A soft and delicate meowing sound came through the crack under the door, clearly reaching everyone's ears.

"Meow... meow meow..."

Then, a series of scratching sounds echoed.

"Is that... a cat?"

"From the sound of it, it seems to be a little kitten."

Zhao Xiaoyan's family kept several cats, so they were very familiar with cat sounds and behavior.

"What should we do?"

"It shouldn't be able to come in."

"Clearly, it can't come in."

...

Outside, the cat kept meowing and continued scratching at the door with its claws.

From under the door crack, they could clearly see a huge shadow moving back and forth outside.

In the next moment, a furry paw appeared under the door.

Unfortunately, the gap was still too small for its paw to reach in. Then it brought its nose close to the gap.

By now, everyone had already retreated to the doorway of the room, but they still subconsciously bent down to look outside.

A pink and plump little nose.

Orange-colored little paws.

Obviously, this was a kitten that was two or three months old.

Perhaps the happiest cats in the world were campus strays, showered with countless affection. A group of girls would even skip lunch to provide delicious food and drink for the cats. You could see the orange cat near the cafeteria, as big as a tiger, lying by the roadside, graciously receiving attention from passing students.

Ziwei High School also had rules against feeding stray cats, but these rules were difficult to enforce thoroughly.

Therefore, it wasn't particularly strange for a little kitten to suddenly appear in this place.

However, for some reason, this little kitten seemed very determined to get inside.

In the past, if Zhao Xiaoyan, a cat lover, encountered such a kitten, she would have exclaimed, "Wow, what a cute little kitten! I want to pet it!" Then she would rush over and give it a good petting session.

But now, who would pet whom? That remained uncertain.

Even such a small cat now appeared to be a huge creature, and its threat level was even comparable to that of a mouse.

In fact, currently, the biggest threats to humans still came from various insects and mice. Even larger animals like cats and dogs, due to their vastly different sizes, were not easily noticeable unless right under one's nose.

However, there were still some exceptions.

For example, a speeding dog accidentally trampling a person to death.

Or, a curious and mischievous little cat.

At this moment, it was evident that the group encountered the second situation.

"When will it leave?"

The twelve people didn't even dare to breathe loudly; they stayed quietly in place, afraid of making any noise that might arouse the interest of this pesky cat.

However, almost ten minutes passed, and the little cat showed no intention of leaving."Is there something here that's attracting it?"

"Kittens have plenty of energy and unpredictable interests. They could play with a ball of yarn all day. Maybe it finds this door crack fascinating."

Zhao Xiaoyan, who had the most experience with cats present, analyzed the situation, but her conclusion was almost the same as saying nothing. Of course, it couldn't be blamed on her; anyone who claimed to understand a cat would get slapped in the face by one.

Despite everyone being tense, listening to the cat's meowing, most people, especially the girls, still felt their hearts melting, wanting to pounce and cuddle the little kitty.

It is said that a cat's meow has evolved to imitate a baby's cry, designed to get attention from humans.

Zhao Xiaoyan shared this useless piece of knowledge out of boredom.

Suddenly, Qian Fei asked, "Could it be smelling the food scent from us?"

"The seasoning packets?"

"No, that's not it."

Chen Mu shook his head, "From the beginning, I sealed the seasoning packets into multiple portions using plastic bags. And every time Du Jiajia used them, I would reseal them and check them thoroughly to avoid attracting insects or other creatures, so there shouldn't be any problem."

Zhao Xiaoyan also nodded, "Yes, I can hardly smell anything now. The little cat is outside; its sense of smell shouldn't be stronger than mine."

Wei Dalei said fiercely, "Should I go scare it away?"

"Don't."

Zhao Xiaoyan quickly stopped him; she didn't want to see either the cat or Wei Dalei getting hurt.

Wei Dalei was probably just talking, not foolish enough to pick a fight with a cat.

"Let's wait patiently; we're not in a hurry to go out now," Dong Junwei said somewhat helplessly.

"I'm afraid it might come back often."

"Also, if there's a little cat, does it mean there's a big cat around?"

"Will the cats eat us?" Sun Yuan asked tremblingly.

"Maybe, even if they don't eat us, this kind of little cat could probably play us to death..."

"But compared to being eaten by centipedes, I think being eaten by a cat is more acceptable," Chang Junyan's thoughts started to get bizarre again.

"No, being alive is better."

"What a silly thing to say."

The little cat remained outside for a long time, and everyone couldn't keep tensed up the whole time. Thankfully, it couldn't come in, so they felt somewhat relieved and started to relax, engaging in conversation.

After a while, the sounds from outside suddenly stopped.

"Has it left?"

"Should we go out and check?"

"Maybe not."

"Sun Yuan, can you listen if it's still there?"

Sun Yuan concentrated, holding his breath and listening intently for a moment before shaking his head. "There's no sound. I don't know if it left or if it's resting. If it's lying outside the door without moving, I wouldn't hear anything anyway."

"For now, let's ignore it. After all, we don't need to go out recently."

The cat's incident turned out to be a false alarm.

Everyone rested for the whole day, and their spirits and energy recovered quite well.In the morning, Chen Mu went to the water reservoir to check it. He was worried that the drainage outlet of the water diversion project might have been damaged by the cat yesterday. After investigating, he felt relieved.

Obviously, the cat wasn't particularly interested in fixed objects.

He Ying stayed indoors today and ran a few laps inside the room. Fortunately, the space here was big enough, and running along the corners of the walls provided quite a long distance.

"You didn't go out today," Chen Mu said, afraid she would go out to wash her face with dew again.

Ever since last time, He Ying asked Chen Mu for a bucket and would bring some dew back every morning to wash everyone's face. Because of this, her likability among the group soared.

"I'm not that foolish," He Ying teased him with a playful look.

Due to the cat incident, no one dared to get close to the entrance now, fearing a furry paw might suddenly reach in and drag them out.

Chen Mu chuckled, "I was worried you couldn't resist going out to see that cat."

Reflecting on everyone's behavior from yesterday, it seemed that except for Zhao Xiaoyan, He Ying was the one who liked cats the most. Plus, she had always been confident in her skills; it wouldn't be surprising if she went out of curiosity to see what the little kitten looked like.

"Speaking of this, it's a pity we won't be able to keep pets anymore in the future."

"Have you ever had any pets?" Chen Mu asked.

"No, I've always wanted to have a cat, but my family wouldn't allow it. So it's regrettable. I've never had a pet before, and I won't have a chance in the future. Unlike Zhao Xiaoyan, who at least has some beautiful memories."

He Ying sighed and revealed a hint of disappointment, a rare expression from her.

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