Mu Tianyuan hadn't gone out for a breath of fresh air... he had genuinely gone to find helpers. The few cats and dogs playing around the community center were the very assistants he sought. After Mu Tianyuan asked for their help, not only did this band of cats and dogs agree,
but they even, at his request, called upon some of their nearby friends and relatives. The task Mu Tianyuan gave them was simple: stage a grand spectacle of a cat-and-dog chase to capture the attention of everyone else in the community center, allowing him to slip into the warehouse and find the music score.
Seeing the pandemonium that erupted inside the community center as the cats and dogs suddenly burst in, Mu Tianyuan hummed a little tune as he arrived at the warehouse near the entrance. He pulled a thin metal wire from his pocket and whispered, "It's time to show off my real skills."
"Your lockpicking skills, you mean?"
The Little Fox retorted wearily, then stared at Mu Tianyuan with earnest concern. "Are you really sure you have time for this, and that you won't be discovered?"
"Don't worry, I have a special technique for this. Locks like these are useless against me. Besides, there are no surveillance cameras. Just give me a little time."
Mu Tianyuan replied as he inserted the wire into the lock. Then, with a shrug, he said, "See? It's open."
With that, Mu Tianyuan glanced at the chaotic scene in the community center's main hall, turned the doorknob, and slipped into the warehouse right under everyone's noses. After gently closing the door behind him, he used the light filtering in from a single warehouse window to survey the clutter-filled space, muttering to himself, "Damn, there's a lot of stuff in here. And it looks like no one's been in here for a long time."
"Yeah, this is going to be a pain to search through."
The Little Fox also looked around the warehouse with a troubled expression before turning to Mu Tianyuan. "First, let's have Maple Leaf tell the cats and dogs outside to retreat."
"Right, it's time for them to fall back."
Mu Tianyuan nodded towards the warehouse window as he spoke.
Mu Tianyuan hadn't brought the Cat Heroine in with him. Instead, he had given her a mission: she was in charge of relaying the signal to retreat. Right now, the Cat Heroine was perched just outside the warehouse window. Seeing Mu Tianyuan nod from inside, she understood his meaning immediately. With a single meow, she called for the cats and dogs that were turning the community center upside down to withdraw.
To... anyone else, that single meow meant nothing. In fact, with the wall in the way, many people inside the community center probably didn't even hear it clearly. But to... the cats and dogs, the sound was crystal clear. In a flash, the pack of cats and dogs surged back out of the community center, leaving the staff and Uncle Mori's group,
who were waiting to meet the village chief, completely bewildered. A single, unified question echoed in their minds: What the hell was that all about? Many of them would later say they had never witnessed anything so bizarre in their entire lives. First, a horde of cats and dogs charged into the building, raised... a ton of ruckus, and then, not even twenty seconds later, they all ran off. What on earth did they come in for?!
Mu Tianyuan couldn't be bothered with how puzzled those people were. He was busy rummaging through things, searching for the music score. After searching for quite a while, he finally found a file folder inside a cabinet. Pulling it out and examining it for a moment, Mu Tianyuan said, "This is probably it."
"Probably?"
The Little Fox glanced at it, then looked at Mu Tianyuan, utterly speechless. "Are you kidding me? Are you sure or not?"
Shrugging as he stuffed the score from the folder back into it, Mu Tianyuan said, "I have no idea how to read it, so how would I know if it's the right one? But this isn't a music room. I doubt there would be any other musical scores stored here. So, this has to be it."
"While your reasoning seems sound, your 'good enough' attitude... all I can say is, it's a good thing you're not a real spy. Otherwise, with that attitude, your superior would have you shot for three minutes straight—with a Gatling gun!"
The Little Fox said helplessly as it stored the file folder in its dimensional space. Mu Tianyuan, however, responded with the shamelessness of a rogue. "Even if I were a spy, if I ran into something I couldn't understand, I'd handle it the same way. You could blast me with a rocket launcher for three solid hours, and I'd still do the same."
Then, Mu Tianyuan waved his hand. "Alright, prepare to withdraw."
"But the scene... what about this?"
The Little Fox pointed to the footprints on the floor and the obvious signs of a search, looking questioningly at Mu Tianyuan. He just spread his hands. "I'll wipe away the footprints. Forget the rest. It's not like I'm going to tidy the place up to be spotless for them, am I?"
"But are we just going to leave it like this?" the Little Fox asked, its tail swishing with indecision. The traces were just too obvious. Anyone who wasn't blind could see them!
"What do you want me to do? Clean it up perfectly? Or just burn the place down and be done with it? Or maybe I should just blow the whole place up?"
