He was all too familiar with this expression.
Once this stupid cat started looking thoughtful, it usually meant she was preparing to do something earth-shattering.
“Of course,”
Pei Tinglan added coldly.
“Only if everything goes smoothly, that is.”
“Oh.”
Cen Yao reluctantly suppressed the urge to immediately rush out and bite someone.
“Alright then.”
“What should we do now?”
Pei Tinglan hardly hesitated.
“You and Zhu Lingxi go find the main gate.”
Cen Yao nodded, preparing to set off with Zhu Lingxi.
But after taking just one step, she suddenly stopped.
She turned her head and looked at Pei Tinglan suspiciously.
“What about you?”
Pei Tinglan raised his eyes, a flicker of surprise passing through them.
How did this little kitten's brain suddenly become so sharp?
But he quickly regained his composure.
“I'll go find the back gate.”
Cen Yao thought about it and found it reasonable.
They had to find both the main gate and the back gate.
So she nodded.
“Oh.”
With that, she slipped away into the shadows on the other side with Zhu Lingxi.
Pei Tinglan watched their figures until they disappeared behind the coffee trees.
Only when those two tiny black and white silhouettes were completely out of sight did he slowly let out a sigh of relief.
He of course wasn't going to look for any back gate.
At least, not by crawling.
Pei Tinglan lowered his eyes and remained quiet for a moment.
Then, opening his kitten mouth, he produced a sound that was completely inaudible to human ears.
It wasn't a normal cat's meow.
Nor did it sound like a song.
It was more like a low hum drifting from the deepest depths of the ocean.
It was so light it was almost formless, yet it carried a cold, damp enchantment—like moonlight sinking to the ocean floor, or like the tide slowly washing over a person's ankles, knees, and chest, before quietly submerging their mouth and nose.
The sound had no lyrics, yet it seemed to instinctively know how to pry open the cracks of consciousness.
Gentle.
Dangerous.
Beautiful enough to send a shiver down one's spine.
Not far away, a staff member who was about to carry some coffee cherries paused slightly.
His eyes grew dazed.
The basket in his hands dropped to the ground, and red coffee cherries rolled all over.
Someone next to him cursed at him.
“What are you doing? Are your hands broken?”
But the man acted as if he hadn't heard.
He slowly turned his head, staring blankly into the shadow where Pei Tinglan was hiding.
Then, he walked over step by step.
He walked up to Pei Tinglan and quietly squatted down.
His movements were sluggish and obedient.
Like a puppet controlled by invisible strings.
Pei Tinglan looked up at him.
The beautiful little kitten's face was completely devoid of expression.
After a moment, he let out a soft meow.
The man reached out and carefully cradled him in his arms.
Pei Tinglan let out another low cry.
No one knew what he said.
In the next second, the man stood up with him in his arms, turned around with vacant eyes, and walked toward the other side of the breeding area.
On the other side.
Cen Yao and Zhu Lingxi left, and their efficiency visibly improved.
Without Pei Tinglan, that little cripple, the two of them finally didn't have to stop every few steps to move their teammate.
The two nimble little figures pressed against the shadows as they advanced. One moment they slipped behind a pile of sacks, the next they slid along the edge of a drainage ditch, and the next they used the cover of the coffee trees to silently follow behind the human staff.
The coffee plantation was very busy during the day.
There were people everywhere.
Some pushed carts transporting coffee cherries.
Some held notebooks, recording cage numbers.
Others washed the ground with hoses, the dirty water mixed with foul blood and coffee dregs flowing down the drainage ditches.
Cen Yao almost had her tail stepped on several times.
Zhu Lingxi, on the other hand, veered off course several times while walking, almost following the wrong staff member into the feed warehouse.
Fortunately, Cen Yao was quick with her eyes and paws, grabbing her back by the scruff of her neck.
Every time Zhu Lingxi was dragged back, she would blink calmly.
As if she was already used to getting lost.
Cen Yao felt hopeless.
She suddenly realized that leading Zhu Lingxi around might not be much easier than carrying Pei Tinglan.
Until they spotted someone different.
The man walked out of a white building.
He was pot-bellied, wearing a black suit with a black tie tightly choked around his neck. His forehead was shiny with grease, and his face was plastered with an uncomfortable smile.
He held a cigar between his fingers, frowning as his leather shoes stepped through the mud, as if he even found the air here filthy.
There were two staff members accompanying him, one bowing and scraping, the other holding a folder and reporting something.
Cen Yao instinctively disliked this person.
She detested him.
The scent on him, mixed with the bloody, damp, and rotting smells of the coffee plantation, actually exuded a sickening sense of mercenary calculation that disgusted her.
Zhu Lingxi also stopped.
She stared at the pot-bellied man, her ears lowering slightly.
“He carries debts.”
Cen Yao understood.
Not financial debts.
But debts of blood.
But they had to follow this detestable person now.
Because there was a high probability he was heading out.
The pot-bellied man walked outward while listening to the report.
“That batch of goods this afternoon must be loaded onto the trucks. The client is pressing us hard.”
“Also, so many escaped from the cages last night, and you only caught a few back? How are you people doing your jobs?”
“The manager doesn't like losses.”
“Especially things that can make money running away on their own.”
When he reached this point, his tone carried a casual coldness.
Cen Yao crouched behind the flowerbed, her claws starting to itch again.
Zhu Lingxi gently patted her back with her tail.
Cen Yao took a deep breath.
Endure.
Find the gate first.
The two little cats followed the pot-bellied man through twists and turns.
They were almost spotted several times along the way.
Once, just as Cen Yao slipped under a cart, the wheels above her stopped with a creak.
A staff member bent down to pick up a pen dropped on the ground, his face nearly pressed against the bottom of the cart.
Cen Yao held her breath.
Zhu Lingxi lay right behind her, the tip of her tail pressed right next to the wheel, only a hair's breadth away from being seen.
The staff member's gaze slowly swept across the underside of the cart.
Cen Yao's entire body went stiff, her paws pressing against the ground, ready to spring out at any moment.
Just then, someone shouted from a distance.
“Hey! We need a signature over here!”
The staff member cursed and stood up.
The cart started moving again.
Cen Yao and Zhu Lingxi immediately slipped out from the other side, pressing against the base of the wall as they continued their pursuit.
Finally, they saw the main gate.
A heavy iron gate blocked the end of the coffee plantation, with a sign hanging on it: "Private Property, No Trespassing."
Outside the gate was a dirt road.
A bit further down the dirt road was a blurry forest.
Cen Yao's eyes lit up.
They found it.
There really was a gate.
To the right of the gate, there was also a low, small building.
The window was half-open, and inside, one could faintly see surveillance screens and a key rack hanging on the wall.
The guardhouse!
Rate on N.U.
