Chapter 124: Big Talk

Wang Bo’s hand froze in place. He couldn’t open the backpack. If that girl saw the cat inside, everything would be over.

“Sir, please open your backpack so I can inspect it,” Song Changfeng reminded him immediately when he saw him hesitate.

They had just been patrolling when Aofeng heard a few meows, barked once, then suddenly bolted. Knowing it must have sensed something, Song Changfeng followed right away. When they arrived at the Fu’an Community, he suspected it was related to the previous cat abuse case. But without any evidence, there was no way to open a case.

Just as he was thinking this, he saw a man walking toward them, dressed in a black T-shirt, wearing a black mask, and carrying a backpack. The moment Aofeng saw him, it assumed a defensive stance. Coupled with the information they had gathered earlier, Song Changfeng judged that this man was likely the cat abuser. He noticed Aofeng’s eyes were locked onto the man’s backpack, so he guessed there must be something inside, which led to the current confrontation.

Now, the man in front of him had stopped mid-motion as he was about to open the backpack. His expression kept shifting, clearly troubled. And all of it was because of the girl who had just appeared.

Wang Bo still didn’t move. His mind was racing, trying to figure out how to get out of this situation. But before he could come up with a plan, the little black cat had already led the girl over.

The moment the black cat saw Wang Bo, it arched its back, ears flattened, mouth open in a hiss. Its tiny body radiated intense hostility.

“Stupid animal, get lost!” Wang Bo cursed viciously. He hated cats, especially black ones. And if it weren’t for this damn thing leading the way, how would that woman have found him?

The girl frowned, clearly disapproving. Song Changfeng felt the same. The man’s disgust toward cats was obvious, no wonder he’d commit such cruel acts.

The little black cat seemed to understand his words. It crouched even lower, its soft little paws patting the ground, as if ready to pounce at any moment.

Just as the tension reached its peak, a paw suddenly landed on the black cat’s head. The gesture seemed to flip a switch, calming it down considerably. But its eyes remained locked on Wang Bo’s backpack, and it let out a long, drawn-out meow.

Everyone’s attention returned to Wang Bo’s backpack. Not just Song Changfeng and his team, but even the girl who had followed the black cat was now eyeing it suspiciously.

“Sir, this is my final warning. Please open the backpack so I can inspect it,” Song Changfeng issued a final ultimatum.

Wang Bo’s face turned red, then pale, and he was still trying to come up with an excuse. Just then, a faint meow came from inside the backpack.

“Eggy?!” The girl instantly recognized the kitten’s voice and cried out in shock. She reached out, trying to snatch the backpack from Wang Bo’s hands. He yanked it back violently, turned, and bolted.

That was all the invitation Aofeng needed. In all its years as a police dog, few suspects had ever dared to run right in front of it. Without waiting for Song Changfeng’s command, Aofeng charged forward, and in the blink of an eye, it was already in front of Wang Bo.

Wang Bo came to a screeching halt, glared at Aofeng, and swung his backpack at it. Aofeng easily dodged to the side. Wang Bo swung again, and Aofeng dodged once more without effort. After a few more exchanges, Aofeng sensed that Wang Bo was running out of steam. It stopped dodging and launched its own attack.

With a powerful kick from its hind legs, Aofeng slammed into Wang Bo’s back, sending him flying into a flowerbed. The familiar sensation made Wang Bo realize the truth. The creature that had attacked him that night wasn’t a big cat at all. It was this dog! It had been targeting him from the start. Today’s encounter was no coincidence.

While Wang Bo was grappling with Aofeng, his backpack was flung aside and caught steadily by Song Changfeng. He unzipped it, revealing a dazed little yellow kitten. It had been groggy from catnip and had just endured several rounds of a “roller coaster ride.” The world was spinning, and it had no idea what was going on.

The girl clutched the kitten tightly, overwhelmed with the joy of getting it back. After thanking them, she was ready to leave with the kitten, but Song Changfeng, who had Wang Bo in custody, hoped she would accompany them to the police station to file a report.

“Report it? That’s not necessary… I’ve already got Eggy back, so let’s just forget it…” the girl said. In her mind, this man had probably just found Eggy cute and picked him up.

