Chapter 241: 237 Chasing the Dog

Narrow-minded; the angle from which the problem was considered was still too narrow.

He Jia'an had always believed that the object of the Curse's possession should be a human, and while this line of thinking is indeed not wrong under normal circumstances, this "prejudice" had led him down a path of constantly looking for the wrong target.

Why must the object of possession be a human? In fact, it could also be any animal capable of emotional thought.

Animals, especially vertebrates common in daily life, such as cats and dogs, are actually also capable of human-like emotions; because their intelligence is in a lower range, their behavioral patterns are even more inclined toward emotion and instinct—which is to say, in certain emotional responses, they are even superior to humans who think rationally.

When He Jia'an and Matsumoto Gin entered the Kawakami Family Old Residence, He Jia'an saw a family portrait abandoned in the desolate house; in that photo, which had been maliciously damaged by someone, he and Matsumoto Gin discovered the only Shiba Inu that had escaped the graffiti destruction. The various features of the Shiba Inu in the photo were quite similar to those of Chaijiro from Uda Ryoko's home, and even the feature of a missing spotted eyebrow on its head was exactly the same; they immediately realized they were the same dog.

Subsequently, the two of them successively and abruptly thought of this possibility.

The probability was not low; as the young Shiba Inu that belonged to Kawakami Rumi's home back then, Chaijiro perfectly fit the identity of the "object possessed by the Curse," and perhaps it was the only witness who had watched the whole process of its owner going from beautiful to ugly, from cheerful and sunny to desperate and insane, or even the only object willing to listen to her vent.

Immersed for a long time in various negative verbal outputs, even if a dog does not understand human language, it can still feel the true emotions from its owner's words, deeds, and expressions.

Cats and dogs, especially those that have undergone a certain degree of social domestication by humans, can actually understand the "concept of death" to some extent.

When Kawakami Rumi died, as Kawakami Rumi's pet, Chaijiro realized that its owner would never appear in its life again; the intense emotions generated by this, in a fortuitous resonance with the special magnetic field of the city of Taomu City, made it highly likely that a "Curse" would be produced.

Especially after He Jia'an confirmed with Matsumoto Gin and discovered that there were also traces of an opened Inner World Space Channel in the Kawakami house, He Jia'an was even more certain that Chaijiro was the true possessor of "Mimiko's Curse."

And Matsumoto Gin was even more convinced of this than He Jia'an himself; after all, compared to He Jia'an, his perspective on this event was more of an outsider's, because he thought of the fact that Chaijiro's attitude toward He Jia'an was particularly different.

As Investigators who often come into contact with the Abnormal, the biological magnetic fields of Investigators are more or less affected, and animals are very sensitive to these changes; unless a pet is raised from a young age, it is generally difficult for an Investigator to be liked by animals, let alone to raise a strange pet to be very close.

He and He Jia'an were the same type of person, and the Abnormal things they had come into contact with had long since made their biological magnetic fields very strange, making them almost insulated from pet-keeping, because no animal was willing to get close to them; seeing them, even animal cubs would learn to guard against and avoid fear at the first opportunity.

However, Chaijiro was very willing to be close to He Jia'an, yet completely hated contact with him; Chaijiro's attitude toward He Jia'an was actually quite abnormal in itself, as logically, He Jia'an and he should both be hated together.

Matsumoto Gin thought for a moment and soon realized that the difference between him and He Jia'an was that He Jia'an had once had close contact with Mimiko's Curse.

Perhaps He Jia'an carried the "scent" of Kawakami Rumi on his body, and a dog that recognizes people by "scent" would naturally treat He Jia'an as its former owner, thus appearing close to him.

Rushing back to Uda Ryoko's home, this time Matsumoto Gin drew his blade and charged in directly.

Seeing Matsumoto Gin come to the door with a blade, his eyes cold and the blade's edge gleaming with a chill, Uda Ryoko was so frightened that she screamed, thinking that Matsumoto Gin had suddenly changed his mind and had come to kill her directly.

After all, in her eyes, people like Investigators were basically people whose mental states hovered between crazy and not yet crazy, and they could suddenly go mad at any time.

Woof!

Compared to Uda Ryoko, this disappointing current owner, Chaijiro seemed much calmer; its round black eyes reflected Matsumoto Gin's posture of raising the blade, and it noticed that all the "killing intent" on the other party was directed at itself.

It was already an old dog; sensing the killing intent emanating from Matsumoto Gin, it immediately turned and ran before Matsumoto Gin could slash the blade at it, running directly from the hallway into the living room, and then rushing out from the balcony.

He Jia'an had been guarding in the courtyard; when he saw Chaijiro's figure and was about to call its name to have it come to his side, a member of the Chosen Alliance standing outside the wall opened fire on Chaijiro, causing Chaijiro to be startled, turn around quickly, and slip into the dense bushes, disappearing in an instant.

"There was no need to do that!" The veins on He Jia'an's forehead jumped, and he turned his head to glare at the person who had just fired.

He Jia'an's gaze frightened the Investigator who had fired, and realizing that his impatience had caused them to miss the opportunity, he immediately fell silent, shrinking his head and not daring to retort.

It was not until He Jia'an followed Chaijiro's movements, vaulted over the wall, and chased for a long distance that the scolded Investigator finally remembered that He Jia'an was not his superior.

Next, this small town of Taomu City staged a rather comical scene: a group of Investigators in hot pursuit of a Shiba Inu, as if that Shiba Inu had done something heinous to each of them.

He Jia'an chased closely behind Chaijiro's tail and discovered that the dog had actually run back to the Kawakami Family Old Residence; he hurriedly increased his pace to chase inside, with Matsumoto Gin following closely behind.

Upon entering the house, Matsumoto Gin's agility was faster than He Jia'an's; Matsumoto Gin had also guessed which room in the house Chaijiro was going to run to, so he ran faster, climbing a flight of seventeen or eighteen stairs in three or four steps, and was about to reach the attack range in one go.

When He Jia'an was halfway up the stairs, he had already heard the sounds of the dog and the person fighting inside the room, the dog's startled cries and the sound of Matsumoto Gin's blade cutting through the air, as well as the sounds of various parts of the house being destroyed.

After rushing into Kawakami Rumi's former room, He Jia'an found the floor in a mess, and in the room full of blade marks, he could no longer see the figures of Matsumoto Gin and Chaijiro; the windows in the room were tightly closed, and this person and dog had actually disappeared just like that!

"Could it be... that they fell into the Inner World again?" He Jia'an guessed in his heart; he took out the New Year Red Envelope, briefly loosened the Red Envelope, and let it slip from his hand. Losing the protection of the Red Envelope, he saw that in the suddenly gloomy indoor environment, a crack the size of an oval full-length mirror was right there on the bed that only had a frame left.

Remembering the approximate location, he snatched the Red Envelope back in an instant, and He Jia'an leaped, jumping into the space crack that was invisible to the naked eye.