Chapter 6
After waiting in line for a long time, their turn was finally called.
Gray Wolf gratefully held Qing Yao and sat opposite the doctor, who was quite young and spoke softly and gently.
After Gray Wolf thoroughly described the symptoms, the doctor shook his head helplessly. “The child’s intestines are naturally weak and easily affected by various factors. Drinking untreated water can cause diarrhea and may also lead to parasitic infections. From now on, make sure to boil the water before drinking it, and don’t make it too hot—just warm is fine. For now, we’ll focus on reducing the fever and stopping the diarrhea. Once the temperature drops, the diarrhea should cease, and there shouldn’t be any serious issues. I’ll prescribe some medicine for you to get. Observe the child at home for a day, and if there’s no improvement, come back immediately.”
The two inexperienced new parents nodded eagerly, clutching the prescription as they went to get the medicine.
Without a medical card, getting the medicine was a hassle. By the time they finally had it in hand, it was nearly dark outside.
The outpatient hall had thinned considerably, and Gray Wolf stood at the hospital entrance holding the child, not moving right away. She glanced toward the fox, who was dutifully holding the medicine.
“We have to come down from the mountain,” she said.
The fox looked puzzled. “But haven’t we already come down?”
“We’re living down the mountain, living in human territory, like those humans.”
The fox exclaimed, “You’re going to invade human homes? If the humans find out, we’ll be caught!”
Gray Wolf shot him a glare. “Who said I’m invading human homes? We have money now; we can rent a place. Renting—do you understand that?”
The fox wasn’t always a mountain dweller; his curiosity and playful nature had taken him to human cities many times, so he knew what renting meant.
“Oh, when will we rent? Where will we stay?”
Although afraid of being caught by humans, since this would be a legal residence by paying rent, there was no need to worry. The fox quite looked forward to living in a human city, especially now—the cities were vastly different from those a hundred years ago, filled with all kinds of novel things he had never seen before. He wanted to explore and experience them properly. He had been hesitant before, but now with Gray Wolf by his side, he was eager to try.
Gray Wolf herself didn’t know where to rent. Just in that moment, the thought had struck her strongly.
“Let’s talk about it tomorrow. For now, let’s buy some things.”
One feeding bottle was far from enough. They also needed cups, basins, water bottles, and clean, drinkable water. In the city, all kinds of small shops and street vendors sold water that seemed safe enough for young cubs.
The fox, buying things for the first time, jumped around the supermarket, wanting to buy everything he saw.
“This cloth, we need cloth to wipe the cub.”
“This one’s soft and smooth too, let’s get one.”
Holding a towel in one hand and a large bath towel in the other, he was excited.
Gray Wolf glanced at them. The cub’s diarrhea was like a scattering of petals, even the swaddling blanket was soiled. It was chilly at night, so they needed a new blanket to wrap her in.
She felt the towel—it was soft, but both were a bit too small.
“Too small, no good.”
The fox drooped his ears and put the items back, but within minutes, he dashed back excitedly.
“I found a big one!”
He was clutching a four-piece autumn-winter bedding set hidden in the shelves, the fleece kind, soft even through the packaging.
“This should be big enough, right?”
This time Gray Wolf nodded without objection.
Originally, they only planned to buy some basic supplies, but by the time they checked out, the shopping cart was packed full. The fox had found even more good things: baby wipes, wet wipes, moisturizing cream, baby snacks, toys, and a stroller.
Gray Wolf mercilessly left the stroller behind but kept the toys.
Two large bags were filled with all the items. The fox carried them lightly, practically bouncing with excitement.
It was his first time openly wandering human shops and walking out unscathed.
“I like this place,” he declared, his face glowing brightly.
Truly a fox spirit, Gray Wolf felt dazzled by his radiant smile.
She turned away softly. “Is that so?”
“Yeah. What about you? Why did you come down the mountain? Do you like the human world too?”
Gray Wolf didn’t answer.
Why? Because she’d been away from her pack too long, and the place she lived had been developed by humans into a scenic spot, leaving her with nowhere to go.
She should have hated these humans destroying the environment, but she didn’t. Humans were numerous and powerful, able to claim more land—this was a universal survival law everywhere. She couldn’t fight all humans, so she had to move elsewhere.
She simply wanted to see what modern human cities were like. The humans who had come up the mountain before were very different from those long ago, which piqued her curiosity.
Of course, she couldn’t say such a simple reason to the fox—talking about losing territory to humans sounded weak.
“Let’s go quickly. It’s already dark. We still have to give medicine and feed her.”
Passing the lakeside villas, the luxury district that had been brightly lit the night before was now dark except for street lamps. The entire area was eerily silent.
