Chapter 7: Rescued

Chapter 7: Rescued

When Lan Mu regained consciousness, the first thing he smelled was a familiar scent. Opening his eyes, he saw a white hospital room.

He saw himself lying on a hospital bed, with an IV drip attached to his right hand. He adjusted his position and slowly shifted his body upward, finally propping himself up to sit on the bed.

There were other beds opposite his; this was not a private room.

After thinking for a moment, Lan Mu raised his left hand to press the call button for a nurse. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through him. He looked and saw his left arm was professionally bandaged. This reminded him that he had suffered a gunshot wound there. Clearly, it hadn’t healed yet, and any movement caused intense pain.

Unable to help it, he decided to ask the patient in the bed opposite for assistance.

“Hello, could you please help me call a nurse?”

Unexpectedly, after he asked, the man in the opposite bed pretended not to hear. He lay flat and pretended to be asleep.

He had clearly seen the man sneak a glance at him earlier!

“What’s going on?”

Lan Mu was puzzled but had no choice. He struggled to move his right hand, which was attached to the IV, and finally managed to press the call button.

Soon after, a nurse walked in. Seeing he was awake, she immediately smiled and said, “You’re finally awake!”

After saying that, the nurse helped adjust his hand, checked the medicine bottle, and then turned to walk straight out the door.

“Hey? Wait! Don’t go! Let me ask… who saved me? How long have I been lying here? When can I be discharged?” Seeing she was about to leave, Lan Mu hurriedly called out.

The nurse turned back and said, “You were brought in yesterday morning; it’s been exactly one day now. When you can be discharged is up to the doctor. Also, someone will be here soon to ask you some questions.”

Watching her hurry out, Lan Mu felt a bit strange. Thinking about his gunshot wound, he suddenly understood.

“It seems the police will be arriving soon.”

However, ten minutes later, the first to enter the room was a reporter.

The reporting team was simple: one female reporter and one male assistant. The man was responsible for taking pictures with a digital camera. The female reporter wore a sharp professional outfit, her hair pulled up into a high ponytail. Holding a voice recorder, she directed her questions at him: “Mr. Lan, hello, I am a reporter from the Fuzhou City News. My name is Qin Yu. May I ask if the shooting you suffered is related to the latest poaching case?”

After hearing this, Lan Mu couldn’t help but chuckle wryly. This was an interrogative interview style he knew extremely well. It got straight to the point, leaving little room to evade, with almost every question demanding a yes or no answer.

“Reporter Qin, right? Can I see your press pass first?”

Qin Yu was taken aback. She took out her press pass from her pocket and hung it around her neck. Lan Mu glanced at it and saw it was indeed from the Fuzhou City News. Like him, she was a beat reporter, though Lan Mu was also an editor and could sometimes refuse certain on-the-ground interviews.

“Mr. Lan, can you answer my question now?” Qin Yu seemed very eager, looking at Lan Mu with hopeful eyes.

Lan Mu adjusted his sitting position and said, “What question? Could you ask it again?”

Qin Yu took a deep breath and repeated the question.

“About the shooting, well, I was indeed shot,” Lan Mu answered slowly and hesitantly.

Qin Yu was quite patient and asked again, “Then, is it related to the latest poaching case?”

Lan Mu didn’t answer directly. Instead, he said, “What do you mean by the latest poaching case? That seems like something only the police can confirm, right? Speaking of which, when are the police coming?”

Qin Yu, seemingly inexperienced, was quickly led off track. She answered, “They should be here soon, probably. Hey! Please answer the question directly, Mr. Lan.”

Lan Mu smiled. He could tell Qin Yu was a novice, probably just recently made a full-time reporter. She probably thought every interviewee was an ordinary resident. For an old hand like him, dealing with her lack of experience was easy.

Not only did Qin Yu fail to get any substantial information after asking for a while, but she was also led off track several times by Lan Mu. Instead, Lan Mu managed to ask her a few questions in return.

Just as Qin Yu was gritting her teeth in frustration, the police finally arrived. Four officers walked into the room and immediately surrounded Lan Mu’s bed.

“Hmm? Reporter Qin is here? Sorry, we have some questions to ask. Could you step outside for a moment?”

As soon as the police entered, the leader directly asked Qin Yu to leave temporarily.

Qin Yu, being thin-skinned, actually said “Oh” and walked out.

Lan Mu smiled, knowing the police’s questions were unavoidable and unnecessary to avoid. Moreover, he wanted that group of poachers to be caught!

“Mr. Lan, we already have a good understanding of your personal information. Could you directly explain the cause of your gunshot wound?”

Lan Mu naturally told the truth. He recounted everything from being pushed down the mountain, to discovering the poachers, to narrowly escaping death and managing to get away.

Of course, he completely avoided mentioning his transformation during the ordeal. However, he couldn’t avoid mentioning the White-maned Lion he had seen.

Hearing Lan Mu’s detailed account, the police officers’ faces showed smiles.

Lan Mu had indeed provided several very useful clues. For example, the forest ranger Xiao Tang was the biggest breakthrough in the case.

