There's a chat group for pets in my neighborhood.

"Now, do you understand?" the sheriff asked, looking at the orange cat in front of him, word by word.

"So this protection fee is actually just for us stray cats to eat?" The orange cat was a little incredulous.

It had always been a stray, surviving almost entirely on garbage and wild fruit from trash cans. It never imagined that one day it would be entitled to eat cat food and canned cat food openly and honestly.

"That's right, so essentially you didn't do anything wrong." The sheriff took a deep breath. "In fact, if you had come to us and explained the situation, you wouldn't have needed to steal the protection money; we would have delivered it to you voluntarily."

"Thank you, thank you."

The orange cat, who had just been beaten so badly by Tanuki, hadn't shed a single tear, but now it was sobbing uncontrollably, repeating only two words over and over again.

Since it was abandoned by its former owner and began to wander, it has never had a full meal or a good night's sleep. Every day it has to force itself to get up and find food. Because it was suddenly abandoned, it has no friends and lives a lonely and confused life.

They were even chased away by those annoying human children with stones and firecrackers.

Until I met Charlie.

It was a rainy day, and it was rummaging through the trash cans on the next street for food.

It was raining heavily, and it was looking for a place to take shelter from the rain, but instead it found Charlie in a stinking ditch.

Charlie was covered in blood, with deep grooves on his neck from being strangled by wire. It was unclear what terrifying place he had escaped from.

It just lay there, left to die in the muddy water.

To be honest, the orange cat didn't really want to take care of it; the worst thing for stray animals is to be touched by pity.

If you sympathize with others, who will sympathize with you?

But the orange cat could still tell from Charlie's appearance and the collar around its neck that it had been owned by someone.

A wave of overwhelming sadness washed over it. It had been abandoned by its owner on a rainy day, but the difference was that no other stray cats had offered it any help.

In that instant, the orange cat seemed to see its past self in Charlie.

Since no one helped me in the past, let me help my past self in the present.

So it desperately bit the collar, dragged Charlie out of the ditch, and dragged him all the way to this abandoned red brick factory, where it frantically went out to find food.

Charlie, despite his injury, had a big appetite, and the orange cat preferred to eat only a little himself, leaving most of the cat food he had found for Charlie.

until......

"Alright, stop crying. The most important thing right now is to get Charlie treated. If this continues, it won't last long before we go find the black-skinned PE student."

The sheriff calmly analyzed that Charlie was in very poor condition and could not eat much of the cat food placed in front of him. He urgently needed medical attention.

"But...where should we find medicine? I tried sneaking into the pet hospital, but I can't understand the stuff there, and I don't dare to take anything."

"Let's ask in the group now to see if we can find some hemostatic and anti-inflammatory medicine to control the injury first, and then think of other solutions." Tanuki made a quick decision and sent a message in the group.

"There's a dog here that's injured, and it's badly hurt. Is there anyone who can help?"

Let's turn back time to the present.

Lu Fang stood in Qin Zhuyan's living room, watching the new messages that kept popping up in the group chat.

Socialite Li Ge: "@All members, emergency! There's a stray dog ​​at the brick factory next door that's dying, its wounds are so bad you can see the bone. Can anyone steal some hemostatic stuff from home? Help!"

Immediately following was a photograph.

In the dim moonlight, Charlie lay dying inside the concrete pipe, looking utterly miserable.

Who would have thought that after disappearing for so long, Brother Tan would make headlines with his reappearance?

The previously quiet group chat suddenly became lively.

The guy with legs 1.8 meters long exclaimed, "Holy crap! So much blood! This is terrifying! My mom's an accountant; all she knows is counting money, not treating illnesses!"

Don't turn your back on me: "I only have iodine solution at home, but it's on a very high cabinet, and I can't reach it!"

A dog walk costs one bone per visit: "My owner has a first-aid kit with iodine in it. I can steal it. Where do we meet?"

In critical moments, Border Collies are still the most reliable.

The group chat was immediately filled with anxious groans. Everyone had their own opinion, but after discussing for a long time, no suitable solution could be found.

When Lu Fang looked at the dachshund in the photo, his instincts as a veterinarian were instantly awakened.

The hind leg appears to be wounded by an arrow. Simply stopping the bleeding won't work; we need to check if the bone is injured before we can perform a series of procedures such as anti-inflammatory and hemostatic treatments.

If those little guys are allowed to run wild, today might be the anniversary of Charlie's death.

Thinking of this, he immediately planned to go back to his rented room to grab the spare first-aid kit and rush over, but after taking only a few steps, he realized a fatal problem.

If I were to directly say in the group that I'm bringing medicine, my identity as someone lurking in the pet group would be completely exposed. It's still unclear how the little guys in the group treat humans, but revealing my identity is definitely not a good time.

Lu Fang's mind raced. He organized his thoughts and typed a message on the screen: "Brother Li, I know a very good veterinarian who often treats stray animals. I have a way to get him to come over."

Socialite Tanuki: "Seriously? You can actually order around a veterinarian?"

"It's absolutely true. Just wait where you are. I've worked with him several times before, so don't worry!"

Brother Li, the socialite: "Alright, brother, I'm counting on you. I owe you a huge favor!"

Moreover, upon seeing this message, the pets in the group instantly developed a deep respect for Lu Fang.

The guy with legs 1.8 meters long exclaimed, "Holy crap, bro, you're amazing! Not only do you know so much inside information, but you can also boss humans around?!"

I have a renovation plan: "This isn't the first time something like this has happened in our group; the last one was the sheriff..."

He charges a bone for each dog walk: "Well, if you have a solution, I won't steal anymore, so I don't get beaten up by my dad."

Before I could finish saying that I had a renovation plan, a series of messages immediately flooded the screen. Even Tanuki at the red brick factory changed his expression and cautiously glanced at the sheriff beside him, as if trying to confirm whether it had seen the message.

Fortunately, the sheriff's expression didn't change much, as if he hadn't seen anything.

However, Lu Fang, who was in a great hurry at the moment, did not notice this detail. He tiptoed out of Qin Zhuyan's house and then hurried towards his rented room.

The red brick factory is a bit far from Tiancheng residential area, so I should get there as soon as possible.

The most important thing is to never let your true identity slip!