Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 709 Extra Chapter 7: Tang Li's Day

The zoo during the hottest days of summer, though lush and green, was also unbearably hot.

On the path leading to the animal park, Tang Li was panting heavily as she pushed a small cart uphill.

The cart wasn't very big; it just had two styrofoam boxes, each a little over a meter long, stacked on top of it. However, the contents of the styrofoam boxes were quite heavy, and the cart wheels weren't very lubricated, making it very difficult for Tang Li to push. In just a short while, her clothes were soaked with sweat.

"Little Pear, do you need my help?"

An old man, watering the lawn with a hose, waved to Tang Li with a grin.

Upon hearing this, Tang Li's expression hardened, and she quickly turned around, lowered her head, and walked away.

"Need not!"

She dared not ask for help, especially if the bastards she was in charge of saw what was going on; they would laugh at her again.

Tang Li felt helpless whenever she thought about the few ancestors she was responsible for.

You must have done something terrible in your past life, otherwise why would you encounter such an unlucky job in this life?

But then I thought, what can I do? I'm their keeper. The messes my little devils have made, I have to bear them with my own tears. What was I thinking, actually finding working in a zoo for wild animals fun?

With a frustrated sigh, Tang Li used the last of her strength to finally push the stroller to the entrance of the leopard enclosure.

Turning her head to look inside, she gritted her teeth and cursed aloud.

"That bastard, he's not here again!"

The entire leopard enclosure was deserted. The indoor cement building was devoid of any living creatures, and the outdoor grass was withered from the sun. There was no sign of that damned leopard.

However, Tang Li had already anticipated this scene. After all, that bastard had escaped from prison countless times, and last time he even ran outside the zoo. If the police from Zhanghe Police Station hadn't discovered him in time, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Even so, the leopard, once captured, shows absolutely no remorse. Even after the zoo director spent a fortune installing a tracking device on it and further reinforcing the cage, it still couldn't stop the bastard's escape attempts. Tang Li still doesn't know how it managed to squeeze out of the cage, even though professionals had already secured all the gaps. Despite all that, it still can't stop it from going for walks next door.

Gritting her teeth, Tang Li released the stroller, stomped her feet, and turned to go to the lynx cage next door.

Sure enough, even before she got close, she spotted the bastard lying on the grass sunbathing inside the lynx cage. This scoundrel didn't even try to hide; he simply raised his head, staring at Tang Li with his dark eyes as he strode towards her.

"Get back to your own home!"

Tang Li gripped the wire mesh outside the cage and cursed loudly at the leopard inside.

"Ow~"

The leopard opened its mouth wide and yawned, then turned its head to look at the bushes beside it.

The reeds over there were taller than the grass here, and two creatures, their shapes indistinct, were wriggling inside. Hearing Tang Li's voice, the two cat heads peeked out from the grass, blinked, and then happily darted out and ran towards Tang Li.

"Wow!"

Two lynxes rushed to the barbed wire fence, climbed onto it with their front paws, and called out urgently to Tang Li.

At first glance, it seems like they really like Tang Li, but only she knows that these two equally shameless creatures don't actually want the zookeeper herself.

"Stop yelling! Wait a minute, can't you see I'm exhausted?"

Tang Li glared fiercely at the two big guys.

Compared to when they first arrived at the zoo, these two lynxes have more than doubled in size. Gone is their adorable, babyish appearance; their majestic adult form now exudes a fierce, predatory aura.

But whatever you do, don't let them move! The moment they start running or barking, their silly antics will be on full display.

In the zoo's app's list of most popular animals, the leopard and these two lynxes have never fallen out of the top five. Although since the summer holidays, the most popular animal has been completely taken over by the giant panda named Cai Cai, the two lynxes, who are adept at interacting with humans and never hesitate to respond, and the leopard, which visitors describe as elusive and never knowing where it is, with some even coming multiple times just to see it as a stroke of luck, still receive much praise. In particular, the leopard and lynx's attitude towards humans is quite different from that of other zoo animals, making it easier for visitors to have a truly satisfying experience.

Tang Li silently endured all the lousy habits of these bastards.

"Stop rushing!"

Tang Li forcefully pulled the cart to the door of the lynx cage, slapped the two lynxes that ran over, and drove them away from the door to the next room. Then she locked the passage, took the key to open the door, and pulled the cart into the cage.

