Chapter 18 School Cat Ahua
Teacher Feng said with a smile: "Yan Zhen, this time the blackboard newspaper is handed over to you."
He was referring to the blackboard at the back of the classroom, where students would write blackboard newspapers in groups, taking turns every two weeks. There was also a blackboard newspaper competition every week. This week it was Xiaozhen's group's turn.
According to the rotation rules, Xiao Zhen is the team leader.
Xiao Zhen asked: "What should be written on the blackboard?"
"The content will be decided by you guys. Come on, our class 2 hasn't won an excellent blackboard newspaper for a long time." The competition among the classes is very fierce, whether it is grades or various activities. Class 2 is always at a disadvantage in the class competition. Teacher Feng's tone and expression reveal a tragic and heroic feeling that the life-and-death battle for the honor of our class depends entirely on you, but it's a pity that Xiaozhen in front of him is completely unmoved.
The alien creature Heart Eater didn't want to give face to Teacher Feng, but he felt that this team activity was a failure.
Xiao Zhen turned around and looked at his team members. A boy other than him was pulled away by the school team to play basketball. There were only two girls left in his team.
Wei Jingjing, the young lady who never looks at people with her eyes.
Chen Yuxin, a quiet and silent school cat lover.
As for the blackboard newspaper, the two of them seemed to have no interest at all. Chen Yuxin looked out the window absentmindedly. Wei Jingjing was playing with her phone and didn't even look at Xiaozhen.
Xiao Zhen observed the previous blackboard newspaper, which contained several classmates' summer travel experiences, and a few rough sketches of scenic spots were drawn below. According to Xiao Zhen's observation, the blackboard newspapers in school are human information exchange boards, but they are more formal.
"Do you have any good suggestions about the bulletin board?" Xiao Zhen asked his two female team members.
Chen Yuxin was daydreaming, and Wei Jingjing was swiping his phone with his head tilted, but there was no response.
Xiao Zhen didn't even bother to check their consciousness at the moment.
You can't count on these two team members at all.
"If you don't have any ideas, I've decided." Xiaozhen said, "The theme of this bulletin board is to solve the mystery of the school cat's disappearance."
"Ah?" Wei Jingjing looked up with a look of disbelief.
Chen Yuxin's eyes lit up: "Really?"
"The school cats have been disappearing one after another. I thought it would be a good story to find out why."
Chen Yuxin nodded vigorously: "I agree!!"
"This is really nonsense." Wei Jingjing said with disdain, "This topic is too inappropriate."
"Student Wei, now it's two votes to one."
Wei Jingjing raised his eyebrows and said, "Who cares about those dirty cats!"
Chen Yuxin said timidly: "Many students and teachers like them very much. They are an integral part of the school. If they continue to disappear inexplicably like this, there will be only a few school cats left."
Wei Jingjing's attitude softened: "Oh, is that so." Xiaozhen discovered that this young lady was not as arrogant as her initial impression. She got along well with the girls in the class and had a gentle attitude. She only became unusually harsh when facing boys, especially Xiaozhen.
"So how do you plan to find out the reason?"
Xiao Zhen replied: "I have already planned it. We will divide into groups to investigate. Wei Jingjing, you and Chen Yuxin will be in a group to consult the teachers and classmates who usually take care of and feed the children. I will be in a separate group to consult the cafeteria and the school security guards and cleaners. We will collect the information after school."
Chen Yuxin nodded in agreement excitedly, while Wei Jingjing snorted, "What can so many people ask?"
"Because of the amount of information, I have already chosen my target. There were 28 cats in the school, and now there are only 8. Currently 20 cats are missing."
"How can you ask that? Who can remember the day when the cat went missing?"
"Chen Yuxin, which cat is the last one to go missing as of today?"
Chen Yuxin was stunned for a moment before answering, "It's Ah Hua, the cat."
Xiao Zhen raised her finger and said, "Okay, our target is only Ah Hua. The main point everyone is asking about is the time and place where Ah Hua was last seen."
