The Hundred Bird Clan was different from other clans. Though skilled flyers, most of them were weak and lacked any real combat experience. This was especially true for the likes of the Yellow-tailed Robin, whose combat prowess was practically nonexistent. Their survival skill in the Beast World was delivering messages; their strategy when faced with danger was simply to fly high and far away.
But this time, one of them had somehow fallen into human hands.
The Yellow-tailed Robin went by the name of Se Dan in the Beast World and was a protected species on Blue Star. Under normal circumstances, no one would dare lay a hand on them. For something like this to happen, if it wasn’t an inside job, then the culprit was very likely a repeat offender...
At the thought, not only did Gu Mian frown, but even the silver gradient cat perched on the table wrinkled its chubby little face up like a dumpling.
"The wing bone... that’s basically the equivalent of..." Wen Qian frowned.
Even she knew what this meant. The wing bone was the bone inside a Yellow-tailed Robin’s wing, with a structure similar to human limbs. It was composed of three parts: the carpal, metacarpal, and phalanges. For a human, removing the wing bone was equivalent to severing an arm. This Yellow-tailed Robin must have endured excruciating pain.
"Qianqian." Behind his glasses, the man’s gaze was cold. Although there was no smile on his face, his tone was still gentle as he spoke to her. "Can you do me a favor?"
"What do you need me to do, Professor?" Wen Qian asked, looking at him.
Gu Mian said, "Help me retrieve something."
...
The fifth floor of the lab building was like the sixth. Most of the rooms were semi-transparent, and looking through their translucent windows, one could see desks, chairs, and many unfamiliar instruments.
Before a harried-looking man in a white lab coat rushed out of the elevator and knocked on the door of 609, Wen Qian had already taken Yin Zhi and hidden in the restroom. She leaned against the wall, her expression serious, as if she were waiting for something.
The restroom was quiet, and Wen Qian could clearly hear her own ragged breathing. She gripped her phone tightly, looking extremely nervous.
Barely five minutes later, the entire lab building was plunged into darkness by a power outage. Wen Qian heard a man’s cry of alarm but dared not dwell on it. She turned on her phone’s flashlight and ran straight for the emergency exit with Yin Zhi.
Gu Mian had told her the location of the emergency exit. Once inside, she just had to follow Yin Zhi the rest of the way.
「Meanwhile.」
Inside the pitch-black laboratory, Li Jiang clutched his chest, still in shock. He took a moment to compose himself before looking in Gu Mian’s direction.
The lab’s lights had gone out. Li Jiang had left in such a hurry that he hadn’t brought his phone. He used the light from outside the window to scan his surroundings, trying to find the escaped Yellow-tailed Robin.
After searching for a good while, Li Jiang saw that besides the instruments and display cases, Gu Mian’s lab only contained a brand-new desk and chair set. He grew irritated.
"Professor Gu, cut the act. I saw you take it with my own eyes." People are always quicker to lose their patience in the dark. The man who had been so polite and refined upon entering was now revealing his true nature bit by bit.
Not long after the Yellow-tailed Robin escaped, Li Jiang had gone to the security room. Using the excuse of a lost lab specimen, he had the security administrator pull up all the surveillance footage from the lab building from the past hour. He watched it carefully, not missing a single detail.
On the footage, he clearly saw Gu Mian take the Yellow-tailed Robin and enter 609.
He had raised this Yellow-tailed Robin for three months, watched it transform with his own eyes, and removed its wing bone with his own hands. He never expected that in the end... Gu Mian would snatch it right out from under his nose.
He knew Gu Mian had done extensive research on Beastmen, but he, Li Jiang, was no slouch either. In the last five years, he had identified over a dozen species of birds that could transform... From cells to organs, from feathers to skeletons, he could even flawlessly remove the bones from any part of these birds’ bodies.
"Oh?" Faced with his sudden change in attitude, the faint smile on Gu Mian’s lips vanished. A sharp glint of coldness appeared in his eyes, only to be concealed by the thick darkness. His lips parted slightly, his voice devoid of any warmth. "If Professor Li doesn’t believe me, you can look for yourself."
"You think I wouldn’t dare?" He froze for a second before a fierce look flashed in his eyes. Li Jiang was already in his late forties; his research accomplishments were his source of glory. After accumulating half a lifetime of achievements, he certainly wasn’t about to give any face to a "youngster" like Gu Mian.
And besides, had he not done his homework? His family, the Li family, had produced PhDs for five generations. Forget a university professor—even a high-ranking official from City A had to give him plenty of face.
Gu Mian leaned against the lab bench with his arms crossed, an expression on his face that said, "Be my guest." Seeing his nonchalant attitude was infuriating Li Jiang to no end.
Using the light from the window, the man circled the lab bench, then walked past Gu Mian and began rummaging through the things near the desk.
Gu Mian let him pull open the drawers. The more thoroughly Li Jiang searched, the more it played into his hands.
...
"Are you sure this is the place?" By now, Wen Qian and Yin Zhi had reached 503. The overwhelming smell of blood that hit them made him frown. Though he knew Wen Qian likely couldn’t smell it, Yin Zhi still glanced at her out of instinct.
"Meow~"
Hearing Yin Zhi’s response, Wen Qian immediately took the card Gu Mian had given her from her pocket. She used her phone for light and inserted the card into a slot on the side of the electronic lock. Within thirty seconds, the numbers on the display turned into garbled code.
Then, as Wen Qian watched nervously, the door opened with a CLICK.
Most of the electronic locks in the lab required iris recognition. Unfortunately, this type of lock had a flaw: during a power outage, it would automatically switch to a password override. The card Gu Mian gave Wen Qian could interfere with any password lock, opening the door with ease.
Although she had braced herself, when Wen Qian actually stepped into the lab, she was still taken aback by the scene inside.
A chill hung in the air. In the gloomy surroundings, the small area illuminated by her phone stood out in sharp clarity.
On the silver-gray lab bench lay instruments and scalpels of different sizes. When the light hit them, the implements glinted coldly.
The gauze laid out beneath them had long been soaked through with blood. After it dried, it formed stiff, concave patterns, looking just like a withered red flower.
For a moment, Wen Qian’s feet felt as if they were made of lead. She stood frozen on the spot, her expression growing graver by the second. Yin Zhi had to meow twice before she finally reacted. Dragging her feet, she approached the lab bench and carefully picked up a wooden box draped in a soft cloth.
Unlike the wing bone of an ordinary Yellow-tailed Robin, this one had a texture as smooth and fine as jade, and it was full of luster. Wen Qian examined it several times. After confirming this was the item Gu Mian had sent her for, she immediately snapped the box shut and placed it in her bag.
She didn’t hesitate. She nodded at Yin Zhi and turned to walk back the way she came.
However, the pair had just reached the door when a faint thud echoed through the otherwise silent laboratory.
It was followed by a second, and then a third...