The things growing on the fleshy walls became increasingly grotesque, yet the sounds reaching his ears grew increasingly normal: laughter full of childlike innocence, warm conversations, tender care...
"The sounds I'm hearing and the things I'm seeing seem to belong to different worlds." The fur on the back of Big Dog's neck stood on end. This place was too strange. It made him deeply uncomfortable, and his instincts urged him to get away. "Gao Ming, let's not go any farther."
Big Dog rarely called Gao Ming by his full name. This time, he was truly afraid.
"You can hear those voices too?" Gao Ming reacted differently from Big Dog. He found the voices comforting. Although the conversations had nothing to do with him, he seemed to hear an invitation in them, as if his family wanted him to come home.
"Don't go any farther!" Big Dog warned. He bared his teeth and snapped at Gao Ming's arm.
His sharp teeth clashed together. He had bitten empty air. Gao Ming was clearly only a short distance ahead of him, yet suddenly, he couldn't touch him.
"This is bad! Don't listen to those voices! Don't think about what they're saying!" Big Dog barked furiously. He wanted to take Gao Ming away, but mucus secreted by the Intestine stuck to his fur. Gaps split open in the writhing fleshy walls, clamping down on his body like mouths.
"Gao Ming!"
Gao Ming, who had been wholly absorbed in wondering whether there was a home at the end of the Tunnel, suddenly snapped out of it. His ears were filled with warm, everyday questions, relatives asking after one another, neighbors exchanging greetings. But when he turned around, he discovered that Big Dog had vanished.
The enormous dog, taller than Gao Ming even when crouching, was