Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 385 The Missing Takeout

The university campus after the holiday was very empty and quiet.

The basketball courts, which used to be brightly lit every night until lights out, are now dimly lit and silent. Only a few people stroll around the spacious playground, and there are no longer any groups of people sitting idly or dating under the streetlights.

But it would be untrue to say that the university was completely deserted.

The few dorm rooms with lights still on prove that quite a few people have returned to campus. Some people haven't even gone home at all, staying in their dorm rooms all day and not going out, and it's unclear what they're doing.

It was the first time Lin Ge had seen such a quiet campus, and he found it quite novel. But as he walked, Lin Ge suddenly heard a loud shout.

"Who the hell is stealing my takeout every day?!"

A moment later, a burst of laughter erupted from the building.

But soon another scream rang out, and yet another unfortunate soul appeared.

"My takeout is gone too! Damn it, I finally mustered up the courage to buy this steak and rice! I... I hope I don't get caught, or I'll force-feed you dimethyl sulfoxide until you spit it all out!"

"So cruel!"

The onlookers gasped in surprise.

"How many times has this happened this month?"

"It seems to happen once or twice every few days, right?"

Two boys passing by Lin Ge couldn't help but look at each other and ask each other questions.

"Heh... Are they treating the boys' dorm like a free restaurant? Who's so shameless? Was it someone from outside, or someone in the dorm trying to take advantage?"

The two walked away as they talked.

Lin Ge blinked, surprised that there was such restlessness even in university.

To be honest, petty theft seems to have always been a part of human nature's flaws. People who steal have existed throughout history, and it's unlikely they'll disappear even in another thousand years.

What the police station hates most is never the criminals, but these petty thieves.

They usually don't commit any major crimes, but they're as annoying as flies and rat droppings. Arresting them is definitely a losing proposition. Whether from the perspective of time efficiency and benefits or the workload of the police, arresting them is time-consuming and laborious, and doesn't result in a significant punishment. Often, after being detained for a few days and sent out, another theft occurs in the jurisdiction a few days later, and after a painstaking investigation, it turns out to be the same person again.

Of course, the Zhanghe Police Station is doing a bit better in this regard, thanks to Qian Wei, who loves catching thieves. Lately, he's practically wiped out all the petty theft in the Zhanghe jurisdiction. He doesn't care whether it's worth it or not; he'll even arrest someone who steals an apple and stuffs a bag of betel nuts into their pocket. Moreover, he handles everything himself – arresting people, interrogating them, collecting evidence, and submitting it to the prosecutor's office – without causing any trouble for his colleagues at the station…

With him around, petty theft in the Zhanghe Police Station's jurisdiction has become much more subdued. Those who are truly lazy and unwilling to work will only venture into neighboring jurisdictions to commit crimes after hearing of Qian Wei's reputation.

Universities are often the places where petty theft is most rampant.

Because college students are concerned about their image, they are too lazy to bother reporting thefts to the police, often just accepting their bad luck and venting their frustrations. Unless the items are particularly valuable, reporting the theft seems to them as a sign of being incompetent or low-class.

For a time, the university town practically became a den of thieves. It was only after the government launched a crackdown that those scoundrels who plagued university students were finally brought to justice.

"But this time, is the thief who only steals takeout food really struggling financially, or is he just trying to take advantage of the situation?"

Lin Ge stopped in his tracks, somewhat curious.

But considering a takeout meal only costs ten or twenty yuan, spending a lot of time and effort catching a thief for it seems like a bad deal. Besides, he came to the university to see Grandma Liu Junshu, so why would he want to find something to do at this time?
After thinking it over, Lin Ge turned around and decided to leave this place of trouble.

"Little boy?"

A somewhat familiar voice rang out behind Lin Ge.

Lin Ge turned around and saw Li Ping riding a shared bicycle approaching from afar. She saw the cat under the streetlight and was initially hesitant about whether she was right or wrong, but when Lin Ge turned around and saw the scar on his forehead, she was certain it was him.

