Chapter 32: So He’s the Only Good One, Huh?

At first, Gu Mian thought the Beastman Li Jiang was talking about was Yin Zhi. He was about to say, "If you have the guts, catch him yourself," but then Li Jiang pointed to the handprint on the glass panel.

When Wen Qian came to get the wing bone, Yin Zhi hadn’t transformed at all. Even if he had, the handprint’s size couldn’t possibly be his...

But when he heard Li Jiang mention a female Beastman, Gu Mian’s expression immediately darkened. It seemed the one Li Jiang was referring to wasn’t Yin Zhi...

"You want her?" The more the man’s lips curved into a smile, the deeper the chill in his eyes grew. He slowly raised a hand, took off his glasses, folded them, and placed them in his shirt pocket.

He picked up a nearby stool, dragged it in front of the man, and before Li Jiang could react, swung it up and smashed it down hard. His voice was deep. "Do you have a death wish?"

The man was dazed from the hit, blood from his forehead trickling down the bridge of his nose. He hung his head, and as the other man grabbed him and slammed him against the wall, he was still wondering... ’What on earth did I say wrong?’

Gu Mian expressionlessly grabbed the man’s arm, pressed his hand against the transparent wall to register the print, then grabbed his hair and yanked his head back...

Li Jiang was forced to open his eyes, and in the next second, the transparent door panel slowly slid open.

The moment the door swung open, the birds in the cages fell silent. They stared blankly at the man in Gu Mian’s grasp. A few seconds later, they started violently ramming against their cages again.

Casually tossing the unconscious man aside, Gu Mian dusted off the front of his shirt. He glanced at the birds in the cages, his voice light. "I have only one condition."

The birds opposite him fell silent again. Li Jiang was right; the birds he kept in captivity could indeed transform, but not all of them.

"Make it clean." The man put his glasses back on. The next second, a small snake slithered out of his sleeve. It deftly climbed the wall, coiled around the keys hanging there, then wrapped itself around each birdcage in turn, opening the doors.

Behind him were the man’s sharp, ear-piercing screams. Gu Mian pushed up his glasses and didn’t forget to close the door on his way out.

Li Jiang fell to his death from the building at two in the morning.

The examination showed that he had endured two hours of torture before his death. His eyes had suffered external trauma, as if pierced by a sharp object, and his face and body were covered in gashes.

No one knew if he had been pushed or if he had chosen to jump to escape the unbearable pain.

In addition, the police found a large number of feathers and specimens of rare birds in his laboratory, and not just one species.

Following this lead, the investigation quickly made headway. Although it seemed a bit bizarre, the wounds on his body were indeed caused by birds.

Because of Li Jiang’s special status and the involvement of protected animals, the case quickly attracted attention from multiple parties.

The City A police arrested three bird dealers selling protected animals at a flower, bird, fish, and insect market in the city. More interestingly, besides dealing in rare birds, these individuals were also suspected of trafficking other protected animals. The market was shut down that very day.

The police had initially suspected Gu Mian, but he had no motive, he didn’t appear on any surveillance footage, and the security guard, Xiao He, said Gu Mian had left the laboratory building before midnight. Consequently, he was quickly cleared of suspicion.

When others at the university were questioned, no one had a clear account.

For one, the laboratory building was far from the academic and dormitory buildings. For another, the lab walls were soundproofed for experimental privacy. If the door was closed, you couldn’t hear a thing from inside.

So, no matter how strange the case was, it was quickly closed and ruled a suicide.

Li Jiang’s death wasn’t just about him. Besides involving protected animals, it also implicated many powerful and influential people.

If he didn’t have someone powerful backing him, how could he have dared to so brazenly torture and kill protected animals on school grounds?

Besides, any experiment related to Beastmen had financial backing. He needed a lot of money, both for trading rare birds and for purchasing lab equipment.

...

"It’s been three days. Why isn’t this Yellow-tailed Robin awake yet?" Wen Qian put down her phone, picked up the box with the Yellow-tailed Robin from the table, and sat on the sofa.

’Aren’t Beastmen supposed to have strong recovery abilities?’

"Just wait for that stinky snake to get here and ask him..." the young man pouted. He sat down right next to Wen Qian and buried his head in her lap. His voice was muffled. "He comes every day anyway. This place is practically his home now."

At first, Wen Qian didn’t realize what was going on. It took her a moment to figure out that Yin Zhi was jealous. She immediately reached out and stroked his head. "There, there. You’ll be my only little kitten."

"Really?" Lifting his head from her embrace, Yin Zhi’s eyes sparkled.

Wen Qian nodded emphatically. "Really."

The smile on Yin Zhi’s face grew wider and wider. He looked at Wen Qian, about to do something, when he suddenly remembered something else. He buried his head in her embrace again, his voice even more aggrieved. "But I’m not a little kitten, I’m a little tiger..."

Wen Qian: "..."

Yin Zhi: "Besides, even if I’m willing to be your cute little kitten, you’ll still have the stinky snake, the flirty fox, the dumb bunny, the wicked wolf, the silly bird..."

Wen Qian clenched her fist. ’So, out of all of them, he’s the only good one, is that it?’

Ignoring Wen Qian’s strained expression, he carefully nuzzled her with the tip of his nose. "Unless you promise me that for the rest of your life, I’ll be your only Beastman..."

Wen Qian thought about it and felt it wasn’t an impossible request. She was just about to agree when the doorbell rang at the most inopportune moment. She subconsciously pushed him away, got up, and strode toward the door.

Pushed away, Yin Zhi instantly flopped back onto the sofa. He stared blankly at the ceiling. ’What was that phrase from Blue Star again...? The light has gone out of my eyes?’

"Qianqian, I brought you strawberry cake." Gu Mian walked into the room, his gaze on Wen Qian exceptionally gentle.

"Thank you!" Wen Qian’s eyes lit up, and she immediately invited Gu Mian to sit down. The cake looked to be six inches, just right for the three of them. Thinking this, Wen Qian immediately called over to Yin Zhi on the sofa, "Come and have some with us."

Hearing Wen Qian call him, Yin Zhi immediately lifted his head, only to be met with the sight of Gu Mian’s annoying face. He let out a sullen "Oh," and the smile on his face froze.

He obediently sat down next to Wen Qian but didn’t move to eat. Yin Zhi himself didn’t care for sweets; he had come over entirely for Wen Qian’s sake.

With a spoon in one hand and his cheek cupped in the other, Yin Zhi stared unblinkingly at the girl beside him. ’How can my Qianqian be so beautiful? Her big eyes, her small mouth... her smile is so sweet and gentle, and she’s so cute even when she’s angry...’

Wen Qian had no idea what he was thinking. Her full attention was on the cake. It was only after she had eaten almost half of it that she remembered to ask Gu Mian about the Yellow-tailed Robin.

Wen Qian: "Gu Mian, the Yellow-tailed Robin still isn’t awake. There won’t be any problems, will there?"

"No. I saw it drink some water when I came by yesterday," Gu Mian said lightly. He ate with extreme elegance, every move exuding a noble air.