Chapter 36: The Dying Border Collie
[I just heard—those humans got caught!]
The tortoiseshell cat ran toward the abandoned factory in high spirits. But as it neared the entrance, its steps suddenly slowed, then stopped entirely. The whole cat froze in place.
It smelled a faint scent of death—one that hadn’t been there before.
The tortoiseshell instantly realized something. It rushed inside and found the Border Collie curled in the corner. The dog was so thin it was nothing but bones. The injured leg had completely rotted, and several maggots were crawling over it.
Normally, at a time like this, the Border Collie would stumble over to greet it. Had it lost even the strength to stand now?
Tears instantly welled up in the tortoiseshell’s eyes. It hurriedly pushed its battered, chipped bowl to the Border Collie.
[Y-you… eat a little…]
The Border Collie hadn’t eaten properly these past few days. Every time it swallowed a few pieces of kibble, it would say it was full. The tortoiseshell knew the dog was trying to leave food for the other babies, but… but if it didn’t eat, it would die.
Yet the Border Collie didn’t respond. Those gentle brown eyes looked like they could no longer open.
The tortoiseshell panicked. Its sharp yowling echoed through the factory.
[Don’t sleep, don’t sleep! Get up! Or… or I’ll eat all your food! I won’t leave you a single piece!]
Even when the other babies were drawn over by its cries, even when the tortoiseshell screamed itself hoarse, the Border Collie still didn’t open its eyes.
The death-scent grew heavier and heavier. The tortoiseshell knew—the Border Collie might never open its eyes again.
[Don’t… don’t leave me…]
The tears rolling in its eyes finally fell, drop by drop, soaking the fur on the Border Collie’s paw.
The babies didn’t understand anything. They huddled together in clumps, staring at the crying cat with blank confusion.
Just then, a sharp squeak sounded outside the factory, followed by rapid human footsteps approaching.
The tortoiseshell’s fur exploded. It thought those humans had come again and found their last shelter.
It arched its back, every hair standing on end. A small tortoiseshell cat planted itself in front of the other babies and the Border Collie, trying to block the enemy.
The footsteps grew faster—more urgent—until the tortoiseshell suddenly heard another set of steps. Not human. It sounded like how the Border Collie used to walk.
When Lin Jiangye arrived and opened his car door, crow, dog, and human all caught that near-death stench at once.
“Shit!” That injured animal was about to die!
Lin Jiangye hadn’t expected things to deteriorate this fast. Only three days—how had it already reached the brink?
He sprinted inside and saw it: the Border Collie on the ground, barely breathing, and the tortoiseshell beside it, so frantic its fur was standing straight up.
There was no time to explain. Lin Jiangye yanked off his jacket, bundled the tortoiseshell and the nearby babies into it, then scooped up the Border Collie with one arm and charged for the car.
Up close, the rot stench hit like a wall. He glanced down—so much flesh on the front paw had decayed that bone was visible.
At that level of decay, it meant the Border Collie was already in terrible shape when he delivered the cat food.
Regret twisted hard in his chest. If he’d ignored everything back then, knocked the dog out, and taken it away… maybe the paw could’ve been saved.
He placed the babies in the middle of the car, then slammed the accelerator to the floor and rushed the Border Collie to the nearest animal hospital.
“Doctor, doctor! Emergency—life or death!”
He thrust the dog—barely clinging to a pulse—into the vet’s arms, then added quickly, “Spare no expense. Save it. Money doesn’t matter. I’m a VIP client at Pet-You Hospital!”
At those last words, the worry on the vets’ faces eased instantly. Pet-You was a chain hospital; reaching VIP status meant this guy had spent well over ten thousand there.
Rich—and willing to spend on animals.
The vets snapped into professional mode in a heartbeat: stabilizing the dog, examining the wound, and asking Lin Jiangye how the injury happened.
“I don’t know. I picked this Border Collie up.”
