My family tree hollow connects to the modern era : Chapter 13

The birds that woke up before the humans had briefly perched in the trees, standing in a row and chirping noisily, disturbing peaceful dreams.

Bai Zhizhi rolled halfway over in bed, his eyes still closed as he habitually called out, “Beishan, it is so noisy, where did these birds come from, chase them away for me.”

Before he could finish speaking, Bai Zhizhi froze, then opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar room, with no Beishan beside him who had grown up with him since childhood.

The sense of strangeness from arriving in this other world suddenly became real at this moment.

Sitting on the bed in a daze for a while, Bai Zhizhi obediently got up on his own. At his age, this was rare, as he usually needed constant coaxing and nagging to get out of bed.

Jiang Lin had taught him how to wash up yesterday, so Bai Zhizhi tried following the human method once. But out of habit, he felt the human things were not very clean, so he took out spiritual tea and spiritual water from his storage device to rinse his mouth and wash his face, finally feeling a bit refreshed.

He casually tossed the used tea water out the window. The flowers and plants planted by the window all looked malnourished, and now that they grew outside his window, he naturally had to feed them a bit.

Just as he finished washing up, Yue Zhihuan came to knock on the door. Upon seeing him, she instinctively made a sign language gesture, then remembered he could not understand sign language. So she put on a bright smile and made a motion of scooping food into her mouth, meaning she was calling him to eat.

Bai Zhizhi smiled back at her and followed behind her as they walked out.

The weather was very good today, with brilliant sunshine. The big tree in the small courtyard was swaying in the spring breeze, radiating a warmth full of vitality.

Yue Zhihuan walked ahead with a cheerful step, occasionally picking up a few intact leaves from the ground. These could be processed and laminated into bookmarks. If she made enough, she could hang some up for sale whenever the chance arose, which could bring in some extra income for their East City Team.

Bai Zhizhi followed behind her at a leisurely pace. Whenever Yue Zhihuan turned around, he would smile at her.

His already extremely fair skin was now reflecting light under the sun, while his eyes and hair were an intense black. The stark contrast was breathtakingly beautiful, making Yue Zhihuan gasp in admiration again and again inside her heart.

Enjoying such a visual feast first thing in the morning, today was going to be another wonderful day.

When the two arrived at the dining room, everyone was there except Wu Yue. Lin Xiaoyang was even holding a meat pie bigger than his face and munching on it. “Zhizhi, you are here. Brother Jiang said he was afraid you would not sleep well since you are not used to things yet, so he did not let us wake you up this morning. Come quickly and have breakfast. This is a sauce meat pie, this is lamb offal soup, this is a beef bun with Uncle Gao’s special filling, this one is a bit spicy, and there is also tofu pudding. Do you want the salty kind or the sweet kind?”

He knew about meat buns and meat pies, as they had them in Qingqiu too, though probably with different fillings and tastes. But he had no idea what tofu pudding was.

Jiang Lin placed two bowls of soft silky stuff in front of him. “Try them first. This one is sweet, this one is salty. See which one you like.”

Bai Zhizhi picked up the spoon and tasted both, then pointed at the sweet one. Jiang Lin smiled and took the salty one for himself.

While eating breakfast, Jiang Lin assigned the day’s tasks. “Zhihua, you go with Ye Nian to the Management Bureau to get a list, then investigate everyone who has eaten the fish. Qiu Yan, you follow Wu Yue today and provide backup if anything comes up. Dao’an, you go with Yanting to check where the fish came from. That fish showed spiritual energy fluctuations when it moved, which proves it is not an ordinary fish. There might be something special where it grew up, possibly a spiritual item.”

Hearing that a spiritual item might exist, Ren Dao’an and Yue Yanting’s eyes lit up, and they responded, “Alright, we will investigate thoroughly.”

Lin Xiaoyang pointed at himself. “What about me, what about me?”

Jiang Lin said, “You continue following the Zhou family and keep an eye on the Research Institute’s progress. Update the group immediately if there is any development.”

Once assigned their tasks, everyone did not dawdle. Those who had almost finished wolfed down the last few bites, while those who were still hungry grabbed some food to eat on the road. In less than a minute, the lively dining room was nearly empty.

Watching them move so swiftly and efficiently, Bai Zhizhi bit into his unfinished meat pie and looked at Jiang Lin.

