Chapter 125: A Strange Man
Chapter 125: Chapter 125: A Strange Man
"CRASH..."
Gu Zhao’s meal had just been set on the table. She’d barely picked up her chopsticks to eat when—the table collapsed!
The person who delivered the food: ??!
Gu Zhao: ????
’Hasn’t it been several hours already?! I thought my bad luck had passed!’
Before this, she was just thanking Lady Luck for her protection! Turns out the bad luck hadn’t passed at all! It was just running late!
’Give me back my gratitude!!’
Gu Zhao stared at the food scattered on the floor, her face a mask of anguish.
’My food! Couldn’t it have waited until after I finished eating?! It was already so late! What would a little longer have hurt?!’
Someone came in to clean up. Gu Zhao sat motionless in her chair, waiting.
She was perfectly fine. Nothing happened.
However, the moment a new meal was placed on a new table, that table collapsed too.
This repeated several times. A pile of plates was shattered, several tables were broken, and Gu Zhao’s stomach was growling.
As Jia Xu’s personal assistant, Little Wang had never seen someone so unlucky.
He looked at Gu Zhao, troubled. "Miss Jia Hua... We’re out of tables."
"We still have some plates, but we can’t afford to break them... Other people need them to eat..."
Gu Zhao: ...
"Just give me a few steamed buns, then..."
After an hour-long struggle, Gu Zhao finally managed to eat her steamed buns.
「5:00 AM, A City time.」
Gu Zhao got out of bed, stealthily opened the door, and poked her head out to look around.
’Time to find my brother!’
Gu Zhao crept cautiously down the corridor. At this hour, most people were asleep, but a small patrol was still making its rounds.
There were no security cameras in the vicinity, which made things easier for her.
She went on instinct, opening doors to check the rooms. Each one contained a child, and the children were all mutated to some degree.
Some had animal ears or tails, while others had bodies that looked completely animalistic.
Seeing the ones with full-body mutations reminded Gu Zhao of those stitched-together monsters from the grasslands.
’It seems I’ve stumbled into a den of monsters.’
’The good news is, everyone here is valuable.’
’The bad news? I can’t fight them.’
Gu Zhao sighed. ’Other people stumble into paradise. I get to charge headfirst into a pit of despair.’
Grumbling aside, Gu Zhao went back to opening doors and searching.
The first few rooms were empty. But when she opened the next one, she froze.
A man was standing in the room.
The man stood coldly beside the bed, on which a Snow Fox was restrained.
Gu Zhao’s eyes met his.
"Oh! This isn’t the restroom? My mistake, wrong room!" Gu Zhao forced a laugh and turned to leave.
"So sweet! So sweet! I love this person! Darling! Darling!" the Snow Fox cried, struggling with excitement when it saw Gu Zhao.
"Darling, don’t go! Look at me! Please, look at me!!" the Snow Fox shrieked, its voice cracking.
Hearing the Snow Fox’s cries, Gu Zhao glanced back. The man who had been so cold a moment ago was now looking at the Snow Fox with a worried expression.
"Easy now, don’t move. The anesthetic on your leg hasn’t worn off yet," he said, his cool voice laced with concern.
The Snow Fox gave Gu Zhao a pitiful look.
Gu Zhao hesitated for a moment before walking back into the room.
’He’s gentle with the Snow Fox, so he must have a conscience... right? If not, I’ll just have to knock him out!’
’I can definitely take one guy!’
When the man saw her returning, his face grew cold again. "Leave."
Gu Zhao stared at him, saying nothing.
She remained silent, and so did he.
The Snow Fox was practically drooling as it stared at Gu Zhao. "Darling, pet me~"
Gu Zhao reached out to pet it, but the man grabbed her arm. "Leave."
Before Gu Zhao could even react, the Snow Fox blew its top.
"Let her go! You may have saved me, but you have to let the darling pet me! You can’t stop her from petting me! Let go or I’ll bite you! I mean it!"
