Just as we were about to rest on the spot, a scruffy dog slowly strolled to the edge of the hot spring ahead of us. It seemed completely unaware of our presence. The dog paused, stretched its neck, and took a few sips from the hot spring water. From beginning to end, it never once glanced at the four of us. After drinking, it ran to the edge of the spring and began to scratch the ground with its front paws...
I sized up the scruffy dog from head to toe. There was no trace of any Aura of the Arcanobeast on it, but even so, I didn't intend to accept it as just an ordinary mangy dog. If this place wasn't a Tomb of a Transcendent Beast, then no matter how you looked at it, this dog could be mistaken for a stray often seen by the roadside. But in this situation, coupled with its complete disregard for us, and the fact that this dog showed no signs of being an Arcanobeast, I simply could not believe it was just a normal stray.
"Nyeh…" Suddenly, the black cat in Sun Fatty's arms let out a sharp, unexpected cry. Our attention, focused on the scruffy dog, was startled by this outburst. Luckily, we noticed the black cat's fur had bristled up, and its jet-black eyes were fixed intensely on the scruffy dog. The cat kept uttering Nyeh sounds, looking more like a frightened porcupine than a cat.
The scruffy dog finally stopped scratching the ground. It lifted its head and completely ignored the four of us, fixing its gaze on the black cat instead. It growled lowly through its teeth, and when it opened its mouth, I saw a wisp of purple gas flowing out along with the growl.
Seeing that purple gas made my right eyelid twitch uncontrollably. A few hours ago, I was the first to notice the same kind of purple gas seeping from the wall of the underground warehouse. At this moment, Hao Wenming, closest to the dog, had already begun to slowly retreat back toward Sun Fatty and me. Meng Qiqi opened her mouth as if to say something but hesitated and kept silent.
Meng Qiqi slowly took a signal flare out of her backpack and fired it toward the ceiling while the dog's attention remained fixed on the black cat. This signal flare and its ammunition had been specially modified to reduce the gunpowder's explosive force. Before the red flare even touched the ceiling, it began descending slowly, bathing the area in a crimson glow.
Meng Qiqi's action temporarily diverted the dog's attention to her, but it only glanced once (one of those glances was toward the falling flare) before returning its gaze to the black cat. However, apart from exchanging looks, the scruffy dog made no other move, showing no intention to charge.
Hao Wenming raised his eyebrows when he saw Meng Qiqi take out the signal gun but did not stop her. The black cat in Sun Fatty's arms twisted and writhed fiercely, its cries growing even more piercing. Sun Fatty held it tightly, trying all he could to soothe it, but the cat kept bristling and howling nonstop. I was sweating buckets nearby, unsure when this large-scale sonic weapon might suddenly crank up the volume and launch an indiscriminate full-range sonic attack like it did back in the snowfield.
Sun Fatty stroked the bristled fur on the black cat's head repeatedly and said to Hao Wenming, "Hao Head, this mangy dog is actually Yin Bai? What do we do now? Should we scatter in four directions and just see who's lucky enough to get out alive?" (The moment Sun Fatty called it a mangy dog, the scruffy dog's gaze instantly shifted away from the black cat, as if it understood human speech, and glanced at Sun Fatty.)
Hao Wenming snorted, "Where do you get all this nonsense? Slowly back away, don't look it in the eye. First get out of its line of sight, then talk. Sun Fatty, this is the 'good road' you chose; we'll settle this debt after we get out."
"Is this really a plan to get out alive?" The usually quiet Meng Qiqi finally spoke up. She dropped the signal gun but still tightly gripped her specially modified short double-barreled shotgun. Yet she dared not point the muzzle at the scruffy dog. Meng Qiqi continued, "Hao Wenming, be honest, do you have any backup plans this time?"
Hao Wenming, leading Sun Fatty and me in retreat, asked in return, "What about Huang Ran? He set such a big formation; he must have planned for meeting Yin Bai. I'm telling you, blindly waiting for death is not Huang Ran's style."
"Do you think I still trust him?" Meng Qiqi echoed, retreating backward as well. "Actually, he doesn't really trust me or Zhang Zhiyan either. That copy of Ruan Liulang's records, he wouldn't let us see it no matter what… sigh…" She sighed and continued, "I don't even know if that flare helped. Let's hope he doesn't just show up to pick up the pieces after we're all dead."
