I'm on the Ark, and I start out as Gretchen.

Pado lay on the prepared lounge chair, basking in the sun, and lazily sighed.

"Speaking of which, I remember there's an event on a shopping street nearby tonight. I think there are a lot of food stalls there. Shall we check out the canned goods?"

"Meow!"

"Okay, I'll take you there tonight!"

Since discovering a few days ago that "Rat King" had reported the candy store incident to the Guard Bureau and that another group of people were investigating her, Paddo has started to slack off (enjoy life).

In the past few days, apart from paying attention to the news and the general trend, she hasn't touched the first task at all.

These past few days, the cat has been eating, drinking, playing, sunbathing, and sleeping. If I have some free time at the end, I'll also take a trip to Swire's place to buy some small items.

So far, although the first task is still stuck at 7 times, the Swire's restocking task has been successfully pushed to the 8th time.

……

As time slowly passed and night fell, the bustling city gradually lit up with its bright lights once again.

Wow, it's so lively here!

Looking at the bustling, crowded street in front of her, Pado exclaimed excitedly, as if she had never seen anything like it before.

Although Maomao has been in Longmen for more than half a month, she has only been able to play properly in the last few days. This is the first time she has ever seen an event like this.

"Meow~"

However, compared to Pado's excitement, the canned food perched on her shoulder, observing the scene before it, was far less interested. It realized that on this crowded street, the lines to buy food were too slow.

"Well, there are quite a few people, but since we're already here, Canned Food, why don't you come with me and we'll look around? I'll take you somewhere else to eat later." Pado, understanding Canned Food's meaning and feelings, smiled and whispered reassuringly.

"Meow meow~"

"Canned food is the best, let's go!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Pado led her fat cat and followed the crowd into the commercial street.

……

Because there were so many people, Pado didn't queue up to buy anything after entering the shopping street. She just wandered around out of curiosity, looking here and there, just joining in the fun.

However, before the cat had even finished shopping, she noticed that the crowd around her suddenly became agitated, with many people even pushing against the flow of people to push their way out.

What happened up ahead?

Skillfully dodging the people crowding towards her, Pado looked in the direction of the commotion with a puzzled expression.

However, she didn't dwell on it too much. After feeling doubtful and curious, she nimbly darted forward against the commotion and fleeing crowd.

This agility didn't last long, because the closer they got to the "scene of the incident," the more congested it became, and even the nimble Paddo couldn't move forward as easily as before.

However, although she couldn't see clearly what was happening through the crowd of heads, it didn't stop Pado from hearing keywords such as "murder" and "someone is dead!" from the fleeing and screaming others.

Well, to be honest, the cat doesn't really like trouble. Especially now, with it so crowded, if it were anything else, she probably would have just turned around and left. But, she heard those words…

"Canned food, go check what's going on, I'll get you more canned food later!"

Pado, whose expression was unusually bad, lowered her voice and spoke to the canned food standing on her shoulder.

"Meow!"

Knowing it was important, they didn't haggle over the price of the canned food. After receiving the order, they quickly leaped up, stepping on each head, and charged forward.

……

On the other side of the commercial street—

The three officers, who had already divided up their tasks in the police car, quickly began carrying out their assigned duties after arriving at the scene with the officers.

Swire stayed at the exit, directing the police officers at both exits to quickly establish order and systematically evacuate the crowd from the shopping street and rescue the injured and those trampled.

Chen and Xingxiong, along with another group of police officers armed with riot shields and weapons, went against the flow of people to the "scene of the incident" to subdue the criminals claimed in the report.

P.S.: I'm getting my comeuppance. I didn't experience writer's block, but my period started, and I have terrible stomach cramps. I've been pulling too many all-nighters this month. Anyway, I'm going to sleep now. I feel like I've found my rhythm, and I should be able to get back to double updates tomorrow.

Chapter 17 is about the "master thief" getting into the police car.

In the bustling middle of the commercial street, a man dressed in black with disheveled hair, his eyes flashing with madness, gripped a knife and chased after everyone he could reach.

"Why...why did I become an infected person? Why do I have to suffer your contempt and discrimination? You can all just die!"

"Meow!!"

Just as the infected man was chasing the crowd and looking for an opportunity to raise his knife again, a sharp meow suddenly rang out, followed by a fat paw and a sharp pain on his face.

"Ah! What the hell!"

The infected person who was "attacked" instinctively covered his face. The intense pain made him even more agitated, and he kept waving his knife in the air, trying to defend himself.

However, before he could recover, a figure squeezed through the crowd and rushed towards him at great speed.

Pado first nimbly kicked the knife out of the infected man's hand, then smoothly turned around and hit him on the head with a brick.

"Seriously, my shopping trip is completely ruined."

Looking at the "thug" lying on the ground in front of her, who seemed to be sleeping soundly, and the street that was now empty, messy, and full of wounded people, Pado muttered with some regret.

As she spoke, she bent down to carefully check on the "criminal's" condition. After confirming that he wouldn't wake up anytime soon, she turned around, grabbed the canned food, and planned to quickly catch up with the crowd and slip away.

However, before the cat could run a few steps, a serious voice suddenly rang out not far behind her.

"Lady in front, please wait a moment!"

"!"

