Apocalyptic Crazy Kitty

Chapter 42: We’re Not on the Same Path

“Zhao Ritian…” The Orange Cat’s eye twitched. “Your dad’s last name is Zhao?” “Wang Wang, Cat Brother, how did you know that? You can read? That’s so impressive! It took me a whole year of lessons from my dad to learn to read—I never expected you could read too. As my dad would say, we’re both educated folks!” the Teddy said excitedly. “That makes us even more like family!” As he spoke, he cautiously glanced at the Orange Cat’s sharp claws: “Um… since we’re family, Cat Brother, could you let me go? This position is making me feel like I need to poop…” A threatening growl rumbled from deep within the Orange Cat’s belly: “Dare to go, and I’ll neuter you.” “No way, no way, Cat Brother—Brother, just let me go. I promise I won’t attack you. From now on, I, Zhao Ritian, will be your little brother. I’ll be at your beck and call! I’d be a dog if I lied!” Teddy said pitifully. “Besides, I can’t beat you anyway!” Zuo Chen thought about it for a moment. The Teddy was actually telling the truth. He slowly withdrew his bony claws and gradually loosened his grip with his tail. Zhao Ritian scrambled to his feet, stuck out his tongue, and wagged his tail at Zuo Chen. “Cat Brother, you believe me now, right? I told you—it’s not easy for a few of us in the animal kingdom to become spirit beings. We should love and care for one another like family, work together to build a harmonious post-apocalyptic society, and rebuild our civilized homeland…” Zuo Chen cut Zhao Ritian off, saying, “Go on your way. We’re not on the same path, and we’ve never met before. Let’s not bother each other.” Since he’d been inadvertently brought to the center of Weicheng’s ruins, Zuo Chen was now thinking of taking this opportunity to find the meteor crater inside Weicheng Middle School and see what the energy point inside was. If he could obtain another fragment of the Gourmet System, that would be fantastic. Even if they weren’t fragments of the Gourmet System, he couldn’t let the people from the Divine Presence Organization get their hands on them. As he was thinking this, he retrieved the map he’d obtained from the 87th Shennu Squad from his storage space and began examining it. Heavy breathing came from beside him. Zuo Chen turned his head and saw Zhao Ritian straining his neck like a dog, trying to make out what was on the map. “Meow—why aren’t you leaving yet?” Zuo Chen let out a piercing cat’s meow, his claws shooting out instantly as he arched his body, ready to chase the dog away. “Bro, bro, bro, don’t hit me in the face, don’t hit me in the face! I want to come with you! Look at you—just a little kitten wandering alone in this desolate, chaotic apocalypse. It’s dangerous and pitiful, isn’t it!” Zhao Ritian tucked his head in, folded his front paws together, and said with a sly grin. “If you don’t leave right now, I’ll castrate you,” Zuo Chen growled, baring his teeth menacingly as he sliced through a steel pipe nearby with a single swipe of his paw. Tears welled up in Zhao Ritian’s eyes as he bowed repeatedly to Zuo Chen: “Cat Brother, the truth is, I’m scared. As a little dog wandering through this grim and chaotic apocalypse, I’m really so lonely and pitiful. Just let me follow you. I promise to do whatever you say. If you’re willing, I’ll even let you ride me?” As he spoke, he turned his butt toward Zuo Chen. The Orange Cat felt a wave of exasperation wash over him; he was truly at a loss for words with this clown. Kicking Zhao Ritian’s butt away with a single kick, Zuo Chen shook out the map in his hand and asked, “Can you show me the way?” Zhao Ritian knew this meant Cat Brother had agreed to let him tag along. Overjoyed, he immediately said, “Wang Wang, I know the way! My old place used to be right around here. No bragging, but there’s a spot where I, Zhao Ritian, peed under every single streetlight in this neighborhood!” The Orange Cat looked utterly disgusted. “Even your words reek of urine!” “Let’s go, bro. I’ll take you there right now.” Zhao Ritian led the way, darting out. Zuo Chen landed on all four paws and ran out of the supermarket right behind Zhao Ritian. Outside on the street, zombies were constantly streaming in; it looked bustling and quite lively. The zombie tide had already spread this far. However, Weicheng was originally a fairly large city, and where they were now was the