"Why are you free to come here today?"

Thinking that this rascal cat hadn't visited Teacher Liu for over ten days, Li Ping couldn't help but feel a little resentful.

"Do you know how I've been these past few days? The cat is exhausted, how could it be in the mood to run around? I've only had a little rest these past two days, otherwise, if I'm not in good spirits, no one will let me go out."

Lin Ge glared at Li Ping.

"Arrogant fellow."

Li Ping wasn't angry. She had completely understood the cat's temperament after it grew up. It was a cat that understood human nature but was also willful and unruly, using its cat identity to bully people. Expecting it to be obedient was wishful thinking.

"Come on up! I'm going to Teacher Liu's place anyway, so I'll reluctantly take you with me."

Li Ping gestured for Lin Ge to get on the bike and find a place to squat, then helped hold onto the heavy plastic bags that were about to slip off the handlebars. Judging from the bulging outline of the bags, they were probably filled with apples or something similar, two large bags full, and quite heavy.

“My mom sent these to me from her hometown. They’re all the best varieties from there. Those premium apples sold outside are all selected from these varieties before they’re sold.”

Li Ping explained to Lin Ge, then watched as Lin Ge lightly leaped onto the small shelf in front of the cart. The balance that the two bags of apples had painstakingly achieved on both sides was disrupted, and Li Ping nearly tipped the cart over by twisting the handlebars twice, managing to steady it with all her might.

"Have you gotten fatter lately?"

Li Ping glanced at Lin Ge in surprise; he seemed to have gained a lot of weight since she hadn't seen him for a while.

"Long-winded!"

Lin Ge rolled his eyes and turned his back to Li Ping, pretending not to hear what she said.

Anyway, there's no way I'm going to lose weight! I'm a big cat, and I'm just still growing! Besides, I secretly weighed myself last time and I'm only less than sixteen pounds, which is far from the so-called 'fat' standard for a silver shaded cat.

"Sit tight."

Li Ping didn't really care about Lin Ge's weight. After stabilizing the handlebars, she pushed off with her legs and started riding again, albeit with some difficulty and slowness.

The shared bike, carrying people, apples, and cats, slowly moved forward, quickly leaving the student dormitory area. Further on, there were even fewer people to be seen. Li Ping couldn't help but make conversation: "Little darling, did you know about the city's Public Security Bureau's recent screening of foreign students? I heard they found several fake foreign students of other skin colors who actually had Chinese household registrations. So the university simply canceled the so-called international student dormitories, and now they're living with regular students regardless of nationality! This caused some conflict before the new year; two white American students transferred away. But it's good they left; the rest are all relatively well-behaved."

"Is it about Zheng Lei?"

Lin Ge remembered the girl who was almost humiliated by that beastly black man pretending to be a foreigner.

I wonder what's going on with this kid now that he's been arrested. These kinds of cases usually don't take too long to go through the proper procedures, since the evidence is solid and he was arrested on the spot. No matter how powerful his family is, they can't cause any trouble.

If he were truly an 'international friend,' it would be a bit more troublesome, but this guy is just a fatherless, ill-mannered, black mixed-race person, so he doesn't pose a problem for the police.

'Clang!'

Suddenly, a crisp metallic clang rang out, vaguely resembling the sound of an aluminum can hitting a stone. Li Ping, who was riding her bicycle, froze in surprise, looking towards the dark medical research center halfway up the mountain.

"Is there anyone there?"

Li Ping shuddered.

She knew that the building housed several cadavers and numerous live specimens in formalin jars. Therefore, aside from medical school staff, few students or teachers ventured there at night.

It's not that I'm afraid of any scary stories, it's just that it feels creepy.

So why are there strange noises coming from near that building so late at night when school hasn't started yet? Guessing that it's an empty can easily lead to thoughts of food and drink, and then thinking about the cadavers in the building, Li Ping couldn't help but get goosebumps all over her body.

