Chapter 7: Stray dogs

"Charlie? Are you here, baby?"

Before the voice stopped, a golden retriever excitedly rushed out of the bedroom and jumped on its owner, its tail flapping like a vacuum cleaner that had been switched on, kicking up dust all over the floor.

The owner, a white-collar worker in a suit, laughed and hugged his dog. He didn't have a family, but the golden retriever was his family.

For the golden retriever, its owner was also its family, and at one time, the golden retriever thought that this would be forever.

Until the day when the owner brought home a blonde woman who smelled strongly of cheap perfume. Charlie knew that this was his new owner.

When Charlie, excited and wagging his tail, prepared to go closer, he was greeted by the blonde woman's scream, her fear, and her retreat.

"You told me you had a dog. I thought you had a poodle or a pug, but how could you have a dog this big!" The woman became angry in her fear.

"He's a golden retriever, a golden retriever, the most friendly dog in the world to humans," the man tried to explain, while Charlie tried to wag his tail and give a beautiful smile.

"Listen, I can't accept it, I can't accept a dog this big, do you understand? He's too big and scary. All my girlfriends have small, cute poodles, the kind you can hold in your arms. How am I going to hold a dog this big out? How am I going to face my girlfriends? They'll die laughing."

The female owner was outraged.

Charlie remembers that night very clearly, as the male owner and the new female owner argued all night.

The next day, the male owner kept saying "sorry" while hugging Charlie, then took the Frisbee, got into the car and drove with Charlie to a very, very faraway place. Charlie had never been here before, but he was never afraid because he knew his owner was by his side.

After getting out of the car, Charlie and his owner played Frisbee, and suddenly, the owner threw the Frisbee very, very far away.

By the time Charlie returned with the Frisbee, his owner had disappeared.

Charlie has lost his owner! The owner must be very scared and must be waiting for Charlie with great anxiety. Charlie must find his owner and protect him!

Charlie then began his long search. He fought with other stray dogs for food, drank dirty sewer water, and was even caught and nearly eaten at the dog market because he trusted humans. But Charlie luckily escaped.

After a whole year of wandering, it was not easy for Charlie, because the life expectancy of a dog is only 15 years. The long-term wandering life made Charlie's once beautiful and shiny golden hair turn gray. Even his face was severely cut by the dog trader, which went deep into the bone and left a huge scar even after healing.

But it was all worth it. He had finally found the home he remembered. It was when he found his familiar path, saw the familiar figure, and happily pounced over.

Instead of a joyful reunion, he was greeted with beatings and curses.

Charlie had lost his owner and should be criticized. But he couldn't help wagging his tail. As long as he could be reunited, everything was worth it.

But this time it wasn't a reunion, it was another betrayal.

When the female owner, screaming, came out of the room with a clean and healthy poodle in her arms, when the male owner angrily dragged Charlie to the car and, despite his pleading, threw him straight out of the speeding car.

Charlie knew he had been abandoned.

With a broken leg, he could not catch up with the speeding car, and his miserable howling did not make his owners turn back.

He had suffered injuries far worse than a broken leg, but this time he didn't have the strength to get up again.

Just as Charlie was about to despair, a group of stray dogs found him. The female dog in charge lovingly licked his wounds, and he knew he had a home again.

Together they were driven away by humans, searched for food in the garbage, and fought with other stray dogs and cats. Until a flash of light in the sky suddenly made Charlie understand everything. He understood that he had been betrayed by humans, and that he was a dog. Even that night, he looked up at the stars for the first time and began to think.

In just a few days, Charlie discovered that the world had changed dramatically. First, he and his companions had become huge and intelligent, but he himself had become extraordinarily huge and intelligent. Then there were all kinds of changes to other lives in the world, some becoming even bigger, and some growing strange organs. The biggest change was that the humans, who had once been everywhere and dominated absolutely, had become a group of monsters. They could not even understand the threats Charlie made, and they only knew a craving for flesh.

