(Quick Transmigration) Even If You Become an Animal, You Still Have to Serve an Iron Rice Bowl - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: 

Qin Yan let Yang Yue ask the landlord of the second-hand house for the spare key and cautiously pushed open the door.

The room inside was a mess, with clothes and shoes casually tossed all over the floor. A single bed was pushed up against the wall. This was a room partitioned off from the master bedroom, which had no window. The smell inside was indescribable.

Shen Qiu tiptoed across a pile of takeout boxes and began sniffing around. Then, he accurately dragged a wooden chest out from under the bed. Inside was a glaring patch of white.

After securing the items, Qin Yan questioned the tenants who lived in this shared rental. He learned that the person in this room had been a friend of the deceased who lived there. The two had moved in at the same time and spent most of their time with each other.

“But these past few days, I haven’t seen the one staying in the storage room. They’re probably spending the night at the internet cafe again. They used to do that quite often.”

Qin Yan’s eyes narrowed. “So they usually don’t stay here overnight?”

The tenant scratched their head. “I don’t know about that. I just know they like going to internet cafes. As for how often they come back, I never kept track. Our work schedules don’t really line up either.”

Qin Yan nodded thoughtfully and waved it off, letting them leave. 

Once the tenant left, Qin Yan asked the landlord for the personal information of the deceased’s friend. 

“By the way, do you know which internet cafe they usually go to?”

The landlord had already realized these officers weren’t here to check on the shared rental houses. Clearly, those two men had gotten into serious trouble. Now they only wished to distance themself from the situation. 

“There are quite a few internet cafes around, but the most popular one is located inside an automobile factory. On the left is a residential area and on the right is the central plaza so there’s lots of foot traffic. If something happens, there are plenty of exits for them to slip out from.”

Qin Yan had someone point out the location, then took Shen Qiu away. As for this shared rental home with multiple tenants, it definitely needed to be dealt with so he called over some officers from the bureau. 

To avoid alerting anyone, Qin Yan changed into plain clothes in the car and took off Shen Qiu’s shoulder harness.

“Qiuqiu, stay on my shoulder and behave. Don’t go running around, you hear me?”

Shen Qiu flicked his tail to show he understood. His golden eyes gleamed with excitement. Capturing drug offenders in a black-market internet cafe was his old profession! There absolutely won’t be a problem. 

Because Qin Yan’s face was a bit too upright and conspicuous, Yang Yue gave him a baseball cap before he got out of the car.

The man and cat entered the internet through the dilapidated factory gates.

The inside was dirty, chaotic, and shabby. As soon as they walked in, a strong smell of smoke surrounded them, nearly causing Shen Qiu to choke. 

Looking around, there were rows of people in front of computers. The screens flashed with colorful lights and when people got excited, they didn’t hold back their foul language. 

On Qin Yan’s back, Shen Qiu’s tail flicked back and forth impatiently. His paws and head draped over Qin Yan’s shoulder while his little hind legs stepped on the backpack for support. 

The odd sight of a man carrying a cat didn’t attract much attention.

Qin Yan quickly scanned the room but saw no sign of the suspect. He walked up to the cashier.

“Hello, could you get me a quieter computer, please?”

After hearing this, the yellow-haired cashier looked at Qin Yan in irritation. “This place is all the same. Sit wherever.”

Qin Yan’s expression didn’t change. He just smiled politely. “Sorry, I’m here on company business. It’s too noisy to work. Do you have another area, like a private room?”

The yellow-haired cashier scowled, about to reply when the door behind him opened. A man with red hair stumbled out, tugging his pants up and cursing.

“Damn bastard didn’t flush. Stinks like hell.”

Looking up mid-rant, his eyes suddenly met Qin Yan’s. Then his gaze landed on the cat perched on Qin Yan’s shoulder. His expression shifted at once.

He shoved the yellow-haired cashier aside and bolted back into the previous room, slamming the door shut with a loud bang.

“Meow?!” Why does this person look like he recognized him?

There was no time to think. Qin Yan placed Shen Qiu on the counter.

“Qiuqiu! Chase!”

The cashier was already confused by all of the sudden commotion. As he slapped the table, getting ready to explode with anger, Shen Qiu leaped onto his head while using the table as a springboard. 

He used the yellow-haired head to smash open the door then chased after the red-haired person. 

The factory had multiple passageways and surprisingly, there were stairs leading up to a second floor. The man glanced back at Shen Qiu in panic, then ran up the stairs.

Shen Qiu was hot on his feet. After all, how could two legs outrun four?

Just as Shen Qiu was closing in, the man hurled two stones from upstairs. Shen Qiu nimbly dodged and quickened his pace.

Once they were in the second-floor corridor, the red-haired person looked around and ran into a workshop. The workshop windows were old and connected to the corridor outside. If Shen Qiu wasn’t careful, the man could easily slip away through it. 

But how could Shen Qiu let such a thing happen?

He let out a grunt and directly darted to the corridor, blocking him head-on at the third workshop window.

“My—”  The redhead cursed, face twisting as he prepared to kick the cat.

Shen Qiu dodged to the side and launched himself claws-first.

The red-haired man instinctively raised his hand to shield his face but Shen Qiu rammed straight into his arms, causing him to cry out.

With a loud bang, he hit the ground and screamed in pain.

What did it feel like to be body-slammed by a 25-catty cat?

It probably felt like your ribs were breaking and you couldn’t breathe.

The man gasped several times before recovering and upon realizing he had been stopped by a cat, his face darkened and he lifted up a hand to strike Shen Qiu. 

“Meow!” Oh? You’re really gutsy, huh? You still want to hit me? You got some nerve!

Shen Qiu lifted his paw to strike. Even without extending his claws and just relying on his paw pad, two slaps still hurt pretty badly. Red welts immediately appeared on the red-haired man’s hand. 

Outside, Qin Yan’s footsteps were audible and with a fierce expression, the man tried to shove Shen Qiu off to escape. 

Shen Qiu wasn’t having it. He unleashed a flurry of “kitty punches,” his paws raining down on the man’s face, head, and chest.

By the time Qin Yan arrived, he saw Shen Qiu sitting primly on the man’s chest, calmly licking his paw.

Upon noticing Qin Yan, Shen Qiu let out a meow and flicked his tail. 

The red-haired man had been beaten into a daze, staring up with a face full of despair. When Qin Yan hauled him up, he noticed the bruising around the man’s eyes. 

Qin Yan looked at Shen Qiu with a hint of helplessness. “Qiuqiu, your method of subduing people is a bit too ruthless.”

Shen Qiu just turned his backside toward him. Such a person should be beaten, what was the point of leaving them and waiting until New Year’s?

Snapping on the cuffs, Qin Yan jokingly quipped, “If you’re going to hit someone, then do it where people won’t notice. If others see him like this, it’ll look bad.”

“Meow?” Shen Qiu’s ears twitched. Got it, lesson learned!

Author’s note:

Qiuqiu: Don’t let my size fool you. My punches hurt, really hurt!

~~~

T/N: My actual work is picking up so I may not get to editing everything. There will still be some small updates once I spot typos. If you notice anything, feel free to comment or mention it on Discord and I’ll note it down. As a heads-up, I don’t have an editor.

2.0k characters to 1.3k words | Translation Time: 1 hour