380: Chapter 378 Long Qingyun is a pervert.

In the cafeteria, Lu Jianchuan was stuffing the last bun into his mouth when Shen Mingyuan's phone rang.

It wasn't a normal ringtone; it was the soft sound of a water droplet falling into a deep pool.

Shen Mingyuan put down his chopsticks, took out his phone, and tapped the icon with a gray background and white border. Lu Jianchuan leaned in, and the two of them stared at the screen together.

The profile picture was a pitch-black silhouette, and the nickname was a string of gibberish. A message popped up:

[New Mission]

[Image]

Shen Mingyuan tapped on the image and froze for a moment.

In the photo was a Calico cat—but not an ordinary one. It stood on its two hind legs, its body was humanoid, its fur was soft, its eyes were large, and it was slightly tilting its head toward the camera.

Shen Mingyuan typed:

[Is this an animal? This isn't AI-generated, is it? It looks quite human-like.]

The other side replied quickly:

[Haven't you seen the news?]

[The authorities have recently acknowledged the existence of Evolved Animalss. They can't suppress it anymore.]

[Do you know why? It's because animals today are becoming more and more powerful, and they can't be suppressed. So they have no choice but to announce it to the public. Those news reports aren't clickbait; they're real.]

Shen Mingyuan and Lu Jianchuan exchanged a look.

The other side sent another message:

[Issuing the first mission now: Find the location of this animal.]

Shen Mingyuan thought for a moment and typed:

[Great, so how should I go about finding it?]

[Find it however you need to.]

Shen Mingyuan was taken aback and typed again:

[No resource support or anything?]

[What resources? You haven't even joined the organization yet, what support would I give you?]

Shen Mingyuan stared at the screen, his mouth twitching.

[So I have to pay out of my own pocket?]

[Nonsense, of course you have to pay yourself. No financial support, no resource support. Keep it up; once you find it, you can join the organization.]

Shen Mingyuan put down his phone and turned to look at Lu Jianchuan.

Lu Jianchuan was staring at the screen; after reading the last message, he gave a soft "Hoh."

"This organization is really stingy."

"No resources, purely out of pocket..." he muttered. "I wonder if it's like this on the inside too?"

Lu Jianchuan had just taken a bite of his bun and looked up upon hearing this.

"If that's really the case," Shen Mingyuan continued, "then I'd have to admire them. This is truly generating power for love. In a way, they're quite perseverant people."

"Don't be ridiculous." Lu Jianchuan swallowed his bun. "Isn't this Calico Qing Lian? Let's go find Long Qingyun."

Shen Mingyuan paused and took another look at the photo.

"Oh, right." He put his phone away. "Didn't he say he was moving? This is a good time to ask where he moved to. Let's go discuss it with him first."

Lu Jianchuan nodded. "Then go ask the staff and see where they've arranged for him to be."

"Alright."

Shen Mingyuan got up and left. Lu Jianchuan sat in his place, looking at the three remaining buns on the table, thinking for a brief two seconds.

Then he reached out and took another one.

Ten minutes later, Shen Mingyuan returned with a note in his hand that had an address written on it.

"Found it." He waved the paper. "Let's go, let's find Wei Ziqing first."

When the two found Wei Ziqing, he had just come out of the training area, covered in sweat and wiping his neck with a towel. Shen Mingyuan handed him the phone and let him see the photo and the chat logs.

Wei Ziqing finished reading and nodded.

"I see." He took out his phone. "I'll call Long Qingyun first and let him know we're coming over."

The call went through, and he said a few brief words—something to discuss about Qing Lian, we'll be there in a bit. Long Qingyun's voice came through the receiver, sounding a bit surprised, but he still said, "Sure, come on over."

Wei Ziqing hung up and looked at Shen Mingyuan. "Let's go."

"Yeah."

Just as the three of them walked out of the training area, they heard a burst of cheering from the distance.

"Hooray—Oh yeah—Awesome—"

Looking toward the sound, at the end of the corridor, Ye Ouyang was standing by the wall, holding up his phone with a beaming smile on his face. The White Tiger stood beside him, its bifurcated mechanical tail swaying slightly, celebrating something unknown.

The three of them took a glance but didn't linger, continuing forward.

A youth's joy belongs to the youth; they had things to do.

Half an hour later, the three of them stood below an ordinary residential building. Long Qingyun's new place was on the sixth floor; clothes were drying on the balcony, and the silhouette of a Calico could be seen flickering by the window.

When the three of them entered, Long Qingyun was squatting on the floor scrubbing, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and beads of sweat on his forehead. An air purifier was humming in the living room, and a window was cracked open for ventilation.

Qing Lian was kneeling by the coffee table, both hands clutching a rag, earnestly scrubbing the table legs. She was wearing—err, nothing. Just her fur. The Calico's fur shimmered softly in the sunlight as she looked up and waved a paw at the three of them.

"You're here."

Wei Ziqing scanned the room and nodded. "How have things been lately?"

Long Qingyun stood up, tossed the rag into a nearby bucket, and shook the water off his hands.

"Pretty good," he said with a relaxed smile. "I was originally renting that place, but after what happened, the higher-ups assigned this one to me directly. I guess I... have an Iron Rice Bowl now?"

He paused.

"Once filming resumes later, I can go back to work."

Shen Mingyuan nodded and was about to speak when Long Qingyun asked first:

"Speaking of which, what brings you guys here?"

Shen Mingyuan took out his phone, opened the photo, and handed it over.

Long Qingyun took it, looked, and was stunned.

"...No way." He looked up at Shen Mingyuan. "They still won't let me go? I've already moved to the official side."

"Who knows." Shen Mingyuan took back his phone. "Maybe it's just a test for me, or maybe there's some other reason. But we need to find a way—we can't just tell them your and Qing Lian's location."

Wei Ziqing chimed in from the side, "It needs to be more indirect. Or... we could trick them out of some sponsorship or something."

Shen Mingyuan's eyes lit up. "Right. Speaking of which, would this organization have sponsors? We can test their bottom line. For example, if we run into some setbacks or difficulties and need financial support—while at the same time, we actually have found evidence."

He looked at Qing Lian.

"Can we take a few photos of Qing Lian? We'll take some secretly and send them over, saying 'I saw her.' Then we can trick them into giving some sponsorship and test them out; maybe we can even follow the trail to find where they are."

Long Qingyun was taken aback and turned to look at Qing Lian.

Qing Lian tilted her head, her hands still clutching the rag, her amber eyes blinking.

"Are you going to take Nude Photos of me?" she asked in a thin voice with a hint of shyness. "I'm not wearing any clothes yet."

Long Qingyun's face instantly turned bright red.

"I—I haven't seen you wear clothes normally either!"

Qing Lian tossed the rag aside and covered her face with her front paws, peeking at him through the gaps between her claws.

"You pervert," she said, her voice muffled behind her paws. "Watching me not wearing clothes every day."

"Uh—"

Long Qingyun stood there, his face getting even redder, not knowing where to put his hands.

Wei Ziqing and Shen Mingyuan exchanged a look and tacitly averted their gazes. Lu Jianchuan stood by the door, expressionlessly looking out the window.

"Um..." Long Qingyun finally managed to squeeze out a sentence. "Don't you normally not wear clothes anyway..."

Qing Lian revealed half her face from behind her paws, her eyes curving into crescents.

"Pervert," she said once more, a hint of a smile in her tone.