Chapter 6
It was around three or four in the afternoon, and it wasn't dark yet.
Zhou Qi walked around the area a few times and found no trace of other people, so he decided to return.
However, because he had a compass, he didn't retrace his steps along the marked path, but instead walked back in the general direction, continuing to explore more areas along the way.
If An An is lucky enough to complete another transaction, he can exchange it for a special medicine.
With this idea in mind, Zhou Qi observed the scenery along the way, trying to find clues left by human activities as before.
However, his luck seemed to have run out -
When he heard the unusual noise, he happily moved closer. However, when he turned the corner and saw a dark grey figure in the distance, the blood color on Zhou Qi's face instantly faded.
It was a giant dog at least two meters long. It was on all fours, and its height was estimated to reach his chest. It was baring its sharp fangs and gnawing on an unknown animal. The hair on its mouth and face was stained with blood.
Because the wind was blowing from behind Zhou Qi, Zhou Qi did not smell the blood in time.
He held his breath and retreated cautiously, hoping to evacuate smoothly without attracting the attention of the giant dog.
However, his hopes were ultimately dashed.
When he heard the sound of footsteps behind him, Zhou Qi didn't hesitate at all and started running.
After he ran twenty or thirty meters, the mutant dog appeared at the corner. It stuck out its huge head, locked onto Zhou Qi's figure, and a gleam flashed in its scarlet eyes. Then it excitedly chased after him.
"Woof woof!"
Zhou Qi listened to the noise behind him, his heart beating like a drum, but he didn't dare to look back.
He had not run so fast even when he took part in the 50-meter race for the high school entrance exam. He almost flew out, but the footsteps behind him were always following him like a shadow and getting closer and closer.
This is not a solution!
After running in panic for a while, Zhou Qi finally turned around and ran towards the ruins of the collapsed buildings.
“Woof woof woof!”
The giant dog roared, seemingly getting impatient because it hadn't caught its prey for such a long time.
Zhou Qi ignored them and was the last one to accelerate. He crawled into the gap between some gravel and continued to crawl forward.
His speed slowed down, but the mutant giant dog was also seriously hindered.
It kept trying to put its mouth and front limbs into the cracks in the rocks, but no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't reach Zhou Qi, which made it extremely angry.
The mutant giant dog soon stopped this meaningless grabbing and biting, and instead waved its front legs, like a planing movement, continuously smashing and digging apart huge stones with astonishing strength.
Zhou Qi didn't dare to look back at all.
He kept crawling, with only one thought in his mind: he had to survive, An An was still waiting for him, he couldn't die here...
His palm was pierced by a sharp object and blood was flowing, but he forgot the pain and crawled hard among the gravel.
However, he eventually had to stop.
The road ahead was blocked by a huge rock, and no matter how hard he pushed it open...
The sound of the giant dog scraping the gravel could still be heard from behind. Zhou Qi was panting. After a while, he took out the dagger that Tang Yu'an had put in from his personal storage.
He adjusted his breathing. Amid the sound of gravel breaking that sounded like the bell of death, Zhou Qi gripped the dagger tightly and silently accumulated strength.
Looking at the cell phone displayed in his portable warehouse, he hesitated whether to leave any last words, but in the end he just lay there quietly, letting his tears blur his vision.
I don’t know how long it took, but the sound behind me suddenly stopped.
Just when hope rose in Zhou Qi's heart again, the huge rock pressing on his head was suddenly lifted up, and a mutant giant dog with a hideous face and drooling appeared in front of him.
When Zhou Qi felt the giant dog rushing towards him, he quickly rolled to the side.
He kept waving the dagger, and in the flashing light of the sharp blade, the giant dog was frightened for a moment and did not continue to attack. Instead, it stared at him and circled around him, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
Zhou Qi's physical strength was declining rapidly.
He knew that if he showed any weakness, the giant dog would pounce on him and bite him to death.
Zhou Qi gritted his teeth and suddenly pounced at the giant dog fiercely, wanting to stab its eyes with a dagger. However, the giant dog, which had rich hunting experience, just dodged and pounced, and threw him away.
The dagger slipped out of his hand and Zhou Qi was knocked to the ground.
He couldn't help but feel despair. Seeing the giant dog opening its mouth to bite him, he subconsciously raised his arms to resist, but at this moment -
"call out--"
A stone flew from the side and hit the mutant giant dog on the head, causing it to look sideways in anger.
at the same time--
"Brother Xiaoqi, run!"
Zhou Qi was horrified when he heard this familiar voice.
