After Clearing the Infinite Flow, I Tamed the Mad Dog Boss - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Qin Xian looked at Lin Qizhi, who had an emotionally moved expression on his face, and reminded him, “You don’t need to do anything else. Just open the door and leave the food at the entrance. He doesn’t eat dog food, so you may need to prepare some homemade dog food.”

Lin Qizhi nodded. “I can do that! My ex-girlfriend used to raise a dog. I know all about it.”

Qin Xian nodded, then his gaze paused for a moment as he spotted something. After that, he crouched down beside the tent.

Lin Qizhi leaned over curiously and saw a muddy paw print by the tent flap, as if left by some animal.

Qin Xian took a closer look. “Looks like a dog paw print.”

Lin Qizhi thought that was normal. “There are a lot of stray dogs in the park. Maybe they smelled food over here and came by.”

“Really? Maybe that’s it.” Qin Xian lifted the tent flap and glanced inside.

The inside of the tent was clean and tidy, but there was a short black coarse hair on the white blanket. Qin Xian pinched it up and examined it. It wasn’t human hair, so it should be dog hair.

Maybe one of them had brushed against a stray dog somewhere.

Nothing suspicious.

Qin Xian tossed the hair onto the grass outside and said goodbye to Lin Qizhi. “Since the problem’s been solved, I’m heading back. Add me on WeChat, and you can transfer the money later.”

Lin Qizhi asked hopefully, “Brother Qin, um… could you not delete me from your WeChat? It’s fine if you just leave me there. If I run into anything weird in the future, can I still come to you? It feels like the city hasn’t been very peaceful lately…”

Qin Xian nodded and turned to leave.

A faint hint of light had already appeared on the horizon. He could finally get some proper rest today. Qin Xian went upstairs feeling a little worn out, but the first thing he did after opening the door wasn’t to flop onto the sofa. Instead, he looked for the dog.

Tangyuan was curled up in a pile of clothes on the balcony. The moment he saw Qin Xian return, he immediately struggled to his feet and squeezed through the sliding door to stare at him.

His tail was still hanging low and tucked between his legs, and he didn’t even seem very enthusiastic about his owner’s return. He just stood there quietly, those dark, glossy eyes reflecting Qin Xian’s figure.

Qin Xian crouched down in front of him and suddenly caught one of his paws, flipping it over to take a look.

“Woof…” The sudden movement finally made Tangyuan let out a soft cry. He instinctively struggled, and when he still couldn’t break free, he simply let Qin Xian hold his paw and inspect it.

Not only was Tangyuan’s fur black, even the pads of his paws were completely black. They felt very springy to the touch, but dry and dirty, with even a little scabbed blood on them.

Qin Xian frowned. He let go of the paw, went into the bathroom to get a clean damp cloth, then came back and grabbed the paw again to scrub it thoroughly.

The cloth immediately turned black in one patch, but the paw itself looked much cleaner. The patterns on it were even visible now, and after a few hard squeezes, the dirt between the pads was much cleaner too.

When Qin Xian finally let go, Tangyuan immediately flopped down and tucked his paws under his belly. Clearly, he didn’t like having his feet washed.

Qin Xian looked at the cloth and said to Tangyuan, “Dirty dog.”

He took the cloth back to the bathroom, rinsed it clean, and hung it up to dry. When he came back out, he once again met Tangyuan’s eyes as the dog lay there with his paw tucked under him.

Qin Xian lifted a brow, walked over, and crouched down, directly pulling the dog’s leg out. Seeing that Tangyuan was still trying to resist, he simply bent one knee and gently pinned him in place with it.

“Don’t move. Let me see how your leg injury is doing.”

After unwrapping the bandage, a vicious-looking wound came into view. But the wound had already scabbed over, and it didn’t seem inflamed. As expected of an animal, it healed very quickly.

Qin Xian commented, “Not bad. Saved me the cost of a pet hospital visit. If I had to spend several thousand on treating you, I’d just find you a new owner.”

He brought over the medical kit and quickly disinfected Tangyuan’s wound, applied medicine, and bandaged it again. Tangyuan didn’t make a sound or struggle at all, which made him very easy to handle.

When he was done, Qin Xian curled his lips into a smile and praised him, “Good dog. So well-behaved.”

Then he saw Tangyuan’s tail tip, which had been hanging limp on the floor, twitch up slightly-only to droop back down again almost immediately.

Hah. Really impossible to tame.

Qin Xian silently complained, but he couldn’t be bothered to care whether the dog was wagging his tail or not.

He turned and walked to the sofa, letting himself sink deep into it. It wasn’t long before the person on the sofa stopped moving and a steady breathing sound filled the room.

Tangyuan got up from the floor and perked his ears forward, listening carefully for a while. Once he confirmed that the person was asleep, he rose onto his toes and limped over to Qin Xian.

Because Qin Xian was lying flat, his height was just right for the dog. Tangyuan walked up to the side of his head and fixed his pitch-black pupils on Qin Xian’s face.

His eyes were tightly shut, with a few strands of hair resting on his cheek. The black filaments brushed past the corner of his lips, standing out sharply against his pale skin.

Was the sleeping beauty in fairy tales anything like the scene before him?

Tangyuan blinked, then leaned his nose a little closer.