Mu Tianyuan replied with a look of resignation, adding, "I wore gloves, so I'm not worried about fingerprints. As for the footprints, as long as I wipe them away, even if they discover someone was in here, they won't be able to trace it back to me. I refuse to believe their technology is good enough to reconstruct them."
After a quick clean-up, Mu Tianyuan peeked through the crack in the door. Seeing the coast was clear, he nodded to the Cat Heroine, who was still waiting by the window. She immediately gave the signal. Mu Tianyuan had arranged with his helpers beforehand that after covering his entry,
they would wait to cover his escape. The pack of cats and dogs, having received the retreat signal from the Cat Heroine earlier, had scurried out and hidden near the warehouse window, waiting. Now, upon receiving her signal again, that very same pack of... cats and dogs burst back into the community center, commencing the operation to cover Mu Tianyuan's retreat.
The previous commotion had already drawn everyone's attention. Many who had missed the first round were still asking what had happened. When the cats and dogs charged in again, the community center erupted into absolute bedlam. Especially since this time... the animals looked particularly ferocious, scaring the people inside half to death, making them think for a terrifying moment that the cats and dogs had suddenly united to stage a bloody massacre!
Amidst the chaos, Mu Tianyuan easily slipped out of the warehouse. After giving his reinforcements another signal to retreat, he opened the door, scooped up the Cat Heroine, and re-entered the community center. Sauntering over to the hall, which was still in complete disarray, Mu Tianyuan feigned surprise and said to Uncle Mori, "Wow, it's really lively in here!"
"You can say that again,"
Uncle Mori nodded. Lively was an understatement. The scene just now was practically a warzone! Then, Uncle Mori looked at Mu Tianyuan with some surprise. "Where did you run off to?"
"I was just looking at the scenery outside. The sea is right behind this community center... the view is pretty nice!"
Mu Tianyuan spun a casual lie, then suddenly looked shocked. "Wait...! Conan, what happened to you? Did a dog use you to mop the floor?!"
There stood Conan, a look of tragic heroism on his face. His once-clean little suit and shorts were now covered in dirty animal paw prints of all sizes. Not only that, but his glasses were crooked, and his face had several paw prints on it too! Even his usually wind-proof hairstyle had been turned into a bird's nest!
Mu Tianyuan's sharp eyes even noticed a perfectly clear, unmistakable canine paw print right on the one spot all guys share a weakness for. And it was a big one! Just from that print, even without any knowledge of forensic footprint analysis, Mu Tianyuan could tell it was from a large dog! And it had been a very firm, very solid step!
"Heh heh..."
As Xiao Lan helped pat him down, Conan heard Mu Tianyuan's words and looked at him with the expression of a broken toy, letting out two hollow laughs. He then sniffled and raised his head at a tragic 45-degree angle to stare at the ceiling. Damn it all, you're so right! I really was used by a canine to mop the floor! Not just mopped, I was trampled!
While helping Conan brush off the animal prints, Xiao Lan explained to Mu Tianyuan with a strange, helpless expression, "After those... animals rushed in earlier, a cat jumped onto Conan's head first. Then he was knocked over by the dogs that followed, and then... he got stepped on... and it happened like that both times..."
"Er, that's a serious trampling incident..."
Mu Tianyuan's mouth twitched as he heard Xiao Lan's explanation. He was genuinely baffled. Who the hell arranged this? I never said anything about targeting Conan when I gave the order! Why is this kid so unlucky? Trampled by cats and dogs twice! It almost looked to Mu Tianyuan like Conan had been intentionally targeted!
Hearing Mu Tianyuan's official assessment of the incident, Conan couldn't help but nod vigorously. That's right, it was extremely serious! I nearly had to start dressing like a girl from now on! You tell me how serious that is! You know, besides...
a certain spot, the rest didn't actually hurt! But the psychological trauma is immense! Right now, just seeing the cat and fox Mu Tianyuan is holding makes me tremble! And you know, for some reason, I really feel like this was a targeted attack against me! I want to call the police!
At that moment, Mu Tianyuan sidled up to Conan and started helping him pat down the prints, looking at him with pity. "That must have hurt, right?"
As he spoke, Mu Tianyuan's gaze drifted to the paw print on Conan's weak spot...
Hearing his words, Conan looked down, then sniffled and said heroically, "It doesn't hurt..."
"Tsk, Conan, you're a true tough guy!"
Upon hearing Conan's reply, Mu Tianyuan gave him a thumbs-up, full of admiration. This time, it was absolutely from the heart, without a trace of falsehood! He was genuinely impressed. That fragile spot had been stomped on, yet Conan said it didn't hurt. What kind of tough guy was this?!
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