Chapter 345 - 149: Whimper

Chapter 345: Chapter 149: Whimper

"Hurry up and get out of there!"

"I just think it’s weird. Think about it. If this house has been here since the last century, what was it used for back then? I originally thought it was a residence, but a place meant for living shouldn’t be completely windowless, right?"

As Du Kang spoke, he shone his flashlight upwards.

"Look, there’s even a light bulb."

"Maybe a warehouse or something?"

Zhang Shutong replied, shining his phone’s light on the house’s inner wall.

There were no marks on the wall, either.

This red brick house was just as simple on the inside. There was no paint on the walls, which had just been plastered over with a layer of mud mixed with straw. Zhang Shutong poked it with his finger, but it didn’t crumble into powder. Saturated with moisture, it had turned into a patch of sludge.

No wonder the water pooled inside was murky and muddy, its depth impossible to gauge, which was how Du Kang had gotten himself into this mess.

"Let’s go, let’s go," Ruoping urged Du Kang again. "We’re supposed to get dinner later. How are you going to go with wet shoes? Are you going to go home and change first?"

"Oh, right!"

Her words reminded Du Kang that they still had dinner plans. The house had a strange air about it, and while he was curious, he was now even more frustrated that he hadn’t found anything after paying such a "price."

"If I’d known, I never would have come in. What was the point of investigating this place..."

As he spoke, he laboriously took a step, the muddy water inside the house stirring with his movement. Du Kang stood on the doorframe, the only spot above the water. He started taking off his shoes as he asked:

"So, we’re heading back?"

"Let’s go back." Qingyi was still staring intently at the wooden door, trying to find some evidence of abnormality, but what could one find in an empty old house? He said with disappointment, "I was overthinking it."

It seemed their little expedition had ended in failure. They had come with high hopes, only to leave disappointed.

’It’s not necessarily a bad thing, though,’ Zhang Shutong thought. ’It’s not like you’d be pleasantly surprised if a mud monster jumped out at you. That would be a fright, not a surprise.’

He also agreed it was time to go back.

He glanced at the time. Twenty minutes had passed since they left the hospital. The rain was gradually letting up. But reality can be dramatic like that: when the rain was heavy, they couldn’t ride their bikes, and now that it was lighter, Du Kang’s shoes were soaked.

Tapping his shoes to get the water out, Du Kang asked:

"How about we eat at my family’s restaurant? My dad and the others might still be there. We can whip up a couple of dishes and go to the commercial street another day?"

"This doorframe isn’t sturdy," Zhang Shutong reminded him. "Be careful you don’t make it collapse."

"Oh, right. I’m almost done."

Feeling like he was holding everyone up, Du Kang quickly tied his shoelaces.

"So, what’s the verdict? I could probably manage, you know?"

"Manage my foot! It would’ve been so much better to just go get a nice meal, but no, you had to go exploring in a place like this..." Ruoping had a sharp tongue but a soft heart. She cast a resigned vote of approval. "Let’s not bother your uncle. We can just make do with some instant noodles. What do you guys think?"

"Sounds good," Qingyi voted in favor.

"I’m fine with whatever," Zhang Shutong said casually. "You know me, I’m energy-con—"

"WHIMPER..."

"You ’conserve’ one more time and see what happens," Ruoping said, gritting her teeth.

"Instant noodle soup. I’m in."

"No, no, no, we don’t have to *only* have instant noodle soup. Let me think what else we have... Hmm, there’s leftover braised beef from the day before yesterday. My dad threw it in the freezer. I’ll dig around when we get back..."

"Do you guys have any pickled cabbage and beef flavor? I’m craving that," Qingyi asked.

"Probably."

"Add a fried egg to that, and it’ll be perfect."

"You call that a request? No problem. Ruoping?"

"I ate a big lunch, I’m not hungry. By the way, could you hurry up?"

"Coming, coming..."

"WHIMPER..."

"Speaking of lunch, that reminds me. And Zhang Shutong, you have the nerve to talk about ’conserving energy’? How come you weren’t ’conserving energy’ with that sea cucumber at lunch?"

"Why’s the fire suddenly aimed at me? Spare me."

"Du Kang, are your shoes still not tied?"

"It accidentally became a dead knot. Forget it, forget it. I’ll just walk like this..."

"WHIMPER..."

"This house really might not be stable. Don’t be careless. It’s at least a decade or two old."

"Speaking of which, it just occurred to me we should’ve just asked my dad," Du Kang said, straightening up from the threshold. "My family’s restaurant had just opened around that time. He might know more about the old days than the people at the hospital."

The other three nodded, and then they all fell silent. Darkness enveloped them, and the only sound was the SPLASH of water.

Zhang Shutong broke the silence, saying, "You’re a real master of hindsight. It doesn’t matter if you ask your dad or your mom. What matters is..."

"I’ve been wanting to ask this whole time."

He frowned.

"What exactly is making that ’whimpering’ sound?"

"WHIMPER..."

"Behind you!" Qingyi said suddenly.

Du Kang immediately spun around and shone the flashlight into the house. The others held their breath and followed the beam with their eyes, but all they could see was swirling, muddy water.

"Wh-what is it now?" Ruoping’s face paled again. "Don’t play pranks on me. I didn’t hear any whimpering..."

"There definitely was," Qingyi said gravely. "At first, I thought it was the sound of the wind, but it didn’t quite sound like it. And it’s coming from inside the house. It should be... to the south. Du Kang, shine the light to the south."

Du Kang moved the flashlight. This time, Zhang Shutong came to his side and looked with him. The house was pitch-black inside. The flashlight beam moved bit by bit, with extreme caution, until—

"Wait, go back a little," Zhang Shutong gestured. "A little further back. Yes, just a bit..."

