ATL | Chapter 8

“Name?”

“Lin Bai.”

“Companion gene?”

“Caprinae, argali.”

“Work unit?”

“Star... Star Rainbow Stage Technology Company.”

The sound of typing paused, Hetawaisi looked up, and looked at the little argali in the statement seat.

“Don’t be nervous,” he smiled encouragingly, “Lin Bai, you’re already safe, you can go home after you finish the statement.”

Lin Bai lowered his head, interlaced his fingers and pressed them down. The oversized work uniform was bunched into a mass, a little dirty, and he sat there still shaken, looking especially pitiful.

His body curled slightly, his eyelashes trembling.

From this angle, Heta could not see his eyes.

After a long while, Lin Bai finally spoke.

“Thank you, Officer, for coming to my rescue.” He said haltingly, “I, I don’t have a fixed residence in Dawn District, I was doing engineering work across districts with the company, and I live in the temporary staff dormitory that was set up.”

Oh.

Heta nodded, and asked in Arthur’s gentle tone, “Then, the reason you went out is?”

“Ankle dislocation. I asked the Person In Charge for leave, but as soon as I got near the hospital, I ran into kidnapping.”

Heta slightly narrowed his eyes, covering his scrutiny with a sympathetic look. One meter away, Lin Bai sat uneasily, rubbing his tense knuckles, kneading the joints red, very much like this morning when he was at the security checkpoint at the lift gate.

The white, cold light wrapped around Lin Bai, giving his originally timid and ordinary pitiful look a bit of hazy flavor, making it seem real and unreal, false and true, even a little...

skilled.

That word suddenly surfaced in Heta’s mind, making his heart jump lightly. So he leaned slightly forward, examining him more carefully, and saw Lin Bai’s silver loose curls sticking to his cheek, below that was a slightly curved neck, he was so haggard, so perfectly interpreting frailty.

Hetawaisi withdrew his gaze.

Then, he let out a soft breath, and said considerately and restrainedly, “Understood.”

“Next, please describe in as much detail as possible the time, specific location, and process of your kidnapping. How many people were there? What vehicle was used? Were weapons used? Did they threaten you verbally?”

“I, I, around three in the morning, I was inexplicably kidnapped, a lot of things weren’t clear.” Lin Bai curled his fingers, lowered his head and said in a trembling voice, “Sorry, Officer, I was too nervous... I’m a little afraid of you.”

He shook his head helplessly, seeming somewhat hard-pressed to speak, and still unwilling to raise his head. Arthur exchanged a glance with the Police Officer who was taking the statement, the former smiled a little helplessly, as if he was already used to it.

“Afraid of me, or afraid of snakes?”

“Afraid of snakes.” Lin Bai hurriedly responded, adding in a confused and upside-down way, “Yes, afraid of snake species... not aimed at you.”

In the end, he bit his lip and began to sob silently. Arthur looked as if he wanted to say something but stopped, then finally sighed and stood up to walk out. “Wait a moment.”

Very quickly, the one who pushed the door and came back in was the whippet officer, and the other greeted him enthusiastically, “Little argali, we meet again.”

Lin Bai was still restrained, but visibly relaxed a little. His voice was very soft, carrying the slight hoarseness left by sobbing, covering up the fleeting pleasure.

That Arthur, perhaps because of the snake species, always made him a little uneasy. So when he had just been rescued, and the other person cut the netting and held out a hand to him, Ganlin did not reach for it.

But when the rear hatch was raised high and he finally saw Arthur clearly, he threw away his real nervousness, the other person was not as tall as Hetawaisi, nor as sturdy as Hetawaisi, just a somewhat immature snake officer. Perhaps it was an issue of angle, which made the vertical pupils seem frightening in that instant.

In Ganlin’s slightly dizzy, raised-face view, he heard the other person say.

“I’m Officer Arthur from Dawn Southwest District 2.”

Arthur.

Ganlin chewed over this name, clearly knowing it was as ordinary as Lin Bai’s. In fact, the Yujing Police Bureau originally had no shortage of snake species, it was only that the one handling his case, Hetawaisi, happened to be a snake.

“Don’t worry.”

Seeing that he still had not moved for a long time, Arthur took the initiative to lean forward and support him up with restraint. The other person’s palm was very cold, carrying the body temperature unique to snake species, and even through a thin layer of clothing, it was not hard to sense the long and resilient bones and powerful muscles.

After helping him out, Arthur hurriedly let go, taking half a step back: “Are you all right? Is there anywhere injured?”

Ganlin blinked.

Young, agile, yet not arrogant. Looking at the epaulets, he was only the most junior Third-Rank Police Officer. It seemed the other person did not come from a prominent background, and was somewhat bad at socializing.

Ganlin lowered his gaze at the right moment, as if burned, not daring to look at Arthur’s snake tail, only shaking his head and said hoarsely, “Thank you, Officer, I was frightened just now, I... sorry.”

Chen Xing had also already settled the stutterer and the sharp voice. He swished his tail back, squeezed past Arthur, and stood in front of Ganlin.

“Quite a few symbionts of the ungulate type are afraid of snakes, this is a fear carved into the genes, very hard to overcome.”

The whippet slowed his voice and continued to comfort him, “Not to mention, Arthur’s companion gene is black mamba, I was startled a bit when I first met him too. But you can rest assured, Arthur is a very good person!”

Black mamba.

