I gasped awkwardly, collapsing onto the ground.
"I can't run anymore. Wait up."
The two figures ahead stopped, and the Tabby Cat King burst out laughing.
"Almost forgot, Fat Cat's run out of stamina. Fine, let's take a break."
With a thud, a bundle landed in front of me. I caught a whiff of something delicious. Opening it, I found some meat. I swallowed hungrily as John Chou sat down beside me.
"Eat up, brother. You'll need your strength to run."
After a while, I was full and lying on the ground, drifting off to sleep. But I startled awake and quickly told John Chou about the dogs that had been thrown directly into the Animal Realm without punishment.
"Where are those dogs?"
John Chou asked, and the Tabby Cat King smiled, licking his lips.
"You didn't eat them, did you?"
The Tabby Cat King shook his head, then laughed and patted his belly.
"You..."
"They're in my ghost domain."
I glared at the Tabby Cat King, clearly annoyed, but then he turned serious and stared toward the west.
"To get through here, we have to pass Rooster City. The Rooster is usually pretty friendly, but with everything going on, she probably knows the situation. Whether she'll let us through is uncertain, and the movements of the others are making me uneasy—especially the Serpent. He promised to meet us, but he's done nothing."
"Of course I keep my word."
Suddenly, I heard the Serpent King's voice. Looking down, I saw a small snake slithering through the dry grass, its body slowly changing shape as it stood before us.
"You'd better not go. The Black Dog hates those who fell into the Animal Realm and became dogs, and he despises humans too. If you bring those dogs with you, you'll be discovered immediately."
The Tabby Cat King looked at the Serpent King in confusion.
"Doesn't the Dog love humans most? I've seen him living among people for ages."
"Maybe it used to be that way, but the Black Dog is completely different now. That place is a living hell for animals—you can ask these old dogs, they'll know."
As the Tabby Cat King spoke, he reached into his belly and pulled out an old dog—the leader of the pack, who had been a dog trader in life.
"Did you hear everything we said just now? Speak."
The old dog squatted down and nodded.
"Over there, the Black Dog King really has made it hell for those of us who became dogs."
The old dog began to explain. Long ago, after they became dogs, they heard that the Black Dog King was friendly to dogs, so they thought, being dogs themselves, they'd be accepted.
But what they didn't expect was something entirely different. There were more than fifty of them at first, and when they arrived, they saw a horrific scene: the human part of those ghosts who'd become dogs was stripped away. Most were hung outside Black Dog City like animals, tortured over and over. Some managed to run, but many were caught.
Soon, no one who'd become a dog dared to go to Black Dog City anymore.
"And the Black Dog King is extremely cruel—he'll tear out the human part from these dog-shaped ghosts and swallow it alive, just..."
"Enough."