The vets—and even the nurses—looked at him with pure admiration. Spending serious money to save a stray dog’s life? A genuinely good person.
“The dog’s paw probably can’t be saved. To keep it alive, we’ll have to amputate. Do you still want this dog? If you don’t, we can keep it here for adoption.” Their hospital sheltered plenty of pitiful cases, all waiting for a family.
A dog missing a leg was hard to adopt. They’d already decided: if no one wanted it, the hospital would keep it.
But the young man gave them a strange look.
“When did I say I don’t want it?”
It was only a leg, not its life. If it lost the limb, he could have a full prosthetic made to help it move.
Besides, it wasn’t just the Border Collie—there was a whole bunch of babies in his car too. If he saw them, he was taking them all. Every single one.
His mountain was still too empty anyway—don’t fight him for his babies.
Lin Jiangye went back to the car. Seeing the huge vehicle parked outside the hospital, one vet couldn’t help his mouth twitch. He clutched his chest and muttered, “No wonder he’s VIP. He’s really loaded…”
“What do you mean?” The others looked confused.
The vet pointed at the enormous black vehicle. It was bigger than a van, shaped like an off-road vehicle, but its shell looked far tougher than normal.
“It can withstand 7.62mm assault rifle rounds, or the blast shock of a DM51 grenade. Armored protection level BR6—this is a legit road-legal armored car. You could count how many exist in the country on one hand, and his is clearly modified.” The vet clearly knew cars and rattled off a whole lecture.
Only then did everyone truly understand what “he’s rich” meant.
No wonder he didn’t blink at the cost of saving a stray dog. To him, it was nothing.
When Lin Jiangye came back in, everyone shut up immediately.
“There are more babies in here too. Check them all.” He opened his jacket, and a cluster of tiny babies tumbled out, making everyone’s hearts go soft.
But then they realized those babies weren’t in good condition. Not just malnutrition—some still had small wounds. Because no one had treated them properly, several were already worsening.
“Why are there so many? And these wounds—someone did this!” The discovery shocked the entire hospital.
They all looked at Lin Jiangye, curious where he’d found these little victims.
Lin Jiangye sighed and explained: a few days ago he’d bought cat food, delivered it with the cat to an abandoned factory, and yesterday the criminals who hunted gulls and finless porpoises had been caught.
“Abusing and killing strays, hunting gulls to make specimens, poaching finless porpoises to sell—this whole group did it.” From strays to “three-protections” wildlife, all the way up to nationally protected level-two animals—their cruelty kept escalating.
If one day protected animals didn’t satisfy them anymore, what would they target next?
A baby? A child? A woman?
At the scene, Lin Jiangye had heard them say the porpoise hunting was commissioned by a special group on the dark web—people who wanted to taste what protected animal meat was like.
A bizarre reason. But the pay was high, so they did it—and even became addicted to the sound of the porpoises crying.
Their next target was dolphins—specifically Chinese white dolphins.
Besides the money, they wanted to hear the dolphins’ “whimpering” cries when they begged for help.
When Lin Jiangye heard that reason, he nearly rushed in to start hitting people.
He was a moment too slow. As soon as they said it, the bystanders beat them up first. By the time it was Lin Jiangye’s turn, they were already swollen into pig heads.
Fine. Didn’t need his fists this time.
Hearing this, everyone was stunned. They’d seen the news yesterday and were furious; they never expected these babies were victims too.
“That’s prison-for-life territory.”
Lin Jiangye nodded. He’d asked Li Wei—based on their crimes, each would get at least ten years.
The mood in the hospital turned heavy. Whether it was strays or protected wildlife, for animal lovers, hearing about so many animals killed for nothing was crushing.
After a while, the quiet hospital suddenly erupted in cheers.
Lin Jiangye looked over. The vet who’d taken the Border Collie came out beaming.
“It’s alive!”
