and then cautiously retract.

"Watch the door carefully and don't make noises in the middle of the night. And don't look up at crows and sparrows!"

There was another muffled slapping sound, probably the man slapping the Tibetan Mastiff on the head. "Did you hear that? You're the only one who's going to make a scene when a thief breaks into my house. Don't bother me by making trouble!"

The Tibetan Mastiff whimpered a few times in protest, and then fell silent.

The iron gate creaked open, and the Tibetan Mastiff's movement pulled at the iron chain. To ensure safety, I did not go back, but looked for a way out from the corner behind me to find another way into the backyard.

The lights in the yard went out in an instant, and darkness returned to my surroundings. My eyes brightened, and my heart, which had calmed down, settled back into its place. Not far away, I saw a strong beam of light. It was a man's flashlight. It flashed around like lightning, finally settling on the spot where I had followed my curiosity.

I walked slowly and lightly along the crumbling cement wall to the tiles piled on the wall. I knew that my weight would overwhelm the tiles and make noise.

In order to prevent what happened just now from happening again, I settled for the next best thing, looked up, and decided to walk on the iron sheet above my head.

The night here was so quiet that even when I jumped on it, I could still hear other noises, but they were much quieter than before. The Tibetan Mastiff below heard it and whimpered briefly, like a discontented whine, as if afraid of further scolding from its master. Ultimately, it gave up and the night settled into a brief lull.

I crouched down and moved forward bit by bit like a four-legged reptile. Only when I could hide myself and see what was below did I finally breathe a sigh of relief.

A beam of strong light passed by me, and I was startled with my breath stuck in my throat. At first I thought I was exposed, but then I found out that it was just a careless sweep by the man with the flashlight. His real target was a dry piece of land covered with withered and yellow hay.

I was a little curious about what he would do next, so I stared at him intently until I saw him put down the flashlight, squatted down, and opened the land in front of my shocked eyes!

That turned out to be a hiding place!