Chapter Seventy-One: Unreasonable

Ning Shuyi was stunned for a moment, then realized that his “alright” must have been in response to her earlier question about whether he could continue helping her improve her physical fitness.

She hadn’t expected him to agree! Nor had she expected him to do so in such an awkward, roundabout way.

Ning Shuyi found Huo Yan’s personality increasingly intriguing. Perhaps others would consider his disposition a bit stiff and unsociable, but as her mother had always told her, a person's character is shaped not only by nature but also by life’s experiences.

This made her all the more curious about what kind of life had shaped Huo Yan into such a multifaceted person.

After a few minutes, the elevator was finally repaired and resumed operation. The staff from the ambulance rental company arrived with stretchers, and under Ning Shuyi’s guidance, quietly reached the scene. They secured the still-dazed individuals onto the stretchers, covered them, and, accompanied by several plainclothes detectives, transported them to the ambulances waiting downstairs.

The whole process of moving the people out of the building went smoothly. The elevator stuck between floors was difficult to rescue, and with elderly people, children, and a pregnant woman inside, the panic had only increased their oxygen consumption and triggered panic attacks in some of the passengers.

The building’s management had also called for ambulances, and the lobby and the square outside the entrance were crowded with ambulances, fire trucks, and onlookers—a scene of utter chaos.

In all that confusion, no one paid much attention to those being taken away in the private ambulances. Only one elderly bystander remarked in puzzlement, “How big is that elevator anyway, to fit so many people?”

The ambulances drove straight to the police bureau. Even the gatekeeper was bewildered; it was common to see police cars coming and going, but this was the first time so many ambulances had arrived together—he thought something major must have happened.

Fortunately, by the time they reached the police bureau, the five people had regained their senses. Their dislocated arms made movement difficult, and with so many eyes watching, they dared not cause any further trouble, obediently following the officers inside.

Back at the bureau, Huo Yan had to reset the forcibly dislocated arms of the five detainees. Ning Shuyi, meanwhile, took the toads they had recovered from the club’s secret chamber to Dr. Zhang for him to collect secretions from their skin for analysis.

The results of the chemical analysis on the toad skin secretions came back quickly. As expected, they matched the blood residue previously detected in Wang Yuluo, confirming that the illegal substance Wang Yuluo had been exposed to before her death was none other than the mucus secreted by these toads.

In other words, Zhang Jiawen’s earlier statement was true.

“Dr. Zhang, under the effects of this substance, is it really strong enough to induce cardiac arrest if someone is startled underground?” Ning Shuyi asked.

She had never heard of this species of toad before and had no idea about the concentration of its secretions. She simply thought that the amount of secretion from a toad couldn’t be very large, and both the concentration and the dosage would be naturally limited—it wasn’t the same as ingesting artificially extracted substances.

So she was genuinely uncertain whether mere “intimate contact” with a toad could reach a lethal dose.

Dr. Zhang glanced at the report and shook his head. “One toad wouldn’t be enough. This substance isn’t lethal in itself; it only varies in how much it affects the cardiovascular system.

As for how significant the effects are, that depends on the individual. Everyone’s constitution is different; there are huge individual differences, and it can’t be generalized.

The residue concentration in Wang Yuluo’s blood was fairly low. Objectively speaking, at that level, it would be difficult to trigger cardiac arrest due to fright.

I originally wondered if she had previously ingested a high concentration or high purity dose, so that by the time of the incident, even though the blood residue was low, the physical effects had already taken hold.

But it turns out it really was this special kind of toad. We extracted the secretion directly and tested it—concentration is low, so my earlier hypothesis can be ruled out.”

Ning Shuyi nodded, thanked Dr. Zhang, and returned to the team with the report.

Upon her return, the five thugs had been taken away for individual questioning. Because Huo Yan had controlled the situation on his own during the emergency, he was required to write a formal report for the team, and was now seated at his desk, writing diligently.

Ning Shuyi sat back at her own desk and replayed the surveillance footage stored on her computer, still feeling that something was off, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. No matter how many times she watched, the sense of oddness remained elusive—just out of reach.

With nothing more to be gained, she decided not to waste further time on that clip and instead rewound to the surveillance of Wang Yuluo and Cai Xin before they entered the venue.

As she watched, she suddenly spotted a familiar figure in the not-so-clear footage. Sitting up straight, she paused the video.

“Look who I found!” she said, pointing to someone in the frame for Huo Yan to see.

Huo Yan leaned over to look. In the surveillance footage from outside the private cinema, as Wang Yuluo and Cai Xin were redeeming their movie tickets, there was a familiar silhouette at the edge of the image—it was Yang Xiaoyang.

In the video, Yang Xiaoyang was not dressed as extravagantly or strikingly as she did for the cosplay club or in her own videos, but instead wore a low-key black coat and a hat.

She seemed to be making a conscious effort to blend into the crowd, yet refused to leave the area, as if she were keeping an eye on Wang Yuluo’s every move.

Even after Wang Yuluo and Cai Xin had happily redeemed their tickets, taken a selfie with the tickets, and entered the cinema, Yang Xiaoyang lingered outside for a while longer before quietly leaving on her own.

“Looks like we were right—the movie tickets are connected to Yang Xiaoyang!” Ning Shuyi said to Huo Yan. “It’s just a pity we don’t know exactly how she got Wang Yuluo to accept the tickets and agree to see the film.

From what we found in our earlier investigation, Yang Xiaoyang seemed to be at odds with Wang Yuluo. The two appeared to be rivals, and even if Wang Yuluo didn’t interact much with her, at the very least, their relationship was quite ordinary.

Wang Yuluo wasn’t strapped for cash—she wouldn’t accept a gift like that from someone she barely got along with just to save a little money, would she?” Ning Shuyi muttered in puzzlement.