Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 317 Addiction
"Haha! Come on, brothers, let's get this party started!"

In a private room at a KTV, Brother Yang and his men were indulging in debauchery.

The very large private room was exquisitely decorated. A dozen men and even more hostesses were embracing each other, drinking and singing karaoke with great enthusiasm. Seeing that each of the underlings was having a great time with the hostesses, Brother Yang took a beer and went to Zhao Zhigao's side in the corner.

"Ah Gao, why don't you find a couple? To be honest, it's just for fun, there's no need to be so formal."

Sitting down with his arm around Zhao Zhigao's shoulder, Brother Yang bumped shoulders with Zhao Zhigao and laughed heartily, "Don't take what happened during the day to heart. You know how it is in our line of work; being careful is essential. If you feel bad about it, how about I apologize to you here?"

"No! I'm just a nobody, why would Brother Yang do this for me? Besides, Brother Yang, I understand your concerns, and I don't feel bad about it. If it really comes down to it, I'll give you a twist."

Zhao Zhigao remained humble, and immediately started chugging a bottle of beer.

"Hey! It's no fun when you're drunk. People are here to have fun, not to make themselves miserable!"

Brother Yang smiled and stopped Zhao Zhigao, patting him on the shoulder: "In short, your position and income will remain the same. Oh, by the way, I'll be quite busy for the next few months, so the repair shop will be in your hands. Do a good job for me."

"Don't worry, Brother Yang, I'm a reliable person!"

Zhao Zhigao quickly patted his chest and swore an oath, the light and excitement in his eyes making Brother Yang very satisfied.

Seeing that Brother Yang was in a good mood, Zhao Zhigao tentatively asked, "Brother Yang, do you think it's okay to remove the camera in my room? To be honest, having that thing around makes me feel a bit uneasy. Even when I masturbate in the morning, it's not a pleasant experience."

"What camera? Where did the camera come from?"

Big Yang's expression remained unchanged. He simply patted Zhao Zhigao's hand and said, "Hey, you're masturbating? Holy crap, is it really that embarrassing? Come on! Pick any of those girls over there! Ah Gao, I'll pay for you to lose your virginity today!"

"Why bother dating? Besides, I don't think these women are pretty enough! If I'm going to find a woman, I'll definitely look for the pure and innocent kind who can honestly settle down and live a good life with me."

Zhao Zhigao quickly changed the subject.

He knew that probing this far was enough; by reminding Brother Yang that he knew about the cameras, his purpose would be achieved.

Let's not treat each other like fools. Besides, as for the undercover agent thing, I've been monitored like this by you with cameras, so please provide evidence.

Big Brother Yang had a similar thought: How could I, as the older brother, spy on my younger brother? I don't trust my own younger brother, right? Even if you really find the camera, it must be some kind of coincidence.

But someone like you, a heartless ingrate who dares to defy the boss, has no reason to live anymore. Hehe, let's drink...

Turning the subject of idle chatter, the group drank with the princess until midnight, then staggered to a nearby villa. Brother Yang generously distributed the goods to everyone, and seeing these guys starting to puff away on cigarettes, he finally looked back at Zhao Zhigao, who was standing at the window gazing outside.

"Ah Gao, you can't miss this chance to enjoy something for free. This is the last bit of good stuff left. After that, you'll have to wait a few days for me to come with you and see how much we can get back."

Brother Yang handed Zhao Zhigao a kettle with a glass tube inserted, interrupting Zhao Zhigao's observation of the environment.

"Water-based cigarettes? I thought you only dealt in high-quality cigarettes. Cough..."

Zhao Zhigao was surprised for a moment, took the kettle to examine it, and then tried to take a sip like the people on the sofa, but ended up choking and coughing repeatedly.

"We also have foil for injections, but those are low-end stuff, and we leave them all to Simba. To be honest, the purer the stuff, the less it needs these kinds of random aids. But one advantage of this thing is that it has strong filtering properties, so it can absorb more. Come on, learn how to do it like me."

Brother Yang demonstrated for Zhao Zhigao, and seeing that Zhao Zhigao quickly inhaled the wisps of smoke into his nasal cavity, he nodded in satisfaction and put the kettle down again.

Soon everyone was immersed in that blissful feeling, and even Zhao Zhigao's eyes gradually became dazed. At first, he was still struggling, but in the end, he convinced himself that he was an undercover agent in disguise, and could only grit his teeth and force himself to relax.

"Tch! What undercover agent nonsense. There's no one in this world who can resist the temptation of this stuff."

