The meal at the pet restaurant was very pleasant. The ingredients were fresh, and the flavors were modified to suit Chinese tastes, so it was not unpalatable. The little ones gnawed on the meat and bones beside us, eating heartily.
Jian Jing took a couple bites herself, then stroked her knight. The knight looked at her, twitched his ears, then went back to eating. The intimacy between pet and owner was palpable.
Across from them...
Jiang BaiYan shielded his fried rice with one hand, while holding back the approaching Pudding trying to steal food with the other. "No eating, you're on a diet, don't come over!"
He was flustered, nearly spilling his fragrant vegetable soup.
Jiang BaiYan grumpily stabbed a piece of lettuce from the salad and gave it to Pudding.
It refused, and slapped him with its soft paws.
There is happiness in comparison.
Jian Jing: "Haha."
The air was instantly filled with a joyful atmosphere [laughing emoji].
Only Pudding was unhappy. It twisted and turned its fat body, somehow slipping out of its collar and dashed away.
Jiang BaiYan had no choice but to abandon his unfinished noodles to chase after it - if it went and stole other cats' food, the diet would have been for nothing.
Jian Jing watched him amusedly, leisurely starting on her dessert.
However, after finishing a Napoleon cake, Jiang BaiYan still hadn't returned.
Her long-dormant vigilance awakened, and she untied the leash from her knight. "Let's go find Pudding," she said.
"Woof!" The knight jumped down from his chair and raced straight for the garden behind them.
The villa's backyard garden had been converted into a pet playground. There was a plastic maze in the middle, a pond on the left, and a sandpit on the right. One wall was covered in cat climbing frames.
Pudding was being held in Jiang BaiYan's arms, masked. Its big face had a small question mark on it.
"Your cat scared my darling," an arrogant young lady stood with hands on hips, angrily saying. "What's wrong with me hitting it?"
Jiang BaiYan was polite yet reasonable: "Our Pudding is fat and can't fly. Its claws were just trimmed too. Your bird can fly and isn't injured. Don't you think it's excessive to hit my cat?"
Jian Jing took a glance and indeed saw a shivering Black Phoenix bird in the young lady's hoodie. It flapped its wings rapidly, looking frightened.
The young lady felt even more distressed. "Look what state my darling is in!"
Jiang BaiYan looked at the fat dumpling in his arms, still unbelieving it could do such a thing. "Let's check the surveillance footage."
The server helped out: "Miss, are you a customer here?"
The young lady said: "If I'm not your customer, he doesn't have to be responsible?"
"This is a private restaurant," the server immediately hardened his face. "Your parrot flew in and scared our customers."
Just as the two were about to squabble further, a shocking scream erupted from the villa next door: "Ah!"
It pierced the clouds.
The young lady froze, then disregarding arguing over right and wrong, ran straight out: "What's going on? Ah!"
She was stunned.
A Tibetan mastiff had charged out from the neighboring villa, majestic as a little lion, seeming to have gone mad as it bit anyone it could.
It was huge, with a mouth full of sharp teeth, still with blood on it. It let out threatening growls from its throat, extremely frightening.
Only now did people suddenly realize that the usually cute and tame pets also had a terrifying side.
The young lady was frightened dumb, and like all ordinary people who received a huge shock, her brain was screaming "run, quickly run!", but her body wouldn't budge an inch, blankly staring ahead.
The Tibetan mastiff huffed heavily, stepping closer and closer to her.
The young lady's legs turned soft, shaky and unsteady on her feet.
This was the scene Jian Jing saw when she came out. She was also shocked for a moment, thinking a dead body had been discovered. She ambled over slowly, even passing her knight to Jiang BaiYan.
She didn't expect it to be a vicious dog attacking someone.
She reacted swiftly, pulling the young lady into the restaurant with one hand, while picking up a rock with the other and throwing it at the Tibetan mastiff, shouting loudly: "Hey!"
Provoked, the Tibetan mastiff immediately switched targets, propelling itself forward like a fierce lion hunting, pouncing at her fiercely.
A strong, sturdy beast perhaps had more killing potential than a trained human.
Jian Jing didn't dare underestimate it. She immediately activated her status as a white kitten, relying on the speed of felines to narrowly and dangerously dodge its pounce. She then took out the stun gun concealed in her storage space, flipped the switch and twisted around, aiming for its neck.
Blue electric arcs flashed, instantly penetrating flesh and blood, coursing through the Tibetan mastiff's entire body.
Its back arched, fur blasted out, seemingly transforming into Cerberus of the underworld in an instant, hideous and terrifying. Its cavernous jaws opened wide as it flipped over, trying to bite her hand.
Jian Jing exerted all her strength, forcefully pressing down its head against the ground. She wrapped her legs around its hind limbs, forcibly suppressing its counterattack.
The two sides struggled for nearly three seconds before the current finally knocked out the vicious beast.
It slumped to the ground, breathing weakly, muscles convulsing and twitching, as if it could stand up and pounce again at any moment.
Jian Jing let out a breath, hurriedly asking: "Is there a cage? Quickly lock it up."
Among the people who rushed out from the neighboring villa, one stammered: "N-no, didn't bring one."
However, a restaurant server who came out to watch the commotion said: "We have one here. Good heavens, is it okay? Will it wake up?"
"It will. Call the police," Jian Jing said. She had them bring out the cage, and found two brawny men to stuff this heavy dog inside.
They remembered to put a muzzle on before closing the door.
"Quick, call an ambulance," she said busily. The neighboring villa was also in chaos. "Old Cat, hang in there, the doctor will be here soon."
Jian Jing heard something amiss in their voices and hurried over: "What happened?"