Maybe the dog still had a fierce will to live. Once they administered medication, the response was remarkable—its breathing stabilized quickly.
But next came the amputation surgery.
Lin Jiangye didn’t leave. He sat silently in the waiting area, staying until the other babies were treated.
The tortoiseshell was the first out. Besides malnutrition, it had no major issues.
Lin Jiangye held it and gently stroked its head—only for the tortoiseshell to grab his wrist tightly.
[Will… will it be okay?]
Lin Jiangye shook his head and told it the good news. “The Border Collie will live. It’ll just lose a leg. But that’s fine. I have money—I can buy it a prosthetic.”
The kitten didn’t understand what a prosthetic was. It only understood that the big dog who protected them would lose a leg.
[Is there really no other way? I… I can sell myself to humans!!!]
Lin Jiangye almost spit laughing. He rubbed the kitten’s head hard, scrubbing it until it went dizzy, then said with a smile, “Where did you learn that? Forget it. Right now!”
After laughing, he placed the tortoiseshell on the table and explained seriously why the Border Collie’s leg couldn’t be saved.
Outside, the vets and nurses watched the young man “chatting” with the cat and smiled knowingly. They saw this often—just not usually with a human making such a solemn, serious face.
Were these two discussing something “important”?
Yeah right. No way.
The tortoiseshell still didn’t fully understand, but it grasped one thing: to save the Border Collie’s life, the leg had to go. Even if they forced it, it wouldn’t help.
It lowered its head in gloom, then quickly lifted it again, staring at Lin Jiangye with big, earnest eyes.
[Human! Thank you so much for saving me! I still decided—I’m selling myself to you!]
Lin Jiangye froze for a beat.
Then the hospital burst into laughter again.
With the tortoiseshell there, Lin Jiangye’s mood finally improved. He stayed from noon until evening. The Border Collie’s surgery went smoothly, but it needed to be hospitalized for half a month for observation. As for the other babies, they’d all been medicated and bandaged; Lin Jiangye could take them home first.
The tortoiseshell didn’t want to leave the Border Collie, mewling by its crate. It was hard to know if the sound reached inside.
From within the crate, the Border Collie lifted a paw and tapped lightly, signaling it was okay.
Then it looked at Lin Jiangye, who was holding the tortoiseshell. The dog’s mouth moved slightly. Lin Jiangye didn’t hear anything—but he knew exactly what the dog wanted to say.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of them. When you’re healed, I’ll come pick you up.”
The Border Collie seemed to relax at last. Its head tipped, and it fell asleep again.
Lin Jiangye rubbed the tortoiseshell’s head and carried it—along with the other babies—back to the car.
Seeing the German Shepherd and the raven again, the tortoiseshell wasn’t afraid. Instead it lowered its head shyly.
[Thank you for coming…]
If no one came, the Border Collie would’ve died.
The German Shepherd didn’t speak. It simply licked the tortoiseshell’s head—nearly licking the kitten off balance—then pulled all the drowsy babies into its chest, curling around them.
Bixi stared at the babies, all smaller than the tabby cat, eyes full of wonder. It wanted to reach out and touch them, but worried it would hurt these fragile little things, so it crouched in the car like a hen and watched them for a long time.
When Lin Jiangye got home and opened the car door, he found the tortoiseshell had already fallen asleep on the German Shepherd’s belly.
Hearing familiar sounds, the tabby cat rushed over—only to see a whole carload of sleeping babies, its eyes going wide.
Not only was the tabby shocked, Jiang Xin came out and stared too, a giant question mark over his head.
“Mr. Lin… did you raid a whole nest?”
Lin Jiangye spread his hands helplessly and explained. “I couldn’t just leave them there. I brought them back first. Besides, we’ve got adult cats at home. Let them help raise the babies.”
The “Sangbiao” cats were already discharged. Those who wanted to roam freely were released back into the park. The ones waiting for adoption were currently staying at home.
