Chapter 45

"Now, can you tell me?"

Jiang Cheng sat opposite Yu Miaomiao, his dark eyes looking at her with unusually complex emotions.

There was concern for Xiaobai, confusion about what he saw, and bewilderment at being isolated from the crowd.

But there was no anger.

Yu Miaomiao hesitated before asking, "Aren't you... angry?"

"Why am I angry?"

"Because I lied to you, and..."

How could I not be angry?

For nearly a month, Jiang Chengyi spent far more time taking care of Xiaobai than Yu Miaomiao.

Watching Little White transform in her hands from a skinny little cub with one eye still closed into a lively, plump, and adorable white ball of fluff.

His feelings for Xiaobai were no less than those for Yu Miaomiao.

But this cub raised by Jiang Chengyi disappeared without a trace, and a group of people appeared out of nowhere to investigate.

Yu Miaomiao's lie about "raising the pets for a friend" was thus exposed.

However, no one apologized to him, explained to him, told him why Xiaobai was missing, greeted him, or introduced himself.

He was clearly the one who had given the most, yet he was isolated by an invisible barrier, with everyone tacitly excluding him.

Yu Miaomiao didn't finish speaking, but Jiang Chengyi seemed to understand what she meant.

"It doesn't feel good to be ignored by a group of people."

Jiang Chengyi said, "But fortunately, I don't care about their attitude."

"Because I know you'll tell me, right?"

Yu Miaomiao suddenly looked up and found that the other person's gaze had been fixed on her without her noticing.

She didn't know when it started, but she could see the emotions hidden beneath Jiang Chengyi's seemingly nonchalant expression.

Sometimes it's helplessness, sometimes joy, sometimes concern, and sometimes frustration.

And now, those eyes are filled with pure trust.

Yu Miaomiao remained silent for a moment, and the clauses of the "Monster Secrecy Law" that she knew by heart flashed through her mind.

Finally, she made up her mind.

"You should have realized by now that Xiaobai is no ordinary cat."

"It's a snow leopard, isn't it?"

"Yes."

Yu Miaomiao nodded, "And it's a snow leopard with special abilities."

"It can perform uncontrolled space jumps, but it is suppressed when it is near me, so I was entrusted with taking care of it."

Jiang Chengyi seemed to understand something, "No wonder you never want to go too far away from it."

"Xiaobai's abilities have very high research value, and its disappearance seems to be related to a group that specializes in trafficking cubs, so it has received a lot of attention."

"The people who came today belong to different subordinate agencies of the same department."

"The one everyone calls Engineer Xu is a researcher who studies special abilities. The others are members of the Law Enforcement Division, who are specifically responsible for investigating these kinds of incidents."

Yu Miaomiao talked about a lot of things in one breath, without stopping, not giving herself a chance to regret it.

Jiang Chengyi did not respond; he frowned and fell into thought.

After a moment, he suddenly spoke: "Is a cub like Little White a real animal, or something else?"

"From my observation, its intelligence surpasses that of all the felines I know, almost like a human child."

"Also, why did they approach you to raise Xiaobai? And what is your relationship with them?"

"Is your special ability related to these animals? Do the people in the 'Enforcement Division' also have these abilities?"

He asked several questions in a row, directly pointing to the part of the information that Yu Miaomiao had not revealed.

The remaining part touches on the true core, which is the existence of "monsters".

If we don't speak out, these strange people and events can be explained by other reasons.

But once it's out, it can never be hidden again.

Yu Miaomiao hesitated whether to continue.

Just as he was hesitating, Jiang Chengyi's voice rang out.

"Will you be punished for telling these things?"

Yu Miaomiao shook her head, "No, it's just..."

However, once Jiang Chengyi learns of the existence of the monsters, he needs to sign the "Monster Information Confidentiality Commitment," and she also needs to sign the "Confidentiality Joint Liability Agreement."

This is a very powerful document. If there is evidence that a human sponsored by a yokai has leaked information related to yokai, then she will be punished according to the severity of the offense. Once she has a criminal record, she will never be able to enter the Yokai Supervisory Committee again.