"Old Cat, he..." A few people surrounded a man on the ground, hands covering his neck with blood seeping through. "What do we do? Can he still make it?"
"Let me see, bandages?" Jian Jing pressed on the wound, trying to stem the raging blood flow, but the man seemed to have been bitten in the carotid artery. Blood poured out ceaselessly like money grew on trees, impossible to stop.
In three to five minutes, his breathing had clearly weakened. By the time the ambulance arrived, he had lost his pulse.
The doctor urgently tried to resuscitate him for over ten minutes, then shook his head at those present.
Some could not hold back their grief, covering their mouths as they sobbed: "How could this be...how could this happen?"
"What kind of mad dog did you raise that actually bit someone to death!" Others raged. "This isn't over!"
The Tibetan mastiff's owner weakly denied: "Brave has never bitten anyone before. It also seems a bit off."
Jian Jing nodded: "It was extremely frenzied. Could it be sick?"
"It was fine this morning. Didn't seem ill," the owner said uneasily. "Right, where will Brave be sent to later? The dog pound?"
Others spoke coldly: "A person has died, yet you still care about your dog?"
"It's not that I care about the dog, but the money, right?"
Everyone descended into noisy arguments, which gave the onlooking Jian Jing a chance to sort out the sequence of events.
It went like this - this group were all pet influencers, relying on pet accounts on short video platforms to attract fans and sell merchandise to earn money. Half a month ago, the now deceased Old Cat suggested meeting up to eat and film some collab videos.
Although colleagues, gaining exposure from each other was commonplace, and five people agreed to the meetup. The venue was chosen to be this villa.
Including the organizer, there were a total of six people, each bringing their own pets.
The deceased @Old Cat owned cats, real name Old Cat, 29 years old. He raised two cats, a British Shorthair and an American Shorthair. He had 12 million fans and was a top pet influencer.
The Tibetan mastiff's owner @I Love Tibet, real name Brother Xi, 30 years old. He raised the Tibetan mastiff Brave and had 8 million fans, also one of the top influencers.
The young lady with the Black Phoenix parrot @Black Phoenix Princess, real name Sister Xuan, 26 years old. She was a newer influencer with 2 million fans. But coming from a wealthy family, she attracted fans through flaunting wealth and had good prospects.
The earlier crying person was @Golden Retrievers Are the Warmest, nickname Xiao Nuan, 22 years old. She raised a very anthropomorphic golden retriever and had 5 million fans. Although decently popular, she faced a lot of competition from similar accounts.
The angry curser was @A Mining Coal, nickname Mei Tan, 24 years old. He raised a Siamese cat and had 6 million fans. He was previously in competition with the deceased Old Cat.
The last one was quite unique, called @Poisonous Person, nickname Toxic Man, forty years old, raising snakes, spiders and lizards, all poisonous, with 800,000 fans, but no competing accounts, standing alone.
The five people arrived at the villa one after another yesterday, and a fight broke out that night.
Not only were the pets Poisonous Person raised poisonous, his mouth was also very venomous: "Brother Xi, could it have been you who made Courage bite the old cat?"
Brother Xi was shocked: "What are you talking about? Don't talk nonsense! Why would I do that?"
"Because of your contract." Poisonous Person pushed up his glasses, the motive was clear as day, "You two are on the same platform, he signed an A contract, yours is a B contract, the distribution and recommendation positions have a big difference, you've always been unhappy about it. Yesterday when Courage came, the old cat said it was a large breed dog and wouldn't let it in the house, you must have been very upset, right?"
Brother Xi was in a panic: "Yes, this is normal, isn't it? Letting Courage stay outside in the freezing cold, if it's not your dog you don't feel bad but I feel bad. But we only argued a couple of sentences, I didn't have to kill him, let alone have Courage bite him!"
Sister Xuan leaned against Jian Jing, coming to her senses a little, and spoke up: "No, if Courage had bitten someone, he would definitely be put down. Without Courage, where could he earn money?"
Brother Xi nodded repeatedly: "Right, right, I would never joke around with Courage."
Xiao Nuan hugged the big golden retriever and raised a question: "So why did Courage bite the old cat? The old cat was very afraid of Courage, he definitely wouldn't have approached him voluntarily."
"Could it have just been an accident?" Sister Xuan couldn't help but say, "Courage suddenly went mad, the old cat was unlucky enough to get bitten by him. Killing or not killing, it's too scary, why would anyone in their right mind kill someone?"
Xiao Nuan quickly nodded: "Right, we didn't know each other before, only met for the first time yesterday. No enmity, no reason to do something like this."
Brother Xi hesitated, but said: "Coal and the old cat knew each other before, right?"
Coal's face was cold and indifferent: "So what if we did?"
"You seem to have some bad blood between you." Poisonous Person seemed very interested in grudges and grievances. "Originally, you were the number one pet account on the platform. The old cat came along later and surpassed you, kicking you out."
Coal curled his lip disdainfully: "Speaking of which, Miss Xuan and the old cat had some unclear business too."
Sister Xuan jumped up: "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"You two yesterday..." Coal gave a cold laugh, implying much while saying little.
The group of people tore into each other, really not seeming to be on good terms.
Jian Jing saw the police car on the street and cut in: "Stop arguing, the police are here. Go talk to the police." She hesitated for a moment without leaving, since she had subdued the mad dog, the authorities would definitely want to ask her a couple questions.
"Who called the police?" The police went to the restaurant first and had the server explain what happened from the beginning.
After getting a clear understanding, the officer in charge immediately arrested the young man: "Teacher Jian, isn't this Teacher Jian?" His expression was warm and enthusiastic, completely wrong.
Jian Jing was a little confused: "Ah?"
