"By the way, Tom, how did you get here?" Zhang Da Ye asked.
Tom stood up, hopping and gesturing wildly, but Zhang Da Ye couldn't understand him at all. He stopped him, saying, "Hold on, hold on. You can talk, can't you?"
Zhang Da Ye remembered that Tom was a language master, proficient in many national languages, and even various Chinese dialects. Why wasn't he just speaking?
The moment Tom opened his mouth, he brought an immense sense of familiarity to Zhang Da Ye:
"Speaking is tiring, and my throat hurts afterward."
That authentic Northeastern accent!
Zhang Da Ye nodded. The physical structures of cats and humans are different, so it's understandable that speaking human language would be uncomfortable... What the heck! Tom's structure isn't like a normal cat's either, is it?
"Then, how about you write it down?" Zhang Da Ye suggested. He didn't want to force Tom to speak if he didn't like it.
Tom nodded, held up a finger, and with a 'whoosh,' extended a sharp claw. He then began scratching on the wooden plank below.
The neat, print-like Chinese characters made Zhang Da Ye feel very ashamed.
A few minutes later, combining the words on the plank with some of Tom's body language, Zhang Da Ye understood what had happened to Tom.
It turned out that Tom was very sad after being kicked out of his home. At that moment, a contract appeared before him. The general content of the contract was:
"[Summon Tom to another world to help Zhang Da Ye overcome difficulties. Tom can make reasonable requests. The contract takes effect after signing.]"
Tom thought for a moment and then signed the contract, writing his request: "[Let Zhang Da Ye be Tom's new master, and let Tom be a happy house cat.]"
Zhang Da Ye was completely dumbfounded. Was this what they called a 'freebie'?
Was there something wrong with Tom's thought process?
Although Zhang Da Ye didn't create the contract, he felt a sense of guilt, like he had lured an innocent cat.
Searching his conscience, Zhang Da Ye asked, "Tom, with your abilities, you could live very well on your own, couldn't you? Why do you insist on finding a master?"
Tom shook his head and wrote a few more lines:
"Only cats with masters are house cats; cats without masters are stray cats. Stray cats starve, freeze, and get bullied. I want to be a house cat."
After writing, Tom looked at Zhang Da Ye cautiously, afraid he would dislike him.
Zhang Da Ye was speechless, stunned by Tom's powerful logic. After a long while, he reached out and stroked Tom's head, managing to squeeze out a sentence:
"Then from now on, I'll be your master. As long as I have a bite to eat, so will you. I'll work hard to give you a warm home."
Zhang Da Ye remembered that besides playing with Jerry, Tom's favorite things were napping by the fireplace and opening the fridge to gorge himself. One cat could wreak havoc on a lavish dinner spread.
An average family couldn't afford to keep Tom.
Zhang Da Ye felt that if he wanted to keep Tom, he would probably have to work desperately to earn money in the future; it was a long and arduous journey.
Tom, having received an affirmative answer, happily rubbed his head against Zhang Da Ye's palm.
According to Tom's description, this was another world for him, which meant it could also be for Zhang Da Ye. Unfortunately, neither of them knew where they were.
It was then that Zhang Da Ye began to examine the ring on the back of his left hand—at this moment, the internal patterns of the magic array were dim; only the outer ring was clearly visible. According to Tom's description, this must have been what summoned him.
He wondered if he could use this to escape?
Zhang Da Ye tentatively poked it with his finger. The ring flickered, and a "3%" appeared in the middle, looking exactly like his phone screen when it was charging.
"This thing... is out of power?"
Zhang Da Ye naturally had this thought and instinctively patted his pants pocket. His phone seemed to be gone; now he only had an ear pick and a pendant.
Zhang Da Ye scratched his head, a thought forming, but it seemed he currently had no way to figure out how to charge it.
Tom tilted his head, watching his new master's actions, not understanding.
Zhang Da Ye smiled: "Alright, Tom, you've seen the situation. We're drifting at sea. We need to find land and get some food and water."
Speaking of food, Zhang Da Ye's stomach rumbled again.
Tom quickly pulled his small bundle over and pushed it towards Zhang Da Ye.
Zhang Da Ye looked at the three cans of food and a stack of green bills inside the small bundle, knowing this was all Tom had when he left home. Honestly, he was a little touched.
"I can hold out a bit longer. Let's try fishing first. We'll save the cans for emergencies."
Tom patted his chest, signaling, "Leave it to me." Then he picked up the wooden stick he had carried when he left home, took the fishing line Zhang Da Ye made from a shoelace and the fishhook he bent from a keyring, and fashioned a simple fishing rod.
One shoelace was a bit short, so Zhang Da Ye contributed the other one.
