Dog Avenger

The spiritual power acquired from banishing the Hellcat proved more beneficial to Claude than he had anticipated. Despite adopting a new disguise every night and exploring the city, he managed to retain enough energy during the day to attend classes. He promptly caught up on the classes he had missed due to the distraction caused by the sudden emergence of dog ears and tails.

"Two senior studies are quite demanding," sighed Claude. "I haven't completed my homework yet."

"Is that why you're battling while reciting textbooks?" the dog toy sarcastically jabbed.

Claude sheepishly smiled, curled his fingers, and blocked the entire poem copied on paper. He leaned against the protective railing atop the building's roof, swinging his legs leisurely in the air.

"Only two Hellcats tonight, so I've got nothing to do at the moment. Though their numbers vary nightly, I'll wait until sunrise to complete my tasks. Who knows, new Hellcats might emerge after I return home. I'll have to rise from bed, don my waistcoat, and head out again. Fortunately, Hellcats fear light and water. During the day, they hide in alley garbage cans, pretending to be stray cats. I won't skip classes to combat monsters on the streets."

The dog toy, lost in thought, eventually noticed Claude almost dangling from the rooftop's railing, reciting text with closed eyes. His wagging tail synchronized with his recitation, resembling a large, fluffy pendant.

Although it sensed activity near the Hell Gate, it perceived no unusual fluctuations. Hence, they remained silent, listening to Claude's scripture recital.

"What's that smell?" Claude suddenly opened his eyes, sniffing.

Tensing his toes, he leaped effortlessly from the balcony railing to the roof above, gazing down with his pale green dog eyes.

"Is something burning?" the dog toy asked uncertainly.

Its abilities were limited; it only sensed atmospheres related to the Hell Gate. Otherwise, its vision mirrored Claude's, akin to a 360-degree camera with a ten-meter diameter beside him.

The raccoon dog's ears twitched slightly, picking up distant cries for help, allowing Claude to hear them too. Without hesitation, he jumped downstairs, traversing towering telephone poles and leaving muddy footprints on an unknown store's window. He followed the fire's sound to its source.

Initially expecting a building on fire, he found himself wandering deeper into a dilapidated low-rise housing area slated for demolition. Flames flickered within half-collapsed houses.

A bearded middle-aged man, hands ablaze, stood surrounded by lit firewood. A frightened child cried amid the firewood circle, while sobs and pleas emanated from a phone placed nearby. The man seemed to be using the child's life to extort money.

"People with superpowers really exist," Claude whispered in disbelief, hiding on a dilapidated bungalow's roof, revealing only his pointed dog ears. "Should I call emergency services or consult a fortune-teller?"

"It might not be helpful, right?" the dog toy chimed in.

Having guarded the Hell Gate alongside the dog god for nearly a millennium, it possessed limited knowledge of the world beyond Claude's recent explanations and what it gathered from internet searches. It wasn't equipped to handle this situation.

"Let's just ignore it; it's not related to hell," suggested the dog toy.

Claude remained silent, observing the trembling child within the ring of flames. As the man turned off the phone video, Claude grinned grimly, approaching the child. He then leaped down and struck the man's neck with his metal claws. Surprisingly, the formidable-looking fire controller was quite fragile, falling without resistance, causing the flames to extinguish abruptly.

"This guy was too easy to defeat!" Claude was startled. "I almost severed his neck by mistake!"

The fire controller seemed weak, observed by the dog toy. A mage uses fire to attack from a distance, yet is easily defeated by a close-range sensitive assassin. Claude realized that had he confronted the man head-on instead of sneaking, victory would've been more challenging and injury likely.

As the dog toy hadn't had time to analyze their battle, the child, previously trapped in the ring of fire, sprinted over and hugged Claude's leg tightly, calling him 'Brother Police officer,' tears and snot staining his face, smearing it on Claude's pants.

"I'm not a police officer," Claude grasped the child's back collar, feeling a bit concerned about the pants he'd washed just the day before. Initially wanting to remove the child from his leg, his fingers grazed the still-trembling body, prompting a change of heart. He turned to lift and pat the child's head. "You can call me Lihua.

How does this code name sound?"

Observing the fluffy tail swaying behind Claude, the little boy's eyes lit up: "It's great!"

Claude shook his head in amusement, bent down to pick up the child, and with his other hand holding onto the fire control man's pant leg, he swiftly headed towards the downtown police station. Without ceremony, he tossed the dangerous super-powered criminal into the station's courtyard, settled the child on a nearby seat, climbed atop a streetlamp, and waited for a few minutes. As the police emerged to escort the child inside, Claude ushered the fire controller in and departed.

