Strange Life of a Cat-Chapter 246 - 239 The Cat in the Night

Chapter 246: Chapter 239 The Cat in the Night

Chapter 246 -239 The Cat in the Night

On the third day after reaching the field study base, the already grouped students followed their respective group leaders and left the base.

The Jiao family of four went with one of the groups. The two group leaders had a good relationship with Mr. Jiao and chatted about their previous experience leading groups as they walked into the mountains and forest.

For the field trip, everyone wore long-sleeve shirts and pants suited for mountain climbing, along with sun hats. There were a lot of insects and mosquitoes in the mountain forests—don’t think it isn’t a big deal in the daytime; once you enter the forest, you’ll understand just how formidable those mosquitoes can be. Therefore, the students all carried repellents like mosquito coils, menthol oil, and other anti-mosquito medications in their bags.

Zheng Tan didn’t find it bothersome. For one, his fur served as a layer of protection, and secondly, he was used to it. He would often dash through forests and found it wasn’t a big deal. Wearing additional protective gear felt more cumbersome.

The group leader explained various plants to the students as they walked and collected samples of those deemed worthy of making specimens. They gathered them to create specimens later. As for the plants they commonly saw in Chuhua City, they didn’t bother collecting them.

On their first day of field practice, the group leader didn’t plan on taking the students to a remote area immediately but walked along the winding mountain road instead. The cement road was well-built, mainly for tourist use. As they got farther from populated areas, they hardly saw any vehicles, but occasionally a crab would audaciously sit in the middle of the road. It’s like how some people block the path arrogantly, although there were no cars here, just a lot of people.

Every time they saw a crab on the road, the students, with the excitement akin to having injected chicken blood, would charge with their bottles in hand. Jiao Yuan didn’t need to catch them by hand; he just placed the wide-mouthed jar in front of a fleeing crab and waited for it to crawl inside. However, the cunning and quicker crabs weren’t as easy to catch. Sometimes, if you weren’t paying attention, they would slip down the slope and into the stream below before you knew it.

A crab scuttled towards Zheng Tan, who swiftly flipped it toward Little Youzi. She was ready; unafraid of crabs, she quickly trapped it with her jar. Other students naturally came to help—none of them would pass up the chance to ingratiate themselves with the teacher, hoping that it might lead to leniency during the final exam and avoid failing a subject.

Along the way, they caught quite a number of crabs. Aside from a few students who kept one or two in their own bottles, most of the caught crabs were stored in a bag for the time being.

After a while, the group left the main road and clambered up the mountain. There was still some human activity in the area, as they occasionally spotted a few villagers living up on the mountain. However, unlike the nicely built residences near the base, these villagers’ houses were simple tiled ones.

As they continued, in addition to teaching the students about the plants they saw, the group leaders talked about recognizable insects. Mr. Jiao also shared his knowledge with his two children.

“Hey, there’s a cat over there!” Jiao Yuan pointed to a spot and said.

Zheng Tan looked where Jiao Yuan was pointing, and indeed, there was a cat running away. It quickly left everyone’s line of sight and hid in the bushes. Those who were slower to react couldn’t see the cat anymore. The cat was probably scared off by the commotion of the group.

“That must be a wild cat,” one of the group leaders commented, “There are many wild cats around here. Some are domestic cats that have returned to the wild, and after several generations, they have become wild cats.”

Feeling the need to be cautious, the leader then warned the students, “You all need to be careful when you see those wild cats on the mountain. They’re not like the pet cats you keep at home. They can have a violent temper, and they have never been vaccinated. Running around the mountain, you never know how many germs they carry. You’re better off keeping your distance in the future.”

The crowd looked at Professor Jiao’s cat, which didn’t need a leash and was well-behaved, then thought about the other cat they had just seen that disappeared at the slightest noise. Was this indeed the difference between domestic and wild cats?

“Cats’ wild instincts are quite strong, and they have a powerful survival capacity. Many of them survive when they return to the wild. It’s just unfortunate for the birds. In the past couple of years, the Bird Protection Association actually came specially to catch cats, but before long, cat lovers’ organizations came to protest. Sigh,” another group leader said.

Zheng Tan thought to himself: As expected, the organizations for cat lovers and bird lovers really don’t get along.

Probably feeling this topic wasn’t a good one for the students, as it might cause disputes, the previous group leader didn’t continue that line of conversation, instead asking, “What do you think, is it possible for us to discover an albino animal this time?”

“Hey, keep dreaming. Albinos aren’t so easy to find. Even professional wild survey teams can’t guarantee encountering them every time. Many are discovered by chance. The odds are too low,” laughed another group leader.

“You just said it was a chance event. No one can say for sure when we might come across one. Maybe we’ll even find a red mutant animal!”

