Chapter 327 - 289: Is he also your spouse?
Chapter 327: Chapter 289: Is he also your spouse?
"Another dog."
Belial muttered.
’And one they disliked, at that.’
Seeing Leo pounce on Gu Ning and hug her, the three people inside the car all wore more or less critical expressions.
’The two alpha wolves were one thing, but what was the deal with this dog?’
Gu Ning pushed away the whimpering puppy’s head that was nuzzling against her face. "Use your words."
"That bird got lucky!" Leo hugged her tightly, extremely reluctant to let go. "I’ll catch up to you for sure!"
Of the three captains, at least two had to stay behind to handle the mission Andrew had assigned them. All of them wanted to stay by Gu Ning’s side, so to be fair, the three of them decided by drawing lots.
In the end, Vine gave up his spot in the drawing and chose to stay. That left just Leo and Philinos to draw. Even with a fifty-fifty chance, Leo had bad luck and drew the lot to stay behind.
It wasn’t that he would never see Gu Ning again—after handling things in Zone 15, he had a mission that would take him to Zone 5—but he still felt awful about being separated from her like this.
Gu Ning still didn’t quite understand what the puppy meant, but she gathered that Leo also had to stay behind for a mission and that Philinos would be joining their new team.
’If puppy Leo isn’t around, the team will be much quieter. He won’t be fighting with Barto anymore, either.’
When those two argued, it was a real headache. Barto always looked like he wanted to kill Leo, which made her worry for Leo’s doggy life.
’Leo not coming with them was actually a relief.’
"What’s with that expression?" Leo let go of Gu Ning and looked at her. "Are you happy that I’m not on the team?"
Gu Ning shook her head repeatedly.
Leo: "Little liar."
Gu Ning pressed her lips together and patted him. "Be safe. Don’t get hurt."
’They were parting ways anyway. Might as well humor the puppy.’
Leo’s face immediately lit up. "Don’t worry! I’m so strong that even if I get hurt, it’ll just be a minor wound. My old injury is almost healed, too. Sigh, I wanted to show you, but you’re always stuck to that guy."
Leo shot a disgruntled look at Alex, who was standing beside them. Then he hugged Gu Ning again and sniffed her forcefully, wanting to take in her scent one last time. But—
"Why do you reek of wolf?"
Leo’s expression twisted.
Unwilling to give up, he kept sniffing. After a long while, he barely managed to detect a faint trace of Gu Ning’s sweet scent from beneath Alex’s wolf stench.
But the harder he sniffed, the clearer the scent of glands and other things became. Leo couldn’t stand it anymore and couldn’t help but curse, "Damn it, what the hell did that stinky wolf rub on you?"
Gu Ning: "..."
Leo was about to howl again but was yanked away by the back of his collar by Alex and an approaching Barto.
"Don’t touch me! I’m not done talking." Leo struggled free from their grasp, pulled out a small box, and stuffed it into Gu Ning’s hands. "I bought you a little toy to kill time with on the road."
As he spoke, he gave Gu Ning’s head a messy ruffle. "Little Ningning, you have to miss me! Wait for me..."
Barto impatiently dragged the chattering dog away and handed Gu Ning a thermal lunch box he had prepared in advance.
’They’d hauled her out of bed so early this morning that she didn’t even have time for breakfast.’
Seeing the weariness on her face, Barto said, "Eat first, then you can sleep."
"Now there’s a fox." Belial caught the scent of fox on Barto and yawned. "Young lady, is he your mate, too?"
"Family," Gu Ning said.
"Whoa..." Belial turned to Barto with a smile. "Hello there."
’A Beastman with female household registration! No wonder he seems more natural around the young lady than the others.’
Barto rolled his eyes.
"It’s him," Mingxi said softly, his gaze landing on the fox’s face.
’It was the red-haired Beastman they had met in Zone 19.’
Although the lower half of his face was covered by a gaiter, he recognized the man’s slightly strange scent. It was a bit like a Mixed Breed’s, but not quite. Compared to before, he was more like... a normal Beastman.
’A red-haired fox by Miss Gu Ning’s side... If I’m not mistaken, this must be that reverted Mixed Breed fox they sent to the roasted chicken shop.’
’No wonder he’d been so hostile towards us when we met outside the office that day.’
Mingxi secretly studied the reverted Mixed Breed who had returned to his human form. His brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. It was the first time he had ever seen such a change in a Beastman.
Although there was a minuscule chance for a Mixed Breed to return to human form, it was currently winter. They had just dealt with Mutant Species; never mind lowering one’s Mutant Value, even normal Beastmen had to take Inhibitors as a precaution.
This fox before him hadn’t just returned to a normal human form; even his Mixed Breed scent was fading. This went beyond his knowledge and understanding on the subject, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
"Hm? Who?" Belial turned his head and asked, "Mingxi, you know him?"
Leighton rested his hands behind his head, tilted his head, and said languidly, "Little lion, with eyes and a nose like yours, you should find a new line of work."
’His old rival was standing right in front of him and he didn’t even recognize him.’
However... Leighton’s gaze swept over Barto. ’Considering his human form, his current state, and a scent almost indistinguishable from a normal Beastman’s, it was understandable that the little lion didn’t recognize him.’
"Ahem." Gu Ning shifted, blocking Leighton’s view of Barto, and gestured with her eyes for Barto to leave quickly.
’She was really scared of Leighton. Both she and Barto had been arrested by him before, and Barto was a regular at the Zone 19 police station. She was worried Barto and Leighton would clash again.’
Barto didn’t look too good either.
She asked, "Barto, did you not... sleep well?"
She noticed that Barto was a little different today.
He was wearing a black combat uniform similar to what Alex and the others wore. His long, thick red hair was tied up high, and his beast ears had changed back into human ears.
He looked tall, lean, and sharp, with an added touch of aloofness he didn’t usually have.
"What do you think?" Barto’s expression was a little cold.
Gu Ning met Barto’s gaze for two seconds. A sudden realization struck her as she thought about last night, and she immediately shut her mouth.
’Barto... he didn’t hear anything, did he?’
Gu Ning lowered her gaze, the heat on her face spreading to her ears.
Barto, realizing his tone was a bit harsh, said, "I was busy preparing supplies with Seth and the others. Didn’t have time to sleep."
With that, he turned and left, leaving Gu Ning with the sight of his inexplicably cold and distant back.
"Time to go."
Before Gu Ning could dwell on it, Leighton closed the car window and started the engine.
Gu Ning pressed against the window, watching the rearview mirror. Several SUVs followed them in a line. Cook’s head popped out from the nearest vehicle, and he stared eagerly at her car. Before he could get a good look, he was yanked back inside by Barto.
Gu Ning opened the app Alex had installed on her terminal. Seeing that the two little figures on the screen remained within a hundred meters of each other, she felt at ease.
As if it knew she was watching, Alex’s little figure patted her little figure’s head, then hugged and kissed it.
Gu Ning smiled at the cute interaction between the two figures.
Just then, a communication notification popped up. Gu Ning tapped it open without thinking:
[You’ve set off?]
The moment she saw the profile picture, the smile on Gu Ning’s face froze.
She was hesitating whether to reply when the next message came through:
[I saw the application you sent me.]