Chapter 145: Chapter 135: You Can’t Do This to Me
Hearing Alex’s voice, Gu Ning got up to open the door.
"Woof!" Cook growled, pressing against the door.
Gu Ning saw his reaction was even more intense than when he saw Seth and the others. Before she could even open the door, he looked ready to charge out and fight Alex.
She knew Cook’s moods well—when he was in defensive mode and when he was in attack mode.
She didn’t dare open the door now. She had to calm Cook down first.
Cook paced anxiously by the door, nuzzling her hand with his head and trying to push her back. At the same time, he let out a warning sound to drive away the Beastman outside.
’If that annoying Wolf Clan Beastman outside didn’t leave soon, he was going to charge out and tear him to shreds.’
Gu Ning couldn’t seem to calm Cook down. Unable to push him away, she looked to Barto for help.
Barto was propping his head up with a hand, just watching them. "Aren’t you planning to take Cook to Zone 5?" he said lazily. "If you can’t handle his relationship with Alex, how are you going to bring him along?"
Seeing Barto had no intention of helping, Gu Ning gave up on him. She jumped up, wrapped her arms around Cook’s neck, and clamped her legs around his waist.
Cook’s low growl immediately turned into a puppy-like whimper.
When she loosened her grip slightly, the "puppy" quickly reached up to hold her, preventing her from falling.
Barto: "..." ’Useless thing.’
Gu Ning shot Barto a triumphant glance. ’Handling this puppy is easy. Does he really think I’ve spent all this time with Cook for nothing?’
Cook nuzzled her neck affectionately and, still carrying her, started to head back to the living room.
Gu Ning immediately leaned forward, grabbed the doorknob, and twisted it down hard.
The knob didn’t turn.
She paused, then tried pressing down on it again with all her might. The doorknob seemed to be stuck, not moving an inch.
Soon, she realized the door had been deadbolted.
Gu Ning shone her flashlight on the lock and, upon closer inspection, saw that it had been replaced. She hadn’t noticed before.
She turned to look at Barto. ’Who else but him would have changed the lock?’
Barto didn’t try to hide it. "I changed it to a more secure lock," he said, "to stop anyone from prying their way in."
Gu Ning thought to herself, ’Besides you, you fox, no one has ever tried to pry my door open.’
Besides, even if a Beastman wanted to get in, what good would changing the lock do? Even a door as sturdy as the one at Alex’s place was kicked open in two blows.
’So this lock was only meant to keep *her* in.’
Just then, Alex spoke from outside. "You don’t have to open the door. I brought something for you. You can get it later."
Gu Ning pointed at the door, signaling for Barto to come and open it for her.
Barto turned away. "It’s too late. It’s not safe to go out at this hour. We’ll deal with it tomorrow."
As soon as Alex left, Cook relaxed his guard and carried Gu Ning back to the living room.
Gu Ning jumped out of his arms, walked around to face Barto, and held out a slip of paper with the word "KEY" written on it right under his nose.
Barto turned to the other side again, pulling the blanket over his head. "I’m going to sleep."
Seeing the little fox’s attitude, Gu Ning suddenly felt reluctant to give him the other note she had just written.
She didn’t just have to solve the problem between Cook and Alex, but also the one between her and Barto.
And with the little fox, she didn’t plan on taking the soft approach she used with Cook.
Gu Ning glanced at Cook, who was standing guard beside her, then grabbed a corner of the little fox’s blanket, took a deep breath, and yanked it off.
Barto: "What are you do—"
Gu Ning quickly straddled the little fox and slapped the piece of paper with "KEY" on it onto his face.
"..."
Barto wanted to throw her off, but he held back, afraid of hurting her. He grabbed the slip of paper and tossed it aside. "I said I’ll open the door for you tomorrow!"
Gu Ning took her large notebook and scribbled a line in big letters, holding it up for him to see: [GIVE ME THE KEY. YOU CAN’T TREAT ME LIKE THIS.]
She even added an angry emoji at the end.
Barto: "How am I treating you? I already said it’s for your own safety."
Gu Ning flipped to a new page and continued to write:
[YOU’RE NOT DOING THIS FOR MY SAFETY. YOU JUST HATE ALEX.]
Barto snorted and turned his head away.
Gu Ning wrote:
[YOU CAN HATE HIM, COOK CAN HATE HIM, ANYONE CAN, BUT YOU CAN’T DO IT LIKE THIS. I’M YOUR FRIEND.]
Barto fell silent when he saw the word "friend."
Gu Ning flipped the page and wrote:
[WE LIVE TOGETHER. WE SHOULD TALK THINGS OVER.]
[EITHER WE HAVE TWO KEYS, OR YOU DON’T DEADBOLT THE DOOR.]
Barto: "So now you want to ’talk things over’? Is it only when it’s about Alex that you get angry with me?"
Listening to his sarcastic words, Gu Ning felt like everything she’d just said was for nothing.
She slapped the notebook right onto his face and grabbed the little fox’s shoulders, shaking him.
Seeing her get physical with him over Alex, Barto felt a mix of bitterness and anger.
’Does she really have to go see him this late at night? Can’t it wait until tomorrow?’
He reached out his claws, steadied her by the waist, and with a deft movement, flipped her onto the bedding beside them.
