1018 Climbing Trees (1/2)

After expressing the feelings in its heart, Vladimir suddenly asked Zhang Zian, ”Do you think there is a God?”

”This… I sometimes feel that there is. Other times, I feel that there isn't. Sometimes I feel that there should be, while other times I feel that even if there isn't one, it's no big deal,” Zhang Zian answered truthfully. The truth was that was the same attitude most people had.

He recalled the producer of the game Pet Hunter and added, ”I think there may be something higher in the dark, but that's not necessarily God.”

Vladimir smiled and did not say anything.

Zhang Zian did not know whether he was right or wrong to encourage it, but he felt that its efforts had really worked. It had encouraged a group of scattered, stray cats to unite and concentrate on major things.

”Speaking of nature, you just asked the kitten why it couldn't get down after it climbed up the tree, right?” He drew the topic back to the original question.

”I don't think it's afraid of heights… How could it climb so high if it was afraid of heights?” Vladimir nodded with a strong thirst for knowledge. ”Is this the same nature that cats have when they meow at people?”

Not everyone had kept a cat before, and even those that had kept a cat before only had one. Even if they had more than two cats, they seldom paid attention to the interactions between cats, especially when the cat owner was not present. Simply put, when there were no human beings present, cats would not meow at each other, because there was no need. Even if they did meow, there would not receive any food…

Meowing was a cat's evolved skill to please humans. One had to admit that the evolution was undoubtedly successful. It made humans willing to become sh*t shovelers, which was probably Darwin's theory.

”Wait for a little while.”

When Zhang Zian returned to the store, he saw that the clerks had finished their meals and were packing up. He went up to the storage room on the second floor, found a folding ladder, and carried it down.

The clerks were puzzled to see him carrying the ladder out, but he explained truthfully that a kitten was trapped in a tree.

He returned to the tree with the ladder on his shoulder, set up the ladder, then shook it firmly to check its stability. He then climbed to the top of the ladder, pulled the branches and leaves away, and reached out to the yellow and white kitten.

The kitten was a little scared. After all, it was a stray cat. It had not interacted very closely with people, nor had the mother cat taught it how to deal with human beings. It shrunk away to escape from him, but there was nowhere to hide between the narrow branches. Finally, Zhang Zian put his hands under its armpit and took it down.

”Why could it go up the tree, but it couldn't come down? Look at its claws carefully.” Zhang Zian raised its front claw to let Vladimir take a look.

”The claws of cats, including those of other animals, are mostly crooked and bent towards the palm, which is for hunting purposes. It prevents their prey from escaping, and it also helps their body when they climb and jump,” he said, bending his fingers like a hook.

Vladimir raised its front paw and lowered its head to take a look. He nodded in agreement.

”It's very easy to climb the tree with such claws, so the kitten could easily climb to the top, even though it may not have climbed a tree at all before… But when it wants to come down from the tree, it has a problem.” Zhang Zian twitched his lips towards the tree. ”Vladimir, you can try for yourself. Practice is the only criterion for testing the truth.”

Without hesitation, Vladimir leaped to the edge of the tree, reached out his sharp claws, and climbed up the tree quickly.

”Now you can come down,” Zhang Zian said. ”Take note, you can't jump down. You need to slowly climb down the tree.”

Vladimir instantly noticed what the problem was.

It often leaped over walls and climbed trees, but it depended on its own flexibility. It always jumped down after it climbed to the highest point. If it was too high, it would use its strength to jump down onto a shorter branch, like a step. With its fierce temper, there had never been a precedent for walking down slowly.

At that moment, it was trying to slowly climb down from the tree, and after changing to many positions, it felt that it was very awkward.

Zhang Zian reminded it from under the tree, ”You climbed up with your head on top and feet below. If you want to climb down, you still have to have your head on top and your legs below, and back down. Only in this way can your claws grab the trunk and bark of the tree.”

Vladimir listened to his advice and turned its body around. It was like it had recorded its actions when climbing the tree and rewound it, slowly backing down the tree.

”It's very awkward,” it said, totally uncomfortable. ”It's still more comfortable directly jumping down.”