Yu Rong’s heart skipped a beat.
Before coming, Xing Shen had let her bring Sun Zhou for safety but warned her not to tell Er Nie about Sun Zhou’s background to avoid unpleasantness.
She flipped the ribs soaking in the basin, feigning nonchalance: “What makes you think it looks human?”
Nie Jiuluo: “I can tell the difference between humans and Di Xiao. Though this creature has a pointed mouth and fur patches on its face, its overall shape is still human. Besides, I’ve never heard of Uncle Jiang having something like this – it must have been trained recently, right?”
“Thinking about something trained recently that isn’t a Di Xiao, I suddenly remembered someone.”
She looked at Yu Rong: “Before, someone named Sun Zhou was injured by Dog Ya. Later, when the pig farm burned down, Sun Zhou disappeared. When I asked Yan Tuo, he said Sun Zhou wasn’t with Lin Xirou. When I asked Uncle Jiang, he said Sun Zhou might have escaped in the chaos. Then so much happened, I forgot about it.”
“Yu Rong, the one in your trunk… it’s not Sun Zhou, is it?”
Yu Rong remained silent, adding fresh warm water to the cold basin for a second soak.
Her silence only increased Nie Jiuluo’s unease: “Say something?”
Yu Rong had no choice: “If you want to know, ask Xing Shen. Whether it’s a beast or a transformed human, I don’t care. I only know that untrained, it was a mad dog that bit everyone it saw. After training, it learned to control itself, not hurt people, recognize Di Xiao as the enemy, and be useful in crucial moments. Isn’t that good? Weren’t you helped by it today?”
Nie Jiuluo’s extremities went cold. Suspicion was just suspicion – if disproven, she could rest easy. But Yu Rong’s reaction essentially confirmed it.
Her chest tightened, voice trembling: “It was originally human.”
Sun Zhou had been her driver.
Though her impression of him wasn’t deep, she vaguely remembered he had a girlfriend and had complained about the difficulties of earning money, buying a house, and getting married.
That was Sun Zhou?
Yu Rong took a that’s-all stance: “Look, I had no relationship with Sun Zhou. Like I said, it was already like this when I arrived. If I hadn’t trained it, it would have run around hurting people, possibly getting shot as an unknown creature or used for experiments.”
Nie Jiuluo laughed bitterly: “So by training it and using it like an animal, you’re being more humane?”
Yu Rong muttered something under her breath and ran her hand over her head, coming away with plastic.
She hadn’t removed it yet? Annoyed, she yanked it off, slightly surprised: it really was warm – her scalp felt chilly as soon as she removed it.
She said: “First, I’m not treating it like an animal – it was already an animal when I found it.”
“Second, from my animal trainer’s perspective, I don’t see anything wrong with training a frenzied creature to not hurt people and follow commands. If I, Yu Rong, get caught and mutate someday, I’d be happy to be such a wolf-dog, able to tear apart more Di Xiao.”
“Third, don’t argue with me – did I make it this way? Who caught it? Who bit it? If you want to reason, find the source and target. That’s all there is to it – my head hurts talking more about it.”
Finished speaking and probably afraid Nie Jiuluo would continue, she didn’t wait for the ribs to finish thawing, simply lifting them dripping wet and leaving.
Nie Jiuluo wanted to say something but swallowed it.
She understood arguing with Yu Rong was pointless. Sun Zhou had clearly been with Ban Ya’s group, yet Jiang Baichuan told her he wasn’t – apparently everything started with Jiang Baichuan.
Besides, things were already like this – what could her objections accomplish? Find a perfect solution for Sun Zhou.
After a while, she went to find Yu Rong.
The courtyard was quiet, with two large lanterns hung under the eaves for festive cheer. Yu Rong sat on the steps outside her room, bathed in red light. The car was parked nearby with its trunk half-open. As Nie Jiuluo approached, she heard crunching sounds from the trunk that suddenly stopped.
Nie Jiuluo walked around to face the trunk and saw Sun Zhou holding the wet ribs, chewing silently while watching her warily.
After observing for a moment, seemingly determining she meant no harm, he lowered his head and resumed eating. His teeth were incredibly sharp – the crack of bone splitting made Nie Jiuluo shudder.
Yu Rong sighed: “You knew it would upset you, yet you had to look.”
Nie Jiuluo’s gaze seemed stuck on Sun Zhou: “If it were me, if I were caught and mutated, please don’t train me – just let me die.”
Yu Rong said: “You’re too negative. Once mutated, you’re not human anymore – think of it as being reborn into your next life. Each life has its own way of living, who cares about what the previous life wanted.”
Nie Jiuluo: “Each life has its way, but even reborn as a wild beast, wouldn’t it dislike being trained?”
Yu Rong laughed: “What are you trying to tell me? Born free? Respect its nature and return it to the wild? Er Nie, look at this world – where could we release it?”
Nie Jiuluo fell silent.
Would Sun Zhou spend the rest of this life being trained and used until death?
Yu Rong’s voice reached her ears: “You should use this energy to think about your situation. From what Yan Tuo says, in three to five days at most, someone will come to feed him. By then, things can’t be hidden anymore.”
Nie Jiuluo found it amusing: “So what if it can’t be hidden? Lin Xirou isn’t stupid – with Yan Tuo escaped and Di Xiao dead, she’ll guess it was the Entanglement Army. Maybe it’s even a good thing.”
Regarding the exchange of people, Lin Xirou had always been ambiguous. Perhaps now, with her hidden spot raided, she’d realize she wasn’t as secure as she thought and feel more urgency to act decisively.
Speaking of which, she suddenly remembered something: “Have you seen Mayi?”
Yu Rong nodded: “Yes, monkey-sized, doesn’t grow bigger.”
Nie Jiuluo said: “If it were me, with my son kidnapped for over twenty years, I’d spend everything I had on any news. How can she be so patient?”
Yu Rong shrugged: “Maybe… not all women care that much about children.”
Yan Tuo’s bath took a full hour and a half.
Nie Jiuluo waited until he finished before cooking the noodles. The ribs were already cooked any way, just needed heating in the soup, and the mushrooms and vegetables would cook quickly.
Unable to find a suitable soup bowl, she brought him the small pot with handles.
Entering his room, she noticed how dark it was – of all the lights, Yan Tuo had only turned on the bedside lamp.
Nie Jiuluo instinctively reached for the main light switch: “Why is it so dark?”
Yan Tuo said: “Leave it like this – too bright is… hard to adjust to.”