While Chang was observing his giant enemy, another wolfhound ran out from the bush. As soon as it stood in front of Chang, it gave a loud and short bark, leading the giant dog’s attention to Chang.
“So it's revenge.” He glanced at that small wolfhound – it was the one who fled; or more accurately, it didn't flee. It went to find someone to back it up.
“Jing, leave with Mr. Li. The wolfhounds are only here for me.” Chang slowly lowered his body so that Jing could climb off his back. He clenched the spear even tighter – after all, that was the only weapon he had that could possibly save him.
Jing clearly knew that she would be a burden for Chang if she stayed, so once she jumped off his back, she went to Qing Shui. Surprisingly, the whole process didn't distract the giant dog’s attention from Chang a single bit.
“Mr. Li, leave with Jing! Even with the three of us, we still can’t even take one slap from it.” Holding the spear, Chang gradually felt sadness overcome his heart. In this situation, he would definitely die. As he slowly accepted this fact, his sadness slowly turned into solemnness. For the first time in his life, he decided to do something heroic.
“I’ll deal with it, so just run as far away as you can,” Chang sighed.
“Sure.” Qing Shui’s answer was so simple that it completely ruined the heroic atmosphere. Then, Qing Shui lifted Jing and without looking back, they disappeared into the fog. Although Chang was solemn and Jing was crying, it didn't matter to him at all as he ran as fast as he could.
“… He really rational, but sometimes his calmness scares me.” Seeing the figure of Qing Shui slowly fade into the fog while he stood still in front of this beast, Chang felt that the fog had unprecedentedly become bloody.
“So this is it.” Confronting the two twisted-face wolfhounds, Chang didn't know whether he should runaway or fight them – if he chose to flee, he would definitely be slower than this giant beast. However, if he chose to fight, he would be extremely small and fragile in front of this monstrous dog.
Being so close to death, he knew that he had to face these cruel choices, despite neither of them being desirable.
Fortunately, Chang didn't need to spend more time on making a difficult decision – his opponent made the first move.
It literally rushed towards Chang as if it was going to crash into him.
Chang completely abandoned any thoughts in his mind. Facing the black shadow running at him, he raised his spear in front of his chest horizontally as defense.
Bang!
The spear was strong enough to block the first strike, but it was bent into a V shape when the wolfhound collided with him. Chang wasn't able to bear such a powerful attack, and his arms went numb upon receiving this shock and subsequently, he let go of the spear. The shock was so great that he flew back three meters and rolled into the bushes.
Almost at the same time he fell on the grass, the smaller wolfhound leaped forward and firmly bit him; its sharp and hard teeth ripped off his long pants and poked through his skin, slowly burying into his muscles.
“Ahhhhh, f*ck!” The extreme sensation of piercing pain made him fight back. He kicked away the small wolfhound, but the giant beast pushed aside the bush and started its second attack.
“Son of a b*tch!” The giant wolfhound attacked from the behind this time, and while Chang flipped over on the grass to dodge, he also sliced open its front paw with his scalpel; although the cut wasn’t deep at all, he unfortunately enraged the beast even more.
The wolfhound howled loudly and its mouth snarled widely to try to snap off Chang’s head; Chang clearly knew that if the beast ever caught him in its mouth, he would most likely be separated into two pieces.
The force of this wolfhound should have increased according to its size, so one bite would be fatal no matter where it bit him.
Therefore, he was ducking in and out from the bushes as if it was a cat-and-mouse chase. Chang’s body wasn’t as weak as it used to be, but the size of beast was much larger than him. He somehow managed to run around without getting caught, but because of the difference in their stamina, getting caught was just a matter of time.
Struggling with death was painstaking; he knew he was going to die soon, but he didn’t know when. However, Chang never thought of giving up on his life, which was why the stress of dodging and hiding became both physically and mentally torturing.
However, the merciful god was kind enough to open a path to life for him – when he was tumbling around, he saw a manhole cover of a sewer on the pavement. It wasn’t round and there was a bulge at the center; it was probably destroyed from the inside.
A manhole cover meant that there must had to be a sewer. Chang looked around in panic, and sure enough, there was a dark shadow beside the cover in the grassy bush.
The dark shadow was very dazzling at that moment and made Chang desperately want to get into it. In those few seconds, he put himself in a risky situation where he might’ve been bitten by the small wolfhound, but he crawled towards the shadow and tumbled into the world of stench.
As he fell into the sewer, the huge head of the giant wolfhound also chased after him; it tucked its head into the relative small hole as it wanted to catch Chang. However, its body was too big, so only his head went through the hole. It tried a few more times by withdrawing and rushing into the hole, but it couldn't pass through, so it only fretfully roared. The smaller wolfhound also jumped up and down with saliva dripping from its teeth. However, it didn't have to courage to jump down into the sewer from the ground. Hence, Chang was safe temporarily.
Knowing that the dogs wouldn't be a threat to him, he stood up from the muddy and stinky water. The first impression of this place was dark.
It was literally pitch black.
The visibility of the outside world was low due to the red fog, and the world down here was even darker since there wasn’t any form of light. Even though Chang’s vision was better than others, he still couldn't see anything in the sewer.
The only light source of this place was from the manhole. The circle of light was so thin and weak that it simply couldn’t light up the sewer; Chang stood right under the halo and listened to the wolfhound’s barking. He carefully tried to feel around to understand the layout of the sewer while hearing the sound of water flow.
Human were vulnerable in the dark, and it induced fear. The first thought that flashed in Chang’s mind was those tentacle monsters that lived in the sewer.
Then, he imagined maggots and flies, as well as a variety of parasites. Although these were just his imagination, he also noticed that the wound on his leg was bleeding.
Slowly, his imagination and reality began to merge. He was bleeding and the smell of blood was strong; in a dark sewer like this, the smell could attract those tentacle monsters to him, as if the blood was a blazing beacon of light that gave his location to the monsters. The result would be obvious. He would be attacked by a tentacle or something and his body would be smashed into pieces of flesh and he would be devoured. The remaining residues of his body would be left here forever and become a home for mutated flies. All those little maggots would digest his body, leaving him as a pool of pus.
Chang shuddered; with all these reasonable possibilities, he started to realize that his imagination was convincing.