Qin Xian, lying on the sofa, instantly opened his eyes. Gold shimmered faintly in his irises.

Tangyuan’s pointed ears twitched. Just as he was about to retreat, Qin Xian reached out and firmly pinched his long muzzle.

“Woo-woo!” Tangyuan cried pitifully twice.
Qin Xian pinched the dog’s muzzle and pushed it back, then pointed at the balcony. “Sleep over there. You’re not allowed near the sofa.”

Tangyuan hopped backward on his lame leg and let out another whimper, looking utterly pitiful.

That look might have sent an ordinary owner spiraling into howling guilt, but Qin Xian knew exactly how much force he had used.

A move like that couldn’t hurt the dog at all.

“Playing pitiful won’t work. Balcony,” Qin Xian ordered again.

His eyes narrowed dangerously. “If you don’t go, I’ll have you neutered tomorrow and then put you up for adoption.”

Tangyuan lowered his head, rolled his eyes upward to give Qin Xian two pleading looks, then turned and limped back to the balcony.

Qin Xian walked over and shut the sliding door, ignoring the look from the other side of the glass as he went straight back to the sofa and opened his phone to check the comments on his post.

After one night, several new replies had appeared.

Ignoring the ones mocking him or making memes, Qin Xian focused on one comment.

[BrotherComeHome: Something happened to me recently. My brother vanished under bizarre circumstances! He’s the kind of person who likes doing charity work. After seeing a livestream about the life of an intellectually disabled elderly man, he wanted to go help. After that, there was no news from him at all!]

[Reply: Uh, shouldn’t you be going to the police for this instead of some scammer pretending to be a mystic?]

[BrotherComeHome: I already reported it, but his car disappeared under bizarre circumstances too. The police visited several villages in the area, and every villager said they’d never seen him. The police searched for a long time and still found nothing. The leads have gone completely cold. And the most terrifying thing is, the night before last, I was anxiously scrolling on my phone and came across a livestream. I saw my brother! His hands and feet had all been cut off, and he was crying in the stream, begging for donations. He must have been captured and turned into a begging tool! But when I tried to share the link with the police, the livestream vanished. I told the police what happened, but they told me that website never existed at all!]

This situation was truly strange, and it fit the style of the bizarre.

Only this time, the thing involved probably wasn’t some small-scale nuisance. It was very likely controlling an entire village.

To reach that kind of scale, it definitely hadn’t happened in just a day or two.

He had only come back a few days ago. The bizarre must have gotten ahead of him. Maybe the other players had even gotten out earlier than he had.

Qin Xian’s brows knitted tightly.

It looked like the timing of his awakening had been deliberately delayed.

This feeling of being controlled and manipulated at someone else’s whim was really goddamn unpleasant.

Qin Xian couldn’t help cursing under his breath, then tapped the user’s avatar and opened a private chat.

[Q: Do you know where your brother disappeared? Tell me. If your brother comes back, transfer me fifty thousand. If he doesn’t, forget it.]

[BrotherComeHome: !? Are you going there to look for him? But I’m worried you’ll run into danger too…]

[Q: I won’t. Tell me the address. I’ll go bring your brother back. It’s just that… he may not be in very good condition.]

[BrotherComeHome: Thank you, truly. The address is near Fangu Village. I think there’s a high chance it’s that village. I heard there are a lot of people there doing livestream scams for money. If something has happened to my brother… then at least, please bring his body back too.]

[Q: Okay.]

Qin Xian exited the forum, opened the map, and searched for Fangu Village.

“This is a little troublesome…”

The village was located on the border of the neighboring province. By long-distance bus, it would take at least four hours to get there. Add in all the winding country roads, and just getting over there would take a whole day.

Fortunately, at least it wasn’t all the way out in the northwest.

But this meant he really would have to ask Lin Qizhi to look after the dog at home.

Qin Xian immediately sent Lin Qizhi a message, explaining what to watch out for. Then he bought a long-distance bus ticket for that morning.

The situation over there looked urgent. There was no room for him to rest and delay.

Qin Xian got up at once and packed his suitcase. Just as he was finally about to get into bed for a short nap, he heard the pitter-patter of paws behind him.

He turned and saw that Tangyuan had slipped out from the balcony again.

“What are you doing? I put chicken breast in your bowl for you. You want more?”

Tangyuan turned his head and glanced at the suitcase.

Qin Xian had already lain down on the bed. Seeing that, he said to the dog, “I’m going on a long trip in a bit. I put a big bowl of dog food and water for you on the balcony. Someone will come feed you too, so stay put. When I get back, I’ll take you out for a walk.”

Tangyuan tilted his head, looking utterly confused.

Seeing Qin Xian say so much, he even took a few steps closer, his chin almost resting on the bed.

Qin Xian used his arm to shove the dog’s head down and said, “Go to the balcony. If you get on the bed, I’m going to beat you. Out.”

“Mmph…” Tangyuan let out a low sound, tinged with dissatisfaction, then turned and left the room. Before he went, he even peered back into the room through the crack in the door.

For some reason, Qin Xian felt like that gaze carried a bit of resentment.

He sat on the bed in a sleepy daze and thought for a moment, but in the end, he still got up, shut the bedroom door properly, and locked it.

Then he flopped face-first into the soft blankets, seizing the time to recover his energy for whatever came next.