And then a crowd of big cats, having run out to see what the fuss was, froze on the spot—one by one going completely blank.
Huh? Who’s raising babies? Them?!
Jiang Xin pinched the bridge of his nose, exasperated. “Most of them have probably never been parents. How are they supposed to raise kids?”
The big cats nodded furiously. Exactly! How would they know how to raise kids? They’re kids themselves!
Some hadn’t even gone into heat before Lin Jiangye got them fixed. They definitely couldn’t raise babies.
But Lin Jiangye wasn’t worried at all.
“It’s fine. I’ll have the crows teach them.”
These babies weren’t one- or two-month newborns. They could already eat kibble on their own; they had basic survival ability. But now that they were living in a human house, they needed some habits corrected.
Like: if you need the bathroom, you must use the litter box.
Jiang Xin was so amused he almost choked. After Lin Jiangye said “I’ll have the crows teach the adult cats how to raise kids,” he genuinely didn’t know what to say anymore.
This was the first time Jiang Xin had ever seen someone let birds teach cats how to raise babies.
“No problem at all! Every cat in this house is the smartest, best cat—my taste has never been wrong!” Lin Jiangye had clearly spotted those big cats hiding, so he deliberately praised them hard.
Soon, Jiang Xin watched the crows, cats, and dogs chattering away about “how to teach kids,” and for the first time he truly felt he didn’t understand the natural world at all.
As for how he knew they were talking about “kids”—simple. He saw it with his own eyes: the crows literally used their own chicks as teaching props, demonstrating the process to the cats and dogs.
You didn’t even need a translation to guess what they were saying.
And the big cats quickly discovered that raising babies was actually easy! You just had to lead them around once—show them the fixed spots for eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom.
They really were the best cats! The human really had good taste!
The other four men also watched with great enjoyment. They realized that animals’ intelligence wasn’t inferior to humans at all—people just hadn’t cared enough to notice.
Working here, they felt a different kind of life’s beauty: lively but not noisy, far from crowds yet closer to nature.
“Close to nature? That doesn’t count,” Jiang Xin said. “In the future, you’ll learn what ‘close to nature’ really means.” Jiang Xin knew Lin Jiangye was practically itching to bring home a big cat.
Of course, whether that big cat was “for Jiang Xin’s safety” or “for Lin Jiangye’s entertainment”… that was another question. Because Jiang Xin wanted to play too. ^_^
Yu Anhe and the others looked completely confused, having no idea what he meant.
—
In the following stretch of days, Lin Jiangye’s life was very steady.
Every morning he woke up, played with cats, walked the dogs, then went to Qingze District to visit the Border Collie still confined in a cage. After that, he’d go to the gull nesting site to check on the finless porpoise.
Li Wei’s team was busy wrapping up the case. The dismemberment case had been solved in only a few days; once the news reported it, plenty of people noticed that the police bulletin once again featured the name “Consultant Lin Jiangye.”
When the news that Lin Jiangye could understand animal speech came out, many people suspected the police had collectively lost their minds.
But after the Forestry Bureau also stepped forward and confirmed it was real, no one knew exactly what ordinary passersby felt—but pet owners almost went insane.
Because they wanted that ability too. That way they could finally know what their little “kids” were going crazy about all day long!
“Can he please do a livestream and tell us what our pets are actually muttering about? My cat is so talkative! All day long it’s meow meow meow!” —This was a person driven mad by a chatterbox cat.
“Can I beg him to ask my bird why it keeps pecking people? It hurts so much, QAQ.” —This was a bird owner.
“Why does my cat purr all the time? Even with its eyes open it’s purring!”
“Because it’s acting cute! Kick the person above out!” —This was a jealous person.
When Lin Jiangye got a call from Shang Fuyan, he was surrounded by kittens. Hearing about all this, he only gave a flat “oh.”
Livestream? He wasn’t interested.