“Dream on. If we really found a red mutant animal, not to mention the flurry of media coverage, even the heads of our institute would be shaking with excitement. Unfortunately, all we have is ‘according to the records.’ Although exploratory teams have seen things like red-furred bats, and last year, someone from a nearby village claimed they saw a red-furred wild boar, without solid, convincing evidence, foreign parties simply don’t acknowledge the existence of red mutants. In international authoritative magazines, we can only say ‘to date, no fully red-furred mutant mammals have been discovered.’ Even if we caught a red-furred rat, it would be a major global event and headline news.”

Thus, so-called “reddized animals” remained just “alleged” and “legendary.”

Mr. Jiao chuckled at a thought, “Someone joked before that if a naturally occurring, genuine reddized animal were to be discovered, it would only be possible within the boundaries of Chuishan City.”

Albinotic animals could be obtained through long-term artificial selection and careful breeding, like the laboratory white mice. Artificial mutation and breeding could indeed create many things, but truly natural creatures held greater research value. Those in the circle who studied this field knew the research value of albinotic and reddized animals, with the latter being even more valued.

They spoke these last few sentences in a low voice, audible only to the two teachers leading the group and Mr. Jiao’s party. The students resting under the shade of trees nearby paid no attention to their conversation.

Zheng Tan pricked up his ears and listened to their chat. According to the two teachers leading the group, many albinotic animals had been found in Chuishan City, including a variety of mammals like albino squirrels, foxes, bears, and so on. Some believed that the appearance of albinotic animals was due to human development and expanding activity ranges, resulting in shrinking wildlife habitats, reduced population sizes, and degeneration due to inbreeding. However, others thought that since albino animals have been recorded in Chuishan since ancient times and in greater numbers than other parts of the world, it’s unlikely purely an albino phenomenon and may involve other unknown reasons.

Speaking of unknown reasons, Zheng Tan’s imagination ran wild, conjuring up mysterious organizations and extraterrestrial beings. It was merely fanciful thinking and if someone claimed aliens were the cause, Zheng Tan wouldn’t necessarily believe it.

Just as Mr. Jiao had said, there are far more unrecognized species on Earth than recognized ones. While human knowledge is progressing, there remain many unsolved mysteries. Perhaps, when civilization reaches a certain level, the answers to these mysteries will be revealed… but it was uncertain if the enigma of a cat with a human mind could be unraveled.

Just now, Zheng Tan had been thinking that if these supposed reddized species were found, they might be turned into specimens. He later realized that if such species were indeed caught, they would be treated as extremely valuable. Rarity breeds value. Moreover, to these scientific researchers, the value of a reddized animal was incomparable to other animals.

Zheng Tan had killed white mice before, but he had never encountered a reddized mouse. He was quite looking forward to encountering a reddized animal; it would make the trip worthwhile.

On their first day out in the field, when they returned, the students were so exhausted that they flopped on their beds upon entering their rooms, lacking the energy they had on the previous days. There were tales from another group about a snake that had fallen from a tree, nearly landing on a student below, who was still shaken by the experience. Another group reported a student got hit on the back of the hand by an insect the size of a mosquito that fell from a tree. Although the insect quickly crawled away after falling, the student’s hand swelled up significantly, resembling a pig trotter, and it was said they needed to stay at the base for several days and couldn’t go out. However, Zheng Tan felt this day had gone reasonably well, as he still had the mood to go out for a stroll after dinner.

The two children had bathed and gone to sleep, and under Mr. Jiao’s watchful eye, Zheng Tan jumped out of the window, scaled the fencing of the base, and walked toward the concrete road outside.

The surroundings were filled with two or three-story villa-style residences, indicating that many of the residents around here were fairly well-off.

Gazing from afar, the view was dominated by unevenly shaped mountains, and only in the residential towns and villages could one see lights, but these were just small, isolated patches, insignificant compared to the stretch of mountainous forests under the night sky.

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As he walked along the base of the mountains, Zheng Tan suddenly picked up a faint smell, one that would be very difficult for a human to detect. He relied on his cat’s nose just to catch a hint of it.

This scent made Zheng Tan feel uneasy, as it reminded him of the specimens he had seen in the museum. He knew that many people liked to decorate their homes with wildlife specimens, like deer heads, for instance. There were many such examples in this area, but Zheng Tan always felt it was a bit odd.

Although curious, Zheng Tan knew he was unfamiliar with the area and the chill it gave him discouraged any risky exploration, so he decided to leave.

Before Zheng Tan had gotten far, however, he saw a shadow zip by.

Under the cover of night, that shadow silently approached the residence Zheng Tan had just been observing. As it drew near, the creature glanced in Zheng Tan’s direction.

Meeting that pair of eyes, Zheng Tan felt all the fur on his body stand on end.

It was a cat, but not an ordinary one. Even without the size of Lord, and similar to Huasheng Tang, it exuded a sense of threat and oppression that Zheng Tan felt was not inferior to Lord’s.(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)