Even without the leak incident, there is a well-known hierarchy of contempt within the Yokai Club.

Monsters without human friends look down on monsters with human friends; monsters with human friends look down on monsters who have signed a "Responsibility Agreement"; monsters who have signed a "Responsibility Agreement" look down on mixed-race monsters; mixed-race monsters look down on pure humans.

This is why Wang Shuo, despite working hard for decades, only became a minor section chief.

As a mixed-race monster, Yu Miaomiao was already at the bottom of the social hierarchy. If Jiang Cheng signed the "Letter of Responsibility," her position on the hierarchy would have to drop even further.

Not only will it be more difficult for her to enter the Demon Supervisory Committee, but it will also be difficult for her to be promoted in the future.

Yu Miaomiao was caught in a difficult dilemma.

Jiang Chengyi had never seen Yu Miaomiao look like this before.

His gaze was lowered, as if he were deep in thought, but this thought was anything but easy.

His brow was deeply furrowed, his expression solemn, and his eyes showed hesitation and confusion.

Yu Miaomiao shouldn't be like this.

Those eyes should be proud and confident, as if looking down on everyone.

One should be determined to have everything one wants and not be troubled by anything.

Including him.

"If I can't say it."

Before Yu Miaomiao could speak, Jiang Chengyi spoke first.

He raised his hand and covered Yu Miaomiao's hand.

The hand gripped the armrest of the chair tightly, the fingers turning white from the force.

He gently pried open the slender, pale fingers and grasped the cold, sweaty hand.

"……What?"

Jiang Chengyi looked at Yu Miaomiao, who had just come back to her senses, and smiled helplessly.

He then repeated, "If you can't say it, then don't say it."

Jiang Chengyi did not let go of Yu Miaomiao's hand; he could feel her icy body temperature gradually warming up.

"I won't pressure you, and you shouldn't pressure yourself either."

Yu Miaomiao blinked, seemingly unaware of what was happening, and didn't even struggle when Jiang Cheng held her hand.

After a moment, she nodded, “...Okay.”

She breathed a sigh of relief, relieved that she no longer had to think about that dilemma.

This is perhaps the best outcome.

She stood up, without looking at Jiang Chengyi, and said, "I'm going back."

"Okay, go to sleep early." Jiang Chengyi didn't try to stop him.

She stood up, but before she could take more than a few steps, Jiang Cheng stopped her.

"You forgot your phone."

Yu Miaomiao turned around and saw that Jiang Chengyi had stood up at some point and was handing her his phone.

"Okay, thank you."

She took the phone, and the screen lit up due to skin contact, with a message popping up on the lock screen.

[I'm going to walk Xiaobai tomorrow afternoon with you guys, hehe, I miss Xiaopangzai so much]

It was sent by Li Zhi.

Yu Miaomiao suddenly froze, as if struck by a thought.

Seeing that the other party hadn't withdrawn his hand for a long time, Jiang Cheng couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"

“Location,” she murmured.

The voice gradually grew louder, filled with excitement, "Li Zhi bought a collar for Xiao Bai, and it has a GPS tracking device inside!"

This positioning collar is a purely technological creation, containing not a trace of magical energy.

According to the common understanding of monsters, they might not be able to discover the secret within.

Jiang Chengyi's eyes lit up as well.

Despite it being nearly midnight, Yu Miaomiao immediately dialed Li Zhi's number.

Fortunately, Li Zhi is a night owl and hasn't gone to sleep yet.

Hearing Yu Miaomiao's urgent and solemn voice, her tone gradually became serious as well.

"I lost Xiaobai. Wait a minute, I'll send you the app and instructions right away."

Soon after, Li Zhi sent over a string of items.

Yu Miaomiao immediately downloaded the app and followed the instructions.

Open the app, log in to your account, enter the code, and finally refresh your location.

I slowly moved my index finger to the "refresh" button and pressed it down hard.

A buffer icon appears on the screen, a gray pattern that rotates slowly.

She waited calmly, but her hand holding the phone was trembling slightly, and she even forgot to breathe.

The previous inferences were merely speculations, not facts.

What if the collar is lost? What if there's no signal at all? What if...?

