Jinbao's Origins

Only after Qin Yan left did Fu Nanshan briefly explain what had happened yesterday.

"What!!!"

"You're saying that little black dog is..."

Fu Yunting was utterly stunned.

He knew about Anomalies. He had even seen them.

But the Anomalies he had seen were either ugly or terrifying, and they were not the least bit "gentle" toward humans.

That puppy really did not look like one.

Still, he trusted that his younger brother would not joke about something like this.

"Then what do we do? Having it stay with the kid is dangerous."

"Find a way to get it away from her."

Fu Nanshan remained expressionless. "I can't."

"I can't beat it."

He had some chance of winning against an A-rank Anomaly.

But this one was S-rank.

"This is the information on that Anomaly."

His cool voice carried a hint of gravity.

"Autumn Mountain Slaughterhouse."

He handed Fu Yunting his phone, showing him a video.

The video showed a cat and dog slaughterhouse that had been discovered.

It was even pixelated. The scene was so bloody that it made people physically ill.

The incident had even trended online, so Fu Yunting naturally knew about it.

But he had never expected the two to be connected.

Fu Nanshan was not fond of talking. He simply gave Fu Yunting all the information to read himself.

Fu Yunting quickly scanned everything, then summed up the key points.

"It has no physical body. It formed from the countless grievances of those cats and dogs gathering together."

"Lane 38, and several other cases where people seemed to have been mauled to death by wild beasts, were all its doing."

"What those people had in common was that they tortured and killed cats and dogs. Some were even poachers."

Fu Yunting laughed. "Then this Anomaly has quite a sense of principle."

As far as he was concerned, those people had deserved it.

Fu Nanshan said, "An S-rank Anomaly is too destructive. I'll report this to the higher-ups."

Fu Yunting turned his sharp gaze on him.

"I don't care about anything else, but the kid and Jinbao are very close. If the higher-ups forcibly take Jinbao away..."

"Impossible."

Fu Nanshan interrupted him coolly.

"They can't beat it."

That single sentence left Fu Yunting speechless.

"Jinbao can keep itself under control with Yanyan here. The price of forcibly taking it away would be too high."

He looked outside the courtyard, where he could faintly hear Qin Yan's little childish voice, seemingly comforting something.

Fu Yunting raked a hand through his hair in frustration.

Now that he knew Jinbao's identity, it was a ticking time bomb. No... it was even more terrifying than a ticking time bomb.

He could not feel at ease leaving it here.

Taking it away...

Oh, there was no need to agonize over it now. What a joke. They could not take it away at all.

Qin Yan knew nothing of her uncles' dilemma.

At that moment, she was helping the vet treat a group of furry patients.

The cats and dogs that had come to the house liked her very much, too.

The moment they saw her, it was as if they had seen their parent. They stumbled toward her on their sickly or disabled bodies, crying outright with distress.

Yes, they all cried.

Qin Yan's eyes reddened along with theirs, and tears immediately welled up.

"It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt. Let me blow on it."

"Be good and take your medicine. Be good and let the doctor treat you."

The vet they had invited was the familiar Doctor Song, Song Huai.

Even he could not help marveling at the sight.

"Little animals really do love her."

The task of feeding the animals their medicine fell to Qin Yan.

Some of the kittens and puppies seemed to have developed an aversion to medicine and refused to take it no matter what.

But with Qin Yan coaxing them in her soft little voice, they soon swallowed it, leaving Song Huai dumbfounded.

If hiring child labor were not forbidden, he would have wanted to recruit the little one to work at his clinic!

After their medicine, Qin Yan also fed them cat treat purée, little bones, little biscuits, and canned meat, one by one.

They were all dirty, and many had blood on their paws and mouths.

Qin Yan did not mind. She asked the butler to bring a basin of warm water, then patiently wiped every dirty little animal's mouth and paws with a towel.

In the animals' eyes, Qin Yan had always been a warm, clean color.

It shone out from her soul.

It made animals love her and want to draw close.

Jinbao, a Anomaly, was no exception.

Anomalies were yin creatures, yet most of them were drawn to light like moths.

Sometimes, however, sunlight scorched them.

To Jinbao's eyes as a Anomaly, Qin Yan was like a ball of warm light, just warm enough without burning them.

After drawing close, Qin Yan's own gentle disposition and her sincere affection for it completely captivated Jinbao.

So it willingly squeezed into such a tiny shell, staying by her side in a harmless form.

"Why do I feel like the little one is glowing?"

Not far away, Fu Yunting watched Qin Yan with his arms folded.

The tiny girl was already fair and soft. Now her little face wore a gentle expression, her eyes were as clear as a mountain spring, and her voice was quiet and soft.

Simply approaching someone like her gave people a sense of harmlessness and a desire to draw closer.

Fu Nanshan said, "She's very good."

Fu Yunting rolled his eyes. "As if you need to tell me. A Anomaly even you can't beat has acknowledged her as its master."

Fu Nanshan: ...

Old Master Fu interjected drily, "So many cats and dogs? How are we going to keep them?"

It was not that they could not afford it.

It was just that so many cats and dogs would all need care.

They had never kept any before.

Old Master Fu huffed. "I'm not looking after them."

If he had that much free time, he would rather go fishing.

In any case, the cats and dogs temporarily settled in with the Fu Family.

Soon, a truckload of supplies arrived.

There was cat litter, cat food, dog food, treats, cat beds, dog beds, and everything else.

The Fu Family's old residence occupied a large area, including an enormous garden and a small hill out back. The grass covering the hill and even a small grove all belonged to the Fu Family.

So the cats and dogs could easily be kept outside, which would spare them any worries about shedding.

Qin Yan spent practically the entire day with the injured cats and dogs.

That evening, as soon as nine o'clock came, Qin Yan began yawning drowsily, ready for bed.

After her bath, she ran off with dripping-wet hair to ask her eldest uncle to dry it.

For some reason, Fu Yunting really liked blow-drying her hair.

While having her hair dried, Qin Yan looked like an obedient little bundle, letting him turn her little head however he pleased, like a sleepy, beautiful snow-white lion cat.

Once he finished, the fluffy little thing leaned against him and fell asleep, softly snoring.

She was a sweet-smelling, soft little bundle in his arms.

"She falls asleep every time I finish drying her hair."

Holding her, he decisively tucked her into his own bed.

The little one lay under the covers with only a small part of her face and her smooth hair showing. She made just a tiny bump in the big bed, looking utterly adorable.

Now, in her eldest uncle's eyes, everything she did was truly adorable.

Once he was sure she was asleep, Fu Yunting went downstairs in his pajamas.

The atmosphere downstairs was a little heavy.

Fu Nanshan told Jinbao, "They've already been arrested and taken to the Special Administration Bureau."

He took out a stack of information he had uncovered and placed it in front of Jinbao, the little black dog sitting on the table.

Jinbao patted the papers with a paw.

You expect me to read this myself?

I'm not reading it. Just tell me the result.

Was he looking down on it for being an illiterate dog?

Fu Nanshan: ... He did not want to speak.

The man and dog remained at an impasse until Fu Yunting came downstairs, and they both looked over.