Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Robber
"Uh, Zhang Wenda."
Zhang Wenda looked at the cat girl before him and shook her outstretched hand. He could feel the thick calluses on her fingertips.
It was clear this girl, Song Jianguo, was used to a lot of rough work.
Just as Zhang Wenda was mentally trying to figure out how to communicate with her without asking questions, she said something that completely blindsided him. "I know someone gave you a ticket last night. I need it. Give it to me."
"What the fuck?!" Zhang Wenda shot to his feet, staring at her in disbelief. ’How does she know?’
When he saw the Black Cats stop their roughhousing and begin to surround him, Zhang Wenda’s heart pounded in alarm.
"Little girl, I’m old enough to be your uncle, but I’ll let that slide. Didn’t your parents ever teach you not to just ask for people’s things?" Another wound appeared.
Song Jianguo pulled a long spear tipped with a tri-edged military bayonet from a crack in the treehouse wall. She aimed it directly at Zhang Wenda and said nonchalantly, "I’m not asking. I’m hunting. To use your terms, this is a stick-up."
Zhang Wenda stared at her in disbelief, then thought she must be joking.
But when he saw the pack of cats start to close in, he knew she was serious.
He was starting to get annoyed. ’I was too naive,’ he thought. ’Just because the Black Cats helped me, I assumed their owner would be friendly and reasonable. I never expected she’d be a robber!’
’Is she using these Black Cats as bait?’
Quickly analyzing the situation, Zhang Wenda began to slowly edge toward the treehouse entrance. He would never give her the ticket the rabbit had given him. It was the key to escaping the rules!
The moment Zhang Wenda saw the surrounding Black Cats begin to arch their backs, he steeled himself, spun around, and bolted for the exit.
With a flash of light before his eyes, Zhang Wenda leaped out of the treehouse, wrapped his arms and legs around the utility pole, and slid down.
Before he could even land, SWISH! The spear, with a thick black line trailing from its end, stabbed into the utility pole right in his path.
When Zhang Wenda came to a stop, he saw it wasn’t a black line at all. It was a chain of Black Cats, each one holding onto the next’s tail, forming a "cat rope"!
From the treehouse entrance, Song Jianguo gave a tug with her right hand. The spear, pulled by the cat rope, was swiftly yanked back out of the utility pole.
Her muscular legs tensed, and she leaped down from several meters up, once again blocking Zhang Wenda’s way.
"Do you even know what that thing is that you want so badly?"
Hearing this, Zhang Wenda, who had just come down the pole, was taken aback. "What? Is there some hidden danger? Are you trying to help me?"
Zhang Wenda wondered if he had judged her too harshly.
But he didn’t think the rabbit would harm him. If it wanted to, it couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity than last night.
"No. It’s better that you don’t know. That way, your heart won’t ache when I take it from you." With that, Song Jianguo and her pack of cats lunged at him.
Now Zhang Wenda was getting angry too. He stopped running and lunged back at Song Jianguo. He refused to believe this young girl would dare to kill someone in the middle of the street.
Facing the thrusting spear, he grabbed it with one hand and put his strength into it. With a sudden surge of power, he violently threw Song Jianguo aside.
Zhang Wenda was surprised by his own strength. He looked down at his right forearm and saw that the red scar, which had been completely drained and dried up at the Youth Palace, had partially recovered.
’I must have unconsciously used that ability just now to have so much strength.’
Song Jianguo, having been thrown against a wall, looked at Zhang Wenda with surprise. She seemed unable to gauge his true strength.
Seeing her hesitation, Zhang Wenda shook his fist at her. "You’ve got some nerve, messing with me! Do you know who I am? Try this again, and we’ll see if I don’t beat the hell out of you!"
After saying his piece, Zhang Wenda turned and walked away. In truth, he was completely baffled by Song Jianguo and had no idea what was going on.
’What kind of parents raises a kid to be a robber right off the bat?’
But then he remembered how bizarre this place was, and he found himself strangely accepting it. If the Youth Palace was alive, then it was only normal for some random cat girl to be a robber.
Zhang Wenda reached a bustling street. When he turned to look back, she was gone.
To avoid being targeted by the thief again, Zhang Wenda immediately headed for the Xinhua Bookstore.
Actually, Zhang Wenda was also a little curious now. What was the value of this thing that Song Jianguo would go to such lengths to steal it?
By the time Zhang Wenda arrived at the entrance of the Xinhua Bookstore with a steamed bun in hand, it was already 10 a.m.
He didn’t have a watch; he’d seen the time on the large, square clock atop the tallest building in the county.
Looking up at the sign with its red characters on a white background, Zhang Wenda took a bite of his bun and looked for the entrance, but he couldn’t find one.
"Isn’t this a bookstore? How can it not have a door?" Zhang Wenda mumbled, his cheeks puffed out.
After circling the building, Zhang Wenda finally found a counter—a very tall counter.
It was so tall he couldn’t see over it even on his tiptoes. He could just barely make out a sign hanging inside that read, "Do Not Beat the Customers."
Zhang Wenda held the ticket the rabbit had given him up high. "Hello? Is anyone there?"
Then, Zhang Wenda heard a lazy woman’s voice drift from behind the counter. "So annoying. A customer this early in the morning."
A peculiar sound started up. Zhang Wenda recognized it—it was the sound of knitting needles.
"Um..." Just as Zhang Wenda was wondering what to say, a wrinkled hand with long fingernails suddenly shot out from behind the counter and snatched the Special Ability Ticket away.
Just as Zhang Wenda thought he’d run into another robber, the lazy voice spoke again. "Alright, what do you want to exchange it for?"
"What can I exchange it for?" Zhang Wenda asked expectantly. Strangely, this question didn’t trigger an attack.
"You need meat coupons for meat, cloth coupons for cloth, and bicycle coupons for a bicycle. You gave me a Special Ability Ticket. What do you think you can exchange it for? Geez, you’re a funny kid."
Zhang Wenda’s jaw dropped. ’Superpowers actually exist in this world? And you can buy them? And you need a ticket for it?!’
"Are... are Superpowers real?!" Zhang Wenda asked again to confirm.
"Of course they are. Don’t you ever watch TV? All those child prodigies with Superpowers on there, you think they’re all fake?"
"Forget the child prodigies. Remember that huge fire in the Da Xing’an Ridge that Fei Xiang started around the New Year? That was put out by a Superpower master using their abilities. Sigh, this kid’s a lost cause. Doesn’t know a thing."
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