“…This should be enough, right?”
Hermoke bit down on the lemon-flavored lollipop after peeling away the wrapper, his cheeks constantly moving as he chewed.
His eyes swept across all of Lu Yi’s information on the screen before finally stopping at her medical records.
[Patient: Lu Yi]
[Beast Form Information: Corvid · Crow · Female]
[Family Status: Commoner · Orphan]
[Credit Status: Excellent]
[Doctor’s Diagnosis: Long-term malnutrition, severe anemia symptoms.]
[Treatment Plan: Nutrient injections, blood transfusion therapy.]
Hermoke pulled the blood bag from his pocket and checked the hospital emblem on it.
It matched the records exactly.
So the heavy scent of blood he smelled that night…
Had simply been emergency transfusion treatment caused by her anemia?
Flexing his palm slightly, Hermoke frowned in displeasure.
Lu Yi’s body had already been weak to begin with. After being scratched by his claws, her recovery system probably could not even react properly.
And on top of that, she was a small-framed female crow beastman—
Practically the natural enemy of cats.
No wonder she always unconsciously restrained him, constantly dragging his thoughts away.
Thinking back to all the scenes inside that old villa, Hermoke suddenly felt heat rising in his nose. He bit down harder, crushing every remaining candy shard between his teeth.
“Paying debts, treating illnesses, getting kidnapped… honestly, I don’t know how you’ve managed to endure all this.”
He leaned closer to Lu Yi’s employee photo from when she joined the Paranormal Association.
Her long black hair had been carefully straightened. Her pale skin looked utterly bloodless, devoid of any healthy color.
Clearly, she was already in a state crushed beneath life’s pressure.
Yet hidden within those easily frightened-looking eyes was some kind of stubborn resilience…
There had to be something supporting her, pushing her forward.
Perhaps insignificant as dust though she was…
Lu Yi was, in some strange way, extremely similar to Hermoke himself.
After waking up, Lu Yi could no longer fall asleep.
Perhaps because the abrasions across her body still throbbed faintly with pain.
No matter how hard she forced herself to sleep, she simply couldn’t.
Drinking blood would speed up her recovery, but this wasn’t her home.
Where was she supposed to find blood here?
She couldn’t exactly bite Yalan’s neck…
After all, he had saved her.
Carefully sitting up, Lu Yi leaned against the headboard and connected to her optical brain.
More than a dozen missed calls instantly popped up.
They were probably all from Yalan trying to confirm her condition after receiving her emergency call.
Everything else inside the optical brain remained untouched.
Only her contact list had been completely wiped clean.
Like some sort of twisted amusement from that perverted beastman…
Thinking about everything inside that bedroom made lingering fear rise inside her chest again.
Was he also after the silver-haired female?
But why did he treat her like that…?
The chaotic memories tangled together, making Lu Yi’s head ache.
She closed her eyes, and eventually drifted back to sleep.
When she opened them again, dusk had already arrived.
Beside the bed sat a paper bag containing new clothes, along with a simply packaged sandwich.
After quietly filling her stomach and changing clothes, Lu Yi went downstairs.
Yalan sat in the living room handling official work.
The moment he heard the faint footsteps, his ears twitched slightly before he turned to look at her.
Lu Yi wore a fitted shirt and snug jeans while slowly walking downstairs in soft slippers, somewhat awkwardly meeting his gaze.
She clearly wasn’t used to slim-fitting clothes—
Even though they highlighted her beautiful figure perfectly…
“Sit.”
Yalan tilted his chin slightly, motioning for her to sit on the sofa opposite him.
A photo was soon sent to her optical brain.
“Was this the person who injured your shoulder?”
“Yes.”
Lu Yi thought for a moment before adding softly,
“I didn’t know him… but at the time, to save myself, I… I smashed his head with a brick.”
“Legally speaking, that counts as self-defense. You did nothing wrong.”
Yalan raised his eyes.
The sharp gray gaze seemed to have returned to its previous piercing state.
“What exactly happened?”
Lu Yi nervously twisted her fingers together and recounted the entire sequence of events in detail.
“The people who abducted you were likely members of the Night Eye gang.”
Yalan folded his arms, expression grave.
“Night Eye had been monitoring you, which is why they immediately shot that man when something happened.”
“M-Monitoring…?”
Other than yesterday’s incident, Lu Yi had never noticed anyone following her…
“That’s right, Lu Yi. More and more people are going to set their sights on you from now on.”
“They may not necessarily want your life… but they absolutely will drag you into danger.”
“This time it was an extremely dangerous gang. Next time, it might be interstellar pirates.”
“Do you remember the machines that surrounded us? That was the detective Hermoke. He’s also watching you now.”
Of course Lu Yi knew that name.
In fact, he was even more terrifying than Yalan.
The top detective in the galaxy…
Once he targeted someone, he could practically strip away every secret they had.
Lu Yi covered her head in distress.
“Lu Yi… move.”
Yalan stood and walked in front of her before kneeling down slightly to look up at her face.
“The Paranormal Association will cover half the relocation costs. I’ll personally pay the other half.”
“Choose somewhere with reliable security and move there. Alright?”
Yalan’s expression hadn’t changed much.
He still looked fierce.
But at this moment, Lu Yi strangely sensed reliability from him.
It made sense.
To ordinary people, the president of the Paranormal Association was naturally someone dependable.
Only to Lu Yi—who carried countless secrets—did he feel overwhelmingly dangerous.
Unable to avoid his direct gaze any longer, she fell silent before finally nodding.
“…Where would I move?”
“Sky Garden in District C. Transportation there is only accessible by hovercraft.”
“Or the Green Villa District in District B, though it’s farther from the Association.”
“And then there’s… the villa next to mine.”
Yalan stood up and awkwardly added,
“There’s a smaller villa beside my house. It’s currently vacant.”
Lu Yi’s heart skipped violently.
Next door to Yalan’s house…?
Absolutely not.
Seeing her sudden silence, Yalan quickly corrected himself.
“You choose. I’ll send you all the surrounding information.”
“No need!”
Lu Yi stood immediately, speaking with rare seriousness.
“Sky Garden sounds good.”
Yalan was briefly speechless, though he quickly nodded afterward.
“Understood. Bernett will help you move later.”
“Thank you, President.”
“…You’re welcome.”
Yalan had never felt this awkward before.
He stepped back half a pace and found an excuse to leave the living room.
Only after he disappeared did the tension in Lu Yi’s body finally loosen.
She slowly sat back down on the sofa.
Inside the office study, a confidential document was delivered into Yalan’s inbox.
Touching his own neck, he realized it felt strangely hot.
Looking up at his reflection in the glass, he saw that even his ears had turned red.
What exactly was wrong with him?
Annoyed, Yalan sat down and opened the file.
His eyes quickly scanned the information.
[The person who hired the assassin belongs to the noble Tao family.]
The fingers gripping the document tightened slightly.
Yalan had practically expected this answer already.
Yet instead of relief, his expression became even heavier.
He had “followed the rules” and dealt with Lu Yi’s workplace bullying.
But in doing so, he had angered Tao Zhi—
And dragged Lu Yi into dangers beyond the rules themselves…
“…Hah.”
The old injury in Yalan’s chest began aching faintly once again.