Chapter 136 The Water Issue

When he had nothing to do at home, Hao Ren had a habit of going out for a walk. After breakfast, he would take the cat for a stroll on the street for an hour. Occasionally, he would meet acquaintances and chat for a while. For him, this was the ultimate joy in life—although Lily occasionally grumbled that he had the mindset of a retired old cadre, Hao Ren felt that this kind of life was better than anything else.

However, ever since "Dumpling" transformed into a human, this daily pastime had become less easy. In the past, when he took her out, he only needed to walk in front, and the silly cat could run around as she pleased without him worrying. She would definitely come back when she was done playing. But now he couldn't do that. In the short few hundred meters from his house to Baishi Road, Hao Ren had already pulled the cat girl up from the ground three times, and once he even had to pull her head out of a trash can…

Hao Ren was exhausted from walking the cat. He pressed down on the wide-brimmed soft hat on the cat girl's head (to cover her ears): "When will you finally learn the human way of life…"

"I've already learned it, so give me some dried fish? I didn't get any at home just now!"

Izhaks carried his daughter ahead, and when he heard the commotion behind him, he turned his head and smiled: "Didn't you say you were going to let 'Dumpling' take a walk in Aerym in the future? Why are you still bringing her here to relax?"

"She has to be willing to stay at home obediently," Hao Ren sighed helplessly. "No matter who goes out, she has to follow. If I don't agree, she scratches the door or chews on the curtains, and I can't hit or scold her. It's better for me to walk her myself than to let Lily take her out and cause trouble."

The cat girl tilted her head and listened to Hao Ren. In fact, she had made some progress these days. At the very least, she vaguely knew that her usual words and deeds would bring trouble to her master, so at this time, she tried hard to read his expression and made the judgment a cat should make: she squatted down beside Hao Ren's feet and started rubbing hard against his pants: "Dumpling does this, and you're happy, right? You guys are so troublesome~~"

Hao Ren: "…"

They strolled to the southern section of Baishi Road, and there were more people out for a morning walk. The southern suburbs now had so few residents left, and Baishi Road and Houjie Commercial Street had become the only lively places in this area. The residents of small places were very familiar with each other, and people would occasionally greet Hao Ren as they passed by: "Hao Ren, I heard you were on a business trip again a few days ago?"

There were also bolder or more daring people who greeted Izhaks: "Daquan, you're out again?"

Basically, the second type of person was mostly local old ladies.

But these were all jokes. Although Izhaks had indeed caused a lot of trouble in the southern suburbs when he first arrived, at least a year had passed now, and he was at least familiar with the locals in the Baishi Road area. The old men and women on this street all knew that there was a big guy living nearby with a fierce face but actually a good temper. After a few cautious contacts, they were no longer wary of him. Izhaks was also very honest and liked to help his neighbors. He would help the east neighbor carry a liquefied gas tank, help the west neighbor move half a truck of bricks, and even help carry thirty or fifty bags of cement when someone was building a house. In this way, he finally integrated into the residential circle of the southern suburbs—considering the bonus of his face, this was simply an epic achievement.

Of course, occasional misunderstandings were still unavoidable. People who were not familiar with Izhaks would still call the police as their first reaction when they saw such a big man walking towards them, especially when he was taking Elizabeth out, which could increase the police dispatch rate by at least 50%. So after a few such blunders, the old ladies on Baishi Road all knew that the first sentence to say when they saw Izhaks was always "You're out again?"…

Elizabeth sat on Izhaks' shoulders, still giggling heartlessly: "My dad is so majestic wherever he goes!"

Izhaks turned his head to Hao Ren with a wry smile and spread his hands: "It really depends on your face wherever you go."

At this time, the four people happened to stroll to the small supermarket at the intersection. Hao Ren looked up and saw the fat boss swinging a large broom and sweeping water on the nearby road. There was a large area of standing water on that road, and it had submerged the drainage holes on the curb. Hao Ren greeted from afar: "Big Boss—did you wash your car this morning?"