"I didn't hear anything!"

She muttered to herself, pedaling harder, hoping this damn bike would go faster. "Hmm?"

Lin Ge's ears twitched; he vaguely heard voices. The voices were muffled, like someone chewing something. Lin Ge even heard gulping sounds of drinking; there was more than one person over there.

Unlike Li Ping, who thought of the cadavers, Lin Ge didn't know what was inside the medical research center. Instead, he only thought of the college students shouting about their stolen takeout.

"So... someone really stole takeout and hid here to eat it? Why! Are they struggling financially? Or are they not even a student? Could it be that someone is planning to support themselves by stealing takeout? What do they take college students for?"

Driven by curiosity, Lin Ge couldn't resist jumping out of the bicycle basket.

"Hey?"

Seeing that the damn cat was heading straight for the medical research building without looking back, Li Ping was stunned. She wanted to stop it but didn't dare to make a sound. After thinking for a moment, she quickly took out her phone to send a message.

"Is it really possible for college students to be so poor that they can't afford to eat and have to steal takeout food to survive? Let's not even talk about student loans. Just working part-time on weekends shouldn't be too difficult to earn enough money to fill their stomachs, right?"

As Lin Ge walked and analyzed the situation, he gradually narrowed down the suspects to outsiders.

Thief?

Or a homeless person?
To be honest, like thieves, vagrants have never disappeared for thousands of years. Some are lazy and unwilling to work, while others are genuinely helpless. In any case, these people who wander in various cities keep appearing, and they always refuse to be arranged to return to their hometowns by the police station, civil affairs department, and rescue station. Some of these people will gradually turn to theft or even robbery, while others genuinely have no need and rely on scavenging or begging to make a living.

However, regardless of the circumstances, from the perspective of urban appearance and public security, these people remain a destabilizing factor in society. Just like their unstable food, lodging, and basic needs, who can guarantee that they won't take risks?
"If they really are homeless people sneaking into the university, then I have to inform Nie Guoqiang. University students are all delicate and vulnerable; how can they withstand being taken advantage of every day?"

Lin Ge squinted and quietly approached the source of the sound along the cobblestone path beside the road.

Li Ping pushed her bicycle, watching Lin Ge walk further and further away. She glanced down at the two bags of apples on the handlebars, her expression conflicted, on the verge of tears. After thinking for a long time, she stomped her foot hard, leaned the bicycle against a tree, and stealthily followed Lin Ge from a distance.

As the sound drew closer, Lin Ge realized that their location was becoming increasingly remote. At first, he thought it was near the medical research building, but now he was certain the sound was coming from the dark woods behind the building.

When the distance to the sound was only twenty or thirty meters, Lin Ge could even distinguish that there were two people there, each wolfing down their food at a different pace. One of them had probably drunk cola, as he was burping as he ate. But to Lin Ge's surprise, even with his cat-like night vision, he still couldn't see exactly where the two people were hiding. The dark forest had no light source; how were those two people seeing and eating?

Even more dramatically, at least some moonlight could see through from the sky. But even when the moonlight shone on the area where the sound came from, Lin Ge still couldn't see even half a person.

"hiss……"

Further away, Li Ping trembled violently. Wolfing down her food in the pitch black, why did it look even more like a zombie movie?
‘Click! ’

Before she knew it, Li Ping stepped on a tree branch, and the sound of the branch snapping was clearly audible.

"Who?"

A slightly awkward Chinese voice rang out, and a blurry figure was turning around in the distance. A flash of white light appeared on him, as the moon was finally able to reflect light off him.

But the location of that light source... seems to be a tooth?

Lin Ge was stunned for a moment.

He blinked and boldly moved closer. When he was only three or four meters away from the two people, he was finally able to make out their appearances.

These are two Black people!

