Capítulo 8: The Cat Caught in the Hunting Trap
Sitting in the taxi, Hans took out the stack of money; 65 brand new Franklins.
"The auction cost two hundred fifty dollars, and the truck rental was one hundred fifty, that's four hundred dollars total. So we have six 6,500 dollars left. According to our agreement, we'll split the money sixty-forty with you getting the 60 percent."
While speaking Hans counted out 36 bills. "Here's your portion, I left out 100 to pay for the car ride."
Li Du nodded in agreement, and added, "There's also the interest for mortgaging your pickup. I'll help you with that cost as well."
"Forget about that. We agreed that you are responsible for finding the right storage unit while I take care of the other things," Hans replied.
At Hans's response, Li Du hesitated. "Um, Big Fox, are you not curious about how I was able to find the right storage so accurately?"
"Will you tell me?"
"No!"
"There we go! Why would I ask when I already know that I won't get an answer? Doing so will just hurt our friendship. Plus, who doesn't have secrets? I have no interest in intruding on another's privacy."
"I like your thinking." Li Du smiled.
"You will also come to like my personality!" Hans proudly proclaimed.
With 6,000 dollars in profits, Hans got 2,400. With another 200 dollars for a total of 2,600, he would be able to reclaim his old pickup.
According to the contract, the daily interest was one-fiftieth of the price of the truck, so two days was exactly 100 dollars.
After getting into the truck, Hans turned on the stereo and soon the godfather of reggae, Bob Marley, filled the inside. Li Du wasn't a big fan of this type of music, so he simply looked out the window.
The trees flew by outside of the window. Li Du asked, "Where are we going?"
Hans smiled enigmatically before giving him a wink. "We earn money to enjoy life. I'm bringing you to an awesome place that's surely going to rock you from head to toe." The 'awesome place' he mentioned was Flagstaff's red-light district.
As soon as Hans stepped out from the pickup truck, some girls started to walk towards him. From their response, one could tell that Hans was a regular here.
"Hi Big Fox, long time no see, we thought you were dead."
"We wanted to attend to your funeral, but in the end, we didn't get an invitation."
"You need to repay us for the tears that we shed. I even asked a friend to look for your dead body."
With girls hanging off both his arms, Hans's smile couldn't get any bigger. "I have to die in your beds. As for repayment? Were those truly tears? When did you girls grow eyes down there?"
Li Du was stunned by this sight and quickly returned to the pickup truck before his feet could touch the ground.
"Hey, buddy, come down and play!" Hans shouted.
"Sorry, I'm not interested in those girls," Li Du refused firmly.
Hearing this, a young man walked up to the truck window with a coquettish smile. "Hey honey, how coincidental! I don't like girls either, do you want to play with me?"
Li Du immediately locked the truck doors from inside and turned up the volume so loud that hurt his ear. The deafening reggae once again filled the car, but he had never been more appreciative of this kind of music.
As for Hans, he was truly an animal. There was no sight of him even after an hour had passed.
After a while, Li Du felt bored. So he released the little bug to experiment more, wondering if he could discover some other abilities that it had. He believed that being his avatar was only one of the capabilities of the little bug, and it should have other abilities that were more powerful.
The environment of the red-light district was quite bad, so he took out the map on his phone and had a look. He found that he was in the north-western corner of Flagstaff. If he went out a bit more, there would be a forest.
Li Du then drove the car to the edge of the woods.
These woods were an offshoot of the Grand Canyon National Park, so there were a lot of yellow firs, western hemlock, western yellow pine and American sycamore.
As Li Du exited the pickup, he suddenly heard a weak "Meow!"
At first, he didn't pay this much attention, but when he let out the little bug, he heard another "Meow!" This time, it was much louder.
Li Du wasn't s big fan of cats, but even he could tell that this sound wasn't normal. He followed it to find where it was from.
After a while, he found the origin of the sound on the branches of a western yellow pine. A brown spotted yellow cat was caught by a hunting trap on its branches, and it was desperately crying for help.
That trap had been customized and one could see its claws digging into the yellow cat. Li Du felt painful just by watching the blood gushing out.
After retrieving the little bug, he started to climb up the tree. However, it seemed that this cat was extremely scared of people as it desperately clawed the tree bark trying to get away. In the end, all this did was to worsen the wound.
Lu Du wanted to open the trap. But as soon as he reached out, the cat swiped its claws and opened its mouth, hissing at Li Du threateningly.
Seeing this, Li Du discarded the thought of opening the trap. Instead, he wrapped the cat in his clothes and drove it to find a vet.
This cat was quite wild. Judging by its size, it was probably an adult. It had a very fierce temperament. It continued to struggle and hiss even after it was wrapped in clothes, which resulted in even more blood pouring out.
Li Du was quite anxious. When he entered the city, he realized that he didn't know where the vets were. At an intersection, however, he did grasp the Red Cross St. John Hospital. After quick consideration, he simply gave up the idea of searching for a vet, and instead drove the car toward the hospital.
At the sight of the gushing blood, a nurse instantly came out asking, "Sir, what's wrong?"
"Here is the story: I came across this cat in the forest. It was caught in a hunting trap. Can you find a doctor to take a look at it?" Li Du asked while unwrapping the cat.
The nurse gave him a look as if he was insane. "Sir, this isn't an animal hospital."
Li Du kept his wits about him and replied when he saw the cross that the nurse was wearing. "Yes, I understand, but we are all children of God. Look at how little it is; it still hasn't even seen all of Flagstaff. How could you simply stand aside and watch as it dies?"
Hearing this reply, the nurse relented, "Alright, I'll take you to Dr. Sophie. She is the kindest doctor we have. If she isn't willing to help, then you'll have to go somewhere else.
"However, according to the rules, we'll have to register all patients. So can I have the name of your cat?"
Li Du paused for a second, blinked his eyes several times and thought to himself, 'Nurse, sis, are you kidding me? Didn't I just say that I rescued this cat in the wild?'
"Quickly, it's name. I can let it in only after it is registered."
Seeing the meowing cat, Li Du came up with a brilliant name. "Oh, it's Ah Meow! Yep, Ah Meow!"
"Meow!" Ah Meow immediately clawed Li Du. It was clear that it either didn't like Li Du, or didn't like its new name. Li Du really did not care either way.
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