About half a month later, Lin Jiangye returned from Qingze District again—except this time, there was an extra dog in his car: a beautiful, clean black-and-white Border Collie.
After two weeks of good food and good care at the hospital, it finally didn’t look so skeletal.
When the German Shepherd came out wagging its tail to greet them, the moment it saw the black-and-white Border Collie, it was as if a tiny firework blossomed in its brown eyes.
So pretty!
Its tail wagged even harder.
Lin Jiangye had originally planned to have the Border Collie neutered too, but because its leg issue still wasn’t resolved, it had to be delayed. And then, unexpectedly, on the very night he brought the Border Collie home, the German Shepherd jumped onto his bed and announced happily:
[I like it!]
“Huh? Who? Jiang Xin?”
The German Shepherd shook its head. It sat upright on the bed, but its tail wagged like it was powered by a motor.
[The Border Collie you brought back. I like it.]
“???”
Lin Jiangye fell silent. He hesitated for a long moment, then finally forced out a sentence.
“Um… you can’t force them, okay? Like… you have to get their consent, got it?”
The German Shepherd tilted its head, eyes full of confusion.
[I wasn’t planning to force it.]
“Haha… that’s good. Go pursue them, then.”
Lin Jiangye hadn’t even asked whether the Border Collie accepted being adopted yet—yet his own German Shepherd had already fallen for it.
Well, great. Now, in order to “protect” the German Shepherd, there was no way the Border Collie could keep roaming or get adopted by someone else. Lin Jiangye genuinely worried the German Shepherd would chase after them wherever they went.
So much for a peaceful night’s sleep…
Lin Jiangye didn’t even wait until morning. He went straight to the dogs’ sleeping room and found the Border Collie lying in a fluffy big nest.
The Border Collie was highly alert; the moment Lin Jiangye entered, it opened its eyes.
But seeing the young man’s worried face and forced smile, it tilted its head in confusion.
Lin Jiangye squatted beside it and examined it carefully, resting his cheek in one hand.
He had to admit—his German Shepherd had excellent taste.
Even though the Border Collie still looked thin and its fur was a bit rough, it couldn’t hide its clean, refined features.
Lin Jiangye stared for a long time, until the Border Collie was practically drowning in question marks—and even the other dogs started waking up.
He couldn’t ask in front of all these dogs. If the Border Collie rejected it, where would the German Shepherd “boss” save its face?
So Lin Jiangye decisively carried the Border Collie—nest and all—into the tea room.
Once the door closed, it was just one human and one dog. The soundproofing was good too; even if the other kids tried to eavesdrop, they wouldn’t hear anything.
“So… here’s the thing…” Lin Jiangye nervously rubbed his hands. But meeting the Border Collie’s similarly brown eyes, he gave up on any roundabout wording and asked directly:
“Do you like my German Shepherd?”
Border Collies are very smart dogs. And this one had protected the babies from a gang of bad humans, found shelter with a serious injury, and survived together with the tortoiseshell cat—its intelligence was obvious.
So the moment Lin Jiangye asked, the Border Collie understood: that imposing German Shepherd had taken a liking to it.
The Border Collie lay back down in its nest and thought seriously for a while, then suddenly asked:
[You’re worried I’ll take your German Shepherd away, aren’t you?]
See? This was what a smart dog looked like—hitting the exact point of Lin Jiangye’s deepest anxiety.
It stung a little, but Lin Jiangye didn’t hide it. He admitted his worry outright.
“Actually, the German Shepherd doesn’t entirely ‘belong’ to my house. We agreed that after all the stray dogs were adopted out, it could choose whether to stay or go. But… I think even if all the strays have owners now, it’ll still stay.”
Because in this time together, Lin Jiangye had learned the German Shepherd was extremely affectionate and loyal. In casework and daily life, they’d built deep trust. Lin Jiangye believed he wouldn’t abandon the dog—and the dog wouldn’t leave for no reason.
