Lu Linjiang asked with great interest, "What made you think of throwing the rabbit?"
Jiang Cheng looked at him innocently, his expression clearly suggesting that Lu Linjiang was asking the obvious. "He was talking too much nonsense, dragging things out. I saw that you wanted an opportunity to circle back to the stables anyway. Creating an accident is better than letting Cui Qian lead you by the nose."
The rabbit on the table finished its cabbage leaf and stretched lazily. Without ceremony, it kicked its hind legs, launching a small black object onto Lu Linjiang.
Lu Linjiang: "..."
Jiang Cheng glanced at it. "Just brush it off. Rabbits don't have sphincters; they can't control their bowel movements."
"How do you know so much about rabbits?" Lu Linjiang asked, shaking out his clothes. "I don't recall you ever keeping one as a pet."
"You just don't know. In the lab, we often have to raise rabbits and mice. Every litter has its own records."
Yang Bo couldn't help but chime in, "So, you're basically an expert at animal husbandry?" Looking at Jiang Cheng, he really didn't seem out of place next to a rabbit.
Jiang Cheng looked back at him. "Strictly speaking, I've killed far more than I've raised. The lab often runs out of specimens before we can breed enough, so we have to buy them from outside."
Yang Bo: "..."
Fine, the "harmless" label could be discarded to a certain extent.
After speaking, Jiang Cheng instinctively checked his phone again. Lu Linjiang asked curiously, "I always see you glued to your phone whenever you have a spare moment. What are you looking at?"
Jiang Cheng shifted his gaze from the screen to Lu Linjiang. "The treatment progress at the CDC. They set up a group chat and added me."
Lu Linjiang had been too busy these past two days to think about Guo Junyi. "How is he?"
"Currently, he's on oxygen, with medication for pain and fever. But the group says that by tomorrow at the latest, they'll have to start him on glucocorticoids. In short, the situation is not optimistic."
The stables had been inspected; they had been cleaned long ago. Cui Shihai and the others hadn't even left anything behind in the small woods. Lu Linjiang rubbed the bridge of his nose and asked, clinging to a sliver of hope, "If there are no other animals, do we have any other way out?"
Jiang Cheng looked at Lu Linjiang silently for a moment. "Without a host, it's not like there are no other options. There's still PTC technology—altering the 'food' the virus needs for replication. But..." Jiang Cheng sighed deeply. "If it's certain that no host can be found, I must return immediately."
He pulled up something on his phone to show Lu Linjiang. "These are the experimental steps I've designed over the past two days; they aren't finished yet. The most critical issue is time. I don't know if Guo Junyi can hold on. I can only hope the antiviral agents Jiang Langmin brought will be useful."
"I'll do my best to find the civets, but we need a backup plan."
Jiang Cheng met the other man's gaze, understanding the implication in Lu Linjiang's words. "I'll leave to go back immediately. If—if there's still a chance to find the civets, you must be careful."
Jiang Cheng was a man of action; he was already standing up as he spoke. "I'll go pack my things now."
Lu Linjiang borrowed a police car from Zhao Zhijie and drove Jiang Cheng back. Jiang Cheng only had one bag with him, and it took only five minutes to get ready. Lu Linjiang stood at the door with his arms crossed, watching him zip up the bag. "The PTC technology you mentioned—does it involve modifying the Gaimore virus?"
Jiang Cheng was stunned. "How do you know that?"
"Before I started the car, I asked Zhuang Jingbo." Lu Linjiang recalled the text he had skimmed through. "Jinghai doesn't have a Level 4 laboratory."
"It's fine, I've thought about it," Jiang Cheng said. "I'll ask Jiang Langmin to help me borrow Cheng Hao's lab. His lab is Level 3. If we concede some benefits, Cheng Hao should agree."
"I don't understand much about your field. I just want to know—is it dangerous?" Lu Linjiang frowned at Jiang Cheng. "If the protection level isn't high enough, is it really okay?"
Jiang Cheng took out his room key. "Strictly speaking, there is danger in everything. Nothing is completely safe."
Lu Linjiang waited for Jiang Cheng to come out before closing the door. If what Jiang Cheng was about to do were within his own area of expertise, he could offer advice or simply tell him it was too dangerous. But he knew nothing about what Jiang Cheng was about to undertake; even the little he did know was from a last-minute crash course.
Jiang Cheng slung his bag over his shoulder. After a few steps, he realized Lu Linjiang wasn't following. He stopped and turned his head slightly. "What's wrong?"
Lu Linjiang caught up. "I realized I know very little about what you're going to do."
Jiang Cheng smiled and shrugged. "You can't know everything. Isn't that normal?" They walked down the stairs one after the other, finishing the checkout process under the waiter's resentful gaze. After stepping out of the gates of Shenxianle, Jiang Cheng added, "Regardless, if there really is a chance to find the civets, be careful. It's best to wear gloves."
Lu Linjiang closed the car door and nodded. "I understand." He clicked his tongue and started the engine. "I didn't realize it before, but you're quite resourceful and brave."
After their silent cooperation this morning, the atmosphere between them seemed to have cleared significantly.
Jiang Cheng glanced at him. "That's just because you didn't know."