The police and Taoist priests had left. The abandoned villas were surrounded by long police lines and no-entry signs.
The fox peeked inside cautiously, feeling the danger had passed.
Suddenly, he asked, “All these houses are empty. Can we live here?”
Technically yes, but Gray Wolf gave him a very realistic and harsh answer: “No people, no mice.”
True—no mice meant no food. Besides wild birds, the mountain lacked field mice and rabbits, and food was scarce. Otherwise, the fox wouldn’t have been so eager when Gray Wolf caught mice.
The fox had tried catching birds, but they had little meat, were troublesome to catch and chew, and he had heard from humans that catching birds was illegal and one could go to jail.
Though animals probably wouldn’t be jailed, they would surely be caught and taken away by humans.
Disheartened, the fox gave up that idea.
“Such a pity. Such big houses too.”
Just as the two creatures returned to the mountain, the police’s preliminary investigation results were released and announced that evening.
The public report couldn’t mention any supernatural entities, but it was difficult to explain how the entire Chen family had turned into skeletons overnight. The official line was that the entire Chen family died in an accident while celebrating Chen Zhongyong’s birthday. Details were under investigation, and no further information was disclosed. After all, it was hard to explain scientifically.
The strictly materialist police had once refused to believe in ghosts or monsters, but with the increasing supernatural phenomena in recent years, they had no choice but to accept them. They were proposing to establish a metaphysics department to cooperate with folk mystics to handle such unscientific incidents.
The police spent the whole afternoon identifying the dead and retrieving all usable nearby surveillance footage. Surveillance near the accident villa was mysteriously destroyed by unknown forces; only distant footage from other villa owners’ outdoor cameras showed some faint activity.
Taoist Priest Wen Yuan had been accompanying the police, answering questions and helping monitor for supernatural phenomena.
He had been busy all night and was now heavily sleep-deprived, dark circles under his eyes.
After watching surveillance for a long time, his eyes were nearly strained.
Rubbing his eyes, Wen Yuan suddenly noticed movement in the grass. “Stop! There’s something here.”
The police squinted to see, but the footage was from a strange, distant angle and nighttime lighting was limited. Two officers almost lost their eyesight trying to detect anything in the grass but saw nothing.
“Priest, what did you see?”
“A tail, like a fox’s.”
The officers laughed. “A fox? Our Xiaofeng Mountain’s ecology is quite good; animals have increased in recent years. Animals often wander down into the villa area. Not long ago, a rare bird was found.”
Wen Yuan shook his head. “There’s demonic energy here. This might be a fox spirit.”
The officers immediately stopped laughing, their faces turning serious but strangely expectant.
“A fox spirit? Like a fox that has become magical and beautiful, able to charm people?”
Wen Yuan looked at the questioning officer with some disdain. “One whose will is weak and easily drained of yang energy. Even righteousness can’t protect you.”
The officer awkwardly chuckled. “Just joking. Could a monster at the scene be related?”
Wen Yuan shook his head. “Don’t know. Keep watching.”
The fox appeared briefly in the grass and disappeared quickly. For a long time afterward, they only saw occasional passing cars and still roads and grass, prompting everyone to rub their eyes.
Wen Yuan drew a calming talisman on himself and closed his eyes, continuing to watch. The situation was clear, but he felt something remained unresolved.
This time, his senior brother had left too abruptly, with no farewell or explanation. He wanted to fully reconstruct what had happened.
Yawning, the time on the footage had reached late night. Wen Yuan rubbed his eyes, then suddenly fixed his gaze and hurriedly tapped the person next to him.
“Stop! Stop now!”
He had seen a familiar corner of clothing—his senior brother Ling Yun’s. During the battle, Ling Yun had briefly left the villa but did not go far and returned quickly.
What was he doing during those few minutes outside?
He had a chance to leave but chose to come back.
“Quick, find other angles of surveillance from this time!”
Only two cameras captured the scene. The other showed only Ling Yun’s half body and a blurry figure from behind, but from afar, it seemed he was holding something.
He stopped at the road’s end, and when he returned, the thing in his arms was gone.
“He handed something to someone else!” Wen Yuan said excitedly, slapping the table.
What could it be at such a time? A magical tool? A secret manual?
There were witnesses present, and the police were a bit excited. But checking all entrances and exits’ footage, no one else appeared during that time.
Until one officer hesitantly said, “Could it be that fox spirit?”
Amid the lively discussion, new news arrived.
The Chen family was not entirely wiped out. Thirty-three people attended the birthday celebration, and one person might still be alive—no corpse of that individual was found at the scene.