Chapter 368 - 330: When Did You Guys Get a New Little Boss?
Chapter 368: Chapter 330: When Did You Guys Get a New Little Boss?
At dusk, an off-road vehicle stopped under an abandoned bridge overpass at the entrance to a border town.
The driver rolled down the window and leaned out to take a look.
Lanuo, who had been dozing in the back seat, was woken by the cold wind. He pulled his windbreaker tighter around himself and said to the driver, "Close the window. You guys from the 12th District can handle the cold, but I can’t."
He shifted his position, getting ready to go back to sleep.
He had spent the last few days cooped up in the lab without getting a full night’s sleep. On the train, he’d had to deal with urgent documents from his dog of a boss, and he had only managed to catch an hour or so of sleep in the car.
The driver turned his head and said, "We’re here, buddy. That’s Little Frost Town up ahead."
"This fast?" Lanuo opened his eyes, ran a hand through his messy hair, and sat up. Bracing himself against the back of the seat, he leaned forward to look. Up ahead, the small town was barely visible through the wind and snow.
The driver chuckled. "You paid triple the fare, so of course it was fast. Next time you’re in a hurry, you can ride me instead."
"You guys from the 12th District are pretty straightforward," Lanuo remarked.
With that, he grabbed his backpack, opened the car door, and got out.
"You know it," the driver said. "But you Border Collies aren’t built for the cold. It’s more comfortable to take a car. Remember to call me next time."
"Alright." Lanuo shut the door. After standing and stretching his sore, tired limbs, he slung the backpack over his shoulder and started walking toward the town.
Ten minutes later, Lanuo arrived at the entrance of the hospital Alex had told him about. Two Bird Clan Orc soldiers descended from the sky and blocked his path.
Lanuo sized up the small hospital, then shifted his gaze to the two soldiers in front of him.
Ever since entering the town, he had sensed people watching him. Whether in the sky or on the ground, soldiers were monitoring everything.
They weren’t patrolling like normal security. Instead, they were hidden in various spots, monitoring every Beastman who passed through, exuding an unusual level of vigilance.
Lanuo’s eyes swept over the combat uniforms of the Beastman soldiers before him. They were soldiers from the Fifth Military District.
He was a bit surprised. ’What are soldiers from the Fifth Military District doing all the way out here in the 12th District?’
’Just what kind of mission is Alex on?’
The strange feeling Lanuo had had since the start of his journey was now growing stronger.
"Show your identification," one of the Beastman soldiers said.
Lanuo was unclear on the situation and was about to contact Alex to have him come out and get him when a familiar, joyful voice called out, "Lanuo?"
Lanuo looked toward the voice and saw a young wolf hurrying toward him.
"Seth?" Lanuo smiled at him. "Haven’t seen you in over half a year. You’ve gotten taller."
Seth stopped in front of him. "Did the boss send for you?"
Lanuo said, "Who else? If he hadn’t called me here to treat his little Mixed Breed, you think I came to this godforsaken frozen hellhole for fun?"
After speaking, he added curiously, "Why didn’t you guys go to the hospital at the transit station? This place isn’t on the way at all."
"If you have questions, ask the boss." Seth didn’t waste time on pleasantries and said to the two soldiers, "He’s the doctor my boss sent for."
Hearing this, the two soldiers showed no suspicion. With a flap of their wings, they swiftly flew away.
Lanuo glanced up, then stepped forward and clapped Seth on the shoulder. "Come on, take me to Alex."
"The boss is on the fifth floor looking after the little boss. You can go straight up." Seth glanced behind him. "I have to stay out here with Cook."
"Cook?" Lanuo followed his gaze. Not far away, a... Mixed Breed? was lying on the ground, listlessly nudging a pile of snow in front of it.
"Is that a twice-distorted Mixed Breed?" Lanuo asked, squinting with interest at the creature.
"Don’t worry about that for now." Seth knew Lanuo had a penchant for studying all sorts of strange and unusual things. He gave him a push. "The little boss is really sick. You should hurry up and go take a look."
"Little boss?" Lanuo heard the strange title again and asked, "Since when did you guys get a ’little boss’?"
Seth replied, "You’ll know when you see."
Lanuo didn’t press him further and, full of questions, stepped into the hospital.
He really needed to have a good talk with Alex.
His curiosity about this "little boss" Seth mentioned—the little Mixed Breed that Alex cared so much about—was now at its peak.
Seth had been by Alex’s side since he was a kid and had never called anyone "boss" besides Alex. ’To think he’s calling a Mixed Breed "little boss."’
Entering the hospital lobby, Lanuo discreetly observed his surroundings. As expected, the remote little hospital was quiet, with only a handful of people seeking treatment. There were doctors on duty at the registration window and the information desk. Although soldiers were secretly monitoring the area, everything seemed to be running as usual.
If not for a Beastman as perceptive as him, one would likely never notice anything was amiss.
Lanuo strode into the elevator and pressed the button for the fifth floor.
The fifth floor housed the intensive care unit and the hospital’s consultation rooms.
Looking at the floor directory on the elevator panel, Lanuo thought, ’Intensive care? Don’t tell me this little Mixed Breed is seriously injured, or... about to regress and distort?’
He recalled the blood test report and symptom description for the little Mixed Breed that Alex had sent him. They all matched the state of impending distortion.
’So Alex chose this small hospital because he didn’t want anyone to find out he was with a Mixed Breed on the verge of distortion. Otherwise, that Mixed Breed’s fate would be...’
* * *
"The fever’s back. We have to increase the dosage."
"We should be changing the medication. Maybe we could try drugs used for normal females. Who prescribed this? It’s having no effect at all."
"No, her condition isn’t stable yet. Using medication recklessly could make things worse."
"These are the drugs that were prescribed recklessly."
"It’s just pneumonia caused by a high fever, not a genetic disease. We don’t need to be so cautious with the medication."
"Of course we have to be cautious! Haven’t you all noticed that this young lady’s constitution is much weaker than other females?"
"Her constitution isn’t that weak. Maybe we could try reducing the dosage."
"..."
In the consultation room, several doctors held new medical reports, their brows furrowed as they discussed how to treat the mysterious young female.
Alex sat to one side, listening to their conversation in silence.
Although this was just a small hospital, the medical conditions were many times better than when Gu Ning had a high fever in Zone 19, and the supply of medicine was plentiful.
However, because of Gu Ning’s constitution, even Windsor, who was relatively familiar with females from Sky Watch Point, didn’t dare to medicate her recklessly.
On Windsor’s advice, the doctors were temporarily administering medication slowly via IV drip and nebulizer, following a treatment regimen for a young cub. The medicine was based on the fever-reducing prescription Lanuo had provided last time, which the doctors had slightly adjusted.
But this treatment method wasn’t particularly effective. The young female’s high fever wouldn’t break, and her incessant coughing could be heard even from here, making everyone deeply anxious.
If they hadn’t known she didn’t have a genetic disease, they wouldn’t have dared to treat her at all. They would have just sternly recommended sending the young female to a major hospital in the Upper District.
Aside from not daring to treat her condition carelessly, there was also the fact that her identity was clearly not simple.
Right then, lying in front of them was a top-secret confidentiality agreement they had just signed, stamped with the seal of the Military Department.