The Snow Fox started to thrash about.
The man looked completely baffled by its behavior.
Gu Zhao seized the opportunity to give the fox a few strokes, and it whimpered in pleasure.
The man: ...
"You should leave," the man said again.
"I’d like to," Gu Zhao said, "but my brother is missing."
The man frowned. "Jia Xu is not a good person."
"I’m not talking about him. My real brother was captured," Gu Zhao replied. For some reason, she felt she could trust him.
The man fell silent for a few seconds, a lonely look in his downcast eyes.
"Outsiders are usually held in the converted cells. Go out, turn left, then right, and walk all the way to the end."
"But you won’t be able to escape on your own. Besides the fissure, there’s only one other exit, and they have it heavily guarded."
The man said all this in a single breath.
Gu Zhao stroked the fox, lost in thought. "Are there many animals here?"
The man looked confused but answered nonetheless. "Fifty-eight."
There used to be hundreds, but for some unknown reason, no new animals have been brought in lately.
’If my sister were still alive... she’d be about this age now.’
Gu Zhao asked where the other animals were kept. After he told her, she gave the Snow Fox one last pat and left.
She quickly found where the animals were being held. Perhaps because they were in a remote mountain fissure, her captors were overconfident no one would find them.
The area where the animals were caged was completely unguarded.
The moment she pushed open the soundproof door, her ears were filled with the sound of animals cursing up a storm.
Snow wolves, snow leopards, lions, hyenas, crocodiles, tigers, Arctic Bears, giant pythons...
All kinds of animals were locked in rows of iron cages.
They were all starved to skin and bones.
When they saw her enter, their curses and complaints grew quieter, eventually fading into silence.
"You smell so nice... You’re not one of the bad people, are you? Are you here to save us?" a listless snow leopard asked, managing a weak wag of its tail.
A pang of pain shot through Gu Zhao’s heart. Ever since she’d gained the ability to understand animals, she found their abuse even more unbearable.
"Shh, it’s okay," Gu Zhao soothed. "I’m going to let you out, but you can’t leave this room yet. Wait here while I find you some food. Rest and get your strength back. As soon as I find my brother, I’ll come back and we’ll all break out of here together."
An older Snow Wolf spoke up. "Thank you, little one. We’ll listen. When you go look for your brother, take me with you. I may be old, but my nose still works."
Gu Zhao hesitated.
The Snow Wolf pressed on. "You’ll need help."
Gu Zhao agreed. She opened all the cages first, giving the animals some freedom. This way, if she ran into trouble while looking for food, they would at least be able to fight back.
After reassuring the animals, she ran off toward the canteen.
The old Snow Wolf glanced worriedly at the door before turning to the other animals. "Everyone, get back in your cages. We can’t let those villains find out. We can’t cause trouble for our precious Xiangxiang."
All the animals complied, returning to their cages. They even helped pull the cage doors shut.
Then they started grumbling and cursing again, though this time their hearts weren’t in it. They kept sneaking glances toward the door.
Gu Zhao’s trip went smoothly, for the most part. She ran into a few people in white coats who taunted her, and she silently memorized their faces.
After feeding the animals, Gu Zhao headed for the location the man had told her about.
The prison cells were far from quiet, even at this hour past six.
"Hold him down!" Jia Xu bellowed from the doorway, his eyes blazing with fury.
He had spent all night in the lab, only for the experiment to fail again and again! He was furious!
Two of his assistants moved to grab Gu Xulin, but Zhong Siqi and Song Zhe immediately blocked their path.
Gu Zhen shielded three small children, ducking behind the others.
"Don’t be an idiot! It’s your honor to be chosen by our boss!" one of the assistants sneered.
"Wow! Big Brother, there’s someone even dumber than you!" Song Yi couldn’t help but shout.
"He says it’s an honor to be wanted by an ugly monster!"