After Clearing the Infinite Flow, I Tamed the Mad Dog Boss - Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Qin Xian frowned at his own dog. Even with the scruff of his neck stretched nearly four inches from being yanked back, Tangyuan still wanted to charge forward. It was the first time Qin Xian had ever encountered such a fierce dog. He had thought Tangyuan was already unfriendly enough at home, but he had never expected him to act even more like a mad dog toward other people.

Qin Xian looked apologetically at Lin Qizhi. “Sorry about that. Looks like I still need to discipline him more. Let’s meet up another time when we’re free.”

Lin Qizhi bowed frantically to Qin Xian and Tangyuan, looking as if he had just been spared. He thanked him over and over. “Thank you, Brother Qin. It’s not your fault, Brother Qin. I’ll get going then, goodbye!”

With that, he vanished into the stairwell at top speed.

Because the dog had been barking so loudly, Qin Xian saw the upstairs neighbor open their door and glance out, their expression extremely displeased.

Qin Xian’s expression was even more displeased. He gripped the dog’s neck, shut the door, and hauled him over to the sofa.

“Sit!” Qin Xian shoved the dog’s backside down with one hand, grabbing the skin on his neck like he was holding him by the collar.

“What is wrong with you? You are not allowed to bark at people like that again, and you definitely can’t bite anyone! Do you know what happens to dogs that bite people? They get beaten to death. If you keep this up, I’ll have to buy a cage and lock you in it. The way you are, even if I neutered you and released you, you’d still be a menace.”

Qin Xian gritted his teeth and issued a threat. “If you don’t behave, I’ll get you fixed first thing tomorrow.”

Looking at the dog again, Tangyuan’s eyes were darting around as he stared off elsewhere. Although his mouth was shut, he did not look the least bit repentant.

Qin Xian smacked him right on the head. Only then did Tangyuan whimper a few times, raising his brows and rolling his eyes upward to look at Qin Xian. From this angle, it looked as if he was carefully watching Qin Xian’s expression.

Qin Xian could not read the slightest hint of remorse from that furry dog face. Or rather, trying to give a dog ideological education was, in itself, just wishful thinking on the part of humans.

“Forget it. Go stay on the balcony! Move!”

Qin Xian pointed at the balcony, but Tangyuan simply panted with his tongue out and flopped down right where he was.

“Tsk. Balcony!” Qin Xian lifted his foot and kicked the dog.

Tangyuan lowered his head, opened his mouth, and clamped it around Qin Xian’s ankle.

“You even lick ankles!?” Qin Xian could not take it anymore. He got up from the sofa, grabbed the dog’s head, and forcibly dragged him toward the balcony.

Tangyuan stretched all four paws straight out and braced them against the floor, refusing to go no matter what.

Qin Xian raised his leg and kicked the dog in the butt. “Move!”

It took a full several minutes before Qin Xian finally dragged the dog onto the balcony. With a bang, he shut the balcony door, then laboriously twisted the rusty latch to lock it.

“Hmph…”

Tangyuan whined from the balcony, lifted a front paw, and tapped it against the glass. Behind him, his tail wagged.

Qin Xian caught that tiny movement and sneered. “Now you’re acting cute and wagging your tail? Heh. Useless.”

With that, he turned away coldly and sat back down on the sofa, sinking comfortably into it.

His ears were suddenly quiet. The spring afternoon sunlight was especially warm, shining through the balcony glass onto his body and the floor in a cozy glow. If not for the shifting shadow of that dog, everything would have been peaceful and serene.

Qin Xian picked up his phone and scrolled aimlessly for a while, then turned on the television for background noise, listening to the news report on recent current affairs.

The long stretch of official-sounding talk at the start nearly lulled Qin Xian to sleep, until the reporter mentioned an explosion in a residential building. Only then did Qin Xian turn his head to look.

An explosion occurred downstairs in a residential complex in West Longyuan River, City A. It is suspected to have been caused by a leak from a liquefied gas cylinder at a fast-food restaurant. The accident resulted in two deaths and seven injuries. The injured have been transported to a nearby hospital for treatment, with one person in relatively serious condition…

It seemed like an ordinary accident.

Qin Xian immediately opened Weibo and searched for keywords. As soon as he typed the words City A, the trending search topic popped up.

When he tapped in, the discussion was already extremely active. Some people were praying for the injured, while others questioned whether liquefied gas management had been inadequate. Qin Xian skipped over those netizen comments and directly opened the videos from the scene. However, the videos officially released so far were all blurred and censored. All he could see was thick smoke billowing over the area. As for the specifics, there was no way to know.

Qin Xian looked through the posts carefully and discovered that not long ago, photos of the casualties at the scene had circulated, but they had all been deleted by now. He did not search for them again. Uncensored photos from a scene like that were disrespectful to the victims. As for whether this incident had anything to do with the bizarre or not, wouldn’t he know if he went there in person to take a look? It happened to be in City A anyway.

His ability to take action was quite high these days. The moment the thought occurred to him, he opened the map, searched for the address, went back to his room to change into clothes for going out, and prepared to leave.

But just as he reached the door, Tangyuan suddenly started barking from the balcony.

“Woof woof! Woof woof woof!”

As he barked, he anxiously scratched at the gap in the door, trying to get out.

Qin Xian turned to look at the dog. Ever since Lin Qizhi left, Tangyuan had shut his mouth and gone as silent as a mute. What madness was this now? But when Qin Xian turned around to look at the balcony, Tangyuan immediately stopped. All four paws were on the ground, and his ears stood upright.

