Animal Detective

Chapter 160: Catching the Cat

"Get... get... Get it! Quick!"

Wang Hang was like a timid girl scared by a cockroach or a mouse, pointing at Da Mei as she darted around the room and screaming nonstop.

"Stop screaming! Can’t you see I’m trying to catch it?"

The man with the crew cut launched a flying kick.

As expected, he hit nothing but air.

Instead, his own momentum sent him sprawling on the floor.

"Fuck!"

He cursed, then seeing Wang Hang still standing there screaming, said helplessly, "Don’t just stand there, help me catch it."

"No, no, no!"

Wang Hang shook his head like a rattle.

’How could I possibly touch such a filthy stray cat?’

Just then, the commotion alerted the people outside.

The drug dealer who had been looking at his phone yanked the door open. Seeing the utter mess inside, he asked anxiously, "Brother Xi, what’s wrong?"

"A cat. We’re catching a cat."

The man with the crew cut was Chen Liangxi. He pointed weakly toward a corner.

The few drug dealers outside instinctively started to enter.

"Don’t come in!"

Wang Hang shrieked.

’This is my lab! It’s a cleanroom!’

’No, that’s not right.’

Wang Hang immediately changed his tune.

’It’s contaminated. I’m contaminated. The whole lab is contaminated, and my product is contaminated too.’

’It’s all this cat’s fault.’

"Get it! Catch it! I’m going to kill it!" Wang Hang shrieked.

Looking at the mess on the table, he felt murderous.

The other drug dealers quickly rushed in.

"Over here."

"Fuck, why aren’t you grabbing it?"

"I tried!"

Complete chaos erupted inside the room.

Da Mei deftly weaved between their legs, then, seeing her chance, darted out of the room.

"It ran outside!"

Chen Liangxi quickly pointed outside and was the first to give chase.

But Da Mei didn’t leave. Shen Xin had told her not to go outside.

She leaped onto a bed and turned to look at the men.

Chen Liangxi lunged, not even getting close enough to touch her fur.

Wang Hang followed them out, patting down his hair, still pointing at Da Mei. "Get it! Hurry up and get it!"

They couldn’t even catch her in that cramped room, let alone in a factory this large.

Da Mei weaved about nimbly, squeezing into a narrow gap where they couldn’t even reach her.

One of the drug dealers actually pulled out a pistol.

"Are you fucking crazy?!" Chen Liangxi cursed.

’It’s just a cat. Is that really necessary?’

Meanwhile, back in the surveillance room at the printing press, everyone was watching, stunned.

Da Mei was now huddled in a dark corner where the camera couldn’t see, but they could hear the exasperated shouts of the drug dealers.

Thinking back on what had just happened in the workshop, they felt that if they were in the dealers’ shoes, they’d probably be losing their minds too.

Zhang Ning, in particular, felt this deeply.

He had a curio shelf at home, and his two little monsters—fat and chubby—weren’t great jumpers but still loved to climb up high.

They’d climb up, knock something over with a loud CRASH, and then, of all things, react more dramatically than he did and go tearing off.

At times like that, Zhang Ning really felt like he was about to have a stroke.

Shen Xin broke out in a sweat, but then he remembered what it was like when his "three little ones" were still around. Coming home every day was like opening a blind box, and the thought made him relax a little.

When it came to wrecking a house, a cat’s abilities were truly no less than a dog’s.

"Wang Hang, how about we just forget it? We can’t catch it."

Chen Liangxi’s voice came through the tablet.

Tang Youkun and the others exchanged a look.

’They got a name.’

"No! I don’t care! I’m going to kill it!" Wang Hang’s furious voice rang out.

Then came a RUSTLING sound, likely someone trying to poke at Da Mei with a broom.

Da Mei saw her chance and darted out again.

On camera, she was swift as the wind, moving like a scripted NPC in a video game. With all sorts of flashy maneuvers, she leaped up and down, running the "two-legged beasts" ragged.

To be honest, with human reflexes, trying to catch a cat—especially a tabby like Da Mei that had been a stray for years—was almost impossible.

At this point, even the people from further outside were alerted and ran in to see what was going on.

Chen Liangxi, hands on his hips and panting from the chase, waved a dismissive hand. "Catching a cat."

"The hell? When did this cat get in here?"

