Expensive Medical Bills

Looking at the little red ball floating above the big dog.

Brian was stunned.

He had thought lingering obsessions belonged exclusively to human remains.

He had never expected that a small act of kindness today would lead to such an unexpected discovery.

The filthy little dog biting Brian's pant leg released its grip and wagged its tail at him with difficulty. It let out pitiful whimpers, its dull little eyes frequently glancing at the big dog on the ground. It seemed remarkably intelligent.

The big dog was probably the puppy's mother.

The puppy wanted Brian to save the big dog.

He had no idea what breed it was, but it was certainly an intelligent little thing.

That gave Brian a sudden realization.

He understood.

The necessary condition for a lingering obsession probably had nothing to do with species.

It was spirituality.

Any animal with spirituality could possibly develop a lingering obsession!

"Stop whining!"

Brian gently nudged the filthy puppy away with the tip of his shoe. "Let me see what final wish your mom has."

Ignoring the puppy as it burrowed anxiously against the big dog's body, crying urgently, he crouched down and swept his palm through the little red ball above the big dog.

The ball shattered and rushed into Brian's eyes.

A lingering obsession surfaced in his heart: Feed the child.

Compared to humans.

Dogs' lingering obsessions were truly simple and plain.

Thinking of the mothers he had had across both lives, Brian sighed. He took off his jacket and spread it over the filthy ground, then moved the puppy aside, placed the big dog's body on it, wrapped it up, and tossed both the body and puppy into his car.

After wandering around for quite a while, he finally found a pet hospital beside a large shopping mall. He paid a deposit and had the staff clean the puppy and check its condition.

If possible, it would be best if they gave the puppy something to eat.

After that.

Brian went into the mall and bought a shovel. Carrying the big dog's body, he drove to an empty lot in the suburbs and started digging with all his strength.

By the time he returned to the pet hospital.

It was already dark.

Brian returned with a rather grim expression.

The reason was simple.

He had not received any feedback that the lingering obsession had been fulfilled.

Either the veterinarian had not fed the puppy.

Or something had gone wrong.

Brian only hoped it was the first possibility.

"You finally came.

I've been off work for a long time already."

A bespectacled, curvy female doctor in her early thirties looked at Brian as he entered, her tone somewhat reproachful.

Brian shook out his filthy shirt and apologized, "Sorry, Dr. Laura. I went to the suburbs to bury the puppy's mother. I found them by the roadside. They looked pitiful, so..."

Hearing that, the female doctor's stern expression softened. "All right. It's inside, but its condition isn't very good. Actually, if you aren't well-off, I wouldn't recommend continuing treatment."

What?

Brian's face tightened.

Just what he had feared!

The puppy was connected to the lingering obsession he had just obtained!

Following the curvy, bespectacled doctor, Brian went to the back of the pet hospital.

There were large individual metal cages everywhere, holding all kinds of cats and dogs. Business seemed pretty good.

But the puppy was not there.

Passing through those cages.

Brian entered a separate small room.

The skinny puppy was locked in a cage against the wall. It lay on a pet training pad with its eyes half-closed, completely lacking the liveliness it had shown earlier.

Above the cage hung a secured IV bottle.

The IV line dangled down and connected to the puppy's tiny right foreleg.

The puppy was on an IV drip.

But Brian still had not received feedback that the lingering obsession had been completed.

Clearly, an IV drip did not satisfy a dog's simple lingering obsession.

It probably had to actually put food in the puppy's mouth and let it eat on its own.

Brian examined the now-clean puppy.

Once cleaned up, the puppy revealed its original pale yellow fur. Its ears were long and drooping, making it look somewhat like a Golden Retriever, though not quite.

It was far too thin.

Its ribs were clearly visible even from the side.

Most importantly.

Brian noticed that the puppy's breathing was extremely weak. It had none of the energy it had when they first met!

He grew anxious. "Dr. Laura, what's going on? It was still very lively earlier."

Dr. Laura shook her head and explained:

"That was only an illusion.

This Labrador Retriever is not only severely malnourished.

I also detected parvovirus in its system.

That's why I isolated it in this disinfected observation room."

"What is parvovirus?"

Brian irritably tugged at his tie. "Can it be treated?"

Damn it!

