Chapter 5

Chapter 5

　　Bai Huo was awakened by a poke from a dragon’shorns.

　　Right under his nose, a little dragon cub wasshaking his tail and stealthily touching his chest. He lifted his claws up high,then carefully put them back down. Quite like a cat who was trying to find out ifits owner was still alive.

　　Bai Huo adjusted his posture, putting hishands behind his head, asking curiously: “What are you doing ah, kneading?”

　　The little dragon saw him wake up anddecisively stopped his actions, then he laid down, very cute.

　　”What’s that smell?”

　　Bai Huo got up and finally saw the state ofthe small living room. The previously clean wooden floor was covered with fishbones. In addition, there was spilled congee and sauces, shredded takeawayboxes, scattered change… as well as sticky bird feathers.

　　Bai Huo: “…”

　　”Fat chicken -!” He roared.

　　”It wasn’t me!” The fat bird covertlytried to cover up its round belly.

　　Such a large amount of destruction really was notsomething a single person could accomplish. Bai Huo looked at the little dragon.The latter looked at him with an innocent look and shook his tail, notrealizing that there was a suspicious smear of sauce by the corner of hismouth.

　　Forgive him, he was still a baby, Bai Huo facepalmed.

　　The little dragon completely lacked theconsciousness of a suspect. Instead, he glanced at the fat bird with vigilance,then pulled out a pea flower from under the sofa, carrying it in his mouth ashe tottered towards Bai Huo and put it down, pushing it forward. His tail swayedback and forth, he seemed to be offering a treasure.

　　Bai Huo saw the purple butterfly-shaped petalsand stared blankly for a moment, then he quickly ran to the balcony. Holy crap,his carefully planted fairy peas had been uprooted, all that remained in theflower pot was a few weakly drooping green leaves, which were full of bitemarks.

　　”…”

　　Bai Huo pinched his brows, a pained expressionon his face. He turned his head and looked at the little guy who was still lookingat him with anticipation. His black eyes were filled with the words “Lookwhat I did, praise me.”

　　Inexplicably, Bai Huo immediately feltamusement, shaking his head with a smile, he resignedly crouched down to re-burythe fairy peas.

　　This fairy pea was actually hard to come by. BaiHuo had worked very hard to transplant it successfully. Then it took more thanten years for it to flower and bear pods. Last time, the pod was eaten by thefat bird. This time, under the little cub’s care and kindness, not even theflowers were left.

　　While cleaning up, Bai Huo noticed a small concealedpod at the very bottom of the stem, it had not formed yet. The plant wasdamaged, it would grow out of shape and wither if he left it there, so he casuallypicked it.

　　The fat bird hadn’t said a word yet, italoofly squatted on the hanging lamp’s lampshade, immersing itself in pickingat its own wings.

　　The little baby dragon seemed to perceivesomething, and he half ran and half-rolled towards Bai Huo. His little clawswere plump, so his walking ability wasn’t too nimble. After running up to BaiHuo’s hand, he grabbed his fingertip and started nibbling. He seemed to knowthe difference between light and heavy, completely unlike how he dealt with thefat bird this morning, he was now only using his teeth to lightly grind, so thebite wasn’t painful, more like a child trying to get an adult’s attention.

　　Bai Huo’s heart melted, how could he stayangry? He sighed and touched the little dragon’s head: “Are you hungry? Ittakes a lot of energy to make such a mess.”

　　The little dragon cub switched to poking hispalm with his horns.

　　Bai Huo felt ticklish and laughed: “Okay,let’s go out and eat.”

　　When the little baby dragon heard that, hequickly climbed up to sit on Bai Huo’s left shoulder. That place has alwaysbeen the fat bird’s seat. The latter saw that his throne was occupied, and his eyesnarrowed, fluttering his wings to try and fly over. Unfortunately, he hadn’t realizedjust how much he’d eaten, he flapped his wings but couldn’t even rise a few inches

　　”Schemer! Scheming boy!” The fatbird was unwilling, angrily accusing.

