☆, Chapter 17: The Mad Dog
After finishing the philosophical conversation with Daizi, Hao Ren continued towards the park.
In the summer park, the grass and trees were lush, and the air should have been filled with their fresh fragrance. But as she stepped into the park, Hao Ren smelled a strong stench, the unique sour smell of protein decomposition. It was the distinct sour smell of a decaying corpse, one you could only smell when there was a dead mouse in the house.
Smelling this, Hao Ren’s heart tightened, and she quickened her pace into the park. After searching for a long time in the direction of the smell, she finally found its source next to a bush in a corner of the park.
It was four small puppies, looking to be less than a month old, their bodies lying on the concrete ground next to the bush. When she saw the four small bodies, Hao Ren sucked in a cold breath, feeling as if her heart was being squeezed by a large hand, an unbearable pain. The four small puppies had been brutally killed.
This litter of puppies was truly beautiful; the four puppies had four different colors. The sight of the mother dog leading her babies running on the grass must have been very loving. But now, they lay motionless on the ground, emitting a foul stench from decomposition.
The largest one was black. Its neck was tightly bound with a shoelace, which was dug so deeply into its flesh that it had probably reached the puppy’s cervical spine. The puppy’s face was frozen in the painful expression of its death. Hao Ren could imagine the ferocious expression on the perpetrator’s face as they tightened the shoelace. The remaining part of the shoelace was even tied into a beautiful bow.
The second largest one was yellow. The little one’s entire head was deformed, and its brain matter had spilled out. It seemed to have been stomped on and its head crushed. The flattened little head still bore the shoe print of the perpetrator.
The second to last largest one was a dark brown, with a cute tuft of white fur above its nose. It looked as if it were asleep, but below its neck, it was a gruesome sight. The perpetrator had cruelly cut open its belly, and its intestines and organs were exposed, leaving a pool of dried blood on the concrete ground beneath it.
The smallest one was a beautiful white, but now its white fur was stained with mottled brown from dried blood. The poor little thing’s tail, ears, and four limbs had been cut off. Two thumbtacks had even been cruelly pressed into its eye sockets. Its limbs and ears were casually discarded next to its body, but its tail was nowhere to be found.
The four puppies must have been dead for some time. Swarms of flies buzzed around the bodies, and the air was filled with a strong smell of decay.
The scene before her was too cruel. Hao Ren couldn’t imagine what kind of brutal and ferocious person could do such a horrific thing to newborn puppies. What she found most unacceptable was that all the clues clearly indicated that the perpetrator seemed to have enjoyed the entire process of the brutal killing.
“Oh my god!” After seeing the situation clearly, Lucky screamed and hid behind Hao Ren’s legs. Even the usually calm Daizi turned its face away, unable to bear the sight.
Since they were already dead, leaving them there to rot was not a solution. Hao Ren sighed and prepared to go over and gather the four puppies to bury them. But just as she approached, a heart-wrenching bark sounded in the air.
“Awoo-woof, awoo-woof, awoo-woof…” Hao Ren had never heard such a miserable bark before, as if it were screaming, yet also crying. Along with this bark, a yellow shadow instantly shot out from the nearby bushes.
It was a long-haired dog of yellow and white, probably a cross between a Shih Tzu and a Chinese native dog. The dog was very small, with a long, freshly scabbed scar on its face. One of its legs was injured and slightly raised. The skin on its belly was loose, revealing a row of slightly shriveled nipples. Hao Ren guessed its identity at first glance; it must be the puppies’ mother.
“Get away! Stay away from my children!” After a brief moment of eye contact, Hao Ren indeed heard a shrill female voice in her mind.
“But, they’re already dead…” The mother dog blocked Hao Ren’s path, making it impossible for her to get close to the puppies’ bodies. Now she finally understood why no one had taken care of the puppies even though they had been dead for so long.
“No! They’re not dead! Get away!” The mother dog bared her teeth angrily, a murderous growl rumbling in her throat, as if she would pounce on her at any moment.
Seeing this, Daizi hurriedly stood in front of Hao Ren and let out a roar that was no less intense than the mother dog’s. “Bastard! Do you know who you’re talking to?”
“Bad guy! Humans are all bad guys! Her Majesty the Queen is a human! She’s a bad guy too!” The mother dog’s eyes were bloodshot as she glared at Hao Ren with murderous intent, showing none of the respect other small animals had for the King of a Hundred Beasts.
“They’re already dead. You can’t just let them rot there. It’s so hot, they’ll soon be infested with maggots.” The best thing to do now was to turn around and leave like everyone else, but Hao Ren couldn’t just watch the four little puppies remain in such a heartbreaking state, slowly decaying in the summer air.