The puppy looked like it could barely even open its eyes.

Let alone eat anything!

How was he supposed to feed it?

Was the lingering obsession going to fail again?

Dr. Laura adjusted her pink glasses, regret in her voice. "Parvovirus has a very high mortality rate in dogs. Even with treatment, puppies have a low survival rate.

The treatment isn't cheap, and the chance of saving it is no more than five percent.

Give up.

Since you meant well.

I won't charge you for the earlier expenses.

You should go."

"Are you sure there's no way to treat it?" Brian was reluctant to give up.

"Then can it eat something?

I just can't believe that a few hours ago, it was still wagging its tail at me with all its strength!

And now you're telling me it's about to die!"

Faced with his doubts.

Dr. Laura remained calm.

"Actually, I don't understand it either.

Why it still had the strength to wag its tail when it arrived.

But that was only an illusion.

Besides, it can barely breathe now.

If you feed it anything, you'll only block its throat and windpipe, hastening its death."

All right, his hope had been crushed.

Brian fell silent.

When they first met, this little mutt had probably been having a final burst of strength, forcing itself to run out of the alley to find someone to save the big dog.

If he had known, he would have stuffed some food into it back then.

Who could have guessed it was sick?

Brian had just paid his foster parents' medical bills.

He had less than five hundred dollars left to his name.

Since the puppy was basically beyond saving.

He did not want to waste any more of his hard-earned money.

With that thought.

Brian turned to leave.

Just then.

The puppy, which had been on the verge of death, twitched its little nose. Then, as though it had smelled something, it struggled to open its eyes and let out a faint but affectionate whimper toward Brian.

Brian:

Sigh.

His heart softened.

The moment he met the puppy's clear eyes, the heart he had hardened completely melted.

Resigned, Brian looked at Dr. Laura, who was watching him with great interest. "It's still a life. Treat it. How much do I need to pay as a deposit?"

"Are you sure?" Dr. Laura could see Brian's embarrassment. "The medicines currently available for treating parvovirus aren't cheap. One course of treatment will cost at least a thousand dollars."

"A thousand dollars?"

Brian's heart, which had just softened, hardened again. "All right, it seems God has rejected my kindness. Goodbye."

With that.

He turned and left without hesitation.

Dr. Laura was caught completely off guard.

"Wait!"

She hurriedly grabbed the hem of Brian's shirt. "I can tell you really want to save it. What I mean is, you can use another method to pay."

More than two hours later.

Supported by the rosy-cheeked Dr. Laura, Brian stumbled out of the pet hospital with a pale face.

"Oh, right, Brian. You still haven't named the puppy."

After helping Brian into his car, Dr. Laura suddenly asked.

Brian rubbed his faintly aching kidney and gritted his teeth. "Dog Thief. Call it Dog Thief!"

He said that in Chinese!

Damn it!

That woman looked so proper.

Yet she had drugged him with veterinary medicine!

Medical bills were too damn expensive!

If that damned dog failed to pull through and died.

He would absolutely take it home and make hot pot out of it to replenish himself!

"What?"

Dr. Laura looked utterly confused.

She did not understand Chinese.

Seeing Laura's flushed cheeks made Brian even angrier. "I said, call it Thirteen!"

This time, Dr. Laura understood.

Her finger lightly traced over her still somewhat sticky lips. "Thirteen. That's a very meaningful name. I'll find a way to get some highly effective medicine to treat it. Your medical bills will definitely be worth it."

"It had better be!"

Feeling that a certain part of him had already gone numb, Brian started the car with trembling hands and fled toward the end of the street.

Watching the taillights disappear.

Dr. Laura lazily returned to the pet hospital and pulled down the rolling shutter.

She went back to the puppy and smiled. "Little one, you're lucky. You found a kind owner. This is precious medicine that I couldn't bear to use even when I nearly died several times."

"Whimper..."

Hearing her, Thirteen tried several times to force open its eyelids, but failed. It could only let out an almost inaudible whimper.

Laura did not dare delay.

With some reluctance, she gently pressed a spot at her waist, and a metal tube no thicker than one-third of a pinky finger appeared in her hand.

Holding the tube, Laura hesitated several times. Finally gritting her teeth, she aimed one end at Thirteen's neck and pressed lightly.

