NOVEL NEXT Chapter 30 - The Parrot's "Red Transformation"
When the parrot croaked out these words, its voice had become extremely hoarse, and its breath was very weak.
After struggling to squawk out this incomplete sentence, the parrot deflated like a popped balloon.
In the next moment, the red feathers on the parrot’s body suddenly fluffed up, and its eyes turned red again.
Then, the parrot suddenly shook off its lifelessness, flapped its wings, and started crashing around in the cage.
“Caw–” “Krr–”
“Caw–” “Krr–”
…
As the parrot battered the cage and let out eerie cries, it seemed like it wanted to say something but couldn’t get the words out. It could only make “krr-krr” sounds, as if something was stuck in its throat.
After flailing for a while, the parrot finally stopped. Its eyes had turned jet black, like two drops of ink.
Blood dripped from the corner of the parrot’s mouth, and its feathers were so red they seemed to want to ooze blood. Its eyes were black holes as it tilted its head and stared at He Gu.
But this time, the parrot’s eyes lacked the human-like brilliance from before. Instead, it looked like a vicious beast.
With blood-red feathers all over and jet black eyes, the parrot tilted its head and gazed at He Gu.
The parrot now completely lacked its previous liveliness, and even exuded an eerie evil aura.
Seeing the parrot like this, He Gu felt a chill down his spine.
Without thinking, he knew something was wrong with the parrot.
He Gu also knew this condition could be cured with “Tasty Minced Beef.”
But He Gu was out of minced beef.
All he had left was a small piece of braised beef he had secretly taken from the cafeteria.
After a moment’s thought, He Gu tore off a small piece of beef and cautiously held it out to the cage.
The parrot’s blood-red feathers instantly fluffed up as it lunged over and pecked down.
But this time, the parrot didn’t peck the beef, but pecked He Gu’s hand instead.
Piercing pain shot from his palm as He Gu jerked back his hand reflexively. He saw that his palm was broken open and scarlet blood was slowly seeping out.
Seeing the blood seemed to excite the red parrot even more. It kept flapping and battering the cage, as if wanting to break out of the cage.
He Gu jumped in fright and hurriedly retreated several steps, covering his injured hand.
Only when the blood was out of sight did the parrot gradually calm down again. It continued staring at He Gu with eerie eyes.
He Gu felt a chill down his back. Carefully, he picked up the birdcage and hung it back over his bed.
Just then, He Gu suddenly noticed something wrong.
The bird food in the feeding trough seemed different from before!
After a moment’s thought, He Gu immediately remembered – the bird food was the kind Elder Huang had brought back to the dorm!
Realizing this, He Gu’s heart tightened. He hurriedly opened the communal cabinet to look for it.
After He Gu had brought the bird food back, he didn’t give it to the parrot to eat. Instead, he directly put it in the cabinet.
Soon, He Gu found the bag of bird food.
The transparent plastic bag had been opened, and some of the bird food inside was clearly missing.
Seeing this, He Gu’s heart sank with a “thud.” It really was that kind of bird food!
Elder Huang’s note clearly said that after eating this bird food, the parrot absolutely could not be given meat!
At this moment, He Gu seemed to understand.
No wonder the parrot became like this!
In that instant, anger surged in his heart. He Gu turned and shouted, “Xiao Ying!”
The curtain over one of the beds was pulled back a little, and a disheveled Xiao Ying stuck out her head and impatiently asked, “What?”
He Gu angrily asked, “Did you feed the parrot this bird food?!”
Xiao Ying glanced at it and indifferently said, “Yeah.”
He Gu was furious. Plus, emotions were amplified in the dorm, so He Gu even had the urge to beat up Xiao Ying.
Xiao Ying raised her eyebrows, a strange smile curling the corner of her lips. “What’s wrong? The parrot got problems from eating it?”
“If you’re unhappy… Why don’t you come over, and let me make it up to you properly?”
As she spoke, Xiao Ying licked her lips.
Hearing this, He Gu felt a chill. He immediately calmed down a lot.
Stay calm… stay calm…
He Gu took a deep breath and repeatedly told himself mentally to keep calm.
After taking several deep breaths, He Gu got his emotions under control. He glanced at the parrot again and walked out of the dorm.
Soon, He Gu arrived at the basketball court in front of the dorm building.
The whole campus was empty now. There was a lone figure on the basketball court – it was Wang Tao.
The last sentence the parrot had croaked out before its complete “red transformation” was: “Wang Tao… beef jerky… no sleepwalking… trust…”
Although the sentence was incomplete, based on these few words, He Gu guessed that it was trying to say that Wang Tao could be trusted when he didn’t sleepwalk, and giving him beef jerky could prevent his sleepwalking.
At this point, He Gu could only take a gamble that his guess was correct.
On the basketball court, when Wang Tao saw He Gu come over, he stopped and laughed. “Yo, He, got bored of playing ball in the dorm, so came out to play some basketball?”
Then Wang Tao smirked and said meaningfully, “But in your condition now… can you still play basketball?”
He Gu was in no mood for banter. He directly said, “Help me with something.”
Wang Tao was slightly surprised, but immediately said, “No problem, what’s the matter?”
He Gu said solemnly, “The shop has just released a new Tasty Minced Beef. Each person can only buy one pack.”
“I bought a pack before, and the taste was pretty good, so I wanted to buy another pack, but there’s a limit. Can you help me buy a pack?”
Hearing this, Wang Tao chuckled, “No big deal!”
“Anyway I’ve got nothing to do, let’s go. I’ll go buy it for you now.”
He Gu felt slightly relieved. He went with Wang Tao towards the shop.
Soon, the two arrived at the shop entrance.
He Gu first checked himself carefully for any parrot feathers, then peeked inside the shop. He saw a clerk in a white uniform standing behind the counter, before feeling reassured enough to go in.
Once inside the shop, He Gu first pretended with Wang Tao to pick up some bread and such from the shelves. He glanced at the shelf labeled “Tasty Beef Jerky,” which was still empty.
Then the two went to the checkout counter.
But this time, unlike the previous two times, the clerk in white did not try to push “Tasty Minced Beef” on them.
He Gu’s heart tightened. He took the initiative to ask, “Do you still have that Tasty Minced Beef?”
The clerk looked up at He Gu expressionlessly and said, “Tasty Minced Beef is limit one pack per person. You’ve already bought it once.”
He Gu waved his hand. “It’s not for me, my classmate here also wants to buy a pack to try.”
The clerk glanced at Wang Tao. “You want to buy Tasty Minced Beef?”
Wang Tao very cooperatively nodded. “Yeah, it looked pretty tasty when he ate it, so I want to try it too.”
The clerk’s mouth suddenly curled into a strange smile. “Alright then, but we’re out of stock now. I’ll go restock later, you guys come back to buy tonight.”
As he spoke, the clerk patted Wang Tao on the shoulder.
And in that instant, He Gu suddenly noticed something wrong.
The hand the clerk had stretched out had a black sleeve!
He Gu was slightly startled. When he looked up again, he found the clerk’s appearance had changed – he was completely different from the person just now.
Not only that, his white work uniform had turned black without He Gu noticing…