“Awoo-woof! You’ll be infested with maggots! Your whole family will be infested with maggots! They’re not dead! My children are not dead!” The mother dog let out a heart-wrenching shriek. If it weren’t for Daizi blocking her, she would have already pounced on Hao Ren.
“They’re dead… they’re already dead…” Hao Ren could understand the mother dog’s feelings, but she couldn’t just ignore her current state. Although her roars were filled with murderous intent, Hao Ren could hear that her throat was hoarse and dry. She must not have eaten properly for a long time. If she were left alone, she would surely die with her babies soon. Since she had stumbled upon this today, she absolutely could not allow such a tragedy to happen before her eyes.
“Awoo-woof! Not dead!”
“They’re dead…”
“Not dead!”
“See for yourself, they’re already dead…”
“Not dead! Not dead!”
“They’re dead…”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Awooo—” With a heart-wrenching roar, the mother dog suddenly shot towards Hao Ren like an arrow released from a bow.
Daizi quickly intercepted, sending it flying with a single paw strike. Unfortunately, it had underestimated the madness of a mother who had lost her children. Just as Hao Ren walked over to check on its condition, the mother dog suddenly raised its head and bit down hard on Hao Ren’s hand.
“Ah—” The hand is the most sensitive organ of the human body. With that bite, tears immediately streamed from Hao Ren’s eyes from the pain.
“Your Majesty!” Lucky screamed and covered its eyes.
“Awooo—die!” Seeing Hao Ren injured, Daizi instantly went crazy. It rushed over, opened its mouth, and was about to bite the mother dog’s throat. Daizi’s sharp teeth were not for show; Hao Ren had seen it kill a mouse in the house with one bite before. If this bite landed, the already teetering mother dog would surely be dead.
“Stop!” Although tears were streaming from her eyes from the pain, Hao Ren still managed to stop the out-of-control Daizi in time.
“Uncle Daizi, no! If one day, I were lying on the ground like those little puppies, you would surely go crazy too. So, don’t hurt it…”
Just as Hao Ren finished comforting Daizi and was about to wipe her tears and find a way to make the mad dog let go, a figure suddenly flashed before her eyes. The person was holding a rock they had just picked up from the ground and was about to smash it down on the mother dog’s head.
“Stop!”
Unfortunately, she was a step too late. The rock had already come crashing down.
“Awooo—” A shrill scream sounded in the air, but it wasn’t the mother dog’s, but Hao Ren’s. Just as the rock was about to hit the mother dog’s head, Hao Ren subconsciously used her uninjured left hand to block it. And so, the rock landed squarely on the back of her hand. The mother dog’s bite had been painful enough, but this move from the good Samaritan was even more ruthless. Hao Ren even suspected that her bones had been broken. The pain was so intense that her breathing stopped, and she had to take a deep breath to recover.
The good Samaritan obviously hadn’t expected this to happen and was stunned on the spot. Even the mother dog was dazed. Its mouth loosened, and Hao Ren’s bitten right hand finally slipped out of its mouth. Daizi stood there, at a loss, and Lucky had both its eyes covered.
Hao Ren didn’t rush to check her wounds. Instead, she took the opportunity while the mother dog was dazed to hug it tightly. The originally murderous mother dog’s body suddenly relaxed, and then it began to let out mournful whimpers in Hao Ren’s arms.
“They’re not dead… I just fed them milk… Little Black, Little Yellow, Little White, Coffee, my children… Bad guys… humans are all bad guys…”
“I’m not a bad guy! I’m a good person! There are bad guys among humans, but there are also good people!” Feeling the dog in her arms trembling, Hao Ren hugged it even tighter.
“Wooo wooo wooo…” The mournful whimpers in the air grew even more shrill.
After confirming that the dog in her arms was not going to bite her again, Hao Ren dared to speak again. “Your children are already dead. You don’t want them to be eaten by maggots, do you? Let them rest in peace!”
This time, although the dog in her arms still trembled violently, it did not resist. Hao Ren let out a long sigh of relief. She got up, preparing to dig a hole to bury the four little puppies, only to suddenly realize that her hands were completely useless.
So, she had no choice but to look up and ask for help from the good Samaritan who had just acted heroically. She adjusted her expression, tried to put on what she thought was a kind smile, and requested, “Handsome! Be a good person to the end! Both my hands are useless, please help me!”
However, when she saw clearly who that person was, she froze on the spot.
It was him! How could it be him!