Pet King

“Without food and without clothes, humans would naturally give us some!”

“Without guns and without bombs, humans would make them for us!”

“We were born here, and every bit of land is ours!”

“No matter who wants to take it from us, we will fight to our death to defend it!”

In order to break the rest of the strays from Fina’s influence, Vladimir loudly sang the songs he had heard from the television. The cats were all extremely into it. Even if they didn’t quite understand the lyrics, they were still deeply touched and inspired by the burning fire of desire and the bravery of daring to fight the world.

Right then, their sense of self started to wake too. This was the territory of strays all around the world—no longer tiny pieces of segregated land separated between each stray, causing fights between one another for rights to a trash can. Rather than dealing with endless internal conflicts, why not gather together to protect the rights of strays all around the world?

As their singing went on for a while, a few of the stray cats even tried to mimic it clumsily, following its tune. Big Orange absolutely howled through all of it, and the morale of the strays rose as their out-of-tune voices did too.

“That’s all for today. You’re dismissed!”

Vladimir was pleased with the effects of their singing and mused over the thought of starting a tradition. If two teams started singing out of nowhere, it would be a great scene.

The cats scattered, going back to where they’d come from to tell others about their new aim.

Vladimir hurried out of their secret rendezvous spot too, heading back toward the pet shop.

Wang Qian and Li Kun were helping Zhang Zian bring out all of the strays to release them in the plot of land before bringing the metal cages and trolley back to the clinic.

Fina had returned a long time ago, and she was taking a nap on the highest level of the cat tower. Since it was Golden Week, there had been a lot of people going in and out of the shop. No one would notice its brief absence since it usually took a lot—a lot—of persuasion and bribery to get it out of the pet shop.

Zhang Zian brought Aunt Liu’s American Shorthair down from the second floor, brushing its hair for the last time.

The first time it had come to the clinic, the cat had been a little malnourished, but its coat was glossy and shiny now, and its body had bulked up after numerous sessions of hide-and-seek with Galaxy. But in hide-and-seek games with Galaxy and the Abyssinian cat, it was often on the losing end due to the limitations of its mortal body, and it often lost its target in the midst of the chase since it couldn’t keep up with their tempo.

“Are you planning to return it to that woman now?” Vladimir asked.

“Yes.” Zhang Zian looked up to answer it. “It’s been here for long enough. It’s time for it to go home.”

“Meow! Bye-bye! Come back when you’re free to play with us!”

Galaxy came rushing over out of nowhere, raising a paw to say goodbye.

The cat still wasn’t aware of what was happening. It observed its surroundings, confused.

“We’re leaving. Say bye-bye to everyone!”

Zhang Zian picked up the American Shorthair, raising one of its front paws and waving it back and forth at Galaxy and the other elfins.

When he brought it past Fina’s cat tower, Fina scoffed, eyes opening into narrow slits. “Where are you bringing my subject?”

Zhang Zian had already thought of a way to deal with this situation and answered calmly. “Its previous owner had already been punished and had shown genuine signs of remorse and change, so I felt it would be appropriate to send it back to enjoy the dedicated offerings of one human.”

This answer pleased Fina. “Hm, you make sense. If one of my subjects ever gets hurt again, I will hold you responsible!”

Zhang Zian shrugged, guessing he just had to take up that responsibility now.

He carried the American Shorthair out, finding a short wall and standing on his tip-toes to put it there.

“Be good and stay here.”

He picked up the proposal then, looking for Aunt Liu’s name and calling her phone number.

“Hello? Is this Aunt Liu? It’s Zhang Zian. I saw another stray that looks like your American Shorthair. Do you want to come over and take a look? Be quick—it might just run off! My location? I’m at…”

He told Aunt Liu his location before moving into the shade of the wall, ready to prevent people from taking the American Shorthair away while he waited for Aunt Liu to show up.

Vladimir followed him, watching silently.

Not too long later, Aunt Liu ran out just wearing house clothes and slippers, anxiously searching around while she rushed through the streets, looking for any signs of her cat.

“Ah! Don’t move! Don’t move! I’ll carry you down!” She instantly recognized that the American Shorthair sitting on the wall was her own.

The wall was a little tall, and she couldn’t reach the top of it no matter how much she tiptoed and stretched her arms out.

Zhang Zian was still hesitating as to whether he should help out, but he was worried that the American Shorthair wouldn’t leave with Aunt Liu the moment he did and follow him back to the pet shop instead. That would ruin all of their hard work.

Right then, the American Shorthair seemed to recognize Aunt Liu, clambering for a moment before leaping down right into a full-body hug.

“Ah! My poor baby! Where have you been all this time? I’ve been searching for you for so long!” Aunt Liu nagged constantly, but the relief was evident on her face, as though a heavy weight had been taken off her heart.

She inspected it for a bit, pleased to find that the American Shorthair wasn’t injured or sick, and it wasn’t too dirty either. “Let’s go home. I just brought fish back from the market, and I’m steaming it right now on the stove. You’re getting a treat today!”

She just kept on talking as she carried the American Shorthair back home.

“Alright, the show’s over. We can go home… With such a busy afternoon, even I’m hungry. I want to eat steamed fish too…”

Zhang Zian walked out from the shadows, stretching his back and mentioning it to Vladimir.

Vladimir regarded him with a half-smile, its next few words holding more meaning beneath the surface. “Did you know? You just saved the world!”

“Saved the world?”

Zhang Zian stopped and laughed.

This wasn’t some Hollywood movie. What “saving the world” was it talking about?

“Alright, since I saved the world, do I get any benefits?” he teased. “For example, being reincarnated as a tall, handsome, and rich man? I don’t need to be super rich—just as much as Principal Wang would do. But I have to at least be more handsome than he is.”

Vladimir shook its head in regret. “Pity, it’s impossible to be reincarnated. The most precious things bestowed upon humans and cats are our lives, and they are given to us only once.”

Its eyes lit up with the fire of desire, and it clenched its paw tightly as it declared determinedly, “Cats should live their lives like this. When looking back to the past, they must not regret the wasted years and youth and not be ashamed of their busy periods. In the end, they should be able to say: My entire life, and all of my energy, was given to the most noble mission on this world—fighting for the rights and freedom of strays!”