Except for the occasional glimpse of their white teeth, they were completely black. Compared to Dean, the black beast they had encountered before, these two were even more thoroughly black. It was only because Lin Ge had good eyesight that he wouldn't have been able to spot them at such close range.

"Foreign friends?"

Lin Ge was somewhat surprised. Could these two also be black people with domestic household registration?

“Pile...thin...air…”

To Lin Ge's surprise, before he could speak first, the person opposite him apologized without hesitation. He probably hadn't even noticed Lin Ge; he just heard the voice and, feeling guilty, chose to beg for forgiveness.

"?"

Li Ping, who had walked over cautiously, tilted her head. Who was speaking?

"We didn't mean to. It's just...we have no choice! The international student dormitories were demolished, and we no longer have free accommodation and food, nor do we have any money. We...we are international students from the Democratic Republic of Congo, we are very poor, we can't afford it..."

One of the Black guys honestly confessed, finally letting Ringo know why the two of them had been hiding there stealing other college students' takeout.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is an African country, commonly known as the Congo-Kinshasa. It is one of the world's poorest countries, with the vast majority of its population earning less than 1,000 yuan a year. It suffers from a huge wealth gap and has the world's largest number of slums. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1972, my country has consistently provided the DRC with various resources and support to help it overcome its difficulties. At the same time, a large number of outstanding Congolese youths have come to my country to study, becoming an important bridge supporting bilateral relations and contributing to the DRC's development.

However... the government's assistance to young people in the Democratic Republic of Congo is not unlimited; at most, it can only guarantee them food, lodging, and equal access to education.

Unfortunately, Zhangzhou University was recently the site of a case where a Black man attempted to rape an innocent girl, prompting the university to remove the international student dormitories in anger. The new arrangement hasn't been implemented yet, and with students on holiday for the Lunar New Year, it seems that waiting until the start of the semester to make further arrangements is not a problem.

But who would have thought... there were two truly penniless people here who were so poor they couldn't even afford a few days' worth of food!

Unless one has exceptional language skills, it's extremely difficult for Black people to find work in Zhangzhou. These two were clearly not exceptionally talented, but they were also incredibly stubborn and foolish. With no money and no friends, they were forced to steal takeout food to survive due to hunger.

"..."

After figuring out the whole story, Lin Ge was speechless.

I was just thinking that Dean's case wasn't an international issue, and now two foreigners have actually come forward to steal things!

Of course, this is a very small matter. To be honest, if these two idiots had even a little bit of courage to ask their teacher or counselor for help, they wouldn't have ended up hiding in the middle of nowhere to steal food.

Of course, it's also possible that stealing is quite normal in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After all, people there live in very difficult circumstances, and choosing crime when driven to desperation is understandable but not condoned.

"So... what should we do now?"

Lin Ge was extremely conflicted.

“Pile...thin...air…”

The two Black men apologized again, their attitude humble and their tone cautious. But they still hadn't found Lin Ge; all they saw was Li Ping trembling over there.

"I'm curious to know if those two bastards will take the risk. Stealing takeout is a small matter, and there's a reason for it, so it's not really okay to do anything to them. But if they dare to lay a hand on Li Ping, then things become very simple."

Ringo eagerly brandished his claws, waiting motionless for the two black men to make their next decision.

"Little boy?"

Li Ping knew she had been discovered, but she still couldn't see where the two black men were hiding.

She had just come out of the shower, and being severely nearsighted, the cold air combined with the moisture from her breath had already blurred her vision, making it even harder to see what was making the sound—whether it was a person, a ghost, or a zombie.

Therefore, upon hearing that somewhat strange Chinese, she became even more frightened and nervous.

“Li Ping…”

Suddenly, a hand landed on Li Ping's shoulder, and she heard a soft call in her ear.

"Ah~~~~~~~"

Li Ping finally couldn't hold back any longer and screamed loudly.

(End of this chapter)