"call……"

The indoor temperature was much lower than under the sun. In particular, a basin of completely melted ice water in the corner of the wall still seemed to carry a cool sensation, making Tang Li feel much more comfortable.

It's a pity that the cage smells a bit unpleasant, otherwise she would really consider whether to spend the whole summer in that cage.

"I told you not to rush me! And don't get in my way, I'm annoyed!"

Tang Li once again shooed away the two lynxes that were reaching their claws out from the gaps in the net, then glared fiercely at the leopard that had walked into the next room with its tail drooping as if it were in its own home. The leopard lay down next to the ice basin, quietly watching Tang Li continue working.

She opened the styrofoam box lid on the cart and set it aside, revealing four large, transparent ice blocks separated inside. At that moment, the temperature in the cage dropped even further, and even the leopard flicked its tail, squinting its eyes with a contented expression.

Needless to say, the two lynxes cheekily nibbled at the ice through the wire mesh, then shivered from the cold and quickly hopped away.

"I must have owed you guys something in my past life!"

Tang Li muttered to herself as she drained the melted water from the ice basin. Once there was enough space, she scooped the ice out of the styrofoam box and put it into the ice basin.

After placing one box, there was still half a space left in the ice basin. Tang Li glanced at the leopard opposite her, which was enjoying itself with its eyes half-closed, and pouted unhappily. She then piled the second box of ice, which should have been placed in the leopard's cage, into the ice basin in the lynx's cage as well.

Each cage has a fixed amount of ice per day, collected once a day, with a box of four ice blocks to last one day.

Logically, this amount of ice should be enough for the animals to get through the hottest part of the day, but in reality, ice doesn't last long in high temperatures, and the animals still have to endure the afternoon sun around 4 or 5 pm. The zoo's ice production capacity is limited; they can't very well be biased and give the other animals less. Besides, the afternoon sun isn't as bad as the midday sun; they can just bear it. (Except for the giant panda Cai Cai. That guy lives in a climate-controlled environment, back of the parentheses.)

Meanwhile, after discovering that the leopard had escaped again, Tang Li punished it by transferring its ice block to the lynx cage.

This way, the four ice blocks can last longer, which is also a lesson to that bastard leopard.

However, Tang Li did not expect that after discovering this scene, the leopard would go even further and simply live in the lynx cage and refuse to leave! No one knows how it managed to sneak in, but every day when it was time to transport the ice, it would appear in the lynx cage on time.

At first, Tang Li would call it out and herd it back into its cage, but after doing it so many times, she got tired and simply gave up and ignored it. After all, almost everyone at the zoo knew this guy was a notorious escape artist, and even the zoo director tolerated some of its less outrageous antics. What could Tang Li possibly do with it?

All eight ice cubes were placed into the ice basin, and the entire indoor space immediately became exceptionally cool.

The two lynxes that were running around in the yard earlier, and the leopard that was sunbathing foolishly, are now all lying quietly in a circle, enjoying a cool moment on a hot day.

After resting for a while, Tang Li took a broom and dustpan from the locked room next door and cleaned up the excrement and urine in the corner of the room.

It's so hot and I'm too lazy to mop the floor, so I'll just wait until the sun is almost setting before doing it.

After finishing her work, she stretched and planned to rest for a while, but then she heard tourists chatting outside. Tang Li quickly opened the door and went out, only to find that the damned leopard had already disappeared.

"This guy, was he a ninja in his past life?"

Tang Li gritted her teeth in silence.

"Hey? Where's the leopard? There's definitely a sign on the wall saying 'Leopard Cage,' where did the leopard go?"

"You don't know? This leopard at Zhangzhou Zoo is only seen by lucky people. Basically, eight out of ten people who come looking for it leave empty-handed. But the remaining two will definitely have great luck for several days!"

"real or fake?"

"Would I lie to you? I'm a local from Zhangzhou, everyone in Zhangzhou knows about this!"

"Then I'll have to look for it carefully..."

The chatter from next door left Tang Li speechless and with a headache. She simply couldn't understand why those people were so enthusiastic about an empty leopard cage. It was one thing for outsiders, but even quite a few locals from Zhangzhou would come looking for the leopard every few days. Even if they couldn't find it, they'd still be amused by the empty cage. They couldn't even take a picture with the leopard, yet they still kept that bastard at number two on their popularity list.

