Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 39 The Cat Climbing the Stairs
Zhu Wentao stood in front of the elevator, looking down at his phone. When someone he knew struck up a conversation with him, he put down his phone and responded attentively. His excellent manners were like a warm breeze.

Hearing others flatter him about returning to China to contribute to the country, he wasn't proud at all, just waving his hand and laughing, saying he was just trying to make a living.

It's really hard to imagine that someone like that could be a bad guy.

The elevator arrived, and the group walked in, chatting and laughing. The elevator doors closed quickly, and Lin Ge emerged from the shadows.

He didn't know which floor Zhu Wentao lived on, but that wasn't difficult. The apartment building was only thirty-two stories high, and there were displays on the elevator doors whenever they opened or closed. Even if someone else went in along the way, Lin Ge only needed to eliminate six floors in total.

Although climbing stairs would be a bit strenuous, if it could ensure future safety, then Lin Ge wouldn't mind putting in the effort.

"Fifth floor, sixth floor, thirteenth floor, twenty-sixth floor, twenty-eighth floor..."

Lin Ge silently noted down the floors that had paused on the elevator screen, then turned around and slipped into the dark fire escape staircase next to him.

Did something dart past?

A nearby security guard nudged his companion, who seemed to have spotted a dark shadow.

"Are you seeing things?"

The security guard came over to take a look but found nothing unusual, and then muttered something before retreating.

To be honest, climbing stairs is a real hassle for cats. Each step is about 16 or 17 centimeters high, requiring Lingo to lift its front legs high and then use its hind legs to jump up. One or two steps are manageable, but more than 20 steps is quite a challenge.

Fortunately, Lin Ge didn't need to run into every floor. He could simply sniff around the target floor to determine if it was Zhu Wentao's residence. Otherwise, searching door to door would have been exhausting.

"Damn it! That bastard actually lives on the top two floors?"

When Lin Ge reached the thirteenth floor and still couldn't smell Zhu Wentao's scent, his expression turned grim. To be honest, he regretted not taking the elevator, but it would have been risky to alert Zhu Wentao and get trapped inside, so Lin Ge decided against it.

He could only curse Zhu Wentao as he climbed up the dark passage.

This place wouldn't be visited by a single person for ten days or half a month; the quietness was somewhat eerie. Lin Ge climbed until his limbs ached and he even felt dizzy, before finally reaching the twenty-seventh floor, barely approaching his goal.

Unlike the other floors, the 27th floor seemed to have been entirely rented out by someone. It was quiet inside, even the fire escape doors were locked, and through the glass you could see an advertisement for some kind of internet technology company.

But... is it really an internet company?
Lin Ge stopped in front of the glass door. He could smell a lot of Zhu Wentao's scent near the door, as well as the scent of Zhu Wentao moving between the two floors through the fire escape.

What alarmed him even more was that at the corner of the stairs further up, he saw a hidden miniature camera. The tiny red light, the size of a grain of rice, was concealed deep within, yet it did not escape Lin Ge's eyes in the darkness.

Furthermore... there was an atmosphere emanating from inside the company behind the glass door that made Lin Ge hesitate.

It was a cat's scent, very faint and mixed.

Lin Ge had a hunch that this might be Zhu Wentao's secret studio. All the cats he captured outside, and all the things he did with them, might have been carried out in this place disguised as an internet company.

"But... how do we verify it? Going upstairs is impossible; the security cameras completely block out the entire stairwell. I can't squeeze through this glass door, and there aren't any windows nearby..."

Lin Ge lingered outside the glass door, his curiosity growing stronger. The deeper Zhu Wentao kept the secret, the more Lin Ge wanted to know what was inside. If he retreated now, wouldn't that be admitting defeat to Zhu Wentao?
He was unwilling to give up, so he circled the doorway a few more times.

At that moment, Lin Ge suddenly noticed that a glass window facing outwards from inside the glass door was open. The blackout white curtains were being pulled out of the window, making a whooshing sound and bringing more of the smells from inside into Lin Ge's nostrils.

This time, Lin Ge smelled the same peculiar chemical odor he had detected a few days earlier on Fragrant Orange Island—the kind that could erase traces.