"What car are you washing? The water pipe burst again!" The fat boss was covered in sweat and waved his hand impatiently. "Damn, it's burst three times in two days. I don't know what they're doing at the pumping station. The water pressure has been particularly abnormal these past two days. Either there's no water, or the water pressure is so high that it can break the valves."

A diner who was eating at a nearby breakfast stall raised his head when he heard this: "You're doing well. At least you have water now. My house has been without water for two days. Several households around me have water, but I don't. Otherwise, would I need to come out to eat?"

"Your own water pipe must be blocked," Hao Ren interjected. "They all come from the same main pipe. How can other people have water and you don't?"

"I don't know what's going on. It's not winter, so the pipes won't freeze. Anyway, the water has been particularly abnormal these past two days. I can hear the water flowing in the pipes when I turn on the faucet, but it just doesn't come out… I'll have my brother come and take a look tomorrow. He works with plumbing."

At this time, a middle-aged man who was eating tofu pudding at the next table suddenly raised his head and said in a muffled voice: "There's nothing wrong with the pumping station. My son works at the pumping station."

The fat boss put down his broom and took a breath: "Then what's going on with the abnormal tap water these past two days?"

"The people at the pumping station don't know what's going on either. My boy has been working overtime these past two days. He said there's nothing wrong with the machines there, but the water pressure is fluctuating. Once, it seemed like a backflow or something burned out a booster pump," the middle-aged man shook his head and slurped up the last mouthful of soup. "My boy was talking nonsense. He said the pumping station has been a little weird these past few days…"

The breakfast stall owner immediately shouted: "Old Zhang, don't say anymore! You're making it sound more and more mysterious!"

The other diners and the fat supermarket owner also joked a few words, complaining about the abnormal tap water these past two days and "Old Zhang's" habit of talking nonsense. Then, they dispersed. However, Hao Ren stepped forward and stopped the middle-aged man who was about to pay and leave: "Brother, you just said that the pumping station has been a little weird these past two days? What do you mean by weird?"

"Just joking, don't take it seriously," the middle-aged man smiled and waved his hand. "I don't understand what my boy tells me about the pumping station anyway."

Hao Ren said "Oh" and turned around thoughtfully, preparing to leave. However, when he turned his head, he found that the silly cat was gone again. He quickly looked around and saw that she was squatting beside the breakfast stall owner's feet, looking at him expectantly—she couldn't have looked more pathetic.

The breakfast stall owner held a spoon and looked helpless, turning his head to look at Hao Ren: "Is this your girlfriend? What's her… habit?"

Hao Ren coughed repeatedly, quickly explaining: "Cough cough, no, no, this is my sister… Come over here!"

"I want a bun," the silly cat turned her head while squatting. "I'm hungry, give me a bun!"

Immediately, the people around them looked at them differently. Hao Ren was sweating profusely and could only quickly buy the silly cat two buns to be done with it: how many times a day did this thing have to eat to be full? It hadn't even been an hour since breakfast!

After they walked to a secluded place, Izhaks spoke: "Do you think there's something wrong with this?"

"The tap water thing?" Hao Ren crossed his arms and nodded slightly. "I think my intuition is usually pretty accurate. There's definitely something fishy about this. If what they said is true, this is a supernatural phenomenon. Maybe it's related to the activities of other races."

Izhaks: "It might just be rumors. It's a small matter. You don't need to worry about it, right?"

"It's not a big deal, but I'm idle anyway, and the job of an inspector requires keen observation and sharp intuition," Hao Ren shrugged. "I'll ask May when she comes back. She's in charge of water. Just treat it as doing something good for the neighbors."

The cat girl held a bun, gnawing on it while looking at Hao Ren and then at Izhaks. Suddenly, she shoved half of the bun into Hao Ren's mouth: "So I'm giving you a bun to eat."

Hao Ren couldn't understand the cat's logic at all. How she converted this information in her mind after observing the world was a mystery—how could she just blurt out a "so"?

Hao Ren waited at home until noon, when Nangong Wuyue came back from outside. He told her about what he had heard while walking outside today, but he didn't expect Wuyue to frown: "The water in other places is also abnormal? Then there's definitely something wrong."