Jite saw the little Mixed Breed wasn’t moving and relented. "You can have a piece of candy first. There’s more after you take your dicine."
Gu Ning was silent for a mont before taking a piece of candy from his palm.
She wasn’t a child who needed to be coaxed to take her dicine. It was just that this stuff was genuinely a hundred tis worse than the vilest herbal tonic; even traditional dicine wasn’t this difficult to get down.
’And why is it a powder and not a pill?’
’I could swallow a pill in one go, but with the powder dissolved in water, I taste every single drop.’
Gu Ning unwrapped the candy, turned, pulled down her face mask, and quickly stuffed the sweet into her mouth, chewing it to bits. She then took the dicine from his hand, turned her back to him, held her breath, and downed it in one gulp.
However, the candy did nothing. The mont the dicine entered her mouth, the bitterness was so intense it felt like the top of her head would fly off.
Gu Ning clapped a hand over her mouth, fighting the urge to spit out the dicine. Just as she was about to look for so water, Seth thoughtfully handed her the sugar water Jite had just prepared.
Gu Ning took the cup and, with her back still to them, took a large gulp.
The sickeningly sweet water managed to suppress the bitter taste.
After finishing the sugar water, Gu Ning ran to the bathroom and chugged half a cup of tap water from the sink, finally washing away the cloying sweetness.
"Is it going to throw up again?" Seth asked, looking toward the bathroom.
"It’s fine. We have plenty of dicine. If it throws up, it can just drink more. So of it is bound to get absorbed," Jite said.
Gu Ning didn’t throw up. Her sense of taste had just been thoroughly tornted.
She hadn’t thrown up earlier because the dicine was disgusting, but because of an adverse reaction from her illness.
She didn’t have the energy to deal with Seth and Jite right now. She scribbled a note, handed it to them, and grabbed her backpack from the coffee table before heading into the bedroom.
She felt awful. She needed to rest, to sleep, so she could recover faster. She didn’t want to deal with anyone, no matter who it was.
Gu Ning closed the bedroom door, then squatted on the floor and opened the heavy backpack.
The contents were mostly snacks in various packages, along with her personal toiletries—all things she had used when she lived with Cook and the others.
Seeing all this, Gu Ning took a photo of the backpack’s contents and sent it to Barto, asking:
"Did you pack this for ?"
She waited for two minutes but got no reply from Barto.
’The little fox is probably busy.’
Faced with a backpack full of snacks, Gu Ning was too exhausted to even consider eating. She had no appetite at all. She zipped the backpack shut, placed it by the door, and collapsed onto the bed, still fully clothed.
She had just lain down when she rembered that Seth and the others could walk in at any mont. Throwing back the covers, she went to the door and pulled her ski mask from a hidden compartnt in her backpack.
’I mostly trust Alex’s n,’ she thought, ’but in a place like Zone 19, the fewer people who know my identity, the better.’
’But since Seth and the others are going to be my partners, I can’t just keep hiding from them.’
’Now that I’m living with Alex, I’m bound to run into them.’
’I really don’t want to wear the face mask anymore; it’s too stuffy. I can sleep and eat properly with this ski mask on. It’s much more convenient.’
「In the living room.」
After reading the note, Seth walked to the bedroom and spoke through the door to the little Mixed Breed inside. "We won’t disturb you. Just get so rest. We’re heading out now, but we’ll be right outside the door. If you need anything, just let us know."
There was no response.
Seth paused for a mont before returning to the living room.
Jite was examining the thermal food container and the cake—of which only a single bite had been taken—studying the little Mixed Breed’s appetite. "It eats this little? We’ll have to try sothing else."
...
「At ten o’clock that night, Alex returned to his apartnt.」
"How is she?" Alex asked Seth and Jite, who were standing guard at the door.
He had been called away on urgent business at the North Wall not long after leaving Gu Ning. He’d been busy until just now, finally finding a mont to co back and check on her.
"It’s been sleeping the whole ti," said Seth. "It took the dicine this afternoon and hasn’t woken up since."
