ATL | Chapter 5

Hetawaisi opened his mouth, his voice calm.

The person in front of him looked as if he had been frightened, his ears immediately drawing back, and he gave a small shiver.

A young sheep-type gene companion, from the horn type, it should be an argali. The other wore a gray-blue work uniform, and the clothes were a little too big, hanging on him and making him look especially thin, cowering and very pitiful.

It almost looked like he was bullying someone.

Hetawaisi did not urge him. The one who was panting beside him, the Captain of the security inspection team, was the first to get anxious. He was a Shar Pei dog-type gene companion, stocky and short. After bracing himself with both hands on his knees, he glared at Jinzong and sharply scolded, "What's going on? Why are you still not telling Deputy Chief Heta quickly!"

Jinzong only realized it belatedly, and hurriedly handed all the files over in front of Hetawaisi, while explaining the situation, and at the same time glancing at Lin Bai out of the corner of his eye.

Lin Bai had both hands twisted together, cold sweat running down from his temples, and he was almost unable to stand steady. Finally, when he staggered backward, a hand caught his right arm and firmly stopped him.

"Lin Bai, be careful."

Those amber eyes finally met Heta's again.

Even though he was wrapped in the oversized work clothes, one could still tell that Lin Bai had a long, slender build. Putting aside his looks, a person like that was very easy to cultivate a certain temperament in, unfortunately Lin Bai was too timid, and his caution made him seem a little dim, erasing his strengths. The instant he met Heta's gaze, tears even welled out of his eyes.

"Officer... I, I..."

"What are you afraid of," Heta asked, "are you uncomfortable?"

Lin Bai kept nodding, seeming already unable to say a complete sentence, and could only cover his stomach with his left hand, helplessly rubbing and pressing at it. Like most sheep-type companions, his genes carried cowardice, and he was easily frightened.

Heta took in every movement of his, and seeing Lin Bai endure one spasm after another, perhaps because of the pain, the movements of his left hand were somewhat uncoordinated, and even the bones of his fingers had turned bluish-white.

Heta supported him steadily and headed toward the restroom. Behind them, the Shar Pei Dog Captain hurriedly called out, "Deputy Chief, how can you personally..."

However, the SEC officer following closely with him stopped him.

Hetawaisi did not turn back, only casually lifted a hand, signaling that after the other took the medicine, he could go to the lounge to wait first.

Lin Bai half-closed his eyes, his eyelashes already soaked through by cold sweat. In just a few steps, he walked unsteadily. Because of the difference in size, his calves were not even as thick as Heta's arm, so he was very easy to support, and there was not the slightest possibility of breaking free.

Heta pushed open the door of an empty stall for him, and looked at Lin Bai sideways.

"Go ahead and vomit," Hetawaisi said, "I'm holding you."

At his words, Lin Bai stumbled and bent over in pain, and the filthy liquid splashed onto Heta's trouser leg.

The instrument test results were fine, the other party really was having stomach spasms.

The pants were dirty, but Heta did not care. Lin Bai, however, was frightened out of his wits. This pitiful little argali had a ghastly pale face, the color gone from his lips, clutching his mouth tightly, his whole body trembling, as if terrified to the extreme.

"Officer, officer..." he pleaded through sobs, "please step back a little first, it'll get you dirty."

Hetawaisi looked down at him, and after a few seconds, he stepped back half a pace and let go of Lin Bai's forearm.

Lin Bai faced away from him and finally collapsed completely to his knees. The other was truly in a daze, and even his horn struck the partition, making a huge "bang." Heta hurriedly steadied him, and very quickly pressed both hands to his lower abdomen, painfully curling over at the waist.

A miserable sight.

When the Deputy handed the emergency medicine to Hetawaisi, the stall also gave off the sound of flushing. Lin Bai, in the sound of running water, gasped and barely managed to prop himself up and stand.

"Rinse your mouth," Heta said, "drink the medicine first."

"Thank you." Lin Bai tremblingly took the tablets and the cup of water. "Let's go back, I've delayed your time."

"It's nothing." Heta supported him again. After accompanying Lin Bai as he turned around, the Deputy understood at once and quickly checked the stall once over. But this place was clean and cramped, with no hidden compartment that could store things, or any trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain.

He coughed behind Heta. The latter heard it, and only asked Lin Bai lightly, "Feeling better?"

"Much better, Officer." Lin Bai lowered his eyelashes, seeming to be trying hard to overcome the fear of snake species in his genes by avoiding eye contact, and said as gently and respectfully as possible.