Dawn had already broken.

Three individuals clad in special black uniforms hastened to the demolition area, making a beeline for the central dilapidated bungalow.

One of them stood at the door, snapping his fingers, prompting mottled weeds on the ground to burgeon rapidly, creating an intricate grass network that barricaded the entire house.

"The place is empty," remarked another, armed with a sniper, as he entered. After a meticulous search, he turned and reported, "There are signs of fire damage and a struggle inside. The suspect appears to have been incapacitated by a surprise attack. It might be a conflict among various factions, preliminarily speaking."

The leader pondered for a moment, sighing helplessly.

Recent actions of these believers have become increasingly reckless, jeopardizing many innocent lives. Their plan was initially swift and decisive, aiming to apprehend a few notable cases as an example, but the cunning culprit had managed to evade capture.

"The more pressing issue now is that another child is in their possession."

The trio stood motionless, surveilling their surroundings and discussing their next search for a location. Suddenly, the captain's earpiece beeped.

Listening intently, the captain's eyes widened in shock. "What did you say? The city's police station?"

The two team members simultaneously stepped forward, their faces filled with concern. "Is there a problem at the police station?"

"No," the captain ended the communication, still processing the information. "Someone delivered the child along with the fire controller to the police station."

Team members: ??

Could something so fortunate happen?!

…

Meanwhile, Claude sat in the classroom, engrossed in writing. Unaware that all information regarding the Hellcat's transformation had been projected onto the computer, meticulously analyzed by numerous individuals attempting to discern why a teenager, suspected to be a dog demon, had singled out cats.

This was attributed to Claude and the dog toy's efficiency. Every time a Hellcat left the Hell-gate, they promptly pursued it. For several days, there hadn't been a single instance of a Hellcat harming anyone, resulting in the super-powered community having minimal knowledge about Hellcats.

"Done!" Claude shook his sore wrist, momentarily missing the raccoon dog's vest, which provided remarkable physical stamina, allowing him to write thousands of words without pause.

The Chinese teacher adjusted his glasses and walked over, taking Claude's paper and meticulously reviewing it. His gaze focused on a multiple-choice question about rectifying errors in the opening sentence, causing Claude's heart to skip a beat.

Behind the teacher, Claude's classmate and childhood friend, Yan Anqing, casually retrieves an expensive chocolate from his desk. Popping a piece into his mouth, he tossed another at Claude. Startled, Claude quickly feigned picking up an eraser, skillfully catching the chocolate, narrowly avoiding the Chinese teacher's notice.

"Whoa~" the dog toy whistled in Claude's mind.

"Nourishing your spiritual power truly pays off. Though you're still fragile, your reaction speed has doubled compared to before."

The Chinese teacher placed the test paper, nodding contentedly before inspecting others. Claude reclaimed his paper, swiftly returning to the beginning, carefully examining the multiple-choice question, perplexed by the seemingly conflicting options.

Until the bell rang, Claude couldn't figure out the reason. Finally, he changed the original B option to C and sighed as he handed in the paper.

"How did you do in the exam?" Yan Anqing grinned, draping her arm around his neck.

Yan Anqing possessed red lips, pearly white teeth, and sported a small bun at the back of her head. Anyone who laid eyes on her would acknowledge her beauty. Despite her disinterest in studying and poor grades, her outgoing nature, complemented by her good looks, facilitated amiable relationships with all her teachers except for the head teacher.

For Yan An qing's sake, a precious little girl to her, countless battles had been fought against the head teacher. However, it was ultimately through her parents' financial resources that she evaded punishment and continued to flaunt her tousled hair before the head teacher, who scowled at her whenever she appeared.

"It's okay," Claude sighed, eager to find someone to check his answers. He took a few steps but suddenly overheard a conversation about a police crackdown on a major arson and kidnapping case. Stopping in his tracks, he inquired, "What case are they discussing?"

Apparently, someone had set fire to a residential area and kidnapped a wealthy child, demanding several hundred million yuan as ransom. Yan Anqing had recently read about the incident during a tedious class. The crime seemed to have been committed by a gang, with several key members still evading capture. The police had circulated their photos, cautioning the public about their armed and dangerous status, advising immediate flight if spotted.

Claude contemplatively rubbed his finger against the tip of his nose, quietly commending the police station's swift action.

The term 'dangerous weapons' likely referred to the superpowers wielded by those individuals.

After thoroughly examining the photos on Yan An qing's phone, Claude commits the facial features of those individuals to memory. He mused that if he found spare time after expelling the Hellcats that night, he could search for the hiding spots of these wanted criminals.