Hearing Meng Qiqi's words, Sun Fatty grinned broadly at an inappropriate moment. He was about to speak when I stopped him: "Everyone, is this really the time to chat? Look at that dog. Hao Head, what now?"
No need to say more — Hao Wenming's face had already changed. As Meng Qiqi spoke, the scruffy dog finally made a move. For every step we took backward, it took one forward, maintaining a steady distance of about thirty to forty meters.
I raised the muzzle of my assault rifle a little to aim at the dog's head, but Hao Wenming grabbed my arm. "La Zi, put the gun down, don't provoke it. We keep backing off. Once we get out of this corridor, we scatter and run. Remember, run toward the Ying Spring. Once we're in Ying Spring's range, we're safe."
After Hao Wenming finished speaking, we all quickened our pace backward. Sun Fatty, still unwilling to give up, said to Meng Qiqi, "Don't you have anything prepared over there to deal with this kind of Arcanobeast? I'm just saying, if you have one or two tricks, it might be good to hold off this mangy dog." Just as Sun Fatty said "mangy dog," the scruffy dog suddenly let out a long howl and vanished right before our eyes. At the same time, Hao Wenming shouted, "Run backward!"
After we retreated a hundred meters or so, we saw that scruffy dog had already blocked our path ahead. That was the only way forward. How it circled around us to get in front, even Hao Wenming couldn't explain.
We had no time to think further. I aimed my gun muzzle at the dog's head, ready to shoot if it made any aggressive moves. But the scruffy dog didn't seem in a hurry to attack; it slowly stepped forward, one step at a time. For every step the dog took, the four of us retreated one step. Soon, we had backed up to the edge of the hot spring, while the dog stood in the spot we had just vacated—a complete position swap.
We were already at the edge of the hot spring. Going back any further meant crossing the Tomb of a Transcendent Beast's large hot spring pool. Even so, the scruffy dog kept closing in step by step, with only about twenty meters left. We couldn't let it come any closer. Gritting my teeth, without consulting Hao Wenming, I fired a shot straight at its head. At this distance, I wouldn't miss even with my eyes closed.
But after the shot rang out, the scruffy dog was still standing there steadily, slowly walking toward us.
Damn it. This was the first time since I joined the military and handled firearms that I had missed a target, especially at such a close range of less than twenty meters. Well, I had fired once; I didn't mind unloading a whole magazine. I pulled the trigger hard, and a burst of bullets poured out. Meanwhile, Hao Wenming and Meng Qiqi also raised their assault rifle and shotgun respectively and sprayed bullets at the scruffy dog.
In the blink of an eye, all three guns were empty. More than sixty rounds had been fired, yet not a single hair on that dog was touched.
Though we hadn't hit the dog, I thought I caught a clue. At the instant I fired—and also when Hao Wenming and Meng Qiqi fired simultaneously—I saw the scruffy dog's figure under the muzzle flash flicker and become "blurred" for a moment. When the shooting stopped, its body became clear again. Looking down at the ground beneath the dog, there were dense bullet holes, as if the bullets had passed through the dog's body and embedded into the earth.
"Damn it! Bullets don't work on it!" Hao Wenming threw aside his empty assault rifle, then pulled out a specially modified collapsible baton and flicked it in the wind. A slender blade extended from its handle. Meng Qiqi hesitated a moment but quickly loaded more shotgun shells, then raised the shotgun in her right hand and pulled out a dagger from her waist with her left. The young Miss Meng holding a gun in one hand and a blade in the other looked quite formidable.
I slung my assault rifle behind my back and then drew my "family heirloom" short blade. The moment I unsheathed it, the scruffy dog suddenly stopped moving. It seemed to sense the threat from my short blade, staring fixedly at it and even involuntarily took a step back.
Before entering the Tomb of a Transcendent Beast, I remembered the scene from 1975 when Pu Dage threw his great sword, and it flew back on its own. I had quietly tied one end of the Wyrmvine Threads to the handle of my short blade. Now, taking advantage of the scruffy dog's backward step, I covertly wound the other end around my right middle finger.
