Dogs and Their Lackeys

Perhaps because the courtyard walls blocked the wind, the weeds in this little building's yard had grown much more luxuriantly than those outside.

The weeds were green with yellow tinges and stood half a person tall, forming a barrier between the courtyard gate and the building.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei pushed through the weeds and made their way to the steps in front of the building. When they looked back, the weeds they had parted had already fallen back into place, without a trace of disturbance.

"Do you think there might be bugs or snakes in there?"

Lu Xi'an asked.

Yao Wei shook her head. "I don't know." She wasn't one of those frail little girls from her previous life. As tough as she was, she wouldn't show even the slightest fear at the possibility of bugs or snakes in the weeds.

On the contrary, after Lu Xi'an added, "It'd be great if there were bugs or something. They're rich in protein and nutritious," the woman got excited and peered carefully into the weeds, apparently hoping to find some bugs to eat.

Lu Xi'an couldn't help laughing. "Don't bother looking. If we're ever desperate, we can eat bugs then. We've got rice and vegetables, plus bread and compressed biscuits. There's no need to eat bugs."

Yao Wei, however, seemed confused. "If we find food, shouldn't we store as much of it as possible?"

"Bugs don't count as food worth storing," Lu Xi'an said.

"Oh."

Yao Wei felt a little disappointed. She'd only just learned there was another kind of food, and now she couldn't collect and store it. As she looked at the weeds covering the ground and thought of all the food that might be hidden among them, she felt terribly upset.

But as she continued looking, she suddenly froze.

"What is it?"

Lu Xi'an asked.

"Look over there."

Yao Wei pointed to an area along the western wall. The weeds there were much shorter than elsewhere. But the weeds from the east, south, and north crowded around it, concealing the spot. Unless someone looked closely, they wouldn't notice it at all.

Lu Xi'an hadn't noticed anything unusual at first. Only when Yao Wei pointed it out did he see it.

He and Yao Wei exchanged a glance, and both understood what the other was thinking. They parted the weeds and walked toward the building's western wall.

When they reached the base of the wall and looked closely, they saw that there really was a rectangular patch where the weeds were shorter and more orderly than elsewhere.

They could only tell by getting close. From a distance, unless they paid attention, they wouldn't have noticed it at all.

"Doggy."

Lu Xi'an called, summoning the Mechanical Dog.

The dog's wheels were useless in the weeds, so it could only wobble its way through the grass, which towered over it.

Lu Xi'an simply walked over and picked it up, then instructed it, "Check this spot. Is anything wrong?"

The Mechanical Dog scanned the suspicious patch with its dog eyes. Its eyes immediately lit up, and it lifted one wheel-paw before lowering it again.

Held in Lu Xi'an's hands, it raised and lowered its paw in midair, looking rather comical.

But no matter how comical it looked, it had already done its job.

Lu Xi'an watched the light from its eyes sweep across one corner and seemed to understand. He parted the weeds and bent down to inspect it. Sure enough, he found something wrong—

The ground was paved with square bricks, with weeds sprouting from the gaps. After years of unchecked growth, the weeds had pushed up and cracked many of the bricks, leaving the surface uneven, like a continuous mountain range.

But where the "mountain range" reached the spot lit by the dog's eyes, the bricks farther in were suddenly much more orderly.

The bricks seemed to be the same material and color as the others, but their gaps were much narrower, and fewer had cracked from the weeds growing through them.

"Yao Wei, hand me the knife."

Lu Xi'an remained crouched on the ground and simply raised a hand.

Yao Wei immediately took out one of the knives she carried and handed it to Lu Xi'an.

He took the knife and slipped it into a gap between the bricks where the dog's eyes had pointed. It was easy to pry one up.

The brick brought up a large clump of soil, still tangled with grass.

Lu Xi'an pulled away the grass, bringing up another big clump of soil. He jabbed the knife down. The soil swallowed more than half the blade, and then came a sharp "clang" as the tip struck something hard.

So there really was something there...

Lu Xi'an's heart stirred. He twisted and pried with the knife several times, clearing away the entire clump of soil. At last, what lay underneath was revealed—

A rusted iron plate, and it looked quite thick.

"There should be an underground room here."

As he spoke, Lu Xi'an looked at Yao Wei and smiled. "You're amazing. You actually found this."

But Yao Wei said, "You're the amazing one. If you hadn't mentioned bugs, only the dog could have found it."

She was taking for granted that they would have found it eventually, because they had the Mechanical Dog.

Lu Xi'an didn't waste any more time. He cleared away more soil to make room to work from the side, then slid the knife along the line parallel to the western wall.

An iron plate this thick had to have a handle. Otherwise, how could they lift it?

Even if it was motorized, there should have been a backup handle in case the electronic controls failed.

He scraped and dug, and soon ran into an obstruction.

It seemed the iron plate's handle wasn't recessed or part of a mechanical mechanism.

Lu Xi'an dug around the obstruction, clearing away the soil and pulling out the grass. There it was: a square handle with slightly rounded corners, welded onto the iron plate.

He returned the knife to Yao Wei, then pulled out all the grass growing on top of the plate, bringing up a lot of bricks with it. He tossed them aside one by one.

Then he grabbed the handle on the iron plate and pulled hard. It felt heavy.

He pulled harder. At last, the edge of the plate shifted, and the soil on top trembled as Lu Xi'an heaved up one corner.

The cracks along the iron plate's edges were shaken open all at once, revealing its full shape: a rectangle at least two meters long and over a meter wide, with an iron door at least three centimeters thick.

The remaining bricks on the door loosened, and the soil and weeds toppled in every direction.

Lu Xi'an cleared them away, revealing another handle underneath. He handed the Mechanical Dog to Yao Wei, then gripped the handle with both hands and yanked hard.

The power of a New Human showed itself once again. Great Strength Creates Miracles! He pulled the door right up.

"Creeeeak—"

A grating sound rang out.

Only after the entire iron door had been raised could Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei see clearly that, as expected, it was supported underneath by hydraulic or pneumatic rods. They couldn't tell which.

Whatever they were, they had stopped working. And because the rods were attached on both sides, they only made Lu Xi'an work that much harder.

Without those rods on either side, Lu Xi'an could have lifted the iron door with ease.

There was another wooden door underneath the iron one.

Lu Xi'an opened it, and a damp, musty smell rushed out.

"Doggy."

Lu Xi'an only had to give the Mechanical Dog two words of instruction. It understood what he meant: first it sent the drone down to check, then went down itself. Only after confirming there was no danger did it signal Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei to follow.

The dog even had lackeys of its own. It didn't have to tackle the most dangerous jobs itself; it could just send the drone down first.