Jiang Lin pulled out a tissue and handed it to him. “No rush, eat slowly. After this, do you want to stay in the courtyard and play on your phone, or do you want to go out with me?”

Bai Zhizhi’s mouth was stuffed full as he said, “Go out.”

Everyone had left, and the courtyard only had Zhihuan and two old men left. He definitely did not want to stay in the courtyard.

Jiang Lin did not object to this. Right now, he was not at ease leaving the little fox alone in the courtyard either. He believed the little fox would not casually harm ordinary people, but they had only known each other for a short time, so he could not completely relax yet.

After Bai Zhizhi finished breakfast, Jiang Lin took him to the Management Bureau.

The boss of Fulu House was just an ordinary person who could not withstand interrogation at all. He had not even realized the seriousness of the situation. He merely felt he had caught a strange looking fish, one that had no records in any book and was not a protected species, so he tried raising it.

“I found it while fishing. The fish was huge, and I scooped it up with a net. After bringing it back, I planned to raise it for a while. I fed it fish food and fish worms, but it would not eat any of it. The fish was truly beautiful, slender and a bit like a sea snake, but covered in red scales from head to tail. When the light hit it, the fin like structures on both sides moved in an ethereal way. I figured if I could keep it alive, I would put it on display in the shop.”

A fish that no one had ever seen. Just this gimmick alone could draw quite a few curious people to the shop to take a look. Wouldn’t business just naturally follow?

At the time, he figured even if there was something wrong with the fish, the worst that could happen was it being confiscated. He did not know any better, and he had not killed or sold the fish. He would get a scolding at most, and they could not really do anything to him.

The interrogator continued asking, “What happened later? How did you start selling fish meat? Was the fish meat you sold from this fish, or did you catch other fish?”

The Fulu House boss said, “It was from this fish. I fed it a lot of feed, but it would not eat anything, including small fish and shrimp. I figured it was probably because of the environment or water quality, and the fish probably would not survive. So I casually tossed in a piece of meat, thinking if it did not eat, I would not force it. I did not expect it to eat the meat, and the fresher it was, the more it loved it.”

“The way it ate was quite ferocious, and its body was huge. When I caught it, it was nearly a meter long. I wanted to see how big it could grow.”

“At first I threw in a lamb leg, and it was finished in less than half an hour. Later I threw in half a pig, and it ate that quickly too. After that, I threw in whole sheep and whole cows, and it could clean them all up, not even leaving bones behind. The more it ate, the faster it grew, and in less than a month, it had grown to nearly two meters.”

The fish was so huge that putting it on display would absolutely attract attention. But soon his focus shifted from the novelty and spectacle. The fish was growing too fast. In just two months, the massive fish tank he had specially bought could not hold it anymore.

The growth rate was so fast that it sparked his interest. So he bought anesthetic, knocked out the fish, cut a small slice of meat from its tail, kept part of it, and sent the rest for testing.

The test results showed no special problems. It was just ordinary fish meat, with no drug residue or microbial overgrowth. Everything matched the characteristics of freshwater fish. But more detailed testing was beyond the reach of an ordinary person like him.

The Fulu House boss said, “I fed the half I kept to some white mice I bought. I wanted to see if the fish meat was problematic, whether the mice would die from eating it. I did not expect the mice to not only survive, but the cut part on the fish’s body healed within two or three days.”

The interrogator said, “And then you started selling the fish meat to people?”

The Fulu House boss said, “I tried it on many animals, kittens and puppies. I noticed that animals who ate the fish meat became especially docile, and seemed to get smarter too. Whenever I took out the meat, they would become very obedient. Seeing how much they loved eating it, and how they stayed alive and well after being fed for over half a month, I tried a slice myself.”

Hearing this, the interrogator stopped writing and looked at him with an indescribable expression. He had assumed this person was keeping a strange fish and constantly cutting off pieces to sell for shady profit. He never expected the man was simply stupid. He did not even know what kind of fish it was, and he dared to try it himself just because cats and dogs did not die from eating it. He truly was not afraid of death.

They did not need to go through the rest in detail. The rapid growth ability, the special regenerative healing ability, as long as the fish was kept alive, the fish meat could be supplied endlessly.

Under the name of specially supplied wild river fish, a plate of fish meat sold for 2,888 yuan, yet it was only a hundred grams. It was only offered to old customers, probably ones he had screened to ensure they were well off. This was practically a goldmine of a business.

