Any time Wang Ling encountered trouble at school, his first thought wasn't to look for help from other students or teachers. While admittedly it was partly because he was a bit of a tsundere, it was actually more that he was just not used to it.
He wasn't used to asking other people to do something for him. He was accustomed to being alone, and even when he encountered problems, he always quietly solved them himself.
For him, seeking help from other students or teachers wasn't something he had ever considered.
Of course, in an emergency like this, he would sometimes mobilize a special kind of horde.
They could be the bees that buzzed among the flowers, the little ants that could get into everything... or the stray cats that roamed the school grounds... in any case, the hordes which Wang Ling mustered were never human.
Actually, whether it was bees or ants, they had their limitations. Though abundant in number, they were restricted by their low spirit intelligence, so Wang Ling had difficulty controlling them. However melodious your zither, it was no use if you were playing to a cow 1 .
So the stray cats that gathered in twos and threes in the school were to date part of perhaps the most skillful group that Wang Ling had ever developed.
...
For all stray cats, apart from foraging, sleeping, basking in the sun and generally living mundane lives all day every day, another critical thing they needed to do was find themselves a proper organization and grow up healthy under the care of their leaders.
After experiencing life as vagabonds for a while, all stray cats would finally realize the tragic fact that there was no shit-shoveling officer willing to take them in. They thus had to drop their little tsundere attitudes and envelop themselves in the warmth of a group of other cats with similar experiences.
Nowadays, a stray cat that didn't belong to any organization couldn't even get a piece of dried salted fish!
Such was the cruel truth of cat society.
As a result, while most stray cats appeared unruly, they were in fact strictly disciplined. They went out for a stroll at a set time and returned to the secret base at a set time, so that any malefactors that may be lurking in the dark would have no opportunity to hurt them.
In summary, this group of stray cats, without the protection of shit-shoveling officers, was in fact very united.
The stray cats of Peiyuan district, for example, all belonged to different groups, and competition as well as cooperation existed between them. The world of cats might appear very leisurely and indolent, but in fact it wasn't as simple as people might have thought. They had their own problems, such as creating havoc, fighting and being confined to a territory... of course, they also had their own beliefs.
These countless groups of stray cats, of all shapes and sizes, all shared the same belief in one existence in particular — Immortal Meow.
There were plenty of legends passed down about Immortal Meow, and while they sounded somewhat exaggerated, there were four which all the cats believed in, as there had been many witnesses in these cases and many of the senior stray cats could testify to them.
The first legend! — Immortal Meow's origin!
Already many cats couldn't remember when Immortal Meow had first appeared. They only knew that it had shown up suddenly and came and went randomly. Many times it had appeared abruptly, surrounded by mist, and it impressed the cats with its immortal demeanour.
As time passed, this was how the title of Immortal Meow had come to be.
...
The second legend! — Immortal Meow's performance after its appearance!
This wasn't simply about the mystical way in which it showed up, but had more to do with its innate, sage-like manner and dignity. Also, almost every cat remembered the spectacular events that had accompanied its appearance.
First of all, it had single-handedly swept clean the sewer system under Peiyuan district of all mice for five thousand kilometers around, thus creating enough living space for many weak and helpless cats!
Mice bred much faster than cats at a rate of more than ten to one, while most stray cats didn't have mates... over time, the mice population had outnumbered the cats. If it hadn't been for Immortal Meow, the cats wouldn't have had enough space to live in, let alone to set up a base in the sewers.
There was no denying that its first performance had certainly benefited the cats immensely.
At that time, the Peiyuan district mice had scattered and fled, some even passing out under Immortal Meow's spiritual pressure; these were then picked up by the stray cats as food reserves.
Secondly, Immortal Meow had popularized the concept of team management among the stray cats at that time. It was only because of this that stray cats now had their own home even without a shit-shoveling officer to support them; the base which the stray cats had set up in the sewers was their home now, and it was thanks to a regulatory team management system that each and every one of them could hold their heads up and stick out their chests and completely ignore the scorn of house cats that were cared for by shit-shoveling officers.
The third thing it had done was to drive off the "Big Dog Gang" in Peiyuan district which had delighted in intimidating stray cats. At that time, this gang of stray dogs led by a husky had been frightened by Immortal Meow to the point of losing their wits, and hadn't even dared to fart as they ran away.
...
The third legend! — Immortal Meow's withdrawal.
After accomplishing these three things, Immortal Meow had gradually faded from the sight of the cats in Peiyuan district. The stray cats spontaneously organized all types of search efforts, with some even crouching in trees on 24-7 watch, just to catch a glimpse of it in person.
Most unfortunately, their efforts had all been in vain. It had never shown up again, like Lei Feng helping an old lady cross the road and vanishing without a trace after that.
But in spite of that, Immortal Meow was an unshakeable presence in the hearts of all the stray cats in Peiyuan district, and this faith had even spread beyond the district.
It could be said that the cultural faith practiced by stray cats in other districts had been deeply affected by the cats of Peiyuan district.
...
Finally, the fourth legend! — Immortal Meow's appearance.
There were various opinions among the stray cats about what Immortal Meow looked like.
Some cats thought that it was a formidable, powerful and muscular spirit cat mutant that was as tall as a human at one hundred and eighty centimeters in height.
There were also cats that said it was an alien robot cat from the future with a chubby blue body and a respectable red nose 2 , and that the mist which surrounded Immortal Meow whenever it appeared was very likely produced by its built-in steam engine...
Naturally, these guesses about its appearance were all unreliable.
The senior stray cats had already determined what it looked like long ago.
An old cat born with unusual pupils had once seen through that shroud of mist with its own eyes...
Immortal Meow's true appearance was a black-and-white Persian cat...
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