Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Dog

◎I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you◎

A night without dreams.

…… No, maybe there was a dream, but when I woke up, my mind was blank—I remembered nothing.

Shen Muyun stood in front of the mirror, habitually counting the green patches on his skin, then noticed a dark spot on his left chest that was bright red and had strange tooth marks beside it.

The tooth marks were sharp and thin, with dense rows above and below—definitely not the mark left by human teeth.

It had been a long time since Shen Muyun had slept so deeply. His brain was in a state of rest, so he simply touched the tooth marks, too lazy to think deeply and simply considered them a hallucination.

Besides the tooth mark hallucination, the green patches on his body were spreading—one more patch than yesterday, but the color seemed lighter.

Could it be that the doctor’s peach-flavored effervescent tablets helped him relax?

The thought of effervescent tablets made his arms start to prickly, as if something extremely terrifying was happening. But after thinking carefully for three seconds, he couldn’t recall the taste of effervescent tablets.

Probably because he slept too deeply.

Shen Muyun took a warm bath as usual. He was in good spirits and went downstairs to eat breakfast with his mother.

Today’s breakfast was abundant, and he was very hungry. But for some reason, there was a strange sticky aroma in his mouth while eating.

He had to eat slowly. Shen Lingshan watched patiently beside him until he finished everything. Then Shen Lingshan said, “You have a letter today.”

Shen Muyun: “A letter from me?”

“Hmm, maybe it’s an invitation for the exhibition,” Shen Lingshan said, “I didn’t open it on the coffee table.”

Shen Muyun walked over to the coffee table and picked up the pink envelope. There was no stamp on the envelope; only crooked handwriting read [Shen Muyun Receives].

He took the envelope back to the dining table, used a knife to cut open the seal, and inside was a thin, indescribable “paper” that felt soft and smooth, reminiscent of human skin or the skin of a snake just shed.

Shen Muyun’s breathing suddenly tightened, his forehead started to sweat, and he felt a subtle, strange intuition.

He carefully opened the “paper”.

……“I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you,

—— He had seen such peculiar characters before.

In his dream, “The Great Serpent” used the evidence of his fall as ink and the tip of its tail as a pen, writing “I love you” repeatedly on him with crooked handwriting, sticking it firmly onto his body.

Who?

Who sent the letter?!

“What was written?” someone beside him asked.

Shen Muyun bit the tip of his tongue to calm down after the shock, then after a few seconds, he pretended nothing happened and folded the letter neatly, putting it back into the envelope.

Shen Lingshan looked at the trembling tip of his finger and frowned: “Show me. Did someone send you some weird stuff?”

Shen Muyun quickly put the envelope into his pocket, smiled at his mother, and said, “Nothing. Just an… invitation.”

Shen Lingshan frowned even deeper. After looking at him for a moment, he called out to the kitchen: “Auntie Lin.”

The housekeeper came with a fruit plate: “Miss, what’s wrong?”

“Do you remember who sent the letter this morning?”

Hearing this, the housekeeper immediately said “ouch” and shared something new: “The messenger today was really interesting—a big black dog! When I got back from buying groceries, I saw it sitting quietly at the door, holding the letter in its mouth. After seeing me, it put the letter into my grocery bag and ran away.”

“A big black dog? How big?”

The housekeeper gestured near her thigh: “Very big! It reached this area. At first, I was scared, but since its fur was clean and its muscles strong, and it didn’t make a sound, I thought it must be domesticated.”

Shen Lingshan: “How can the property allow a large dog without a leash to enter the community? And…” She turned to look at Shen Muyun: “Why use a dog to deliver an invitation for a exhibition?”

Shen Muyun said nothing, just stared at the dining knife in silence, as if lost in thought.

Shen Lingshan sighed and stopped talking, waved her hand for the aunt to leave first, planning to arrange a investigation using surveillance footage later to find out who was playing a prank.

As for that letter—the son didn’t want her to read it, so she wouldn’t read it either.

Shen Lingshan has always been very tolerant toward her only child.

“Are you going to continue drawing at home today?” Shen Lingshan tried to change the subject, hoping to help her shocked son calm down. “I saw a sketch of your new painting. It seems to be a character portrait? It’s rare to see you draw characters.”

Shen Muyun just nodded, her pupils still trembling.

“Or maybe I can call Xiao Yu back and let him take you out for a walk to clear your mind?”

Shen Muyun shook her head and stood up, saying, “No need, mom. I want to finish that painting quickly. You eat slowly, I’ll go upstairs now.”

Shen Lingshan watched as he disappeared into his room, quickly frowning and calling security to find out who delivered the letter this morning.

The security team in the high-end residential area is very efficient.

Half an hour later, Shen Lingshan received the investigation results.

“Ms. Shen, we are very sorry,” the security guard sincerely apologized on the phone, “We checked all the video footage today, but we couldn’t find the black dog you mentioned. None of the pets registered by the owners match your description.”

Shen Lingshan crossed his eyebrows into a “S” shape and said, “You mean, that dog was smart enough to avoid all cameras, wait behind Auntie Lin’s house at the entrance, then avoid the cameras again and disappear unnoticed in the community. And you didn’t notice anything throughout the whole time?”