　　The little dragon clung to Bai Huo’s neck, ignoringit.

　　After napping, Bai Huo felt much better. Hisalways pale cheeks even had a little color. He washed his face in the bathroomand shook his wet hands out, but when he walked past the mirror, he almost stumbled.

　　At some point in time, the little dragon cub hadtransformed into a human cub, who looked no more than 12 months old. The small plumphands grabbed his back collar, two calves swayed on his shoulders, and the infant’sunique big eyes looked indifferent at a glance. That look revealed a bit ofcoldness that was inconsistent with his appearance. But he was still smallafter all, his transformation wasn’t skilled enough, so he still had his hornson his head and tail on his buttocks, it looked a bit out of place.

　　Bai Huo pushed down the shock in his eyes and quicklygrabbed the little dragon, he crouched down and looked at him at eye level:“Be good, tell me where you learned to do this?”

　　The parenting channel behind him finished acartoon and timely cut to commercial, selling a product for mothers of infants.– “Kids don’t cry, don’t make noise, sleep well at night, Balala disposablediapers, the most trusted brand for mothers!” The accompanying scene was ahuman baby laughing and rolling around

　　Bai Huo: “…”

　　This learning ability really was in defianceof nature. The average dragon cub wouldn’t transform into human form for atleast three months. Bai Huo vaguely felt that this kid wasn’t quite right.

　　However, this man Bai Huo had a skill, wheneverhe faced a problem, he could instantly accurately select the most trouble-freeway of thinking. The most diligent work this man has ever done in his life was findexcuses for him to be lazy. Moreover, he could use those excuses to dominateall the cells in his body, making himself embrace laziness with a clearconscience, and without burdensome thoughts.

　　He’d adhered to this low-ambition life creedfor many years. Now, he also immediately found the best excuse- this child was tootalented and clever, there’s just nothing he could do about it.

　　”Alright, this is more convenient.” BaiHuo snapped his finger and cheerfully decided to throw any doubts to the back ofhis mind.

　　It was the beginning of winter after all, BaiHuo rummaged through the cabinet to find a small white scarf he’d shoved to thebottom of the chest. Then he glanced at the Santa Claus doll on therefrigerator and pulled its clothes off with a jerk. Then he poked a tail sizedhole in the pants and dressed the little dragon cub.

　　Before leaving the house, he didn’t forget tocall the housekeeping service.

　　Counting on Bai Huo to clean up? Don’t beridiculous.

　　”Fat chicken, look after the house ah.”Bai Huo said with a grin, then he locked the door and left.

　　As soon as he stepped out, it began snowing. BaiHuo searched the old shed in the courtyard for a long time before pulling out aworn-out umbrella. He lazily shook it open and held it over the dragon cub’shead.

　　”Cold?” Bai Huo rubbed the littledragon cub’s clothes; he really was wearing too little.

　　The little dragon cub didn’t speak, only drillinginto Bai Huo’s clothes. Bai Huo simply opened up the coat and wrapped him inside:“Stay close to me.”

　　The little dragon found a comfortable positionin the coat and remained still. From the collar, a pair of sparkling eyesemerged, looking straight up at Bai Huo. From that angle, he could probablyonly see Bai Huo’s sharp chin.

　　”Why do you always stare at me?” BaiHuo touched his swaying horns and couldn’t help a smile. “Let’s go to themall and buy you some clothes first. Then we can go eat, okay?”

　　It snowed every day and the sky got darker earlier.The snowfall was very big, the surrounding woods had already been dyed into apure white. The little baby dragon was pressed up against Bai Huo’s chest. He soakedin the constant body temperature and listened to the squishing sound of snow underfootsteps, gradually falling asleep.

　　*

　　Ji Bei had went out to get the video data, buthe was just a step slower when re-entering the room, and failed to stop Lu Luo fromcomplaining to Luo Wen Xu.