From less than a meter long when brought back to the shop, it grew to nearly eight meters in a year. For this reason, the Fulu House boss specially converted the entire basement into a giant fish tank. Even though he fed it that much meat every day, cutting off a few pieces to sell a few plates still earned him double his money back.

After being brought in for interrogation, the Fulu House boss had realized the situation was not good. He had no time to feel bad about his shop’s losses; he had to worry first about whether he would go to prison.

The big fish had been taken away, the shop was destroyed, and the things at his home had not been moved either. If anyone came to search, the account books would be easily found. So the Fulu House boss did not dare to hide anything at all. He answered whatever was asked and even provided the list of regular customers, behaving extremely cooperatively.

Jiang Lin, who had been listening to the interrogation from outside, was about to ask Ren Dao’an about their progress, to see if there were any traces of spiritual items at the place where Xian Yu was found, when he turned around and saw Bai Zhizhi looking at him with a wrinkled brow and disgust.

Jiang Lin did not understand why. “What is wrong?”

Bai Zhizhi looked at Jiang Lin, then at the Fulu House boss in the interrogation room. “You humans are truly cruel. If you want to eat, just eat, but you raise it just to eat it.”

He had heard everything the person inside said.

Even when their kind ate meat, they gave a quick clean death with one stroke. And people said spirits were scary. He felt humans were the truly scary ones.

Jiang Lin fell silent.

Those words truly left him unable to argue, because there was no way to refute them.

He had just wanted to say that not everyone was like that, but before he could speak, his phone rang. Jiang Lin walked to the side to answer the call, and after a moment frowned, saying, “How did He’er get there so fast? Is it just you and Yanting there right now?”

Ren Dao’an stared at He’er not far away and gave a low hum. “I do not know how they got here. Probably received some news. Yesterday’s hot search was such a big deal, and moving the fish and arresting people were not exactly hidden. I am afraid his people got wind of it. Maybe they also suspect there might be spiritual items here, so they came looking.”

The place where the Fulu House boss caught Xian Yu was currently only known to the Management Bureau people. But the Management Bureau was not exactly a fortress either. People who blindly admire foreign things exist everywhere, and this matter had already blown up so much that it hardly counted as confidential anymore. It was not strange that they had heard about it.

Jiang Lin said, “The Lincheng branch is closest to your location. I will contact their team leader Xiao Yu to bring people over first. You and Yanting avoid them, do not get into conflict with them. If you really have to fight, do not hold back. Protect yourselves.”

Hearing the name He’er, Bai Zhizhi’s ears immediately perked up. The golden haired boss who had fought with him yesterday was He’er. So before Jiang Lin could call him, Bai Zhizhi pressed close to him before he even hung up the phone.

Jiang Lin happened to turn sideways and nearly bumped into him. “What is wrong? I will not leave without you. You do not need to stand this close.”

Bai Zhizhi asked, “Are you going to fight?”

Jiang Lin saw his eager expression and laughed. “No fighting. Why would we fight for no reason?”

Bai Zhizhi was puzzled. “Aren’t you going to fight over treasure?”

He had heard very clearly. They suspected there were spiritual items where the fish was caught, so they sent people to investigate, then ran into He’er. Wasn’t this just two groups of people fighting over treasure?

Jiang Lin said, “Whether there is treasure or not is not certain yet. It is just a suspicion.”

Bai Zhizhi pointed at himself. “I will help you. Whether there is treasure or not, I will know with one sniff.”

Yesterday he had to be coaxed with a phone to help find the fish. Today he was so enthusiastic that Jiang Lin did not believe it. “If you are willing to help, of course I am very grateful, but no fighting.”

Bai Zhizhi’s eyes rolled around. “I will help you find treasure, and you give me money.”

Last night when Lin Xiaoyang and Yue Zhihuan played games with him, he learned that games had items inside, but there were very few of them and they were used up in no time. If he wanted more items, he either had to watch ads or spend money to buy them.

He could not be bothered to waste time watching boring ads, but he had no money either. Now this opportunity to earn money had arrived. With his cultivation level, one sweep of his spiritual sense would make it perfectly clear where any treasure was.

Jiang Lin pretended to think about it. Watching Bai Zhizhi’s eyes grow wider and wider, he finally smiled and said, “Alright. If we really find treasure, I will definitely apply for a very generous reward for you.”

Bai Zhizhi was instantly happy. This tiny human world, supporting himself, easy.