Pet King

The weather was good, and the sun was shining warmly, coaxing sleep into people’s minds.

Vladimir and Whitey lay down on the wall inconspicuously. Even if people did notice their presence, they would only think of them as sunbathing cats.

Whitey could see that Vladimir wasn’t very alert and signed to it, telling it that it should call other strays to come take over the surveillance of this area so that Vladimir could go back to sleep.

Vladimir shook its head. “I’ve already come all the way here, so it would be a waste to go back with nothing to show for it,” it said. “Besides, the other cats are tired too. Everyone’s equal in the liberation. I can’t give myself special privileges either. They should rest well. If you’re tired, you can go back to rest too.”

Whitey showed that it wasn’t tired and was willing to stay.

Vladimir hadn’t seen it with its own eyes and had only heard in passing that when Zhang Zian first took over the pet shop, his business was so bad that not even a handful of people had stepped into his store at the start. Making sales had been impossible.

But in the half-hour that it had been here observing, this shop named “Back to the Old Days” had been horrifyingly quiet. Not a single customer had stepped in, not even out of curiosity.

Its patience was running out. Wasting time was the same as frittering away one’s life, and it decided not to just lie passively in wait and instead try to make something happen.

Just as it was making plans, its ear twitched, picking up the crisp clacking of high heels. It was still far away, and humans might not have been able to hear it clearly, but cats had far superior hearing.

It turned to look and spotted two young women making their way down the alley.

Just like most fashionable young women, their hands were filled with bags, some of them from brand-name shops. They looked like they had just finished a shopping trip, and were seemingly unsatisfied even though they could hardly have carried more bags.

The most important thing, though, was that Vladimir had seen one of them before, just in the area that Zhang Zian had brought it. The woman just screamed petite bourgeoisie. Her name, if it recalled correctly, was something like…Zhao Qi?

As for the lady next to her, she seemed pretty close to Zhao Qi, most likely her friend.

They were chatting away as though there was no one around them, discussing the happenings of their shopping trip today—where they’d gotten a great deal on a pair of shoes, which shop had a new dress that was way too expensive, one they could only buy next month, since the weather hadn’t really turned warm anyway.

The alley was pretty peaceful, but their presence had ruined it.

Their topics changed by the second. They chatted about clothing accessories, about hair salons, about restaurants, their topics seemingly never-ending as they neared.

Vladimir usually didn’t like these petite bourgeoisie ladies. There was not a single bone of humility or work ethic in them. But they were here at the right time, so it could try getting them to enter the shop.

It got Whitey to stay in place, waiting for Zhao Qi to walk closer before suddenly jumping off the wall and dashing in front of Zhao Qi.

Ever since Shi Shi had gotten into a relationship, Zhao Qi hadn’t gone out shopping with her for a long time. She’d definitely teased her a lot about prioritizing her partner over her friend, and with such a rare occasion to be able to relive the good old days, they definitely had to go out and have fun.

“Ah! A cat!”

Shi Shi saw Vladimir first and pointed at it so Zhao Qi would see too.

Zhao Qi stopped talking, giving it a glance. She lowered her sunglasses and took a closer look. This cat seemed a little familiar…

Where had she seen it before?

She couldn’t recall right then, but when she noticed the look of unbridled disgust in the blue cat’s eyes, her heart was yet again pierced sharply!

“This is Zhang Zian’s cat! Why did it run here?”

She was just talking to herself, and she didn’t expect Shi Shi to answer at all.

“Zhang Zian?” Shi Shi’s brain lagged a little before she figured it out. “The pet shop owner that you were talking about?”

“It’s so far away from home. How did it run here? Did it run away from home?” Zhao Qi guessed, “It’s probably because Zhang Zian’s too petty and didn’t feed it wet food, and now it can’t stand it anymore, so it ran out in search of a new life!”

Vladimir regarded her with dead eyes, judging the petite bourgeoisie for assuming the worst of others.

It sauntered before them before turning toward the side of the shop. It didn’t enter. Instead, it jumped onto the roof, even pushing out a paw and hooking it towards them as though trying to wave them in.

“Hehe! This cat knows how to wave!” Shi Shi laughed.

“What’s so special about that? Zhang Zian’s cats are all weird,” Zhao Qi scoffed at her best friend’s lack of knowledge, and by the time she turned back to look at Vladimir, it had already run off.

“This shop’s name is so weird. What does it sell?”

Zhao Qi was still debating whether she should inform Zhang Zian where his cat had run to when Shi Shi suddenly pointed at the shop’s name.

“Back to the Old Days?”

Zhao Qi read the shop name, not knowing what they sold at first glance either.

“We have nothing else to do anyway. Let’s go in and take a look!” Shi Shi pulled at her elbow, coaxing her.

Zhao Qi held many things in her hands and was tired of walking so much. She had wanted to look for a hair salon to do her hair and rest at the same time. She didn’t want to spend even more than what she already had, but she was defenseless against Shi Shi’s persuasion. Their outing was a rare one to begin with, and she didn’t want to dampen the mood, so she got pushed into the shop by Shi Shi.

With the very first step she took into the shop, she had a strong sense of deja vu, like this had all happened before. Like she had once stepped into a store when she had never intended to in the first place.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t recall when or which shop it was. Before she could give it more thought, she felt her vision turn dark and Shi Shi’s tugged to pull her in.

“Wow! What are all these? They’re so scary!”

The moment they stepped in, Shi Shi saw bird masks painted in angry red and white and decorated with bird feathers, looking fierce where they hung on the walls.

The room was dark, and their eyes still hadn’t gotten used to the sudden change in luminance yet. They thought it was a monster at first.

Since Zhao Qi went overseas more often than Shi Shi, she was wiser too, and she explained after a closer look, “This looks like a mask from the Aztecs. I’ve seen something similar before.”

After the huge scare, Shi Shi had no interest in staying anymore. She frowned as she observed the weird things displayed all around her, tugging at Zhao Qi and muttering under her breath, “Qiqi, why don’t we leave this place? It’s dark here, and they didn’t even turn on the lights. It feels weird. What if there’s some cruel serial killer here?”

Zhao Qi pinched her back in anger. “You’re the one that kept yapping about coming in, and now you’re the one that wants to leave. You’re not toying with me, are you?”

Shi Shi sucked in a sharp breath from the pain.

But Shi Shi was right about one thing. Zhao Qi felt something similar too, like she was being watched from somewhere… It was uncomfortable. Besides, where was the owner?