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Yuan Jun ran the fastest, leading the way, with Jiang He closely following behind. This place was familiar to Jiang He; once he had been there, he would never forget it. In the middle of the empty road, there was a large iron plate on the ground, and beneath it lay the underground casino that had once been shut down. The distant roll-up door was still closed and had lost power; it seemed that to get inside, they could only use this entrance.
Yuan Jun crouched down, preparing to lift the iron plate. He exchanged a glance with Jiang He, who leaned over to listen for a moment before stating firmly, "That's right, it's definitely coming from below. All I can hear is barking; I wonder if Zhang Zong is down there."
"Move aside a bit," Yuan Jun said as he rubbed his hands together, ready to lift the iron plate.
Jiang He stepped aside, and Yuan Jun grabbed the edge of the iron plate, attempting to pry it open. However, it seemed something was wedged underneath it. Yuan Jun exerted all his strength, managing to lift it just enough for the sound of barking to escape.
"Damn it," Yuan Jun cursed as he shook the iron plate vigorously. Like an enraged gorilla, he made the plate creak and groan under his force. With a loud shout, he finally pried it open.
The barking became clearer from below; however, in the darkness, neither Yuan Jun nor Jiang He could see where the dogs were located. From the sound, they seemed to be deep within an underground garage. This garage had been transformed into an underground casino and was quite spacious.
Suddenly, a low growl echoed from below. Both men recognized that this was not a sound made by dogs; whatever made that noise had to be human.
"Zhang Zong might still be alive."
As soon as Jiang He's words fell from his lips, Yuan Jun jumped down into the pitch-black garage with a thud.
Jiang He didn't possess Yuan Jun's strength; he carefully descended using the ladder attached to the cover. In the darkness, he could no longer see Yuan Jun's figure and wondered where he had run off to in the dark. Jiang He took out his phone and turned on its flashlight. Although it only illuminated a small area in front of him, it was better than nothing.
He raised his phone above his head.
After taking just a few steps forward, he heard Yuan Jun's voice calling from afar: "Damn it! Climb up quickly; these dogs have gone mad!"
Before Jiang He could process what was happening, he saw several shadowy figures rushing toward him in the distance. In an instant, he recognized that Yuan Jun was sprinting toward him at full speed, with a pack of dogs with glowing green eyes chasing after him. These dogs did not resemble pets at all; they looked more like packs of Evil Wolves.
Jiang He quickly counted—there were at least a dozen of them.
"Watch out!" Jiang He shouted as he spotted a Husky charging ahead. This dog stood nearly five feet tall when upright and leaped high enough to surpass even Yuan Jun.
Yuan Jun sensed the rush of wind behind him and felt the force coming from his left side. Without looking back, he extended his leg and abruptly stopped running. In one swift motion, he kicked out at the dog’s body.
The dog flew through the air from Yuan Jun's kick, spinning around before crashing down and knocking over several other pet dogs that were following closely behind.
"Climb! Get up! These dogs are insane!" Seeing Jiang He still standing at the entrance in shock, Yuan Jun shouted urgently as he landed on solid ground.
The dog that was kicked by Yuan Jun was still lying on the ground, whimpering in pain. It seemed that Yuan Jun's kick had been quite forceful. At that moment, Jiang He finally reacted; he turned on the flashlight on his phone, but the light was already dim as it illuminated the distance. In that faint glow, he could see a dozen pairs of glowing green eyes.
Jiang He hurriedly scrambled up.
"What’s going on down there?" Xu Yiman naturally heard the barking coming from the underground garage and was peering down from the surface.
"Dogs, a pack of rabid dogs," Jiang He replied.
He lay on the ground to look down. The square entrance only allowed him to see a small area; he couldn't tell where Yuan Jun had run off to. The barking grew louder, echoing closer to the entrance.
Yuan Jun had nearly reached the spot where Jiang He had just come down. The faint moonlight spilled into the square entrance, and those dogs were almost upon him. Yuan Jun felt certain that his pants must have been torn. He couldn't understand how these usually docile pet dogs could turn so vicious.
He leaped onto the ladder, and several dogs followed suit. The space was cramped, and as many dogs jumped at once, they collided with each other and tumbled to the ground, seemingly driven mad. A few dogs began to wrestle with one another. Jiang He reached out, trying to pull Yuan Jun up.
But at that moment, a dog lunged at him and bit into Yuan Jun's leg.
Jiang He grabbed hold of Yuan Jun with all his strength and managed to pull both him and the dog up. It was a white Samoyed that had sunk its teeth into Yuan Jun's leg, shaking its head as if trying to tear off a piece of flesh.
