Chapter 6179 - 5190: Soul Machine Utopia (47)

As noon approached, students walked out in groups, crossing the square in front of the Bell Tower, talking and laughing as they headed towards the cafeteria. Miskatonic was a very typical English-style university with uniforms, a bit like an updated version of academic robes, more modern and avant-garde than the uniforms of English boarding schools. Although not mandatory, if everyone wore them except you, you’d easily be called upon in class, so most students still wore the uniforms.

The weather was somewhat gloomy, with a shower that had passed in the morning, leaving the ground covered in fallen leaves. The students’ chatter mingled with the rustle of leaves underfoot. Shiller lay comfortably asleep by the Bell Tower’s window when suddenly, he heard the sound of gears meshing, followed by a low, dull hum.

"Dong—Dong—Dong—"

As the Bell Tower’s clock tolled, Shiller felt his heart pounding in sync, beat after beat, like some soul-stirring tremor. At this moment, Dr. Henry suddenly let out a cry of alarm as thick black smoke poured out from the doghouse’s door, with Dr. Henry falling to the ground with a wail. Shiller quickly leaped over, positioning himself in front of him.

A low growl sounded, as a sleek silhouette leaped out from the black smoke, teeth shimmering coldly, ears perked up majestically, but a strange black film covered its eyes, constantly emitting smoke. It was a monstrously large dog, almost like the Baskerville Hound described in The Sherlock Holmes Detective Collection.

The dog lunged with its mouth wide open towards Shiller, who turned swiftly, dodging the attack, and sidestepping its flank. However, the big dog reacted quickly, immediately turning its body to bite again. Shiller dove forward, and as he reached the dog’s flank, he lashed out with tentacles on his tail, striking the dog’s waist violently, causing the dog to cry out in pain, knocked to the ground.

Shiller immediately pounced and bit into its abdomen, while using his tentacles to ensnare the dog’s mouth. But the big dog struggled vigorously, flipping on the ground to fling Shiller away. Shiller shook his head; his cat’s body was too small, not having the jaws suited for tearing. The Meow Meow Fist used for in-fighting was utterly useless against a dog.

He retracted his tentacles and struck the dog’s head again, but to no avail, as the dog only staggered slightly. Shiller glanced back at Dr. Henry, who was close to awakening. He contemplated briefly, then unleashed all his tentacles, sending the dog flying against the wall with a snap, retreating quickly behind Dr. Henry.

Upon awakening, the first thing Dr. Henry did was find his glasses, putting them on to see the big dog just rising from the ground.

"Oh my god! Tibbers!" Dr. Henry exclaimed, "Where have you been? Do you know how worried I was about you?!"

The dog’s movements paused; it shook its head, seemingly confused. Dr. Henry lowered his body, moving closer with small steps and said, "Tibbers, Tibbers, it’s me! I missed you greatly on days you weren’t here, and so did the students. Remember Waver? The kid who often fed you fried chicken. And Willos, who once brought you a beef thigh bone, your favorite chewing rods..."

Hearing familiar names, the dog seemed to calm gradually, but soon it grew distressed again, shaking its head and retreating, as if wrapped by something.

By this time, Henry had approached very close, Shiller initially thought he was just trying to befriend the dog. But suddenly, Henry pulled out a powder from his inner pocket and sprinkled it onto the dog. Instantly, a blood-red cyst-like thing floated above the dog’s head, blood-red tentacles gripping the dog’s neck as it shook its head and tail, desperately trying to shake off the tentacles’ restraint.

Before Henry could act, Shiller reacted swiftly, jumping onto the dog’s back, then bounding onto the tumor above, raining five punches per second on it. The crucial part was, in Henry’s blind spot, piercing the blood-red tumor directly with a tentacle. With a puff, it burst like a balloon, instantly deflating.

The blackness in the dog’s eyes gradually faded as it stood panting heavily. Henry, too, was startled, taking off his glasses to wipe his eyes with his sleeve. Shiller, seemingly disdainful, looked at the blood-red liquid stained on him. This was when the benefit of coexisting with humans became apparent; Shiller leapt directly into Henry’s embrace, smearing all the dirt onto his clothes.

"Hold on, Isaac, you naughty cat!" Henry stammered, "Don’t rub against me, this stuff’s filthy!"

In truth, Shiller didn’t actually clean himself off, merely making Henry as dirty as he was. Meanwhile, the big dog had enthusiastically leapt over. Henry placed Shiller onto his shoulder, leaning over to rub the dog’s head.

But evidently, this big dog named Tibbers could see the power of Nya in Shiller, thus it anxiously whimpered to its owner, continually trying to bite Shiller. Shiller merely flicked his tail; with Henry there, the dog couldn’t reach him.

