Strange Life of a Cat

He didn’t lock the metal security door. The wooden door inside had a relatively simple lock.

Before Zheng Tan could recover from his shock, the door was open and the lock was unharmed.

He had heard of master keys but this was his first time seeing someone pick a lock with a wire. He had thought it was a skill that only existed in stories. However, it seemed anything was possible.

Er Mao had gone grocery shopping and bought a lot of ready-made food. He only cooked instant noodles and frozen dumplings.

He opened the door and started moving his grocery items inside. He had too much stuff and had to move them bit by bit. Thankfully he wasn’t worried about someone coming and stealing his things in front of his apartment.

“Hey! Take your paws off my stuff. Don’t open the packaging.”

Zheng Tan moved his ears. He sniffed the bags. Now that Er Mao told him not to touch them he had to go touch the groceries. He opened the bag and moved the bags of fish balls around. They were frozen so he wasn’t interested.

Zheng Tan decided to leave the bags alone. Er Mao came back out for the rest of his stuff. Zheng Tan grabbed the chance and pushed open his door.

Bang!

The door shut right in front of Er Mao’s face.

Er Mao was shocked.

“F*ck!”

He wanted to curse loudly but was worried Professor Lan, who lived across the hall, might hear him. He put down his bags and took out the wire in his pocket to pick the lock again.

Zheng Tan watched the clock on the wall and calculated how long it would take Er Mao to pick the lock.

It was only ten seconds from when the door closed to when Er Mao opened the door again. This meant he picked the lock in under ten seconds.

This was clearly not his first time doing something like this.

Er Mao was swearing when he came inside. Zheng Tan ignored everything that came out of his mouth. Lockpicking was something Zheng Tan had always wanted to learn. It was just that cat paws were less agile and couldn’t handle delicate work like that.

Er Mao organized everything, then sat in front of the TV and started eating his lunch. Zheng Tan stared at Er Mao’s pocket and tried to think of a way he could get Er Mao to help him.

Er Mao didn’t know what to do with the cat. He didn’t want his food or else he would have meowed.

“What are you looking at?” Er Mao still had rice stuck to his chin. “This?”

He traced Zheng Tan’s gaze to his pockets and pulled out the wire. It was tightened into a circle.

He seemed very proud of himself.

“Are you admiring my skills? Locks like this are easy,” Er Mao boasted.

Er Mao kept talking while Zheng Tan took a step backward to avoid his spit.

“Have you heard of lock-picking using tin foil? I heard someone picked a neighborhood of locks with tin foil. It was a bit of an exaggeration but tin foil is indeed a great tool. Though many locks look similar, you need completely different tools to open them.” Er Mao took out a leather pocket. “This is my tools bag. I can probably open most of the locks on campus with the tools inside this bag. Electronic locks not included, of course.”

Zheng Tan was somewhat glad to know Er Mao couldn’t handle all locks when Er Mao said, “I need my other tools bag to open electronic locks.”

Zheng Tan, “…”

Who was this man? Did he have a criminal record? He needed to keep the Jiaos away from him.

He didn’t know where Er Mao learned all these things. He had talent, except this talent wasn’t the kind that people liked. Most people would see him as a bad person, but Zheng Tan didn’t have a set standards for good and bad. To him, people who could help him were good.

Er Mao lay down to take a nap but Zheng Tan grabbed his sleeve and started pulling him outside. His sweater had a hole now due to Zheng Tan’s claws.

“I’m warning you! Enough is enough,” Er Mao said, pulled the covers over himself.

Ka-cha. Ka-cha. Ka Ka Ka.

Zheng Tan was stepping on a plastic water bottle and trying to make as much noise as possible.

“F*ck!”

Er Mao got up and glared at Zheng Tan. He saw the cat had his jacket.

He took out the wire in his pocket and tossed it to Zheng Tan. Er Mao got back into bed. He scratched his head and suddenly grasped onto something. He turned and asked the cat, “Do you need to pick a lock?”

Zheng Tan stared at him and wondered if he should nod.