Yuan Jun remained silent as he flipped over, grasped the dog's head with both hands, and twisted hard. A sharp crack echoed as it seemed that he had broken the dog's neck.
With both hands bracing against the dog's mouth, he pried its teeth from his flesh.
Blood gushed forth, streaming down his pant leg.
Xu Yiman immediately said, "We need to get to the hospital for stitches and rabies shots."
Yuan Jun waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine; I won't die. There's no rush for now. These dogs are acting like they're rabid; they bite anyone they see. Luckily, they're all pets and haven't learned any hunting skills; otherwise, I would be done for. Humans can't compete with beasts."
Jiang He looked down into the garage where those dogs were crowded below, each one raising its head and howling while jumping around as if trying to leap up and drag people down. Fortunately, the distance was too great for them to jump up; they could only keep spinning in circles below.
Yuan Jun touched his wound and struggled to stand up.
"What’s going on?" Old Shao and others finally arrived.
Yuan Jun pointed to the underground garage. "Those dogs are in there, and they seem to have gone mad. They bite anyone they see. I got bitten once, but it's nothing serious. The main thing is that when I was down there, I saw a mangled corpse."
"Zhang Zong," Old Shao said softly.
Yuan Jun looked down at the dogs from the entrance. "If you go down through this hole and walk about twenty meters east, there's a body. I shone my flashlight on it, and those dogs were surrounding it."
"What were they doing?" Xu Yiman asked.
Yuan Jun glanced at his leg and replied, "If I’m not mistaken, those dogs were eating that person's flesh."
"Eating flesh?" Xu Yiman leaned in to look at the pet dogs. "They really have gone mad. These pets usually seem so docile."
"They're not mad; they're hungry," Old Shao observed the dogs. "Those dogs were transported from Yuzhou City to our Dragon City by a Criminal Consultant seven days ago. If I'm guessing right, those dogs were starved and forced to drink water with their tongues out, unable to bark or eat anything until today when he removed their restraints and let them loose one by one."
"Those dogs have been starving for seven days; even a sheep would eat a person if it got desperate, let alone these dogs," Old Shao stood aside. "Call the animal disease control station and have them bring more tranquilizers. Otherwise, anyone who goes down there will be devoured alive."
Old Shao made arrangements, and everyone acted according to the plan.
Xu Yiman took Yuan Jun to the nearest hospital for disinfection and bandaging. On his leg, there was a row of deep bite marks; the skin was nearly torn apart, making stitches a difficult task.
Xu Yiman looked at his wound and said, "It's not life-threatening; just rest for a while."
But Yuan Jun almost instantly stood up and took a few steps forward. Seeing him gritting his teeth, Xu Yiman couldn't help but ask, "Doesn't it hurt?"
Yuan Jun smiled and said to Xu Yiman, "When I was in the armed police, many situations were far more dangerous than this. Back then, I didn’t think much; now my mind is racing. But whether as an armed police officer or a criminal investigator, we’re always on the front lines, never knowing when we might kick the bucket."
Xu Yiman sighed and said, "Old Shao once told us that he chose us because we hardly have any family."
"There are many police officers in our country who have lost their families, yet here we are together. Maybe in our past lives, we were family," Yuan Jun pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and said, "Smoking this helps ease the pain a bit."
Xu Yiman suddenly smiled. "None of us have family; Old Shao doesn’t either. In just a few months, it will be Lunar New Year. We can gather then; otherwise, every year during the New Year feels so empty at home."
"It's a deal." Yuan Jun lit his cigarette.
"Let's go see if Old Shao and the others have dealt with those dogs," Yuan Jun said.
"Your leg?" Xu Yiman asked, a hint of concern in her voice.
Yuan Jun waved his hand dismissively. "It's just injuries."
"Are you sure you didn't lose one?" Old Shao stood at the edge of the entrance, looking down. "A pet dog that's been starved for seven days, even if there's only one left, it'll be enough trouble for us."
"Don't worry, they're all asleep," a leader from the Quarantine Office assured.
Old Shao nodded. "Take those dogs back. What you do with them is your business. But I must remind you, those dogs are filled with human flesh."
The leader looked at the pet dogs being thrown onto the truck and said, "I've heard that dogs that eat human flesh have their eyes turn red. If that happens, they’ll probably need to be euthanized. Even if they don't change, we can't let them go; who knows if a dog that has eaten human flesh might start attacking humans?"
"Let's head down and see if that corpse is really Zhang Zong's," Shao the Elder said. "Get the flashlight ready."
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