He looked in the direction of the voice in horror and saw that Tang Yu'an had come over at some point in time. He was holding a slingshot and stones in his hands and was attacking the mutant giant dog.
"An An!"
"Brother Xiaoqi, run!"
Zhou Qi was terrified, but he didn't dare to delay. He gritted his teeth, got up and ran in the opposite direction.
Fortunately, the mutant giant dog did not pay any attention to Tang Yu'an. After discovering that he was not a big threat, it continued to chase Zhou Qi.
"Brother Xiaoqi!"
Tang Yu'an was extremely anxious. His throat was already sore, and his voice became hoarse after shouting a few times. The stones shot from the slingshot were unable to cause any harm to the giant dog because he did not have enough strength.
Seeing Zhou Qi being knocked down again, he was shocked.
Suddenly thinking of something, Tang Yu'an quickly took out the cat toy he had drawn before from his portable warehouse. He thought it was a special prop, so he put it in the portable warehouse as soon as it was unlocked.
“Ring, ring, ring—”
“Ring, ring, ring—”
At this thrilling moment, the clear sound of bells suddenly rang out in the silent ruins and spread far away.
The giant dog, which was originally attacking Zhou Qi, twitched its ears slightly, and the tips of its ears turned back. At the same time, its body also stopped and turned its head to look in the direction of Tang Yu'an.
“Ring, ring, ring—”
“Ring, ring, ring—”
Tang Yu'an was still waving the cat toy. Seeing that the sound of the bell was effective, he couldn't help but swing it harder.
Next, the mutant giant dog actually left Zhou Qi behind and ran towards Tang Yu'an aggressively.
Seeing this, Zhou Qi rushed over and hugged the giant dog's tail.
"An An—Run!!!"
He shouted loudly and refused to let go even when being dragged to the ground.
Tang Yu'an knew he was going to be scared at this point, so he quickly turned around and ran.
There was only a hundred meters between them, and the mutant giant dog quickly shook off Zhou Qi. It ran excitedly and caught up with Tang Yu'an in almost the blink of an eye, knocking him to the ground.
“An An!!!”
Zhou Qi's eyes were almost bloodshot. He picked up the dagger on the ground and ran away, thinking only of running over and dying together with the giant dog.
However, as he was running, something magical happened——
The mutant dog that pounced on Tang Yu'an was actually slowly shrinking its huge body.
When Zhou Qi ran to Tang Yu'an, the giant dog had turned into a dirty...
cat?
The cat was about as big as an adult's arm. It held the cat toy in its two paws and lay on the ground, pulling and biting the toy, ignoring Tang Yu'an and the others.
Zhou Qi stared at the scene in a daze, his chest heaving and breathing heavily.
Tang Yu'an, who was not bitten, also sat up from the ground in surprise. Looking at the giant dog that turned into a cat, he couldn't help but think of the description of the cat toy.
No cat can resist such a cat teaser!
So, if you turn another animal into a cat, it won't be able to refuse? Tang Yu'an scratched his head, feeling that this prop was really magical, but the description was a bit half-hearted.
Fortunately, the crisis was successfully resolved and I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
He couldn't help but look at Zhou Qi. Just as he was about to speak, he was met with Zhou Qi's red eyes. He glared at him fiercely and shouted at him in an unprecedented vicious tone:
"Why are you here? Didn't I tell you to stay home and not come out?!"
Tang Yu'an was stunned, "I, I saw that you were in danger..."
Before he could finish his words, Zhou Qi collapsed to the ground as if he had lost all his energy, and the dagger in his hand fell to the ground with a clang.
"Brother Xiaoqi..."
Tang Yu'an was startled and wanted to go over to check his injuries, but as soon as he got close, he reached out and pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly with both arms.
"Tang Yu'an, you scared me to death... You really scared me to death..." Zhou Qi buried his head in his thin shoulders and sobbed.
Amidst the silent and empty ruins, the suppressed cries of a young boy were heard.
Tang Yu'an was stunned.
He had never seen Xiaoqi cry like this before...his tears also flowed uncontrollably.
"Brother Xiaoqi, you lost a lot of blood... wuwu..."
The two young men who survived the disaster hugged each other, crying silently to vent their panic and fear. In this strange and desolate world, they only had each other to rely on.
*
"Brother Xiaoqi, the cat and dog have been following us."
On the weed-covered path, Tang Yu'an looked back at the dirty cat and whispered to Zhou Qi.
"Don't worry about it." Zhou Qi shook his head.
