“Damn it, why is this woodshed door bolted from the inside? Didn’t they say she was asleep?”
Outside, the coarse curses of a human trafficker combined with the heavy thud-thud of someone ramming the door, making Lin Xi’s heart skip a beat. For safety, she had just used a sturdy piece of firewood to wedge the door shut. This act had bought her a few precious seconds.
“You dead girl! How dare you play tricks with me!” The other trafficker clearly lacked patience and kicked the door directly.
BOOM!
The dilapidated wooden door let out a groan, shaking violently.
She couldn’t wait any longer!
Lin Xi glanced at the high, palm-sized window of the woodshed, knowing it was impossible to escape through there. Her only way out was the back wall! It was relatively low and close to the junk pile in the backyard, making it possible to climb.
But to reach the back wall, she had to cross the small courtyard first. And in that yard, the vicious dog named “Black Tiger” was the death warrant Wang Cuihua had prepared for her!
“Black Tiger! Black Tiger!” Li Guilan shrieked from the doorway of the main house, seemingly sensing something was wrong. “Go! Bite! Anyone who dares to run around the yard—bite them hard for me!”
“Woof! Woof-woof!”
Responding to her was a burst of savage barking. The sound was full of violence and hunger, as if it could pierce a person’s eardrums. Lin Xi remembered clearly that in her past life, Black Tiger was a notoriously fierce dog in the village. Lin Dajun had specifically bought it from the town’s dog market to guard the house. Usually kept on an iron chain and fed only scraps, its temperament had become extremely explosive. Aside from Lin Dajun, anyone who got close risked being bitten.
Now, it had been unleashed. It was a mobile trap in the courtyard—a living, lethal weapon!
Under another heavy blow, the wooden bolt of the woodshed door snapped with a crack. The door was shoved open, and two sinister-looking men blocked the entrance, their hideous silhouettes outlined by the dim moonlight.
“Little brat, you still dare to hide!” One man grinned hideously, reaching out to grab her.
At this critical moment, Lin Xi didn’t cry out or retreat. She did something no one expected: taking the jagged porcelain shard she had been hiding in her hand, she slashed it hard against her own arm!
A gash appeared instantly, and blood surged out.
“Ah—!” she let out a shrill scream, but it wasn’t from pain—it was a cry filled with rage and provocation.
Instead of retreating, she charged forward like a furious little beast, rushing straight toward the two men!
The traffickers clearly hadn’t expected a three-year-old girl to be so bold; for a moment, they were stunned. Taking advantage of that split-second gap, Lin Xi darted through the space between them like a flash of lightning!
“Damn it! Catch her!” The two men realized what happened and immediately turned to give chase.
As Lin Xi dashed into the yard, the thick scent of blood immediately stimulated the hungry, vicious dog.
“ROAR—!”
Black Tiger lunged from the corner of the yard like a streak of black lightning, its target being Lin Xi, who was radiating the scent of blood. Its eyes glowed green in the night, and saliva dripped from the gaps in its sharp teeth, full of bloodthirsty excitement.
“It’s over!” The thought flashed simultaneously through the minds of the chasing traffickers and Li Guilan, who stood by the door. It was as if they could already see the girl being torn to shreds in the next second.
Li Guilan even wore a malicious smirk of satisfaction: “Serves you right! That’s what happens when you don’t listen!”
However, the expected scene of carnage did not happen.
At the very moment Black Tiger was about to pounce on Lin Xi, she skidded to a halt. She didn’t scream or dodge; instead, she stared fixedly into the vicious dog’s eyes.
In that instant, she concentrated all of her mental energy, thrusting it like an invisible needle into Black Tiger’s consciousness.
The message she transmitted was what radiated from her was not fear, nor a plea for mercy, but a surge of intent mixed with pain, anger, and absolute resolve.
『You are just like me!』
『Locked up, starved, treated as a tool!』
『They give you bones so you’ll bite people! They feed me so they can sell me for money! We are both their slaves!』
『Do you want to be tethered to a chain your whole life? Do you want to eat their sour leftovers forever?』
『Help me! Helping me is helping yourself! Outside, there are endless forests—there is freedom!』
These complex thoughts should have been impossible for a three-year-old child to form. But inside Lin Xi’s body resided a weather-beaten adult soul! Her pain, her resentment, and her fury were so raw and powerful that they bridged the gap of “Beast Taming,” crashing without reservation into Black Tiger’s simple, violent heart.
Black Tiger’s mid-air pounce suffered an unnaturally sharp hesitation. A flicker of bewilderment and confusion crossed his fierce green eyes. He could feel that the small, bleeding creature before him didn’t smell like trembling prey—she smelled like… a kindred spirit’s cry of despair.
“Woof… whimper?” After landing, a low, puzzled whine vibrated in his throat, and his bared fangs retracted halfway.
“What… what’s wrong with this beast?” Lin Dajun watched, dumbstruck.
“Go on! Bite her!” Li Guilan stamped her feet in a frenzy.
Lin Xi knew she only had one shot. Without pausing, she continued to project her mental will into Black Tiger.
『They are the real enemies! Those people with the sticks and sacks—they are the villains who want to lock us both away!』
She shifted her gaze toward the two human traffickers who had caught up, her eyes burning with bone-deep hatred, and she synchronized that loathing directly into Black Tiger’s mind.
Black Tiger wasn’t intelligent, but he was a master of sensing raw emotion. He felt Lin Xi’s hate, and he detected the malicious, threatening aura radiating from the two men. His instincts as a guard dog were ignited!
“ROAR!”
Black Tiger suddenly spun around, ignoring Lin Xi entirely. He let out an ear-splitting roar at the two stunned traffickers!
“Holy shit! This dog’s gone mad!” one of the traffickers yelped, instinctively recoiling.
With his fur standing on end and his claws digging into the dirt, Black Tiger assumed a full-attack posture. A continuous, menacing low growl vibrated in his throat as he locked onto the two men holding the burlap sacks.
“Lin Dajun! What’s wrong with your dog! Pull him back, fast!” Matchmaker Liu shrieked.
Lin Dajun panicked. He tried to step forward to scold Black Tiger, but the dog’s eyes were bloodshot with rage; he was even wary of his own master now, baring his teeth at Dajun and refusing to obey.
The courtyard descended into utter chaos.
The two sinister traffickers were being forced back step by step by an even more vicious hound, leaving them no room to worry about Lin Xi.
Now was the time!
Seizing the moment, Lin Xi turned and bolted toward the low wall in the backyard. Huzi was already there waiting for her, like a loyal sentry.
Her counterattack had only just begun!
Not only was she going to escape, but she was going to let these people—who tried to push her into hell—taste a bit of chaos first!
Her tiny silhouette seemed insignificant in the middle of the chaotic yard, yet it carried a sense of unstoppable determination. She knew that as long as she cleared that wall, she would be like a fish returning to the sea or a bird taking to the high heavens!
But just as her hand was about to touch the top of the wall, Wang Cuihua’s distorted, furious screech erupted from behind: “Catch that little brat! Don’t let her run! If she gets away, our money is gone!”
That screech acted like a death knell, forcing everyone’s eyes to refocus once more on her tiny, fleeing figure.