Gu Qi raised an eyebrow. “You think I would?”
Gu Qi’s face was already strikingly handsome, and when he raised his eyebrow like that while speaking, he exuded an overwhelming presence that made Lu Ruo suddenly feel a chill run down her neck.
She thought that if she used this ability to do something bad, she might really be thrown into prison by the man in front of her.
Even if he was her newly acknowledged third brother.
Seeing Lu Ruo suddenly frown as if frightened by him, Gu Qi curled his lips into a smile. “That scared? Are you thinking about committing a crime?”
Lu Ruo shook her head frantically. “No.”
She only wanted to rely on the System Quest to extend her life. If she did something bad, wouldn’t that just accelerate her death?
“So there’s no need to be afraid. We stand straight and don’t fear a crooked shadow.” Gu Qi returned to a serious expression. “Hurry up and eat. After you finish, want to come with me to the scene?”
A murder case—a body dumped in a remote suburban area that few people usually visited. Finding evidence wouldn’t be easy.
Since Lu Ruo’s medical report had already shown that the cancer wouldn’t spread for now, this was the perfect opportunity for her to move toward the goal of being protected by the state—learning some case-solving experience and whatnot.
As soon as Lu Ruo heard Gu Qi invite her to the crime scene, she gulped down her porridge in a few bites and stood up without even peeling her egg. “Then let’s hurry, Third Brother. I really do want to help.”
Old Mrs. Gu watched the two young people rushing out the door and let out a long sigh. “Alright, go on then. This old lady and Huahua’s family will play with Duo Duo.”
Yesterday she’d said she would keep the old lady company, and today she was already heading out. Lu Ruo felt a bit embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Grandma. I’ll keep you company when I get back.”
Old Mrs. Gu looked at Lu Ruo’s little face full of worry and smiled with pursed lips. “Alright, alright. My granddaughter is still the sweetest. Gu Qi, protect your sister well.”
“I will, Grandma.” Gu Qi agreed promptly.
The two of them rode in the Lu family’s car to the crime scene, where a police cordon had already been set up.
The old building Da Pang had mentioned was actually a run-down warehouse. Zhao Kuo was standing face-to-face with a man in a suit.
The man looked troubled and asked cautiously, “Officer Zhao, is there anything else you need to ask me? If not, I’d like to head back. I have a business deal to discuss in Lincheng.”
Zhao Kuo had already spotted Gu Qi and said, “Wait a moment. Let me report to the captain.”
The surrounding officers also greeted Gu Qi, who introduced Lu Ruo to everyone in a cool voice as his sworn sister.
Every time she was introduced, Lu Ruo politely greeted the officers with a friendly smile.
After the greetings, Zhao Kuo came over.
“Captain, I’ve finished all the questions. This Mr. Liao Mingda is requesting to leave.”
While Zhao Kuo was reporting to Gu Qi, Lu Ruo wandered around on her own. She wanted to see if there were any birds nearby she could communicate with, but she didn’t spot a single one.
Probably there were too many people here, and the birds had all been scared off.
Maybe she should try walking toward the woods by the warehouse.
Having made up her mind, and seeing that Zhao Kuo had finished his report, Lu Ruo spoke to Gu Qi. “Third Brother, I’m going to take a look around the warehouse.”
Gu Qi said, “Wait, I’ll come with you.”
Then Gu Qi stood in front of Liao Mingda. “Thank you for cooperating with us. Please stay in the city for now and be ready to be summoned at any time.”
Liao Mingda wore a full smile. “Yes, yes, of course. That’s only proper. Well then, officers, I’ll be on my way.”
With that, he walked over to his private car and pulled open the door.
Lu Ruo’s curious gaze lingered on Liao Mingda as Gu Qi’s explanation came from beside her: “He’s the owner of this warehouse. Five years ago, this area was supposed to be developed into an airport, but then the government ran out of funds, the project fell through, and naturally the warehouse went under too.”
“That’s a shame.” The warehouse was pretty big; it must have cost a lot of money.
Lu Ruo was about to withdraw her gaze from Liao Mingda when she suddenly saw him rummaging for something in the glove compartment of the driver’s seat, picking up a string of shiny little objects.
The little objects reflected a blinding glare. Lu Ruo looked away, not paying it much mind, and followed Gu Qi to circle around the warehouse.
Along the way, Lu Ruo kept looking up at the surrounding trees, hoping to spot some nearby birds.
Suddenly, not far away, two birds began chattering away with each other.
“Sis, Big Eyes might really be losing it. He flies to the pond every day, muttering about treasure this, treasure that.”
“I think he’s lost it too. He used to always say he was the smartest bird in these woods, and now he’s gone stupid just like that.”
Lu Ruo was trying to locate the direction of the voices when Gu Qi suddenly said, “Ruo Ruo, you… can you understand the language of other animals too?”
At Gu Qi’s question, Lu Ruo’s eyes widened in shock.
She hadn’t said anything at all—she was just looking at the big trees around her, and Gu Qi had still guessed it?
The way Lu Ruo’s eyes widened made Gu Qi chuckle softly.
He tilted his head up to look at the big trees beginning to sprout new leaves, fixing his gaze on the two little sparrows huddled intimately together. “What are they saying? Is there anything relevant to the case?”
Lu Ruo shook her head and relayed the exchange between the two little sparrows in the tree to Gu Qi: “They’re saying that nearby there’s a crow that’s lost its mind. It keeps perching on the big tree by the pond, muttering something about treasure.”
As Lu Ruo spoke, the two sparrows in the tree stopped their chirping and looked down at her.
When Lu Ruo finished, the two sparrows exchanged a glance. The one on the right shrank its neck nervously and said, “Good heavens, how does that person down there know what we’re saying? Is she some kind of demon?”
Judging by the voice, this sparrow was female.
The one on the left was more composed, with a young, boyish tone: “Don’t be scared, little sister. We can fly—she can’t climb up here to catch us! I’ve never seen a demon before. Let’s stick around and eavesdrop a bit longer, so we’ll have something to gossip about with our relatives later.”
So little sparrows were this gossipy?
Lu Ruo couldn’t help but smile and took the initiative to strike up a conversation with the two sparrows: “Hello, I’m Lu Ruo. Would you two like to come down and chat? That way you’ll have even more to gossip about me with the other sparrows.”
The two sparrows hadn’t expected this “demon” below to be so friendly, even inviting them to come closer and talk.
But they didn’t dare at all.
The one on the left with the boyish voice directly called out to Lu Ruo: “You smell like our natural enemy. No way are we coming down. What if you’re helping our enemy hunt us?”
The smell of a natural enemy?
Lu Ruo instinctively sniffed herself, then realized the sparrows were probably referring to Huahua and Duo Duo.
Cats and birds were indeed natural enemies.
Since they were scared, they could just talk like this.
“I’d like to ask—have you two been active around this warehouse the whole time? Have you seen any strange people bringing things that smell of human blood?”
“Nope,” the sparrow on the left replied to Lu Ruo again. “We haven’t seen anything like that. But Big Eyes’ home is inside the warehouse, so it might have seen something like that.”
“It’s just that it’s gotten even more scatterbrained lately—won’t even pay attention to us. There’s no way it would talk to a demon like you either.”