At first Charlie was scared, and he led his group, hiding everywhere, hoping to find a place to live. But after a battle, Charlie bravely attacked and killed a "human" in order to save his partner.

Charlie understood that he no longer needed to hide.

He led his pack and easily lured and killed the "humans" one after the other. The strongest of the "humans" was three times the size of an ordinary human, without a head, but with a huge eye growing out of its chest, and its right hand could shoot bone spurs.

That was the most dangerous battle, and also the most tragic one. That "human" killed seven or eight of his own kind, and no matter what he did, he could not kill it. No matter how he bit and clawed, the "human" could recover quickly. Just as the "human" was about to kill his mate, Charlie felt that his anger could no longer be suppressed, and let out an angry roar. Then, he felt something come out of his mouth, and saw the powerful "human" being cut in half. He had won.

Since then, the town that was once human has become his territory, and he has eliminated all threats within it. He has raised a herd of grass-eating mice as a food source and waits quietly for his mate to bear him offspring.

But in recent days, Charlie has noticed a buzzing in the sky. He knows that sound – the man used to play with it. He knows that it is a human creation, and there must be humans nearby!

He will eliminate the humans for the sake of his offspring!

He pretended not to notice the objects, but actually secretly observed their flight paths. He soon locked onto an area.

This was where the little things appeared and disappeared from. Charlie didn't hesitate or waver once he had found his target. While the swarm returned, Charlie led his pack slowly around it.

Charlie's keen sense of smell told him that there were indeed humans nearby, but they were not the monster "humans" with a rotten stench. They were normal humans from before.

Charlie hesitated whether to continue, but then recalled scenes from his memory of humans slaughtering, driving away, and even eating their own kind. He even remembered that humans love to eat puppies because the meat is more tender, and then recalled the few furry offspring that his mate had just given birth to.

So Charlie led his friends closer and closer.

Charlie, who had just begun to develop intelligence, might not understand what it meant to compete for living space, but he understood that there could be no threat within his territory.

As a stray dog who had lived with humans, he knew very well the horror of humans, with their various powerful tools and intelligence. So Charlie led his friends, gnawing on the human probes and destroying the visible wires.

Even with his keen sense of smell and strong sixth sense, he avoided the garden where landmines were buried.

With his sensitive hearing, he could even hear human voices in the underground space. Humans are underground!

However, after all, it is nascent intelligence, and it lacks experience. It does not realize that in addition to human creations, which are a nuisance, those evolved by other living things are also a nuisance.

A dog that got too close to a potted cabbage activated the boxing cabbage.

The two outer leaves, which were too long, quickly stretched out, the ends curled up, and then the whole cabbage swung heavily at the approaching stray dog.

The piercing scream mixed with the sound of a broken bone not only awakened Charlie but also the other Cabbage Boxers. Many of them swung their fists, knocking many of the approaching dogs flying.

The angry Charlie charged at a boxing cabbage that had just finished swinging its fist and bit the whole cabbage to pieces in one bite.

Other stray dogs also attacked the cabbages around them, and a few overly nervous ones even attacked everything around them, including the chairs, benches and sofas.

Li Nian and Emily in the underground fortress were awakened by the alarm.

In the evening, Emily was still warning Li Nian to be careful of the group of stray dogs, as they seemed to have evolved too quickly.

At night, the stray dogs attacked their home. The key point was that the infrared, low-light, odor and vibration alarms were either destroyed or did not respond. The landmine area was not even triggered. If it weren't for boxing the cabbage, they might really have been successfully attacked by a group of dogs.

Emily picked up a gun and prepared for battle, but was pulled back by Li Nian.

"Don't panic, watch my secret weapon!"

Li Nian immediately woke up a heavy machine gun after a series of operations.

Charlie immediately noticed the heavy machine gun as it rose on rails and raised the alarm.

But it was too late. In less than a second, the heavy machine gun opened fire, and the evolved stray dogs were instantly torn to pieces by the powerful force. Charlie did his best to hide, but he was also hit by the bullets.

Within a few seconds, the entire dog pack was torn to pieces.

