Page 20

"Who's there?"

Before Shi Wen had gotten close, someone called out loudly from a distance.

"I'm the one who called the police." Shi Wen came forward with Heiwa. "I came to see if there was anything I could do to help."

A light swung toward him, and Shi Wen tilted his head slightly to keep it from shining directly into his eyes.

The light was quickly lowered, and the person across from him asked, "Sorry for the trouble. Come on over, then. Did you hear anything just now?"

Shi Wen said, "No. I only felt something was wrong when I heard my dog barking outside and smelled blood."

The person asked a few more questions, but Shi Wen really didn't know anything. He had just felt something was wrong and made a quick call to the police.

As he spoke, he walked up to them.

A handsome, tall man suddenly came into view.

At that moment, everyone else who was busy working seemed to blur into the background, leaving only the man in sharp focus.

Shi Wen's Adam's apple bobbed. He raised a hand in greeting. "Professor Yan."

Yan Kexing nodded slightly. "I thought you might be the one who called the police."

Shi Wen explained, "I smelled blood at the ranch."

After they exchanged greetings, Shi Wen looked around.

In the middle of the crowd, a sturdy animal with horns, a yellow back, and a white belly lay beside the road.

The markings on the animal's face were striking, like the intricate patterns on a mask. Shi Wen recognized it at first glance—it was a male goitered gazelle.

The gazelle had somehow been injured, and its hindquarters were a mangled mess of flesh and blood. The warm, musky smell of blood was coming from it.

Shi Wen's fingers twitched involuntarily. Seeing the police bandaging the gazelle, he asked, "Can I take a look?"

Someone nearby glanced at him and replied, "Sure."

Shi Wen walked over and crouched in front of the gazelle.

The gazelle stared at Shi Wen with its large, round eyes and let out a long, plaintive cry, making his heart ache.

He stroked the gazelle's head and felt that its body temperature was much higher than a human's.

The gazelle lowered its head docilely and let him stroke it. When he pulled his hand away, it lowered its head and gave his hand a lick.

Shi Wen quietly asked the person helping bandage the gazelle's wounds, "Is it serious?"

"Hard to say. We'll have to take it back and have a veterinarian look at it." The person looked up at Shi Wen. "Large animals like this are pretty tough. Usually, they'll be fine."

Only then did Shi Wen realize that the person helping with the bandages was Gong Jiang. He was wearing a long trench coat, so Shi Wen hadn't recognized him at first.

"It's you!" Shi Wen asked quietly, "Are you working with the police?"

Gong Jiang smiled. "Something like that. We happened to be there when the news came in, so we came along to take a look and collect some samples while we were at it."

Shi Wen asked, "You're collecting samples too?"

Gong Jiang said, "Yeah. Look at all this blood on the ground. If we take some from there, we won't have to draw any from this little guy."

Shi Wen looked down. Sure enough, there was a small pool of blood on the ground. "Won't it dry up soon? Shouldn't you collect it first?"

Gong Jiang said, "My supervisor collected some just now."

As Gong Jiang spoke, he moved to the gazelle's other side to continue bandaging it.

He might have hurt it this time. As soon as Gong Jiang's hand holding the gauze touched its body, the gazelle began to struggle, kicking fiercely backward with its injured leg.

Gong Jiang leaned back and landed on his backside on the road, narrowly avoiding the gazelle's kick.

As soon as its hindquarters were free, the gazelle twisted its body and tried to stand and run, dragging its injured hind legs behind it.

Shi Wen reacted quickly, suddenly reaching out to wrap one arm around the gazelle's neck and grab its horn with the other. "Don't move. It'll be over soon."

As he spoke, Shi Wen rubbed the gazelle's neck.

Whether it was soothed by his touch or not, the gazelle gradually calmed down and lay back on the ground.

Gong Jiang wiped the sweat from his forehead. "We came in a hurry and didn't bring any anesthetic. Luckily, you could calm it down. Otherwise, we'd have been in trouble. If it had gotten away, we might not have been able to restrain it."

Shi Wen was a little shaken himself, but he still said, "It would've been fine. There are so many of you."

Gong Jiang shook his head, then crouched down and got back to work.

Once they had finished bandaging it, they transferred the gazelle into a metal cage.

With Shi Wen there, the gazelle didn't struggle and went docilely as they pushed it inside. Everything went smoothly, right up until the bolt was fastened and the cage was lifted into the trunk.

Gong Jiang took out a camera and photographed the gazelle.

Seeing that there was nothing more for him to do, Shi Wen stepped back.

When he turned to look around, he noticed that Yan Kexing had taken Heiwa's leash at some point and was watching him.

Shi Wen hurried over.

Yan Kexing handed the leash back to him. "Your dog is very well-behaved. What's his name?"

"Heiwa-'hei' as in 'black,' and 'wa' as in 'child.'" Shi Wen looked down at Heiwa, who was wagging his tail happily. "He seems to behave that well only for you."

As he spoke, Shi Wen sniffed.

Yan Kexing looked at him. "Does the smell of blood make you uncomfortable?"

Shi Wen said, "It's not too bad."

Yan Kexing reached into his pocket.

Shi Wen thought Yan Kexing was going to take out a cigarette and was about to refuse, but to his surprise, there was a mint in Yan Kexing's palm.

"Thought I was going to smoke?" Yan Kexing's eyes held a smile as he handed him the mint. "I often go into the mountains. Smoking isn't allowed there."

Shi Wen asked, "Are you always like this?"

Yan Kexing asked, "Like what?"

Shi Wen rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. "Always knowing what other people are thinking."

Yan Kexing said, "I guessed."

Still skeptical, Shi Wen lowered his head, gently picked the mint from Yan Kexing's hand, unwrapped it, and tossed it into his mouth.

A cool, bitter taste immediately spread through his mouth.

He froze and looked at Yan Kexing with wide eyes.

Whoa! That's refreshing!

Yan Kexing chuckled beside him. This time, his smile was so obvious that Shi Wen could see it without looking closely.