Gu Ning tried to sit up, but Barto held her down by the shoulders and growled:
"You can’t treat me like this either!"
’She’s leaving with Alex soon. They’ll have plenty of time to be all over each other later. Can’t she spend a little more time with me now?’
Gu Ning froze at the little fox’s words.
’I... what did I do to him?’
"WOOF!" Seeing the two of them fighting, Cook didn’t hesitate to tackle Barto away.
Barto swiped a claw at him. "You mutt, get lost! This has nothing to do with you!"
"Woof..." Cook whimpered pitifully, covering his face. He then positioned his body between Barto and Gu Ning, trying to stop them from fighting.
Gu Ning couldn’t get through to Barto and was starting to get angry herself. The little fox wasn’t usually this difficult to talk to.
The human and the fox, separated by a large dog, sat cross-legged on the floor with their arms folded, both a little bewildered.
Cook looked at Gu Ning, then at Barto. He sighed, nudged Gu Ning with his head, and then patted Barto’s shoulder.
Barto smacked his hand away. "Get lost!"
Gu Ning also gestured for Cook to move to the side.
"Awoo..." Cook shuffled his butt backward a little.
"Take it."
Barto handed the key to Gu Ning.
Seeing that he wouldn’t even look at her and was still sulking, Gu Ning didn’t take the key. Instead, she sat down in front of him, face to face, and wrote:
[ARE WE FRIENDS?]
Barto glanced at the notebook she was holding to her chest, then averted his gaze.
Gu Ning grabbed Barto’s shoulders, not letting him look away.
Barto grunted, his tone a bit listless. "Yes, yes, we are."
Gu Ning wrote: [THEN WE’RE THE SAME. WE’RE EQUALS. I WON’T FORCE YOU OR ASK YOU TO DO ANYTHING YOU DON’T WANT TO. AND THE SAME GOES FOR YOU.]
Barto was silent for a long moment before speaking slowly. "I’m a fox, an atavistic Mixed Breed. I’m not the same as you."
Seeing that he had calmed down, Gu Ning’s lips curved into a slight smile as she wrote: [YOU AND I HAVE THE SAME SOUL. APPEARANCES AREN’T IMPORTANT.]
’In his eyes, wasn’t she also a Mixed Breed?’
[I THINK YOU’RE CUTE LIKE THIS, TOO,] Gu Ning wrote.
Barto glanced at her words, shoved the key into her hand, and lay down with his back to her. "You don’t understand."
"Go see him. I won’t meddle with you two anymore." ’Even if I wanted to, I only have a few days left to meddle anyway.’
Hearing this, Gu Ning wanted to say she was only going to get the things Alex had brought for her, but the little fox had already turned his back on her again.
’Oh well, I’ll take it slow. The fact that the little fox gave me the key means there’s still a chance to communicate.’
Gu Ning opened the door. Alex was long gone, and only a gray backpack remained.
It was her backpack.
Her gaze swept the dark corridor. Shivering from the cold, she grabbed the bag, quickly shut the door, and returned to the warmth of the heater.
Gu Ning opened the backpack and used her flashlight to see what was inside. It was quite heavy.
Inside the backpack were some of her toiletries, some food, and Cook’s sealed contract.
Gu Ning took out the contract, which bore the seal of the Beast Alliance, and showed it to Cook. "Cook," she whispered, "look what this is."
In his current state of mind, Cook couldn’t really understand what it was, but he could feel Gu Ning’s joy.
Gu Ning wanted to share the news with Barto, but seeing him with his back to her, seemingly asleep, she just put the sealed contract back in the bag.
She also found a folded piece of paper in the bag. Unfolding it, she saw it was a note from Alex:
[TRY NOT TO GO OUT FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS. THE MILITARY HAS BEGUN AN OPERATION TO CLEAR OUT THE MUTANT SPECIES. SETH AND JITE WILL PROTECT YOU. ONCE THE SWEEP IS COMPLETE, I’LL TAKE YOU AWAY FROM HERE. I STILL HAVE SOME WORK TO DO, SO I CAN’T BE BY YOUR SIDE. IF YOU WANT TO SEE ME, TELL SETH.]
Barto heard the rustling sounds behind him. He burrowed deeper into his blanket and opened his personal information page on his terminal.
Even when offline, the terminal could display the most recently updated personal identification data.
A red light flickered in Barto’s eyes—the glow reflected from the terminal.
His personal identification page was entirely red.
Barto closed the terminal and sighed under his breath. He’d never felt so frustrated by his own identity information before.
Forget about going to the Upper District; with these credentials, he couldn’t even get into the Central District.
Unless—
A second mutation.
Only by changing his genetic sequence could he create a new identity. An unstable mutated gene would allow him to evade detection and completely change who he was.
Barto closed his eyes.
Gu Ning had given him an injection of the Blue Gold Inhibitor. He couldn’t rely on regression to trigger a second mutation anytime soon.
Only that one thing could give him a chance... to go down that path.
But only a fool would take such a huge risk for such a slim chance.
For a long time, the living room fell into silence.
Hearing the sound of even breathing behind him, Barto peeked his head out from under the blanket and turned to face Gu Ning.
