Cheng put his Rubik's cube onto a shelf.
Zheng Tan saw people start to take out model cars. Some looked like supercars, while others looked like SUVs. Some were still in the making, and the parts were all exposed.
This club was indeed the model toys club. Zheng Tan didn't look down on them because they liked playing with toys. Instead, he envied them now. He would do anything to have a toy car of his own.
Inside, there were tracks. Some were flat; others were covered in sand and pebbles, some even had hills.
People started laying their cars on the flat track, and the race began.
The four cars shot out. They were much faster than Liu Yao's toy, and the people controlling the cars were much more skilled than the boy. They were older and more experienced after all.
Zheng Tan suddenly realized the room was completely quiet besides the sound of motors running.
People here, unlike Liu Yan, were obviously outgoing and had been chatting merrily before the race began. Now, however, they weren't cheering as Zheng Tan had expected. Was this how adults played with toys?
Zheng Tan surveyed the crowd.
The four people controlling the cars were obviously watching their cars intently. Their expressions changed as the states of their vehicles changed. However, none of them made a sound. Jiao Wei and the others, however, were watching the race with notebooks opened. Someone in the corner of the room even had a monitor.
After ten minutes, Zheng Tan heard Cheng yell 'stop,' and the cars stopped.
Immediately, the room erupted.
Zheng Tan listened to their conversation. He didn't hear any talk about rank or speed. These people were talking about formulas and technology. Even if Zheng Tan could see the data on their notebooks, he had no idea what it was about.
Jiao Wei was new to the group and didn't say much. He listened to his seniors speak and took notes. He looked up and accidentally noticed a black cat on the windowsill.
Jiao Wei jumped.
He didn't need to check up close. He recognized this cat with only a glance.
Why was he here? Jiao Wei had a bad feeling in his stomach.
The person next to him noticed him acting oddly and looked up.
"Hey, there's another cat watching us."
"Another?" Jiao Wei looked around him. Everyone seemed quite used to seeing cats around.
"There's a lot of cats in the area. Some get curious and come to watch us work."
This was why none of them seemed surprised when they saw Zheng Tan.
This one was different Jiao Wei thought in his mind.
Seeing that he was caught, Zheng Tan decided not to hide anymore. He moved to a window closer to the action.
These people did a few more runs. Every single time they used different cars. After the laps, they chatted some more technical stuff. Zheng Tan was completely lost.
Back when he was human, the car dealer from whom he bought his car gifted him a model car once. He treated it as a toy and kept it in its box. A lot of people collected car models. He used to think only children actually played with them.
Zheng Tan didn't know how much technology in the field had improved in the years to come. He hadn't thought about it much. These people, at least, were very into model cars.
After discovering this place, Zheng Tan would often visit this area on this afternoon walks. He would sunbathe on the roof and come down when he heard movement.
After two weeks, Zheng Tan figured out the group met on Monday and Thursday afternoons at three. They were from different departments, some studied mechanical engineering, and some studied statistics. There were people from the physics department and chemistry department as well. They came together because of their shared interest in model cars. Cheng was their leader. Zheng Tan only managed to find out this much.
They would bring all kinds of instruments to their meeting. Some were left there on shelves or in boxes. The group always locked up after themselves, but none of the stuff they kept in this storage house was worth much.
The group learned about Zheng Tan from Jiao Wei. They learned he was the cat of a professor in the biology department. They would bring Zheng Tan snacks because Jiao Wei knew him well.
Zheng Tan ignored their snacks. When they tried to tease Zheng Tan with spare tires and strings, he just gave them a look like they were idiots. Zheng Tan was only interested in their cars.
If he couldn't get one, at least he could look.
He was familiar enough with the group that he eventually felt comfortable enough to enter the room. He would sit on top the shelves and watch the group from up top.
By five, the group started cleaning up and was getting ready to leave.
Zheng Tan jumped down from his shelf and was about to leave when he heard people talking about him.
"Why is that cat so interested in model cars?" someone looked at Zheng Tan and asked.
"Cats are all interested in small moving things."
"No, they're not. My sister's cat would try to get as far away as it could. It would never watch us like that."
"I thought cats only like soft furry things. We only have parts and hard materials here."
"My uncle's cat likes to watch my nephew play with model cars. It won't go close to the car though."
Jiao Wei felt the corner of his mouth twitch. These people did not know Zheng Tan the way he did. They saw him as a normal cat. He knew that black cat was probably listening to them talk. He could see his ears turning this way. His tail was swaying from side to side, proving he was thinking about something.
Jiao Wei couldn't say what he was thinking though. Papa Jiao talked with him and told him to not tell other people about Zheng Tan.
After dinner, Zheng Tan left the house after some consideration.
He headed to the storage house. He had been thinking about model cars these days. The model cars those people had were more like mini sized cars than toys.
His mind was so occupied with cars, that when he heard two students talking about 'car models', his first thought was that were talking about the toy. Only when he heard them say 's.e.xy' did he realize they were talking about human models.
He was not the same person anymore. He used to mistake big group for chest after all.
Zheng Tan looked up at the sky. He could see the moon and many stars. The weather was great.
There weren't any street lamps around the storage house. The area was completely dark. The school was probably planning to demolish all the buildings in the area and thought putting up streetlamps would be a waste.
Zheng Tan suddenly felt he was being followed. He couldn't smell anything, but he heard a rustle in the bushes. He instinctively knew he was being followed, but his follower didn't seem to mean him any harm.
A dark figure jumped out of the bushes and pounced on him.
Zheng Tan was alert and turned immediately when the figure jumped out. When his follower pounced, he avoided the attack and slapped the figure. He didn't use much force though.
Zheng Tan hadn't expected to see Sheriff here. Sheriff had been largely missing at night these days. It appears he had been spending his time here. This area wasn't far from the eastern quarters. Cats, instead of people, populated the area.