central district of Weicheng’s ruins. Diluted by this vast area, the zombie horde no longer had the shoulder-to-shoulder density of the beginning; it looked much sparser. No sooner had Zhao Ritian appeared than a zombie charged straight at him. Suddenly, Zhao Ritian shed his earlier timid demeanor. With a loud “Woof,” he leaped onto the zombie’s shoulder, snapped his jaws open in an instant, and bit the zombie’s entire head right off! His jaw could actually extend and retract at will, large enough to swallow something bigger than his own body—just like the jaws of a python! His mouthful of sharp fangs instantly extended to seven or eight centimeters, crushing the zombie’s skull with a “crack”! Having taken down the zombie in a single blow, Zhao Ritian tossed the mangled remains aside, hopped in place, and—with a move called “Snatching the Dog from Dry Land”—leapt straight onto the streetlight. Perched on the pole, he looked down at Zuo Chen and called out, “Come on, bro, let’s take the shortcut.” Zuo Chen, still amazed by Zhao Ritian’s jumping ability, took a few leaps and climbed up the lamppost. The area was littered with those slimy threads; the streetlights lining both sides of the road were similarly entangled with them, even connecting to form bridges of threads. Zhao Ritian led the way, moving forward along the interconnected threads. There they were—a cat and a dog moving high above the city ruins, which were covered in white threads, while aimless zombies roamed the ground below—a scene that looked downright surreal. Zhao Ritian led Zuo Chen through a series of twists and turns, and they soon made their way through several city blocks. But the whole way, Zhao Ritian hadn’t stopped talking for a moment: “Cat Brother, you don’t know—even though I’ve gotten used to life here and don’t have much trouble surviving, I’m still suffering! We young male dogs and cats have just gone through puberty and are at the most restless stage of our lives, yet there aren’t any pretty girls around. Tell me, isn’t this pure torture?” “In these ruins of Weicheng, forget about healthy, pretty little female dogs—there aren’t even many zombie dogs around! And look at those partially evolved zombie dogs—they’re all torn to shreds. Even if I weren’t picky at all, I just couldn’t bring myself to #do it with them. They’re not even as good as the cash register monitor!” Once Zhao Ritian got started, he couldn’t stop talking. He kept babbling on, shaking his head from side to side as he carefully stepped along the thread-like paths. “Cat Brother, you’ve got to stand up for your brother here. Once we leave Weicheng, you’ve got to find me a wife… To be honest, don’t laugh at me, but I’ve never even left Weicheng in my whole life. Once we’re out there, you’ve got to look out for me.” ” After a brief pause, Zhao Ritian added with a look of loyalty: “Cat Brother, if you set your sights on any little female cat, just let your brother know—I’ll go through fire and water to help you snag her!” “Hey,by the way, Wang, Cat Brother, you haven’t had a girlfriend yet, have you? Are you still a virgin cat? Wait, no—looking at you, you must be a seasoned veteran, pretty jaded when it comes to romance. I remember back when I lived at the zoo—every time it was mating season for you cats, my God, the whole place would be in an uproar. Cat cries were everywhere; even the lions and tigers lost all sense of decency. The noise was so bad I couldn’t sleep for a whole month straight.” That stupid dog! Zuo Chen was rolling his eyes so hard they were about to pop out. This guy is way too chatty! It was so annoying that Zuo Chen wanted to grab him by the neck and make him shut up. Just then, Zhao Ritian suddenly fell silent. He turned his head and whispered to Zuo Chen in the softest voice possible: “Cat Brother, don’t make a sound. Let’s sneak through the next block. Remember, whatever you do, don’t touch those red threads…” Zuo Chen looked up and saw that along the entire street stretching toward the center of Weicheng’s ruins, the white threads had all turned crimson. They quivered gently like blood vessels, weaving together above the buildings to form a dense canopy that even blocked out the sunlight. And what these crimson threads connected were hordes of zombies with bloodshot eyes! These zombies opened their eyes in the shadows, resembling a tide of blood in the darkness…