Three little sparrows flew out from the car window, fluttering their wings toward a window of the Starlight Apartments.
Renee looked up through the car window and counted the floors. "Ninth floor."
The little sparrows stopped on the ninth floor, landing on the window’s security bars.
"Hey, friend! What are you up to? Let this bird give you a name!" Coco stared at Azalea, who was lazing about in its nest.
"What do you mean? This bird doesn’t understand." Azalea didn’t know why the other bird suddenly wanted to give it a name.
"This bird’s name is Coco." Coco said, quite smugly. "That’s Fanny, and that’s Patty. We birds all have names now, so you need one too."
Azalea blinked its beady eyes and asked curiously, "How did you all suddenly get names?"
Coco: "Renee gave us birds our names."
Azalea tilted its head. "Who’s Renee?"
"She’s that beautiful human who can understand animals," Coco began to explain seriously. "She’s a very good female, and the food she gives is delicious."
"That’s right," Fanny chimed in. "We birds are helping her solve a case."
Patty was extremely proud. "She said we birds are little bird detectives."
Azalea was instantly captivated. "That sounds like fun. So, what name should this bird have?"
Suddenly, a human voice came from the room. "Joy."
Coco’s little beady eyes lit up. "This bird’s got it! You can be called Joy!"
Azalea: "..."
It was silent for two seconds, then disagreed, "This bird doesn’t like this name. You should have Renee give this bird a name!"
Coco: "Alright then, this bird will take you to her."
"Wait a minute," Fanny couldn’t help but remind it. "Coco, we birds are here to solve a case!"
"Oh, right!" Coco said to Azalea. "The naming thing will have to wait. We birds have something more important to do now."
"What is it?" Azalea asked.
Coco: "That Joy inside, didn’t you say she’s going to trick a friend again today?"
"Right." Azalea nodded its head. "They’re already inside eating big crabs."
Coco hesitated for two seconds. "This bird will go in and see."
It flapped its wings and flew in through a gap in the window, but after flying a short distance, it turned back.
"Coco, what’s wrong?" Fanny looked at it, puzzled.
Coco said worriedly, "If this bird doesn’t come out after a while, remember to go tell Renee to come save this bird."
Patty was terrified by these words. "Are you going to die?"
Coco: "This bird doesn’t know."
Fanny thought for a moment. "How about this bird goes check on the situation instead?"
Coco: "That works too."
Fanny: "..."
Fanny seemed to want to say something but held back, finally flying into the house through the gap in the window.
The window where Azalea nested was on a small utility balcony.
Fanny looked around and flew toward the source of the voices.
It saw three humans sitting in the living room—one male and two females—eating crabs.
"Nina, have some more." Veronica Young shelled a hairy crab and placed it in Nancy Yules’s bowl. "Long time no see. I didn’t expect you to be so thin now."
Nancy Yules gave a small, closed-lip smile. "Joy, don’t just feed me. You should eat more too, you’re even thinner than I am!"
"That’s not true." Veronica Young shook her head. "You’re thinner."
Emil Redmond chuckled and chimed in, "Stop arguing. You’re both thin. I’m the fattest one here."
"Not at all," Nancy Yules said politely. "Mike, you have a standard build."
"Don’t praise him," Veronica Young said with a look of disdain. "He’ll take it seriously."
Nancy Yules’s eyes curved as she smiled, and she lowered her head to continue eating the hairy crab.
Veronica Young and Emil Redmond immediately shot her a scrutinizing look.
When Nancy Yules looked up, the two immediately switched back to enthusiastic smiles.
"Eat more."
"Want anything else? I can have it delivered."
Hearing this, Nancy Yules quickly waved her hands. "No, no, that’s okay. We’ve already ordered so much. We won’t be able to finish it if we order more."
"Then we won’t order for now," Veronica Young said. "In a bit, how about we put on some makeup and go out to take some nice photos?"
"Okay," Nancy Yules agreed, then added, "But I’m already wearing makeup. I just need to touch up my lipstick."