Jiang Kai’s hands were trembling slightly as he took the evidence bag.
In all his years in Zoo management, he had seen animals injure people and tourists cause trouble. Yet he’d never imagined that one day, one of his own subordinates would walk out of the woods with a poisoned weapon, and that the source of that weapon would be the young man standing before him.
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, and carefully secured the dagger.
Professor Zhou lacked his composure.
This scholar, who had spent his entire life working with birds, beasts, and plants, was now so furious that his voice trembled. He turned to the middle-aged expert who had recommended Xiaoxu for the team and demanded harshly.
"Lao Liu! You’re the one who brought this man in! What the hell is his background? Where did you find him?!"
The middle-aged expert’s face was now deathly pale, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
Waving his hands repeatedly, his voice trembled so much he could barely form a sentence. "I... I don’t know either. A friend of mine introduced him. Said he’d just graduated from XX University with a degree in environmental studies, had solid skills, and wanted to join a project to gain experience... I saw his resume was impressive, and he interviewed well, so I... I just..."
"And your friend? What does he do?" Senior Engineer Li pressed.
"He’s... he’s in the same field. We’ve worked together before... I’ll... I’ll call him right now." Engineer Liu frantically fumbled for his phone, his fingers shaking so badly it took him several tries just to unlock the screen.
This was attempted murder. And with poison.
This was no longer a simple "internal team dispute."
This was a criminal case.
A case of attempted premeditated murder!
"He wanted to kill me to silence me. It must be because I saw that notebook."
Yang Qi continued, "Earlier, when he tripped over a root, a small notebook fell out of his bag. I bent down to pick it up, but he reacted incredibly fast and snatched it back."
"Where’s the notebook?" Jiang Kai asked immediately.
Yang Qi walked over to Xiaoxu. Under the man’s hate-filled gaze, he pulled the palm-sized, black-covered notebook from his tightly clutched inner pocket.
Xiaoxu struggled violently for a moment, but a low growl from Bai Wan froze him, and he lowered his head again.
Yang Qi handed the notebook to Jiang Kai.
Jiang Kai took it, and Professor Zhou, Senior Engineer Li, and Uncle Cai immediately gathered around.
Several flashlight beams converged on the inconspicuous little notebook, illuminating the open pages.
They only needed a few glances.
A series of sharp, indrawn breaths could be heard.
This wasn’t a technical journal.
Nor was it a work log.
It was a precise, detailed investigative record with clear criminal intent!
Mountain Entry Route: It wasn’t the safe, peripheral route they had taken, the one guided by Yang Qi and Uncle Cai. Instead, it was a different, secret path leading directly into the deeper, core areas of Cangshan, marked with notes like "shortcut," "avoids standard patrol routes," and "passable at night."
Animal Distribution Points: Pinpointed with precise latitude and longitude coordinates. The location where the Lin She was found was a perfect match for where Yang Qi had rescued it. Several recent activity zones for the clouded leopard, Caiyun, and even the nest of a frequently spotted Eagle Owl were marked!
"Abnormal Zone" Scope: The area was far more extensive than the one they had actually surveyed today. A large swathe of the mountain forest was circled in red pen, with notes like "core magnetic interference zone," "recommend deeper probe," and "critical point for equipment failure."
Related Records: Next to every marked animal location were the date, time, number of observers, whether there were young, and whether it was suitable for an "operation."
On the page for the Lin She, there was even a pencil notation: "Female, shows recent signs of giving birth, high value."
And on the last page, tucked inside, was a folded piece of white paper. When unfolded, it revealed a head-and-shoulders photo of Yang Qi. It was a candid shot, taken at some unknown time. The background was blurry, but his features were clear.
Below the photo, written in black ink—
"Yang Qi, keeper at Donghua Wildlife Park, special consultant for the city bureau. Suspected of possessing unconventional animal communication abilities. Recommend subversion. Priority: High."
The campfire CRACKLED.
No one spoke.
The night wind swept through the camp, carrying a bone-chilling cold.
"...A poaching syndicate."
Professor Zhou’s voice was hoarse, each word squeezed out as if from between his teeth.
"They’re from a poaching syndicate."
Not ’he is.’
’They are.’
It would be impossible for one person to complete such a detailed and wide-ranging field survey and intelligence compilation alone in such a short time.
There had to be others helping him.
Senior Engineer Li’s voice was also painfully dry.
"The Lin She... the Chinese Mergansers... the Pangolin... the clouded leopard... He was here to case the area!"
"So, you’re saying the anomaly in Cangshan caught the poaching syndicate flat-footed, too. That’s why they looked for an opportunity, pulled some strings, and planted this ’Xiaoxu’ in our team—both to gather information and to scout the place out in advance!" Jiang Kai said hatefully.
The group fell silent.
In the firelight, complex emotions flickered across everyone’s faces.
Anger, lingering fear, disbelief, and a certain indescribable daze.
The facts were laid bare before them.
The small, black-covered notebook was now clutched in Jiang Kai’s hand, its corners slightly curled. The dense web of coordinates, routes, and animal locations written inside felt like an elaborate net being thrown over their heads.
A poaching syndicate.
Not a "possibility." Not a "suspicion."
He was deliberately dispatched.
An expert surnamed Fang suddenly spoke in a low voice.
"Perhaps Cangshan really is spirited."
His voice was soft, with the characteristic rasp of an old man, yet it sounded exceptionally clear in the silent camp.
"It knew so many rare animals lived within it, so it created its own protection mechanism."
No one argued.
Normally, any of the scholars present could have refuted such a claim about a "spirited forest" from a scientific standpoint.