The smell of blood filled the room, and the entrails, blood, and fur were scattered all over the walls and ceiling.

Two minutes later, Li Nian opened the bunker door with Emily and walked out.

Seeing such a tragic scene, Emily, a cowgirl, couldn't help but feel a wave of nausea.

Li Nian, on the other hand, began to pick and choose the entrails without a care in the world, saying that he wanted to make a hot pot, and even muttered, "If you boil dog meat three times, even immortals can't stand still."

Suddenly a golden figure pounced from the corner, swinging a claw at Emily. The figure even had time to turn its head at the same time, opening its mouth wide at Li Nian and releasing wind blades.

In a panic, Emily raised her rifle to defend herself, but it was cut off by the sharp claws. The claws then sliced through her bulletproof vest, sending her flying, crashing through the wooden wall and falling among the ruins.

Li Nian, on the other hand, did his best to move out of the way, but the wind blade still severed his entire right shoulder, and bright red blood spurted out.

Li Nian, who had fallen to the ground, could now see clearly that the golden figure was a huge golden retriever. No, it should be said that it was once a golden retriever. Now it was bigger than a calf, its fur had become harder than leather, its sharp teeth protruded from its lips, its claws gleamed with a metallic luster, and its eyes were filled with anger. Bullets from a heavy machine gun had previously hit it, leaving several deep wounds. The blood flowing on its golden fur made it look particularly hideous and terrifying.

Under the ruins, the sound of angry gunshots could be heard, and the viper in Emily's hand kept spitting out bullets.

But even a high-caliber pistol couldn't kill the golden retriever, and it could only blow small and small wounds on his skin, which made the golden retriever scream continuously.

After taking a few shots, the golden retriever immediately jumped up, stepping on the surrounding walls to avoid the shots, and then headed straight for the ruins.

With a whistling sound, huge claws ripped through the ruins, but not a drop of blood flowed from inside.

Suddenly, there was a burst of heavy gunfire from behind the wooden door nearby.

"Li Nian!"

Li Nian, who had already had his right shoulder severed, stood up abruptly and charged straight at the heavy machine gun that had just risen.

The metal storm rushed towards Jin Mao at an unprecedented speed, and even Jin Mao's evolved body could not withstand such powerful firepower.

Jin Mao knew very well that just a few stray bullets had already injured him, and if he were really hit by concentrated fire, he would definitely be completely shattered.

He quickly ran to the side, constantly dodging the heavy machine gun's barrage of bullets. Li Nian, who was operating the heavy machine gun with one arm, was inevitably slow.

The heavy machine gun's powerful recoil further tore Li Nian's wounds, and blood gushed out like a spring.

Suddenly, Jin Mao suddenly dashed out from the right hand side, and a huge wind blade came straight at Li Nian.

Li Nian had no choice but to fall to the left. The entire heavy machine gun, along with the platform, was cut by the huge wind blade, which cut a deep notch in it, and the heavy machine gun was completely ruined.

After unleashing the second wind blade, Jin Mao was obviously more listless, but he still forced himself to snap out of it and came straight at Li Nian.

At the critical moment, a white canister with smoke was thrown from behind Jin Mao. The sudden smoke and noise made Jin Mao panic. After all, a month ago, it was just a stray dog.

Cowgirl, sneaking around the golden retriever, grabbed the strap on the back of Li Nian's bulletproof vest. The vest touched Li Nian's wound, which made him grit his teeth in pain but dare not make a sound. The two of them rolled and crawled back into the bunker.

Just as Cowgirl was about to close the door, the golden figure leaped into the bunker, its bloody mouth wide open, its metal-shining sharp teeth almost within reach.

"Boom"

followed by a sound of something breaking through the air, the huge boxing cabbage hidden behind the door aimed a full blow at the golden-haired.

A miserable scream, the golden-haired's entire body flew up and crashed into the bunker door.

After struggling for a few moments, there was finally no more movement.

Watching her formidable enemy die, the cowgirl finally let her guard down. However, when she looked back, she saw Li Nian had already fainted.