Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Cat
"Weren’t you going to take it? Why did you suddenly give the ticket back?"
Zhang Wenda stared at the ticket in his hand, astonished. He looked up in disbelief at Song Jianguo’s retreating back.
Song Jianguo spoke without turning her head, still focused on fiddling with her things.
Zhang Wenda glanced down at his battered body, then tucked the ticket into his pocket.
"But thank you for saving me. You’ve caused me a lot of trouble, but I’m glad you’ve seen the error of your ways."
Just then, Song Jianguo turned around. With a lollipop in her mouth, she walked over and gently patted Zhang Wenda’s head with her calloused right hand.
Her voice was now unprecedentedly gentle. "You’re celebrating too soon. Giving the ticket back to you just means you’re holding it for me."
The next second, with a sharp CLICK, a collar was fastened around Zhang Wenda’s neck.
A smile like a cat toying with a mouse spread across Song Jianguo’s face as she watched the astonishment dawn on his.
"What’s wrong? Feel like you’ve suddenly fallen from Heaven into hell? Good. This is exactly what I wanted."
"Oh, right. I heard your nickname is ’Dead Rat’? How unfortunate for you, because my name is ’Cat’." After speaking, she reached out and brazenly ruffled Zhang Wenda’s hair.
"You!" Zhang Wenda grabbed the collar with both hands and pulled with all his might, only to find in shock that he couldn’t break the collar, which was as thin as sheet metal.
"Let go." At Song Jianguo’s light command, his body instantly and uncontrollably obeyed.
"Sorry, but you can’t resist me now. Once someone puts this on another person’s neck, the one wearing it becomes the other’s hound, obeying every command without question."
Song Jianguo circled Zhang Wenda, the lollipop still in her mouth. "From the moment I won, you became my spoil of war. Your ticket, your everything—it’s all mine."
As she spoke, she pulled the nearly finished lollipop from her mouth. "This stuff is actually pretty good. Never had it before. From now on, you’re in charge of buying these for me from the co-op."
"Also, I just asked around. The Special Ability Ticket costs an extra ten yuan. You need to save that up for me, too."
Zhang Wenda said nothing, merely staring daggers at her. ’This isn’t some brat. This is a goddamn enemy!’
Yet, once he fully accepted this reality, his anger faded, replaced by a cold calm. The moment she’d fastened that collar around his neck, the entire game had changed.
"Well? Nothing to say about your current predicament?" Song Jianguo asked, her interest piqued.
"I’m more worried about my classmates," Zhang Wenda said, looking down at his scars. "I hope they’re okay."
"They’re fine. They’re still out there, searching all over for you," Song Jianguo said, tilting her head toward the cave’s entrance.
Zhang Wenda froze. He looked down at his wounded body and said nothing. ’He’d had a feeling all along. Not everyone played by his strict set of rules.’
"That’s all you want to ask? Nothing about how you feel now that I’ve caught you?" Seeing how calm he’d become, Song Jianguo grew annoyed.
"I have nothing to say. A loss is a loss, and I accept it. Even though you ambushed me while I was being punished by the rules, I lost." Zhang Wenda shifted his body with effort, leaning calmly against the nearby wall.
"I know what you want. You’re using this collar to make me get money for you. But it’s already dark out. Can’t it wait until morning? I’ll get it for you tomorrow," he reasoned calmly.
’If dealing with a brat before had been tricky, requiring a delicate touch, his objective was much clearer now. He could use any means necessary.’
Song Jianguo wanted to argue, but she knew he was right. Unwilling to let him have the upper hand, she kicked him. "Get up!"
Zhang Wenda stood up uncontrollably.
"You think you can sleep? Now! Right now! Immediately! Go figure out how to get that money!" Song Jianguo snarled.
Zhang Wenda paused for a moment, then started walking toward the exit. "Fine. I’ll go get the money now. Your nagging actually reminded me of something. I do know a place we can make money."
After he came down from the treehouse, Song Jianguo, as expected, followed him. It was obvious that even with the collar, she didn’t trust Zhang Wenda.
The two of them walked one after the other under the streetlights, Zhang Wenda stopping and starting as he went, as if looking for something.
They walked for nearly an hour. Just as Song Jianguo concluded that Zhang Wenda was playing games and prepared to make him suffer, he stopped in front of a Rainbow Gate.
Because it was night, however, the Rainbow Gate was unlit. The plastic clouds on it looked sinister in the dim light.
"The Youth Palace. We can get money in here," Zhang Wenda explained, pointing to the descending staircase. "A bag of white Go pieces is worth fifty cents. I haven’t calculated the ’Liquid Joy,’ but it should be pretty valuable."
Of course, Song Jianguo wasn’t going to believe Zhang Wenda so easily. She called over a cat, whispered to it for a moment, and only then confirmed that he was telling the truth. She gave him a hard shove, forcing him to go in.
This Youth Palace was in a different location from the last one, but the basement’s decor was more or less the same—very old and worn.
This time, however, there was no Teacher Rabbit handing out Old Ding’s guides. When Zhang Wenda pulled back the curtain, a limp tunnel of flesh and blood appeared before them.
Seeing this, Song Jianguo couldn’t help but cover her mouth in disgust and take two steps back. Without Old Ding’s filter, the smell from inside was nauseating.
"It’s pretty dirty in there. You should just wait out here. I’ll go in. I’ll bring it out to you when I find it," Zhang Wenda said reasonably.
"Don’t even think about it! You’re not leaving my sight!" After forcing Zhang Wenda inside, Song Jianguo had the Black Cats stand guard outside the door to prevent an ambush.
In the beam of Zhang Wenda’s flashlight, everything inside the Youth Palace was a bloody, blurry mess. The tidiness and brightness from before were long gone.
Zhang Wenda could only rely on his memory to barely make out which area was the Go room and which was the model airplane room.
Once inside, he didn’t try any tricks. He went straight to the Go room and began to work diligently.
Zhang Wenda worked with his head down in silence. Unseen by Song Jianguo, he secretly dipped a finger into the crimson of a fresh scar on his forearm and smeared it onto the fleshy walls of the Youth Palace.
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