But the German Shepherd’s love-at-first-sight had lit the last spark of Lin Jiangye’s buried worry.
What if—just what if—the German Shepherd really wanted to leave together with the Border Collie?
Seeing the usually calm young man show such concern, the Border Collie’s guarded heart softened completely.
It lifted its head and gently nudged Lin Jiangye’s arm with its wet nose.
[No one wants a three-legged dog.]
Lin Jiangye poked its head unhappily.
“You can’t say that. Someone will definitely like you. You’re so pretty!”
Because of adoption, he now had plenty of wealthy contacts. Many wanted to adopt purely based on “love at first sight”; breed mattered less.
And honestly, looking at this Border Collie again—Lin Jiangye felt it would very likely be chosen by those people.
As for three legs? That wasn’t even a problem.
He’d already thought of a full prosthetic. How could rich people not think of it too?
The Border Collie stared at Lin Jiangye’s expression the whole time. When it saw how earnestly serious he was, it froze slightly, staring at its missing leg in disbelief.
Someone… would really like it like this?
Well, not counting the human in front of it. This human was the type who seemed capable of liking any animal.
Luckily it didn’t say that out loud. Otherwise Lin Jiangye would absolutely grab its snout and correct it:
“Wrong. Cockroaches, mosquitoes, flies—those can all go die!”
The Border Collie shook its head, then asked:
[If the German Shepherd doesn’t like me, will you still adopt me?]
Lin Jiangye nodded, genuinely confused. He’d said before bringing it back that he would take care of it, hadn’t he?
The Border Collie asked again:
[What if later I fight with the German Shepherd? Will you throw me out?]
Lin Jiangye was surprised it would ask such a human-like question. But the root was favoritism—and animals can sense favoritism too. It was afraid that if it fought with the German Shepherd, Lin Jiangye would choose the German Shepherd and abandon it.
“No. At worst I’ll separate you two. I’ll buy the back mountain sooner or later. If I really build a wildlife park later, and you fight and don’t want to see each other, one of you can live by the front gate and the other by the back gate.”
Even the back mountain alone was 500 mu. With that much space, avoiding each other wasn’t hard.
After hearing the answer it wanted, the Border Collie still didn’t directly say whether it wanted to “date” the German Shepherd. It only said it wanted to talk to the German Shepherd.
“Alright. I’ll go call it.”
When Lin Jiangye left the tea room, he suddenly felt like a father arranging a blind date for his son…
He told the German Shepherd, and it bounced into the tea room happily, trotting like a little pony.
Lin Jiangye didn’t know what they discussed in there, but he did know this:
The next morning, the German Shepherd was already lying beside the Border Collie.
So clingy—completely different from its former cold, aloof “boss dog” image.
Even the staff noticed the change. Someone curious came to Lin Jiangye and whispered to ask what happened.
Lin Jiangye answered calmly:
“Love at first sight. It’s courting right now.”
The people passing by froze, staring in disbelief.
Jiang Xin let out an excited “wow,” then seemed to remember something and asked softly:
“Um… did you neuter the German Shepherd?”
Lin Jiangye shook his head. Back then the German Shepherd was still a high-and-mighty cool guy; he didn’t dare force it into surgery.
Now thinking back, he was glad he hadn’t. Otherwise… the Border Collie would only end up facing a neutered male.
Just imagining that outcome made Lin Jiangye laugh a little.
Now it was perfect: the German Shepherd wasn’t neutered, the Border Collie wasn’t neutered either. If they really did fall for each other and had puppies…
He searched up what German Shepherd × black-and-white Border Collie puppies looked like. They were pretty cute, honestly, and his heart instantly settled.
While Lin Jiangye was enjoying this peaceful, beautiful new life, a white leucistic sika deer was sprinting toward them.
At the same time, a large white bird swept across the sky above its head.
[Almost there, almost there! Once we find that human, the home will finally be clean!]