“Wag your tail up and down for yes. Wag it sideways for no,” Er Mao said.

Zheng Tan swayed his tail up and down. He felt Er Mao was too used to talking to a cat. Normal people didn’t speak to cats like this. He didn’t know Zheng Tan well. If it was Papa Jiao or Wei Ling who spoke like this he would have understood.

Er Mao jumped up and looked very energetic. “Whose house do you want to break into? I hope it’s not someone who lives in the eastern quarters, or else it would be awkward if I run into the person in the future. The lock had better pose a challenge.”

Zheng Tan was left speechless again. He was too eager for this!

Er Mao quickly dressed. He did his hair then rubbed his hands together and said, “Okay, let’s go!”

Zheng Tan led the way. It might have all been in his head but he felt Er Mao was very high-spirited. He seemed more energetic than he had ever seen him.

They passed by the paper box and saw the black and white cat eating.

It sensed them and looked up before going back to its meal. With the temperature rising, food went bad very quickly. The cat had new food that was relatively fresh in its bowl. It had finished eating a fish head and was eating rice right now.

Zheng Tan left.

He led Er Mao to the tree in the alley and looked at the closed window on the second floor. He jumped onto the tree and surveyed his surroundings.

Nothing had changed from that morning, meaning the man hadn’t returned home.

“It’s this house again. You are a vengeful cat you know that?!” Er Mao thought Zheng Tan was here because the man poured coffee on him.

Zheng Tan jumped into the yard, Er Mao followed him. Er Mao avoided landing in the flowerbed so his shoes could remain clean. He didn’t want to leave footprints inside.

The door was harder to open compared to the locks in the Eastern Quarters, but Er Mao had tools.

The layout of the first floor was simple. The house contained a small exercise room. He must be quite wealthy to afford exercise equipment

Er Mao saw the cat trap in the kitchen and frowned, but he didn’t say anything, so Zheng Tan couldn’t guess what he was thinking.

They came to the third floor. Zheng Tan didn’t mind which door Er Mao opened first. He knew for sure the owner of the house tortured cats but only found a cat trap so far. This meant he must keep the rest of his suspicious items in the three locked room on the second floor.

Er Mao did not appear to be nervous at all though they were breaking and entering. He looked around and checked the locked doors.

“This one should lead to the bedroom…that one would be the study. As for this one here… I don’t know. Let’s pick this lock first. The lock on this door is the most complex, he should be in for a surprise.”

Zheng Tan didn’t know how Er Mao knew all that, but he chose to trust him. He seemed like a pro at this.

Though the lock was complex, Er Mao still picked the lock in no time.

He opened the door ajar to peer inside.

The door was heavy and quite thick. Zheng Tan thought it could be used as a front door, but it was only a room door.

Er Mao opened the door after he made sure no one was inside.

The room was soundproofed. They couldn’t even hear the birds chirping outside. There was little furniture inside the room. On one side was a desk.

Er Mao pulled open a cover and showed a hidden object.

The thing was about a meter and a half long, a meter thick and two meters tall. The front side transparent. A person sitting at the desk could see inside the object.

Zheng Tan couldn’t tell what this thing was for. He thought it might be a portable shower, but Er Mao’s expression had changed. Zheng Tan jumped onto Er Mao’s shoulder to get a better look.

“I saw something like this on television when I was a kid. This is a simplified model. I never imagined people would have something like this in their home,” Er Mao said in a low voice. “There’s a very cruel dish called roasted duck feet. It’s made by putting live ducks onto a heated iron board. Sauces are spread onto the board. Ducks walk around on the board because of the heat. They would still be alive when their feet are cooked. This is a device that serves that purpose.”

Zheng Tan looked through the glass and saw a metal net on the bottom. So this was how the dead cat got its wounds.

Er Mao looked around the room then went to the window. The window looked like it hadn’t been opened in a very long time. Thick curtains blocked all the light. Er Mao searched for a suitable place then started installing a mini camera.

Zheng Tan twitched his ears. Er Mao had so many tools!