The camera had been far away during his call with Gu Li, and the lighting was rather dim. While the man was visible, it was impossible to tell which clan he was from. He hadn’t revealed any of his racial traits.
"He’s from the Fox Clan," Idelos said.
Deviant was taken aback. He looked up and said, "How do you know?"
Idelos said, "His name is Gu Li."
"It could be for beaver or civet for all you know!" Deviant retorted, unconvinced.
Idelos couldn’t be bothered to argue with him.
Deviant zoomed in on the video again and again. Just then, a message arrived from Gu Li.
He immediately tapped on it and saw a string of characters—it was a household ID code.
Deviant was familiar with this kind of code. It was temporary and could only be viewed once. He copied the code, scrolled through his contact list, and found a friend who worked in the household registration department. He gave him a quick call, then sent the code over.
Soon, his friend sent him a screenshot.
[I can only see his personal info. I don’t have clearance for the rest.]
[Thanks.] Deviant opened the screenshot to take a look. It showed Gu Li’s ID photo and some basic personal information.
Name: Gu Li
Age: 25
Residence: Zone 5 — Fertile Forest Land
Race: Fox Clan
"His name is really Gu Li?" Deviant said, looking at the name on the file.
’I thought the guy had just made it up to hide his identity.’
’But since he even gave out his household information, there’s no need to hide anymore.’
"You guessed right," Deviant said to Idelos. "He really is a fox."
[By the way]
Deviant’s friend sent another message:
[His household registration is under a female’s name. You’d better not go snooping around.]
Reading the message, Deviant slapped his thigh. "No wonder that guy acts so cocky! Turns out he’s registered to a female’s household!"
Hearing this, Idelos sounded a little surprised. "He’s registered to a female’s household?"
Deviant said, "Yeah! Look at him, already moved into a female’s house at twenty-five. Then look at you. You’re both twenty-five, so why is there such a huge gap?"
Idelos said with a deadpan expression, "Why don’t you take a look at yourself."
Deviant: "..."
*
Barto and Gu Ning signed the contract and sent it to Deviant. A short while later, Gu Ning received a notification of a transfer from Deviant.
The ten million down payment had arrived.
Gu Ning counted the zeros, jumped up in excitement, and started shaking Barto’s arm. Then she went to hug Cook. "We’re rich!"
Cook didn’t know what Gu Ning was so happy about, but seeing her happy made him happy too.
Barto chuckled. "All this excitement over a little bit of money."
’A little bit of money? This is ten million!’
Gu Ning wrote on a piece of paper, "Then why did you charge me so much for the gun back then?"
Barto crumpled the paper and threw it on the table. He scooped her up in one motion and started walking out. "Still holding a grudge, huh? Go take a bath. You stink of dog."
Gu Ning struggled. "I don’t wanna..."
’She was traumatized by public bathrooms.’
Barto picked up a bag from the entryway. "Your wound has healed, so you can get it wet now. I’ve got clothes ready for you too."
Gu Ning kept struggling. "I’ll wash at home!"
Barto said, "You want me to haul water for you?"
Gu Ning thought of the large tub he’d brought back for her. ’Hauling water would be a huge pain,’ she admitted to herself.
"One bucket. Just one bucket of hot water is fine," she said.
Barto said, "Not even one bucket. Go wash in the bathroom yourself. There’s plenty of hot water."
It wasn’t that he found hauling water for her tiring—he could just make the young wolves do it anyway. He just wanted her to have a proper, comfortable bath without being scared the whole time.
After a moment’s thought, he said to Cook, "Cook, bring the tub."
"WOOF." Cook ran to the bathroom and brought out Gu Ning’s tub.
Seeing this, Gu Ning had no choice but to say, "Alright, fine. I’ll wash by myself."
Barto set her down, held her shoulders, and gave her a gentle push forward. "Don’t worry, we’ll be standing guard outside."
The three of them arrived at the first-floor bathroom.
It was already approaching eleven o’clock. Barto had specifically chosen this time to bring Gu Ning over.
Besides the three of them, the only other residents in the building were Alex’s wolf pack. The young wolves had all bathed together yesterday, and besides, they never used the bathroom after ten.
"Go on in."
Barto switched on the light in the public bathroom. He placed the tub under a showerhead in the middle of the room and started the hot water for Gu Ning, then went to stand guard outside the door.
Cook wanted to go in and bathe with Gu Ning, but Barto held him back.
"Woof..." Cook pawed at the closed bathroom door.
"Behave," Barto said. He figured Cook had probably bathed with Gu Ning before and gave his head a couple of light taps. "From now on, you wash up on your own. Don’t bother her."
Cook flicked his tail, sighed, and lay down.
Inside the bathroom, Gu Ning surveyed the empty space. She opened the door to peek out, and only after seeing Barto and Cook standing guard on either side of the entrance did she feel safe enough to take off her clothes.
The moment she climbed into the tub and submerged her entire body, Gu Ning had to stop herself from shouting out loud. ’This is amazing!’
The showerhead above continuously poured hot water, filling the tub until it overflowed. Gu Ning had never taken such a luxurious bath. She rested her arms on the sides of the tub, tilted her head back, and let out a long, contented sigh.
She soaked comfortably for a while, and as she scrubbed herself clean, she couldn’t help but start humming a tune.
Barto, leaning against the door, heard the tuneless singing from inside and the corner of his mouth twitched into a smile.
"Don’t block the way. We just came to take a bath. That pack of dogs was hogging the bathroom for half the day and wouldn’t come out. The water’s about to be shut off."
"We’re about to leave Zone 19. Who knows when we’ll get to take a hot bath again. It was hard enough finding the time to come out here."
"Sigh, been so busy with leaving the zone, I haven’t even had time to properly enjoy Yuanbao’s new video..."
"Just shut it. You’re not afraid of getting punished for mentioning that in front of the boss during work and training?"
"..."
A group of unwelcome guests appeared in Barto’s line of sight. His expression changed the moment he saw them.
"GRR-WOOF!" Cook also became instantly alert, staring at the wolf pack that appeared from around the corner of the hallway.
The wolves guarding downstairs had wanted to stop them, but their leader was Vine. They only wanted to use the public bathroom, so as long as they didn’t go up to the second floor, it was fine.
Relations between the two wolf packs had eased considerably in the last few days. There was no need to start a conflict over using the bathroom.
"WOOF!!!" Cook charged forward, blocking the path of the wolf pack.
"Isn’t that Cook?"
Seeing him, someone in the pack laughed. "You here for a bath too?"
Cook bared his teeth and lunged forward slightly, signaling for them to back off.
"Why so fierce? We can wash together."
"Do you know how to bathe yourself?" one of the wolves asked curiously.
The more degenerated a Mixed Breed was, the less likely they were to groom themselves like a normal Beastman. They were usually filthy.
But Cook was always spotless, his fur glossy and smooth. It was obvious at a glance that he was very well taken care of.
Cook continued to snarl, pacing in front of them with high alert, like a wild beast guarding its territory.
Vine observed his behavior, slung the towel in his hand over his shoulder, and looked past him toward the bathroom.
By this time, Barto had already gone into the bathroom, ready to pull Gu Ning out.
Gu Ning was standing up and scrubbing herself when Barto suddenly ran in. She yelped in surprise and quickly shrank back down into the tub.