Chapter 48
“...It's been so long.”
Having parked the car far from the villa, Ling Jing anxiously raised her binoculars, looking towards the villa again and again. "It couldn't have been discovered and caught, right?"
"Not yet. It's still flying all over the place."
Gu Ximian, who was beside her, said faintly as she watched the real-time camera feed flash rapidly across the computer screen. Ling Jing leaned over for a look, but quickly felt dizzy and pulled back, thinking it was truly impressive that Gu Ximian could stare at it for so long without even blinking.
To put it simply, the plan she had come up with was: let Xiao Ying carry a camera and scout the area for them.
'...Are you serious?' When she first heard the proposal, Gu Ximian's voice was clearly full of doubt. '...Taking a huge step back, even if your hawk could understand its mission, how can you guarantee it will fly somewhere useful?'
'Th-that's why I said there's no guarantee it'll work,' Ling Jing said, trying hard to win a chance for her sudden whim. 'Besides, we don't have any other options right now... It wouldn't hurt to try, right?'
Gu Ximian eventually agreed. So, Ling Jing drove back to get the hawk, met up with Gu Ximian here, and after hanging the miniature camera around Xiao Ying's neck, she released it. Even though she had chattered on and on to Xiao Ying about its mission the whole way, Ling Jing was still worried as she watched its receding figure: 'It should still remember what Zhuang Chi looks like, right? It should at least fly around that villa a few more times. Please don't go off and snatch food from strangers halfway through.'
Gu Ximian was even more pessimistic: 'It's not just going to fly away and never come back, is it?'
Ling Jing shook her head frantically in denial: 'No way! I told you, I've raised Xiao Ying since it was small, it's very obedient—and it should know very well that it won't be able to get this much food for itself if it flies off somewhere else...'
This hawk, so lazy and gluttonous, would probably give up any thought of escape after a few hours when its stomach started to rumble. Although she couldn't say it in front of Xiao Ying, Ling Jing sometimes thought this, and now she was filled with emotion: to think there would come a day when Xiao Ying would actually be useful.
Perhaps convinced by her, Gu Ximian didn't say any more pessimistic words. Instead, after a long silence, she said softly, '...Then it would be great if it could fly to Zhuang Chi and ask for food.'
For Gu Ximian, this was a remarkably whimsical thing to say. Ling Jing sighed silently in her heart. And so, they waited here together for nearly two hours.
The sky began to darken, and Ling Jing gradually felt the chances of success were becoming slim. She seriously considered whether she should blow her whistle to try and call Xiao Ying back. But just then, Gu Ximian, who was watching the screen, suddenly narrowed her eyes and let out a questioning "Hm?"
Ling Jing immediately leaned closer and saw that the rapidly moving scenery had suddenly slowed down. The camera finally turned towards a window, which was half-open. Being slowly passed out from it was—
"...A pastry?"
"...It really did fly over."
Zhuang Chi stared dumbfoundedly at the plump, well-fed Xiao Ying before her. The entire hawk was now stuck in the security bars outside her window, looking at her with its round eyes and struggling to extend its beak to peck twice at the pastry she held out.
Having been locked up in this place for several days, with the same unchanging scenery outside her window every day, Zhuang Chi's feelings were incredibly complex upon suddenly seeing a familiar bird, and in such an unusual situation at that. In any case, she first subconsciously moved closer to the window, trying to block Xiao Ying from the view of the camera she didn't know the location of in the room. She reached out and pressed down on Xiao Ying's round, struggling body that was trying to squeeze inside—it couldn't come in, if Lily caught it, it would all be over!
By now, Zhuang Chi had slowly realized what was happening. Xiao Ying appearing here at this time—and it had something around its neck that looked very much like a small camera. That meant, at the very least, that Ling Jing's side had discovered Lily's problem and was trying to do something using Xiao Ying. Hope swelled in Zhuang Chi's heart, and her pulse quickened. She gave a small wave to the camera and explained in the quietest voice possible, "I'm at Lily's place, locked up alone. Judging by the view from the window, I should be on about the third floor. Lily comes by occasionally, there are people guarding the door, I can't get out, and I haven't been able to figure out the room's specific location..."
She wanted to say more, but on one hand, she was worried that staying by the window for too long would arouse suspicion. On the other hand, she felt that besides showing her face, she didn't seem to have any useful information to convey. After some hard thinking, another idea came to her. She lowered her head slightly and pointed a finger at her collar. "...Lily said this is very dangerous, that she has a way to make it pierce my neck... but she's never used it, so I don't know if that's true or not—ai, what nonsense am I talking."