As expected, Henry began siding against the bias. He rubbed the dog’s head and said, "Although I know cats and dogs typically don’t get along, this time it really did save you. If it hadn’t alerted me, you’d probably have been trapped, and I’d be wandering around the school foolishly. Don’t be at odds with it."

The dog seemed puzzled, it looked up at Shiller again, snuffling vigorously, but still sensed something amiss and attempted to pounce. This time, Henry intensified his tone: "Sit down, Tibbers. Sit down!"

The instinct to obey orders still overpowered the strange intuition, and Tibbers shook his ears and sat down. Henry looked at him and said, "Why do you seem to have grown a bit bigger?"

Shiller didn’t know how big this dog was originally; he thought the dog was naturally this size. But thinking about it, it seemed unlikely—its body size was almost as big as a hyena, which a mixed-breed guard dog couldn’t achieve. Could it have mutated in a time whirlpool?

Henry seemed to have concerns, too. He opened the dog’s mouth to check and found nothing unusual. Then, as if casually, he mentioned, "The most telling signs of mutated monsters are in their eyes and mouths. Their eyeballs will sprout tentacles, and their mouths will develop abscesses, followed by fingers and toes, and finally the torso."

The big dog whimpered a few times, looking very aggrieved. Henry gave him a hug, and only then did the dog’s tail start wagging happily again.

"Let’s get you a professional check-up," Henry said, "and all this dirty slime needs to be sent for testing. Hopefully, we’ll make some new discoveries."

Carrying a cat and bringing along a dog, Henry returned to the library like the winner of life. As soon as they returned to the familiar room, Tibbers was even more excited, ignoring the clutter in the room, he dashed to his most familiar spot, lay down, but kept his head raised, watching Henry.

"I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you again," Henry said as he wet a cloth in the nearby sink and started wiping Shiller’s fur. "Go and get some food for Tibbers. Remember to steal only one of each flavor, and don’t let Mrs. Ed catch you. She’s always saying I spoil the dog too much."

Shiller, finding Henry’s wiping too slow, simply jumped into the sink. Dr. Henry was startled.

"Good heavens! You’re not afraid of water?!"

Henry scrutinized Shiller again, and it could be said this action brought Henry more shock than all the previous ones combined. While scrubbing Shiller’s fur under the tap, Henry said, "I also had a cat when I was a child, a small black kitten. A neighbor’s cat had kittens, and he said the black one was unlucky, so he wanted to throw it into a ditch, but I rescued it. It was fine when it was young, but when it grew up, I wanted to bathe it, and it almost killed me."

Shiller couldn’t help but chuckle. The cats Henry had when he was small were mostly local cats, which were quite energetic. If he was still a child at that time and tried to bathe an adult cat, his hands would have been scratched to pieces.

However, Shiller wasn’t afraid of water; he wanted to turn the water up higher to rinse off the dirt. Luckily, Henry assisted, and with his hands being so helpful, it was clean in no time.

Shiller leaped out of the sink and vigorously shook off his fur. Henry fetched a dry towel to wipe him, and after he was mostly dry, Shiller went off to the dining room to steal sausages. Shiller was familiar with the routine, even taking a bag to pack the sausages. When he returned, Tibbers was starving and gobbled them down without caring who found them.

By this time, the big dog seemed to understand that Shiller was not an enemy. But he clearly still didn’t like the scent, retreating with bared teeth whenever he saw Shiller. Henry had no choice but to instruct Shiller not to come near the dog house unnecessarily.

This wouldn’t do, Shiller thought. The dog was brought back for a major purpose; Tibbers was like a living pollution detector, able to differentiate between friend and foe.

With the dog found, Henry was very pleased, specifically going to the restaurant to buy some chicken leg meat, tearing it into strips to feed Shiller. Shiller didn’t rush to eat it; instead, he took it as an extra meal for the dog. He needed to establish a good relationship with Tibbers to ensure the plan proceeded smoothly.

The big dog remained cautious, not allowing Shiller to get close, but no longer objected to him being near the dog house. Perhaps in its view, a human with pollution was threatening, but a polluted cat didn’t affect much, so it wasn’t as aggressive.

By evening, Henry received a phone call. With one hand holding the phone receiver and the other pulling the phone line, he said to the other side, "Is that so? Okay, I’ll come over now. Please have him wait a moment."

Henry hurriedly put on his clothes and rushed out, Shiller following behind, though without being noticed. Once Henry headed to the guest room of the main teaching building, Shiller climbed outside and crouched by the window, ready to listen to what they were saying.

When Dr. Henry opened the door, seeing the other figure in the room made him show an enlightened expression; he walked over, shook hands with the other, and said, "Long time no see, Professor Dale. Wasn’t it supposed to be at the beginning of next month?"