"I see your sorry state, doesn't seem like you can hold on much longer..."
Ansheng had an expression of speechlessness as he looked at the Tibetan mastiff and its owner stuck together like glue.
The Tibetan mastiff, named Lucky, was clearly mimicking human behavior to act coy.
In other words, the dog's owner, Luo Hao, truly didn't see the mastiff as an outsider, all the lovey-dovey actions with his girlfriend or wife were right in front of the dog, so the mastiff just followed suit.
There's a simple reason why Ah Qing couldn't persuade the mastiff.
The mastiff was very reliant on its owner, so when something happened, it didn't think for itself; all it needed was to jump into its owner's arms, wiggling its bear-like waist coyly.
"You... come with me."
Ansheng trotted over on four little legs to the Tibetan mastiff lying on the ground with its ears covered, put on a serious face, and spoke to it.
The mastiff said nothing, just looked pitifully at its owner, whimpering softly.
"Don't look at your owner, if you don't come with me, believe it or not, Master Fuli will slap your owner's face thirty-six times a second and stab him to death with one strike!"
Ansheng whispered, glancing sneakily around after approaching the mastiff.
"!?"
The mastiff's eyes widened, but before it could react further, Ansheng raised a paw and started pushing the mastiff's behind toward a large tree.
"Ah Qing, I'm taking the mastiff behind the tree to discuss some canine family rules and traditions, you guys keep chatting, and make sure that guy gives us a reward..."
"Otherwise, I'll have to invite him for a free lesson on virtues at the Home for the Homeless."
The fox made a soft whining sound, leading the mastiff behind the tree where they squatted side by side.
"Yip yip——"
"Woof——"
To outsiders, the fox and the mastiff were making short, rapid barking sounds at each other, as if arguing about something.
The mastiff obviously didn't agree with Master Fuli's statement that its owner no longer loved it.
The owner loved it.
This is how the female owner acts coy, when the owner returns from hunting in the wild, the female owner comes up lovingly and pats the owner's cowboy pants' crotch.
The owner loves this routine, so it learned the female owner's move and nudges him with its head.
The owner loves it so much, he jumps in excitement and lets out a howl like a butchered pig.
"You're right! But your owner would slap your snout with a slipper, never once hitting the second-in-command's face, right?" Ansheng glanced at the mastiff from the corner of his eye, striking it down with one sentence.
"Ow..." The mastiff fell silent but said a bit defiantly: The owner only spanks the second-in-command's butt.
Master Fuli twitched his mouth but continued with his verbal therapy.
Just then.
As Master Fuli was planning to help the mastiff install a voice-controlled switch to avoid someday Luo Hao being unable to bear the mastiff's weight until it crushed him, Lin Bingyun, holding a phone, walked briskly over from the bench in the park square and squatted beside Master Fuli.
"Master Fuli..."
"Dr. Unos has started a group chat, and sent some pictures and information in it."
Lin Bingyun tried to bend down, minimizing her presence while handing the phone to Master Fuli to see.
"Uh..."
Seeing Housekeeper Lin come out, Ansheng looked along the path Lin Bingyun had taken and saw Lin Ying sitting on the bench and Lin Shu standing behind her.
Lin Ying smiled and greeted Master Fuli with a wave.
"Unos? What's that octopus guy up to?" Ansheng muttered, looking at the Wassap group chat screen displayed on the phone.
Unos had started a group chat, and besides Master Fuli, Li Wenkang, Wang Ya, Lin Ying, and the beast-taming master Wu Qingqing, whom Ansheng had met once, were in it.
There were also three unfamiliar Wassap contacts, which Ansheng didn't have any particular impression of.
Unos pulled in all the special action team leaders Ansheng knew and didn't know but were in high positions.
The group chat had posted excavation photos, the whole site appearance was revealed.
It was a layout surrounded by metal walls with four metallic towers encircling a courtyard, and there seemed to be building ruins around it.
Unos: [The excavation of the site is complete, the remaining soil is currently being cleared, with plans to breach the site gate in the evening.]
Unos: [The translation is ongoing, but the translation team isn't under my management, and they haven't reported any information to me.]
Unos: [It shouldn't be that way, I have reason to suspect I'm being set up by capital. The site gate is not yet open; however, there's an indication of spiritual particles converging here, detected when the site was unearthed.]
Unos: [There's something inside, but I can't determine what it is; only thing certain is it's absorbing spiritual particles for revival. I must request intel support from you and a safe evacuation plan prepared.]
Li Wenkang: [That site belongs to the research institute of abnormal creatures from the First Epoch. Please report information and location to us in real time, we'll handle the safe evacuation plan with care to ensure your safety.]
[Unos initiated location sharing]
[Li Wenkang joined location sharing]
From the Wassap conversation, it seemed like there were no apparent issues with the site at the moment.
But Unos clearly felt that his teammates weren't reliable, so he prepared an exit plan in advance.
There was something alive inside the site; although he had anticipated when guessing the site's purpose earlier, Ansheng couldn't help but show a curious look when seeing the information verified.
The First Epoch civilization...
It was a civilization whose origin year is unknown, yet something still survived until now.
That thing truly had some tenacity, first evading the botulinum that wiped out the First Epoch, then surviving countless years.
It even comfortably made it through the Dragon People's civilization period.
Of course.
Ansheng understood implicitly, it wasn't that the thing was incredibly powerful, but rather it had good luck.
Sites that survived from ancient times were special or had specific uses, much like permanent defensive structures built by humans; as long as their structure wasn't deliberately destroyed, they could last a thousand years.
The thing hid in the confined building.
Maybe it used measures to halt metabolism alongside other complex means to stay alive.
Theoretically, it's completely feasible.
"It's kind of... embarrassing! The mighty Master Fuli even has to beat up senior citizens."
Ansheng muttered to himself, not too worried about the creatures possibly inside the site.
Later, at the beauty salon, he could borrow a couple of botulinum injection syringes and stick them into its body.
"Now..."
"The main thing is still you!" Ansheng looked at the mastiff beside him with a smile, as if looking at a roast lamb.
The mastiff's owner spent a fortune hoping to correct the mastiff's bad habits.
Money isn't important, what's important is Ah Qing can build a reputation through case after case, earning her big fish and meat expenses, and having iced Coke every day.
"Woof?"
The mastiff tilted its head, slightly confused about what the fox, who just spoke so harshly, was smiling at.