"We can be fairly certain that the dangerous dog belonged to the previous owner of the eleventh floor apartment. It should have died in that owner's hometown. Then something changed, and its ghost returned to this complex. It was probably responsible for the barking Mrs. Qiu heard, as well as the death of the pug on the eleventh floor. The pug's appearance may have provoked it and changed its behavior, allowing it to leave the apartment on the eleventh floor and roam freely around the complex—even leave the grounds."
"Then, besides killing other dogs, could it hurt people?"
"That's possible."
"..."
"What we need to do now is find a way to catch it. We're contacting the previous owner and preparing to visit his hometown. It would be best if we could find the dog's body. We'll keep watch over this complex, too. If we can find it directly and resolve the matter, that would be much easier."
"Mm. All right. And about what happened to my son..."
"Don't worry. I'll leave you some protective talismans. They'll keep your son safe."
"Oh. That's good."
January 18, 2001. Traveling to Tang Yingxiong's hometown, Yuhe County. Audio file 00120010118.wav.
...rustle...
"Hello, Secretary Xiang."
"Hey, hey, no need to be so formal. Just call me Old Xiang. The older folks in the village call me Little Xiang, and the younger ones call me Old Xiang. Secretary this, secretary that. I just serve everyone in the village."
"Sure. We heard from people elsewhere that this village has some unusual customs. You may know that lots of people in the cities keep dogs nowadays. Pet dogs are popular. People in the cities have started copying foreigners and treating dogs like family."
"Mm-hmm, I know. We had someone like that in our village. He made