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Chapter 290 Scent Tracking
……

Two hours later, a modified ambulance drove out of the gate of Beitianyuan.

Honglian and Wang Baihu were sitting in the driver's seat.

Lin Qing and Guagua stayed in the emergency room at the back.

The cabin is equipped with an air collection device, which is essentially an air intake machine that draws in large quantities of outside air and releases it through two exhaust vents below. In this way, even if the dinosaur doesn't show itself at all, the effect is similar to riding in a convertible.

The only two drawbacks are... the air is quite cold in February, and the wind noise is also quite loud.

Wang Baihu peered through the rear window of the cockpit at the situation inside, muttering to himself, "I wonder if I'm overthinking it..."

"What?" Honglian asked.

"I feel like Guagua has turned into a dragon."

"Huh? You mean appearance, right?" Honglian said dismissively.

For some reason, Beitianyuan specially prepared some equipment for Guagua, such as a vest with bulletproof plates to protect the neck and chest; a large Bluetooth headset on the head connected to the wireless transceiver in the vest; and a blue blanket draped over the back, making it look like the armored warhorses in decorative paintings.

Honglian didn't understand why they were doing this, but expressed her respect.

Because Guagua looks very happy too.

“No, it’s the look in its eyes that has changed,” Wang Baihu emphasized. “There’s a hint of distance in its gaze when it looks at me!”

Honglian rolled her eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Really!" he said, sounding a little aggrieved. "I've raised it for so long, and I know it pretty well. It wouldn't want to come back to my house just because it thinks Beitianyuan is more spacious and grand, would it?"

"...Theoretically speaking, Guagua belongs to the property of the organization."

"I'm relieved to hear that," Wang Baihu said with a sigh of relief.

“However, I also respect the choices each life makes.” Honglian changed the subject. “If Guagua really shows resistance to you, then I think it’s better to leave it in Beitianyuan. After all, you haven’t really taken care of it much, have you?”

"Eh!?"

……

Inside the ambulance, Lin Qing was also making small talk with Chen Xuan, saying, "When do you plan to show yourself in front of Honglian? I think she's quite trustworthy."

“Of course, after all, you know her future. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble to win her over.” Chen Xuan’s voice was slightly distorted in the earpiece. “The problem is that I’m different from you. I can’t change my facial features, and my name and identity can be traced by the authorities. To be on the safe side, it’s best to wait until she completely breaks with the authorities before I make my appearance.”

“That’s the safest approach.” Lin Qing had no objection. She turned her gaze to Guagua, who was craning its neck and shaking its head at the air vent. “It’s quite conscientious and responsible. It’s already smelling the odor before it even reaches the chemical factory.”

"It wasn't smelling anything, it was just listening to music," Chen Xuan said.

"Pfft—" Lin Qing choked on her saliva. "Listen to...listen to music?"

"Yes, it said it wanted to listen to grassland-style music, so I downloaded a few songs for it from the internet on the spot."

"What song?"

"The Lion King."

Lin Qing sighed, "Okay... it definitely has a grassland style. Since it's so smart, why doesn't it learn our language?"

“It can’t learn it; its throat can’t produce human voices. Yet, human vocal cords can mimic the roar of a Deinonychus, which is quite a coincidence,” Chen Xuan replied. “I know what you want to ask. Not only can it not speak, but it also can’t understand human language because no one has ever taught it. It interprets our meaning more through facial expressions and body postures.”

"I see." Lin Qing said thoughtfully. "So, if you don't have the ability of 'linguistics,' our communication with Guagua will still be limited to guesswork?"

“That’s right. Even if I were a linguistics master, it would probably take me several years to learn the other’s dragon language when the languages ​​are different.”

She couldn't help but laugh. "I feel like you could make a name for yourself in history just with this one skill."

"More than that. If we encountered aliens right now, I would be the only candidate to be Earth's ambassador," Chen Xuan added with a laugh.

This ability does not allow him to talk to flowers, birds, fish, and insects.

Because the other party must first know a language. But conversely, as long as it's a language, he can definitely master it.

Furthermore, Guagua's rapid language learning isn't solely due to "linguistics"; a significant portion is attributable to Guagua's high level of instruction. Even if he used this ability to learn English or French, he wouldn't have achieved this level of speed.

"Dong dong."

At that moment, Wang Baihu knocked on the back window.

His voice came through the walkie-talkie, "We've arrived at the first screening location."

Lin Qing glanced at the map. "We've arrived at Xinli Daily Chemical Factory. Tell Guagua to get ready."

Officer Tian had already had the bureau retrieve the data of all the daily chemical factories in Jiangcheng. There were five factories that needed fragrances and could accommodate underground prison facilities, and they were all located outside the Third Ring Road.

Chen Xuan switched to the Guagua channel and spoke a few words to it privately.

"Quack!" Quack waved its paws, indicating that it understood.

"Environmental inspection!" Honglian drove the car to the factory gate, rolled down the window, and pulled out a certificate, waving it in front of the gatekeeper.

The security guard took the ID with some surprise and glanced at it before saying he needed to consult his superiors.

After a phone call, the gate bars were raised.

This was also thanks to the police—under Tian Zhenggang's arrangement, these chemical factories did receive notices for environmental inspections. However, to avoid alerting the factories, the notices only mentioned testing outdoor air quality, without entering the factory buildings or requiring factory personnel to accompany them.

Honglian drove around the park twice and asked Lin Qing, "How is it? Is Guagua responding?"

"No, let's move on to the next one."

Are you sure we don't want to look around some more?

"No need. The scent of the air here is completely different from where Zhang Zhiqi was imprisoned," Lin Qing said decisively.

Even Honglian's gaze became somewhat strange. She put down the walkie-talkie and looked at Wang Baihu, asking, "Can Guagua express such complex meanings?"

The latter could only shrug.

“The next stop is Hongda Chemical Factory. Let’s go.” Honglian sighed. “I just hope Miss Lin’s plan is reliable and that we don’t make this trip for nothing.”

However, when they arrived at their destination after driving for twenty minutes, they found that the main gate of the factory was blocked by a row of spherical stone blocks.

Honglian honked her horn to attract the security guard's attention. "We're from the Environmental Protection Bureau, here to conduct an inspection. Could you move these blocks so we can drive in?"

"Today?" The security guard seemed quite surprised. "But the factory has already stopped operating."

"Work stopped? Why?"

"They said two mixers malfunctioned, and to ensure safety, the management ordered the factory to temporarily shut down. They'll send someone over tomorrow for a full inspection," the security guard explained.

"When did this happen?"

About an hour ago.

What a coincidence? Honglian frowned. "Our inspection just involves circling the factory area a few times; we don't go inside the factory."

"I'm sorry... the management said the factory is closed today and we won't be receiving anyone else." The security guard seemed a bit embarrassed. "You're here for inspections, do you expect us to take tests even though the factory is shut down?"

“Yes, we’re going in today! Are you going to move or not? If not, we’ll do it ourselves,” Honglian said firmly. “Wang Baihu, go and push aside those roadblocks.”

"Wait, you're being too domineering." Wang Baihu quickly pulled her upper body back into the car. "We're not enforcement team members now, just grassroots employees outsourced by the Environmental Protection Bureau. How much do we get paid? There's absolutely no need to push ourselves to this point! If there really is a problem with this factory, there are probably people inside watching the situation at the gate right now."

"But we're not actual outsourced employees, so if we can't get in, wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse?"

"We can leave it pending for now; the final investigation will be the same..."

But just then, Lin Qing's voice suddenly came through the walkie-talkie, "We found it! It's the smell coming from here!"

(End of this chapter)