Chapter 54: The Third Experiment

On his way back, Ye Fan made a stop at the agricultural market and bought a few small rabbits, intending to study the rules of the box’s teleportation more closely.

Compared to the erratic flight of pigeons, rabbits were much more docile.

By the time he arrived home, the dozen or so boxes of clothes he had purchased had already been delivered. Ye Fan called the villa’s property management and security guards to help move the clothes to an empty room on the second floor.

Then he returned to his own room and opened the box.

It was already evening when Li Yaoyao came home and immediately started a video call.

“Ye Fan, we found a shop!” Li Yaoyao said excitedly. “It’s near the city’s department store—a two-story small building. The first floor can be a storefront, the second floor a warehouse or even a living space!”

Ye Fan was pleasantly surprised; finding a two-story building like that in the 1980s was not easy. “Is the rent expensive?”

“No, it’s not!” Li Yaoyao said happily. “The previous owner was arrested for speculation and profiteering, so no one wanted it!”

Speculation and profiteering? Ye Fan was startled—what an old-fashioned charge!

He couldn’t help but worry, “Are you sure it’s okay to rent it?”

“It’s fine!” Li Yaoyao laughed. “That person was arrested years ago. Now that policies have relaxed, and my dad put in a good word, we managed to rent it smoothly!”

Ye Fan was speechless, almost forgetting that her father was an old revolutionary.

Li Yaoyao asked, “Did you buy the clothes?”

“I did,” Ye Fan said. “Tomorrow, you move the boxes over there, and I’ll teleport everything directly to you!”

“Great!” Li Yaoyao nodded with a smile but hesitated.

She wanted to see what clothes Ye Fan had bought—she also wanted to pick out something nice to wear. After all, she was a girl, and it was natural to care about appearances.

Just as she was debating whether to ask, Ye Fan appeared on the video with a broad smile, holding up a set of clothes.

It was a white sweatshirt with a cartoon print on the chest and a pair of denim overalls…

“I even bought a few sets for you; you can try them on for me tomorrow!”

“Ah! You really bought them!” Li Yaoyao was both surprised and delighted, staring intently at the clothes on screen, her heart full of sweetness.

The clothes were so beautiful!

As an ordinary girl from the 1980s, Li Yaoyao had never seen such outfits and was instantly overjoyed.

But as she looked longer, her mood sank—such pretty clothes must be expensive.

She had spent all her savings on rent and couldn’t afford them now.

Feeling embarrassed, she told Ye Fan, “These clothes must have been expensive. I don’t have money now. Maybe I’ll buy some when I earn money later.”

Ye Fan laughed at her response. “Haha, no need, I’m giving them to you!”

Li Yaoyao shook her head repeatedly. “No, that won’t do. I have to buy them myself!”

“But you’re my girlfriend!”

“So what? We’re not even married!”

Ye Fan looked at the earnest little girl on the video, her straightforwardness touching him deeply.

If only girls nowadays were like this—dating usually means buying multiple sets of clothes, and even then, they often complain that the clothes aren’t good enough!

Li Yaoyao was truly admirable—she understood self-reliance and would surely be a thrifty and devoted wife in the future.

The more Ye Fan thought about it, the more absurd his imagination became; he almost started picking names for their future children…

What nonsense!

He shook his head, dismissing the strange thoughts, and put the clothes away. “Yaoyao, if you insist on not taking them, I won’t force you. Let’s work hard together so you can wear new clothes as soon as possible!”

---

Hearing Ye Fan’s words, Li Yaoyao was filled with motivation at the thought of working together. She nodded vigorously. “Hehe, okay!”

Ye Fan then pulled out several cages.

“I bought a few more rabbits today. We should quickly test how to teleport living creatures!”

Li Yaoyao nodded eagerly. “Right, that’s important. Let’s do it!”

Ye Fan picked up a cage containing a cute little white rabbit.

“This time, I’ll put it in directly and see what happens!”

“Okay!”

Ye Fan placed the rabbit and its cage into the box. Soon, Li Yaoyao exclaimed, “They’ve merged!”

Just like with the pigeons before, the rabbit and the cage had fused together.

“As expected, you can’t teleport them mixed with other items!”

Ye Fan picked up paper and pen to record: when teleporting animals, no foreign objects can be mixed in, or they will fuse together.

“But last time, a pigeon was clearly in a cage and didn’t merge—it got all tangled up by itself. What’s going on?”

“Try again!”

Ye Fan took a rabbit and put it into the box alone. Sure enough, the rabbit was fine, no problems.

