Closer to My True Form Every Day

“This rat is not the one that was in the kitchen yesterday, but it must have been in the house before.”

There was a hole in the drawer. The sundries placed there were damaged to varying degrees, and half of the notebook the old man used to remember the password to his cell phone was gnawed off. Who knew how many holes were hidden in the whole wardrobe. There were also bite marks on the bedside table and the tea table in the room. During this time, the old man hadn’t been home, and the door to the room was closed all the time. When Hu Yi came in occasionally, he just cleaned up and didn’t look closely. He didn’t know that a rat was hiding in there!

“If it was a little thinner, it could just be able to squeeze through the crack of the door,” Hu Yi’s wife said.

Hu Yi looked at Feng Yi with gratitude. “Thank you! Thank you so much! I don’t know what to say! Our savior!”

“…Not at all.” Feng Yi walked out of the room. “This one might be caught, but if the holes in your house aren’t sealed, the rats will still come. There is no rat in the kitchen now, so there must be a hole over there. Just find someone to block it.”

Hu Yi nodded. They also knew that as long as the holes weren’t sealed, the rats would harass them every day. But regardless, catching one was a morale booster! Even their mentality had changed!

Hu Yi and his wife wanted to give money, according to the price of the rodent control company, but Feng Yi didn’t want it.

“It’s just a favor for the neighbors, and I’m not in the rodent control business,” Feng Yi said.

Hu Yi understood what he meant. He also gave up on the idea of recommending the rodent-catching business to Feng Yi, and would not promote it to the property owners of the community. Anyway, the community had now taken action, and the rat plague problem would definitely be resolved gradually. Since Feng Yi didn’t intend to develop in this direction, they couldn’t cause him trouble, or else they would be doing a disservice to his kindness.

“I understand what you mean. Your ambition doesn’t lie here.”

Hu Yi looked at the tool in Feng Yi’s hand again.

“By the way, may I ask where you bought this picker?”

Feng Yi scrolled through the order records, sent him the link, and left.

“Tomorrow, give him two boxes of fruit,” Hu Yi’s wife said.

“Yes, I definitely can’t ask people to help for nothing.” Looking at the tight rat bag, Hu Yi said, “I just ordered the same picker. When it arrives, I’ll see if I can deal with any rats in the kitchen. Even if I can’t catch them, I must at least trap them at home and then invite the expert to come and catch them!”

After leaving Building Five, Feng Yi didn’t go back immediately, but turned to the neighboring Building Six to check on Qian Feiyang.

After visiting Hu Yi’s house, Feng Yi had a general understanding of his perception range. He could sense hidden rats within three meters. He didn’t know if it was an illusion on his part, but he felt that his perception range was a little bigger now than when he was in the underground garage during the day. When he was in the underground garage during the day, his perception range was maybe only about two meters.

Changes in perception were invisible on the surface. He just didn’t know what other things would change. While he was thinking about it, Feng Yi had arrived at Building Six, where Qian Feiyang had rented an apartment. The young man who opened the door was thin, with two thick dark circles around his eyes.

“What happened?” Feng Yi pointed at Qian Feiyang’s dark circles. Logically speaking, Qian Feiyang had a cat at home, so he wouldn’t be disturbed by rats at night.

Qian Feiyang scratched his messy hair and yawned. “I took a job and had to rush it. I just finished it half an hour ago. What are you holding?”

“A rat catcher. I just went to help someone catch a rat,” Feng Yi replied.

“Nice one, bro.” Qian Feiyang gave a thumbs up.

“Didn’t your studio hire someone new? Why are you the only one busy?” Feng Yi asked.

“One is sick, one hasn’t graduated yet and has exams to take, and the other has something to do and has to go back to his hometown. I wanted to take a break for a while, but when I found a job that I could do myself, I took it. It’s just that these two days have been extra busy, I’ll start resting tomorrow. Silkie asked me to go fishing this weekend, are you going?”

Silkie¹Same pronunciation as Wu Ji and is a breed of chicken with fluffy plumage was Wu Ji’s nickname.

“If I am free that day, I will go with you.” Feng Yi looked around the room, “There are no rats here.”

“Only one came in at the beginning and was cut off by Anise. Even though the rat wasn’t caught in the end, it seemed to have a memory of this place. I don’t know if it’s because of the cat smell here, or if they were passing a message among themselves, but I hardly saw any rats after that. There is occasional movement by the window a few times, but it didn’t last too long, and the movement stopped after Anise went over.”

