Pet King

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Snowy listened to the child crying. He sounded very distressed. She ran over and tore open a pack of paper towels to wipe away his tears and snot. She said, “Child, don’t cry. Continue crying, and you will lose your voice.”

The fat boy cried constantly when there was no one around. When a beautiful big sister came over to comfort him, he knew he’d had good luck and instead cried harder. He also gasped loudly, which simply added to the noise pollution.

Zhang Zian’s rationale for these type of children was that the more he reacted to their crying, the more they cried. Thus, he refrained from reacting to it.

He would wait to see how long the child could cry. Wouldn’t he stop once he got tired?

To speak the truth, this was like taming a dog. One must let them know that crying wouldn’t get it extra attention. Also, they could not get treats for doing that, or they would be much more difficult to handle in the future.

However, even if this was the case, the specific situation should be analyzed. For example, this situation was rather complex. This was not a normal child. He was rather thick-skinned. His verbal attacks earlier had been unable to make him cry to this extent. Had someone really hit him after he’d left this area?

Although the boy was chubby and spoke without hesitation or thought, he nevertheless would not resort to violence with adults. When faced with peers of the same age, he could easily crush them with his weight.

So why was he crying? Was he hurt?

Since summer arrived, many people in the street had put on short-sleeved shirts. The fat boy was no different. The combination of a short-sleeved shirt and sandals meant that he was not afraid of the cold.

Children were anxious and often ran about without looking at the road. Perhaps he had fallen and scraped his knee. That would really hurt, as the knee was made of fragile cartilage.

Zhang Zian’s gaze bypassed Snowy, and he glanced at the boy’s knees. They were meaty, but they were not red or swollen, and there was no broken skin.

It wasn’t a fall. So… Had he gotten itchy fingers and gone to tease a cat or dog, only to be bitten? This was very likely.

Children around the boy’s age knew little about the behavior of cats and dogs. They would, out of the blue, pull a cat’s tail or a dog’s ears. Alas, if they were scratched by a cat or dog that had an owner, they would have to compensate the kid. However, if the animal was a stray, then the kid was merely unlucky.

The fat boy had run from the greenspace, which was the base camp of stray cats living nearby. Perhaps he had angered some of them. Although Vladimir’s stray cats would not take the initiative to cause trouble, they had a creed of “Don’t bother me, and I won’t bother you.” If someone bothered them, they would not take it lying down and would always retaliate. For the fat boy to be injured in the scuffle was likely to be rather reasonable.

As for stray dogs, they were quite rare in the city. When someone had been scratched by a cat or bitten by a dog, it was usually an injury to the hand.

Zhang Zian looked at the boy’s meaty hands. Besides a ton of mucus, there was no scratch on them. This was strange.

“Child, don’t always cry. Tell big sister, where are you feeling unwell?” Snowy was unable to wipe his tears faster than the tears were flowing out. Soon, her pack of paper towels had been used up.

“Ah! Ah! My neck hurts!”

The fat boy had cried until he was very tired. His hands were trembling, and he wanted to reach to the back of his neck. However, his fat hands were small, and his arms could not bend. He could not reach it.

“Oh, your neck hurts… Let big sister see.” Snowy refrained from laughing, nudging the fat boy to turn around.

“What?” Zhang Zian and Snowy exclaimed at the same time.

Originally, they’d thought that the boy’s neck pain was nothing more than a muscle strain or the result of being poked by branches. That would not have been a big deal. However, once he turned around, they both got a shock.

At the portion where his neck met his back, there was a huge swollen area. Even his shirt had a big bulge. The red rash spread all the way to his neck.

It wasn’t only the two of them, but also the netizens in the live broadcast, who were shocked.

Snowy’s scalp turned numb, and her hand trembled. She almost dropped her phone.

“This…this… What is going on?” She had not seen such a serious injury and was suddenly very shocked. She turned to Zhang Zian for help. “Mr. Manager, this…”

The boy’s incessant crying attracted the stares of a few passersby. After all, it was the weekend, and everyone was relatively idle. Seeing this situation, everyone was stunned.

“Do you want to call an ambulance?”

“Yeah, it looks like a terrible injury…”

“Looks scary…”

There was no business in the store, and everything was also clean. The staff, upon hearing the crying, also ran out to take a look.

“Whoa! Is he allergic to anything?” Wang Qian asked.

Zhang Zian had already walked to the fat boy’s side, pulled up the short-sleeved shirt from the back, and rolled it up.

The short-sleeved shirt had been completely soaked by his sweat. When Zhang Zian rolled it up, it rubbed against the red and swollen parts. The fat boy, who had stopped crying, started once more.

The red patch was located under his neck, next to his shoulder blade, and it had swelled to about half a centimeter to one centimeter. It was distributed like several adjacent islands, and it was so red it looked like it could catch fire anytime.

Everyone took a deep breath. Snowy was scared and almost cried out, but she quickly covered her mouth.

“It seems to be an allergic reaction.”

“Yes, he might have touched something that he’s allergic to…”

“Looks like it.”

“Hurry up and call his parents and send him to the hospital.”

“Allergies are dangerous…”

The allergy argument dominated the mainstream, and Wang Qian was somewhat proud that the rest had jumped on his evaluation.

Many people were allergic to certain things to varying degrees. Common allergies were pollen, cats and dogs, certain meats, certain fruits, and certain metals.

Redness and swelling of the skin was a typical symptom of an allergic reaction.

Zhang Zian also thought that this was a symptom of an allergy, but if it was an allergic reaction, part of it could not be explained. The red and swollen portion of his skin was covered by a short-sleeved shirt. If it was a strong allergic reaction caused by skin contact with allergens, why hadn’t all of his exposed skin been affected? How had the allergen come into contact with the red and swollen parts through his clothes?

The weather was fine today, and the morning sun shone on the fat boy’s back.

Zhang Zian stood beside the boy. When his line of sight shifted slightly, he suddenly noticed something on the red skin.

“Don’t move!”

Because the pain was unbearable, the boy could only struggle on the spot. Zhang Zian increased the force applied on his shoulder and held him in position.

Now, Zhang Zian could see it clearly. On the red and swollen skin, there were dozens of thin, sharp, transparent hairs. If he hadn’t gotten closer to observe, he would not have seen them.