"What's wrong with people these days?"

Tang Li sighed.

But at least she's gotten used to it.

Before, I worried every day that the leopard would escape and hurt someone, and every time it went missing, I would rush to check the surveillance footage and ask for help to find it. But now, whatever! As long as the leopard doesn't hurt anyone and doesn't leave these two cages, I don't care what happens to it!
Tang Li pouted, showing a complete lack of responsibility.

This is probably the first thing in the world to allow a dangerous leopard to venture out. If it were to injure someone or cause something more serious, everyone in the zoo would likely be held responsible. But what can the zoo do? The staff are all animal lovers. Besides, it has already proven its unusually docile and harmless nature, so the zoo has no choice but to trust it rather than get rid of it.

If this guy were to break out of prison in an unfamiliar place... God knows what would happen!

In this respect, Zhangzhou Zoo can be considered to have sacrificed its own flesh to feed the eagle, using its care and trust in the leopard to confine it to this place where it has simple freedom.

Besides, whatever happens after killing or removing it is something no one wants to accept.

And the leopard did not disappoint the zoo's trust.

Since its first escape attempt, apart from the time it helped stop the murderer and the time it sneaked into the city recently, it has not run around anywhere else.

Even when it escaped, it basically only went from the leopard cage to the lynx cage on the other side, never going anywhere else and causing no disturbance to any other animals. It seems its behavior wasn't about escaping, but rather a game of hide-and-seek with the zoo staff. This leopard was gentler than anyone imagined; it focused most of its interest on hide-and-seek, and aside from that, it missed the strange cat at the Zhanghe Police Station.

"I heard that the cat went missing, but I don't know if it's true or not."

As the sun set, Tang Li muttered to herself, put down her work, and took a breather.

There were no leopards in the leopard cage, so her work was easy and comfortable. The auntie in charge of the tiger cage wasn't so lucky; every time she went in to clean, she wasted a lot of time just guiding the tigers to the next enclosure.

On her side, the two lynxes, though mischievous, were very obedient. The leopard, though disobedient, never got in the way, which allowed her to work much faster than the others.

"Aren't you worried that one day while you're working, a leopard might just happen to appear in the cage on your side of the field?"

When she came out of the leopard cage, Zhao Zhigang asked a rather unromantic question.

"What am I afraid of?"

Tang Li glared at Zhao Zhigang, then arrogantly put her hands on her hips and said, "Even if it came right in front of me, it would have to take two slaps from me first! Let me tell you, I've wanted to beat it up for a long time, but this guy is too cunning and hasn't given me the chance. Otherwise, we'd see who's stronger!"

"Ha ha……"

Zhao Zhigang chuckled twice, unsure how to respond.

This girl seems even more ferocious than I expected! Could it be that she's influenced by her surroundings? Does her daily close contact with the mother leopard have made her develop the same fierce personality as the mother leopard?

But it must be said that this Tang Li is more unique and makes Zhao Zhigang's heart flutter even more.

So what if she's a female leopard? She was still subdued by the male cat from our Zhanghe Police Station, wasn't she? Mimi can make a golden leopard obedient and even travel a long way to help; so can't I make Tang Li obedient and completely devoted to me...?

The fantasy scene had just begun when Zhao Zhigang's mind suddenly turned, and his eyes widened.

Just behind the bench where the two were sitting, a round leopard head suddenly peeked out from the bushes. The creature glared at them with a defiant look, and when it saw that Tang Li was sitting next to it, it licked its teeth eagerly.

"what!"

Zhao Zhigang exclaimed and stood up.

"what happened?"

Tang Li was stunned for a moment, then looked back in the direction of Zhao Zhigang's gaze, only to find nothing in the bushes.

Upon closer inspection, a leopard appeared in the cage behind them, leisurely walking in. It even yawned as it walked, its tail swishing as if it were plotting something mischievous.

Tang Li even had a strange feeling that the leopard... seemed to be watching Zhao Zhigang out of the corner of its eye?
"What?"

A question mark appeared above her head.

"hiss……"

Zhao Zhigang suddenly felt a chill for no apparent reason.

(End of this chapter)