However, Song Changfeng’s next actions made it clear to her that things weren’t as simple as she had imagined. When he opened the backpack that had been used to carry the cat, a number of items spilled out. First was a cloth mouse soaked in catnip, followed by a small bag of cat food laced with a heavy dose of attractants, then a thick glove, a rope designed for catching cats, and other similar tools. Anyone with eyes could tell these were all used for trapping cats.

The girl’s face turned bright red with anger. So Danhuang hadn’t been picked up by him, but captured. Golden British Shorthairs were worth a lot in the pet world. This man clearly intended to catch Danhuang and sell him for money, which explained everything he had done!

With both evidence and witness testimony, the police quickly accepted the case as one of illegal possession of another’s property¹. When questioned, Wang Bo flatly denied that he had planned to sell the kitten for profit, claiming he didn’t even know anything about cat breeds or their market value. Honestly, if he had known that the yellow cat was a high-priced Golden British Shorthair, why would he have bothered filming a video? Wouldn’t it have been easier to just sell it right away?

“Then why did you catch the cat?” the police continued to press. If it wasn’t for money, then what was the reason?

“I just thought her cat looked pretty and wanted to take it home to play with. I really didn’t mean any harm!”

“So just because someone else’s cat looks nice, you think it’s okay to take it home and play with? If someone’s car looks good, are you going to sneak off and drive it? If someone’s house is nice, are you going to move in?” The officer harshly criticized his twisted logic. “If everyone acted like you, what kind of society would we have?”

“I know I was wrong, officer. I’m willing to pay compensation, and I’ll apologize to the girl too!” Wang Bo, of course, didn’t want a disgraceful record like this added to his file.

After finishing the statement, the police prepared to find the girl and see if they could mediate a settlement. Just then, Song Changfeng, who had been waiting outside, walked in and placed a phone on the table in front of them, motioning for them to take a look.

There was some distance between the interrogation table and the suspect’s seat. As the officer who had just been trying to reform Wang Bo stared at the phone screen, his expression grew colder and colder. Wang Bo’s heart sank lower with each passing second.

It was his phone. He had no idea how they managed to unlock it, but there were indeed some videos on there that no one else was ever supposed to see. In truth, unlocking the phone had been easy. Most phones these days use facial recognition and fingerprint scanning. After Wang Bo was caught, Song Changfeng had confiscated his phone. When Wang Bo was brought into the interrogation room, Song Changfeng simply held the phone up to his face and unlocked it.

Suspecting that Wang Bo might have recorded abuse of the kittens, Song Changfeng had checked the photo and video albums first. There, he found photos of the Golden British Shorthair and the girl, which directly proved that Wang Bo had acted with premeditation. It wasn’t, as he claimed, a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Beyond that, Song Changfeng went through several of Wang Bo’s social apps. Finally, in an unnamed group chat, he found several disturbing videos, including one where Wang Bo tortured and killed He Honghong’s kitten.

In the footage, Wang Bo placed the tiny kitten into a high-powered blender and ground its lower body into a mess of flesh. The kitten screamed in agony the entire time, even shedding tears of blood. But this didn’t stir any sympathy in the monster. Instead, it only seemed to encourage him to try even more brutal methods.

After the video was posted, the group chat exploded with likes and comments, discussing which cat personalities were the most fun to abuse and what methods gave the biggest thrill. The darkest corners of human nature were on full display in that little chat group. One female officer couldn’t take it anymore. She covered her mouth and gagged from the sheer gore of it all.

The officer taking the statement sat back down and began questioning Wang Bo again, this time based on the content found on the phone. Wang Bo kept trying to wriggle out of it, claiming the videos had been sent to him and that he wasn’t the one who filmed them. He insisted he had never done anything like that, and that he was just talking trash in the group for fun. Then he even had the gall to say, “What, is trash talk illegal now?”

That smug expression, that arrogant attitude, made everyone grit their teeth in fury. But as much as it enraged them, he wasn’t wrong. Without solid proof, all they had was his vile words, and that alone wasn’t enough to convict him.

Just then, Song Changfeng walked in again with his phone in hand. From his online shopping account, they’d pulled up a long list of tool purchases—stuff an average person would never buy.

Translator’s Notes