Brother Yang sneered as he went back to his room on the second floor.

Time passed day by day, and the end of the year was drawing ever closer.

Since handing the repair shop over to Zhao Zhigao, Brother Yang took his gang of underlings with him and started coming less and less. Even the lively karaoke in that building gradually fell silent and became deserted.

Zhao Zhigao continued to work diligently for Brother Yang, but the small repair shop was actually well-staffed and he didn't need to worry about anything.

Big clients were also taken care of through other means. So, apart from inspecting the auto repair shop every day and going to Big Yang's villa every two days to join a group of drug users, Zhao Zhigao seemed to have nothing else to do.

Brother Yang comes here quite often.

But his only target was Lin Ge; he completely ignored Zhao Zhigao. His repeated attempts to seduce Lin Ge had no effect. Little Yang even considered poisoning Lin Ge, but Zhao Zhigao quickly notified Big Yang to stop him.

The two brothers had a disagreement, and Lin Ge and Zhao Zhigao didn't know much about it. But from that day on, it seemed that Brother Yang had cut off Zhao Zhigao's drug supply, leaving him alone in the auto repair shop and neglecting him.

"Well……"

Awakened early in the morning by a general feeling of discomfort, Zhao Zhigao clutched his chest, frowned, and rolled out of bed.

He felt uncomfortable all over, and his whole body was filled with a scratching sensation that wanted to be vented. He rubbed his arms and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

"Wow, is it this yellow?"

His once-white teeth were now stained with a thin layer of grayish-yellow, whether from smoke or poison, Zhao Zhigao wasn't sure. He only felt extremely uncomfortable all over; his muscles were aching all over, and he had to scratch them hard to feel better.

He felt completely drained and his head was spinning. Halfway through brushing his teeth, Zhao Zhigao grew impatient, threw down the toothbrush, rinsed his mouth briefly, closed his eyes, and sat on the toilet, trying his best to calm himself down.

The more he closed his eyes, the more acute his senses became, and the clearer the craving and itching became. Zhao Zhigao reluctantly opened his eyes again and saw the toothbrush that had been thrown over there and the white foam on the ground. He inexplicably felt an urge to lick it.

"Is this... withdrawal? Are you kidding me? I've only been off for three days!"

Zhao Zhigao raised his eyebrows, clutched his chest, and rubbed it again.

I don't know why, but the mere thought of the word "addictive" makes me feel even more uneasy. It's as if I've found the cause of the problem, and every cell in my body seems to be urging me to find a solution.

"Heh, that's all there is to it. Is this what addiction feels like?"

Zhao Zhigao gave a cold laugh that sounded like praise, it was unclear whether he was trying to convince himself or others. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, then forced himself to remain composed, took off his clothes, tossed them carelessly on the ground, and went straight into the shower.

The cold water splashed down on him, chilling him to the bone and almost freezing him to the bone. Zhao Zhigao stood quietly by the showerhead, letting the cold water soak him through.

Looking down at his arms, he noticed that the muscles had shrunk considerably since he arrived. His once-proud thighs, which he used to flaunt in front of his colleagues, now looked somewhat flabby, and even the hair on his legs had become much sparser.

He grabbed a handful of hair from his head and, sure enough, grabbed a handful of hair. This level of hair loss was unprecedented.

Even as the cold water washed over him, Zhao Zhigao felt increasingly weak, almost unable to stand steadily. Though he was certain his body wasn't swaying, he felt as if he were about to fall, and every nerve in his body urged him to sit down immediately.

"Phew... Damn it!"

He gritted his teeth and cursed, feeling his skin was ice-cold but his body was burning hot inside, making him extremely uncomfortable. Zhao Zhigao impatiently turned on the hot water tap, and soon scalding hot water was poured over him, burning him with unbearable pain.

But it only lasted a few minutes before my body felt like it couldn't feel any temperature anymore, especially my lower body, which felt icy cold, as if hot water had been rapidly cooled down by ice.

The feeling of irritation in his heart grew stronger, and his emotions became more and more impatient. For some reason, Zhao Zhigao slammed his elbow hard against the tile, making the tile thud with a dull thud, and he also winced in pain.

But despite the pain of having an arm almost severed, the discomfort in my body was inexplicably reduced.

"Hold!"