　　Luo Wen Xu was furious, like a ferocious beaston the verge of going berserk. He impatiently paced back and forth in theoffice, but when he saw Ji Bei enter, he forcefully pushed down his rage andresentfully asked: “He dares to abuse you, why didn’t you tell me?”

　　Ji Bei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry:“He’s our boss, and it was just a few words, I won’t collapse.”

　　”The Vice-Captain fainted after theyscolded him this morning.” Lu Luo interrupted.

　　Ji Bei gave her a look, and Lu Luo snapped hermouth closed and slipped away.

　　Luo Wen Xu exploded at once: “What?! Doeshe have a screw loose? How dare he move Laozi’s man!”

　　Ji Bei hurriedly walked up to him and pressedhim back down onto the stool: “Ge, I’m fine, really.”

　　Every time Ji Bei called him “Ge”, he alwayssoftened up. He reached for the USB stick Ji Bei handed to him and inserted it intothe computer, cursing: “Those f#ckers, Laozi will slaughter them sooner orlater…”

　　Ji Bei was afraid he’d really go out and dosomething, and hurriedly brought up work to distract him: “Okay, enoughabout that, let’s examine the case. You went to the crime scenes today right; didyou learn anything?”

　　When it came to a case, Luo Wen Xu wouldinstantly quiet down and enter work mode faster than anyone else: “First incident,half a month ago, male victim, 20 years old, killed in his home; Second incident,four days ago, female, 19 years old, killed in her rented apartment; Third incident,last night, male, 23 years old, the incident occurred in the utility room of acompany’s warehouse.”

　　”The three cases have several things in common,”Luo Wen Xu pulled out a piece of paper and listed them out. “The victims wereall young, they were all alone when they were killed, the crime scenes were sealed,and they all died in the middle of the night.

　　”Another point,” Ji Bei frowned, “Theyall happened on the first floor or the basement.”

　　Speaking of this, he recalled something:“Right, I combed over the surveillance video during lunch break today, andI noticed something strange.”

　　”Yeah?” Luo Wen Xu opened up thesurveillance video on the USB stick.

　　After mentioning watching the surveillancevideo, a few people in the office gathered around, even Xiao Shu, who had been outof it all day, also raised his head.

　　The monitoring equipment was installed by thevictim’s company itself. The resolution was very high. In the video, a youngemployee finished eating a bento and stretched, walking into the company’swarehouse. Five minutes later, an ash-gray colored dog followed the scent ofthe lunchbox and turned around near the warehouse’s entrance. Then, who knewwhat he sensed, but he suddenly froze, his legs trembling, then he turnedaround and ran away.

　　This scene, when attached to the victims’horrible outcomes, would inevitably make people reach outrageous conclusions.

　　”I asked the victim’s company; this wasthe watchdog their night shift employees had raised. It was very clever andusually immediately alerted everyone to strangers. It was better than an alarm.So last night, what could make such a fierce dog not only too afraid to bark, buteven turn around and run? This is very unusual.”

　　”Even a dog wouldn’t dare bark at it,” Someonemuttered a few feet away. “Isn’t it a ghost…”

　　”Ghost?” Luo Wen Xu was angry, sneering.“I’m going to find out just what kind of ghost it is.”

　　Ji Bei wasn’t interested in this illogical guess,he turned and asked: “Has Director Bai called back today?”

　　- At this moment, Director Bai was standing ina noisy shopping mall, finishing up a half-hour long fitting. He let out a longsigh of relief and smiled at the two beautiful saleswomen: “Thanks sisters,just wrap up all the things he tried on, oh right, don’t wrap that one, theneckline is too tight, I’m afraid he’ll feel uncomfortable.”

　　The two beautiful saleswomen smiled sweetly,the blush on their faces not fading. They’d noticed him as soon as Bai Huo had walkedin. The customer flow in the child clothing store usually consisted of mothers,sometimes some young men came in, but nine out of ten of them were accompanyingwomen, and they didn’t stay long. This kind of unaccompanied man coming in tobuy clothes with their kid was very rare.