“Anise” was a cat adopted by Qian Feiyang. At that time, Qian Feiyang wanted to go to the nearby supermarket to buy some spices such as star anise to make sauced pig’s trotters. He happened to come across a community that was dealing with stray cats, so he adopted one and named it “Anise”.

Feng Yi came to the bay window of the living room. A yellow leopard cat was lying on its side, sleeping. When Feng Yi entered the house, the cat only moved its ears. It recognized that the person was an acquaintance, so it didn’t bother to move.

Anise was about seven months old when Qian Feiyang brought it back. It was thin and bald in places. After three months of treatment and feeding, it had become much stronger and its hair had grown back, thick and soft. At first, Anise was very cautious when it saw people, but now it didn’t even bother to move when it was rubbed. Unless it was a stranger who came into the house.

Feng Yi reached out and rubbed the cat.

“The feel of Anise’s fur is getting better and better.”

It must be used to being rubbed. When Feng Yi reached out to rub it, it changed its position from lying on its side to lying on its back. Lying on its back for a while, Anise moved its nose. It then suddenly jumped up and rushed down the bay window. Hiding underneath Qian Feiyang’s desk, it arched its back, its ears flattened, and all of its fur standing on end. It growled at Feng Yi as if it was suddenly frightened by something.

Qian Feiyang was responding to someone’s message. When he heard the movement, he turned to look, and a surprised expression emerged on his face. “What’s going on? Has it been too long, and it doesn’t recognize you? Or has it smelled something on you that it doesn’t like?”

Feng Yi didn’t answer, instead calling “Anise” twice.

The lowly growling startled yellow leopard cat’s ears moved. Its defensive posture relaxed slightly, and it stopped growling and looked at Feng Yi with doubtful eyes.

Feng Yi crouched down and extended his hand to the cat. “Come here, I haven’t seen you for a few days, why don’t you recognize me? I bought the canned cat food you are eating now!”

Anise hesitated, but still slowly moved towards Feng Yi.

Probably Feng Yi’s voice reminded it of something. As it walked over, it wanted to rub Feng Yi’s hand with its head. While the cat rubbed against him, it moved its nose again, then immediately turned away in disgust. It ran back and jumped onto Qian Feiyang’s desk, sitting next to its owner.

“It really dislikes you? Do you have the smell of rat on you?” Qian Feiyang asked.

“Maybe.” Feng Yi stood up and didn’t approach Anise again. He had some guesses as to why, but he couldn’t say it.

“So are you going to change careers in the future to catch rodents? If you have the skills, you can try it out. I heard that there are more and more rodent control companies and small teams. Without enough benefits, it is impossible to have such a change. It can be seen that the market is big, it’s a huge opportunity!” Qian Feiyang said.

“No, this is not within the scope of my career plan.” Feng Yi was very firm in his thinking.

It was impossible for him to start a rodent control company! Absolutely impossible!

“Okay~ It seems that you are not short of money now.” Qian Feiyang laughed.

If his finances were tight after paying off his debts, he would definitely take this opportunity, even if he didn’t like it. The money that could be made from catching rodents was quite a lot for an average person.

Feng Yi smiled and didn’t explain much.

Now that the bump in the road had passed, the conversation became more casual.

“I heard from Silkie that the matter with your work studio has been settled, do you still plan to enter the entertainment circle in the future? Although my team is small, I can help you,” Qian Feiyang said.

Feng Yi shook his head. “It’s resolved. The studio has been disbanded, and I don’t plan to enter the entertainment circle.”

With his current situation, it was impossible for him to be in the spotlight every day.

After asking Qian Feiyang to help him take some ID photos, Feng Yi left. He also planned to ask Wu Ji if he needed any help. At this time of night, some elderly people were gathered in the community talking and laughing, and some adults were returning from a walk with their children.

Feng Yi walked slowly towards his own building, his head slightly lowered, thinking about his future career. Not far away, he could hear the shrill cries of children and the angry yells of adults.

Feng Yi turned around and looked over. A large rat with a bunch of freshly caught sausages in its mouth was flying through the intercepting crowd. It could dodge, sprint, and jump with ease. As it approached Feng Yi, it suddenly turned and marked out a big “C” shape. It bypassed Feng Yi and rushed into the greenery behind him and disappeared.

Feng Yi: “…”

He had already lifted the picker, but it actually bypassed him from a long distance away!

“Suffice it to say, what future is there in catching rats!!”

• 1Same pronunciation as Wu Ji and is a breed of chicken with fluffy plumage