When Lu Xi'an heard the woman give her name, his first thought was that he might have a chance of catching a ride.
Good thing. The water and instant noodles hadn't gone to waste.
He carefully scanned the area below. Quite a few hyenas were dead already, but there were still at least ten of them, inside and out.
These hyenas were very clever. They'd charged straight at them before, but now that they'd changed tactics, they immediately switched things up. They were deliberately hiding behind cover to avoid being spotted by the gun pointed down from above.
That was why Yao Wei couldn't shoot all the remaining hyenas.
Lu Xi'an searched for a while but couldn't tell which one was the leader, so all he could do was keep waiting with Yao Wei at the top of the stairs.
"You know a lot about these wild dogs?"
Yao Wei noticed Lu Xi'an's gaze and asked.
"Not much," Lu Xi'an said. "I just know they're all proctologists. I can't even tell which one's the leader. If we could find the leader, you could just shoot it."
After all, he'd only seen these pack-dwelling beasts—which were supposed to live in Africa—in videos. This was his first time hearing their "kekekekeke" cries, too.
"Proctologists..."
Yao Wei murmured the word, her nerves tightening again.
Lu Xi'an felt that she was talking a lot more than before.
The standoff continued, and before long, night fell. Lu Xi'an noticed the hyenas growing more restless than before and suddenly guessed what the beasts were planning.
He immediately gave the Mechanical Dog an order. "Doggo, if any of them come up the stairs, shine your light on them."
The Mechanical Dog had turned into a box as soon as Yao Wei came upstairs, and had stayed quiet.
It was so intelligent that Lu Xi'an couldn't tell if it was avoiding danger or hiding in the dark to target Yao Wei.
Whatever the case, it obeyed Lu Xi'an's orders without fail.
As soon as Lu Xi'an finished speaking, the Mechanical Dog immediately changed back from its box form.
A flicker of astonishment crossed Yao Wei's face, then she quickly returned to her usual cold, sharp expression. But the corner of her eye kept darting toward the dog.
Lu Xi'an suspected she was worried the dog might go for her behind.
It soon grew completely dark.
It was the first night after the rain, and there weren't too many clouds in the sky. But there was no moon or stars tonight, and the villa was dark. The stairs built alongside the inner wall were pitch-black, impossible to see through.
"Kekekekeke—"
"Kekekeke—"
"Kekeke—"
The increasingly restless hyenas suddenly began to howl, as if they were communicating with one another.
"Doggo!"
Lu Xi'an reminded it. He raised his Submachine Gun, and he and Yao Wei both tensed up.
If Yao Wei couldn't stop the hyenas, he'd have no choice but to open fire.
The next moment, two beams of light suddenly came on, shining toward the stairs.
A hyena was taking advantage of the darkness to charge up the stairs. Suddenly, it was exposed to Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei's view.
Bang!
Yao Wei pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Her shot was incredibly precise. It hit the hyena right in the head.
The Mechanical Dog's eyes didn't linger on the corpse. They immediately shone farther up the stairs.
Another hyena was charging up behind it. The corpse in front didn't stop it; it leaped right over the body. But the moment it was airborne, the sudden light and a bullet struck it.
Thud.
The two hyena corpses landed on top of each other.
"Yap—"
The remaining hyenas seemed frightened. Their cries abruptly stopped, and not one of them came up the stairs again.
Watching Yao Wei display the marksmanship of a sharpshooter under the light of the dog's eyes, Lu Xi'an suddenly thought of something.
He didn't waste a moment. "Doggo, sweep below!"
The Mechanical Dog was already used to Lu Xi'an's many commands. Even when he gave it a short order, it could figure out what he meant. Its lights immediately shifted, sweeping the area below.
In the dark, the Mechanical Dog's eyes were unbeatable. They swept over a hyena at once.
The startled hyena hadn't had time to get back behind cover.
Yao Wei understood and immediately followed up with a shot.
Bang!
The other hyenas scattered, fleeing in all directions.
The Mechanical Dog didn't sweep its lights around again. It was clear that the remaining hyenas had all escaped.
Lu Xi'an wondered if the hyena they'd just killed had been the leader of the pack.
"Doggo, go down and check."
Lu Xi'an gave the Mechanical Dog another order.
The dog then swayed down the stairs and chased out of the villa.
Its little body was impossible to see in the dark, but the metallic clinks of its feet against the ground were audible to both Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei.
They followed the sound of the Mechanical Dog's footsteps, watching until it reached outside the villa. The faint starlight made the metallic sheen of its body even fainter.
Yao Wei's gaze changed as she watched the Mechanical Dog. She looked a little envious.
Lu Xi'an had been keeping an eye on Yao Wei the whole time.
If even the slightest hint of a desire to steal the dog crossed her face, he'd pull the trigger without hesitation.
The Submachine Gun's magazine was already full. At this close range, with the element of surprise, he refused to believe he couldn't kill her.
Luckily, Yao Wei was only a little envious. She made no move.
The Mechanical Dog returned alone soon afterward. The lights in its eyes came on and stayed lit.
That was its signal to Lu Xi'an. If the hyenas came back, its eyes would flash twice.
Since they were lit steadily now, that meant the area outside was safe.
"All right, it's over."
Lu Xi'an said.
Yao Wei relaxed, too. "Thanks."
This was already one of many times she'd thanked him.
Lu Xi'an finally felt at ease. From what he'd seen, this woman was definitely different from the bastards in the Wolf Gang and Dog Gang he'd encountered before. She was a good person.
At least, deep down, she was a good person.
That made it easier to ask her for something. Otherwise, he really wouldn't dare make requests so casually.
"If you really want to thank me, let me catch a ride with you. I can't stay here anymore, and I need to find somewhere else."
He spoke to Yao Wei.
Yao Wei looked at Lu Xi'an with her calm, unfathomable eyes. "Trade me the cold cream. You said you would."
In the light of the Mechanical Dog's eyes, half of Yao Wei's face was illuminated and half was swallowed by darkness. The sun- and wind-weathered marks on her skin were obscured, making her look even more beautiful.
But her gaze seemed even colder, as if there were absolutely no room for negotiation.
"Then you have to make sure you take me somewhere suitable for living before you let me out," Lu Xi'an said.
Yao Wei hesitated for a long while before nodding. "Okay."
Lu Xi'an began packing up. He stuffed everything he needed into his backpack and picked up the rest. He also attached everything that needed to go on the dog.
The empty bottle he'd drained couldn't be thrown away, either. He filled it with water from the outdoor pool and packed it.
Only then did Yao Wei follow his example. She took an empty bottle from her own backpack and filled it with water.
As for the iron bucket, she kept carrying it. Just as Lu Xi'an had guessed, she planned to fill it with gasoline at a gas station.
While waiting for Yao Wei to fill her bottles, Lu Xi'an went to check the hyena corpses.
He knew they were scavengers, and their flesh might contain toxins, making them unsafe to eat. But he still held out a little hope and had the dog scan them.
After the dog finished scanning, Lu Xi'an finally gave up and couldn't help sighing. "What a shame..."
"What's a shame?"
Yao Wei had filled her bottles and came out to ask.
She had put the bottles back into her backpack, and its enormous weight made it sag much lower.
She must have collected a lot of water.
"It's a shame the dog meat is poisonous and we can't eat it," Lu Xi'an replied.
Yao Wei looked at the hyena corpses and said, "What a shame..."
The two of them didn't linger. They left the villa together.
Before you continue