Ganlin remembered now. This kind of snake was highly venomous in the old world. In theory, it was more dangerous than the Black King Snake, so even if Arthur was gentle in personality and lacked experience, Ganlin still did not want too much direct contact with him.

Right now, Ganlin got his wish, switched to the whippet for the statement, and completely recovered his ease.

Chen Xing and Arthur were two of a kind, and originally had no intention of being harsh on the victim, so the questioning ended very quickly. Chen Xing supported him and walked out, saying considerately, “You can sit in the lounge for a while first. After the interrogation of the suspect is also finished, you can leave.”

Ganlin smiled gratefully, keeping his legs under control, and hobbled out. The night was deep and dewy, and the police bureau was very peaceful at this time, the one waiting in the lounge was only Ganlin.

Chen Xing poured him a cup of warm water, and Ganlin sipped little by little, from time to time looking outside, glancing at the tightly closed narrow door of the other interrogation room.

“Still afraid of Arthur?” Chen Xing noticed his little movement and comforted him, “Arthur really is pretty good, and his work ability is very strong, he has also made a lot of contributions. It’s just that his personality is a bit introverted, and he’s not very good at socializing. Besides, if his companion gene wasn’t black mamba, he would have been promoted long ago.”

Ganlin asked curiously, “Why?”

“Well, police, after all, have to face citizens.” The whippet shrugged, “Being too fierce is not good, it easily damages public credibility. And if you scare some important figure by accident... important figures would never allow that kind of thing to happen.”

So that’s how it is.

Ganlin lowered his gaze, and thought again of Hetawaisi’s silver-gray vertical pupils, and of the “nonpoisonous” in Cizhu’s mouth.

It really takes having all the right conditions on your side to climb to that position.

“The kidnapping you suffered tonight was discovered by Arthur.” The whippet continued, “He also personally pried open the trunk.”

Ganlin cooperatively gave an “mm,” then saw the dark circles under Chen Xing’s eyes were obvious, and said with concern, “Officer, you still have to patrol so late, that’s so hard.”

“It originally wasn’t necessary.” Chen Xing said casually, “Special period, after all, but if we really saved someone, then a bit of hardship is worth it.”

Ganlin blinked, and asked somewhat puzzled, “Special period?”

“It’s Canus’s case.” The whippet did not hide it, “It caused a huge uproar, you saw the news too, right? Tsk tsk, that was the Eldest Son of the Golden Mane Family, to die so miserably in a lover’s...”

“Chen Xing.”

The door of the interrogation room was pulled open, Arthur stood at the doorway and called from afar.

“Don’t chat for now,” he said, “the criminal has already confessed everything, take him to data entry?”

“Got it.”

Chen Xing sprang to his feet and ran off to work with his tail raised. As soon as he left like that, he left Ganlin alone. The latter looked quietly at Arthur, motionless.

Arthur hesitated for a moment, then lifted a foot and walked into the lounge.

“Are you uncomfortable?”

“Mm.” Ganlin said softly, “My ankle is completely swollen.”

Arthur’s footsteps were light and steady, and he politely stopped a few steps away. Ganlin lazily lowered his eyes, glancing at the officer boots, and at that properly restrained black snake tail.

“It’s swollen,” Arthur said, “the dislocated part hasn’t been set yet... would it be convenient for me to take a look?”

Ganlin’s lips parted slightly, and he looked up at the other person, his eyes carrying hesitation.

“You...”

“Relax.” Arthur shook his gloves at him, “I won’t touch it directly, I’m just a little worried.”

Ganlin hesitated for a moment, and in the end still trembled as he kicked off the shoe upper, then rolled up his trouser leg, revealing a stretch of snow-colored skin, like a clam splitting open its shell and offering up its white heart.

The leather glove was stretched tight, the knuckles showing smooth, taut lines. Then, Heta reached out and supported Lin Bai’s thin calf.

The other person in his palm trembled slightly, seeming to still be afraid, but in the end restrained his fear and chose to trust him.

Lin Bai’s ankle was already completely swollen.

A large mass of dark red had accumulated around the thin-fleshed, delicately shaped round bone. It had been a little too long, the center was already a deep crimson, the edges transitioning toward the calf, with a faint hint of pink.

An injury that was frightening in appearance, and pitiable.

Heta slightly increased the pressure with two fingers and pressed the raised swelling.

Sour.

Accompanying the sourness was a sluggish pain, making Ganlin unable to help furrowing his brows, and letting out a hiss.

The other person immediately withdrew his hand, and asked, “How long ago were you injured?”

“Before leaving work in the evening,” Ganlin said softly, “I fell from the shelf.”

“Why did you only go to the hospital in the middle of the night,” Heta asked softly, “didn’t it hurt?”

Ganlin had sobbed not long ago, the redness around his eyes still had not faded completely, like a split-open sandy melon, openly exposing itself on his delicate face.

“I was afraid the treatment fee in Dawn District’s hospital would be too expensive, so I kept hesitating.”

After a few breaths, Ganlin turned his face away and added in a very small voice.

“...At night, it really hurt too much to bear.”

Click.

After the muffled sound, pain and heat came from the ankle at the same time, Ganlin opened his eyes in surprise and looked down.

His originally dislocated bone had already been set.

Arthur held the lower part of his calf with one hand and lifted it onto the bench. Ganlin, caught off guard, was forced to turn his body, bracing one hand against the seat cushion and looking up at the other person.

Through their skin, they appraised each other without a trace, the atmosphere somehow becoming subtle. The two looked at each other in silence, and at this moment, it seemed neither one wanted to give way first.