By the time Jin Chuyu’s senior, Wenren Xu, arrived with the medication, Su Heng’s lips had already turned dark purple.
No matter how Jiang Ying smoothed his furrowed brow, it would knit together again moments later.
Wracked with pain, he curled into a tight ball on the sofa, subconsciously gripping her hand with crushing force. His grip was so tight it turned the skin on the back of her hand and her palm pale white.
It hurt intensely. She endured it without showing a single trace of discomfort, continuing to murmur reassurances to him.
“Obedient Dog, it’s okay.”
“You have to get better quickly! Once you’re well, you can go out and play, and eat all sorts of delicious things.”
“A hug will make the pain go away.”
Hearing this, Wenren Xu immediately recognized her as someone with Beastman Cognitive Disorder. He glanced at Jin Chuyu, and seeing no reaction from her, swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue.
Among the Beastmen he treated, some had human friends or partners. Employers like Jiang Ying, who had Beastman Cognitive Disorder, were not uncommon, but from his experience, such employment relationships rarely lasted.
First, the conceptual gap between the two parties was too vast, leading easily to conflict. Second, if the symptoms of a person with cognitive disorder weren’t stabilized, they could worsen, making their perception of Beastmen increasingly extreme.
Even if she didn’t deteriorate, Beastmen were still people. Even if they didn’t mind initially, people always started wanting more. Gradually, such an unequal cognitive relationship would breed resentment.
Wenren Xu knew he wasn’t in a position to warn Jiang Ying; he simply, without a word, took out the injectable medication.
“I’ll give him a painkiller first.”
He explained, “Excessive pain can trigger a Beastman’s Berserk state. If not treated promptly, it could cause him to lose his humanity.”
Jiang Ying immediately tensed up. “Alright, I’m counting on you!”
Wenren Xu approached with the syringe.
Jin Chuyu warned, “Be careful. He’s extremely vigilant.”
“I know, I know. After dealing with so many Beastmen, your senior here has at least this much common sense—Ow, ow, ow!!!”
Wenren Xu retreated urgently the moment Su Heng lashed out, his left foot catching on his right, nearly tripping himself.
He rubbed his head sheepishly. “Di-didn’t expect him to be so sharp.”
He had clearly looked on the verge of death. To still make such an instinctive counter-attack upon sensing danger…
“Let me stay by his side.” Jiang Ying returned to the sofa and took Su Heng’s hand. “This way, he probably won’t attack you again.”
Wenren Xu cautiously approached.
Sure enough, this time Su Heng only frowned slightly, with no further violent reaction.
The clear liquid was gradually pushed into Su Heng’s body. Wenren Xu then retrieved another vial, filled with a cloudy reagent.
“This is a stabilizer. It prevents his body from having further Rejection Reactions against the prosthetic. However, the effect is temporary and requires regular injections.”
After administering both the painkiller and the stabilizer, Su Heng’s condition visibly improved.
Wenren Xu then handed Jiang Ying a glove and a roll of bandages, instructing her to wrap them around Su Heng.
After observing him for half an hour and seeing his condition stabilize, Wenren Xu finally reached a conclusion.
“There’s no immediate danger now. But this only superficially stabilizes his bodily functions; the root cause hasn’t been addressed.”
Wenren Xu took another item from his medical kit. “The Mechanical Prosthetic can’t be simply removed. We can only have him wear this specialized glove for protection, pain relief, and to inhibit further deterioration. However…”
He paused, seemingly considering how to break it to Jiang Ying.
It clearly wasn’t good news, no matter how you heard it.
Jiang Ying tightened her grip on Su Heng’s hand and lifted her head towards Wenren Xu. “However?”
The latter sighed. “However, this right hand likely won’t function normally until a new prosthetic is fitted.”
Jiang Ying’s mood instantly plummeted. She had lost her sight before, so she understood all too well the feeling of losing an arm that her Little Dog must be experiencing.
“For the next little while, avoid things like getting it wet in the rain. It’s best to wear this glove even when showering, and don’t unwrap the bandages. Don’t let the prosthetic come into contact with the outside world; it’s on the verge of complete collapse. Ah, right,” Wenren Xu noticed her distraction and tried to lighten the mood, “This material is waterproof, absolutely top quality!”
Jin Chuyu shot her senior a disdainful look and went over to comfort Jiang Ying.
