The kitten lay on the ground facing Ning Shile, its limbs stiff.
It seemed to hear Ning Shile calling it. It gave a faint purr and weakly stretched its paws, but it no longer had the strength to stand.
"Tangqiu!" Ning Shile's expression changed abruptly, and he rushed over to its side.
He hadn't seen it from a distance, but now that he was close, he realized Tangqiu's mouth was full of blood!
Ning Shile's breath caught, and his eyes instantly reddened.
Blood had also seeped through Tangqiu's once-clean white mittens. Dirt and broken leaves clung to its blood-soaked paws, making for a horrifying sight.
[Wh... what happened!?]
Ning Shile carefully picked Tangqiu up and examined the wounds on its paws.
Only then did he discover that these weren't ordinary wounds. Someone had forcibly pulled Tangqiu's claws right out of its flesh!
Its furry toes were a bloody mess.
The sight was horrifying.
[Someone... someone did this on purpose!?]
Ning Shile trembled all over with rage.
[Who the hell did this!]
"Mew..."
The kitten gave another faint cry, as though pleading for help.
This clearly wasn't the time to think about who had done it. Tangqiu was in terrible shape, and white foam kept spilling from its mouth.
It looked as though it had been poisoned.
"Tangqiu, Tangqiu, I'm here." Holding Tangqiu, Ning Shile stumbled all the way to the front courtyard and rushed into the bathroom there. "Your big brother's here. Hang on. Hang on, Tangqiu."
Tangqiu was only a few months old. Its immune system was weak to begin with, and it simply couldn't withstand such abuse.
It lay in Ning Shile's arms and soon stopped responding.
"Lele?" Zheng Ye came over after hearing the commotion. "Did you find Tangqiu?"
He had just pushed open the bathroom door