Chapter 128
I'm going to make this a never-ending battle with you in this lifetime. [Exciting]
The airtight, dark room was filled with a cloying, bloody stench.
The released dogs seemed to have gone without food for a long time, circling back and forth in the house, drawn by the tempting scent.
Some dogs were licking the slime on the ground, while others were watching Cheng Sangluo on the table warily, and still others were baring their teeth and barking wildly.
To prevent Lin Jin from being targeted, Cheng Sangluo quickly moved her to the center of the table, placing her feet on either side to shield her lover beneath her.
She also had a menacing look on her face, crouching down and constantly waving the dagger in her hand to scare away any dogs that might pounce at any moment.
In fact, such protection is not very effective. Unlike those pretentious bodyguards, these vicious dogs, who are fed raw meat for a long time, are much more brutal.
Those sharp teeth gleamed with an eerie white light and possessed an unimaginable biting force. If you were bitten, they could tear flesh and skin apart, leaving no way to dodge.
Cheng Sangluo remained calm, constantly keeping a watchful eye on everything around her while pondering how to respond.
Finally, she wrapped the clothes that Lin Jin had taken off around her arm, at least that way she could protect the hand holding the weapon.
These pit bulls were truly starving; the smells in the air were constantly stimulating their appetites. One of the dogs, with its tail drooping, hesitated for a moment before suddenly leaping onto the table.
Cheng Sangluo hunched his back, bared his teeth like a vicious dog, and made threatening growls, trying to scare the dog away.
The dog dared not approach her, but instead buried its head to sniff Lin Jin's feet. This action terrified Cheng Sangluo, making her heart choke in her throat.
Instead, she became a bloodthirsty dog, pouncing with tremendous force, pinning the dog that was about to tear Lin Jin to the ground, and stabbing it wildly with the dagger without any strategy.
"Awooo—Awooo—" The wounded dog let out a pitiful howl, which attracted more of its companions.
"Get out! Get out! Get out!" Cheng Sangluo roared, panting heavily, kicking the injured dog off the table and turning to fight the remaining pit bulls.
These persistent things are like lingering evil spirits, lurking and approaching with deadly force, only to nimbly dodge away at the last moment.
Cheng Sangluo considered jumping off the table to attract attention, but she was afraid that if she got too far away, she would give the dogs a chance to tear Lin Jin apart.
She seized the opportunity, reached out and pressed down on the head of one of the dogs, and with great effort, barely managed to subdue the energetic creature.
A dagger can kill a dog quickly, but taking care of one or two dogs won't solve the problem.
In that brief moment of distraction, the remaining vicious dogs pounced on Cheng Sangluo's back, tearing at her neck and thighs.
Sharp teeth pierced her flesh without restraint, tearing it violently. Blood gushed out instantly, staining Lin Jin's shirt and pooling into a shocking red stain on the table.
"Ugh—ah—" Cheng Sangluo let out a painful groan, grabbing the dog's head clinging to her back with her other hand. She knew that pulling it would only worsen the wound, but she had no choice but to endure the excruciating pain of having a piece of flesh bitten off.
"Ah!!!" she roared through gritted teeth, veins bulging on her forehead. She pulled the vicious dog away by the scruff of its neck, stabbed it in the neck with a knife, and then repeatedly stabbed it several more times.
The dog clinging to her lap was still shaking its head and biting hard, but she swiftly struck it down with her knife, killing it instantly. The broken tooth was still deeply embedded in her thigh flesh.
Cheng Sangluo dared not relax. The dogs that had been licking the slime on the ground finally raised their heads; there were at least four or five left.
After fighting all night, she was exhausted and bleeding profusely, leaving her breathless.
She endured the waves of excruciating pain from her wounds, maintaining a posture ready to fight at any moment. Unfortunately, these vicious dogs, having tasted the sweetness of blood and flesh, gave her no chance to catch her breath, and they all crowded onto the table.
Cheng Sangluo saw one of the dogs open its blood-red mouth and bite straight at Lin Jin's thigh.
With lightning speed, she swung her arm and threw the dagger, which accurately pierced the dog's forehead. The dog whimpered and jumped off the table, hiding in a corner.
Although one problem was solved, a useful weapon was lost in the process, and as a result, more and more problems arose.
Cheng Sangluo's eyes were bloodshot with rage. If any dog dared to approach Lin Jin, she would grab its neck with her arm and strangle it.
With nothing else to use as a weapon, they simply imitated these vicious dogs, constantly tearing at the dogs' ears and scalps with their teeth until their mouths and faces were covered in blood.
Cheng Sangluo's blood gushed out, overflowing the entire table. The chaotic battle raged for an unknown amount of time, leaving the fierce dogs under the table either dead or wounded.
