Chapter 240: Chasing The Dog
Too narrow, the angle of considering the problem is still too narrow.
He Jia’an always believed that the object of possession for the curse should be human, and in fact, this line of thinking is not wrong in general situations, but this “bias” has led him to keep searching for the wrong target.
Why must the object of possession be human? It could actually be any animal capable of emotional thinking.
Animals, especially common vertebrates in daily life such as cats and dogs, are actually sentient, and even because their intelligence is in a lower range, their behavior patterns are more inclined toward emotion and instinct, meaning that in certain emotional reactions, they even surpass humans who can think rationally.
After He Jia’an and Matsumoto Gin entered the Kawakami family old house, He Jia’an saw the family photo abandoned in the desolate house, and in that photo maliciously damaged by someone, he and Matsumoto Gin discovered the only Shiba Inu that escaped the graffiti destruction, and various features of that Shiba Inu in the photo were quite similar to Shijiro at Uda Ryoko’s house, even the feature of missing a spot on the eyebrow on its head was exactly the same, and they immediately realized it was the same dog.
Immediately afterward, the two suddenly thought of this possibility one after another.
The possibility is not low; Shijiro, as the young Shiba Inu from Kawakami Rumi’s family back then, perfectly fits the identity of the “curse’s object of possession.” It might even be the only one that witnessed its master throughout the process, from beauty to ugliness, from cheerful and sunny to despair and madness, and even the only one back then willing to listen to her vent.
Soaked for a long time in various negative verbal outputs, even a dog that doesn’t understand human language can sense the real emotions from its master’s words, actions, and expression—that despair, confusion, and resentment.
Cats and dogs, especially those domesticated by human society to some extent, can actually understand the concept of “death” to some degree.
After Kawakami Rumi died, as Kawakami Rumi’s pet, Shijiro realized that its master would never appear in its life again, and the strong emotions generated from this resonated wondrously with the special magnetic field of Taomuki City under a coincidence of chances, which has a great possibility of generating a “curse.”
Especially after He Jia’an and Matsumoto Gin confirmed that traces of opening a space channel to the Inner World also existed in the Kawakami house, He Jia’an was even more certain that Shijiro was the true possessor of “Miyako’s Curse.”
Matsumoto Gin was even more convinced of this than He Jia’an himself, after all, compared to He Jia’an, his perspective on this incident was more that of an outsider because he thought of Shijiro’s attitude toward He Jia’an being particularly different.
As investigators who often come into contact with outsiders, the biological magnetic fields on investigators are more or less influenced by anomaly factors, and animals are very sensitive to these changes. Unless the pet is one raised by the investigator from a young age, investigators generally find it hard to be liked by animals, let alone develop closeness with a strange pet.
He and He Jia’an are the same type of people, and the anomalies they have contacted have long made their biological magnetic fields very strange, making them almost incompatible with keeping pets.
Because no animals are willing to get close to them; even animal cubs will learn to guard against and evade fear at the first sight of them.
Yet Shijiro is very willing to get close to He Jia’an but completely dislikes contact with him; Shijiro’s closeness toward He Jia’an is actually quite abnormal in itself. Logically, He Jia’an and he should both be disliked by it.
Matsumoto Gin just thought about it a little and soon realized the difference between him and He Jia’an, which was that He Jia’an had close contact with Miyako’s Curse before, and perhaps He Jia’an had unintentionally picked up Kawakami Rumi’s “scent” because of it. And the dog that recognizes people by “scent” naturally treated He Jia’an as its former master or a familiar person, thus acting close to him.
Rushing back into Uda Ryoko’s house again, Matsumoto Gin directly drew sword and charged in.
Seeing Matsumoto Gin come to the door with a drawn sword, eyes cold, the blade gleaming coldly in his hand, Uda Ryoko was so scared she screamed voicelessly, thinking Matsumoto Gin had suddenly changed his mind and come to kill her directly.
After all, in her eyes, people like investigators are basically mentally teetering between sane and insane, liable to suddenly go mad and lose control at any time.
Woof!
Compared to the useless current master Uda Ryoko, Shijiro appeared much calmer, its round black eyes reflecting Matsumoto Gin’s sword-wielding posture; it noticed that all the “killing intent” emanating from the other was directed at itself.
It was already an old dog, sensing the killing intent from Matsumoto Gin. Before Matsumoto Gin could bring the sword down on it, it turned and ran, directly from the corridor into the living room, then rushed out from the balcony.
He Jia’an had been guarding in the courtyard the whole time. When he saw Shijiro’s figure, he was about to call its name to get it to come to him, but a Chosen Alliance member standing outside the wall suddenly shot at Shijiro, startling it. It quickly turned around and darted into the dense foliage of the bushes, disappearing in an instant.
“No need to do that!” Veins jumped on He Jia’an’s forehead as he turned back and glared angrily at the one who had fired.
He Jia’an’s glare scared the investigator who fired, who also realized his impatience had caused them to miss a good opportunity, so he fell silent, shrinking his head and not daring to retort.
It wasn’t until He Jia’an followed Shijiro’s movement, flipping over the wall and leaping, chasing far after it, that the scolded investigator finally remembered He Jia’an wasn’t his superior.
Next, in this small town of Taomuki City, a quite comical scene played out: a group of investigators relentlessly chasing a Shiba Inu, as if that Shiba Inu had done something heinous to each of them.
He Jia’an chased right behind Shijiro’s rear and discovered the dog had actually run back into the Kawakami family’s old house. He quickly lengthened his strides and chased in, with Matsumoto Gin following closely behind.
After entering the house, Matsumoto Gin’s agility surpassed He Jia’an’s. He had also guessed which room inside the house Shijiro was heading to, so he ran even faster, taking three or four steps up a staircase of seventeen or eighteen steps, instantly reaching attack range on Shijiro.
When He Jia’an was halfway up the stairs, he already heard the sounds of fighting between the dog and the person inside the room: the dog’s startled yelps and the whooshes of Matsumoto Gin swinging his sword, along with various sounds of destruction in the house.
Rushing into Kawakami Rumi’s former room again, He Jia’an instead found the place in total disarray, the room full of sword marks everywhere, with no sign of Matsumoto Gin or Shijiro anymore, and the room’s windows tightly closed.
This man and dog had actually just disappeared like that!
“Could it be… it fell into the Inner World again?” He Jia’an guessed in his heart. He took out the New Year’s red envelope, briefly released it, letting it slip from his hand. Without the protection of the red envelope, he saw in the suddenly darkening indoor environment a fissure the size of a full-length mirror on the bed that only had a frame left.
Remembering the approximate location, he instantly grabbed back the red envelope. He Jia’an leaped forward into that space fissure invisible to the naked eye.