Qin Xian turned back again, intending to open the door, and the dog started barking desperately once more.

Was this… him wanting to go out and play?

But considering Tangyuan’s performance just now, it would be bad if he brought him out and he hurt someone. Wait, when Qin Xian had bought pet supplies earlier, there seemed to be something usable among them.
Qin Xian changed back into his slippers and walked over to the cabinet, dragging out the pet supplies An Baixin had bought him a few days ago. He rummaged through the bag for a while and pulled out a brand-new dog leash and a bite-proof muzzle.

Holding both items, he stepped onto the balcony. Tangyuan, who was out there, stared warily at the things in his hands.

Qin Xian lifted them slightly. “If you want to go outside, you have to wear these.”

Tangyuan seemed to understand what they were for. It let out an awooo, leaned forward, and pushed against the floor with its two front legs. The moment Qin Xian stepped forward, it immediately stepped back, both ears standing straight up in obvious resistance.

Had it been tied up and abused by someone before?

Qin Xian crouched down and tried to scoop an arm around the dog’s neck to slip the leash on.

“Woof!” Tangyuan shrank its head back and wriggled out of the loop. Its furry dog head brushed Qin Xian’s entire face.

“Pah. Put it on!” Qin Xian spat the dog hair out of his mouth, grabbed the loose, soft skin under the dog’s neck with one hand, and dragged its head over.

“Nngh… woof!” Tangyuan struggled desperately, twisting its head left and right, refusing to cooperate. Qin Xian’s freshly changed clothes were now covered in dog smell.

After another ten seconds of stalemate, Qin Xian twisted the dog’s head into place and threatened in a low voice, “If you don’t behave, I’ll drag you out and get you neutered. I’m not joking.”

His tone was icy and terrifying, and his expression was just as frightening.

Perhaps sensing danger, Tangyuan stopped moving. Qin Xian gave it a satisfied look and slipped the leash over its head. After adjusting the size, Qin Xian leaned back to take a look. With the collar on, it looked less like a stray and more like a pet. The black collar suited it pretty well, making it look rather handsome.

But next came the muzzle, and that was much harder.

The moment Qin Xian lifted it, the dog ran. He frowned, rolled up his sleeves, grabbed it, and pinned it to the floor, but Tangyuan resisted fiercely and simply refused to wear it. He finally managed to clamp the dog’s head between his legs and tried to slip the muzzle on, only for Tangyuan to open its mouth and bite down on the muzzle itself. He couldn’t pull it free no matter how hard he tried, and it left him sweating all over.

His patience ran out. He let go of the dog, snatched the muzzle back, and threw it onto the floor. The muzzle struck Tangyuan’s paw, making it freeze for a moment before it pricked up its ears and looked at Qin Xian.

“If you won’t wear it, then you’re not going out.”

With that, he coldly left the dog’s gear behind, locked the balcony door, gathered his things, and headed out.

“Nngh…”

The second he heard Tangyuan winding up to bark, Qin Xian shot it a knife-like glare, looking as if he was ready to sterilize the dog at any moment.

Tangyuan: “…”

Its ears drooped. It turned around, picked up the muzzle from the floor in its mouth, and looked at Qin Xian.

“Heh.”

Qin Xian made his stance clear through action alone. With a bang, he shut the apartment door and left.

The sound of dog claws scratching at the door came from inside, but Qin Xian merely patted the dog hair off his clothes with cold indifference, opened the map app on his phone, and booked a ride to his destination. Now that he had some money, he naturally wasn’t going to tire himself out.

The place where the accident happened was neither too close nor too far. A little over ten minutes later, Qin Xian got out of the car by the roadside. He put on a mask and headed toward the cordoned-off area as if he were just taking a stroll.

More than ten hours had passed since the explosion, but the area was still extremely lively. Such a dangerous incident had clearly happened, yet citizens had gathered everywhere outside the police tape to watch. People held up their phones to film the ruins inside, and some influencers had even been stopped outside while trying to livestream.

They really had no fear of death. What if there was another explosion? Though in the eyes of the police, he was probably no different from them…

Qin Xian moved closer to the accident site. The ground was littered with all kinds of debris, all of it blown over from the five-story residential building two hundred meters away, proof of just how powerful the explosion had been.

The situation seemed even worse than the news reports had said. He could clearly see a huge hole beneath the building ahead. Collapsed floor slabs were exposed, half of the first and second floors were gone, and the remaining stories looked precarious, as if they might come crashing down at any moment.

The only thing to be grateful for was that the explosion had happened during working hours. Many people hadn’t been home and had escaped disaster.

“Hey! You over there! What are you doing here? You’re not allowed near this place!”

Qin Xian stopped. An auxiliary police officer up ahead had blocked his path.

Qin Xian walked over and asked, “My brother and his family live here. They were taken to the hospital, and they asked me to go in and get some things for them.”

The auxiliary officer waved him off, shaking his head. “No, no. Even if your family lives here, nobody is allowed inside right now. It’s dangerous in there, understand? The building could collapse at any time.”

Qin Xian nodded. He did not make things difficult for the auxiliary officer, who was only doing his job, and turned around to circle in from another direction.

Even if he reached the scene now, he probably wouldn’t find any clues. The more living people there were in a place, the fewer traces of the strange would remain. He might as well listen for gossip in the surrounding area. Maybe he could pick up more leads that way.

Qin Xian slowly wandered around the neighborhood, and when mealtime arrived, he finally walked into a hole-in-the-wall restaurant advertising an “11-yuan buffet.”

The moment he entered, Qin Xian heard the people inside heatedly discussing the “explosion incident.”