After cursing again, Zhao Zhigao walked naked out of the bathroom without even drying himself. He stepped into the room, his clothes still on the floor, put his hands on his hips, looked at the curtains fluttering in the wind, and then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

His body was agitated again, and it seemed he needed a few more punches to feel better. But on the other hand, he knew he was harming himself, so Zhao Zhigao could only expressionlessly grab another set of clothes from the sofa and put them on with a gloomy and impatient look.

Halfway through putting on his pants, Zhao Zhigao found stretching out his trousers and fastening his belt so annoying that he tossed them aside, grabbed a pack of cigarettes from the table, and started puffing away.

One, two, three, four...

The cigarette burned so badly his lips were blistered, but he still wasn't satisfied! The fire inside him grew stronger and stronger, and he wanted nothing more than to set the house on fire with a lighter. Zhao Zhigao slapped himself hard across the face!

"Hiss..." My face was burning. Although my body was still boiling, at least my mind had calmed down a bit.

Zhao Zhigao let out a long sigh, picked up the clothes again, and put them on with his eyes closed. He didn't care whether it was right-side up or not; it just wouldn't be comfortable no matter how he put them on.

But... I have to go out.

He knew very well what Brother Yang's purpose was: to become addicted to drugs and then relapse, using this feeling of being unable to live or die to force himself to compromise, give up everything, and completely become his dog.

However, whether it's a pretense or out of necessity, I can't simply let Brother Yang succeed. I need to at least earn his respect so I don't end up as trash. There are only a few days left before Brother Yang goes to get involved in that cat-fighting thing; I have to get involved.

"It's so cold..."

As soon as the door opened, a blast of cold air rushed into the room. Zhao Zhigao, standing at the doorway, was hit hard and felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, his blood freezing.

I opened my eyes and saw nothing but white. It turned out that a heavy snow had fallen outside sometime during the day, covering the entire yard, walls, and trees, leaving only the howling cold wind blowing snowflakes that stung my face.

"Such heavy snow, and I... didn't feel a thing? Was I sleeping too soundly last night, or have my senses become dulled?"

Zhao Zhigao looked down at his hands.

It's still the same hands, but they just don't feel strong enough. Even when I clench my fists, they no longer feel as firm as they used to be, strong enough to kill a bull with a single punch. Why do they feel so uncomfortable when I clench them now? I even feel a sense of disgust towards my arms.

"Let's just find a knife and chop it off!"

The thought popped into his head for no apparent reason, and Zhao Zhigao quickly shook his head to banish all the unpleasant thoughts.

As he slowly walked downstairs, he hummed a song.

"Great...Great motherland, you have given me a mission...A revitalized nation, you have given me strength...The path of loyalty, bathed in...bathed in blood...glory...glory...hiss...damn! Bathed in blood and glory! The footprints of heroes...whoosh...whoosh...the longer they go..."

Towards the end of the song, he found it difficult to breathe, as if he had pneumonia and couldn't muster any strength in his chest. But Zhao Zhigao insisted on finishing the first verse, not even caring that singing such a song in enemy territory would be discovered, hoping only to draw strength from it.

Stepping into the courtyard and crunching through the snow-covered ground, I felt much more invigorated, but the discomfort still lingered, and waves of irritation washed over me.

He knew exactly how to deal with this feeling of irritability.

If I just apologize to Brother Yang and kneel down, everything should be fine. Brother Yang has countless good drugs; satisfying his addiction would be a piece of cake for him. At most, I'd just be doing some shady work for him. How can an undercover agent not have blood on their hands?

"Damn it! What are you thinking! Zhao Zhigao, you big idiot! You're a cop! A ...!"

Zhao Zhigao clenched his teeth so hard they made a grinding sound, trying his best to ignore his physical irritability and discomfort. He used rapid, shallow breathing to keep himself from thinking too much, and slowly walked into the repair shop that looked like it was already open for business.

"Hey?"

As soon as I opened the door, I saw several workers and a few cats unexpectedly gathered together in the auto repair shop.

The workers cut up a large iron drum that had originally been used to store recycled engine oil, splitting each half into two fire pits. The fire pits were filled with firewood from who-knows-where, mixed with something that looked like charcoal or something else. Several people and a few cats were warming themselves around the fire pits, roasting some sweet potatoes and corn on skewers and hanging them on the fire. A careless cat lazily leaned against one of the skewers and instantly meowed loudly from the heat.

In the center of the crowd, Ling Ge was engrossed in eating a few peanuts.

He didn't want anyone to help him peel the peanuts. He snatched a handful of peanuts from a young worker, dropped them on the ground, and started tearing them apart with his teeth and claws, busy and happy.

