Euthanasia?
For some reason, once the audience heard that word and looked at the wolfdog again, they felt pity just then.
It might be uninvolved in the man-eating incident, not to mention that if it was, the cause was the extreme cruelty of its master's training regime, and now, it had to pay for the master's mistake with its life.
"Well, it could wait until after I report this to the police…"
In the end, no matter how Wang Kui wanted to put it, it was all merely a deduction he had made from clues, and police work relied on hard evidence.
As such, he turned off his phone's flight mode, and a bunch of WeChat notifications sprang out once he had caught a network signal.
After skimming through them, he took out the bounty notice and dialed Officer Zhao's number. "Hello? Is this Officer Zhao? Greetings. I have just captured the wolfdog with a bounty on its head. May I ask how can I reach you? Yes, I'm on the mountain right now…"
Following an exchange, Officer Zhao replied that he would drive to receive Wang Kui at Mount Sigou right now, and his two-thousand-dollar bounty would be paid once it had been verified.
Hence, Wang Kui tied the wolfdog to the rear of his pole like a shoulder pole and carried it off the mountain.
But as the saying goes, it is easy to climb a mountain, but difficult to get off it.
The fact that it was late and only a faint orange-redness was left over the horizon made it especially so. Like a candle in the wind, it was flickering and could vanish any time.
Nonetheless, Wang Kui was not going to go back the way he had come. While it was a better path, moving along the stream he had found before, that was no different from taking a detour.
Moreover, wolves were prowling along the way he had come, and he would lose far more than anything he could gain.
He could instead head southeast directly from the wolfdog's territory back to the village, and he would make it back in over an hour if he was lucky.
However, the heavens were clearly reluctant to grant him that luck.
Soon after he had started walking, as if evil had befallen the forest, a gale kicked up. It was just like a tiger that could bare its fangs and claws, ready to devour an entire human at any instant, even blowing the fallen leaves nearby sky-high. At the same time, it was like a sneaky, mysterious figure, pacing around Wang Kui and keeping him on his toes.
The battle against the wolfdog just now had gathered over twelve hundred audiences now.
They were all so nervous that their hearts pounded at the sinister sight!
"Such strong winds… Is it going to rain?"
Wang Kui looked up at the sky, but the dense canopy above had blocked it out entirely, and there was no seeing what was going on. "Stop poking at my butt! It's almost entering! Stay still or I'm going to kick you!"
?!?!
Those sudden words left the viewers all spacing out.
The initial nervousness was promptly forgotten, and they almost laughed out loud.
It turned out that because Wang Kui had kept the wolfdog dangling at the other end of his shoulder pole, the uneven mountain path, the wolfdog's persistent struggling, the animal's own length, as well as the spot where it was dangling left it touching Wang Kui's buttocks.
However, perhaps because the dog held a grudge or some other reason, it firmly drove its snout between Wang Kui's butt cheeks since its mouth was bound by the paracord.
Wang Kui did not notice it at first, even presuming that it was an accident.
Still, who could bear with that sort of poking and shoving?!
[I don't have to say much on what that dog likes, do I?]
[Lol! Were you farting, Old Kui?]
[I think the dog is so hungry that it's looking for piping-hot stuff up where the sun doesn't shine?]
[Lol! Piping hot stuff indeed!]
***
Wang Kui was turning to the screen but soon exclaimed again, "Poking again?!"
Just as everyone was laughing themselves silly, a sudden thin but icy sound left Wang Kui shuddering!
Gasp!
That sound…
Snake!
A meter in front of his feet!
As he looked down, only then did Wang Kui notice that there was a snake wrapped in its own coils up in front to his right within a pile of dried leaves!
Because the evening was too dim and the dog had been poking up his butt, distracting him from looking at his camera, he had not really kept an eye on the ground.
Hold on!
Whoa!
Could the wolfdog have been poking at his butt not to eat dung, but to warn him about the danger ahead?
After all, wolfdogs had very sharp smells. Moreover, Wang Kui had merely tied his paracord around its snout to keep its mouth closed, but it did not cover its nose!
The viewers seemed to have noticed that too.
[That dog is so incredible! It saved you, Old Kui!]
[That's not right... Just a moment ago, Old Kui beat the dog up and tied it up, but it did not keep a grudge and saved it instead?!]
[Maybe he beat it into submission and it acknowledges Old Kui as its master!]
[Sir Kui, don't give it up to the police. Adopt it!]
[Yes, Old Kui! Save that dog!]
***
All at once, everyone was spamming comments of 'save the dog' and 'adopt it'.
Wang Kui then looked at the snake on the ground. It was almost 70cm long, as wide as two fingers, and was gray-brown with dark dumbbell-shaped markings on its scales. "That's a twin-spotted ratsnake, and it's a species of non-venomous ratsnake. It is quite common across the northern and eastern parts of the country."
Though it was unthreatening, he found himself softening toward the dog.
"Still, rules are rules—I have to hand it to the police first, but don't worry, everyone. I will try my best to talk to them and seek justice for our dog here!"
[Awesome! A streamer with positive vibes. Subscribed!]
[The light of justice shines upon the butt!]
[Many years later, when the host interviews the wolfdog and asks how it survived until this day, the dog will answer: Because, butt!]
***
Thanks to Wang Kui's words, everyone was relieved.
Nonetheless, the 'butt-poking' meme was being spammed wildly as if it was a classic.
Soon, more than an hour had passed.
Wang Kui's journey was eventful but safe, and he finally managed to catch sight of some lights ahead before the skies went fully dark.
Sigou Village!
It was now past six, and chimney smokes were billowing as the various families started cooking.
Having pitted their wits and brawn against each other since daybreak, neither dog nor human had really eaten anything. Just a single sniff left them enraptured by the sweet aroma!
Eventually…
Even the wolfdog started salivating, its drool dripping all over the path.
Whoa!
A lot of people were outside too!
There was a white Jetta parked beside the ditch at the edge of the village Mount Sigou with 'police' marked on its side.
The car's hazard lights were on, and a policeman in a blue uniform was standing in front of it. He appeared to be around thirty and wore a pair of glasses over his expression that exuded a positive aura.
There were many villagers beside him, perhaps to check out what was going on.
One of them—a married farmer couple appeared most thrilled. The woman was helping up the man, who was leaning on a crutch. That had to be Old Li, whose son was killed, but he had been wounded by wolves when he went up the mountain to seek revenge.
"It's here!"
"It truly is that wolfdog!"
"Who is that young man? It's so impressive that he could go up the mountain alone and capture that wolfdog!"
"That's an unfamiliar face… he must be from somewhere else!"
One of the old men rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand just then, his mouth hanging so wide open that a Chinese cornbread could be stuffed inside it. "So, that young man was not putting on airs! He was indeed a professional!"