"Didn't know?" There was a clear hint of playfulness in Jiang Cheng's tone. Before Lu Linjiang could react, his phone rang. He hit the speakerphone without hesitation. Shen Lei's voice came through; she had left Liucheng Island for the testing center immediately after receiving the findings from the woods from Lu Linjiang and Yang Bo.
"The two hairs are tiger hairs. As for whether it's a South China tiger or an Indochinese tiger, we can't tell. The longest brown one might be from a Malayan bear." Shen Lei's tone was a mix of excitement and fury. "They are absolutely terrifying!"
Lu Linjiang finally understood why the entire Cui family was tight-lipped. Indeed, carrying a virus didn't necessarily mean an outbreak, but after years of this smuggling business, spending the rest of their lives in prison would likely be the lightest sentence they could receive.
"Understood. Send the results over in a bit. I'll find a way to get them to confess tonight." He directed his last sentence to Jiang Cheng. "Regardless of whether we find the civets, I'll return to Jinghai as soon as possible."
Lu Linjiang dropped Jiang Cheng off at the subway station heading to the train station and immediately rushed back to the police station. When he placed the results in front of Cui Shihai, the old fox didn't even bat an eye.
"I don't know where you got these things. My kids are grown; I haven't been to a zoo in nearly twenty years. I probably wouldn't even recognize the things you're talking about if they were right in front of me. If you insist on trying to link this to me, I'd like to ask—what exactly are your intentions?"
Lu Linjiang tapped his fingers on the table a few times, then decisively stood up and left. Although he no longer held much hope of finding a civet from the same source, he still wanted to get a confession as quickly as possible. But his experience told him that even with witnesses and physical evidence, the breakthrough would definitely not come from Cui Shihai.
Yang Bo's recovery work was less than ten percent from completion, but these computers were far too old. The processors were burning hot; even that last ten percent would take a significant amount of time.
Lu Linjiang waited patiently for a few minutes, but the progress bar remained frozen. Yang Bo said helplessly, "The CPU is too hot; it's been running at full capacity. I've turned on a fan, but the temperature won't drop. I don't even dare move the mouse now for fear of it crashing."
Lu Linjiang paced around, considering whether to target Cui Wenxing or Cui Dongming next, when Zhang Di appeared. Lu Linjiang watched her coldly, wondering why she had shown up now.
Zhang Di, however, looked thoroughly satisfied. She wore a fawning expression. "I heard... my in-laws and my son-in-law are all in trouble?"
Zhao Zhijie looked at her strangely. "Zhang Di, what are you here for? They can't be bailed out right now."
Zhang Di smiled strangely, her face flushed with uncontrollable excitement. "No, no, I just wanted to ask—shouldn't you bring my daughter's mother-in-law in for questioning too? After all, they're husband and wife; there's no way she doesn't know."
When Lu Linjiang first arrived at Liucheng Island, it was said that Mao Lichun happened to be out, likely visiting her parents' home. She hadn't been seen for days. Zhao Zhijie had already contacted the police station in her hometown to find Mao Lichun and have her return to cooperate with the investigation.
But Zhang Di's motive for mentioning Mao Lichun now was very strange. This matter clearly had nothing to do with her, yet she was being unusually active.
"That's our business. Zhang Di, do you know something?" Zhao Zhijie asked bluntly.
"I don't know anything!" Zhang Di waved her hands repeatedly. "I'm just here to remind you that between a husband and wife, the spouse naturally knows best." She rubbed her hands with a hint of excitement. "I suppose this counts as providing a lead, doesn't it?"
Lu Linjiang suddenly understood her meaning. If everyone in the Cui family went down, then the only daughter-in-law, Cui Xiaoye, would naturally and logically take over everything. Lu Linjiang felt a flicker of admiration for Zhang Di; for a village woman, she was certainly doing everything in her power to grab the money.
Before Lu Linjiang could tell her to leave, an electric scooter stopped at the door. Cui Xiaoye got off the bike, clutching her stomach after only a few steps. Her face was still pale. Seeing Zhang Di, she shouted anxiously, "Mom, what are you doing here!"
The excitement on Zhang Di's face halved. She was clearly impatient with her daughter, but as Lu Linjiang suspected, her next plan would inevitably require her daughter's cooperation. Thus, while her impatience was undisguised, she still said, "Go back quickly! You're still in your postpartum month; don't you want to get well?"
Cui Xiaoye finally managed to walk in and grab Zhang Di's arm. "Mom, come back with me. Don't stay here and interfere with the police!"
Zhang Di yanked her arm away and instinctively rolled her eyes. "I'm providing leads for the police! What do you know!"
Lu Linjiang's gaze shifted between the two. "Well said. Between a husband and wife, the spouse knows best. Regarding Cui Wenxing's affairs, Cui Xiaoye should be clear as well."
Caught off guard by her daughter being dragged into it, Zhang Di said irritably, "Bullshit! That old man Cui guards against my daughter like she's a thief. He doesn't even give her much pocket money. If she wants to buy something big, she practically has to file a report. How could the Cui family tell my daughter anything they're doing!"
Lu Linjiang ignored her completely. "Let's talk first. Whether she knows or not, we'll only find out after asking." He stepped around Zhang Di, unceremoniously separating the two. "Come, follow me to give a statement."