Exhausted, she collapsed onto Lin Jin, using her last bit of strength to hold her beloved tightly in her arms.
Excessive blood loss caused her body to grow colder and colder, with only Lin Jin providing a trace of warmth. She blinked wearily, thinking that she probably wouldn't be able to wait for Ji Nanxing's rescue, so she would just quietly await death.
She buried her face in her lover's neck, inhaling deeply and greedily as before, searching for the aloof scent of cedar amidst the sweet, cloying smell of blood.
Whether it was from exhaustion or from blood loss, the feeling of weakness that made even breathing difficult grew stronger and stronger.
She slowly closed her eyes, recalling her tragic yet glorious life, but she was too tired, her life had been too exhausting.
Lin Jin took a deep breath, the strong smell of blood instantly sobering her up, and the dim space spun around her.
When she felt the warm, moist embrace, she looked in alarm at the face pressed against her ear. When she saw that Cheng Sangluo was on the verge of death, she lost all her composure and arrogance and let out a heart-wrenching scream.
"Sang Luo!!! San Luo!!!" Lin Jin propped himself up and hugged Cheng San Luo tightly, his trembling fingertips tracing her blood-stained lips. "Open your eyes and look at me... please look at me... don't sleep... please don't sleep..."
Cheng Sang's back wound stung from the rubbing, and she hissed with half-closed eyes, "Ouch...it hurts..."
Hearing Lin Jin's hoarse scream, she tried to open her eyes, but the view was too dark and the figure in her eyes was blurry, and she could not focus no matter how hard she tried.
Cheng Sangluo didn't want her beloved to see her at her most vulnerable, so she acted very relaxed, but her smile was weak, and she could only speak in a feeble breath.
She forced a smile, enduring the excruciating pain from her wound, and said with a self-deprecating laugh, "You always said...you always said I was a dog...see...the dog-eat-dog method works pretty well..."
Lin Jin looked around in a panic, seeing the vicious dogs Lin Sheng had raised lying haphazardly on the ground, and then seeing her lover covered in blood. Her deep, dark eyes were no longer calm, but instead trembled with unprecedented fear and anger.
She hugged Cheng Sangluo's head tightly, tenderly wiping the dog blood from the corner of her mouth, sobbing uncontrollably, "I was wrong... I was wrong... I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have dragged you into this fight..."
"How can I blame you... I shouldn't have abandoned you... I'm the one who's wrong..." Cheng Sangluo murmured, tilting her head. She longed to reach out and wipe away her lover's tears of tenderness, but she couldn't lift her arm. "Don't cry... Saving you was something I did willingly..."
She tried her best to swallow her exhaustion, but she was so tired that she didn't even have the strength to lift her eyes. In the end, she could only droop her eyelids and breathe heavily, "Lin Jin... I'm so cold... Can you hold me tighter..."
That weak "It's so cold" amplified all of Lin Jin's fear, but Cheng Sangluo's sudden convulsions gave her no chance to calm down.
Cheng Sangluo buried herself in Lin Jin's arms, initially shivering from the cold, then began to convulse uncontrollably. A large chunk of flesh torn from her back by the fierce dog had become a hole, and as her body convulsed, more blood gushed out like a stream.
Lin Jin was filled with unprecedented fear, the terror of losing her beloved was constantly engulfing her reason.
She tried to cover Cheng Sangluo's wound with her hand, but she was afraid of hurting him, and she couldn't even get away to ask for help.
She gently patted Cheng Sangluo's face and called out urgently, "Sangluo, I'll carry you away. Just bear with it, it might hurt a lot."
After saying that, she grabbed Cheng Sangluo's arm and tried to get off the slippery table.
Unfortunately, she was too thin. Her already frail body, coupled with her injured foot, made it impossible for her to support Cheng Sangluo's tall frame. She tried several times but failed to lift him up.
"Stop struggling... You can't move your feet..." Cheng Sangluo slumped, her fingertips hooking around her lover's little finger. She didn't have the strength to hold their fingers together tightly. "Lin Jin... if... I mean if I die... don't be too sad... eat and drink as usual, life goes on... life is long... don't stop moving forward..."
"Shut up!" Lin Jin suddenly roared, her neck stiff, unable to accept any topic related to death.
She could lose everything, but she couldn't lose the moonlight.
Cheng Sangluo was like a ray of moonlight shining on her in the endless darkness.
At this moment, Lin Jin hated herself to the core. It was the first time she had tasted the bitterness of a failed plan. She cried out in anguish, "Do you really want to leave me alone again? I... I waited for you year after year... in a world you couldn't see... loving you, longing for you... We finally got together, and it shouldn't end like this... I swore... I would never let you go... never let you go!"