Watching Tom expertly cast the hook, Zhang Da Ye was filled with anticipation. Tom seemed quite good at fishing, didn't he? Especially when he used Jerry as bait.
Half a day passed with no catch.
Tom looked at Zhang Da Ye with a hint of grievance. It was really hard to catch fish without bait.
Moreover, they were constantly drifting with the waves, food was scarce, and there were no conditions to create a fishing spot. A clever cat struggles to catch baitless fish.
Left with no choice, the two of them opened a can. It was a metal box with a knob on the side; you could twist it a few times to roll up the lid.
The box contained six small fish, over ten centimeters long, which Zhang Da Ye and Tom split evenly.
Perhaps it was because he was extremely hungry, but Zhang Da Ye felt it was the best fish he had ever eaten. When he ate the first fish, he almost chewed up and swallowed the bones. Only when he ate the second and third did he return to a normal eating style.
Zhang Da Ye carefully removed the fish bones, but Tom was impressive; he held the fish by its tail, put the whole thing in his mouth, and a few seconds later, would spit out a complete fish skeleton, without a single trace of meat left on it.
Having barely finished lunch, Zhang Da Ye collected some meat scraps and broth from the can, smeared them on the fishhook, and handed it to Tom to fish with.
Using fish to catch fish—he wasn't sure how reliable that was, but some carnivorous fish might bite, right?
He didn't throw away the can. Zhang Da Ye planned to try using it with the empty glass milk bottle to distill some fresh water.
He filled the can with seawater and placed the empty milk bottle upright in the middle of the can. Then Zhang Da Ye ran into a problem: "If only I had a piece of plastic sheeting..."
A transparent piece of plastic sheeting was handed to Zhang Da Ye.
"Thanks." Zhang Da Ye took the plastic sheeting, turning it over and over, trying to figure out how to set it up.
Five seconds later.
"?"
"Wait, where did this plastic sheeting come from?"
Zhang Da Ye looked at Tom's back thoughtfully and whispered, "If only I had a small stone."
Tom didn't even turn his head, reached behind him, and like magic, produced a fingernail-sized small stone, handing it to Zhang Da Ye.
Zhang Da Ye: "!!!"
It seemed Zhang Da Ye's delay in taking the small stone made Tom turn his head, revealing a vividly puzzled expression.
Zhang Da Ye decided to ask directly: "Tom, how many things are you hiding behind you, and do you have anything we can use right now?"
Tom thought for a moment and began to take things out one by one:
Mousetraps, firecrackers, matches, cigars, rope, blindfolds... a small mountain of miscellaneous items, including even two revolvers.
Zhang Da Ye thought about it; as a cat who had been a cowboy, carrying two pistols seemed quite reasonable, didn't it?
Too bad there was no food or water.
Zhang Da Ye found a few thin wooden sticks from the pile of sundries. It seemed he would have to rely on himself for fresh water.
"Wait, Tom, if you had rope, why did you use my shoelace as a fishing line?"
Tom showed an embarrassed smile; because there was a ready-made one, he hadn't remembered his own.
Zhang Da Ye then chose to forgive him, and after a great deal of effort, he managed to rig up a device for collecting fresh water.
The plastic sheeting covered both the can and the milk bottle, and the small stone was placed on top of the plastic sheeting, making that spot lower than its surroundings, with the lowest point aimed at the mouth of the glass bottle.
This way, the seawater in the can would evaporate, condense into water droplets on the plastic sheeting, and the droplets would flow down the plastic sheeting and drip into the bottle.
Looking at his creation, Zhang Da Ye happily boasted to Tom: "See, Tom? With this, we'll have fresh water to drink tomorrow or tonight!"
Tom was sitting on the edge of the plank, concentrating on fishing, and turned his head when he heard Zhang Da Ye's voice.
He looked at the wobbly, makeshift distillation device and almost laughed out loud.
He leisurely put down his fishing rod, and to Zhang Da Ye's astonishment, he disassembled the distillation device in a few swift movements, then reassembled it at a speed fast enough to make Zhang Da Ye dizzy.
The metal can and glass bottle were secured together with thin rope so they wouldn't tip over due to the rocking of the sea. The glass bottle was wrapped in a layer of cloth to reduce water evaporation inside, the supports for the plastic sheeting were reinforced, and the plastic sheeting was sealed even more tightly.
Comparing the before and after, Zhang Da Ye felt that the saying about 'wielding a big saber before Guan Yu' probably referred to himself.
Tom acted as if he had done something trivial, clapped his hands, and sat back down to fish.
Was this what they called a sense of defeat? Zhang Da Ye felt like he could just cling to Tom's leg and be a hanger-on.