Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

  A bad feeling grew within the Siamese Cat; it felt like it had fallen into a trap.

  Just as it turned around to make its escape, a group of teenagers jumped out from the dark and intercepted the cat’s escape. Almost all of them were equipped with either a stick, rod, or a slingshot in their hands.

  “Brother Hui,” a teenager from the group said excitedly, “You’re really awesome! What number is this little one?”


  They were all very young––their age averaged around 17 and they reeked of the streets. Even the one known as Brother Hui did not look like he was any older than 20 years of age.

  The teenagers were the sluggards that lived in the vicinity; they didn’t have a proper job and they didn’t attend school. They would only take on jobs with daily pay after they ran out of money, where they would work for a day and fool around the next two days. The place they frequented the most was the Black Internet bar.

  “It’s the third one tonight,” Brother Hui said as he still held the can of salmon in his hands. Pleased with himself, he started laughing. “These cats are really dumb––a single can is enough to lure in three of them.”


  It wasn’t until now that the Siamese cat noticed that there were two other cats lying in the dark corner, motionless and blood-soaked. It seemed as though they had both stopped breathing. One of them was a common cat and the other was a British Shorthair. The two cats had suffered from severe abuse when they were still alive; there was a large patch of charred fur on the common cat, as though it had been burnt with a lighter.

  “How should we play with this cat? Should we stick needles into it, or hang it up as a target? The loser treats the rest to mala tang,” the teenager with the slingshot said as he took on an aiming stance.

  Brother Hui swept his gaze around, rose his finger, and pointed towards a teenager that hid in the back. “A Fa, you do it.”


  “Me?” The teenager known as A Fa shuddered from head to toe.

  “That’s right, you,” Brother Hui said with certainty. “While we were having fun earlier, you just stood in the corner and didn’t join in, right?”


  A Fa’s lips trembled and his face flushed white. “No, I’m fine just watching. You guys can go ahead…”


  “No can do.” Brother Hui shook his head. “We’re all brothers here and if you treat us as one, then this cat is yours. Hand him the awl.”


  A sharp awl was forcefully shoved into A Fa’s hand. He looked down at the tool in his hands and his face turned ghastly. “Brother Hui, I think it’s best if you guys have fun… the stray cats in the vicinity have all gotten smarter and won’t be easily deceived. This cat might have come here from elsewhere. Next time, we might not get the others as easily…”


  “You don’t have to worry about this,” Brother Hui said as he smiled confidently. “More than hundreds and thousands of cats escaped from Love Lovely Pets. Although most of them have been picked up and adopted, I can bet you that most people will get tired of the cats after raising them for two to three months and those cats will all become strays in the end… Besides, when spring is here, a new batch of kittens will be born. Is that not enough for us to have fun with?”


  The Siamese cat felt that things were very wrong. The expressions on these people’s faces were fierce, so remaining here might be a road that led straight to death.

  It rushed over to the side and attempted to jump on the wall to escape.

  With things as they were now, the Siamese cat no longer dreamt of a better life. As long as it was able to keep its life, it was willing to spend its entire life rummaging through thrash.

  Sou––Pa!

  A metal pellet accurately struck its hind leg with great force. The Siamese cat let out a painful cry as it fell from the wall that it had halfway climbed up. The pellet might have broken its bones.

  The teenager with the slingshot wore a smug look on his face.

  The Siamese cat endured the intense pain and tried to escape with its remaining three legs, but it was kicked over by another teenager.

  “Go, A Fa, and stop acting like a girl. The brothers hate cowards, right?” Brother Hui asked in a loud voice.

  “Yeah!” one shouted.

  “Yeah!” the rest echoed along and started making a lot of noise.

  A Fa’s face turned white as a sheet. He was not as heartless as the other teenagers; he even fed cats for a period of time when he was younger. But if he backed out now, he would be looked down upon by the others. He would no longer be welcome within the group, and he might even be turned into a victim of their harassment.