It's not that he doesn't want to take care of this cat that was transformed from a giant dog, but——
After venting his emotions, he picked up the dagger on the ground and prepared to take the opportunity to kill this extremely threatening giant dog.
But just as he stabbed out with his dagger, the cat, which had been non-aggressive, suddenly bared its teeth, and its body suddenly swelled up, turning back into the appearance of a giant dog.
If An An hadn't been quick enough to use the cat toy again to turn it into a cat, they would have been in danger.
After trying several times, Zhou Qi helplessly discovered that once attacked, the mutated giant dog would return to its original form. This should be the limitation of the cat toy.
So, for the time being, they have no way to deal with this mutant dog.
Fortunately, it's almost six o'clock. When we get back to the grocery store, there will be a safety barrier that should be able to keep it out. We don't have to worry about it causing any trouble.
Although Zhou Qi had been in a panic when he escaped and could no longer find the marks he had left behind, they now had a map and did not need to worry about getting lost.
Just now, Tang Yu'an relied on the map to find Zhou Qi.
This place was not far from the grocery store, only 30 minutes away in a straight line. Without taking any detours, they soon saw the familiar stone in front of the grocery store.
Zhou Qi quickly pulled Tang Yu'an into the house.
Sure enough, when the safety barrier was activated, the cat could not come in and could only wander around the door.
Zhou Qi completely relaxed. He slid down to sit at the door. The muscles in his legs were trembling slightly from overuse, and his hands were a little out of control.
Tang Yu'an wanted to pull him into the house, but he stopped her: "I'm too dirty."
Looking at his tattered and blood-stained clothes, Tang Yu'an's eyes turned red again.
He sniffed and reached out to help Zhou Qi take off his clothes, shoes and pants. Seeing that he really couldn't move, he ran to the bathroom to get a basin of warm water and wiped him with a towel.
"Will it hurt?" Tang Yu'an couldn't help crying again.
"It's okay, just superficial injuries."
Zhou Qi had many scratches and bruises on his body, but just as he said, they were just superficial injuries, which was a blessing in disguise.
Despite this, Tang Yu'an still managed to hold back his trembling while wiping his hands.
The most seriously injured parts of Zhou Qi's body were his hands, which were injured when he was crawling in the gravel. Even two of his fingernails were cracked.
Tang Yu'an felt so distressed that she became even more careful when cleaning him.
Zhou Qi looked at his flushed face, but he was also worried. "Bring the Yunnan Baiyao and bandages over here, I can fix it myself. Go wash up quickly and check if there are any wounds."
"Oh..." Tang Yu'an responded obediently.
Watching Tang Yu'an take the sewage away, Zhou Qi picked up the Yunnan Baiyao and was about to spray it on the wound, but...
"hiss--"
Zhou Qi felt a strange tingling sensation and stared at his left palm. He felt as if a red light had flashed and something had penetrated into his wound and entered his body.
Did he see it wrong?
Zhou Qi held his wrist, feeling the sudden sting, making sure it was not an illusion.
What was even more bizarre was that as he watched, he discovered that the wound on his hand was actually healing!
Although the speed was not particularly fast, it was still visible to the naked eye. It started from the palm of the hand and then spread to the fingers. The blood from the wound that was originally bleeding slowly stopped flowing.
In less than ten minutes, blood scabs formed on the wound on his hand!
Zhou Qi looked solemn.
"Brother Xiaoqi."
Tang Yu'an's voice came, and Zhou Qi hurriedly untied the bandage and quickly wrapped it around his hand.
"Brother Xiaoqi, what's wrong?"
Tang Yu'an, who had already cleaned himself up, tilted his head and looked at him, obviously noticing that something was wrong with him.
Zhou Qi pursed his lips slightly, hesitated for a moment, and then reopened the bandage while explaining to him what was happening to him.
"Wow, it really healed!"
The most obvious thing is that the two cracked nails have been mostly repaired.
"Brother Xiaoqi, this is good news." Tang Yu'an held Zhou Qi's hand, with a delighted smile in the corners of his eyes and eyebrows, "You also have super powers!"
Zhou Qi told him everything about his encounter with Granny Guo, so Tang Yu'an knew that the humans in this world possessed magical abilities.
Zhou Qi nodded, but his brows were still furrowed.
There is no benefit without a price. The thing that just entered his body made him very concerned...
However, there is no need for An An to know this.
*
Zhou Qi re-wrapped the bandage, then touched Tang Yu'an's face with his fingertips and asked, "How are you?"
"I'm fine."
Tang Yu'an took out a piece of his father's clothes and asked Zhou Qi to put it on.
