Chapter 54: Chapter 54: It’s Over, Capsized in the Gutter

When Barto saw Leighton arrive, he said hurriedly, "Officer, I’m the one who sold him that electric shock gun and Anti-Beast Spray. Let him go. I’ll pay the fine." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Leighton walked past him. "Alright, noted. You’re not getting out of the fine."

Barto immediately shouted to Gu Ning, "Gu Ning! Gu Ning! Xiao Ning, go on home! Have this officer take you back, you hear?"

Leighton laughed. "Listen to you, bossing me around now. Did I say I was letting anyone go?"

Following behind Leighton, Alex heard the name Barto was shouting. He glanced over at Barto, and his expression wavered for a second.

’A fox...’

’So he’s an atavistic Mixed Breed.’

Hearing Leighton’s words, Barto demanded angrily, "Don’t you let people go after they pay the fine?"

Leighton retorted, "Are you his family? You’re still in a cell yourself and you’re trying to get someone else out. His family hasn’t even said a word yet."

"What family?" Barto asked.

He then looked at the two tall, sturdy Beastmen standing behind the officer.

’One of them looks a little familiar?’

’Wait, isn’t he the manager from Gu Ning’s construction site?’

’How did he get here? Did Gu Ning call him?’

’No, that’s not right. The officers confiscated our terminals as soon as we got to the station, and I never saw Gu Ning use hers on the way over.’

Barto stared intently at Alex.

"There. He’s in here."

Leighton tapped the iron bars of the cell door with his baton. "Hey, little fella, your family’s here to see you."

Alex saw the small figure huddled in the corner of the holding cell. Upon confirming it was who he was looking for, he visibly relaxed.

When Kloer saw Gu Ning, his eyes lit up. He made to step forward and call out to him, but Alex stopped him with a hand to his chest before walking up to the iron-barred door himself.

Hearing Leighton, Gu Ning turned her head. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Alex and Kloer.

’How did they get here?’

’Wait, how did they even know I was here?’

Once the surprise wore off, she quickly pushed herself up against the wall and hurried over to the bars.

Alex’s eyes swept over her. "Are you hurt?"

Gu Ning shook her head.

She wanted to say something to him, but when she reached into her pocket, she remembered she had already handed her pen over to the officers.

The moment she had entered the station, she had obediently handed over all her belongings before the officers could even scan her with their detectors. Otherwise, she would have been subjected to a body search.

"Relax," Leighton said to Alex, leaning an arm on the bars. "We don’t get rough with the ones who cooperate. We’re the police, not a bunch of gangsters."

Alex gave him a slight nod. "Thank you. May I ask how much the fine is for him?"

Leighton tapped his finger on the bars, his eyes on the small, obedient Mixed Breed standing there. After a moment’s thought, he said, "For him, it’s bail. As for the fine, whoever sold him the electric shock gun and Anti-Beast Spray can pay for it."

Barto, who was pressed against his own cell door listening in, silently cursed Leighton’s craftiness.

Leighton had an officer unlock the cell door.

Gu Ning breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she saw she could leave. The last thing she wanted was to spend the night in a police station.

She had been in the holding cell for less than two hours, but she was already shivering uncontrollably from the cold.

There was nothing in the cell but a toilet, and with no privacy screen whatsoever, she couldn’t have used it even if she’d wanted to.

As she walked past Barto’s cell, Gu Ning turned to look at him and gave a small wave.

Barto turned his back, pretending not to know her.

Gu Ning saw this and figured Barto was afraid of giving something away. Surrounded by the officer on one side and Alex and his companion on the other, she couldn’t communicate with Barto anyway. It would have to wait until she was out.

She wasn’t worried about Barto getting the short end of the stick in here; what she was really worried about was Cook.

She wondered if he would be agitated by this kind of environment.

Her mind fraught with anxiety, Gu Ning was led into an office.

"Fill out this form, sign it, and pay the bail. Then you can take him."

Leighton handed a printed form to Alex. He glanced over at the little Mixed Breed on the sofa, who was cradling a cup of hot water without drinking. Clearing his throat, he lowered his voice and asked Alex, "Is his face injured? Or does he have some kind of trauma?"

Alex looked up from the form and glanced at Gu Ning. "Why do you ask?"

’The fact that Leighton’s asking must mean he never got Gu Ning’s mask off. Or at least, he didn’t succeed.’

’That was somewhat surprising.’

’Zone 19 was more lenient than he’d expected. Or maybe, it was just this particular officer who was lenient with Mixed Breeds.’

"We tried to take his mask off, but as soon as we touched him, he just dropped to the floor and started either flailing his legs or rolling around." Leighton shook his head and chuckled. "I’ve never seen a Mixed Breed like him."

’The kid doesn’t attack, just dodges. Won’t let anyone touch him.’

’The station’s policy was to turn a blind eye as long as a Mixed Breed didn’t start trouble. If they showed no signs of aggression and were cooperative, the officers wouldn’t use the kind of force on them that they might use on other Beastmen. It was better to avoid agitating a Mixed Breed and making a situation more complicated.’

"Other than the mask, he was perfectly cooperative," Leighton said. "I’ll let it go this time, but don’t let there be a third. If I catch him again, he’ll have to be entered into the system."

Getting entered into the system meant a full-body photo, height and weight measurements, and stripping down to check for fight marks and the like. For a minor offense, it would just be the local station’s system. But if the crime exceeded the designated tolerance level for Mixed Breeds, the data would be uploaded to the central system.

"I’ll keep an eye on him."

As Alex spoke, his gaze dropped to the personal information on the form:

Name: Gu Ning

Age: 22

Race: Wolf Clan, Dwarf hybrid

Aberration Value: 25%

Address: (——)

Family Members: (——)

Alex picked up the pen. Its tip hovered for a second over the family relationship options before he ticked the box next to "Brother" and signed his name.

He finished filling out the form and handed it to Leighton.

Leighton scanned the form. Seeing no issues, he called Gu Ning over. "Can you write your own name? If not, a thumbprint will do."

Alex handed the pen to Gu Ning and pointed to a spot on the form. "Sign here."

He then added, "Write your own name."

Gu Ning didn’t react at first. Then her eyes fell on the form, where she saw all her personal information written out in black and white.

"..."

She put the pen down. Meeting Alex’s gaze, she put on a show of pressing her thumbprint onto the paper instead.

Seeing that she’d used her thumbprint, Leighton handed her confiscated pen back to her. "Can’t write, but you carry a pen around. Quite the character, aren’t you."

Gu Ning snatched her pen back. ’Mind your own business!’ she fumed internally.

Leighton continued pulling out her confiscated items. "You carry two terminals, too? What for, to wear as bracelets?"

Gu Ning felt like she was on pins and needles, an uncomfortable lump caught in her throat.

She forced herself to take back her terminals, feeling short of breath. Her knees felt weak, and her head was spinning.

She didn’t dare look at Alex.

A single phrase repeated over and over in her mind: ’It’s over. My ship sank in a ditch.’

Gu Ning had no idea how she got out of the police station, or how she ended up in Alex’s vehicle.

She had just settled into the back seat when Alex spoke.

"Sit up front."