　　Bai Huo openly asking for assistance, hisgentle movements as he held his child, as well as his attentiveness as he triedon the clothes- add all those things together, and it wasn’t difficult to winthe salespeople’s favor.

　　”Are you his father?” The beautiful clerkteased while writing out a receipt. “Why are you buying clothes byyourself, where’s his mother?”

　　Bai Huo looked at the little dragon, and the littledragon also looked at him.

　　“Hmm… guess?” Bai Huo feignedmysteriousness.

　　The two saleswomen on the other side of thecounter giggled and asked in a low voice: “Could it be… olderbrother?”

　　He obviously couldn’t say that he’d justrandomly picked the kid up, so Bai Huo smiled mysteriously and didn’t confirmor deny.

　　Before leaving, Bai Huo exchanged the littlebaby dragon’s clothes for thicker ones, a down jacket, and a baby sized bomberhat. The two horns poked out from the hat, almost looking like a hat ornament.In fact, most dragons weren’t as affected by the cold as human beings, and didn’tneed to wrap their children up like humans did. But Bai Huo was still worriedthat the baby would freeze, so he covered him in several layers.

　　The little dragon made no objections frombeginning to end. He obediently put on whatever Bai Huo made him wear, didn’tcry or make a fuss, even the saleswomen felt amazed.

　　After buying the clothes, Bai Huo hugged thelittle cub and headed towards the restaurant. But while walking past Toy Cityon the first floor, the little dragon’s head resting on Bai Huo’s shoulder turnedextremely slightly.

　　Such a small movement, but the sensitive BaiHuo still caught it, he followed the direction to take a look.

　　It was just a few days after Christmas, andthe business hadn’t yet gotten around to taking down the Christmas tree at the entrance.There were bright lights and ornaments hanging on it, blinking along to themusic. Many children were attracted to it and had gathered under the tree,playing.

　　Dragons naturally loved shiny things, such asjewels, diamonds, crystals, etc. This fondness would gradually be restrainedafter the dragon entered human society, but to newborn dragons, liking shiny toyswas in their nature.

　　Bai Huo stared at the carefully concealed starsin the little dragon’s eyes, somehow, his heart was secretly delighted. Itseemed he’d finally glimpsed a crack in the child’s seamless barrier.

　　In the end, he was still a child ah.

　　”Want to go take a look?” Bai Huoasked with a smile.

　　The little dragon didn’t answer, but the tailhidden in his clothes rolled up.

　　He obviously wants to go, Bai Huo thought,this kid must be having an inner conflict. Smiling, he brought the littledragon over and put him under the Christmas tree.

　　There were some glass marbles for sale on thetree. A hand full of marbles were packed together in see through pouches,shining under the Christmas lights.

　　Bai Huo’s phone rang. He looked down at thenumber and picked it up, gesturing to the little dragon cub to pick something:“Take whichever one you like – Hello, Officer Luo?”

　　The little baby dragon looked up at the glassbeads reflecting the tree’s colorful lights, it was very dazzling. Then helooked at Bai Huo moving two steps away to answer the phone. His small hands clenchedinto fists, and he reached for the golden pouch closest to him.

　　”Mine!” At some point in time, a six-year-oldbratty child had sprung up beside him. He bumped into the dragon cub and grabbedthe bag he was about to pick. The little cub wasn’t very steady on his legs yet,so after being suddenly pushed, he toppled over and fell to the floor.

　　Behind him, the parent of the brat ran over,shouting: “Feifei, how can you bully others?!” The mom moved to helpthe little dragon up, but the latter didn’t wait for her before climbing up byhimself. He stared at the stolen marbles, his eyes sinking, his expressioncompletely changing.

　　——————————————————————————————————-

T/N:

Laozi: Arrogantway of saying I/my.

Sisters: jiejie-older sisters, not necessarily blood related

There it is again, sealed crime scene. Ican only assume it means that the rooms were locked, with no sign of breakingand entering. But that proposes a problem that I’ll get to later….