Chapter 35 - 31: That’s Criminal

Seeing this, everyone knew the dog’s owner had arrived.

But this middle-aged woman was clearly no pushover. After clutching her dog and letting out a few dry sobs, she lunged over and grabbed Chen Jue, who was still holding the dart. "Give me back my Dabao! Give me back my Dabao!"

"Dabao is my child! My family!"

"How could you hurt him!"

Hearing the dog’s owner say this, everyone present was stunned.

They had seen dog lovers before, but never someone who treated their dog as a literal family member.

They were two different species. How could she get their attributes mixed up?

"Ma’am, have some shame! You’re a human, it’s a dog. How could it possibly be your child?"

"Did you give birth to it or something?" Chen Jue’s brow furrowed. ’I’ve really run into a weirdo.’

"I don’t care!"

"You killed my Dabao! I want you to pay! I want you to go to jail!" The middle-aged woman started throwing a tantrum on the spot.

But so many people there had seen her dog attack someone. With that many witnesses present, it was useless no matter how shamelessly she acted.

An old man in the park, unable to watch any longer, stepped forward and unleashed a verbal tirade on the dog owner. "You #@$%! This young man did you a favor by putting that dog down! Don’t be so shameless!"

"Go check on that little kid! They need to get him to a hospital, quick! He got mauled pretty badly!"

"This is no time to be worrying about your dog! Don’t you know a human life is more important than a dog’s?"

The old man must have had a fiery temper in his youth. After a few curses, he took advantage of the chaos to give the middle-aged woman a couple of shoves, trying to knock some sense into her.

Who would have thought the middle-aged woman would instantly activate her super armor, roaring, "You old fossil! What’s it to you? Did my Dabao bite you?" With a hard shove, she sent the old man tumbling to the ground.

Damn!

Even Chen Jue was dumbfounded by this turn of events.

The dog owner who aggroed the whole crowd versus the old man who wouldn’t get up.

Two Challenger-tier contestants had just created an unbreakable vicious cycle in the middle of this chaotic scene.

The fallen old man was a savvy one, too. He was already lying on the ground, wailing, "My bones are broken! Oww~"

Seeing this, the crowd of onlookers erupted, looking like they wanted to swarm the dog owner and beat her up.

But they didn’t get the chance, settling for muttering a few curses.

Because people from the Government Office had arrived.

A patrol car pulled up, and three police officers in uniform dispersed the indignant crowd.

The middle-aged officer in the lead turned on his shoulder-mounted camera and first went to check on the little boy being held in his parent’s arms.

Seeing the injuries were severe, with torn bite marks all over his thigh, he quickly used his radio to tell the dispatch to call for an ambulance and nearby backup.

Then he walked up to the middle-aged woman surrounded by the crowd. "Are you the dog’s owner? Don’t you know you’re supposed to keep your dog on a leash? It hurt someone!"

Seeing the Government Office had arrived, the middle-aged woman grew flustered. "I... I usually keep him on a leash! I just took him out to play, and he ran off after catching the frisbee a few times."

"Officer, you’re just in time! Arrest him!"

"It was this man! He used that knife to kill my Dabao!"

The middle-aged woman tried to change the subject, pointing at Chen Jue and starting to shout.

"A knife?"

The middle-aged officer was taken aback for a moment, then looked at Chen Jue with renewed alertness.

Just then, a younger officer who had gone to inspect the dog’s corpse called out, "Captain, the dog was killed by a dart! Look at its throat, it’s pierced all the way through!"

The middle-aged officer hurried over to take a look. "Are these Martial Arts Darts? They’re this powerful?"

The middle-aged officer rubbed his temples. A dog attack, a dog killed with a dart, an old man down on the ground, and an injured child... he had never encountered such a complicated case before.

Fortunately, backup from the precinct arrived by car within minutes, and the ambulance pulled up at the same time.

Yellow and white police tape was pulled out, and a group of police officers, along with a few criminal investigators, secured the scene. A forensic examiner even arrived to take photos and collect evidence.

The injured little boy and the fallen old man were both loaded onto the ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital for emergency treatment.

As for the dog owner and all the other involved parties, including Chen Jue, they were all taken to the nearest local police station for interviews and to give statements.

How the matter would be handled was up to the Government Office to decide.

「 」

In all his life, this was the first time Chen Jue had ever been to a police station for anything other than picking up his ID card.