Chen Yuxin nodded in agreement, and Wei Jingjing seemed to agree as well.
An uninvited guest suddenly interrupted.
"I want to join too! Yan Zhen, let's be in the same group!" Cui Mingzhi stood at the door of the classroom without knowing when, and said with a smile. Cui Mingzhi is the deputy monitor of the next class 1, with excellent grades and an active shooter in the football team. He has a wide range of interests and is very popular. He is a famous figure in the school, as famous as Liu Xingquan.
Wei Jingjing said: "This is our Class 2 bulletin board. What does it have to do with Class 1?"
Cui Mingzhi came over and casually hooked Xiaozhen's shoulder: "Is it not okay for me to provide support to my friend?"
"Are you here to investigate the enemy or to make fun of our class?" Wei Jingjing sneered, "I remember your class won the grade bulletin board award last week."
"My relationship with Yan Zhen is stronger than gold, and I'm just happy to help."
Wei Jingjing glared at Cui Mingzhi, while Cui Mingzhi hooked his arm around Xiaozhen's shoulders and laughed.
"Yan Zhen, the people in Class 1 are our rivals!! You have to understand this."
"Yan Zhen...you won't push me away! I'm here to help you!" Cui Mingzhi hugged Xiao Zhen and called out exaggeratedly.
"Cui Mingzhi, are you disgusting?" Wei Jingjing became more and more angry.
Xiao Zhen had no objection to Cui Mingzhi's enthusiasm for joining. He ignored Wei Jingjing's dissatisfaction and announced the start of the investigation.
The boys and girls separated and started investigating the missing school cat during the break.
The first place Xiaozhen and Cui Mingzhi went to was the school cafeteria. The school cafeteria is the place where the school cats go most often. Every time during lunch break, they would gather at the cafeteria door and act cute to their classmates to ask for food.
Consultant 1: Aunt Zhang, the cafeteria staff.
"Missing?" Aunt Zhang, who was washing the rag, was stunned. "Oh, yes, there are fewer cats recently. Are you asking about the fat cat? Tsk tsk, it stole fish! The fat silver carp! It dragged it away whole!! I chased it to the second floor of the laboratory building, and it disappeared!"
Consultant 2: Chef Sun, a canteen staff member.
"That fat cat. I gave it a bowl of fish intestines at noon two days ago. It looks listless these past two days. Did it run away? The last time I saw it was yesterday at noon."
Consultant 3: Teacher Xiao Yuan who is eating in the cafeteria.
"Cats are not on my menu." She glanced at Choi Ming-chi who was standing next to Xiao Zhen and smiled gently, "Teacher, I don't know either. Why don't you go ask someone else?"
Consultation object 4: School patrol security.
"Missing? There are fewer and fewer cats in the school." The security guard scratched his head and said, "Do you know? This school has had a missing case before. A girl disappeared without a clear reason. It was a big deal at the time. The girl has not been found yet. I don't know much about cats."
Consultation subject 5: School cleaner.
"The day before yesterday afternoon, I saw the cat walking around the laboratory building. As soon as it got close, it rushed into the laboratory building."
The two of them walked back to the teaching building, and Choi Ming-chi asked Xiao Zhen with a smile what conclusion she had come to.
Of course there is no conclusion.
On the stairs not far away, Chen Yuxin and Wei Jingjing were waiting for them. Wei Jingjing said unhappily that they had not gotten to the point. She suspected that the dozen cats had moved away together. Then Chen Yuxin provided similar investigative information as Xiaozhen.
Xiao Zhen sorted out the results:
The last time Ah Hua was seen was yesterday at noon, and the last place she appeared was on the second floor of the laboratory building.
Then the second floor of the laboratory building would be his investigation destination after school.
After school.
Cui Mingzhi looked at Xiaozhen strangely. He was standing on the stairs between the second and first floors of the experimental building.
"Yan Zhen, what's wrong with you?"
"..." Xiao Zhen was silent for a moment and asked, "You didn't see anything?"
"What do you see?"