Jite added, "I brought it dinner at six and called out to it twice, but it didn’t get up."
Alex asked, "Did you go in to check on her?"
Seth and Jite exchanged a glance, suddenly feeling the guilt of being caught red-handed.
It was strange, though.
What did they have to feel guilty about? Taking care of the little boss was their responsibility.
"We didn’t go into the bedroom. We just called out to it from the doorway," Jite said.
"Boss, it threw up this afternoon. I was worried sothing might be wrong, so I opened the door to peek at its condition. Don’t worry, we didn’t disturb it," Seth confessed.
Alex’s brow furrowed. "She threw up? Why wasn’t I told?"
Before they could answer, Alex opened the door and entered the apartnt.
Watching the door close, Seth asked Jite nervously, "The boss isn’t angry, is he?"
Jite said, "Don’t you know the boss by now? He’s not angry, he’s worried about the little boss. If he didn’t want us going inside, he never would have given you the key."
Seth touched the key in his pocket, relieved. "You’re right. We’ll just have to take good care of it from now on."
「Inside the apartnt.」
Alex stood at the bedroom door, listening for a mont before gently opening it.
The power from the construction site had been cut off early, leaving the bedroom pitch-black. But his night vision was excellent, and he could make out the small lump huddled on the bed.
Alex walked quietly to the bedside. The little female was completely wrapped in the blanket, curled into a sleeping ball with even her head covered.
He gently pulled the blanket away from the little female’s head so she could breathe more easily.
When he saw what she was wearing on her face, Alex paused. He then carefully pulled her hand out from under the blanket and pressed the back of his own hand against it to check her temperature.
She was sleeping fully clothed, with only her hands exposed.
Her skin still felt a little too warm.
Alex took out a dical Detection Device and checked her temperature again: 39 degrees Celsius.
Seeing the reading, Alex’s expression grew grim.
Before she woke up earlier, her temperature had only been thirty-eight degrees Celsius.
Compared to her normal body temperature, she was still running a very high fever.
’She’s supposed to have taken two doses of dicine today. Why hasn’t her fever broken?’
Alex tucked the blanket back around Gu Ning, left the bedroom, and questioned Seth and Jite in more detail about her condition throughout the day.
Once he was done, he placed a call to Lanuo.
"You really know how to pick your monts," Lanuo said from the other end of the line. "What is it with your little Mixed Breed this ti?"
Lanuo pulled off his gloves, his tone teasing.
Usually, he was the one who initiated contact with Alex. But ever since Alex went to Zone 19, he’d called him more tis than in the entire past year.
"She’s still running a fever."
Alex quickly filled Lanuo in on Gu Ning’s condition.
After listening, Lanuo analyzed the little Mixed Breed’s condition. "Where did you find a Mixed Breed with such a weak constitution?"
"That dicine is fairly mild, but she should have been almost recovered after two doses."
A Mixed Breed’s constitution should be strong enough that they wouldn’t even need it.
"Mixed Breeds don’t get fevers. If one actually starts burning up like that, they’re not far from distortion."
"It couldn’t actually be a Beast cub, could it?" Lanuo asked, suspicious.
Yesterday, Alex had said it was a Mixed Breed one mont and a Beast cub the next, like he was trying to hide sothing. Lanuo had been too busy the last couple of days to give it much thought, and he would have forgotten about it if Alex hadn’t called again.
But thinking about it now, sothing felt very wrong.
Alex said, "Can you switch the dicine? This one is too bitter; she’s having trouble keeping it down."
Lanuo replied, "You’re the one who asked for sothing mild. If we switch, the only option is sothing stronger."
He then couldn’t resist asking, "Is it really a Beast cub? What were you thinking, bringing a Beast cub to Zone 19? Have you lost your mind?"
Alex pinched the bridge of his nose, not wanting to explain right now. "Just get a stronger prescription ready for ."
"I’m not preparing anything until you tell the truth."
Lanuo’s tone turned serious. "Alex, you’re in Zone 19. Bringing a Beast cub there is no joke. Do you have any intention of ever returning to Zone 5?"
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