All My Colleagues Are Animals 60

Chapter 60

Driving the tricycle back to the courtyard, Luo Bian forgot to even pull out the key, and rushed straight into the small building without looking back.

Arriving at the large tank, she leaped.

In the moment before she hit the water, she transformed into a mantis shrimp, splashing with a plop.

Then she paddled her legs and quickly swam toward her ex-girlfriend.

Her ex-girlfriend was curled up in a corner, as if in a deep sleep again.

Luo Bian stopped in front of her and carefully extended a long claw.

Poke, poke.

And again, poke, poke.

Disturbed like this, her ex-girlfriend only lifted her head slightly, and didn’t even have the strength to look at her, before quickly lowering her head and falling back into a deep sleep.

In just a few short days, she had suddenly become so weak.

Luo Bian’s whole body was rigid in the water.

The lifespan of an ordinary mantis shrimp is one to two years.

Back then, when she had been caught by the fishermen and brought ashore, she had been about a year and a half old.

Later, she had searched alone in human society for five years.

And her ex-girlfriend was a little older than her, so by calculation, she had now been alive for nearly seven years.

Today, the sea otter had said that a talented beast, if it could not understand the way and transform into a human, its lifespan would at most be extended by three to five years.

This meant… her ex-girlfriend had long since been approaching her limit.

She slowly curled her shrimp tail and, stickily, pressed her entire body against her sleeping ex-girlfriend, and fell into a daze, motionless.

***

The next morning, Ye Qingyu finished polishing the first draft of her short comic.

She knocked on the office door and placed the draft paper in front of her furred boss.

“Boss Pei, this is the first draft of this issue’s comic. Please take a look.”

Pei the Red Panda carefully looked at the draft paper on the desk.

The comic had not yet been colored, only smooth and cute lines. In a few simple panels, it vividly depicted a red panda getting angry and hiding on a scholar tree, but then lowering its head for an apple handed to it by a human, unable to resist reaching out a furry paw.

A pair of snow-white, bow-tie-like ears immediately perked up.

“Ye Qingyu, you’ve drawn it very well.”

“But, am I a red panda who would be so easily tempted by an apple?”

She lifted her fluffy head, proud and composed.

A red panda with self-control like her, if there were a plate of apples in front of her right now, she wouldn’t even lift a paw, let alone lower her head for it.

Ye Qingyu’s gaze moved down and swept leisurely over the little red panda’s round belly, which had just had its fill of fruit.

“You are indeed not right now,” she said gently.

After waiting patiently for her furred boss to digest for a few hours, Ye Qingyu entered the office again with the draft paper.

Having finished her fruit for the day in the morning, Pei the Red Panda, who could only eat bamboo leaves and shoots for the rest of the day, had an empty stomach and looked at the draft paper in silence.

“Now, can this comic pass? Boss Pei,” the human asked politely.

Pei the Red Panda’s ears drooped.

“…It can.”

***

Nearing noon, Ye Qingyu got on the tricycle and went to the procurement market with Luo Bian.

Crunch.

The sound of someone forcefully biting a lollipop came from the driver’s cabin.

Ye Qingyu looked up and was suddenly reminded of the scene when she had first met Luo Bian.

The woman had coolly flicked her damp, light-blue hair and had driven the tricycle with ease, speeding along.

At this moment, although everything was the same, it looked completely different—

That damp, long hair no longer had the full luster of being soaked in water, but seemed as though it had been drenched by a sudden rain, carrying a certain weary, dejected air.

The tricycle was still speeding along, but it didn’t seem to be for the pleasure of chasing the wind, but as if it were in a hurry, racing against time.

Ye Qingyu was lost in thought.

Is this the pain brought by “loss”?

She had been very lucky and had never tasted the taste of loss since she was little.

But at this moment, for some reason, she felt the same, and a faint pain in her heart.

This pain gave rise to a strong thought—

Although she had just seen Pei the Red Panda before leaving, she now had an urgent desire to go back and reconfirm her existence.

…

The tricycle drove into the backyard. The human and the shrimp unloaded the food they had bought today and stored it away in categories.

Luo Bian quickly disappeared to find her ex-girlfriend in the tank.

Ye Qingyu, on the other hand, stood under the scholar tree and quietly watched the soft, limp Pei the Red Panda sleeping on a branch for a while.

After a moment, she couldn’t help but stand on her tiptoes, raise her hand high, and scratch the palm of the little red panda’s hind paw, which was dangling in mid-air. The touch was fluffy.

The sleeping little red panda let out a “ying” and unhappily licked the tip of her teeth.

Her heart finally felt a little more full.

Ye Qingyu did not disturb the little red panda’s dream any longer and turned to go back to her desk.

Her gaze swept casually around, and her steps suddenly paused.

