"This... Is this a Yellow-tailed Robin?" Wen Qian’s eyes went wide. If she remembered correctly, the Yellow-tailed Robin was a protected species!
’Bringing a protected species into the lab... Professor Gu is really asking for legal trouble!’
"Sort of." He finished bandaging its left wing. After a moment of silence, Gu Mian turned his head. He looked into Wen Qian’s eyes, his tone perfectly flat. "To be precise, it’s a Yellow-tailed Robin Beastman. Also known as a Se Dan."
He had just entered the lab building when this Yellow-tailed Robin had fluttered out from a corner, stumbling. It lay at his feet, leaving a thin trail of blood on the floor.
Gu Mian frowned. ’In this lab building, far more than one person is using Beastmen for experiments.’
"B-Beastman..." Wen Qian subconsciously reached out to protect the cat carrier behind her. She wasn’t sure what Gu Mian meant. Was he testing her by suddenly telling her this?
’Or could it be... that this Yellow-tailed Robin really is a Beastman?’
Taking in Wen Qian’s small movement, Gu Mian lowered his eyes and tugged at his collar in irritation. ’She trusts Yin Zhi so much, yet she’s so wary of me? I’m the one she should trust the most.’
Elegantly wiping the residual liquid from his fingertips, the man raised a handsome brow. He asked, knowing full well, "Qianqian doesn’t know about Beastmen?"
Wen Qian didn’t know if Gu Mian was testing her or something else. All she knew was that even if this Yellow-tailed Robin really was a Beastman, he had no reason to tell her. ’Besides... it’s so badly injured it could easily be classified as an illegal Beastman. If that’s the case, I’ll be totally screwed.’
The law didn’t clearly state the punishment for harboring an illegal Beastman, but that was exactly what made it so terrifying.
Illegal Beastmen, as the name suggested, were fugitive Beastmen who had committed illegal acts or attacked humans.
As far as Wen Qian knew, the secret army the country had been training these past few years was specifically for dealing with such Beastmen. To that end, City A had even established an underground organization dedicated to hunting Beastmen—the Hunters.
The former was officially sanctioned; the latter could not be brought out into the open.
Logically, the Hunters were an illegal organization. Any Beastman they caught would end up dead or maimed—dragged off for research or sold off. If the state had forcefully suppressed them, they wouldn’t be so rampant. But the current situation had clearly been tacitly approved.
Wen Qian remembered someone who had sheltered an illegal Beastman a while ago. After the Beastman was caught, the person was arrested too, for the crime of knowingly failing to report it. Later, that person inexplicably lost their mind. The official line was that they had only received a verbal reprimand, but the actual details were impossible to know.
The state condoned underground organizations that suppressed and hunted Beastmen. Whenever they tried to resist, they were slapped with the charge of "threatening the security of human property." It made all the malice seem justified.
As soon as a Beastman was discovered, they were captured. The reason given was always that they had attacked a human. But had they really?
Three years ago, humans had established a Beastman Protection Act, but the situation hadn’t improved. On the contrary, even more Beastmen fell into crisis because of it. Under the guise of "rescue," they were experimented on and sold. Even if a small number were genuinely rescued, it was a gamble with their lives.
And as for those "rescued" Beastmen, no one could say where they ended up. The official story was that they were given new residences to protect their safety, but to those who knew them, these Beastmen had simply vanished into thin air.
As she mulled this over, Wen Qian’s expression grew solemn. She wanted to trust Gu Mian, but she couldn’t risk Yin Zhi on a gamble. She knew that on Blue Star, the attitude toward Beastmen had never truly changed.
It was just one long series of deceptions.
"Of course I know." A sweet smile appeared on the girl’s still-youthful face. She looked at the man, her tone perfectly composed. "I’ve committed everything from your lectures to memory, including the classifications and habits of Beastmen and their relationship with humans."
Gu Mian didn’t know whether to laugh. The girl was smarter and had more guts than he’d thought. But having that cleverness used against him was somewhat grating. ’Does she see Yin Zhi as a teammate and me as an enemy?’
Facing the pretty girl beside him, a trace of loneliness flickered across Gu Mian’s noble profile. His voice was soft. "Qianqian, you don’t have to be so guarded with me. We will never be enemies, no matter what."
A Beastman’s courtship was always passionate and undeniable. But facing the person before him, Gu Mian always deliberately restrained his bestial nature and slowed his advance. He made a promise to her in a way she couldn’t understand: he would always stand behind her.
Wen Qian didn’t know that the reason Gu Mian would be displeased about who walked behind whom was because in the Snake Clan, a male Beastman would only deliberately walk behind a female in two situations: one, to hunt her, and two, to protect her to the death.
He had known her long before Yin Zhi ever did. Logically, their relationship should have been closer.
For some reason, Wen Qian felt a pang of guilt. She had a feeling she shouldn’t be so wary of Gu Mian.
"Put the bag down. It looks heavy." The man’s eyelids lifted slightly as he gave the bulging cat carrier a cool glance. ’Letting a little female carry him around... What, did he break his legs on the way downstairs today?’
"ACHOO—"
A suppressed sneeze came from inside the cat carrier, after which Yin Zhi patted the bag with his paw, also signaling for Wen Qian to put him down.
Wen Qian placed the carrier next to the lab bench, still feeling apprehensive. She subconsciously glanced at Gu Mian, only to see that his gaze had already returned to the Yellow-tailed Robin. His hands were in his pockets, his lips pressed into a thin line, and his brow was set in a cold expression.
"Meow..." Yin Zhi started patting the carrier’s transparent cover again. Afraid he would cause trouble, Wen Qian didn’t dare let him out rashly. She gently shook her head at Yin Zhi, but at the sight of this, he only patted more energetically.
Confusion flickered in her eyes. ’Could the Yellow-tailed Robin on the bench really be a Beastman?’
’Maybe I should just let Yin Zhi out?’ Wen Qian stole a glance at Gu Mian.
Yin Zhi had promised her he wouldn’t act recklessly; she really should give him the trust he deserved.
But the lab belonged to Professor Gu. To let Yin Zhi out, she needed his permission.
"Let him out." Just as she was hesitating, the man spoke first. His gaze lingered on Yin Zhi for less than a second before returning to Wen Qian’s face.
’What’s with this constant, guilty feeling...’ Wen Qian swallowed hard.
Unzipping the carrier, Wen Qian lifted Yin Zhi out, placed him on the table, and habitually stroked his head. Of course, this small detail did not escape Gu Mian’s eyes.
By now, Gu Mian had bandaged the Yellow-tailed Robin’s wing, but blood was still seeping through the gauze. Wen Qian stared at it for a long while but couldn’t see where the wound was.
"Professor, its wing is still bleeding..." Wen Qian said worriedly.
"Mm." Gu Mian’s expression was grave. After two seconds of silence, he looked at Yin Zhi, who had jumped onto the table, and said softly, "Someone carved out half of its wing bone."