Strange Life of a Cat

Wei Ling brought Zheng Tan to the Night Tower inside a bag. He only let him out after they reached a room on the third floor.

It wasn’t the same room as last time. This one was slightly larger with all kinds of special equipment.

In the room were Ye Hao, Long Qi, Baozi and a young man in his mid-twenties. The young man looked quite average, not like Long Qi who looked every bit the elite, or strong like Baozi.

However, Zheng Tan knew there must be something special about him for him to be able to enter here.

Ye Hao saw Wei Ling and the cat come in and motioned for them to give him a moment. He entered a neighboring room with Baozi. The room was his temporary office.

Long Qi was listening to the young man explain something. Zheng Tan saw he had coils and transistors in his hands. Zheng Tan knew little about those things and had no idea what he was going to do with them. Naturally, he didn’t understand what the two men were conversing about.

The young man was mentioning something about the Vietnam war, then something about the eighties.

Out of curiosity, Zheng Tan jumped out of the bag.

The two men felt Zheng Tan approaching and eyed him. Long Qi backed up a step. The Young man looked at Zheng Tan then Wei Ling, who was eating peanuts and resumed his talk.

Zheng Tan saw a circuit map on the table in front of the men. There were numbers and letters such as R1,R2, Q1,Q2, nF,pF on the map. Zheng Tan was clueless as to what it was for.

Sitting there with his ears perked up, Zheng Tan finally grasped the general meaning of their conversation. The young man was teaching Long Qi how to make simple wiretaps. From the looks of things, the young man was an expert in the area. After his guide on DIY wiretaps, he told Long Qi about his past experience doing anti-wiretapping.

Zheng Tan was extremely interested. The stories he told were gossip like and easy to understand. Who knew so many officials in the city had hired this man to debug their offices and homes? Politicians used all kinds of spying devices to try to gather evidence against their opponents. Those with approval rights to any project were often the target.

Wiretaps could be implanted everywhere, from air-conditioners to power outlets.

What a crazy world!

“Some say these things are as bad as bedbugs. No wonder they are called ‘bugs’ in English. People sometimes ask me directly if they have bedbugs in their homes.”

The young man told stories of what he had encountered in his past. However, he never mentioned the name nor position of his past clients. He was professional.

Zheng Tan now knew for sure he was not here to plant a bug. Here was an expert, they didn’t need him.

Zheng Tan admired people like him. Those who could really focus on one thing usually managed to make money while enjoying themselves. This young man was really the kind of person who would make an excellent spy. After all, geniuses and crazy people changed the world.

“After Watergate, spies everywhere had to innovate so as not to be caught like that again. Hence, we now have laser wiretaps. The inventor of these things were real geniuses. Do you know how laser wiretaps work? You don’t need to be in the room to plant them, so you can’t be caught.”

The young man and Long Qi started talking about technical stuff that Zheng Tan didn’t understand, so he went back to Wei Ling’s side. He pushed a few peanuts in front of Wei Ling to have him peel the shells.

“You eat nuts?” Wei Ling didn’t know if cats can eat peanuts, but since the cat asked he started peeling them for it.

At first, they split the labor, but by the end, he was doing all of it.

Wei Ling rolled his eyes. He was feeling more and more like a servant, catering to the cat’s every wish.

After about half an hour, Ye Hao and Baozi finished with what they were doing and came out of the office.

The young man looked up. Seeing that everyone was here, he stood up and patted off some dust from his sleeve.

“All done? Let’s start then. Come, let’s get you people disinfected.”

“Thanks, Ba Ge,” said Ye Hao.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s the least I could do,” Ba Ge said before leaving with Baozi.

Zheng Tan mused at the man’s name. So peculiar yet so fitting for a spy. He wondered if it was his real name or just a code name.

Ye Hao sat beside Wei Ling on the sofa. “Did you get a tongue lashing over there?”

“Whenever I go over there, the kids look at me like I’m a threat. Even though I helped them in the past, they treat me like the enemy now. How are you ever going to thank me for the trouble I go through to help you?”

Ye Hao rolled his eyes and ignored this complaint.

“Did you inform the cat?” Ye Hao pointed at Zheng Tan.

“I told it a bit. All the materials are here, there’s not much I could tell.” Wei Ling shrugged.

Ye Hao looked at the cat eating peanuts on the table. He was still doubtful, but if they failed, at least a cat won’t raise any suspicions.

Zheng Tan finished his peanuts and listened as Wei Ling explained the task. It was quite simple. In short, he had to help them get ahold of a list of names.

He didn’t know what the list was for, nor did he want to know. Even for a cat, knowing too much wasn’t good.

The person he needed to find was undercover and his surroundings were likely bugged. He was under watch all day long so there was very little Ye Hao’s men could do without blowing his cover.

Ye Hao showed Zheng Tan a picture of the man. He was more toned then Baozi with a scar across his face, the kind of person parents told their kids to stay away from. He looked menacing without having to do anything.

Yet this person, who could twist off a man’s arm without so much as flinching, loved cats.

Zheng Tan almost choked when Ye Hao told him this. It was hard to imagine a man like that petting a cat.

Even during his time undercover, he fed strays whenever he saw them. He ran into a cat trafficker once and almost killed the bastard.

Zheng Tan was starting to like the fellow after learning this. He abhorred cat traffickers.

At the same time, he understood why they need his help. No one would suspect a thing if he came into contact with the man.

Zheng Tan was a normal house cat. He had the black fur most people disliked and he had been a stray before. He had confidence he could complete the task and was willing to help.

He saw it as an adventure. Wei Ling had promised to be close by, in case something happened, so he didn’t have to worry about his safety.

Since he decided to help, he had to do the preparation work.

Zheng Tan practiced with Wei Ling. There was some acting involved in his task. He had been in ads so this was not hard.

Wei Ling and Ye Hao seemed pleased with his performance.

Long Qi kept his distance from them. He looked at Zheng Tan as if the cat was the devil. He wore an amulet which Zheng Tan suspected was used to ward off demons.

He might look like the elite yet even Zhuo was braver than him.

Long Qi felt the cat eye him from across the room. A chill ran down his spine.

Had he just been looked down upon by a cat? There was definitely contempt in those eyes.

Long Qi couldn’t take it anymore. He got up and excused himself.

“This Long Qi!” Wei Ling shook his head. Everyone knew what he meant. After all, not everyone could accept something so out of the ordinary. Especially for someone who dealt with the darker side of society on a daily basis, it was easy to overthink the situation.

“Oh right. If Charcoal is to retrieve the list, he needs to be properly disguised.” Wei Ling said.

Zheng Tan didn’t understand what he meant until he opened a box. Zheng Tan felt his face ashen behind his fur.

There were all kinds of “makeup” inside the box, such as dust and some sticky liquid.

“Come, time for hair and makeup. A stray cat needs to look like one.” Wei Ling said as he threw dust on Zheng Tan.

He had done all he could to avoid looking like a stray when he lived on the streets. Now that he had a home, he was being made to look like a stray. This was torture he brought on himself.