radicalducati Chapter 480 The Lame
Chapter 480 The Lame
Lin Feng immediately activated "Call of the Wild".
Soon, a black cat emerged from the shed.
Its thin, bony outline was clearly visible beneath its dirty fur. A small piece was missing from its left ear, and there was an old, curved scar at the end of its tail. When it walked, the broken tail tilted slightly to one side.
Its gaze as it sized up Lin Feng was neither friendly nor wary.
Stray cats that have been wandering for a long time all have this look in their eyes. They've seen too much, so they no longer easily believe or fear anything.
Lin Feng took out a small bag of dried fish from his pocket, tore it open, placed the dried fish on the open ground beside his feet, and then took two steps back.
The black cat stared at the dried fish for a moment, hesitated, and then slowly walked forward and lowered its head to eat.
The way they ate was hardly graceful; it was more like they were swallowing food than eating.
As he swallowed the third one, Lin Feng asked softly, "Have you ever seen a black and white cat?"
Yuanbao peeked out from behind Lin Feng and added:
"It's that one with distinct black and white fur; the white parts are as white as snow, and the black parts are as shiny as satin."
"A black and white cat with a tuft of white fur at the tip of its tail, whose tail is held high when it walks and never touches the ground."
"Extremely beautiful." Yuanbao added these four words at the end, looking rather sullen.
The black cat swallowed the dried fish in its mouth and pointed forward with its less-than-perfect right front paw:
"I've seen it. It went towards the woods over there."
Yuanbao shuddered: "That pond is in the woods! She really did go to catch fresh fish!"
"Heh." A low, hoarse laugh, clearly mocking, escaped from the black cat's throat.
It licked its lips.
"Some cats are just so fussy. They have to eat freshly caught food, and they have to be lively and energetic. We cats who scavenge rotten fish heads from garbage dumps can't compare."
It raised its hind leg to scratch the ringworm on its neck, and added slowly, "It's just a pity—"
"What a pity!" Yuanbao pounced before it could finish speaking, instantly releasing its SS-level pressure.
The black cat's pupils shrank to almost invisible vertical lines, and its emaciated body trembled like a withered leaf in the wind.
"Speak quickly!" Yuanbao wished it could squeeze the answer out of its throat immediately.
The black cat's lips trembled slightly:
"In the woods...a pack of stray dogs has recently come."
"The one in the lead, whose left side of his face looks like mud, is called Crippled Face."
It shrank back: "I heard it... has bitten people."
Upon hearing this, Yuanbao's hair stood on end.
The next moment, its body suddenly swelled up, expanding to the size of a tiger in an instant. With a mournful meow, it leaped and ran wildly towards the forest.
Lin Feng and his three companions dared not delay and immediately followed behind.
Led by Yuanbao, the group soon arrived at a quiet pond in the woods.
The pond was small, hidden deep in the woods, its surface grayish-green with a thin layer of green algae floating on it.
Several crooked willow trees drooped their branches, their tips touching the water's surface and creating delicate ripples.
Yuanbao quickly walked around to the shallow part of the pond, pressed his nose close to the ground, and sniffed carefully. He soon found the traces left by Huahua:
Tiny cat paw prints were imprinted in the soft mud on the shore, and a few glistening fish scales were scattered by the water, clearly indicating that Hua Hua had indeed come here to catch fish.
Fueled by anger and worry, Yuanbao looked up and roared fiercely into the depths of the dense forest:
"Crippled face—! Come out here—!"
The roar bounced back and forth between the tree trunks, startling a flock of birds into flight.
The only response it received was the rustling of the wind.
Lin Feng took a breath and said in a deep voice, "You've made such a big fuss, the crippled man has probably been intimidated by your aura and is hiding."
Having said that, he immediately used his Wild Call to summon several birds in the forest and asked them if they had seen a cow cat.
The birds all shook their heads, indicating that they had never seen anything like it.
Lin Feng then pressed on, asking if he had ever seen a stray dog named Lame Face.
The little bird chirped and pointed out the direction, telling it that it was hiding in a cave not far ahead.
Yuanbao darted out instantly, the orange behemoth weaving left and right among the trees, its speed leaving a trail of afterimages.
The group gritted their teeth and gave chase.
Soon, a hidden cave entrance came into view.
Without the slightest hesitation, Yuanbao plunged into the cave.
The cave appeared much more spacious than its entrance, about three or four zhang in size. Several wet stalactites hung from the cave ceiling, with water droplets falling one by one, making a crisp echo in the silence.
But this tranquility was shattered by the sight at the center of the cave—
A goat lay sprawled on the ground, torn beyond recognition, with dark red blood flowing across a large patch of stone.
The air was thick with a pungent, fishy stench mixed with the smell of rotting fur, making one almost want to vomit.
Six wild dogs were surrounding the pile of flesh and blood.
The lame man at the head stood in the very center.
The grayish-white fur was splattered with dark red bloodstains, and the hard scab on the left side of the face looked like an ugly mask.
The blue eye without an eyelid was wide open, its pupil as murky as stagnant water.
It didn't make a sound, or even move; it just stared intently at the direction of the cave entrance with its stagnant blue eyes.
The light at the cave entrance was blocked by several figures.
A round, chubby orange cat, and four young men and women.
The sounds of the wild dogs tearing and biting stopped abruptly.
A jet-black greyhound emerged from behind the goat carcass, its throat bearing a gruesome old scar, as if bitten through by something and hastily stitched up.
It tilted its head, and slowly grinned, revealing a row of sharp teeth with bits of flesh hanging from them.
That's not the expression a dog should have.
It's laughing.
"Wow, we were just complaining about not having enough to eat, and now someone's offering to deliver takeout."
Yuanbao did not answer, and his SS-level pressure was fully unleashed.
At this moment, its size transcended physical dimensions, becoming a conceptual "large"—
Like a mountain, like the sea, like some ancient, irresistible force.
The stray dogs were instantly struck dumb, their fur stood on end, their limbs went limp, and they let out terrified whimpers.
Only the lame man at the head of the group remained standing, his body stiff and his cloudy blue eyes fixed on the front, stubbornly refusing to show any fear.
The gold ingot moved.
His figure moved like an orange lightning bolt, and with a few muffled thuds and screams, the wild dogs all fell to the ground.
Once the dust settled, Yuanbao's claws were already on the lame man's back.
"Tell me quickly," Yuanbao's voice squeezed out from the deepest part of his chest, "What did you do to Huahua?"
"M-Grandpa, spare me! Who...who is Hua Hua?"
Lin Feng added in a deep voice, "A black and white cat, catching fish in the pond in the middle of the woods this morning."
The limping man's blue eyes darted around frantically, his voice almost screaming:
"Sir, we really didn't provoke it!"
"We slept in all morning, right here in this cave, we didn't go anywhere!"
"I was so hungry just now that I went out and caught a sheep, just this one!"
"I'd be a fool to lie to you!"