Fortunately, it was all just speculation.

The screen flickered for a moment, and the location finally appeared.

A small red dot appeared in the lower right corner of the map and was moving slowly.

The small bubbles on the red dot indicate heart rate and body temperature.

Heart rate: 155 beats/min, body temperature: 37.2℃

Jiang Cheng poured two glasses of water from the kitchen and placed them next to Yu Miaomiao. He leaned down, looked over her right shoulder, and carefully examined the phone screen.

Then he took out a booklet from the drawer, opened it, and found it filled with data related to Xiaobai.

While taking care of Xiaobai, he also retained the professional habits of a medical student.

The data includes weight, body length, coat thickness, body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, and food intake.

The recording frequency is once every two days.

He found the latest data, compared it with the information on the screen, and made a judgment.

"Judging from body temperature and heart rate, the collar is still on Xiaobai."

Yu Miaomiao perked up, took a deep breath, and immediately zoomed in on the map to lock onto the location of the red dot.

"It's the area in Luonan Subdistrict, Jiangxia District, located in the southeasternmost part of City A!"

As a native of City A, Yu Miaomiao recognized the location at a glance.

She then checked the historical data.

Records show that the location started from the hospital and stayed in a residential area five kilometers away for two hours.

Jiang Chengyi pondered for a moment and said, "The location where the GPS tracker stopped seems to be near the alley where Bai Muyun's vehicle disappeared."

"Then it must be right." Yu Miaomiao became more and more certain.

They immediately became alert again, "They're heading towards the highway, trying to leave the city!"

The red dot is slowly moving southeast, less than ten kilometers from the highway toll gate.

City A is known as a thoroughfare connecting nine prefectures, with roads leading in all directions. Once outside City A, the difficulty of tracking will increase many times over.

She dialed Wu An's number while keeping an eye on the movement of the red dot.

Suddenly, I felt somewhat fortunate about the terrible road conditions in City A.

City A is a first-tier city in China and a popular tourist destination. On the weekend, the roads were so congested that waterways were impassable.

Perhaps for this reason, Bai Muyun did not leave the city even four hours after leaving the hospital.

After a minute, the call was finally answered.

"Hello, Miss Yu, what's the matter?"

The environment on the other end of the phone was noisy, with a jumble of voices and piercing horns.

"Xiaobai's collar has a tracking device inside, and we just located its position."

Yu Miaomiao quickly explained the situation.

"What! I'll report to Captain Liu immediately."

Then came the sound of running.

Several seconds later, Liu Wenzheng's voice rang out.

"Miss Yu, you mean you've found Xiaobai's location?"

The tone was skeptical, "Bai Muyun didn't find the tracking device?"

“It’s a locator made by humans,” Yu Miaomiao said. “Without any spiritual energy fluctuations, they probably haven’t noticed it yet.”

“Human things…” Liu Wenzheng’s voice suddenly lowered, then returned to normal, “Where are they?”

She explained her deductions in detail, her voice urgent: "On the edge of Jiangxia District, there are still 8 kilometers to the highway. We need to intercept them immediately."

The voice on the other end was silent for a moment, then said, "Our people have found a trail that looks like Bai Muyun through facial recognition big data comparison. They are currently staking out various intersections in Huangling District."

Yu Miaomiao was stunned for a moment.

Huangling District is located at the northernmost part of City A, 150 kilometers away from Jiangxia District. Even at the fastest speed, it would take an hour and a half to get there.

Liu Wenzheng pondered for a moment and said, "Miss Yu, don't worry, I will immediately consult my superiors and entrust the traffic police in Jiangxia District to check passing vehicles."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

After hanging up the phone, Yu Miaomiao waited anxiously.

She didn't drink a drop of the water in the cup, which went from warm to ice cold.

I stared intently at the location marker, watching it gradually approach the tollbooth, 8 kilometers, 6 kilometers, 2 kilometers, until it aligned with the tollbooth icon.

She refrained from calling Liu Wenzheng, guessing that he might still be under investigation.

But Liu Wenzheng called back.

"Ms. Yu, where is the current location?"

"Right at the Jiangxia toll gate."