In a blue and white interview room, Chen Jue sat at a table with a cup of water in his hand, truthfully recounting the afternoon’s events to the middle-aged officer who was questioning him.

As for the Darts he had been carrying, they had already been confiscated as evidence and sealed in a bag.

"That’s some serious stuff! Killing a pit bull that big with a single dart!"

"Trying to be a hero?"

"Saw an injustice and decided to be a knight-errant, so you went online and bought these controlled blades?"

The middle-aged officer teased him for a moment before his tone turned serious. "Are you aware that the illegal use of controlled blades is a criminal offense?"

"I know! The online seller said that since they’re unsharpened, they don’t count as controlled blades," Chen Jue replied weakly, feeling a bit unsure.

Before buying the Darts, he had specifically checked online. If they were illegal, Taobao wouldn’t have allowed the item to be listed; they’d most likely have shut down the entire shop.

"Unsharpened?"

The middle-aged officer was stunned. He had been busy handling the case earlier and hadn’t had a chance to inspect them, subconsciously assuming Chen Jue had used sharpened Darts to kill the dog.

He picked up the evidence bag again and carefully examined the Darts inside.

The silvery edges were indeed blunt, without a hint of sharpness.

"Ahem."

"My apologies, I was mistaken. Unsharpened ones indeed don’t count as controlled blades."

The middle-aged officer gave an embarrassed smile, his tone softening. He continued curiously, "To be able to pierce a dog’s thick throat with an unsharpened dart... you look all gentle and scholarly with your glasses. I didn’t expect you to be a hidden master!"

"Have you practiced with Darts before? Do you have a record on file?"

These days, many special service and sports industries required you to be registered.

For example, the locksmiths you see advertised on flyers in residential communities are this type of special personnel.

As for sports, outdoor activities like Darts, Archery, and Shooting all carry a certain risk of injuring people. Anyone who participates in them long-term or works in a related field has to register with the local Government Office.

Hearing this, Chen Jue suddenly remembered that when he signed up to join the Hang City International Darts Club, he seemed to have filled out a registration form.

So, he told the middle-aged officer about his situation.

The officer entered his information into the system and, sure enough, found the networked registration data from the club.

"If you’re registered, then there’s no problem!"

"What you did counts as a courageous act of justice. You just need to give a statement. They’ll probably want to publicize this in the papers later. 1818 Golden Eye will probably want to interview you."

The middle-aged officer was reassuring at first, but then he reminded Chen Jue, "Still, practicing with these Martial Arts Darts in a park is too dangerous. With so many people coming and going, it’ll be a big problem if someone gets hurt! It’s best to train at a professional sports venue."

Hearing this, Chen Jue breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

As long as he didn’t get a criminal record, everything was fine.

The Chens had a clean record for three generations. He didn’t want to cause trouble and ruin the family’s reputation over a simple hobby.

「 」

When he tentatively asked about the little boy’s condition, the middle-aged officer patiently described the follow-up situation to him.

The boy who was bitten by the dog had been sent to the hospital for emergency surgery, and his condition was stable.

As for the middle-aged woman, she had been taken into criminal detention.

Because the pit bull she owned was a banned aggressive breed, she didn’t even have a dog license for it and was raising it secretly.

Combined with letting it off-leash, which led to the attack, it constituted assault with a dog.

This was considered intentional injury, a serious charge that carried a sentence of at least up to three years!

If it had caused serious injury, the sentence would be increased to three to ten years.

Because Hang City was currently hosting a sports meet, the whole city was filled with a festive and peaceful atmosphere.

For an incident of assault with a dog to suddenly pop up... wasn’t that like one bad apple spoiling the whole bunch?

Even if the dog owner’s family had connections and influence, even if they hired the best lawyer, she would probably still get the maximum sentence.

Hearing this outcome, Chen Jue instantly felt refreshed and invigorated. ’Nice!’

After finishing his statement and walking out the doors of the police station, the tension in Chen Jue’s Spirit instantly eased, and he felt as if every pore in his body was opening up.

And just then, new notifications popped up on the panel:

——————

[Ding!]

[Successful real-world Darts combat application completed. Target killed: 1 large canine.]

[Darts Skill Level +100]

——————

[Ding!]

[A qualifying mental release has been completed, providing significant relief to your mood and Spirit.]

[Spirit Attribute +0.01]