Evil Bully was so fast, Shen Xin thought he saw afterimages.
In just a few leaps, Evil Bully had already pounced on one of the tabby cats.
In an instant, the two cats were rolling in the rubble.
Only sharp screeches and the sound of tearing flesh came through the earpiece.
Just a few seconds later, Evil Bully shot back out and lunged at the remaining tabby.
Stray cats are usually skinny, but Evil Bully was an exception.
He was quite chubby, looking like a roly-poly blue cat.
But he was still agile and full of power.
Shen Xin saw it clearly. Evil Bully simply leaped into the air, extended a paw, and gave the tabby a huge smack before immediately tangling with it.
The two cats immediately became a rolling, tangled ball of flying fur.
The remaining three cats were so stunned they only dared to hiss, not daring to get any closer.
The strange thing was, Da Mei didn't move either. She just watched coldly, letting out low whimpers.
It was a scene of tragic beauty, like watching a hero's consort as he was surrounded on the battlefield.
Shen Xin remembered reading online that Qilin Cats weren't just smart, but also incredibly strong fighters—true kings among cats.
Clearly, Evil Bully was one of them.
After all, he was the undefeated champion of Spring Tide Home.
In a flash, Evil Bully had dealt with the second tabby cat.
On camera, the tabby cat was crouched in a corner of broken bricks, its ears flat in the "airplane" position, screeching miserably.
Evil Bully, however, was still full of fight, as if he could take on ten more.
The remaining three cats were utterly terrified. As Evil Bully lunged out again, the tortoiseshell cat turned and fled.
The other two also scattered in all directions.
Shen Xin couldn't help but give Evil Bully a thumbs-up through the phone screen. 'This cat's fighting prowess is off the charts.'
On camera, Evil Bully had vanished.
Da Mei finally made her move. With a few bounds, she pounced on the tabby cat cowering among the broken bricks.
Then the camera view descended into chaos, and only even more miserable screeches could be heard.
Shen Xin winced to himself. 'Da Mei is the type to hold a grudge, huh.'
It made sense. She had been a stray for so long, and as a beauty in the cat world, she had avoided all entanglements before finally giving herself only to Evil Bully. Her fighting skills were bound to be impressive.
Her previous, pathetic defeat was only because she'd been ganged up on.
In a one-on-one fight, a cat with some British Shorthair blood, fed until she was plump by Shen Xin, would definitely be no pushover.
The fight ended quickly. The tabby cat fled, screeching in pain.
Da Mei gave chase for a bit but gave up when she couldn't catch it.
She meowed twice triumphantly, as if declaring who was the true owner of this territory.
The problem was, in her triumph, she seemed to have forgotten the real mission.
'I brought you here to find a cat, not to conquer all the neighborhood strays!'
Just as he was thinking this, Evil Bully returned.
The previous fight had left its marks on him—a bloody scratch across his face.
There was another one under his neck.
But he didn't seem to care in the slightest, looking as majestic as ever.
And behind him, a cat was following, timidly.
It was none other than the tuxedo cat.
'Looks like Da Mei secretly told Evil Bully about the target.'
Da Mei, still not satisfied, rushed over, pinned the tuxedo cat down, and gave it another thrashing.
The tuxedo cat was filthy, with bloody marks on its neck and legs. Its ears were flat, and it was too terrified to even think of resisting.
After teaching it a lesson, Da Mei finally stopped. She whimpered a few times, saying who knows what, then started back the way she came.
A short while later, she appeared in the courtyard.
Evil Bully followed, along with the tuxedo cat, which immediately shrank into a corner and trembled upon entering the yard.
"Amazing!"
Shen Xin gave Da Mei a big thumbs-up.
'As expected, it takes a cat to find a cat.'
'And Evil Bully, too.'
Shen Xin looked at this god of war among cats. It was already lying leisurely on the ground, starting to lick the blood from its paws.
This only added to its menacing aura.
Shen Xin wanted to go check its wounds, but it let out a hiss, seemingly unconcerned about its injuries.