“Get moving immediately. Wang Tang, go and secure this Xiao Tang right away. Hu Duo, notify all departments immediately. Set up checkpoints on all highways leaving Fuzhou. Also, review surveillance footage. Make sure to find all vehicles matching Mr. Lan’s description and intercept them.”

“Finally, Mr. Lan, please cooperate with our personnel immediately to describe the facial features of several suspects so we can create composite sketches.”

“I need to return to the station and check with colleagues from Lingnan. This group has likely killed people before; there must be case files on them in Lingnan.”

Lan Mu nodded and carefully described their appearances. He gave the most detailed descriptions of the poacher leader and Huang Sheng. The sketches of these two ended up looking almost exactly like the real people.

“That’s all. With this, you’ll definitely be able to catch them!”

Officer Xiong, who stayed behind to create the sketches, packed up his laptop. He thanked Lan Mu and prepared to leave.

However, Lan Mu stopped him and asked, “Can I ask who saved me? I remember losing too much blood and passing out in the countryside.”

“Oh, it was Reporter Qin outside! She was also the one who called the police.”

Lan Mu nodded and asked further, “Then how did you know about the poaching case? I remember this poaching case in Fuzhou was very well hidden. Did Reporter Qin encounter the poachers?”

Officer Xiong said, “Not exactly. The gun you were shot with was clearly a homemade hunting rifle. That type of rifle is typically used by poachers. Also, that Leopard is currently in the zoo. We plan to release it back into Fanli Mountain soon.”

“I see…” Lan Mu nodded, deep in thought.

Officer Xiong thanked Lan Mu again, told him to rest well, and then left.

A short while later, Qin Yu, pursing her lips, came back in and sat by Lan Mu’s bedside.

Lan Mu sighed. Knowing that Qin Yu had saved him made him feel somewhat awkward.

Initially, he had instinctively bullied this fellow reporter. Thinking back now, since she had saved him, his behavior seemed a bit excessive.

“I’m sorry, and thank you for saving me.”

Hearing this, Qin Yu looked delighted and said, “You’re welcome, it was nothing. I saw your credentials. You’re a reporter from Metropolis. That doesn’t conflict with our newspaper at all. You’re the senior here, so please don’t bully me anymore. Can you answer my questions now?”

Lan Mu thought to himself that for this kind of out-of-town news, his newspaper, Morning Light, didn’t really pursue exclusive coverage. It was just that an anonymous letter had mysteriously been sent to Metropolis, leading to this business trip. Now that he thought about it, that anonymous letter was very suspicious!

He hadn’t provided this information to the police yet. It seemed he still needed to visit the local police station.

“Mr. Lan? Mr. Lan?” Seeing Lan Mu silent, Qin Yu bit her lip anxiously, looking adorably naive.

Seeing she was almost in tears, Lan Mu couldn’t help but find it amusing. So, he answered her questions directly.

After a few questions, the interview got on track, and Qin Yu’s questions became sharper and more pointed.

However, in Lan Mu’s view, she was still a bit inexperienced. Several questions missed the key points. So, he actively helped Qin Yu by adding a few questions himself, until the entire event was described in great detail.

This wasn’t about repaying a favor. The debt for saving his life couldn’t be repaid so simply.

“That’s basically it. It’s completely enough for a big news story. Oh, when you give this to the editor to write the copy, remember to have him mention the shooting first, then the poaching case… cough sorry, professional habit… your editor should understand these things.”

“Right, if you have a good relationship with your editor, you can definitely have him include you in the story. After all, you saved me, so you were part of this case. Even though both of us work behind the scenes, it doesn’t hurt to have readers remember you.”

Qin Yu, having been guided by Lan Mu a few times, was very grateful. After thanking him several times, she hurriedly got up to leave.

Lan Mu, seeing her hasty and somewhat careless manner, quickly called out, “Leave a phone number! Hey!”

“I…”

But Qin Yu had already rushed out of the room, apparently eager to submit her material.

Lan Mu shook his head. He had originally planned to formally thank her and maybe have a meal together after he recovered.

But since she was in such a hurry, forget it for now. He could just find her at her workplace later.

The room suddenly felt empty. The whole room had only two people now: himself and the patient in the bed opposite, who was still pretending to be asleep.

Lan Mu chuckled softly. He figured the other person knew he had been shot and that police kept visiting, probably misunderstanding something.

But Lan Mu didn’t mind. He searched around and finally found his phone in the bedside drawer.

The phone had less than ten percent battery left. He hurriedly sent the information he had prepared in the draft folder to Editor-in-Chief Liang.

After waiting a short while, seeing the battery was critically low, he still decided to make a call.

After a few rings, it suddenly changed to “The number you have dialed is currently busy. Please try again later…”

“Huh?”

Lan Mu was startled. It had clearly connected. How could it suddenly be busy? This situation was clearly a sign of being suddenly blocked.

He tried calling Editor-in-Chief Liang repeatedly after that. Each time, the line was busy.

Ten minutes later, as his phone was about to shut down, he made one last attempt. It was still busy.

“Beep…”

The phone finally used up its last bit of power and the screen went black.

Lan Mu’s heart sank. He was now certain he had been blocked.

“What happened over in Metropolis?”