Finally, the beam of light settled on a corner of the old house.

"Is there something there?" Du Kang asked quickly. "I can’t see anything. Isn’t it still just black?"

"’Black’ is the biggest problem," Zhang Shutong said, staring at the corner. "Haven’t you noticed that spot won’t light up, no matter what?"

In the corner of the room was a patch of shadow.

Zhang Shutong wasn’t sure if the sound was coming from the shadow, or if they were all just on edge and it was a false alarm. For a moment, no one dared to step forward. They all huddled in the doorway, staring intently at the corner.

"To be honest," Du Kang said uncertainly, "now that you mention it, that sound doesn’t seem like anything supernatural. It’s more like..."

"More like what?"

But before Du Kang could finish, the shadow in the corner suddenly came to life. It scurried to another corner. Du Kang quickly moved the flashlight, but he was a beat too slow. By the time he shone the light there, the shadow was still again.

Du Kang suddenly chuckled.

"You guys saw that, right?"

"We saw," Qingyi nodded oddly.

Zhang Shutong also said helplessly to Ruoping:

"You can open your eyes now. It’s nothing. Look—"

As he spoke, he pointed his finger. The flashlight formed a circle of light on the mud wall, and in the center of that circle...

...was a small dog.

A small dog that was pitch-black from head to toe.

It was hard to tell if its fur had been dyed black by the muddy water or if that was its natural color. The darkness was its best camouflage. The little dog had been huddled in the corner of the house, and Du Kang had walked right past it without noticing a thing.

"Holy crap, no wonder it sounded like a dog," Du Kang said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "This little guy is a master of hiding."

"Is it really a dog?" Ruoping moved her hands from her eyes and peeked.

The puppy was curled into a ball, trembling. Now caught in the flashlight beam, it was too scared to even whimper.

"It’s really a dog." Qingyi shook his head and laughed. "Now everything makes sense. It’s probably a stray. It had nowhere to hide from the rain, and when the ivy fell down earlier, it must have stumbled in through the door to take shelter. That’s the ’abnormality’ we saw."

’Could we please use "stray dog" instead of "wild dog"?’ Zhang Shutong thought.

Of course, he was only joking. In reality, he also breathed a sigh of relief. The question of why the door had suddenly opened inward—that was now solved.

This dog had really given them a run for their money. It reminded him of Gu Qiuyan’s Doberman, which was also all black.

"So we got played by a dog," Du Kang said, but without a trace of anger. On the contrary, he squatted down with great interest and whistled to the puppy.

Zhang Shutong knew Du Kang loved small animals, especially dogs. In fact, it was rare for a family running a restaurant on the island not to keep a few dogs. They were easy to raise and could even catch mice.

"This dog is pretty good-looking," Du Kang said, sizing up the puppy. "I can’t tell the breed, but it’s probably a mutt mixed with some kind of hound. It’s quite handsome."

"Is it?" Ruoping said casually, eager to cover up her embarrassment at being so scared. Zhang Shutong shone his phone at her, and she quickly turned her face away.

"You don’t get it. It’s still small. It’ll be handsome when it grows up."

"You’re not thinking of keeping it, are you?"

"I actually am. Can’t have made this trip for nothing." Du Kang rubbed his hands together. "Anyway, I can just take it back and feed it some leftovers. My family’s restaurant has a yard out back."

Zhang Shutong was a bit speechless. He’d heard of fishermen who, not wanting to go home empty-handed, would forage for some wild vegetables instead, but this was the first time he’d seen someone go exploring and bring home a dog.

"As long as you’ve thought it through. Just make it quick."

"You got it."

Du Kang replied.

Having just emptied his shoes, he wasn’t keen on wading back into the water. He called to the puppy repeatedly, trying to coax it out, but the little dog was probably terrified by the four humans and remained huddled in its spot, not moving an inch.

Seeing this, Du Kang was helpless.

"Alright, alright, I’ll come in and get you," he said, entering the house again. He muttered as he walked, "What’s a good name... I’ve actually always wanted a black dog. How about Zorro? What do you guys think?"

"Zorro from the movie?" Qingyi asked. "That movie is ancient."

"Yeah, Zorro the swordsman, the one who helps the weak and fights for justice. So cool."

Zhang Shutong said, "If Zorro knew, he’d probably start by ’fighting for justice’ against you."

"It’s called a tribute..."

As he spoke, Du Kang staggered and suddenly pitched forward. If not for his quick reflexes, bracing himself with both hands, he would have fallen flat on his face. Even so, his entire body ended up in the water.

The other three didn’t care about the water anymore and rushed in to pull him up.

"Are you okay?"

"I’m fine, I’m fine! PTUI! PTUI!" Du Kang spat out a mouthful of muddy water. "I tripped on something. My luck is a little off today."

"And you want to get a dog? You just took a face-plant yourself," Ruoping couldn’t help but laugh, seeing his face smeared with mud. "How did you manage to fall over for no reason?"

"It wasn’t for no reason," Du Kang said, equally frustrated. "Something really did trip me."

"What could be in here?"

"That’s what I’m wondering. Isn’t this house supposed to be empty...?" Du Kang, no longer caring about the filth since he was already soaked, simply plunged his hand into the water, determined to fish out whatever had tripped him.

Zhang Shutong felt a sense of deja vu. He had once fished a snake-headed cane out of the water just like this.

But Du Kang fumbled around for a long time without pulling his hand back. Instead, his movements grew larger, and his brow furrowed deeper.

"Holy crap!"

He suddenly cursed.

"Why is there a step on the floor?"

...