The next moment.

The instant the metal tube touched Thirteen's fur, seven or eight nearly invisible injection channels extended from it.

When Laura withdrew the metal tube.

A round injection mark remained on Thirteen's neck, lingering for a long time without fading.

No one knew what medicine was inside the metal tube.

Only a little over ten seconds had passed.

The nearly dead Thirteen had not only regained a normal breathing rhythm, but its limp body was even starting to try to stand again.

Laura smiled faintly at the sight.

She placed an opened can of dog food beside Thirteen, shut the cage door, then walked to the front desk. Squatting down, she pressed something beneath the table.

The thick floor tiles actually flipped over, revealing a narrow passage leading underground.

"What a waste of one of my precious life-saving drugs.

Just thirteen times.

That's nowhere near enough to repay the cost."

Laura licked her lips.

There was nothing wrong with her, except that she was a little lustful.

She especially liked handsome men with kind hearts.

Maybe people longed for whatever they lacked.

But Laura did not care.

For someone like her, only indulging her desires made her feel alive.

Following the underground passage,

Laura arrived in an underground space no more than five or six square meters in size, with a ceiling less than two meters high.

As soft lights came on,

Laura sat down at the underground room's only computer desk. After passing a complicated identity verification process, she logged into a website bearing a solemn emblem.

She licked her full lips and entered Brian's name and approximate age.

A moment later,

when the loading bar finished,

more than a dozen profile pictures of Brians matching the search criteria across all of Los Angeles appeared on the small screen.

Among them was the Brian she was looking for.

But when Laura saw the organization's distinctive, imposing mark in Brian's information, her expression changed. She hurriedly opened his profile.

A moment later,

she finally breathed a sigh of relief. "I never expected a bit of entertainment to involve the family member of an Infiltrator."

However,

thinking of the kindness Brian had shown before,

Laura smiled again.

Such a kind, adorable little guy could not possibly become the organization's target.

For the time being,

she could enjoy herself for quite a while.

Meanwhile,

Brian returned to his apartment, exhausted.

After opening the door,

he collapsed straight onto the sofa.

That woman was practically an animal!

Who knew how long she had been pent up!

She had actually drugged a kind person like him!

What a huge loss!

As Brian drifted between sleep and wakefulness,

a familiar warm current spread through his body.

Brian jolted and abruptly opened his eyes.

What was this?

Which obsession had been fulfilled?

A few seconds later,

Brian, who had been completely drained moments ago, sprang up from the sofa full of energy.

He already knew.

The big dog's obsession had been fulfilled.

Brian took out his phone in disbelief and checked the time.

Less than an hour had passed since he returned from the pet hospital.

In such a short time,

that nearly dead puppy had actually eaten something?

Something was not right!

I wasn't tricked, was I? Brian suspected that the female doctor had deceived him just to get into his pants.

But he quickly dismissed that possibility.

Because he had seen the puppy's condition with his own eyes!

He had been a forensic assistant for over two years and had personally dissected more than a thousand corpses. Even if his professional knowledge was lacking, his basic ability to judge such things was still better than an ordinary person's.

He could be certain.

At the time, the puppy had truly been on the verge of death.

So,

what method had Dr. Laura used to let the puppy recover quickly enough to eat?

A trace of wariness flashed through Brian's eyes.

He suddenly thought of his somewhat abnormal uncle, as well as the "golden finger" that had appeared after the Blood Moon.

Was this world really as simple as it appeared on the surface?

After thinking wildly for a long time,

Brian ultimately lacked the courage to investigate Dr. Laura's secret.

The less trouble, the better.

His most important goal now was to join the Criminal Experiment Team at the end of the month, while becoming stronger as quickly as possible to keep his uncle from causing more trouble later.

After calming himself down,

Brian began to examine the gift he had received this time.

The moment he looked,

he froze.

This gift was a little different!

Aside from the physical enhancement just now,

there were actually two intact orbs of light in his mind!

The two chapters have been combined into one.

Everyone, get some rest early. I'm going to save up some drafts for tomorrow, otherwise I won't have the energy to update my old book tomorrow.

There are only a few chapters left in the old book to wrap up the loose ends.

Don't worry, it won't affect updates for the new book.