Yu Sheng and Ai Lin led Hu Li down the stairs.
The important thing now was to arrange a place for the fox girl to sleep.
"There’s an empty room on both the second and first floors," Yu Sheng said while standing in the corridor on the second floor, pointing at the door across from his room.
"That room has been empty for a while, so it has some junk in it, but it’s still fairly clean. The room on the first floor doesn’t have junk, but it has no furniture and hasn’t been cleaned in a long time. There’s also a basement, but it’s spacious yet damp, not fit for living."
"Whatever you decide, it’s fine," Hu Li nodded in agreement, casually pulling out a piece of biscuit from her tail, nibbling on it bit by bit.
"Anyway, it’s better than the valley."
Yu Sheng’s gaze unconsciously fell on the fluffy tail of the fox girl.
He still couldn’t understand how the girl hid things in there.
Just like he couldn’t figure out how Hu Li's tails could slip out from her clothes—it looked as if those tails passed right through her garments like phantoms without needing a hole, yet those tails were bustling around, occasionally brushing against the things nearby, clearly solid.
One could only say that fox spirits were truly mysterious.
"What is that room for?" At this moment, Hu Li seemed to suddenly notice something and pointed at the door at the end of the corridor.
"That one… theoretically, it’s Ai Lin’s room," Yu Sheng glanced in the direction she pointed and his expression changed slightly.
"But that room has a small issue right now..."
"Small issue?" Hu Li pulled out half a pack of instant noodles from her tail, while chewing on a noodle cake, curiously asked.
"When you open the door, the situation inside isn’t very stable. I need to observe it for a while," Yu Sheng said, glancing at Hu Li who kept pulling things from her tail, finally unable to hold back his curiosity, "How much stuff did you put in there?"
"After I finished my bath, I passed the living room and stuffed all the snacks you gave me into my tail," Hu Li replied, a satisfied smile on her face while holding the instant noodles.
"I didn’t touch anything else."
Then, she looked more seriously at the room at the end of the corridor and exclaimed, "Your cave dwelling is quite amazing."
Yu Sheng stared blankly at Hu Li’s bundle of tails, pondering how this girl was much more astonishing than his "cave dwelling"...
How did she fit all that stuff inside? Did she have a pocket like that round blue guy?
After sighing in wonder for a while, he put these questions aside for now and pointed to the room across from his own.
"Then you can stay in that room for now; apart from some clutter, it still has furniture. Later we can move those messes into the basement together… I’ll get you a clean set of bedding."
Hu Li immediately nodded happily, "Okay!"
Ai Lin chimed in excitedly, "That’s great! Let’s move things, I love tidying up!"
"Don’t just follow along," Yu Sheng glanced down at Ai Lin, who was barely taller than a box, "You’ll end up falling down the stairs while carrying something and break your arms and legs, then I’ll have to fix you."
Upon hearing that, Ai Lin instantly erupted in rage, bouncing over to kick Yu Sheng’s knee hard, "You jerk!"
Yu Sheng yelped, jumping much higher than Ai Lin had.
Next to them, Hu Li watched the scene with a bewildered expression but quickly realized that this was just daily friendly banter between the benefactor and Ai Lin, her brief concern turning into a smile as she pulled out a sausage from her tail.
In the depths of the old town, inside a seemingly ordinary private clinic, Lin Yi, dressed in a white coat and with deep brown shoulder-length hair, furrowed his brow as he looked at the girl’s right arm.
The girl in the red cape sat opposite him in a sleeveless T-shirt, her arm resting on the table.
Her dark red coat hung on a rack near the door.
"Doctor Lin, is the situation serious?" After a long silence from the doctor, the girl couldn’t help but ask.
"This time it’s not serious—your issue, however, is very serious," Lin Yi raised his head, his gaze tinged with irritation, "How many times has it been? Your injuries haven’t healed. If it goes on like this, your aftereffects will have barely any intervals, and both your body and mind won’t recover in time. This time it’s fine, but eventually, you’ll have a real problem."
"I know, but the situation back then was truly urgent, there was nothing else I could do," the girl averted her eyes, "We were being chased by a dangerous entity, one ranked above level three, with a tendency for mental contagion. Just making it out intact is a miracle..."
Lin Yi looked deeply at the girl and chose not to speak further.