If she had really used it, she probably wouldn't be standing here. Zhuang Chi sighed and whispered, "...There's surveillance in my room, so that's all for now—ah, my body is fine, I can run and walk, only..."
She had wanted to say that only her glands seemed to have a problem, but on second thought, she felt that mentioning it would only cause worry and wouldn't help the current situation. So, she changed the subject, her voice softening, "...Anyway, I'm okay, so don't worry too much about that."
Zhuang Chi felt that was probably enough, but then she suddenly thought she should send back some physical evidence to make it easier for the people behind this to report it to the police. After looking around herself and the room for a long time, she only found the neck ring that Lily had replaced earlier. She handed it to Xiao Ying to bite, feeling a little apologetic. "...It's pretty heavy, can you manage?"
Xiao Ying bit down on it steadily, its eyes looking very determined, and began to try and swallow it.
"That's not food!"
Zhuang Chi didn't know what to say. In any case, she managed to push it out of the window bars it was stuck in before its attempt succeeded, and watched as Xiao Ying spread its wings and flew far away. Although she was still trapped, she felt as if she could see a glimmer of hope.
Just hold on a little longer, Zhuang Chi thought. It'll be soon. As long as Xiao Ying makes it back safely, then as long as I behave myself for the next few days, don't provoke Lily, and wait patiently for rescue, it should be—
Without any warning, the door to the room was suddenly pushed open. Zhuang Chi whipped her head around and met the eyes of Lily, who was walking in.
"...You've been at the window for a long time," Lily said softly, her gaze falling on the still-open window. "It looks like you even brought something to the window... What were you doing?"
"...It really is Zhuang Chi..."
The moment she saw Zhuang Chi appear on the camera, Ling Jing's nose tingled, and she suddenly felt that the dizzying shaking and bumping of the footage before this was all worth it. With tears in her eyes, she finished watching Zhuang Chi's message, secretly wiped her tears, and looked at Gu Ximian. "This is great... She seems to be physically and mentally fine, and she's even in a room with a window..."
It was a good thing her room had a window, otherwise Xiao Ying wouldn't have hit such a jackpot. Ling Jing thought that heaven must be helping them, but she quickly became indignant. "Lily... How could that little princess make her wear something like that? It's too dangerous, and besides..."
...And it looks strange, Ling Jing thought worriedly. Zhuang Chi also said Lily visits her occasionally... Nothing strange has been done to her, right? Zhuang Chi is so good-natured, if she really encountered someone unreasonable, she would definitely be bullied...
As she thought this, she didn't hear a reply from Gu Ximian for a long time, which made her already anxious heart even more uneasy. She kept stealing glances at Gu Ximian. At this moment, Gu Ximian's face didn't show any obvious expression like hers. Her lips were just pressed into a tight line, revealing a sharp contour. She reached out, exported the video, and dragged the progress bar to rewatch Zhuang Chi's part, then dragged it back to watch it a third time.
"...Gu Ximian...?"
Although she hadn't said a word, Ling Jing felt an indescribable, immense pressure. She had no idea what kind of emotions were brewing in those eyes, hidden by thick, lowered lashes, as she intently rewatched that short clip three times.
"...She's hiding something from me."
When Gu Ximian finally spoke, her words made Ling Jing shudder. She looked at Gu Ximian, at a loss. Gu Ximian slowly reached out, touched the spot on the screen where Zhuang Chi's neck was, and pressed down hard on the collar. Her fingertips gradually applied more force, making Ling Jing worry that the screen would be shattered by Gu Ximian, even though she knew it was impossible.
Gu Ximian stared silently for a long while, then suddenly snatched her hand back and decisively flipped the screen over. Ling Jing was a beat slow to ask, "Sh-should we go to the police? Once Xiao Ying gets back, we'll have physical evidence. That should be enough to convince the police to dispatch, right? But we don't know what the mechanism of that collar on Zhuang Chi's neck is. What if that woman decides to take her down with her—"
"You go to the police when Xiao Ying gets back," Gu Ximian said, opening the car door. She added nonchalantly, "As for the mechanism of that thing... I'll go ask Lily directly right now."
Zhuang Chi looked at Lily, her heart pounding.
"...I wasn't doing anything." Zhuang Chi didn't know if Lily had come over because she saw Xiao Ying or simply because she grew suspicious after seeing her stand there for so long. But Zhuang Chi knew that the more silent she was, the more suspicious she would seem. Her mind raced for an excuse. "I just... had nothing to do, so I was looking at the scenery."