The sudden familiar voice startled Pado, causing her to stumble and nearly fall flat on her face.

Just as the cat staggered, a familiar figure quickly appeared in front of her and stopped her.

Seeing Chen stop her, Pado scratched her head guiltily and asked, "Ah, is...is there something wrong?"

"You're the one who subdued this assailant, right? We're a superintendent from the Guard Bureau. Please cooperate with our investigation and come back to the station to give a statement." Staring at the person who almost slipped away, Chen, with a stern face, showed his identification and said.

"We'll have to trouble you now, Miss. Please cooperate with us." Compared to Chen, who had a serious face and spoke coldly and looked fierce, Hoshiguma's tone was much gentler.

"……All right."

Looking at the two people in front of her who had an unquestionable expression, Pado carefully weighed the pros and cons and chose to compromise.

Under such legitimate circumstances, if she chose to run away, it would be far too easy for her to escape.

It's easy to arouse suspicion. After all, if they haven't done anything wrong, why are they running away?

Finally, after the police superintendents had dealt with and arranged things at the "crime scene," Pado, the bystander who bravely subdued the criminals, was forced to sit with them in the police car that was escorting the prisoners back to the Guard Bureau.

————————————————————

Although the overall process of this case was not complicated, its serious nature meant that the subsequent investigation and evidence collection took a considerable amount of time, especially considering the initial attempt by one of the individuals to escape.

This resulted in not only the officers of the Royal Guard working overtime, but also Pato, who was forced to give a statement after a struggle, arriving close to midnight...

To be honest, the person involved is now very regretful.

Of course, Pado didn't regret subduing the thug; she regretted not running away sooner. She should have been faster and run away immediately after hitting the person...

Now look what happened! Not only did I not get to stroll around the streets, but I also didn't buy any food, and I'm still hungry in the middle of the night.

"Wait a minute, you've worked hard today. You probably haven't eaten yet. I just ordered some late-night snacks for the officers who are working overtime. Come and eat with us."

Just as Paddo left the office, somewhat annoyed, and was about to leave the Guard Bureau, Swire's voice suddenly rang out behind her.

"Um, I don't think that's necessary."

Upon hearing Swire's invitation, Patto turned around and subconsciously hid the can behind her back before gently waving her hand in polite refusal.

“Let’s all come together. Even if Miss Phyllis isn’t hungry, your beast kin must be. He can be considered a great contributor this time.” Hearing Paddo’s polite refusal, Swire didn’t give up. Instead, she looked at the plump figure behind her with a smile and said.

How did you know the canned food was hungry?

"..."

Upon hearing this, Pado instinctively opened her mouth. However, after belatedly remembering that her fat cat often went to their place for free meals, she silently shut her mouth.

The cat admits it was in the wrong about freeloading... After all, what kind of good cat goes to its owner's house to freeload? Fine, it freeloaded, but what kind of cat shows off how many cans of food and how much cat food it gets at someone else's house?

As for why Pato knew so much, it all started with Swire not taking out the trash the day after feeding the cats...

God knows how speechless Pado was when she saw so many cat food cans in the trash cans when she was getting her stock!

If she hadn't been certain that she was feeding the cat on time and that the supplies in her storage space were constantly decreasing, she would have suspected that she was abusing the cat!

"So it's called canned food. That's a surprisingly fitting name." After hearing the cat's name from Paddo, Swire couldn't help but sigh, thinking about the ever-expending supply of cat food in her home.

"As for how I know, Miss Phyllis, you might not believe it, but it's based on my experience!"

"Based on experience... Have you fed it canned food before? Did it cause you any trouble?"

Paddo knew everything, of course, but in order not to arouse Swire's suspicion, she could only smile and pretend to be ignorant.

After saying that, she couldn't help but secretly glare at the fat cat clinging to her shoulder.

"Pfft, the canned food didn't cause me any trouble. Alright, since we're so destined to meet, Miss Phyllis, don't refuse. Come on over, and we can chat about it." Noticing Pado's little gesture, Swire couldn't help but laugh.

Then, without giving the person in front of her a chance to refuse, she took a few steps forward and carefully pulled them inside.

Previously, after Swire discovered that Patto was the owner of the cat that came to her house for free meals, she had the idea of ​​striking up a conversation and becoming friends.

However, because she is always serious and focused during work hours and does not like to be distracted, she has kept this idea under wraps until now.

Now that she finally has the opportunity to get to know him, Swire is unwilling to let him go so quickly.

P.S.: Even without writer's block, I still write so slowly, it's really annoying.

Chapter 18 Two Cats Communicate

In a quiet corner, two people were having a late-night snack and talking in hushed tones.

"It may be presumptuous of me, but there's a question I've wanted to ask before." As they chatted, Swire seemed to remember something, looked up at Patto, and carefully considered her words before asking:

"Does the canned food not usually eat properly at home?"

Every time Swire saw Guantou come to her house for a meal, wolfing down his food and overeating, he would be quite puzzled.

If it weren't for the cat's size, she would have suspected that its owner was abusing it... and since she had the chance, she naturally wanted to find out the truth about it.

“How could this guy not eat properly? He eats three meals a day plus snacks every day without missing a single one!” After hearing Swire’s words, Pado shook her head without hesitation and replied.

"..."