Chapter 236
Chapter 236
Night shrouded the Old City District, reducing the historic buildings that bustled with tourists by day to shadowy silhouettes.
In the distance, the lights of a faux-historic shopping street illuminated half the sky.
Blaring DJ music from a sizzling-squid stall drifted through the air.
A blue sign reading “NO SMOKING” stood beside a stone lion.
Yet the man leaning against the lion’s pedestal still had a cigarette dangling from his lips, its ember waxing and waning as he clicked a lighter open and shut.
“Have some decency.”
Having been taught fire safety from an early age, Qin Ying couldn’t stand to watch.
Xie Shao, who had a small tuft of beard beneath his chin, shrugged and plucked the cigarette from his mouth with two fingers.
He pressed the still-burning tip against his tongue until it went out, then curled his tongue around the remaining half and chewed it up, tobacco, butt, and all.
The corner of Qin Ying’s eye twitched.
The last person she’d seen chew tobacco had been Zong Li. Their actions were more or less the same, but the sight of Xie Shao sticking out his tongue to extinguish the cigarette somehow made him look even more perverse.
She couldn’t help asking, “Can you act normal for once?”
Wearing a Black Trench Coat in the middle of summer was already suspicious enough. Combined with his bizarre behavior…
“You really look like a pervert.”
Xie Shao barely reacted to her comment.
His gaze shifted to Han Lie behind her.
At this hour, there was no way Han Lie would let Qin Ying go out alone, no matter how one looked at it. A black mask covered his face as he silently followed behind her.
With Thunderbird perched on her shoulder, Qin Ying answered without hesitation, “My friend.”
Seeing Xie Shao’s odd expression, she added, “You never said I couldn’t bring a friend.”
Xie Shao nodded in silence. With no intention of introducing himself to Han Lie, he turned to look at Thunderbird on Qin Ying’s shoulder.
“This bird is called Jinbao, right? Can it help us scout the manor and find out what’s going on inside?”
Xie Shao’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed all the tobacco he had been chewing. He then crooked his index finger, signaling for Qin Ying and the others to follow.
When they reached the street corner, Xie Shao raised his chin slightly, silently directing Qin Ying and Han Lie to look.
The little tuft of beard on his chin swayed in the breeze.
Qin Ying and Han Lie exchanged a glance, then looked toward the Hu Family Manor.
Even among the historic buildings in the Old City, the Hu Family Manor was one of the best preserved. A dense row of statue-like objects lined the high wall surrounding the rear courtyard.
Anyone who didn’t know better, or simply had poor eyesight, might mistake them for traditional ridge-beast sculptures decorating the wall.
But Qin Ying and Han Lie both had excellent eyesight. They could clearly see the objects concealed by the darkness.
Crows.
Pitch-black crows stood in a row along the outer wall of the Hu Family Manor like its most loyal sentries.
None of the three spoke.
Qin Ying silently raised a hand and clamped Jinbao’s beak shut.
After exchanging a glance with Xie Shao, all three retreated farther away in perfect accord.
Qin Ying now understood why Xie Shao had called her out in the middle of the night.
“There were never this many crows here before!” she said first.
Qin Ying knew the local situation best. The Hu Family Manor already had an eerie reputation. If it had been surrounded by crows in the past as well, there was no telling what terrifying stories would have spread about it.
Curious urban explorers would have scaled its walls so often that they would have polished the stone smooth.
Xie Shao rubbed the tuft of beard beneath his chin. “I asked the sanitation workers. It was still quiet here half a month ago.”
Xie Shao wasn’t stupid. When he encountered something strange, he didn’t simply charge in. He did his homework first.
“Could the crows have gathered so suddenly because a new food source appeared inside the Hu Family Manor?”
When animals suddenly congregated in cities, it was usually around places such as garbage dumps or parks.
The reason was food.
“It can’t be garbage,” Qin Ying said softly. “No one lives at the Hu Family Manor, and the Tourism Bureau normally manages the property. They send people to remove the tourists’ trash every day.”
“Even if a stray cat or dog occasionally dies inside, someone cleans it up immediately. It wouldn’t attract that many crows.”
Xie Shao had reached much the same conclusion as Qin Ying. He nodded. “It’s precisely because this is so unusual that I didn’t dare barge in.”
“I’m afraid…”
He glanced warily at Han Lie beside them. After a moment’s hesitation, he continued, “I’m afraid someone might be behind this.”
Just like the fighting dogs at the dogfighting ring, the Dread Crow Flock might have gathered because someone was controlling them.
That was why he wanted to use Qin Ying’s bird to test the crows’ reaction.
Xie Shao asked, “How good are this little blue bird’s combat abilities and intelligence?”
“If it isn’t much of a fighter, then forget it.”
They could find another way. There was no need to sacrifice such a rare bird.
The questioned Thunderbird spread its wings and struck a pose.
Unfortunately, it was too small at the moment to look majestic. Its round little belly, still bulging from dinner, only made it seem even cuter.
It remembered that Qin Ying had pinched its beak earlier and told it not to make a sound, so it silently fluttered into the air, eager to volunteer for battle.
“No. It may not be man-made,” Han Lie said unexpectedly, speaking before anyone else.
He was wearing a mask, making his voice sound slightly muffled.
Xie Shao studied him. His medium-length hair had been tied into a tiny ponytail with one of Qin Ying’s hair ties.
With his tall, broad, upright build, however, he didn’t look the least bit feminine.
Han Lie turned toward the Hu Family Manor and frowned. “Aside from following food sources and raising their young, there are a few rarer reasons crows gather in flocks.”
“They may be joining forces against a powerful enemy, or a virulent disease may be spreading.”
His mask concealed his expression, but at the second possibility, both Qin Ying’s and Xie Shao’s faces fell.
A flock defending itself against a powerful enemy was one thing, but a virulent disease? This was a densely populated residential district.
Xie Shao sucked in a sharp breath and spoke to Han Lie for the first time. “Bro, are you serious?”
A thoughtful look flashed through Qin Ying’s eyes. She answered in Han Lie’s place. “He’s an expert in animal behavior.”
“He’s done considerable research into animals’ foraging habits, reproductive strategies, migration patterns, and so on.”
She wasn’t exactly making it up. As a Monstrous Beast Hunter from the World in the Box, Han Lie spent most of his time in the wilderness and was indeed well versed in animal behavior.
Hearing this, Xie Shao privately thought calling Han Lie an expert sounded like an exaggeration, given how young he sounded. Still, he wasn’t tactless enough to say so to the man’s face.
As a responsible adult, he carefully added Han Lie’s suggestion to the list of possibilities.
Qin Ying was much more direct. She asked Han Lie, “How do we find out what these crows are actually doing? Should we send Jinbao?”
Han Lie shook his head without hesitation. “No.”
The Thunderbird’s rank was far above that of these crows. If they hadn’t applied Shadowgrass Powder to conceal its aura before leaving, the flock would have exploded into panic the moment it drew near.
Sending in the Thunderbird would inevitably throw the flock into chaos, disrupting its natural behavior and making it impossible to discern the logic behind its actions.
Han Lie looked around, then pointed. “There.”
He was pointing to an old-fashioned teahouse near the left side of the Hu Family Manor.
The teahouse was actually a new building designed to look antique, located on the commercial street.
It had originally tried to cultivate an elegant, refined atmosphere. But when business proved difficult, it lowered its sights and began hosting trendy livestreams and similar events.
Along the side Han Lie had indicated was a row of private rooms. Open their windows, and most of the Hu Family Manor would come into view.
Han Lie said, “No matter who might want to keep watch on this household, that’s the best vantage point.”