"Thank you so much."

Heta let go of him and signaled for the Golden Retriever security inspector to take over.

The pale-faced argali was very cooperative. He actively rolled up his sleeve, pulling it up above his elbow. The needle entered his left arm, and the blood sample was quickly collected. One minute later, the gene sequence test result officially came out.

A very standard argali gene companion.

Hetawaisi's expression did not change at all, as if the person who had just suspected Lin Bai was not him. He watched the Golden Retriever security inspector apologize with his tail drooping, then saw Lin Bai kindly forgive the other side, and himself turned and left cleanly and decisively.

How could he have suspected this person?

Heta felt a little absurd, the vaguely cut off clues magnifying his intuition.

He had come to the lift gate today to coordinate the security work of strengthening downward screening. After all, Ganlin had just committed a murder, and in Dawn District he had no relatives or friends, so he could only do everything possible to flee downward.

When Ganlin was in Dawn District, he relied on Nanke to climb upward, but everyone in the upper echelons of Yujing knew how fierce the Golden Mane Family's anger was. For Nanke to shield someone like that, it was truly not worth the loss.

Besides that, Ganlin also did not have any fixed lover other than Canus, someone who could provide him with effective protection.

If he wanted to live, fleeing all the way back to Lower Nest was the way to gain the greatest chance of survival.

When Hetawaisi entered the lounge, the Shar Pei Dog Captain was bending and scraping before the two deputies, the two sides obviously having already reached a preliminary understanding.

One of the deputies, Xiao Xun, had a serval companion gene. As soon as he heard footsteps, he turned his large fluffy cat ears, ready to report the progress at any time.

"Boss," Xiao Xun blinked his golden eyes and said, "the Southwest Interdistrict Lift Gate and its subordinate units have completed the handoff. From now on, first-level screening has been activated for all downward-traveling personnel, no longer limited to sheep-type gene companions, and more people have been assigned to keep a tight watch on maintenance and freight routes, to prevent the other side from exploiting loopholes."

"Yes, yes, yes," the Shar Pei Dog Captain hurriedly chimed in, "it's simply gone too far, so insane! Deputy Chief, rest assured, we will certainly cooperate fully with SEC's work. I'll greet Old Liu later and tell them to strictly carry it out at the Lower Nest-Weave District Southwest Lift Office as well."

"Much trouble." Heta slightly nodded. "Let's go."

The two deputies hurried to follow. After passing through the lift gate, the three of them climbed into a hovercar. Xiao Xun hugged his cat tail and, together with his colleague Kane, climbed into the back seat.

Kane's companion gene was Czechoslovakian Wolfdog. His tail was shorter than Xiao Xun's, but sturdier. Right now he was pressing the mini communicator under his ear, humming a few times, then sticking his head out to call to Heta in the driver's seat.

"Boss," Kane said, "the criminal investigation team sent a message saying that the explosion in Southwest District last night was finally classified as an accidental traffic incident."

"Accident?" Xiao Xun sneered, "It's not a drag race. In the latter half of the night the roads were almost empty, and those two hovercars could still slam into each other at high speed and burn until not even dregs were left?"

"One of them was a freelance hired hand, smuggling contraband from the black market." Kane said, "Afraid something would happen, he linked up the abandonment bomb system. He had originally been planning to cut off the tail to save his life, but he didn't expect to hit it head-on and blow up directly."

Hetawaisi asked, "What about the other one?"

"The other one was drunk driving." Kane shrugged. "The driver was feline. He was already alcohol-intolerant, and after drinking he still insisted on driving. Now it's good, he really went on the road."

"Not all felines are alcohol-intolerant, so the driver can't be ruled out as disguised." Xiao Xun flicked his ears. "Someone like me, who has trained with Raven for two years, can knock you flat now."

"Wow," Kane said expressionlessly in support, "amazing, amazing, next time you're drunk don't call me again."

"Whether it's a disguise or not needs to be judged by combining the Raindrop System, trajectory identification, and the car's black box," Heta said. "It's best if there's also an autopsy report. Speaking of this, Xiao Xun, hasn't Canus's autopsy report come out yet?"

Xiao Xun suppressed the fur that had just been about to explode and immediately contacted the forensic doctor. Very quickly, Kewosi Raven sent him a crooked-mouthed raven with its thumb raised.

"He got it done." Xiao Xun quickly sent back a message. "Boss, are we heading back to the Central Police Bureau now?"

"Mm." Hetawaisi said, "Tell him to bring the report and wait in the office."