Xiao Zhen looked at the flickering patches scattered along the corridor, flashing randomly. Hundreds of black tadpole-like black substances swam in the air. Dissipated, gathered, slid out a black line, and spread again, like a black mist.
A few clusters of black tadpoles swam in front of Xiaozhen. He walked up the stairs without looking away and replied, "Nothing."
The sensory abilities of the Heart Eater are well known in the galaxy. They can see things that many creatures cannot observe. Most intelligent creatures have limited perception and can only read things in a certain band. The Heart Eater can often perceive many incomprehensible things across many creatures, including afterimages of the void, the passage of time, and even the remnants of certain consciousness. Even if it is explained to Homo sapiens, they will not understand. So most of the time, when the situation is not dangerous, he chooses to pretend not to know.
Two-dimensional paper people cannot transcend their dimension to understand three-dimensional creatures. Even if they are in the same three-dimensional dimension, human cognition is still very different from theirs. Xiao Zhen does not think this is the backwardness of civilization, but just a natural difference in perception. He stretched out his hand, and black tadpoles swam at his fingertips. He clenched his fist, and the black spots dispersed like smoke. If you want to interfere, it is not impossible, but it is meaningless.
It was like telling humans that there might be a projection of the void here, which was neither understandable nor meaningful. In Cui Mingzhi's eyes, from beginning to end, Xiao Zhen was just reaching out to the air.
He went up to the second floor, black tadpoles roamed freely in the air. The abnormal patches under the fluorescent light twisted and struggled. Fortunately, Xiao Zhen said to himself, it has not yet reached the point of spatial entanglement and overwhelm. This kind of disorder is only in the early stage and does not need to be paid attention to.
The remnants of spatial disorder, while somewhat concerning, are not dangerous.
Xiaozhen glanced at the classrooms along the corridor. Most of the classrooms were empty, with a few students cleaning up. Cui Mingzhi had walked to the other end of the corridor before him. He turned around and said, "It doesn't look like there are cats here."
"All the overlapping information points to the second floor here. Let's look for it again."
There can't be a cat in the classroom. For animals, the best hiding place is a dark and secluded corner. Then there is only——
He went straight to the toilet and opened the utility room. In the darkness, a faint cat meowed.
He turned on the light and saw a box on a pile of pipes not far away. Xiao Zhen opened the box and saw a fat cat lying inside. It meowed weakly at Xiao Zhen.
"The cat is here!!" Xiaozhen shouted to Cui Mingzhi across the corridor.
"Classmate?" A girl ran over and walked to the box nervously. "Classmate, this is the cat I take care of. I will let it out when it gets better."
"You take care of it?"
"Well, I built a nest for it here." The girl pointed at the box and said, "It was injured before, so I put it in the box to heal its wounds."
"Oh..." Xiaozhen stared at the cat and nodded. Cui Mingzhi came over and shouted: "Hey?? Did you find the cat?"
"But there is only one here." Xiao Zhen asked the girl if she had seen any other cats.
When talking about other cats, the girl seemed very excited. "Last semester, it ran to the laboratory building one day. When I found it, its legs were a little lame. I found a box for it to rest. As a result, when I came to see it the next day, there was another little friend of its in the box, and it looked much better. Later, new cats often came to play with it, and they all liked to squeeze in this box. The cleaning lady didn't say anything, so this utility room became their temporary residence. When I came here before, there were more than ten cats here."
Xiao Zhen stared at the box intently and asked, "The more than ten cats you saw last time you came here, did you see them only after you opened the door to the utility room?"
"yes."
"A lot of school cats have disappeared recently."
"I know..." The girl's voice was filled with depression, "Its friends have disappeared recently. Its body doesn't look right either..."
Xiaozhen picked up the cat from the box and said, "I don't think it will last long. It's better to take it to see a doctor."
"Eh? Is it that serious?"
"Well, I have a cat at home, and I'm very familiar with its condition. I can't just leave it in this utility room and let it die quietly." Xiao Zhen stroked the cat's soft fur, and the cat meowed weakly again.