Shen Xin nodded to himself. 'A tough cat.'
'I might as well just recruit it.'
'Recruiting one is the same as recruiting two.'
'A family reunion, right?'
Shen Xin then walked toward the tuxedo cat.
Its ears were flat, and it kept whimpering and hissing.
Da Mei rushed over, and after a flurry of cat fur, the tuxedo cat immediately behaved.
Nearby, Evil Bully also turned his head to look over disdainfully and let out a meow.
The tuxedo cat was completely terrified. It didn't dare to move again, letting Shen Xin stroke its head without even daring to hiss.
Shen Xin suddenly found it a little funny.
'Am I not just relying on these cats' power?'
Although it had taken a few beatings, Shen Xin knew that cats have strong recovery abilities.
'Nine lives, after all.'
So the tuxedo cat's problem wasn't that serious.
The key was that the cat had been found. Now what?
'Should I build up its favorability and then have it help me find the suspect?'
'How long would that take?'
'Da Mei's nearly maxed-out favorability was the result of me feeding her nonstop for months.'
An idea struck him. Shen Xin turned and took the remaining cat recorder from his car. He put it on the tuxedo cat's neck.
It didn't dare to resist at all, letting Shen Xin handle it as he pleased.
Shen Xin put the recorder on, tightened it, adjusted the angle, and made sure it was secure and wouldn't fall off.
Shen Xin wanted to see this tuxedo cat's movements; maybe he would discover something.
The recorder's battery life for real-time video was about 50 minutes. It could be remotely put on standby, and it also had a photo function, which would activate at set intervals to take a picture and send it to him.
This method would save more power. The customer service rep had said that taking one photo every 3 minutes, it could last for about half a day.
Shen Xin set it to this mode.
It would continuously take pictures and send them to the membership cloud.
After doing all this, Shen Xin grabbed the tuxedo cat and tossed it outside the yard.
It bolted and disappeared in a flash.
Da Mei looked at Shen Xin, confused, as if she didn't quite understand why he had caught the cat only to release it.
Shen Xin didn't explain. He would still need Da Mei later.
Without Da Mei, Shen Xin wouldn't be able to find this tuxedo cat to recharge its recorder.
As the great hero of this cat-catching operation, she naturally deserved a reward.
Shen Xin ran to a nearby pet store and bought a few cans of cat food.
Da Mei was a given, but Evil Bully was not shy at all. He wolfed down a can in a few minutes, then hopped onto Shen Xin's car and started to doze off.
Shen Xin was surprised to find that an icon had appeared over its head.
It was only 1 bar.
But it was a good start. 'Recruiting Evil Bully might not be just a dream.'
'And then there's Da Mei.'
'She's already at 9 bars of favorability, just one bar away from being full.'
'I wonder what will happen when it's full.'
In any case, Shen Xin was now looking forward to it with great anticipation.
Because as the favorability increased, Shen Xin seemed to be able to sense Da Mei's emotions, intentions, and thoughts more and more.
Building such a connection with a cat was truly magical.
Da Mei also jumped onto the car, snuggling up to Evil Bully.
Only then did Evil Bully show a hint of a tough guy's tender side, grooming Da Mei's fur.
By this time, the recorder had already uploaded quite a few photos.
Shen Xin took a look. They were a jumbled mess, and not many were clear.
He guessed the tuxedo cat was probably hiding somewhere to rest and lick its wounds.
Shen Xin didn't expect any immediate discoveries.
He chatted for a while longer with Wu Zhicun, and then Zhang Jian and the others arrived.
According to Zhang Jian, Chen Chao had also stopped by today.
He hadn't given any further instructions; in other words, he had approved of Zhang Jian's approach to the investigation.
They would first conduct a thorough search, canvassing all of Xianghong Village before deciding on the next step.
But Shen Xin noticed that Zhang Jian's expression wasn't very good.
Canvassing was tedious work, but it should eventually yield something. Yet, so far, they hadn't uncovered a single clue.
The more time passed since the suspect moved away, the harder it would be to find him.
This case might really be heading toward a dead end.