Both thieves turned at the same time.
The beam of the flashlight swept over, landing on top of the freezer.
A small orange cat was crouched there.
“There it is!”
The short one charged over with the net.
Tang Miao jumped from the freezer to the adjacent shelf, then darted from the shelf to the cutting board across the aisle.
She ran neither too fast nor too slow, always staying at the edge of their vision.
The short man’s net pole whooshed through the air behind her, several times grazing just past her tail.
Tang Miao lowered her body and slipped under the pole.
Her heart was racing, but her mind was exceptionally clear.
She needed to lure them toward that dead-end alley in the northwest corner.
“Don’t let it get away! Block it over there!”
The tall one had long legs and circled around to the other side to cut her off.
When Tang Miao reached the corner of the meat section, she deliberately slowed down and glanced back.
She confirmed both of them were in sight.
Then she made a sharp turn and darted into the narrow passage in the northwest corner.
The passage was only a meter wide, flanked by color-steel panel walls, with that teetering mountain of beer bottles piled at the far end.
When the short one chased in, his flashlight illuminated the end.
A dead end.
A smug grin spread across his face.
“Run, huh? Where are you gonna run?”
Tang Miao crouched atop the beer bottle crates, looking down as the two men walked in.
The passage was short—less than five meters.
The bodies of two grown men blocked the entrance completely.
The short one raised his net and swung it down.
The net came down over her.
Tang Miao sidestepped and slipped out from the edge of the net.
She had calculated the distance precisely. She pushed off with her hind legs, leaping into the air, and her sharp claws hooked onto the hemp rope tied to the edge of the wooden pallet—the one that had already been on the verge of snapping.
Using the weight of her falling body, there was a “bang” as the old rope, strained to its limit, snapped.
With its most critical support gone, the tilted pallet lost its balance.
“Crack.”
The entire mountain of beer bottles collapsed in a thunderous crash.
Seventy or eighty glass bottles poured down from head height, smashing onto the concrete floor.
Deafening. Shards of glass flew everywhere. Bottles hitting bottles, bottles hitting the ground—a chain reaction.
The short one bore the brunt of it. A whole row of bottles slammed into his shins, and he screamed as he fell.
The tall one backed up, stepped on broken glass, slipped, and landed on his rear.
The net pole flew three meters away.
A split second before the bottle mountain collapsed, Tang Miao had already launched herself into the air, hooked onto a water pipe protruding from the wall above, and used the momentum to flip herself onto the top of the wall.
The whole process took less than two seconds.
She crouched on the wall, looking down at the mess below.
Broken glass covered the ground. The two men struggled amid the pile of bottles. The short one had a gash on his shin and was cursing up a storm in pain.
The tall one tried to get up, but the moment he pushed himself up, he stepped on more broken glass and let out a “ow!” before sitting right back down.
The two thieves’ screams mixed with the sharp clatter of broken glass, echoing through the entire market.
Tang Miao crouched just outside the entrance to the narrow passage, flicking her ears.
So noisy.
At the guard station, the old security guard was startled awake, and hurried footsteps approached.
The beam of a flashlight swayed over.
“Who?! Who’s there?!”
Inside the narrow passage, the two thieves were half-buried under the beer bottles.
The net pole was wedged between the two walls, and one corner of the animal carrier had been crushed flat.
When the old security guard ran over, this was the scene he saw.
“Call the police! Call the police!”
The old security guard muttered to himself, fumbling for his phone and pressing 110.
Amid the chaotic swaying of the flashlight beam, Tang Miao made her way back along the top of the wall the same way she’d come.
It wasn’t until she landed on the cutting board in the seafood section that she realized her fur was still standing on end, and her heart was pounding wildly in her tiny chest.
There was a shallow scratch on the pad of her left front paw—a cut from a shard when she’d kicked off the wooden pallet.
It stung a little.
She lowered her head and licked her paw, slowly calming her feline fight-or-flight response.
…
The police arrived quickly.
The two thieves were handcuffed and taken away. A police car was parked at the market entrance, its red and blue lights flashing through the gaps in the cotton door curtain.
The old security guard gave his statement, talking until his throat was dry.
The police asked him how he’d discovered them.
The old security guard scratched his head.
“I don’t know, I just heard a huge crash, ran over, and found the two of them buried under beer bottles.”
“They fell on their own?”
“That pile had been sitting there for half a year. It was bound to collapse sooner or later.”
“Maybe heaven couldn’t stand to watch them do bad things either!”
The police surveyed the scene—broken glass everywhere, the two thieves covered in cuts and scrapes.
Another officer kicked the net and the animal carrier on the ground.
“Coming to a market in the middle of the night with sedatives and a professional cat trap?”
“Alright, stop your whining. Take them in for questioning.”
Tang Miao never showed her face the whole time.
She curled up in the gap behind the fish stall and caught up on sleep. She’d been exhausted today.
As dawn broke, the early-arriving stall owners filed in one by one, and word spread.
“Thieves got in last night? What did they steal?”
“Cat thieves.”
“Stealing what cat?”
“Stealing our little orange cat.”
“What?! They’ve got some nerve!”
“Who?! Who dares to steal my Orangey?!” Grandpa Zhang’s cane thumped against the ground with heavy, angry beats.
Old Liu’s cleaver slammed onto the chopping block, making the scale weight beside it jump.
“If I catch them, I’ll break their legs!”
“Thank goodness those bottles smashed them—otherwise the cat would’ve been gone. Heaven really does have eyes!”
The fish stall lady said nothing.
She crouched down and peered into the gap.
The little orange cat was curled up at the very back, both ears drooping.
The lady reached in and scooped her out.
“Scared?” The lady patted her head, then her fingers brushed against the injured front paw, and she frowned. “How did you hurt your paw?”
Tang Miao pulled her paw back and nuzzled against the lady’s chest.
Not scared.
But she’d made a decision.
She couldn’t stay in this market any longer.
Not because she was afraid.
It was because she knew very well that the video was still online, and the view count would only keep climbing.
Two thieves came today; tomorrow there would be five.
The yellow-haired man was part of a gang. Even if two errand boys got caught, the others wouldn’t stop.
More importantly… she didn’t want to cause trouble for these people.
The lady got up before dawn every day to sell fish, earning hard-won money.
Old Liu’s meat stall supported a whole family.
Grandpa Zhang was over eighty—he shouldn’t have to risk his life for a cat.
These people had been kind to her, and she remembered that.
She couldn’t let her own desire for comfort make their lives uneasy.
Besides…
Tang Miao glanced toward the market entrance.
She’d been planning to leave anyway.
It was just that it was so warm here, and there were endless little snacks, that she’d almost forgotten her original intention.
In her past life, she’d been trapped in this small county town until she died. Now that she finally had a chance to start over, it was time to go out and see the world.
Spring was almost here.
Once the ice melted, the roads would open.
That list she had—”places to eat when I have money”—what was the first item?
Chengdu. Mabian Bianbian Chuanchuan Xiang.
Just thinking about it made something itch in her stomach.
It was that craving for the outside world, accumulated over two lifetimes.
But before she set off, she still had one day left.