Rescued

When Lan Mu regained consciousness, the first thing he smelled was a familiar scent. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw a white hospital ward.

He saw himself lying in a hospital bed with an IV drip in his right hand. As he gathered himself, he shifted upward and finally propped himself into a seated position.

There were other beds across from his. This was not a private room.

After thinking for a moment, Lan Mu raised his left hand to press the call button for a nurse. A sudden burst of intense pain hit him. Looking down, he saw that his left arm had been professionally bandaged. It reminded him that he had been shot there. The wound clearly had not healed, and even the slightest movement was agony.

With no other choice, he asked the patient in the bed opposite him for help.

"Hello, could you please call a nurse for me?"

To his surprise, after he asked, the man in the opposite bed pretended not to hear him. He lay flat and acted as though he were asleep.

He had clearly caught the man sneaking glances at him just moments ago!

"What's going on?"

Not understanding what was happening, Lan Mu could only shift his IV-laden right hand and, with great difficulty, press the call button.

Soon, a nurse entered the room. Seeing that he was awake, she immediately smiled. "You're finally awake!"

After saying that, the nurse helped position his hand, checked the IV bottle, then headed straight for the door.

"Hey? Wait! Don't go! Let me ask... who saved me? How long have I been lying here? When can I be discharged?" Seeing her about to leave, Lan Mu hurriedly called out.

The nurse turned back and said, "You were brought in yesterday morning. It's been exactly one day now. You'll have to ask the doctor when you can be discharged. Also, someone will be coming to question you very soon."

Watching her hurry out, Lan Mu found it strange. Then, thinking of his gunshot wound, he immediately understood.

"Looks like the police will be here soon."

Yet ten minutes later, the first people to enter the ward were reporters.

The reporting team was simple: one female reporter and one male assistant. The man handled a digital camera, while the woman wore a sharp professional outfit, her hair pulled high into a ponytail. Holding out a recorder, she questioned him directly. "Hello, Mr. Lan. I'm Qin Yu, a reporter from the Fuzhou Metropolitan Daily. Was your shooting connected to the latest poaching case?"

Lan Mu could not help but laugh at that. He was extremely familiar with this kind of interrogative interview style. She had gone straight to the point from the start, leaving him little room to evade. Nearly every question demanded a yes or no.

"Reporter Qin, right? Could I see your press credentials first?"

Qin Yu froze for a moment, then took her press pass from her pocket and hung it around her neck. Lan Mu only needed one glance to confirm that it was indeed from the Fuzhou Metropolitan Daily. Like him, she was a beat reporter. The difference was that Lan Mu was also an editor, which sometimes allowed him to refuse certain beat interviews.

"Mr. Lan, can you answer my question now?" Qin Yu seemed extremely eager, looking at him with wide, expectant eyes.

Lan Mu adjusted his posture and said, "What question? Could you ask it again?"

Qin Yu took a deep breath and repeated the question.

"As for the shooting... yes, I was indeed shot," Lan Mu answered slowly.

Qin Yu was quite patient and asked again, "Then was it related to the latest poaching case?"

But Lan Mu did not answer directly. Instead, he said, "What exactly do you mean by the latest poaching case? Isn't that something only the police can determine? By the way, when are the police coming?"

Qin Yu seemed inexperienced and was quickly led off track. "They should be here soon. Hey! Please answer the question directly, Mr. Lan."

Lan Mu smiled. He could tell Qin Yu was a rookie, probably someone who had only recently become a full-fledged reporter. She still treated every interview subject like an ordinary resident. She lacked the experience needed to handle an old hand like him.

Not only had Qin Yu failed to get anything out of him after questioning him for so long, but he had led her astray several times and even turned the tables, getting answers to a few questions from her instead.

Just as Qin Yu was gritting her teeth in frustration, the police finally arrived. Four officers entered the ward and immediately surrounded Lan Mu's bed.

"Hm? Reporter Qin is here? Sorry, we have a few questions for him. Could you step outside first?"

The moment the police entered, the lead officer directly asked Qin Yu to leave.

Qin Yu was thin-skinned enough that she actually gave an "Oh" and walked out.

Lan Mu smiled. He knew there was no way to avoid the police's questions, nor was there any need to. Besides, he wanted that group of poachers brought to justice.

"Mr. Lan, we already know most of your personal information. Please tell us directly how you came to be shot."

Lan Mu naturally told them everything truthfully, from being pushed down the mountain to discovering the poachers, then nearly dying before finally escaping alive.

Naturally, he said nothing whatsoever about transforming. However, he could not avoid mentioning the White-haired Lion.

Hearing Lan Mu's extremely detailed statement, several officers smiled.

Lan Mu had indeed provided several very useful leads. For example, the forest ranger Xiao Tang was the biggest breakthrough in the case.

"Get moving. Wang Tang, immediately bring this Xiao Tang under control. Hu Duo, notify every department to set up checkpoints on every highway leading out of Fuzhou. Review the surveillance footage as well. You must locate every vehicle matching Mr. Lan's description and stop them."