“My senior and I will keep an eye out for a trustworthy prosthetics engineer. For now, as long as he gets the stabilizer injections regularly, we can at least ensure it doesn’t worsen further. My senior will send a batch of the reagent periodically; you can have him inject it himself daily.”
Wenren Xu: “Mm-hmm, right.”
“Thank you.” Jiang Ying hugged Jin Chuyu.
Before leaving, Jin Chuyu deliberately emphasized once more not to let anyone else know about the condition of his right prosthetic.
Wenren Xu watched the two of them longingly, asking Jin Chuyu as they walked away, “Is she the one who made you give up the clinic and abandon medicine for writing?…”
…
Jiang Ying fetched a fresh damp towel and wiped the cold sweat from Su Heng’s forehead. The sweat had seeped out earlier; now his condition was stable, and his breathing had returned to normal.
She brought a glass of water and tried to feed him with a spoon. Her blindness made this simple act immensely difficult; each time she had to carefully find the position of his lips. In the end, she only barely managed to moisten them.
She thought she should help him out of his soaked clothes. This was incredibly difficult; not only was she blind, but she lacked physical strength. Just taking off his jacket exhausted her. Fearing she might wake the dog who had finally fallen into a deep sleep, she moved as slowly as possible, careful not to touch his skin directly.
She rested for a good while after removing each piece of clothing. It took her nearly half an hour to undress Su Heng completely.
“This should be much more comfortable, right?”
Jiang Ying felt she had done well.
She gathered his clothes and tossed them into the washing machine, then made her way to her room. She took a thin blanket from the cupboard and returned to the sofa, draping it over Su Heng.
The blanket wasn’t quite long enough, leaving a section of his long legs exposed. Jiang Ying couldn’t see this, her only concern was pulling it up to just below his neck.
Cover his stomach and he won’t catch a chill—this was her instinct as a citizen of China.
After doing all this, she didn’t know what else she could do for her doggy. She had wanted to ask Wenren Xu to help move Su Heng to the bedroom, but even in deep sleep, if anyone other than her got too close, Su Heng would enter a subconscious defensive attack mode.
“Really couldn’t be helped, dear junior apprentice sister’s friend. Just giving him the injection earlier nearly cost me my life,” Wenren Xu said, his hand still over his heart in lingering fear. “Though I’ve treated vigilant Beastmen before, indiscriminate aggression like that is truly rare.”
There was no helping it; he’d have to keep sleeping on the sofa.
Jiang Ying pulled up a chair and settled beside him, resting her head on the sofa cushion near his hand. She drifted in and out of sleep like this all night.
When she woke the next day, Su Heng’s face was right beside hers.
Though she couldn’t experience the visual impact, the warm breath ghosting across her face made her pause for a moment.
Before the dreaded realization that she had to go to work hit her, Jiang Ying reached out to feel his forehead.
It was warmer than her own body temperature, but not as scorching as the day before. His breathing was steady, and his brow was relaxed.
It seemed the prolonged agony he’d endured yesterday had simply exhausted him, and he hadn’t yet woken.
“Good dog, good morning.”
Jiang Ying leaned over and kissed the tip of his nose.
“I have to go to work now. Get well soon, okay?”
When she stood up, her leg had fallen asleep. She grimaced and stamped her foot gently, afraid of waking him. She leaned back over, reaching out to fumble for the edge of the blanket and tuck it snugly around her dog. Only then did she wash up, gather her things, and head out.
The white cane in her hand, her companion of three years, felt somewhat unfamiliar in this moment. But thinking it over, it hadn’t been long since she’d gotten a guide dog at all.
She had once thought that habit was a terrifying thing, but she hadn’t known how easily an old habit could be replaced by a new one.
Only when she stepped out of the apartment building did she regain some of the feeling of going out alone. Her feet again met the uneven bumps of the Tactile Paving. She cautiously waved her cane, identifying obstacles ahead.
Her company’s location had been chosen before she lost her sight. Considering how prospective employees perceived a company’s reliability, she and Jin Chuyu had chosen the Federal Innovation Technology Park, a hub for internet companies. It was quite far from her home.
Even taking a taxi, during the morning rush hour, she still had to walk the last stretch near the park. Otherwise, she’d face a traffic jam lasting anywhere from half an hour to an hour.