"Why...hang yourself on this crooked tree...why bother..." Cheng Sangluo sighed listlessly, her last breath hanging by a thread, her eyes unfocused and lifeless, her hand, which was hooked around Lin Jin's little finger, slowly slid to the table.
"Sangluo! Sangluo!!!" Lin Jin shook Cheng Sangluo's shoulder, his hoarse calls echoing in the dark room, but there was no response.
'Bang--'
'Bang--'
'Bang--'
Just as the two were in despair, the heavy steel door was suddenly kicked open, and it collapsed after being rammed several times by the people outside.
Ji Nanxing led a group of police officers in and rushed in. Seeing the large, fierce dogs all over the ground, he felt a pang of anxiety, as if he understood where Xu Songheng, who had vanished into thin air, had gone.
"One team will seal off the entire villa area for investigation; the second team will handcuff all the suspects present; and the third team will monitor the Skynet system and issue an arrest warrant for Lin Sheng immediately!" After methodically arranging the work, she quickly walked to the table to check on Cheng Sangluo's situation.
Upon seeing the bloody and mangled scene on the table, Ji Nanxing's brows furrowed deeply, but he fell silent.
Gu Shinian followed with swift and decisive steps, and hurriedly took off his coat and covered Cheng Sangluo with it.
Fortunately, she was incredibly insightful and meticulous in her work, and she specifically instructed the staff at the health center to provide support when she arrived.
"Mr. Lin, we need to provide emergency treatment for the injured. Please cooperate with our work." The medical staff prepared a stretcher and, while persuading Lin Jin to leave, busied themselves transferring Cheng Sangluo onto the stretcher.
"Be gentle, be gentle, she's badly injured." Lin Jin refused to leave Cheng Sangluo, staying by her side in a daze, repeatedly urging, "Don't hurt her!"
"Lin Jin, calm down!" Gu Shinian took a bodyguard's jacket and draped it over Lin Jin's shoulders. She had never seen this person so helpless before, and she couldn't help but feel sorry for him, but she could only offer weak words of comfort: "Leave it to our people to handle. Sang Luo will be fine."
......
Ji Nanxing accompanied Gu Shinian and Lin Jin to the outside of the villa. Seeing the ambulance from the health center flashing its emergency lights, he didn't forget to give them some instructions: "Take Cheng Sangluo away quickly. We have to race against time. I'll come find you as soon as I finish dealing with things here."
"Okay." Gu Shinian replied simply, then helped Lin Jin into the ambulance.
Ji Nanxing stood there, watching the ambulance leave, before finally letting out a heavy sigh.
"Nanxing." Vice Captain Su Qiao stood at the entrance to the back garden, waving his latex-gloved hand in the air a few times. "Come here for a second, quickly."
Ji Nanxing withdrew her gaze and turned to look at Su Qiao, hurriedly running closer, "What's wrong?"
"Come with me." Su Qiao had just led a few police officers to set up a cordon around the villa when they discovered a hidden path in the back garden. Feeling it necessary to take people to check it out, they went to patrol it.
This trip was worthwhile; the end of the path was surrounded by an iron fence, and a lingering stench permeated the air.
Su Qiao led Ji Nanxing to the outside of the iron fence and handed him a mask. "It's no wonder that so many dogs smell bad, but... isn't it a bit too smelly?"
“This isn’t just the smell of dogs.” Ji Nanxing waved his hand in front of his nose, then suddenly became a germaphobe and quickly put on two layers of gloves, and several more layers of masks. “It’s a bit like the smell of a corpse, but not quite. Let’s go in and take a look.”
As she spoke, she told the police officer behind her to notify the forensic doctor to come and examine the body, and then followed Su Qiao into the fenced area.
After the two pushed open the door and entered, they looked around. The furnishings in the yard were not cluttered; it was where Lin Sheng kept his pit bulls. As far as the eye could see, there were doghouses and cages of all sizes.
In fact, Ji Nanxing already had a clue. After all, she had seen so many dogs in the dark room. Judging from the horrific scene, it was hard to imagine how long Cheng Sangluo had been fighting with those vicious dogs. Therefore, she guessed that the missing Xu Songheng had long since become the vicious dogs' dinner.
Su Qiao pulled a small flashlight from her tool bag and scanned the yard. The smell was unpleasant, but she couldn't tell where it was coming from. She could only cover her face with her mask and mutter to herself, "There's nothing there, so how can it smell so bad?!"
"This should be the last crime scene where Xu Songheng was murdered." Ji Nanxing calmly deduced, took the flashlight from Su Qiao's hand, and walked straight to the place where the doghouses were the most numerous.
"You mean those dogs devoured a living person?" Su Qiao followed behind her, unable to help but shudder. "Hiss! Isn't that a bit too cruel? It's creepy!"
[Author's Note]
1. My pre-order novel, "The Sinful Lover," is available for collection.
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