Looking for a Dog

Chapter 38: Searching for the Dog

Blocked by Ms. Yang as she stood in the elevator doorway, Xiang Kun stared at her for a few seconds before frowning. "Are you coming in or not?"

Ms. Yang seemed to hesitate for a moment before asking, "Have... have you seen my Pinkie?"

So, the dog was lost?

Thinking back to how the husky had behaved when it was with Ms. Yang, Xiang Kun didn't find it particularly strange that it had gone missing.

"Haven't seen it," Xiang Kun replied, his answer concise and to the point.

But Ms. Yang didn't seem to have any intention of leaving. She looked at him and said, "If you were the one who snatched Pinkie, just give it back. I won't pursue the matter... If you want money, I can pay you."

Xiang Kun found this absurd. "Miss, we don't know each other, do we? Aside from seeing each other in the elevator the day before yesterday, we've had no other contact, right? I haven't even spoken to you... Why would you suspect me of stealing your dog?"

Ms. Yang said, "That day... my Pinkie was clearly terrified of you! It hasn't dared to enter that elevator since! You must really hate dogs! If... if you really did snatch Pinkie, just give it back to me. I promise I won't take it out anymore, okay?"

Xiang Kun looked at Ms. Yang at the elevator entrance, speechless. He felt that the husky was truly unlucky to have such an owner.

Xiang Kun didn't hate dogs. He knew very well that if a dog was annoying or bothered others, ninety percent of the blame lay with the owner. It was just like how unruly children were usually the fault of their parents.

"I didn't snatch your dog, and I haven't seen it since that day. Instead of wasting time pestering me, you should go look for it. Post in the residents' group to get other dog owners to help, and put up missing dog posters. But let me give you a piece of advice: once you find the dog, go online and look up how to raise and train it. Otherwise, the way you're doing things now will only bring misery to both you and the dog."

After hearing Xiang Kun's words, Ms. Yang retreated two steps, looking lost, and let the elevator doors slowly close.

Just as the doors were about to shut, Xiang Kun felt a sudden impulse. He pressed the open button, and the doors slowly slid back.

"Ms. Yang, when did your dog go missing, and where?"

Xiang Kun stepped out of the elevator and asked Ms. Yang, who was still standing there in a daze.

Ms. Yang was startled for a moment before blurting out, "Yesterday... yesterday evening, I took Pinkie out to play. I was on the phone with a friend, and in the blink of an eye, it was gone. My friends and I searched for half the night but couldn't find it. Do you think Pinkie was taken by dog thieves? I've read online that there are people who snatch dogs to sell to dog meat hotpot restaurants..." As she spoke, her eyes welled up with tears.

Xiang Kun couldn't be bothered to comfort her and asked again, "Where did it go missing?"

"Right on the big lawn in the center of the garden by the residential complex. Everyone with a dog nearby takes them there to walk."

"When you were on the phone, was the dog off the leash?"

"I took the leash off once we got there... Pinkie has run off twice before, but I always found it within an hour or two. This time... this time it might really have been stolen..." Ms. Yang looked at him pleadingly. "Are... are you going to help me find the dog? If you help me find it, I can give you money..."

Xiang Kun waved his hand. "I don't need your money. If I have time, I'll help you look. If we find it, you need to learn how to properly raise and train a dog."

"Yes, yes! If Pinkie is found, I'll take it to classes with me..." Ms. Yang said quickly. Although she had only met Xiang Kun once and felt he didn't like her dog, she inexplicably felt he was capable and that his words carried weight.

Xiang Kun didn't want to say more to her. He walked out of the building and headed toward the exit of the complex.

Xiang Kun certainly wasn't trying to curry favor because Ms. Yang was pretty, nor was he suddenly overflowing with altruism. He was wondering if the disappearance of Ms. Yang's husky might be related to the source of the peculiar scent he had been tracking.

At the same time, he wanted to test his ability to track by scent and see if he could find the missing husky.

The lawn Ms. Yang mentioned wasn't far from the complex.

To be honest, most of the dog owners here had little awareness of responsible pet ownership. Dog feces were visible everywhere on the lawn and along the nearby roads, left for the sanitation workers to clean up.

It was nearly six in the evening, and quite a few people were out walking their pets.

The heavy, mingled scents left by all these various dogs created a significant obstacle for Xiang Kun as he tried to isolate the scent of the husky.

Xiang Kun didn't need to ask Ms. Yang for an item belonging to the dog to use as a scent source, as he had already memorized the smell during their elevator encounter.

After circling the lawn, Xiang Kun finally "caught" the scent of the husky.

The scent trail branched off in several directions. Xiang Kun first ruled out the direction leading back to their complex, then systematically eliminated the remaining paths one by one.

Although Xiang Kun had only moved in three days ago—and had spent most of that time exploring the small hill and its surroundings—he actually knew the area around the complex better than most residents because he had spent time memorizing, patrolling, and investigating, especially the nooks and crannies that animals frequented but humans ignored.

Tracking by scent, especially in a city, was an extremely difficult task. There were too many distractions, and surfaces like concrete and asphalt didn't hold scents well, causing them to dissipate quickly and lose their directional clarity.

Even well-trained urban tracking dogs struggled to accurately follow a target, often requiring significant manpower and time.

But Xiang Kun's sense of smell was now stronger than most canines, and he possessed the ability to analyze and think. While tracking, he could factor in the environment, terrain, and other information to deduce the target's likely movement and location.

By eleven at night, Xiang Kun finally found a clue.

However, the clue was a large pool of blood and a few tufts of dog fur.

Judging by the amount of blood, the husky was likely in grave danger.

Yet, here, Xiang Kun suddenly caught a whiff of that peculiar scent he had smelled on the mountain. This time, it was far more intense than the trace he had picked up near the dead rat!

It was that "thing" that had done this!

They were quite far from the lawn where Ms. Yang had walked her dog, in a relatively secluded area.

There were no other animal or human tracks near the pool of blood, and the carcass had simply vanished.

Xiang Kun wasn't surprised this time. He looked up into the air, toward the branch of a nearby tree. He knew that "thing" had been up there.

No wonder he couldn't find any traces of medium or large animals around the dead rat on the mountain—the "thing" could fly!

The rat likely hadn't been hunted on the mountain; it had been killed elsewhere and dropped there from the air.

What was it? A bird? Was there a bird that large? One capable of hunting an adult husky?

Xiang Kun's expression turned grave. If this thing was an animal, it was undoubtedly a highly dangerous "beast." If it could hunt a husky, killing a human wasn't out of the question.

He took out his phone, intending to dial 110, but after a moment of thought, he opened WeChat and tapped on Officer Chen's profile.

He typed a few words, then hesitated. After a moment of deliberation, he put his phone away.

He looked into the distance. Although the husky's carcass had surely been carried away by that "thing," the dog had lost so much blood that even in flight, it was inevitable that some would drip along the way, providing Xiang Kun with a trail to follow.

He followed the scent for a dozen meters and, sure enough, saw a few drops of blood on the grass, then continued forward, discovering more blood at regular intervals.