Moonlight Shines on Me - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The first time I saw Zhou Di, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

He was leaning in the corner of the glass enclosure, completely motionless.

So quiet he was like a sealed bottle of water, without so much as a ripple.

“This is what you call ‘meticulous care’?”

I pointed at him and asked the researcher in astonishment.

The White Wolf was precious. Funding for their care had been approved again and again.

And this was the result? A sickly specimen who was clearly depressed?

The researcher broke out in a cold sweat. “Miss Yue, his psychological barriers are extremely severe. We’ve tried all kinds of methods, but we haven’t been able to successfully rewild him.”

I shifted my gaze back to Zhou Di.

He did not move. His silent eyes met mine through the glass, then lowered again without the slightest fluctuation.

I turned and went to handle the paperwork, giving a cold order.

“Crate him.”

Chapter 2

I transferred Zhou Di to my home.

The rewilding grounds in the backyard were large enough, the equipment was plentiful, and the conditions were better.

But he was clearly uncomfortable with the change in environment.

Wearing a protective suit, I entered his living enclosure and looked around.

It was very clean. The disinfection had been done properly.

He was still leaning in the corner, drawing up his outstretched legs and shrinking the space he occupied even further.

I took a few tentative steps toward him.

When approaching aggressive beastmen of the tiger and wolf varieties for the first time, caution was always necessary.

I had deliberately protected my neck with special materials to keep him from lunging up and biting me to death.

After all, judging by his build alone, the muscles in his arms and legs were extremely firm.

But even when I was only three feet away from him, he still did not bare his teeth to defend his territory.

Only his beast ears, hidden among his black hair, trembled faintly again and again.

His eyes were lowered, his knuckles pale, his hands clutching the thin hem of his black shirt.

No sound. No glance upward. His back muscles taut.

A textbook guarded posture, yet without the corresponding warning gestures. He did not even let out the low growl that came naturally to beastmen.

Like a mute.

He was in human form.

Generally speaking, even in human form, beastmen still retained some sharp canine teeth.

But he did not.

At least, based on what I could see, he had no fangs.

Or rather, had they been filed down?

The thought crossed my mind, and my brows immediately drew together.

“Research Sample No. 001, Zhou Di.”

I flipped through his file and asked, “Is that right? Zhou Di?”

I thought he would not speak, but then I heard a slightly hoarse response.

“Yes. 001, Zhou Di.”

He answered with his eyes lowered, his voice still carrying the rough, husky texture of someone who had just woken up.

I moved a few steps closer and slowly extended my hand to his lips.

“Listen carefully. I’m Yue Ke from Biotechnology. Learn my scent. From now on, you’ll be living here, and I’ll be responsible for feeding and caring for you.”

He moved.

I narrowed my eyes, on guard for a possible bite.

But all he did was lower his head. The tip of his nose brushed the back of my hand and left immediately, then paused at my wrist to scent me for a few breaths.

“Yes.”

He said, “I’ve memorized it.”

That obedient?

Suspicious, I flipped through his file.

Tsk. His past records of injuring people ran over a dozen pages thick.

But… the further back I turned, the more it seemed that he really had stopped hurting people.

The change had occurred with his fourth caretaker.

That caretaker, surnamed Qu, had been with him for a full eight years, raising him from adolescence to adulthood.

Without a single mistake.

Everyone believed that anyone who could raise such an aggressive beastman into docility must be highly experienced.

If Caretaker Qu had not left due to illness, it would not have been very convenient for me to snatch him away.

After all, rare breeds with such pure and noble bloodlines were always loyal.

If he refused to obey me, that would be a real headache.

But if Caretaker Qu was so capable, then why had Zhou Di been raised into his current state?

I crouched down in front of him.

At last, that face was fully revealed.

If he were thrown onto a university campus, he would be the type of top student with a simple slicked-back hairstyle, sharp and aloof.

No, more than that. He would have to be the mature, elite type who was excellent at sports as well.

“Open your mouth,” I said.

His clear, quiet gaze fell on my face, and he obediently opened his mouth.

I adjusted my glasses and narrowed my eyes to examine his teeth.

“Why is your body temperature so low? This isn’t within the normal range.”

I lightly pinched his jaw, recording details as I frowned and touched his face again.

I was not mistaken. His skin was as cold as a dead person’s.

Even the breath that drifted toward me carried a chill.

He tilted his head back against the glass wall and let me hold his face, his gaze hazy.

“Unbutton your shirt. I need to hook you up to the instruments and listen to your heart sounds.”

I gave the order casually, head lowered as I wrote rapidly in the file.

Only when I lowered my head did I clearly see his current position.

Zhou Di’s hands rested flat over his abdomen, his knees spread apart. I was half-kneeling between his legs, the file folder in my hand almost pressed against his chest.

Tsk.

I put away the folder, somewhat annoyed with myself.

This extremely invasive posture was highly unprofessional. If I ran into someone with a strong territorial instinct, I would probably get bitten several times.

Zhou Di had shown no reaction the entire time, so I had not noticed my own position at all.

The more he acted like this, the more I felt something was wrong.

His gaze was calm and hollow, as if he did not feel offended by me in the slightest.

I put myself on full alert and unfastened his buttons one by one.

“Hey, at least give me some kind of reaction.”

His clothes were practically being stripped off him, and he still was not moving?

After a moment of silence, he turned his head and licked my knuckles.

Hell.

I immediately jerked my hand back, feeling like my face had scrunched up enough to crush a fly.

I grabbed my phone, pulled up my contacts, and started cursing people out.

Who was in charge of psychological intervention for 001? Pull up the previous caretaker’s feeding logs for me! We spent this much of the budget so you could raise a wolf into a dog?