  “Isn’t this… against the law?” A Fa hesitated.

  “It’s not against the law. China does not have any pet protection laws yet, so rest easy. Even a king would not be able to prosecute us!” Brother Hui said with a hint of contempt, as if he was mocking A Fa’s display of cowardice.

  A Fa felt the pressure of his friends. He gritted his teeth, tightened his grip on the awl, and he stepped towards the Siamese cat.

  It seemed like the Siamese cat was crying––tears could not stop flowing from its eyes. It whimpered softly, as if it was begging him––begging him to let it go.

  A Fa stopped in his tracks, wavering once again.

  “It’s… it’s crying?” A Fa said softly, pointing at it.

  “Don’t think too much,” Brother Hui said. “Its left eye is just inflamed and that’s just pus. It’s not crying; it’s impossible for cats to cry,” he continued, as if he had some soft of knowledge of animals.

  The other teenagers bursted out in laughter, throwing distasteful words of mockery at A Fa.

  A Fa was completely ashamed of himself. He steeled his heart and raised the awl up, pointing it towards the Siamese cat.

  He hit it one time.

  Two times.

  Three times…


  Loud cries that could shatter hearts tore through the silence under the night sky…


  Brother Hui laughed out loud. “Well done! For now, let’s just play around. Two or three months from now––when Binhai City is flooded with stray cats––is when we will have our fill of fun!”


  Everyone was laughing. A Fa too was laughing, as though he had lost his mind.

  ******

  After all the teenagers left, the Siamese cat stared at the night sky with its lifeless eyes. Lying in a pool of its own blood, the cat was already on the brink of death.

  So it’s like this.

  There are no nice people in the world; it’s all a pretense!

  Curse you all!

  Curse you all!

  Curse you all!

  With immense resentment, its life disappeared. Its eyes were still wide open as it left this world with a grievance.

  ******

  Approximately ten kilometers away.

  Amazing Fate Pet Shop.

  On the second floor of the shop, Pi was working on its novel and let out a yawn. Just as it was about to switch off the computer and head for bed, Pi faintly caught a soft, abnormal noise coming from the floor below.

  “Zhi zhi?”


  Pi knew that Zhang Zian had already left. Wang Qian, Li Kun, and Lu Yiyun had also clocked out from work, so there was no one downstairs.

  Was something knocked over by the frolicking kittens?

  Pi jumped off the swivel chair and walked towards the door on all four of its limbs. Pi’s intention was to head downstairs and take a look––if something was knocked over, then it could help to put it back upright.

  As it gripped the cold door handle, Pi, who was still immersed in the plot of its novel, suddenly had a realization.

  “Don’t go downstairs during the day, be careful not to be seen by anyone.” Pi recalled Zhang Zian’s words before he left.

  “Meow. Don’t go down at any point of time, be it day or night!” Pi recalled the words that Galaxy had told him with seriousness.

  Pi scratched its head. Forget it, I shall not bother. I will continue to write the novel and head to bed after this chapter.

  So Pi threw the noise it heard to the back of its head, jumped back on the swivel chair, and continued to write the last portion of the new chapter.

  ******

  Amazing Fate Pet Shop First Floor.

  The kittens were all awoken by the soft, abnormal noise. They stared at the direction of the door with fear in their eyes.

  The bronze Holy Cat statue had always been placed there, forming the unique scenery for the Amazing Fate Pet Shop.

  The wind rose and clouds gathered outside. Dark clouds blocked off the moonlight, causing the shop’s interior to darken to almost pitch-black.

  Suddenly, a scent of bloodthirst and ruthlessness flashed within those bronze, pupilless eyes of the Holy Cat statue––those eyes were distinct, even within the darkness.

  In the next instant, the heavy Holy Cat statue disappeared from where it originally was.

  The kittens then calmed down; some of them went back to sleep while others played around as if nothing had happened.