When Su Heng was with her, that stretch of road had been passed incredibly smoothly, so much so that she’d pushed her wake-up time back by over half an hour.
Today, she remembered to leave earlier, but returning to her old routine made her yawn continuously. She began to realize that missing her guide dog felt like missing that extra half hour. Not life-altering, just… less comforting than when he was by her side.
It was just like having a pet dog. On normal days, walking the dog daily, you think nothing of it. But the day the dog gets sick and can’t go out, you truly feel the absence. As if an extra bond had formed.
It was true, then, that after getting a cat or a dog, you genuinely look forward to going home. When your dog is sick at home, you worry even while at work.
Walking to the company entrance, she was still thinking about asking Chuchu if there was anything he should avoid eating. Before finding a way to completely cure him, what she could do for her dog was limited. But bringing home a tasty treat after work to cheer him up—that much she could manage.
~
When Su Heng awoke, his head was still heavy and groggy. It took him a moment of disorientation to realize he was in her living room.
The curtains were half-drawn, and the weather was poor today. Soft, weak sunlight crept in, illuminating only the area near the balcony.
The space near the sofa was dim. It took him a long while to gauge the time; only by looking elsewhere did he get a rough idea. It was already past the time Jiang Ying usually left for work.
…Where was she?
He tried to sit up, feeling as if he’d just been hauled up from the deep sea. The sensation of drowning asphyxiation tightened around his throat, and every part of his body ached with a sore, swelling pain. The feeling lasted less than half a minute, yet left him drenched in sweat.
And what blanked his mind even more was this: he couldn’t feel his right hand. From the shoulder down, through the arm, to the palm and fingertips… No sensation. As if it didn’t exist.
Su Heng lowered his head. As the thin blanket slipped from his body, he saw his supposedly ruined Mechanical Prosthetic still attached to his shoulder, intact. Someone had put a special-material glove on it, and his arm was wrapped in bandages of the same material, tied in a neat bow at the top—undoubtedly Jiang Ying’s handiwork.
So. She knew. She knew of his incompleteness, and she knew of his past.
Su Heng’s heart plummeted. He should have just killed her.
But he found himself making excuses: The fact that he hadn’t been taken away by the Federation yet meant the two people who treated him while he was half-conscious hadn’t betrayed him. Keeping her around was fine. She posed no threat to him. He wouldn’t be exposed because of this.
Two contradictory thoughts wrestled in his mind for a long time before Su Heng finally stood up from the sofa.
However…
The covering completely slid off him. It was only then that he was jolted to a shocking realization: Sometime before this, he had been lying here on the sofa, stark naked, covered only by a soft, thin blanket.
There was still a shallow indent on the sofa cushion beside his hand. The sofa, the blanket, his bare skin—they were all saturated with her scent. The catnip fragrance still hadn’t dissipated.
She had been here last night—slept right next to him, her head resting beside his. And she had also stripped him completely naked.
Although she couldn’t see… Although she only regarded him as a dog… But he was a normal, adult man who understood the boundaries between men and women, who had never experienced love, currently undergoing his first Rut, and had a sense of shame…
Flustered, Su Heng used his left hand to pick up the thin blanket and wrap it back around himself. With this action, the soft fabric, laden with her scent, enveloped him completely. An involuntary purring sound rumbled from his throat again.
The desensitization towards her hadn’t progressed at all; it had only gotten worse. In his daze, he felt as though she was embracing him.
The abnormal symptoms of the body’s rejection had temporarily vanished, but accompanied by a certain tingling, numbing emotion quickly taking root in his heart, this bashful realization made him burn up all over again.
…
Su Heng wrapped himself in the blanket, his face flushed bright red, and retreated to his room in silence. The thought that this awkwardness was entirely one-sided only deepened his shame.
He remembered the first night he slept in her room, how she had nonchalantly started to undress right in front of him—of course it was nonchalant; in her eyes, he was nothing of consequence. Last night’s undressing was the same; she didn’t think anything of it. After all, concepts of male-female boundaries didn’t apply to dogs.
It was nothing. Su Heng told himself this over and over.
But his mind couldn’t help but conjure up the image of her fumbling, helping him out of his clothes. It made him feel weak all over, barely able to stand. In a daze, he braced himself against the wardrobe door and slowly sat down on the edge of the bed nearby.