Yun Yan crouched beneath the wall of a condemned building in the old district, a half-smoked cigarette dangling from his lips. He aimed his DSLR at a calico stray rummaging through a trash can nearby, his finger poised over the shutter and his eyes wide open. The cat was wary, ears pricked and the tip of its tail occasionally sweeping the ground. At the slightest disturbance, it would vanish in a flash.
Yun Yan called himself a street photographer, but really he was just an idle, carefree drifter. No steady job, no social or medical insurance. He rented a ten-square-meter pigeonhole of an apartment and wandered around every day with a secondhand DSLR, taking pictures of cats, dogs, and old houses. Every so often, he'd land a small gig for pocket money. As long as he had enough to eat, drink, and smoke, that was fine. His greatest ambition in life was to be free, with nobody telling him what to do.
“Come on, be a good kitty. Let me take a handsome picture of you. Maybe I can post it online and scam some money for cat food...” he coaxed in a hushed, wheedling voice. A little dish of freshly bought chopped-up sausage sat by his feet. The calico hesitated for a long time, then slowly edged closer and sniffed. Just as it was about to take a bite, suddenly
A blinding blue light shot down from the sky and landed right on Yun Yan!