Instead, he grabbed a sharp scalpel from nearby and without hesitation, made a cut on his own arm.
In the next moment, the same cut appeared on the girl’s right arm, and dark red blood instantly gushed out but, as if pulled by some invisible force, disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The black patterns covering the girl’s arm quickly faded and dissipated.
"Thank you, Doctor Lin..." the girl lowered her head, sincerely thanking him, "I’ll have the Special Operations Bureau settle the consultation fee for you."
"Forget it, let’s just treat this as helping you out, no charge this time," Lin Yi sighed, glancing helplessly at the girl before hesitating for a few seconds to continue, "…I know you’re their ‘guardian’, but you should set aside some money for yourself, look how thin you are."
"I know, I know."
The girl pouted, feigning impatience.
"Every time it’s just this line," Lin Yi shook his head, casually tossing the scalpel onto a nearby plate and adjusting his posture in the chair.
"Since you're here today, I might as well give you an assessment—when was the last time you ‘dreamt’?" The girl instantly adjusted her position, her expression turning serious, "Three days ago."
"Was the perspective in the dream from a human or a wolf?"
"Two-thirds of the time I was human, and one-third I was a wolf—there was one moment where I was ‘the hunter’."
"The hunter shot at whom?"
"At the wolf."
"Good, looks somewhat stable," Lin Yi rummaged through a drawer, pulling out a form, then grabbed a pen from the pencil holder on the table.
He tried to write but nothing came out.
Grumbling, he grabbed another pen, which also didn’t work, causing his brows to furrow, "…It must be those two new assistants, writing like they're chiseling stone..."
After a while, he finally found a usable pen in his coat pocket, and began recording on the form while continuing to ask, "Did you see ‘Grandma’ at the end? Human or wolf?"
"…It was a wolf."
"From your expression… was it captured?"
"I was captured, but that part of the memory is quite muddled; all I remember is escaping the forest with the wolf pack."
Lin Yi paused, furrowing his brows, clearly irritated as he tapped the table with his pen, "That still poses some risk. Take a Type 2 intervention when you leave, inject it intravenously before sleeping tonight, and I’ll charge it to you."
"Okay."
Next, Lin Yi asked a series of questions, and the girl honestly answered all of them.
These assessments were routine for her every month; every member of "Fairy Tale," including her, had to undergo them regularly.
In the boundary area, many doctors could offer assessments and treatments, but Lin Yi was the one she was most familiar with.
Finally, after the long "questionnaire," Lin Yi wrote at the end of the form the conclusion: "Temporarily stable, to be monitored," exhaling a long breath.
Seeing the conclusion, although the girl tried hard to keep a calm expression, a faint smile of relief still showed on her face.
"You worry too?" Lin Yi glanced at the girl, "If you’re that timid, take care of yourself, don’t end up like the last Little Red Riding Hood..."
He suddenly stopped speaking.
The girl fell silent too, and the clinic was shrouded in a heavy silence for a moment.
After an unknown stretch of time, the girl suddenly felt a temperature on her hand.
Lin Yi placed his hand over hers.
"Little Red Riding Hood, you’re different from the others—at least different from the other members of 'Fairy Tale' I’ve come across," the young 'anomalous doctor' fixed his gaze into her eyes, his tone serious and solemn, "Your wolves… the first few you tamed; they’re very close to you. Although I can’t feel it directly like you can, I can see that they are willing to protect you."
This means your chances of safely reaching adulthood and even successfully undergoing ‘transformation’ are higher than others.
But because of that, you cannot waste this talent just because your situation seems more stable than theirs.
You must first find ways to survive and live longer, understand?
"The girl remained silent for a long time before finally nodding gently,"…Mm.
"From the shadow beside the girl, a few pairs of glowing green eyes appeared quietly. One pair moved closer, extending a tongue from the shadows to gently lick her fingers. Lin Yi sensed the change in the atmosphere from the shadow but didn’t look over; instead, he stood up from his chair and walked toward the corner of the room where the refrigerator was. He took out a vial of medicine, faintly glowing in dim light."
Here you go, Type 2 intervention.
This is the last one remaining, I’ll give you a half-price deal—remember to settle the bill promptly when your salary comes in.
You owe me thousands already."
"Thank you, Doctor Lin."
(End of Chapter)