Chapter 98: Lin Ying

I have a feeling—that so-called Boss Bai is definitely that guy Tu Song Abai.

Squatting in the bathtub, enjoying the massage and sauna from Yu Xueqing and Mo Yiqing, An Sheng twitched his Yanjiao as barks rose and fell across the village.

Why didn’t they come earlier or later, but only after I’d just finished bathing?

An Sheng groaned, his forehead lined with black sweat.

Today, when delivering goods to Qiu Lingling, Tu Song Abai—due to his master’s influence—grudgingly acknowledged Xia Beihu’s fox subspecies as a friend.

Native Chinese farm dogs possess countless advantages in guarding homes and loyalty.

But they also have one serious flaw: they’re famously fond of team-building.

Since Tu Song Abai now recognizes the fox as a brother, their team-building activities naturally include An Sheng.

As for why Tu Song Abai came to fetch him, An Sheng had a vague idea.

It must be related to some giant fish in the Jianghe River.

At the seafood market, An Sheng had heard other dogs say a new family member had joined, and they should all go catch the duck-billed fish in the river and eat it.

The “duck-billed fish” the dogs mentioned was very likely a fish spiritual beast living in the Jianghe River.

“Ying ying?”

As An Sheng was thinking, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest and turned to Mo Yiqing with a confused expression.

“Oh, sorry,” Mo Yiqing said, seeing the little fox cry out, her face flushing with embarrassment.

“Male foxes don’t nurse. I don’t even know why they grow these things.”

“Ying?”

Mo Yiqing’s offhand remark made An Sheng forget the pain in his chest.

“Maybe… maybe the ancient fox ancestors foresaw the world’s spiritual energy revival, so they gave all male foxes a way to survive!”

I have no idea why I grew these things!

After bathing, An Sheng instinctively whimpered to Yu Xueqing, then made a casual excuse to go out.

“Your fox ran off!” Mo Yiqing, stripped of her coat and T-shirt, wearing only a sports bra, sat on the sofa chatting with her “boyfriend,” watching the little fox leap out the window.

“It’s fine—Little An went next door to visit Laifu and went to the opposite shepherd dog’s place to drop a pile. When you wake up tomorrow, there’ll be a new little fox in your bed,” Yu Xueqing said from inside the bathroom.

Mo Yiqing slowly blinked, then shouted toward the bathroom:

“Ah Qing… shouldn’t you switch majors and become a vet or animal trainer?”

“Your talent for farming is being wasted.”

………………

An Sheng exited his home, turned right to the opposite corner, and skillfully climbed onto the pillar of Lin Ying’s villa gate, glancing inside: all three floors were brightly lit.

In front of the villa, a business car was parked; the swimming pool had been cleaned and returned to normal, with a group of goldfish swimming lazily, and decorations still on the bottom.

The swimming pool was naturally meant for swimming.

But Lin Ying’s daughter had tossed in a goldfish she won at a temple fair, and so the pool had naturally become a goldfish pond.

“Ying ying ying!”

An Sheng avoided the downstairs maid, climbed up the drainpipe to the second floor, peeked inside—no one there—then climbed to the third floor and immediately saw Lin Ying, sitting on a long bench, expressionless, lifting dumbbells.

An Sheng tapped on the glass window. Lin Ying, working out inside, glanced over, recognized Fu Li Lao Ye, froze, then hurried forward to slide open the window, leaning out to pull the little fox clinging to the drainpipe inside.

“Ying ying ying!”

The little fox dashed to the nearby phone, entered the password, opened the notes app, and typed out a single line using one-finger Zen:

【How are you feeling? Yesterday I went into the mountains and solved a major case—someone dumped nine sets of automatic rifle parts right into the forest.】

Lin Ying crouched behind the little fox, read the message, and her expressionless, well-dried-well gaze rippled slightly as she replied:

“Illness strikes like a mountain collapsing, but recovery is slow. I’m currently maintaining my condition with external medication—taking pills on schedule and exercising appropriately helps stimulate endorphin and dopamine secretion, which benefits me.”

“Though sometimes I feel utterly drained.”

Lin Ying spoke slowly, revealing her psychological state over the past two days.

“Ying.”

The little fox nodded gently, then typed another line on the phone:

【Follow your doctor’s advice, get proper treatment. I’m just a fox—I don’t understand any of this. But I’ve made a new dog friend. They’re holding a gathering tonight to hunt a spiritual beast in the Jianghe River. Would you like to come see the seafood market at the dock?】

【By the way, the new tenants in House 32 aren’t a real married couple—they’re intelligence agents directly under the Anquan Bureau. They know about me. We must avoid meeting.】

Lin Ying watched Fu Li Lao Ye type, and when she saw “Anquan Bureau,” she said: “If they came because of Fu Li Lao Ye, they’re probably Forest Rangers.”

“Forest Rangers mainly investigate spiritual beasts in the forests—or, when necessary, prevent rampaging spiritual beasts from entering the city.”

“Ying?”

An Sheng turned around, eyes wide with surprise.

“Lin Holdings primarily operates in real industry, with employees scattered across the country. Learning about things that aren’t truly secret isn’t hard—it’s just that no one believed us when we spoke of them before.”

Spiritual beasts, Forest Rangers, Drone Pilots—their codenames or team designations all have real-world references.

Suppose you say you saw a Forest Ranger chasing a spiritual beast through the woods.

Those in the know might nod, but if you told someone unfamiliar, they’d just roll their eyes or stare at you like you were a fool.

While recovering, Lin Ying hadn’t paid much attention to the Anquan Bureau or Lin’s Grand Elder.

But she’d done some basic intelligence gathering and learned a little about departments related to spiritual beasts.

“Fu Li Lao Ye, wait a moment—I’ll go change clothes and then head out.”

Lin Ying carried the little fox upstairs to her bedroom, didn’t bathe, just wiped her entire body with wet wipes to remove sweat from her workout, changed clothes, then sent a message to Lin Shu downstairs to prepare the car.

Lin Ying put Fu Li Lao Ye into her bag, slung her own shoulder bag over her shoulder, and got into the business car.

“Directly to the dock seafood market,” Lin Ying told Lin Shu, who sat in the driver’s seat.

As the car’s partition slowly rose, Lin Ying let Fu Li Lao Ye out and asked:

“Fu Li Lao Ye, is there anything you’d like to eat?”

Eat? Do you know where to find authentic Buddha Jumps Over the Wall?

At the mention of food, the little fox’s mind immediately conjured Mo Yiqing’s face and her muttered words:

Writing during the day always feels itchy all over, the surroundings empty.

But writing at night—somehow—I always feel fulfilled.





(End of Chapter)