Free Web NovelChapter 2494: Chapter 2494: Cat Search Notice
After they finished shopping, it was almost mealtime, so Xu Huo and the others found a place to eat.
The two from the Wan Family and the old lady all didn’t have much of an appetite, whereas Bubble Bean, feeling like he’d run into a rich sucker, ordered a bunch of dishes.
Xu Huo took a sip of tea and refilled the old lady’s cup as she kept gulping water. "You don’t have to be this nervous. Things have come to this point; there’s nothing you can do. Better to think about how you’re going to spend your retirement."
"The Wan Family has lost several people because of you, and who knows what kind of trouble they’ll run into in the future. Don’t just think about your family’s revenge—think about the people who got dragged in for no reason, think about how you’re going to pay your debt."
"A child was just born in the Wan Family recently. From what I see, you’re pretty sturdy and healthy. Why not work for the Wan Family to pay off what you owe? You’re all alone and a bit twisted anyway—if you spend time with kids who have simple minds, you might even live a bit longer."
"What? You don’t like that? Your family only has you left. Instead of staring at photos and reminiscing every day, why not do something useful for society? If you really feel like you can’t go on, you can always grab a knife and drag someone down with you."
"Not that either? You’re really hard to please for an old lady."
Bubble Bean, who’d been listening on the side, was stunned. He glanced at the old lady’s ashen face and gave a thumbs-up. "I thought you didn’t talk much, didn’t expect your mouth to be this toxic. Nice!"
The old lady really couldn’t sit there any longer. She slammed the table, intending to get up and leave, but after trying twice, she still couldn’t stand.
Glaring furiously at the man beside her, she said through gritted teeth, "You want to torture me to vent your anger? I never asked you to follow me. Whether you clear the level or not has nothing to do with me!"
Xu Huo calmly drank his tea. "You’re overthinking it. If you’re going to torture someone, just flapping your gums isn’t enough."
"Old lady, sit tight and stop thinking you can just walk away. If you don’t stick with us, believe it or not, the moment you step out of Pharmaceutical City, you’ll vanish from this world."
The old lady was so furious her head buzzed. She thought he was threatening her, but at that moment the Long-haired Player suddenly grew alert. "There are still people following us?"
"Once they realized the Cat Whisker Fruit they snatched back is useless, they probably decided to double back and kill us all to shut us up," Xu Huo said.
Bubble Bean and the others exchanged looks, their expressions a bit odd. "So that thing she had just now was fake!"
"No one is going to hand over something more important than their life to strangers that easily," Xu Huo said lightly. "The Council election is in full swing. My guess is, the stuff happening underneath will be wrapped up before the official voting starts."
"Drag it out a few days, and that Cat Whisker Fruit of yours probably won’t be worth anything. Naturally, no one will keep tailing you."
The old lady really couldn’t stay seated anymore. Her anger and hostility from before vanished, and she begged, "Go find the restaurant manager, he knows who the thing should be given to!"
Xu Huo remained unmoved. After a moment he said, "Fengxing City isn’t so easy to get into now. That restaurant manager you’re talking about might already have been taken in. Whether the Cat Whisker Fruit you took out is real or fake might be something he’s supposed to identify. You still want to go looking for him?"
"Or are you still hiding something from us?"
The old lady closed her eyes for a moment, then finally said, "It’s not that I meant to keep it from you. It’s just that even if you go, it’s useless."
"You’ve seen those free-range kittens in Cat Fruit Town. Compared to other mutated species, their evolution isn’t obvious and they’re not very useful, but they’re clever and they recognize people."
"Your real target is a cat?" Xu Huo raised his eyebrows.
"Are you kidding me?" Bubble Bean’s expression turned cold. "You playing us?"
The old lady, who’d been spouting half-truths all the way, sounded unusually sincere now. "I only remembered when I got to Fengxing City. Last year, when my grandson Xiao Feng came home, he brought a cat. I thought it was just one of the town’s cats."
"I don’t really like cats, but Xiao Feng said they’re very smart, that they recognize people, and remember whoever treats them well. They don’t just take revenge, they return favors too."
"When I was being hunted in Fengxing City, I saw a missing-cat notice on the street. That cat had the same markings as the one Xiao Feng brought home."
"Xiao Feng only told me to find the bookstore owner, and if I couldn’t, then the restaurant manager. If I was unlucky and couldn’t see either of them, he told me to wait nearby. Someone would come to find me—the cat would recognize me."
Everyone fell silent after hearing that.
"Sounds like bullshit," Bubble Bean commented. "You can’t even count on people, and you’re counting on a cat? You sure this isn’t just something you made up?"
"The missing-cat notice means the cat’s gone," the Long-haired Player said. "It went missing even before all this. Was there any contact info on the missing-cat notice?"
After the last few days, the old lady was already questioning reality. "If people can’t be trusted, why would the contact info on a missing-cat notice be real?"
"So right now, the only thing we can do is believe in and look for a cat," Xu Huo concluded.
"People really use cats as partners?" Bubble Bean didn’t get it and was genuinely shocked.
"Not necessarily as partners," the Long-haired Player said. "Maybe someone trained them as messengers, like carrier pigeons or messenger crows from a long time ago."
"This actually isn’t that niche. People used to train pets to carry things ages ago, though mostly for fun. Hardly anyone would really use them to transport something truly important—they’re still animals, after all."
"Are we going to look for the cat?" The Girl in the painting raised her head and asked. "If we’re looking for a cat, I’m going."
"We going back to Fengxing City now?" Bubble Bean asked for Xu Huo’s opinion.
"No," Xu Huo said. "Since we can contact people from outside, we can have them come out."
"The missing-cat notice will definitely show up on the Collection of Information Terminal." Bubble Bean fiddled with his watch terminal and quickly pulled up the missing-cat notice. After the old lady confirmed it, he dialed the number on it.
It took a while for the call to connect. A hoarse, slightly tired voice said, "I’ve already found my cat. Stop contacting me."
"You sure the cat you found is really yours?" Bubble Bean said. "I’ve also found a cat that looks exactly the same. Don’t you want to double-check?"
The person on the other end hesitated. "Turn on the holographic feed."
Bubble Bean had no cat to show and could only say, "Forget the cat for now. Do you have the money ready?"
The offered reward on the missing-cat notice was already quite high, but he asked for three times that amount, and bluntly said if he didn’t get it, he’d stew the cat for a tonic.
The person on the other end immediately got anxious. "I’m on a trip right now and can’t get back immediately. Don’t do anything rash. Give me half a day—no, three hours. I’ll be back, and I’ll bring the money!"
"Ask for his location," Xu Huo mouthed.
Bubble Bean did as told, and the other party said he was near Ren Zhi Pharmaceutical City.
After agreeing on a meeting place, Bubble Bean cut the connection. "Isn’t this a bit too much of a coincidence? How is he just so happens to be close by?"
"It’s not that coincidental," the Long-haired Player said. "If the cat’s owner knows what’s going on, it’s perfectly normal for him to hide outside the main sphere of influence. But this guy can’t be trusted."