She slowly walked into the bamboo forest on the side, bent down, and picked up a colorful tricycle model from the grass.

This seemed to be Sister Luo’s treasured collection. How did it end up in the backyard bamboo forest?

Ye Qingyu’s brow furrowed slightly.

***

—The studio seems to have been invaded by an unknown creature.

Realizing this, the small animals were all in a panic.

First, the red panda’s wooden horse was inexplicably crushed, then Luo Bian’s tricycle model was haphazardly discarded in the bamboo forest, and later, an unknown fabric was found in the large swimming pool.

At the emergency meeting in the afternoon, Luo Bian expressed her deep dissatisfaction with this unknown creature on the loose.

“That was my most treasured model, and it was thrown into the grass.”

“So rude. I must find the culprit!”

The dejected shrimp was rarely angry, and her long, light-blue hair was even a little reddish.

The thought that that model had been placed not far from her ex-girlfriend made her extremely anxious.

—What if her ex-girlfriend was also taken away next time?

That was a cute little shrimp that would charm anyone who saw her.

Pei the Red Panda let out a soft sigh. “Let’s check the surveillance.”

Bai Shuang turned on the projector in the recreation area and, with practiced ease, operated the computer. The surveillance footage soon appeared on the large screen in front.

The surveillance at Velvet Bamboo Studio was both dense and sparse.

Its density was in that there were dozens of cameras aimed at the exterior of the courtyard, leaving no blind spots. Any human or beast who came through the main gate or climbed the wall would be clearly recorded, and the act of climbing the wall would also trigger an alarm.

Its sparseness was in that, in order to protect the privacy of the studio members, there was no surveillance inside the courtyard.

On high-speed fast-forward, everyone browsed through the recent surveillance videos and found no illegal entry of any strange humans or beasts.

“Could it have come in through a hole?”

“Or flown in?”

In their helplessness, Pei the Red Panda made a decisive decision. “This must be a repeat offender. We’ll wait for it tonight.”

…

The sky was deep and dark, and the beasts were quiet in the deep of the night.

The small animal night patrol team was well-organized. After careful planning, they dispersed and hid in various parts of the courtyard.

As the beast who was most wary of that unknown creature, Luo Bian was honored as the shrimp in charge of this rescue operation.

She was hiding in the bamboo forest, which was where the tricycle model had been discarded.

She had to catch the criminal tonight, otherwise her weak ex-girlfriend, who could not transform to protect herself, would be in danger every day.

With this thought, Luo Bian anxiously reconfirmed the battle plan with Gu Yue.

“The moment that thing appears, I’ll hit its leg with a slingshot. At the same time, you rush forward and clamp it, and then I’ll pounce and subdue it…”

Gu Yue flapped her wings confidently.

“A pelican’s large beak, everyone who’s tried it says it’s good. Don’t you worry.”

The night grew deeper, and the evening breeze blew.

The entire courtyard was filled only with the rustling of leaves and flowers, with no other suspicious movements.

Time flowed by, and the small animal night patrol team gradually became drowsy.

“Hoo~”

A faint snore sounded from somewhere.

The black panther’s jade-green eyes slowly blinked.

She lowered her head and opened her mouth, and picked up the guinea pig who was sleeping on its back, and shook it back and forth.

Even so, the guinea pig did not wake up and continued to sleep soundly in her mouth.

“Goo-goo-goo,” a few sleep-talking, Morse-code-like sounds even came from her throat.

“…”

Wu Shu was stunned for a moment.

She finally understood how the criminal could still be up to no good with a guinea pig patrolling the backyard.

She released the guinea pig, and her gaze swept around deeply, but she found nothing.

In her boredom, she lowered her head and took a bite of grass.

…

In a flash, it was the middle of the night.

The bright moon hung high, occasionally covered by thin clouds, and the light and shadow were hazy.

By the scholar tree, the human and the red panda were still on high alert, in ambush.

Pei the Red Panda was not in the tree. She had given the tree to Nian Qiu, so the little bird could have a panoramic view and explore.

She herself was huddled behind the thick tree trunk, trying hard to hide her figure.

Occasionally, she would peek out half of her fluffy head and carefully observe if any suspicious targets appeared.

Ye Qingyu was squatting not far from the red panda.

When she looked up and saw that sneaky appearance, she couldn’t help but smile.

After looking for a long time, she vaguely felt that this scene was somewhat familiar.

She unconsciously and gently moved over and touched the red panda’s head from behind.

“!”

The fully-focused red panda was startled, and in her fright, she turned and stood up straight, her two paws held high in surrender, her large, fluffy tail also held high.

She pounced on the human.

The unguarded Ye Qingyu was pounced on. She subconsciously raised her hands to protect the red panda and blurted out:

“Neng Bao, you—”

The human and the red panda both froze.