This discovery convinced Lin Ge once again that this must be Zhu Wentao's real hideout! The upstairs area might just be where he rested and lived, but there was definitely a laboratory inside the company where he did his dirty work!

After thinking for a moment, Lin Ge turned back half a floor and arrived at the corner between the 26th and 27th floors.

Near the outside, about two meters up, there's a ventilation window. It's not big and has hinges, but it's made of plastic, so it shouldn't be a problem for a cat.

Lin Ge leaped onto the windowsill, easily securing a foothold just centimeters wide. He then peeked out through the hinges, and sure enough, he could see the fluttering curtain. It wasn't even that far from him, only about seven or eight meters away as the crow flies.

But... with his beard and hair on his head being blown wildly by the howling wind, Lin Ge glanced down and then quickly closed his eyes.

That height is a bit intimidating for cats!
Even if a cat's vision makes everything appear smaller and closer than it actually is, Lin Ge knew that a drop of nearly 100 meters from a 26 or 27-story building would be more than enough to smash him into a cat-like pulp.

"So... should we give up? Why not just send a message to Nie Guoqiang and ask him to send people to search the place directly?"

Lin Ge was having second thoughts.

"Thank you so much! I can't possibly eat all this delicious food at once, it would be a waste. Ah! Thank you, I won't take the elevator. There are only two floors, I'll just walk and get some exercise."

Suddenly, Zhu Wentao's voice came from downstairs.

"That bastard didn't go home? And the guy he was chatting with lives on the 26th floor?"

Lin Ge was shocked.

It was his mistake not to smell Zhu Wentao's scent at the entrance to the corridor on the 26th floor. However, there were indeed no traces of Zhu Wentao walking in the corridor either, so it can only be said that everything was just a coincidence.

Zhu Wentao happened to be invited by a resident on the 26th floor, and coincidentally blocked Lin Ge's way down.

There were cameras above, Zhu Wentao below, and the door on the 27th floor was locked. Lin Ge, trapped at the corner, found himself with nowhere to hide.

Seeing footsteps coming upstairs from the fire escape entrance, Lin Ge dared not hesitate any longer and quickly squeezed his entire body out of the exhaust window.

"Ok?"

Zhu Wentao stopped in his tracks, as if he had heard something strange.

However, the clean stairwell offered an unobstructed view, so he stopped and looked around, but found nothing. He continued walking up to the door of the 27th floor, intending to open it but the gift in his hand was in the way, so he turned around and went up to the 28th floor.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

Curled up against the building's exterior wall, maintaining his balance only with his two claws reaching into the hinges, Lin Ge cursed wildly in his mind.

Because of another frustrating situation, its current position makes it extremely difficult to get back into the hinge. With no foothold, and the hinge showing signs of being unable to support its weight and potentially slipping out of the groove, even a slight exertion could throw it out.

Even if they risked their lives and tried their luck to crawl back in, the hinges would be damaged, allowing Zhu Wentao to discover the anomaly.

By then, it will be much harder to find his weakness.

The only option now is to choose another direction.

Lin Ge looked to his left. A few meters away was the white curtain fluttering wildly, with a lightning rod wire running from the roof to the ground. This thing was made of metal and was much more sturdy, with a horizontal support rod embedded in the wall every meter.

Lin Ge was 100% confident he could jump onto the lightning rod, and then whether he moved toward the curtains on the other side or slowly slid down, it wouldn't be difficult for a cat.

Not to mention cats, even many extreme athletes have tried climbing using lightning rods, and the difficulty is not as high as you might imagine.

Is it really just an illusion?

The cautious Zhu Wentao returned to the stairwell. He hadn't even had time to change his clothes before checking the security cameras and going back to the site.

There were a few cat hairs scattered on the ground, but this didn't arouse his suspicion. After all, as a veterinarian, whether working in a hospital or conducting experiments here, it's impossible to clean up all the cat hair perfectly.

only……

Seeing a clump of white cat hair stuck to the exhaust vent, Zhu Wentao still looked puzzled. He looked around and reached into the hinges to feel around, but found nothing, so he shook his head and gave up his suspicions.

(End of this chapter)