Chapter 30: Rotten Luck

Yin Zhi was just about to nod when he saw her pick up the box holding the Yellow-tailed Robin. He snapped to attention, grabbing a broom and quickly moving to block her. His voice was a little cold. "You are not bringing him into the house."

"Why?" Wen Qian blinked, a little baffled.

"He’s male..." Glancing at the tiny bundle in the box, Yin Zhi turned his head to the side.

Wen Qian hesitated. "But he’s badly injured. Shouldn’t we keep an eye on him?"

"No need. Beastmen are very resilient." He shook his head firmly, his expression looking quite sincere. ’Besides, I’m already taking great care of him. I didn’t even make him sleep on the balcony.’

"Alright..." Wen Qian carefully placed the box back on the shelf, afraid of startling it. ’He was so small, after all, and looked quite fragile.’

Watching Wen Qian enter her room, Yin Zhi breathed a sigh of relief. He tidied up the living room as fast as he could, then walked straight into the bedroom.

’Qianqian was too tired today. I’ll take a shower by myself, then slip into bed all fresh and clean to give her a surprise...’

「On the other side.」

The old floor gave off the faint smell of disinfectant. The light cast a harsh white glare, making the already spotless walls gleam.

Li Jiang sat on the hospital bed with a dazed look in his eyes. He recalled the events of the evening, feeling as if it were all a dream. Although Xiao He had clearly said the power outage was just an accident, he still had a nagging feeling that something was wrong.

’If the disappearance of the Yellow-tailed Robin and the power outage were both accidents, then what about my fall down the stairs?’ He had distinctly felt something trip him.

’At the time, I think I also heard... a meow?’

’But if this was all a conspiracy, then what was the goal?’

’The Yellow-tailed Robin is already gone. All this trouble—the power outage, making me fall—could it have been to buy time...?’ The man’s gaze instantly darkened. The next second, he threw off his blanket and ran straight out of the hospital room, ignoring the nurse’s attempts to stop him.

He wore a loose-fitting hospital gown, his hair was a mess, and he was muttering to himself. The people in the hallway saw his condition and didn’t dare try to stop him.

He seemed less than lucid. The black plastic slippers on his feet nearly tripped him several times, yet he showed no sign of stopping.

Li Jiang left the hospital and hailed a taxi downstairs. He was somewhat incoherent as he gave the address for University A. His hands were clenched into tight fists, his expression bordering on savage.

"Damn it. They must have discovered something..." His voice was low, but the hatred in it was palpable. The driver had wanted to make conversation but held back when he saw the man’s state. ’This guy’s in a hospital gown and acting strange. Who knows if he’s mentally stable...’

The taxi quickly exited the highway, arriving at University A in just over ten minutes. The man opened the door and got out in one fluid motion, his mind so preoccupied with the lab that he didn’t even hear the driver shouting curses behind him.

"What rotten luck! Someone skipping out on a fare this late at night!" The taxi driver slammed his fist on the steering wheel. He’d known that guy wasn’t right, muttering about some lab and "Beastman science" the whole ride... To think he’d just get out without paying.

’Normally, I would’ve dragged him to the police station. But that guy... he seemed to have a few screws loose. What if he really was crazy? If things got physical, I’d be the one at a disadvantage...’

Thinking this, the driver could only chalk it up to bad luck, silently vowing never to pick up fares near the hospital again, especially not at night.

Starting the car in frustration, the driver failed to notice the black sedan to his rear right that had been following him ever since he left the hospital. Only after Li Jiang got out did the sedan slowly pull onto campus.

"Professor, why are you back?" Xiao He, who had rushed back to cover a shift, wore a look of confusion. He had only been back at the university for a little over an hour. ’Is Professor Li all right already?’

Li Jiang still looked extremely agitated. He gave a cold grunt of acknowledgment and walked into the laboratory building.

’There was one thing he had to confirm tonight: whether the Yellow-tailed Robin’s disappearance was truly an accident or not.’

’If it wasn’t, then why did Gu Mian do it? Was he trying to steal his research findings, or...’

DONG—

The hour hand pointed exactly to the number 11, and the clock in the laboratory building chimed at that very moment.

Perhaps because so much had happened that night, Li Jiang jumped at the sound. Once he recovered, he let out a vulgar curse. His expression was sinister, completely devoid of his usual scholarly elegance and composure.

At this hour, the students had already left the laboratory building. A look around revealed that only the lights in the main hall and the corridors were still on. Li Jiang took the elevator to the fifth floor; the ride up was dead silent.

His pace was rushed, and the closer he got to 503, the faster his heart pounded. For some reason, he suddenly thought of Gu Mian and the jar he had shattered in 609... His palms grew numb, and Li Jiang rubbed them vigorously against his thighs a few times.

’This late at night... what terrible luck!’

He stopped in front of room 503, raised his hand, and tapped the screen a couple of times. A second later, he entered the laboratory via iris scan.

The laboratory lights were still on, and his phone was still in its original spot, but something was definitely missing from the table... The Yellow-tailed Robin’s wing bone, which he had personally stripped clean, was gone!

Li Jiang’s expression immediately turned savage. He screamed, tore the gauze from the table, and swept everything on top of it onto the floor.

"Damn it, I knew it!" The man slammed a fist on the table.

’How could the laboratory building lose power two days in a row? Someone had to be behind it!’

Recalling Gu Mian’s cold expression, Li Jiang gritted his teeth. ’It wasn’t enough for him to steal the Yellow-tailed Robin; he had to take the wing bone, too. Don’t tell me he also discovered that the bird can shapeshift.’

As if struck by a thought, the man’s expression grew even uglier. He stepped over the sharp tools scattered on the floor and headed straight for the corner of the laboratory.

The scene on the other side of the glass panel was identical to how he’d left it. The cages holding the birds hung securely inside.

"Good, good, they’re all still here..." Seeing no sign that the glass wall had been opened, the man breathed a sigh of relief. A moment later, he lifted his chin, sneering at the birds in the cages and muttering, "Worthless little things..."

He had "raised" that Yellow-tailed Robin for three months; it was a real shame to have it snatched from him just like that. But the thought of all his other rare birds that were "about to" shapeshift helped Li Jiang calm down a bit.

’On his way over, he had been thinking that if Gu Mian insisted on not returning the Yellow-tailed Robin, he would just hire someone to teach him a lesson. But now, Li Jiang hesitated. He thought of the pair of eyeballs he had seen today and the blinded former owner of room 609. He felt that those two incidents, just like the power outage... couldn’t possibly be a coincidence.’

’Wait a minute.’ His gaze was suddenly drawn to something. Li Jiang took a step forward and squinted at the transparent glass wall...

’Is that... a handprint?’

All over the once-pristine glass wall were numerous handprints, all the same size. Some were clear, others blurred, but it was obvious they all belonged to the same person.