The girl was disturbed by Xiaozhen's words, and she took Ah Hua to see a doctor. The two boys walked down the laboratory building, and Cui Mingzhi lamented that he had only found one cat, and there was still no news about the whereabouts of the other cats. He decided that the theme of the blackboard newspaper might be a pill. Then his attention shifted to Xiaozhen.
"I say, what are you doing holding this box?"
Xiao Zhenzhen held the box he took out from the utility room. "Nothing, just taking it home."
"Ah? You're not going to take this box back to make a nest for your cat?"
"If my cat would come in."
Xiao Zhen placed the box in front of Mr. Cat and Captain Madara. "This is the reason for the mystery of the school cat's disappearance."
Mr. Cat came over and sniffed the box, then asked, "What is this?"
The chicken shouted, "What? Will this box eat cats?"
Xiao Zhen turned the box around, and both Mr. Cat and Chicken saw a line of text on the inside of the box. It was the universal language of the galaxy, indicating the name of the box - "Random Replica Box".
“…”
"No way..." the chicken shouted, "Why is this here? Isn't this a black box product listed as dangerous goods?"
When he said the term "Black Box Meeting", the atmosphere in the room became dull for a few seconds.
Then Xiao Zhen began to explain, "Well, the disappearance of the school cats was caused by this box."
This box is a random replica box of dangerous goods that is privately circulated in the galaxy. It can replicate the object placed in it into another identical copy. Although it is a copy, due to the instability of the product, there will be some differences in the random individuals.
At the beginning, the girl picked up Ah Hua. Ah Hua was the starting point of everything. The girl put Ah Hua into the replica toy box. The next day, Ah Hua was replicated into another Ah Hua with a different appearance. The girl mistakenly thought that the replica was Ah Hua's friend. In the days that followed, Ah Hua regarded the box as its nest. So did its replica.
Whenever it and its copies stay in the box for a certain period of time, the replica box will automatically replicate again. Ah Hua and its copies will assume that this box is their nest, and will often squeeze together to spend another night, which will lead to another replication. After repeated replications, the number of Ah Hua's copies gradually expands.
That’s why the girl opened the utility room and encountered more than a dozen cats.
In fact, all these cats are Ah Hua and its copies, copies of copies, and so on.
"I understand too," said Mr. Cat. "No wonder so many school cats in your school have disappeared."
The chicken asked, "What do you mean? Is the cat's copy still valid?"
"It's not the expiration date, but the deterioration." Xiao Zhen took out a coin and threw it into the box. "Such small items should deteriorate quickly."
After a moment, Xiao Zhen poured out two coins from the box. "You see, although they have become two coins, they have become thinner and lighter, and have completely lost their value as currency exchanges. When this box is replicated, the degradation of the original and the copy will be shared equally. For non-living things, it is the quality and shelf life that are shared. For living things, it is the lifespan."
“Tsk.”
"Every time Ah Hua is copied in the box, half of its life span is divided into the copy. According to the girl's description, there are more than 10 copies of Ah Hua, including copies of each other. This results in the life span of these copy cats being quite short."
"I speculate that the missing school cats are copies of Ah Hua, who has a very short lifespan. When they are about to die, they find a place to disappear quietly. This is why more than 10 cats suddenly disappeared from the school. And now, Ah Hua will be the last one to die."
"What kind of extremely idiotic creature would leave this thing lying around?"
"This is a dangerous item from the Black Box Society. Why did it appear in your school?"
"How would I know?" Xiao Zhen spread her hands. "Also, I suggest you go to our school's laboratory building when you have time. There's something unusual there, and I suspect it's related to the appearance of this replica box."
The next day.
Teacher Feng looked at Yan Zhen's new blackboard poster at the back of the classroom. On it were perfunctorily drawn pictures of the school's eight cats, each with its own name. To be honest, the drawing was quite abstract, so abstract that at first glance one would wonder what kind of animal it was.
"..." Teacher Feng felt that their class was completely doomed in this grade's excellent blackboard newspaper competition.