Zhou Qi looked at him suspiciously while putting on his clothes, "Really? Come here and let me see."
"It's just that my elbow was bruised..."
"And on the face?"
Zhou Qi touched the side of his face, and Tang Yu'an immediately wrinkled his face and said aggrievedly: "It hurts qaq"
Zhou Qi paused and quickly retracted his hand, "Sorry."
He pulled Tang Yu'an to his side, applied some medicine on him, and finally put a piece of hemostatic tape on his face. Then he touched the top of his head and slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
Tang Yu'an snuggled in his arms, feeling a little listless and not wanting to move.
He was already ill, and now his throat was very sore, his body was hot, and he was a little confused.
Zhou Qi looked at him and became worried again.
Just as I was about to ask if all the medicines in his house were gone, I heard Tang Yu'an ask, "Is the cat outside still there?"
Zhou Qi stood up, opened the window and looked out.
"Still there."
"Brother Xiaoqi, do you think I can turn it into a pet?"
Tang Yu'an told him about the special mission of the [Lucky Cat]. He thought that since the cat toy, as a special prop, has such a magical effect, then this special mission might also have something special?
Apart from anything else, that "super cool dog frisbee" might have the same effect as a cat toy?
"I can throw the Frisbee, and it feels safer than holding a cat toy."
When the giant mutant dog rushed towards him just now, Tang Yu'an suffered a huge impact. He was really scared and was knocked to the ground before he could react.
Although he was not injured in the end, it was still scary enough.
Zhou Qi nodded, "Then let's give it a try?"
However, the cat outside the door is essentially a dog, and he feels that the possibility of success is unlikely.
They took action immediately after thinking about it.
The two teenagers supported each other to stand up, pushed open the door of the grocery store and walked out. The cat that was lying in the corner suddenly looked over alertly.
Tang Yu'an looked at it and took out the cat toy.
“Ring, ring, ring—”
“Ring, ring, ring—”
The crisp and pleasant sound of the bell rang, and the cat's attention was immediately attracted by the cat toy, and its tail behind it began to wag excitedly.
Soon it couldn't hold back anymore and ran towards Tang Yu'an.
Tang Yu'an held the cat toy tightly, and then followed the system's instructions and carefully placed his hand on the cat's head.
Zhou Qi watched nervously, ready to pull Tang Yu'an into the barrier at any time.
However, the cat, which would turn back into its original form every time he approached, was now fine and allowed Tang Yu to stroke its head.
【Want to adopt as a pet? 】
【whether】
As Tang Yu'an selected [Yes], the system prompt changed again.
[Pet adopted successfully, please name it]
Tang Yu'an thought about it and entered: Wangcai in the name column.
I don't know if the system determines whether this is a cat or a dog, and I don't know if the mission can be completed...
After Tang Yu'an entered his name and pressed OK, a system prompt popped up:
Congratulations! You've successfully raised a cat for the grocery store, completed the special mission "Lucky Cat," and received a cool dog frisbee +1.
【Please select the delivery address】
[1. Ping An Grocery Store Warehouse]
【2. Portable Warehouse】
[Successfully raise the Lucky Cat "Wangcai" and rename it at any time in the pet panel]
[After 8:00 am every day, feeding the lucky cat "Wangcai" his favorite food will give you a chance to earn random points.]
Wow! The Maneki Neko really does bring wealth!
Tang Yu'an's eyes lit up slightly. He resisted the urge to take the cat home immediately, chose the delivery address of "Super Cool Dog Frisbee", and then took out the frisbee from his personal space.
This was a colorful frisbee that did look cooler than a cat toy, but when he picked it up to play with it, he was overwhelmed by a series of system prompts.
Congratulations! Triggering the special mission: "Watchdog"
Watchdog
Mission Description: Dogs are loyal companions of humans and are the most reliable helpers in maintaining the safety of grocery stores and helping their owners drive away thieves and bad guests.
Task content: Please raise a dog for the grocery store (1/1)
Reward: Super Mousetrap.
Congratulations! You've successfully raised a dog for the grocery store, completed the special mission "Guard Dog," and gained +1 Super Mousetrap.
【Please select the delivery address】
[1. Ping An Grocery Store Warehouse]
【2. Portable Warehouse】
[Successfully raise the watchdog "Wangcai" and rename it at any time in the pet panel]
[Under the surveillance of the watchdog "Wangcai", the business map's danger detection function is fully activated. You can see all dangerous creatures within the lit area.]
!!!
It turns out that according to the system, Wangcai is both a cat and a dog!
Tang Yuan: xueke
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