He repeated the test multiple times, and the rabbits remained unharmed.

What was wrong with that pigeon?

Ye Fan frowned. If he couldn’t solve this, he wouldn’t dare teleport through the box.

But if he didn’t go himself, how would he earn those two hundred million? He couldn’t expect Li Yaoyao to carry the box everywhere.

He thought carefully about the pigeon and suddenly had an idea.

“I remember that pigeon hit its head on the cage before teleporting. Could it be the injury?”

Li Yaoyao was unsure but listened carefully.

Ye Fan grabbed a rabbit and used a small knife to cut it.

The white fur was stained red with fresh blood. Li Yaoyao felt sorry for the poor rabbit but closed her eyes—not wanting to see the suffering.

Out of sight, out of mind.

“Yaoyao, how’s it going?” Ye Fan’s voice came through the phone, urging her on.

Li Yaoyao opened her eyes to find a “chaotic” rabbit in the box.

Its organs and fur were completely disordered. Though still alive, it was close to death!

“Oh no! So pitiful!”

Li Yaoyao aimed her phone camera at the rabbit, and Ye Fan saw the Cthulhu-like creature.

“So it really is because of wounds!”

Ye Fan was excited and immediately noted in his notebook: no wounds during teleportation, or the creature becomes “chaotic.”

He then took out a cage—the one Chen Shuting had bought with pigeons last time.

He hadn’t used it all before and was going to continue experimenting.

“The first time we tested, a pigeon was locked in the cage with no problems. I’ve been wondering why.”

Ye Fan guessed, “I think the pigeon flew up at the moment of teleportation, so it didn’t touch the cage and saved itself!”

“Mm-hmm!” Li Yaoyao nodded repeatedly. “I thought the same!”

But then her brows furrowed. “How do we make the pigeon fly up at that exact moment? The chances are so slim!”

“I have a way!”

---

Ye Fan smiled and took a fishing line, tying it around the pigeon and suspending it inside the cage.

“Let’s see if the pigeon will fuse with the cage!”

He put the cage into the box, and seconds later, Li Yaoyao suddenly cheered.

“Ye Fan, look!”

Her voice trembled as she pointed the camera at the pigeon.

The fishing line was fused with the pigeon, but the cage remained intact, not merged into the pigeon’s body!

“Success!”

Ye Fan shouted excitedly, pumping his fist.

As long as the pigeon didn’t touch the cage, even if connected by a fishing line, it wouldn’t fuse.

That meant no contact equals no problem!

“Looks like we’ve found the rule! How about I come over to your place tonight?”

Ye Fan could hardly wait.

“No!” Li Yaoyao looked at the small animals on the floor, especially the twisted, near-death ones, still afraid.

“Let’s test a few more times! We can’t afford mistakes!”

Ye Fan calmed down and nodded seriously. This was a matter of life and death, no room for carelessness.

They tested several times, confirming the rule: no foreign objects can touch the animals during teleportation, and absolutely no wounds!

Just as they were excited, there was a sudden knock at Li Yaoyao’s door.

“Knock, knock, knock! Yaoyao, why are you shouting in there?”

Li Yaoyao panicked and hurriedly threw the scattered animals back into the box.

“Mom, it’s nothing! I… I just accidentally fell!”

“Ah? Are you okay?”

Her mother hurriedly pushed the door open to check.

Luckily, Li Yaoyao had thrown all the animals back into the box except one healthy rabbit that hopped around freely—she hadn’t caught it.

“Eh? Where did this rabbit come from?” her mother asked.

Li Yaoyao stammered, “I… I don’t know how it got in! I was just trying to catch it!”

“You fell while trying to catch it?” Her mother looked worried and brushed the dust off Li Yaoyao. “Don’t try to catch it by yourself next time! This rabbit looks plump and caused you to fall. I’ll stew it for dinner tonight, okay?”

“No, Mom!” Li Yaoyao shook her head quickly. “The rabbit is so cute—I want to keep it!”

“Keeping it’s fine!” her mother smiled indulgently. “I’ll find a cage for you!”

After her mother left, Li Yaoyao quickly closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief.

On the other end, Ye Fan saw Li Yaoyao hurriedly put the animals away, and the signal suddenly cut off.

She must have closed the box.

Ye Fan felt worried and wanted to call back but feared she might not be able to answer, so he waited.

After a while, he opened the box again, only to be stunned.

The rabbits and pigeons had all returned to their original form—no trace of the Cthulhu-like mutations remained!

Could the box reverse the changes of the items it teleported?

Ye Fan immediately made a note of this new discovery in his notebook.