"Lastly, Mr. Lan, please cooperate with our people right away and describe the facial features of the suspects so we can create composite sketches."

"I need to return to the station and ask our colleagues in Lingnan. This group has probably killed people before. Lingnan must have case files on them."

Lan Mu nodded and diligently described their appearances. He gave the most detailed descriptions of the poachers' leader and Huang Sheng. Once their sketches were completed, they looked almost exactly like the real men.

"That's it. With these, you'll definitely catch them!"

Officer Xiong, who had stayed behind to make the composite sketches, put away his laptop. After thanking Lan Mu, he prepared to leave.

But Lan Mu stopped him and asked, "May I ask who saved me? I remember passing out from blood loss in the outskirts."

"Oh, it was Reporter Qin outside the door! She was the one who called the police too."

Lan Mu nodded, then asked, "Then how did you know a poaching case had taken place? I remember this Fuzhou poaching case was very well concealed. Could it be that Reporter Qin saw the poachers?"

Officer Xiong said, "Not exactly. The gun that shot you was clearly a crude hunting rifle. Those kinds of guns are generally used only by poachers. Also, that leopard is being kept at the zoo right now. We're planning to release it back into Fanli Mountain soon."

"I see..." Lan Mu nodded thoughtfully.

Officer Xiong thanked Lan Mu once more, told him to rest well, and then left.

Before long, Qin Yu came in again with her lips pursed and sat beside Lan Mu's bed.

Lan Mu sighed. Now that he knew Qin Yu had saved him, he felt somewhat awkward.

At first, he had instinctively bullied a fellow reporter. Thinking back on it now, it was rather excessive to treat his savior that way.

"I'm sorry. Thank you for saving me."

Qin Yu's face immediately lit up. "You're welcome. It was nothing. I saw your credentials. You're a reporter from Shanghai, so there's no conflict with our newspaper at all. You're my senior, so stop bullying me. Can you answer my questions now?"

Lan Mu thought that Morning Light really did not pursue exclusive coverage for this kind of out-of-town news. It was only because that anonymous letter had inexplicably been sent to Shanghai that he had ended up on this business trip. Thinking about it now, that anonymous letter was highly suspicious!

He had not yet given this information to the police. It seemed he would have to make a trip to the local police station.

"Mr. Lan? Mr. Lan?" Seeing that Lan Mu was not speaking, Qin Yu anxiously bit her lip. She looked adorably foolish.

Seeing that she was almost in tears, Lan Mu could not help laughing. He then answered her questions directly.

After several questions, the interview finally got on track, and Qin Yu's questions became increasingly sharp.

But in Lan Mu's eyes, she was still somewhat immature. Several of her questions had missed the key points, so he even took the initiative to help her add a few questions until the matter had been explained in great detail.

This was not repayment. The debt of saving his life could not be repaid so simply.

"That's basically it. It's more than enough for a major news feature. Oh, and when you give it to your editor to write up, remember to mention the shooting first, then the poaching case... cough, cough, sorry. Occupational habit. Your editors should understand this sort of thing."

"Oh, right. If you have a good relationship with your editor, you can have him write you into the piece as well. After all, you saved me, so you were involved in this case too. Even though both of us work behind the scenes, there's no harm in letting readers remember you."

After receiving Lan Mu's guidance, Qin Yu was deeply grateful. She thanked him several times, then hurriedly prepared to leave.

Seeing how impulsively she rushed about, Lan Mu hurriedly called out, "Leave your number! Hey!"

"I..."

However, Qin Yu had already dashed out of the ward. It seemed she was in a hurry to submit her material.

Lan Mu shook his head. He had wanted to formally thank her once his injuries healed, perhaps by treating her to a meal.

But since she was in such a hurry, so be it. He could just find her workplace later.

The ward suddenly felt empty. There were only two people in the whole room. Besides himself, only the patient in the opposite bed remained, and that man was still pretending to sleep.

Lan Mu chuckled. The other man probably knew he had been shot and saw police coming around so often, so he had likely misunderstood something.

But Lan Mu did not care. After searching for a long time, he finally found his phone in the bedside drawer.

Less than ten percent of its battery remained. He hurriedly sent the prepared message from his drafts folder to Editor-in-Chief Liang.

After waiting a little while, seeing the phone's battery running low, he still made a call.

After a few ringing tones, it suddenly changed to, "The number you have dialed is currently on another call. Please try again later..."

"Huh?"

Lan Mu froze. The call had clearly connected, so how had it suddenly become busy? In a situation like this, it was obvious that he had suddenly been blocked.

He repeatedly tried calling Editor-in-Chief Liang again. Several attempts in a row all resulted in a busy signal.

Ten minutes later, just as his phone was about to shut down, he made one final call. It was still busy.

"Beep..."

The phone finally exhausted its last bit of power, and its screen went black.

Lan Mu's heart sank as well. He was now certain that he had been blocked.

"What happened back in Shanghai?"