Apocalyptic Crazy Kitty

Chapter 43: From a Renowned School

Why are the slime threads here different from those elsewhere? No, these things can no longer be called slime threads; they should be referred to as slime vessels or nerve fibers. That twitching appearance—what else could it be but nerve fibers? The zombies entangled in these red threads looked extremely eerie, standing there blankly, not moving a muscle. However, Zuo Chen could clearly sense that the psychic energy field in this area had grown even stronger and denser; to his mind, it felt like a thick, viscous glue. Zombies were still approaching from that direction. As soon as they entered the area marked by the red threads and were accidentally entangled by one, their movements began to slow. Soon, their eyes turned blood-red, and they stood there motionless, like statues. Moreover, Zuo Chen witnessed with his own eyes a mutated zombie with long horns growing from its head cautiously approaching this area. Just as it sensed something was wrong and was about to turn and flee, the zombies bound by the red threads—which had previously been motionless—suddenly roared furiously, pounced on the horned zombie, and surrounded it. The horned zombie struggled a few times, but the red threads stuck to its body, and it soon fell silent. It was so eerie—it was just like a Venus flytrap… With a grave expression, Zuo Chen followed Zhao Ritian as they hopped over one red thread after another, moving forward with great caution. If he hadn’t known Zhao Ritian was a coward, Zuo Chen would have suspected they’d taken a wrong turn. Soon, the cat and the dog reached a small fork in the road. The two sides of the fork were clearly divided: the left side was empty, with only a few stray zombies wandering about, while the right side was filled with a large number of zombies standing motionless, entangled in red threads. Zhao Ritian said nervously to Zuo Chen, “Cat Brother, do you see that manhole cover down there? We have to hurry—we need to run in there as fast as we can.” As soon as he finished speaking, his four legs instantly swelled in girth. He leaped silently from the streetlight, dashing toward the manhole cover like a whirlwind, kicked it open with a single blow, and jumped inside. Zuo Chen landed silently, extended his psychic field, and walked toward the manhole cover while monitoring the movements of the red-thread zombies. The nearest red-line zombie was less than ten meters away from him. At first, as Zuo Chen walked past, the red-line zombie showed no reaction, but when he took a few more steps forward, it suddenly whipped its head around and lunged at him! Zuo Chen’s psychic field instantly surged toward the red-line zombie, striking directly at its chaotic brain! “Get lost!” The overwhelming pressure from a predator at the top of the food chain flooded the red-line zombie’s chaotic consciousness, instilling an instinctive fear. Zuo Chen immediately began observing the changes occurring in the red-thread zombie through his psychic field. He could sense that, in addition to his own psychic field, another stream of psychic energy—or rather, mental waves—was surging into the Red Thread Zombie’s chaotic consciousness through the red threads缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠绕缠 However, this mental energy wasn’t particularly strong—at most, it was one-tenth the intensity of Zuo Chen’s own. Yet he could clearly sense that this psychic energy, emerging through the red threads, was merely a minuscule fraction of a vast psychic force. If this vast mental energy hidden behind it were to be gathered in one place, Zuo Chen would pale in comparison—it would be like a single drop of water against the vast ocean! Needless to say, the source of this immense mental energy was none other than the ruler of the entire Weicheng ruins—the “Butcher of the Rainy Night,” the Weizhi Abyss! Just then, several more red-thread zombies lunged forward, but Zuo Chen intimidated them all with his mental power. The surrounding Red-Line Zombies sensed something amiss and began to slowly approach. In the blink of an eye, twenty Red-Line Zombies had been intimidated by Zuo Chen—though this was practically the limit of his mental power! Twenty, huh… That’s a few more than expected… Zuo Chen licked his claws with satisfaction. “Cat Brother, Cat Brother, what are you doing? Hurry over here!” Half a dog’s head poked out of the sewer grate. Zhao Ritian turned around, didn’t see Zuo Chen, and immediately spun back in a panic, searching frantically. Zuo Chen leaped forward, landing in the sewer opening like an oversized feather duster. At the same time, he hooked his tail around the heavy manhole cover, sealing off the sewer. Without the deterrent of Zuo Chen’s psychic field, the red-thread zombies immediately swarmed the sewer grate. But since they were just ordinary zombies, they didn’t know how to pry open the cast-iron grate; all that could be heard was the sound of their claws scraping against the metal. “Cat Brother, you can actually control these zombies? That’s amazing! You really live up to being the male cat I, Zhao Ritian, have my eye on!” Teddy stood nearby, fawning obsequiously. He never would have imagined this Orange Cat was this powerful. The Orange Cat was clearly unimpressed by his flattery and said coldly, “Lead the way.” Zhao Ritian immediately ran ahead to lead the way, muttering to himself as he walked, “Are all you cats this cool…?” Weicheng’s drainage system was highly advanced; the sewers were extremely spacious, practically like an underground highway. When the apocalypse struck, the city turned into uninhabited ruins, but even though the city was dead, the drainage system continued to function, automatically clearing away standing water whenever it rained or snowed. With no domestic sewage—only rain and snowwater washing through—the sewers were actually quite clean. After walking several dozen meters along the sewer, the cat and the dog came upon a recessed platform set into the wall. This had originally been a place where maintenance workers stored materials and tools or took short breaks, but now it was lined with all sorts of blankets and bedding, with a few tennis balls and frisbees scattered about, along with cans decorated with cute doggy designs—it had been transformed into a… doghouse. A ceiling light cast a soft glow, illuminating the doghouse brightly. “Cat Brother, this is my place—it’s powered by solar energy. What do you think? Isn’t my decor style lively and wild?” Zhao Ritian said to Zuo Chen with a smug look on his face. “Let’s rest here for a while first and wait until dark to head out. Once it gets dark, those ‘Red Line’ zombies will get slower and less agile. If we want to get to Weicheng Middle School, we’ll have to go further in.” With that, the Teddy dog hopped onto a small bed, stretched out, and began rolling and rubbing himself all over the mattress. Zuo Chen glanced around and noticed several photos on the wall—all of a teenager hugging a Teddy, both beaming with joy. Clearly, that boy was Zhao Ritian’s father. Judging by the look in his eyes, he was a very gentle boy. “Cat Brother, where do you live? Where are you from? From your accent, you don’t sound like a Weicheng cat—did you come from the west? Our zoo used to have a Tibetan Mastiff that the director paid hundreds of thousands for. They said it came down from the highlands in the west. That thing went completely wild—it didn’t even know its own name anymore. It howled like a wolf every day. Later, it suddenly started losing its color, and we found out it was a Shih Tzu that had been dyed to look like a Tibetan Mastiff. Our director was so furious his face turned green; it took him over a month to recover…” Zhao Ritian didn’t care whether Zuo Chen was responding or not; he kept talking nonstop as he rolled around. “Bro, is something wrong with your eyes? Why are you rolling them back all the time?” Just as he was speaking, he suddenly jumped up and darted over to a tablet, pressing the power button: “Cat Brother, let’s watch some variety shows. My dad set these up for me back in the day so I wouldn’t get lonely. This is my favorite show—I’ve watched it almost a hundred times.” Zuo Chen, his face a mask of exasperation, peered over the cat’s head and saw several large characters appear on the screen *Deyun Society: A Decade of Performances—The Best of the Best*! Zuo Chen instantly realized what was going on and helplessly raised a paw to cover his forehead. No wonder you’re such a damn smart-ass—turns out you come from a renowned school! “Cat Brother…” “Shut up!”