Sun Fatty nearby noticed the opportunity and also drew the same short blade as mine. If Huang Ran were here, he'd probably suspect Sun Fatty and me were cousins. Seeing Sun Fatty brandish his short blade, the scruffy dog took another step back, lowered its head tightly to the ground, rolled its eyes up, and glanced sideways at Sun Fatty and me. It opened its mouth and kept making continuous "huffing" sounds.
Just when I thought the scruffy dog dared not come forward, it suddenly raised its head and howled toward the sky. This was no longer a dog's bark but a wolf's howl. At the same time, its yellow and black patches slowly faded until they completely disappeared within minutes. The scruffy dog that looked like a street stray had transformed into a pure white wolf with not a single patch left.
We were stunned by the sight. Sun Fatty said, "Hao Head, what's going on? I've seen big transformations before, but this kind of big transformation into a wolf is the first time."
Hao Wenming didn't bother with Sun Fatty's nonsense. Watching the scruffy dog turn into a white wolf, he suddenly shouted, "Scatter and run!" Before he even finished yelling, Meng Qiqi was already running left to try to bypass the white wolf and escape.
Sun Fatty and I were about to choose different directions when the situation changed again.
The white wolf glanced at Meng Qiqi and let out another long howl. Suddenly, the young Miss Meng's feet left the ground and flew backward as if grabbed by invisible hands and thrown. We heard a splash as Meng Qiqi was thrown into the hot spring. Fortunately, her head didn't hit the water first. After flailing for a bit, I turned and jumped into the hot spring as well, pulling her up from the water.
At this moment, we basically gave up on scattering and escaping separately. The white wolf stopped howling, looked at us, and slowly walked toward us again.
"Get into the hot spring!" Sun Fatty suddenly said. Hao Wenming and I didn't understand his meaning at first, but then he explained, "Get in the hot spring. On the count of one, two, three, I'll throw the cat to stun this mangy dog with its Nyeh. While we throw the cat in, we dive underwater. Underwater, we won't hear the cat's cries, maybe we can survive this."
Hao Wenming had no other choice and agreed with Sun Fatty. The four of us jumped into the hot spring. Luckily, this wasn't the large glowing spring outside, so the water temperature was bearable. Although it smelled strongly of sulfur, it wasn't dangerous.
The white wolf stopped moving, seeming stunned and confused by our jumping into the hot spring.
Sun Fatty held the black cat up. The cat was already at the zero-point threshold; with just a little external force, it could let out another earth-shattering "Nyeh."
"Three!" Sun Fatty shouted without warning, then threw the black cat. I was startled and quickly pinched my nose, diving underwater.
Sun Fatty's count was too sudden. When I dived in, I panicked and swallowed a mouthful of water. The water went down my airway; I couldn't swallow or spit it out, and I felt like I was suffocating. After thrashing underwater a few times, I reflexively stood up inside the hot spring. Just as I was about to dive back under, I froze at the scene in front of me.
About sixty or seventy meters away, the white wolf was chasing the black cat wildly. It was obvious the wolf wasn't fighting at full strength. Bounding and lunging, it had already driven the black cat into a desperate flight. Although the black cat kept crying "Nyeh…," the voice trembled badly and at first sounded like it was calling "Yeye(Note: It is like Grandpa in Chinese)…"
Several times the white wolf could have bitten the black cat but deliberately knocked it away and began a new round of pursuit.
I hadn't expected throwing the black cat to end like this. I thought it could hold out at least for a moment. If only it shouted once, even if it didn't stun the white wolf, it could at least make it step back and give us a chance to escape.
Just as I was lost in thought, wondering whether to pull Hao Wenming and the others out of the hot spring and run in the confusion, the cat-and-dog chase suddenly reversed.
The white wolf once again slammed the black cat far away. The black cat twisted in mid-air as it fell, forcefully kicking the ground with its hind legs. Using this momentum, the black cat leapt at the white wolf. Its claws raked fiercely across the wolf's face, even tearing through Wyrmvine Threads. The force was tremendous; the snow-white wolf's face was soon covered in blood and flesh wounds. The wolf barely managed to retreat a step, saving its eyes from being clawed out.
The white wolf let out a painful howl. Before it could recover, the black cat suddenly screamed hoarsely at the wolf's head: "Nyeh…"