The security manager apologized repeatedly on the phone and promised repeatedly that patrols would be strengthened and surveillance increased, so such things would never happen again.

Shen Lingshan asked about every possible scenario, but received negative answers. She hung up the phone unhappily; her temples started hurting, and a subtle intuition came to her—it reminded her of that tragic birthday party twenty years ago.

Shen Lingshan bit her lip and quickly made a decision. She called her secretary to arrange cameras in the villa area and hired private bodyguards to protect the house.

Shen Muyun couldn’t have any more accidents, no matter what.

She thought with a headache.

……

Upstairs.

“I love you.”

Shen Muyun felt poisoned.

It was just an anonymous letter—likely a prank. The memories from a dream mixed with hallucinations were even less reliable. He should throw it into the shredder and tell Auntie Lin not to accept anything from strange dogs.

But it seemed the letter had taken his heart and soul. When he returned to the room, he took it out again, looked at it under the sun, and read each word carefully, over and over. By the time his eyes became dry and his neck sore, he finally confirmed one thing.

Every word in the letter was different.

For the writer, human language seems too difficult to understand, so every time he writes, he has to reorganize his strokes again.

Who on earth is it?

Shen Muyun nervously bites his thumb nail, repeatedly checking his social circle in his mind.

He has almost no friends and doesn’t like going out or socializing. This villa isn’t the Shen family mansion, and it’s located in a remote suburb, so few people know about it.

Very few people are familiar enough to know his address. Even if we include the relatives from both of his parents’ sides, there won’t be more than ten people.

The Shen family is small, and the relationships among relatives are friendly. It’s impossible for them to do such a prank on him. His father passed away in an accident, leaving him alone.

After excluding these relatives, there are very few “suspects.”

The first is his newly hired assistant, Shen Yi. On the second day after starting work, he told Shen Yi his address and granted him access to the community system.

The second is his personal doctor, Shen Jia. When he first visited Shen Jia, he accurately wrote down his address in his medical record.

The third is his good friend and Big Brother, Liang Heyu. Liang Heyu is the adopted son of his aunt, and they grew up together. Though they have no blood relation, their relationship has always been strong. Liang Heyu sometimes visits him at his house.

The fourth is a new colleague he met at school a few months ago—Shen Bing. That day, after a public class, he suddenly fell ill and fainted in the office for half an hour. When he woke up, he was already in Liang Heyu’s car. Not wanting to be taken to the hospital, Shen Muyun asked Liang Heyu to drive him home.

The fifth person is a rising artist that he greatly admires—Shen Ding. At a art exhibition, one of his works captured his attention deeply, and coincidentally, Shen Ding, the creator of that work, was standing beside him. Thus, they exchanged contact information. Shen Ding asked for his address, saying he wanted to send new works and asked for advice from him.

The sixth person…

Shen Muyun really couldn’t recall anyone else.

Beyond those, only a series of people like delivery drivers, online shopping sellers, school record room administrators, and others who had nothing to do with him could be considered suspects.

Only the five above were slightly familiar to him.

Who could it be?

Shen Muyun bit his nails into the flesh without realizing it, continuing to eat deeper. He shouldn’t dwell on random pranks, but this letter worried him greatly—every time he thought about it, it felt like ten thousand ants crawling in his chest.

Shen Muyun took a deep breath and stared at the letter darkly. Finally, he stopped touching his red thumb and reached for the corner of the paper.

He tore off the blank part and rushed it into his mouth, chewing it carefully like a food obsessionist.

…sweet.

…very soft in texture.

…delicious.

Shen Muyun swallowed the “paper” whole, still feeling satisfied.

By the time he realized what he was doing, he had eaten all the edges, leaving only the main part of the letter, and started to get excited about the envelope.

Shen Muyun stared blankly for a few seconds, then, as if burned, he threw the letter onto the bed and poured a whole glass of ice water, drinking it all at once.

What am I doing? he thought.

The cold water cooled the heat in his stomach. He remained calm for a few minutes, took a photo of the letter, folded it, and placed it deep in the bookcase so it wouldn’t be seen by him.

Then, he picked up his phone and sent a message to all five suspects at once:

“Do you like my paintings? Write your answer on paper and send it to me. Thank you.”

After sending the message, Shen Muyun threw his phone onto the bed, walked to the balcony of his bedroom, opened the window to let cool air in, and cooled his burning forehead.

Outside the window was a bright garden.

He pulled down the window curtain, about to turn back to the bed when he suddenly stopped.

He saw a large black dog.

As the aunt said, the dog was half a person tall, with glossy black fur, a slender and strong body. It stood on the balcony of a neighbor’s house, its yellow eyes fixed straight at Shen Muyun.

Shen Muyun was shocked; he instinctively stepped back two steps, stepping on the wooden stand used for paintings, and quickly lost his balance and fell to the ground.

His tailbone hurt badly, but he couldn’t move his eyes. He kept staring straight at the black dog, his eardrums beating loudly.

After three seconds of staring at each other, the dog suddenly opened its mouth, showing a red tongue, and wagged its tail happily across the street toward Shen Muyun.

Like a real dog that recognized its owner.

[📢 Author’s Note]

The dog attacker makes a dazzling entrance!