Through the crack in the door, a pair of glowing green eyes observed Bai Yuze and Yukino's movements.
Looking at the two, the creature unconsciously drooled; it was extremely hungry at this moment.
But before it could react, Bai Yuze's cleaver instantly struck the doorframe.
"Been peeking for so long? Why don't you come out and chat?"
Bai Yuze shielded Yukino behind him, unhurriedly pulling the cleaver from the doorframe.
Bai Yuze knew there was no escaping now; he could only fight to the death. Rather than waiting to be caught, it was better to strike first.
Bai Yuze kicked the door open, exposing the monster inside.
But Bai Yuze didn't care what the other party looked like. Those who act first speak standing, those who act later weep lying down.
Woof!
The monster inside let out a howl, and the sound it made was surprisingly intelligent.
"This noise...? Could it be...?"
Bai Yuze looked closely and realized that the monster inside was actually a dog chained up, which reminded him of the monster Yui Yuigahama had told him about.
"I remember Tuanzi said there was a vicious dog the size of an adult in the basement, but have you shrunk?"
The dog in front of him was just the size of a medium-sized dog. While a dog of this size could be aggressive towards Bai Yuze, it wasn't a threat as long as it didn't bite a vital spot.
"You're not the dog the Front Desk keeps, are you?"
Bai Yuze suddenly remembered the Front Desk asking him to bring his dog back. Could this be the one? Did he just beat up someone's dog right after meeting it?
Suddenly, Bai Yuze seemed to have gone crazy.
He extended his finger to the dog's mouth, saying solemnly,
"Oi! You, bite me once now, and we'll be even."
Bai Yuze's charming action left Yukino dumbfounded. What did he mean by this? Was his rabies vaccine about to expire?
Although the dog couldn't speak, it was intelligent. It didn't even dare to open its mouth now, fearing it might accidentally hurt the human in front of it.
After all, a gleaming cleaver was still resting on its neck. If it accidentally scratched the human in front of it today, it would be lucky if its neck didn't fall off!
It remembered this method, in human terms, was called "entrapment," but wasn't the human in front of it a bit too arrogant? He wasn't even pretending anymore!
"Not biting? What a shame."
Bai Yuze didn't want to bring along a creature with an unpredictable temperament, so he wanted to use the condition of the dog biting his hand to justify a righteous self-defense.
But unfortunately, the dog was wise and refused to open its mouth.
"Are you the Front Desk's dog?"
After asking this question, Bai Yuze suddenly felt quite foolish. Asking a dog a question, would a dog even answer?
It actually did!
The dog extended its paw and drew a character on the ground.
"Huh?"
"It really can?!"
Bai Yuze was surprised for a moment, then took out the key from his pocket. This key was personally given to him by the Front Desk, and since Bai Yuze hadn't touched it much, it still carried the Front Desk's scent.
Sure enough, as soon as the dog smelled the scent on the key, it started jumping around excitedly.
"Looks like it. Your owner wants me to bring you back. You'd better be obedient, or don't blame me for being merciless."
Bai Yuze threatened it, while Yukino inquired,
"Merciless? Are you going to beat it up?"
Yukino was a bit afraid of dogs, so she hid behind Bai Yuze, only daring to peek. She also recognized this dog; it was the same one she and Yui Yuigahama had encountered.
"Heh, the Front Desk told me to bring the dog back to him, but he didn't explicitly ask for it to be alive."
Bai Yuze pretended to sharpen his knife, flashing a cheerful (craniotomy) smile at the dog lying on the ground.
"Are you sure you want to take it with you? The vicious dog that Yui Yuigahama and I encountered seemed to be this one. Perhaps it's so small because it just regenerated and hasn't returned to its peak state yet."
Yukino recalled Bai Yuze once saying that the mutual slaughter between strange objects was meaningless because both sides could be resurrected.
But then she remembered that the male corpse should have obtained the Town-Suppression Strange Object—the scalpel—so it was even more illogical for this dog to still be alive!
"Its leash is quite special."
Bai Yuze's words interrupted Yukino's thoughts, and her attention shifted to the leash.
Bai Yuze was currently hacking at the leash with his knife, but no matter how hard he chopped, even to the point of sparks flying, the leash remained intact.
The dog, meanwhile, lay on the ground, praying it would survive and that Bai Yuze wouldn't accidentally slip and hit it.
"This leash shouldn't be a strange object, so there must be another way to unfasten it."
At this moment, Yukino suddenly thought of something. She suppressed her fear and slowly moved closer to the dog.
Woof?
The dog seemed to sense the girl's thoughts and looked up at Yukino.
"Do you have anything like a piece of paper in your room?"
Yukino was afraid the dog wouldn't understand, so she gestured a few times with her hand.
Finally, her efforts paid off. The dog understood Yukino's meaning, so it went back into the room and soon emerged with a piece of paper in its mouth.
"So intelligent? I'm starting to wonder if you're a real person in a dog's skin."
Bai Yuze exclaimed, then reached out and took the paper from the dog's mouth.
[Pet Guide]
[1. Pets are not allowed in residential houses, but the basement is not managed by residential house rules.]
[2. Pets cannot speak, so before getting a pet, please confirm whether your pet can speak.]
[3. The scope of pets includes all animals. If you can take good care of them, you can keep pets as you wish.]
[4. The chain to restrain your pet needs to be found by yourself and can never be removed.]
[5. Please feed your pet. You'd best not know what they will do when hungry.]
Bai Yuze carefully read the note several times, only willing to believe these rules after confirming that the handwriting was the same as the rules above.
"Such strange hints. Is keeping a pet also dangerous?"
Yukino looked at the rules on the note, then at the dog lying on the ground.
"Keeping a pet shouldn't be dangerous, but the creature being kept as a pet might be."
"What do you mean?"
Yukino was a bit confused, but Bai Yuze's next action answered her question.
Bai Yuze pried open the dog's mouth, revealing not only white teeth but also obvious braces...
"As you can see, this isn't a real 'dog,' but a person! A living person being kept as a 'dog'!
"Bai Yuze sighed. How could there be animals in a residential house? Unless someone was keeping a person as an animal, because to some extent...
Humans are also animals...