The man in the leather jacket exclaimed.

Then the whole gang spent another long while huffing and puffing as they tried to catch it, still with no success.

Encirclements, even military tactics, were useless.

"Brother Xi, there’s something wrong with this cat. Why doesn’t it run away?" said the man in the leather jacket.

’How the hell should I know?’ Chen Liangxi thought. He felt like he was the one going crazy, getting this worked up over a cat.

But Wang Hang wouldn’t let it go; he was insistent on catching this cat.

And Brother K had instructed them that Wang Hang was the God of Wealth. No matter what he asked for, they had to find a way to satisfy him. If they couldn’t, they were to tell Brother K, and he would take care of it.

"Release the dog, Brother Xi! Release the dog! We have a dog!" one of the dealers suggested, offering a terrible idea.

Chen Liangxi fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

The Doberman from the cage outside was immediately brought in on a leash.

But when they saw Da Mei make an exaggerated change of direction and dive straight into a crevice, the Doberman couldn’t stop in time and slammed headfirst into a piece of equipment. The men were dumbfounded.

"Wang Hang, let’s just forget it."

Chen Liangxi had given up. ’What’s the point of all this fuss over a single cat?’

"No."

Wang Hang’s tone was resolute. "We have to catch it. And my lab... it’s been contaminated. This whole batch of product has to be destroyed."

"Destroyed?"

Chen Liangxi was flabbergasted.

A single production run by Wang Hang yielded over thirty kilograms of product. At a wholesale price of 400, that was over ten million.

Of course, you had to subtract more than half of that for costs.

That still left several million.

’Destroy it? Are you kidding me?!’

"Wang Hang, don’t be ridiculous," Chen Liangxi said hurriedly.

"I’m not being ridiculous, I’m serious! It’s a stray cat, it’s so filthy! She contaminated my lab. And she was jumping all over the place in there—doesn’t that mean everything is dirty?"

Wang Hang trembled just thinking about the scene from earlier.

"I don’t care. In any case, I’m not touching this batch of product again."

As he spoke, Wang Hang suddenly felt an itch.

’Fleas! That cat must have fleas!’

Chen Liangxi was stunned. He knew Wang Hang was stubborn and difficult to reason with.

"What are you looking at me for? Catch the cat!"

Seeing all his underlings staring at him, Chen Liangxi bellowed, "Close the doors! Nobody sleeps until this cat is caught!"

Then he immediately pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"Brother K, we have a situation."

Chen Liangxi was only halfway through his report when Da Mei darted past him.

"You bunch of useless bastards!"

He roared, then quickly added, "Brother K, I wasn’t talking about you! It’s the cat. Don’t even ask. A cat broke in."

「On the third floor of the printing press.」

The team exchanged another look.

’Brother K?’

They could faintly hear Chen Liangxi explaining the situation, ending with how Wang Hang wanted to scrap the entire batch and he couldn’t talk him out of it.

"Okay, Brother K, you’re coming over? Please hurry, I’ll be waiting for you."

Chen Liangxi nodded repeatedly. With Wang Hang’s personality, only Brother K could possibly talk him down.

"Catch the cat, right? Don’t worry, we’re on it. I guarantee we’ll get it."

Chen Liangxi added.

Apparently, Brother K had given the order to catch the cat at all costs to appease Wang Hang.

Tang Youkun and his team’s eyes lit up.

’Brother K is coming here.’

This was an unexpected gift.

"Shen Xin, you’ve performed a great service," Tang Youkun said, hastily praising Shen Xin before grabbing Zhang Ning and rushing downstairs.

The location was very remote; in the middle of the night, there was almost no traffic.

So Brother K’s car would definitely stand out.

As long as they set up properly, catching him would be a piece of cake.

Soon, Zhang Ning came up with a plan. The concrete road outside the factory was a small lane, a few hundred meters from the intersection with the main road.

He planned to set up an ambush at the intersection.

At this time of night, any car turning onto this lane would, without a doubt, almost certainly be Brother K’s.

They would rush him as he slowed down to make the turn, blocking him from the front and back.

Tang Youkun quickly reported to Director Lin, and the instructions from above came back just as fast.

The opportunity was too good to miss. Make the arrest!

They absolutely had to give Brother K a nice surprise.