Joining Hands

The black dog was extremely fierce. It leaped up on all fours into the air, opening its jaws wide to bite the calf of the boy who had kicked at it.

Crack! The boy's calf was bitten clean off by the black dog.

"Ah!" The boy let out a scream mid-air before crashing down, blood gushing as he wailed incessantly.

The black dog landed on the ground.

Like lightning, Xiao Zhe pounced towards it, claws swiping at the black dog's head.

Seemingly aware of the danger, the black dog nimbly leaped aside to dodge Xiao Zhe's attack and charged instead toward Xu Hua.

Xu Hua, gripping a steel pipe, swung it down towards the black dog's head.

The black dog twisted its body to avoid the steel pipe and snapped its jaws at Xu Hua.

Xu Hua's bronze skin was extremely sturdy. The black dog sank its teeth into Xu Hua's thigh.

"Ah!" Xu Hua felt a jolt of pain in his thigh and smashed the steel pipe onto the black dog's back.

Bang! The black dog was struck hard by the steel pipe and let out a miserable cry before quickly releasing its bite and fleeing.

Glancing down, Xu Hua saw the black dog's bite had left four holes in his thigh. If not for his bronze skin, a large chunk of flesh would've certainly been bitten off.

Just then, a fireball shot toward the black dog from the other mutant. However, the mutant's control over the fireball was limited. It lost momentum more than a meter away from his body. The black dog easily dodged it.

In fact, this series of actions happened in an instant. Although struck by the pipe, the black dog had managed to snap a mutant's calf and injure Xu Hua, proving its ferocity.

The brutal scene frightened all the onlookers. Many who had been raring to join in now quietly shrank back.

Xiao Zhe's entire upper arm had mutated into black, covered in long black fur. His claws were as sharp as a wolf's.

Xiao Zhe darted sideways with a roar and pounced at the black dog again.

Furious at being bitten, Xu Hua seized the steel pipe and charged wildly.

The fireball-wielding mutant hesitated briefly before calling to the dozen boys behind him, "Everyone, attack together!"

Gripping their steel pipes and unnerved by the black dog's viciousness, the boys were emboldened by their greater numbers and Xiao Zhe and Xu Hua's lead. With a battle cry, they rushed forward to surround the black dog.

The black dog seemed somewhat wary of Xiao Zhe. It let out a howl before leaping up, bounding past Xiao Zhe and Xu Hua, and charging straight at the dozen pipe-wielding boys.

One boy failed to dodge in time and had his arm bitten off. Another was knocked down, his throat ripped out. The rest fled about in terror.

"Bang!" A fireball struck the black dog's waist, instantly singeing away a patch of black fur.

"Aoow!" The black dog let out an agonized shriek and frenziedly charged at the fireball-controlling mutant.

Other than his fireballs, this mutant had few skills. Seeing the black dog pounce at him, he turned and fled in fright.

Xiao Zhe rushed forward again to block the black dog's path, claws swiping at it.

This time, the black dog didn't evade. It hurtled directly towards Xiao Zhe.

Xiao Zhe felt his right claw tear into the black dog's skin.

The black dog shrieked in pain as its front paw clawed at Xiao Zhe's head. Xiao Zhe jerked his head away but still felt a burning pain on the left side of his face. Blood flowed down his cheek.

The black dog leaped back with blood dripping from its belly.

Xu Hua charged forth, raising his steel pipe to strike the black dog.

The black dog darted sideways and pounced at Xu Hua's feet, clamping its jaws around his left calf.

Xu Hua felt a piercing pain. In desperation, he lifted the steel pipe and slammed it down on the black dog with all his might.

Whimpering, the black dog released its bite and fled after being struck.

Four bloody holes were left in Xu Hua's calf, an even more serious injury than his thigh.

Having suffered two strikes from Xu Hua's steel pipe, been clawed in the belly by Xiao Zhe, and burned at the waist by the other mutant's fireball, the black dog was now in a maddened state of fury.

It spun around and charged at Xu Hua again.

Xu Hua suddenly felt tragedy loom over him. D*mn it! Among the thousand-plus people in the field, only he and Xiao Zhe were left to contend with this mutated black dog. Where had everyone else fucked off to?!

Luckily, Xiao Zhe did not desert him. He rushed to Xu Hua's side, brandishing his sharp claws and glaring at the black dog.

The black dog halted briefly, seeming somewhat intimidated. It stood its ground, roaring ceaselessly at the two men.

At this point, Xiao Zhe and the other person had long abandoned the idea of roasting dog meat. They only hoped to scare away the mutated black dog so that the two of them could return to the campsite to rest and heal.

Xiao Zhe tried to summon the others to help, only to find they had already withdrawn several dozen meters away.

"Xu Hua, what should we do?"

"No other way. We can only tough it out. Hopefully, this mad dog will retreat on its own. Let's just defend and not attack first. Stay together. I think it won't dare attack if we hold our ground."

"Looks like we have no choice. I didn't expect this mutated black dog to be so vicious that even the four of us mutants combined are no match for it."

And so the two sides faced off against each other.

Just then, a figure emerged from the crowd and walked towards Xiao Zhe's direction.

"Boss, what are you doing? Don't go die for nothing!" Huang Wen called out anxiously.

Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

"Who's not afraid of death?"

"Can't you see even four mutants together can't beat the black dog? And he still wants to charge over and die?"

"Sigh, he's probably gone crazy from hunger for dog meat. D*mn it, just hearing about roasted dog meat makes my stomach ache..."

...

Yang Xiao slowly walked up behind Xiao Zhe and Xu Hua.

"Let's join forces and kill this black dog. What do you think?"

Xiao Zhe and Xu Hua turned back. Seeing it was Yang Xiao, they were initially glad but then sneered coldly.

"How capable are you to kill this black dog? It's a mutated one. We can barely protect ourselves now."

The black dog kept roaring at Xiao Zhe and Xu Hua, growing increasingly restless and liable to attack at any moment.

Meeting Yang Xiao for the first time, Xu Hua also jeered coldly, "If you can help us drive this mad dog away, we'll forget the matter of you killing Hao Lei."

With the dire enemy before them, Xiao Zhe and Xu Hua still hoped Yang Xiao could lend a hand to chase the black dog away, not daring to wish for more.

Yang Xiao crossed his arms indifferently. "You can come find me anytime about Hao Lei. I'm not hiding. As long as you have the ability."

"You?"

Xiao Zhe interrupted, "Enough. We have bigger problems now. Stop arguing. Yang Xiao, think of something to help us drive the black dog away. It's going mad again."

Yang Xiao said, "The three of us will join forces to kill the black dog. My condition is I want half of the dog meat. You can have the other half."

"You, have you gone insane with a craving for dog meat?" Xu Hua cursed.

"I'll count to three. If you don't agree, I'm leaving. One, two..."

"F*ck! Fine, I agree. At worst we all die together!" Xiao Zhe said heavily.

"Then it's settled. You two immediately attack the black dog and distract it."

"What about you?"

"I'll be behind you. If I get a chance I'll kill it, if not I'll run."

Hearing this, Xu Hua said angrily, "Are you here just to trick us?"

"But I have a 70% chance of killing this black dog. Believe it or not, want to give it a try?"

"Alright, I'll trust you this time, but don't let us down when it counts, Xiao Zhe. Let's go!"