"The feedback from Jiangxia District is that they carefully checked every vehicle at the toll booth but did not find any trace of Xiaobai or Bai Muyun."

“How could it be!”

"Ms. Yu, is there such a possibility?"

"In fact, Bai Muyun had already discovered the location and decided to use a feint to confuse us?"

"But the location tracking went through that alley on Wanhua Road."

"Miss Yu, have you considered this? Logically speaking, if they stole Xiaobai, they should have moved as soon as possible. Why did they stay for two hours?"

"It is very likely that they moved the collar during this period."

Yu Miaomiao couldn't refute this point, so she could only try to persuade him from other angles.

"But what about physical constitution information and Xiaobai—"

"You mean a heart rate of 150?" Liu Wenzheng interrupted her impatiently, his voice weary.

"As far as I know, snow leopard cubs aren't the only animals that can reach that heart rate."

Indeed, human babies, and even dogs, can reach this heart rate.

It cannot be ruled out that the dog wearing the collar is one that likes to wander around.

That red dot hasn't moved for a long time.

Yu Miaomiao wanted to say something more, but Liu Wenzheng didn't want to listen anymore.

He sighed, "Miss Yu, don't place too much faith in human creations."

"They don't have the ability to recognize the host's scent."

"I will have people keep watch near the tollbooth, but please don't get your hopes up too high."

"Get some rest. Maybe there will be good news from Huangling District tomorrow."

The phone call was disconnected, and the dial tone echoed in the room.

Yu Miaomiao turned off her phone and fell silent.

After a moment, her expression hardened, as if she had made an important decision.

She stood up, put on her coat, zipped it up to her chin, and then wrapped a scarf around her neck.

When I picked up my bag, I noticed that Jiang Chengyi was also putting on a coat.

"What are you going to do?" Yu Miaomiao asked.

As Jiang Cheng put on his hat, he said, "I'll go with you to find Xiaobai."

She was taken aback for a moment, then retorted, "I just want to go get some food."

Are you trying to lie to me?

Jiang Cheng swiftly prepared, walked up to Yu Miaomiao, and looked down at her.

“You always have that look in your eyes when you make up your mind to do something.”

Yu Miaomiao immediately looked up, forcing herself to stare at Jiang Chengyi with a righteous air.

Jiang Cheng smiled slightly, "Now you're looking like you're lying."

Yu Miaomiao never thought she was bad at lying, but she was still fooled by Jiang Chengyi.

She simply confessed, "Yes, I'm going to find Xiaobai."

"Captain Liu said that location was a feint, but what if it wasn't?"

"I can't give up this opportunity."

"Can you drive?" Jiang Cheng asked bluntly.

"So what if I can't drive? It's not like there aren't other options," Yu Miaomiao retorted stubbornly.

"Are you planning to take a taxi at this hour?"

"At least I can still be your driver."

Jiang Cheng leaned down, bringing his gaze to Yu Miaomiao's level, and said, "Take me with you."

"no!"

Yu Miaomiao refused without even thinking.

Give me a reason.

"You're too weak!"

"oh?"

Jiang Cheng chuckled, his aura suddenly changing.

He took a step forward, and Yu Miaomiao instinctively stepped back, pressing herself against the wall.

An arm reached out and braced against the wall, blocking her attempt to escape.

In addition, the height difference of more than 20 centimeters made Yu Miaomiao completely trapped in the cage named Jiang Chengyi.

He slowly lowered his head, and the distance between the two gradually decreased until they were close enough to feel each other's breath.

Jiang Chengyi raised an eyebrow slightly. "How do you know?"

Yu Miaomiao looked up and said, "She's just too weak!"

She felt warm breath on her cheek, carrying Jiang Chengyi's unique light and slightly rapid scent.

She didn't know if she felt the same way, so she simply held her breath.

Taking advantage of Jiang Cheng's momentary lapse in attention, she slipped out from under his arm, opened the door, and ran toward the elevator.

As she entered the elevator, she couldn't help but look up, and Jiang Chengyi was standing at the end of the corridor.

She hardened her heart, gritted her teeth, and shouted at him, "Go back home! Don't follow me!"