In a daze, an image suddenly appeared in her mind without any warning.

…

It must have been a late spring night. The old courtyard was lush with vegetation, and the moonlight was clear.

A tiny Ye Qingyu was playing an advanced version of hide-and-seek with a red panda—”hide-and-seek with a ‘red panda’.”

“After I’ve counted to thirty, I’m coming to get you.”

After speaking, she turned her back and began to count, facing the wall.

“One, two…”

A rustling sound came from behind her. It was the red panda, in a hurry, looking for a place to hide.

She listened with her ear and deliberately slowed down her counting.

“…Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty.”

After she finished counting, she turned around.

Her gaze swept around, and she quickly caught a glimpse of a pair of fluffy ear tips peeking out from behind a large tree.

The snow-white tips had only appeared for a moment before they quickly retracted.

She curled her lips slightly.

She patted the sky-blue school uniform on her body and, with light steps, silently circled behind the tree.

She saw the red panda huddled behind the tree trunk, trying hard to hide her figure.

Occasionally, she would peek out half of her fluffy head and secretly observe the human’s position.

She raised a hand and gently touched the red panda’s head. “Neng Bao.”

“Ying—”

The little red panda, who had thought she was well hidden, was startled, and in her fright, she turned and raised her two paws in surrender, her fluffy tail also held high, and pounced on her.

The tiny Ye Qingyu was pounced on and fell on the soft grass.

She took the opportunity to raise her hands and hug the red panda, and they rolled around. She pinched her soft, glutinous, fluffy ears and laughed crisply.

“Neng Bao, I saw your ear tips at a glance…”

…

A sharp pain shot through her head. Ye Qingyu’s pupils trembled slightly, and she suddenly came back to her senses.

The green grass was lush, and the shadows of the trees swayed.

She lowered her eyes and stared at the red panda on her, in silence.

The scene, inch by inch, matched the image she had just recalled, as familiar as yesterday.

But it also seemed to have crossed a long span of more than a dozen years, and a sense of both sorrow and joy, of something lost and found, of a certain fate, bloomed in her heart.

…What were those images?

Like a clear yet hazy distant view, painted with brilliant, dreamlike colors.

The sky-blue school uniform, the verdant courtyard.

They belonged to her real childhood.

But the fluffy red panda childhood sweetheart, the happy laughter on the grass—they did not fit her past at all.

The feeling was like finding a precious piece of a puzzle. She was delighted and wanted to fit it into her memory, but she looked around in a daze and could not find a gap where it would perfectly fit.

Pei the Red Panda lay on the human, also motionless, as if trapped in the same wistful daze.

…

Luo Bian let out a drowsy yawn, and her eyes grew moist.

Several hours had passed, and that wicked criminal had still not appeared.

If they continued to wait, the sky would be light.

To delay a human and a beast’s sleep was a crime on top of a crime, unforgivable!

The shrimp’s long hair faintly turned red, and she began to think about how to severely interrogate the criminal after she was caught.

After a moment, a dense cloud floated past, hiding the moon.

For a moment, the sky was as dark as ink.

Rustle.

A faint, subtle sound came from not far away, as if an unknown creature were lightly stepping across the grass, slowly approaching.

Luo Bian’s heart skipped a beat, and she immediately and alertly looked up, following the sound.

The clouds were of uneven thickness, and as they leisurely floated across the sky, the hazy moonlight also flickered in and out of view.

Luo Bian held her breath, and in her line of sight, a slender human figure finally appeared vaguely, swaying, and getting closer and closer.

—It’s here.

Luo Bian’s scalp tightened, and she held her breath.

She raised a hand and poked Gu Yue, signaling the pelican to prepare to attack, and she herself pulled back her slingshot and aimed.

This detestable criminal, daring to invade their courtyard.

To touch her precious tricycle model, and to threaten the safety of her ex-girlfriend—it was simply unforgivable.

With this thought, Luo Bian’s eyes narrowed slightly, and her hand, pulling back the bow, tensed, and tensed again, her arm showing firm and beautiful lines.

The wind blew the clouds away, and the bright moon reappeared.

The clear white moonlight filled the courtyard, like a pool of clear spring water.

The visitor was finally clearly visible.

The woman had long, slightly damp, light-blue hair, which shimmered with a crystalline luster under the moonlight.

Her jade feet touched the ground, and her thin clothes floated.

She lifted her head, her face as beautiful as a banished immortal, but her eyes were filled with a certain clear, dazed helplessness, like a new poem.

Luo Bian’s heart went numb.

“We’ve caught the criminal—”

The pelican flapped its wings and rushed forward, its large pink beak open.

Luo Bian’s eyes suddenly widened, and she shouted in alarm:

“Wait, don’t clamp—”