"Is that so?" Lily raised an eyebrow and pressed, "Then what was that thing you went to get later? Did it help you look at the scenery?"
Feeling like she had been watched from start to finish, Zhuang Chi was terrified, thinking that Lily couldn't have actually seen Xiao Ying, could she? But then she heard Lily say, "Were you feeding a bird?"
"..."
Oh, okay, that seems fine. Zhuang Chi's heart relaxed. Although Lily had indeed seen it, she didn't seem to have realized it was a hawk, a bird that would never normally appear in a place like this. So, she went along with it and admitted, "Yeah, I happened to see a bird stuck in the window bars, so I went to play with it for a bit..."
Lily looked at her for a long while, and amidst Zhuang Chi's anxiety, her gaze suddenly softened. She said gently, "...If you like birds, I can bring one back for you. How about keeping it here with you? What color do you like?"
...Hm? Although she had relaxed slightly, Lily's reaction left Zhuang Chi a bit baffled. Offering to get her a bird... How should she put it, Zhuang Chi thought, in her current situation, if she were to also keep a bird in a cage, it would feel like a set of nesting dolls.
Zhuang Chi couldn't tell if this was some kind of placating tactic and just shook her head in silence. Lily didn't insist, only continuing, "Keeping a pet is indeed troublesome. But it's too empty here, and you have nothing to do. How about I bring you some books later?"
What on earth had gotten into her? Zhuang Chi was a little confused. Lily probably noticed her bewilderment and didn't say much more, just softly said, "Let's eat first," and then had both of their meals brought to Zhuang Chi's room.
...What was she up to? They had never eaten together before. Zhuang Chi couldn't stomach her food, somewhat worried that Lily had discovered something and was now monitoring her closely. But then again, if that were the case, with Lily's personality, there was no way she would be eating with her so quietly. She chewed on a mouthful of rice for a long time before finally coming up with another possibility. She frowned. "...Could it be... because of my glands?"
"..."
Lily didn't speak, but her movements clearly paused for a moment before she resumed acting as if nothing had happened. It seemed she intended to pretend she hadn't heard her and just ignore it.
...So that's how it is, Zhuang Chi thought. So Lily could also have this kind of mentality—something like the faint sense of guilt one feels after breaking a toy.
"Don't overthink it," Lily finally said, probably feeling that her silence was tantamount to admission. "I just want to improve your environment. Anyway, we're going back to my country in two days—"
"Eh?"
Subconsciously interrupting Lily, Zhuang Chi's eyes widened. She saw Lily raise an eyebrow slightly and chuckle. "Speaking of which, I haven't told you yet. I'm returning to A Country the day after tomorrow..."
She paused, then continued, "You too. I'm taking you with me."
"—"
...What was she talking about, the day after tomorrow... Zhuang Chi stared at her blankly, her mind filled with red warning alarms. If only she had been told this earlier, she could have informed Xiao Ying. The timeline was too tight now. Would Ling Jing's side be able to act in time? What if...
In the end, why would Lily plan to take her back to her country? From the current situation, her glands were already having problems, so she couldn't help her experiment with "Pheromone Addiction" anymore. Logically speaking, it would be more reasonable for Lily to discard her, right...?
Not that she wanted to be discarded, but Zhuang Chi was genuinely confused. And Lily, as if hearing her thoughts, slowly began to speak.
"I used to think... that this world is full of idiots. The Omegas who flock around my sister are stupid; a little scare and they back off. The Alphas other than my sister are also stupid; the moment they see me, they're like bees to honey. Their expressions are truly disgusting."
"So, when I occasionally meet someone who doesn't seem so much like an idiot, it's not bad to keep them around." As Lily spoke, she looked at Zhuang Chi, a flash of something like victory in her eyes. "You just forget—"
Just then, her phone suddenly rang, interrupting her. Seeing an unknown number on the screen, Lily frowned but still answered politely with a "hello." However, she heard her butler's voice on the other end, sounding somewhat troubled. "...Princess Lily, a guest has come to visit and is very insistent on seeing you. I was wondering if you have time right now..."
A guest? Lily's brow furrowed. "Who is it?"
The butler was about to speak, but a bit of noise came from the other end of the line, as if the phone had been taken by someone else. Then, a cool female voice came through.
"—It's me."
Lily heard Gu Ximian's voice, coming faintly from the other side of the phone. "I've come to pay you a visit. Are you... very busy right now?"
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