At this moment, when they saw Zhao Zhigao, who was now nominally the person in charge of the repair shop, walking over, several workers hurriedly stood up to greet him.

"Nothing to do today?"

Zhao Zhigao spoke somewhat dazedly, feeling a particularly strong echo in his head, like a constant buzzing sound from severe tinnitus.

"Hehe... I guess there will be a lot of things to do today. With such a sudden snowfall, there are bound to be a lot of car accidents. But it's still early, and the tow trucks are still on their way. They might fill up all our parking spaces later."

The middle-aged man, who felt he was the most familiar with Zhao Zhigao, smiled and spoke.

Although his relationship with Zhao Zhigao had become somewhat strained after that cat-fighting gambling incident, he had at least been the best to Zhao Zhigao before. Now that Zhao Zhigao was his boss, he felt that his status in the repair shop was different from everyone else's.

Even when it came to setting up a fire pit, no one would have dared to do it if Brother Yang were around. But since Zhao Zhigao was in charge, he thought about it for a moment and then took the initiative to organize it.

"Hmm...then why don't we hurry up and get ready?"

Zhao Zhigao felt uncomfortable all over and didn't know if what he said or his tone of voice was normal.

But his cold demeanor made everyone hesitant to squat in front of the fire pit. Regardless of their inner thoughts, they glanced at the middle-aged man and quickly went to make preparations.

This put the middle-aged man in a difficult position.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he quickly moved closer to Zhao Zhigao: "Little Zhao, don't worry. Our repair shop doesn't have many parking spaces, and we're a designated unit for insurance companies, so we can actually be selective. Traffic accidents don't discriminate between luxury cars and ordinary cars, but we can! The profit margin for repairing a BMW or Mercedes is completely different from that for repairing a domestic car or a minivan. Usually, Brother Yang contacts the insurance companies in advance and asks them to send the best cars here first."

"So, domestically produced cars shouldn't be repaired quickly, right? So ordinary people should be relegated to the back of the line when it comes to repairing their cars, while luxury cars have to be repaired first?"

Zhao Zhigao was in a bad mood and retorted upon hearing this.

The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment. Seeing that Zhao Zhigao was in a bad mood, he could only nod obediently and find another reason to stay away.

"call……"

Zhao Zhigao slapped his face, fully aware that his emotions were severely problematic. However, the discomfort throughout his body and the pent-up frustration that threatened to erupt made it extremely difficult for him to control his behavior and thoughts.

Only when he silently recites the national anthem, military songs, and police songs in his mind can he feel a little more invigorated.

However, if interrupted by someone or something else at this time, the mood will become even more anxious. A feeling of heat and restlessness, as if a leech is clinging to the body, will follow, and there may even be an impulse to simply destroy everything in front of you.

What terrified Zhao Zhigao even more was that he knew very well that this was only the initial stage of his drug addiction.

As a narcotics police officer, he has witnessed far too many drug addicts who have been apprehended and confined in rehabilitation centers. Even the bureau organizes annual study trips to rehabilitation centers for members to reflect on their experiences, where they have seen even more horrific acts of drug addict behavior.

These are just the initial symptoms, and I'm already feeling this bad. If the addiction suddenly flares up, can I really hold on?
Zhao Zhigao was a little worried.

He used to answer this question without hesitation, but now he worries that he won't find the right answer.

"Ow?"

Lin Ge sensed Zhao Zhigao's unusual behavior and curiously tilted his head to approach him.

"I am fine."

Zhao Zhigao grinned, revealing a strained smile.

"Are you really okay? You look terrible!"

Lin Ge was extremely worried.

Only upon closer inspection could one discover that Zhao Zhigao was covered in cold sweat and exuded a worrying aura of weakness. Lin Ge even noticed that Zhao Zhigao's breathing rate was abnormal, and the bloodshot eyes were even more unsettling.

"I'm fine, I can hold on. Don't worry, even if I act like a dog, it'll be a pretense. Nobody can make me submit!"

Zhao Zhigao was still smiling. He sat down in front of the fire pit and picked out two sweet potatoes, throwing them into the edge of the iron bucket.

Lin Ge suddenly jumped onto his lap, and he instinctively caught and held the cat. Seeing the cat curled up on his lap, its head tilted upwards as it looked at him with concern, Zhao Zhigao smiled and patted the cat's head.

The cat's gaze warmed Zhao Zhigao's heart slightly.

For some inexplicable reason, he suddenly calmed down.

(End of this chapter)