Chapter 27
Chapter 27
The smell of formalin was very distinct, and Qin Ying was confident she wouldn’t mistake it for anything else.
Why would there be the scent of formalin in a place like this?
She moved slowly toward the display shelves where the scent was originating.
Passing four office desks, Qin Ying arrived in front of a row of display racks.
Peering past them, she saw a vast space stretching out behind, growing darker the further in it went.
Only a few palm-wide skylights let in slivers of light, which fell upon a floor cluttered with dust and debris.
Qin Ying glanced up at the ceiling fan light above her. She scanned the walls to her left and right but couldn’t find a light switch.
Just then, a short, sharp clack echoed from one of the shelves.
Something had fallen to the floor.
“A glass jar?”
Recalling the sound, Qin Ying murmured to herself, “It didn’t shatter. It rolled a few times after hitting the ground.”
To verify if her deduction was correct, she walked toward the source of the noise.
After a few steps, the smell of formalin became increasingly pungent.
A beam of light slanted down from a skylight, illuminating the display rack Qin Ying stood before.
The shelf was covered in dust and cobwebs, piled haphazardly with old newspapers and documents.
Sitting atop the papers was a Barbie doll with messy blonde hair that had half fallen out.
Qin Ying didn’t reach out to touch it. The presence of a half-bald Barbie in a place like this was eerie enough on its own; only a fool would mess with it.
Not only did she refrain from touching it, but she also took a cautious step back.
Something was wrong. It was better to retreat for now.
In the gap beneath the display rack, something flesh-colored and leathery flashed by.
*Rumble, roll-*
A small, dusty glass vial, about the thickness of three fingers, rolled out.
In the silent room, the sound of glass rolling across the floor was unnerving.
Finally, the glass vial came to a stop right in front of Qin Ying.
Qin Ying’s eyesight was currently exceptional.
In the dim light, she could clearly see a yellowish liquid sloshing inside the grimy bottle.
Soaking in the liquid was a small specimen.
The skull and limbs were perfectly preserved, clearly retaining a human form.
Without a closer look, one would likely assume-based on common sense-that it was a fetal specimen.
Leveraging her enhanced vision, Qin Ying saw exactly what was soaking in the bottle, and her heart skipped a beat.
For a moment, she felt a stagnant sense of displacement, as if she had slipped through a crack in space-time.
Preserved in the formalin was a tiny person with his arms spread out, about the length of Qin Ying’s index finger.
The skin, muscles, and hair were remarkably well-preserved. It was a male.
On the pale brown, slightly bloated face, his features were visible, as were the horn-like protrusions swelling from his forehead.
Without any wasted movement or hesitation, Qin Ying turned and left.
With so many coincidences colliding, a myriad of conspiracy theories flashed through her mind.
She moved with extreme speed, reaching the office door in the blink of an eye.
She was only a few steps away from the exit when a shout came from behind.
“Hey, don’t run! Get back here!”
Hearing this, Qin Ying didn’t even look back; she only ran faster.
“No, don’t let her run! Laodao, stop her!”
As soon as the voice fell, an arm suddenly shot out across the office door.
A sallow, gaunt middle-aged man blocked her path. “Don’t-”
Before he could finish saying “run,” Qin Ying grabbed his arm.
Brushing aside his blocking limb, she used the momentum to drive a sharp elbow into his ribs.
Laodao sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.
Before he could even process the fact that he had been hit, he saw Qin Ying’s arm rise out of the corner of his eye as her elbow swung toward his jaw.
*This girl hits hard,* Laodao cursed inwardly. He leaned back with all his might but couldn’t completely avoid it; Qin Ying’s elbow grazed his chin.
His head spun as the metallic taste of blood filled his mouth, and he stumbled back two steps.
Qin Ying had successfully landed two blows and bolted past him toward the exit. She didn’t look back once, nor did she care whether Laodao lived or died after she had elbowed a mouthful of blood out of him.
As she cleared the large locust tree, Qin Ying ran headlong into a young man and woman carrying paper bags of milk tea. The man wore black-rimmed glasses, and the woman had her hair in a low ponytail.
Both had a very upright and formal air about them. The woman, being younger and less composed, gasped in surprise, “What’s going on?”
From behind came a frantic, exasperated shout: “Qin Ying, stop running! The thing in the bottle is a fake! It’s a fake!”
Qin Ying’s footsteps faltered, and she screeched to a halt.
…
Under the locust tree, Qin Ying sat on a bench, clutching a cup of milk tea.
“It was just a model in the bottle!”
The old man holding the Specimen Bottle looked quite aged, his white hair slicked back into a pompadour. Perched on his right shoulder was a gray rat that could only be described as obese, its pinkish tail swishing back and forth. The fat rat seemed terrified of Qin Ying, burying its head in its master’s collar and leaving only one large ear exposed.
The old man glanced at Laodao, who was nearby rinsing his mouth with warm water, then turned back to Qin Ying.
“You might not have much courage, but you certainly have plenty of strength!”
Qin Ying didn’t know how to respond to that. She gave a forced smile and said, “My elders told me that only a fool looks back when they encounter danger.”
Laodao pulled out a blue handkerchief to wipe the water from the corner of his mouth. “Those two elbow strikes just now… that was the Black Dragon Eighteen Hands, wasn’t it?”
“It’s an old armed police grappling technique. It was banned back in the nineties because it was too lethal. Who taught you that?”
Qin Ying held her milk tea without taking a sip and answered honestly, “I was bullied in elementary school, so my uncle had me learn it from an old colleague at the station.”
“No wonder,” Laodao muttered, rubbing his jaw as he dragged a stool over to sit down. “You sure play dirty.”
“Is Qin Zhiguo that much of a bastard? What kind of decent person teaches a kid that? What was he thinking? And he calls himself a cop.”
Laodao grumbled while taking a massive gulp of his milk tea. From the way he spoke, he seemed to be an acquaintance of Qin Ying’s uncle.
The motion of drinking was a bit too vigorous, causing Laodao to hiss in pain and clutch his ribs. Chewing on the pearls from his tea, he complained to the white-haired old man, “Old Miao, whatever you have to say, say it fast. I need to get to a hospital. My ribs might be cracked, and I’m feeling dizzy.”
The old man addressed as Old Miao turned serious and introduced himself to Qin Ying. “My name is Miao Lixin. I am the director of the Cultural Protection Research Institute.”
Next, he introduced Laodao to her as Dao Hongwei. He also introduced the two young people who had been sent out to buy the milk tea: the man was Wen Hao, and the girl was Yin Minmin.
After the round of introductions, Old Miao gave a dry chuckle and handed the Specimen Bottle filled with formalin to Qin Ying.
“It’s just a small model inside. I originally wanted to see if you were curious or brave enough.”
He hadn’t expected that this pretty girl would turn out to be a total brawler with the strength of an ox when startled.
Qin Ying stared at the realistically detailed little figure inside the Specimen Bottle. She asked, “Is ‘clerk’ a job that requires curiosity and courage?”
What kind of clerk job had requirements like these?
Sensing the skepticism in her voice, Old Miao straightened his posture. “Our unit’s full name is the Mysterious Ancient Culture Exploration Research and Protection Institute. Exploring new things naturally requires a strong sense of curiosity.”
“I’ve already calculated your Ba Zi. Your fate meets the Hua Gai star; you are naturally destined to cross paths with the mysterious.”
“You belong in our institute. Work hard for two years, and if you perform well, you’ll be converted to a permanent staff member immediately.”
Before he could finish, Qin Ying looked at him with a look of utter bewilderment. She said, emphasizing every word, “I decline this job. Goodbye.”