The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 528: Tastes Strange

It didn’t seem to be the case based on the crime scene and the condition of the body.

War Tiger slowly extracted the dagger from Dr. Jia’s abdomen, making an initial observation. “He should be dead for no longer than five hours, so that’s noon today.”

“Could someone have killed him knowing we’re coming?” Nine Frost asked.

War Tiger crouched by the body and stroked his chin while fiddling with the dagger. “That shouldn’t have happened. Our communications are all encoded, which should be safe from breaching. Otherwise, information about the three major organizations will have long become open secrets.”

“That leaves us with one possibility,” said Lithe Snake. “Someone among us has leaked the intel.”

“Not necessarily,” said Gray Bear. “Maybe it\'s a common burglary.”

“It’s unlikely. The murder weapon is a Black Gold dagger,” Gao Yang analyzed. “The killer might have opted not to kill him with Talent because they didn’t want to leave any clues.

“I agree.” Nine Frost nodded.

War Tiger’s gaze darkened, taking in each of the members in turn. Tension ran high. Gray Bear felt a shudder run down his spine when he met War Tiger’s eyes.

“Wait, that’s not right.” Gao Yang corrected himself. “There’s a possibility we’ve omitted.”

The others turned to him. Gray Bear was glad to see the return of their captain in detective mode.

“Dr. Jia killed himself,” said Gao Yang.

“He killed himself?” War Tiger didn’t get it.

Just when Gao Yang was going to explain, a half-meter tall parrot flew down from the second floor of the mansion. It flapped its wings, perching on the crystal chandelier on the ceiling. “Dr. Jia died! Dr. Jia died! Dr. Jia died!”

Then it opened its wings to glide down to Gray Bear’s shoulders.

The parrot was gray with short tail feathers and a round head, the face covered in long feathers with a slanted patch of white bare skin around the eyes.

It wasn’t scared of strangers at all, and it looked around at everyone in a friendly manner.

It started crying out again soon, “Liar! Liar! Dr. Jia’s a liar!”

So Dr. Jia did fake his death.

Gao Yang had noticed something strange because of the parrot.

The parrot had answered the door when they rang the doorbell. At first, Gao Yang had thought it was the voiced response of a smart automatic lock, but after some thinking, he realized it was more likely the voice of a parrot.

The parrot was smart enough to open the door. If Dr. Jia had been killed, it wouldn’t have been so calm.

War Tiger quickly figured things out. He looked at the gray parrot on Gray Bear’s shoulder. “Dr. Jia faked his death?”

“Experiment! Experiment! Experiment!” The gray parrot repeated the response three times before flapping its wings to fly onto Lithe Snake’s shoulder.

“Holy, the parrot is like a human!” Gray Bear was surprised.

“Trained well, parrots can be as smart as a seven-year-old,” said Lithe Snake.j

“So it’s a false alert.” Nine Frost went up to pet the parrot.

“False alert! False alert! False alert!”

After mimicking the words, the parrot flew to a tall tea table where a small ceramic bowl filled with nuts was. It dug in and stopped paying attention to them.

War Tiger took out an almost empty pack of cigarettes. “That’s it then. We just have to wait.”

The others relaxed and started walking around the mansion.

They explored Dr. Jia’s house. It looked like the residence of a regular rich man. The door to the basement was locked though, which most likely led to his private laboratory.

Night soon fell, and they were feeling so impatient that they each found something to do to kill time. War Tiger and Gray Bear went to the second floor. After taking a bath, they changed into bathrobes and found the stash of whiskey and cigars at Dr. Jia’s place. Enjoying the loot, they lay down on the sofa in the home theater and started watching a boxing match.

Nine Frost and Lithe Snake were playing foosball in the recreational room. They had each won a couple rounds and were now playing the final.

Perching on Nine Frost’s shoulder, the parrot watched the match with full attention. Whoever lost, it would flap its wings happily and loudly repeat, “Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!”

Words didn’t break bones, but they did hurt.

Gao Yang and Qing Ling went to the kitchen and used the ingredients in the fridge to make a meal. Gao Yang first made rice with the rice cooker. Then he used curry paste, chicken filets, and some vegetables to make chicken curry for Qing Ling.

After eating a spoonful, Qing Ling coughed until her face was flushed.

“That bad?” Gao Yang felt a little embarrassed. “Really? I didn’t think I was a bad cook.”

“No, the curry here is just too spicy.” Qing Ling took another spoonful, her expression much more relaxed this time. Savoring the food, she commented, “Tastes strange.”

“Um...”

“I’ll have another bite.” Then she put another spoonful into her mouth.

She seemed to have gotten used to the taste, and she started eating in gusto. Sitting upright, she held the plate with one hand and the spoon with her other hand, looking devoted as she ate.

Propping his head up with a hand, Gao Yang stared at Qing Ling, thinking, She’ll go viral if she becomes a streamer who does eating shows.

“Ugh...hm...” Suddenly, a man’s groaning came from the living room.

Dr. Jia had come back alive!

Gao Yang shot to his feet and rushed into the living room, hollering at the second floor, “Dr. Jia woke up!”

“Woke up! Woke up! Woke up!”

The gray parrot was the first to fly down the stairs from the second floor, landing beside Dr. Jia.

Covered by a bathrobe, Dr. Jia opened his eyes and slowly sat up, covering the wound on his abdomen with a hand. He couldn’t help but cry out, “Ahh...it hurts...”

His wound was bleeding again, and the blood quickly drenched the bathrobe.

When he looked up, he saw Gao Yang and Qing Ling watching him. Still composed, he asked, “Got any Medicine C? One shot will suffice. It hurts so much.”

Gao Yang fished out a Medicine C he carried with him and threw it to Dr. Jia. Dr. Jia caught it and took off the cap, giving his abdomen a shot with a grunt. His complexion recovered substantially.

By then, the others had come down from the second floor. Dr. Jia put on the bathrobe properly and picked himself up, sitting on the sofa and letting out a long breath.

“What are you up to this time, Dr. Jia?” War Tiger asked with a chuckle.