Chapter 149: Rescue Operation

Qian Bin grew more and more animated as he spoke. He rolled up his sleeves again, adopting the posture of a storyteller preparing to set up a roadside stand and talk for days and nights on end:

"Let me tell you, there was one rescue mission last year that was simply thrilling. The situation back then was extremely dangerous. When we received the distress call, that litter of cats had already been freezing down in the well for three or four days..."

The moment Qian Bin started talking, Qin Shishen was immediately reminded of that harrowing experience.

It was still winter back then, right after a heavy snowfall. For reasons unknown, a litter of cats had somehow gotten trapped in a well five or six meters deep. To make matters worse, the bottom of the well was piled with snow and ice from the melting slush.

According to their standard rescue protocol, they initially placed cat food inside a cat crate, hoping to lure the kittens to walk in on their own before hauling the crate back up from the bottom. But for some inexplicable reason, as soon as the cats smelled the food, they started wailing, yet refused to move an inch.

Left with no other choice, Qin Shishen had to take off his down jacket, tie a simple safety knot around his waist, and climb down the well on a soft ladder. Yet down below, goodness knows what had happened, a pungent stench of rotting flesh suddenly wafted through the air.

That very odor instantly dragged back memories of his time in conflict zones.

Having finally managed to obtain a half-decent psychological evaluation from his therapist and been encouraged to venture outside more often for social interaction, he had barely tasted freedom before nearly running into disaster once again.

Everything went black before Qin Shishen's eyes, and he nearly tumbled straight down. Fortunately, although the well was quite deep, it wasn't very wide. He merely slipped and slammed heavily against the stone wall on one side.

Frowning, Qin Shishen spoke up to cut Qian Bin off from continuing down that path:

"Alright, how long ago is that in the past? Why bring all that up again? Was that another litter you just rescued?"

"What do you mean a litter? There were five litters in total!"

Seeing that Qin Shishen was reluctant to dwell on the subject, Qian Bin smoothly pivoted and began recounting the recent rescue mission.

At the mere thought of the pitiful state of the cats he had seen in the car downstairs just moments ago, a grown man nearing thirty actually felt his eyes redden.

"You have no idea how miserable those cats were... Having ringworm is considered mild; a few of them have severe stomatitis, and three had completely lost their eyes. According to the two volunteers who went to the scene, the situation there was even worse than what we saw."

Nowadays, an increasing number of businesses in City A are setting their sights on hybrid concepts like "pet shop plus dessert shop" or "pet shop plus bookstore," attracting massive waves of young customers.

Yet the hidden hazards behind these cat cafes are far from trivial. Take the shop they visited today, for instance: because the owner had family matters to attend to and failed to show up for a month—coupled with the fact that it was a newly opened establishment and hadn't hired staff yet—over thirty cats already in the shop had to eat, drink, defecate, and sleep inside tiny iron cages.

It is said that the exact moment they pushed open the shop door, a sickening stench compounded of cat food, excrement, and even rotting carcasses rushed straight at them. That newly recruited volunteer immediately covered her mouth and squatted by the corner, retching for a long time.

Even though more than an hour had passed, and they had already negotiated a solution with the owner and brought the little cats back to their base, that volunteer still hadn't recovered, her face remaining deathly pale.

"Even so, we're lucky to have rescued five litters... Several others had already died and were disposed of. I just hope the ones we brought back can be a bit stronger and live a few more years after their treatment."

Seemingly afraid that the topic was too cruel and sorrowful, and might frighten the tiny kittens residing in the private room, Qian Bin subconsciously lowered his voice quite a bit when recounting the rescue process and mentioning the unfortunate deaths of those cats.