Future Pet Shop

Just a few yards ahead was a low shrub where a dog lay panting. It was entirely brownish-yellow, with two triangular ears perked forward, and it stared goofily at Shen Yibin. It showed no fear as he approached. Instead of getting up to run, it even let out a couple of barks.

'Could this be the one?' Shen Yibin quickly pulled out his phone, opened the pet radar, and checked again. Unless another animal was hiding in the shrub, this dog had to be it. Capturing his previous pets—Shi Gaofei, Egg, Bald Qiang, and Marc—had been exhausting. Shi Gaofei had escaped multiple times, and a tree Bald Qiang gnawed through had nearly crushed him. But this dog was just lying there, completely still. 'Could it really be this easy?'

'There's no way this is it, right?' Seeing it act like this, Shen Yibin grew even more skeptical. He cautiously took two steps forward, but the brownish-yellow dog still didn't get up. On the contrary, it barked more eagerly, as if it had been waiting there just for him, its yaps filled with warmth.

'I'm believing this less and less! You're not going to run, are you? Fine, then I'll just check if there are any other animals in here.' Shen Yibin picked up a dry branch and rustled it around in the shrub, but nothing ran out. Still uneasy, he craned his neck to search above. There were no large trees within a couple of meters of the bush, so nothing could be hiding up there either.

'It can't be hiding underground, can it?' Shen Yibin turned his gaze to the base of the shrub, trying to find any holes or burrows. But after circling it a few times, he came up empty. He found absolutely nothing.

"So it really is you, little guy?" Shen Yibin returned to the front of the dog and crouched down, gently reaching out to stroke its head. The little fella didn't resist. It just lowered its head obediently and let Shen Yibin pet it. "Is your owner nearby? Why'd you run off into the mountains by yourself? You're not even scared of strangers."

Shen Yibin mumbled to himself, wondering what to do next. 'If it were a Mongoose, a Beaver, or a panda, that would be simple. Not many people keep those kinds of pets, so one in the wild would definitely be ownerless. But a dog is different. It looks pretty clean... Does it already have an owner? What should I do? Find the owner and offer to buy it?'

'The Future Pet Shop wouldn't give me this kind of problem, would it?' Shen Yibin thought, feeling unsure. But recalling all of the Future Pet Shop's past antics, he knew its principles—or lack thereof—were hardly reassuring. Finding and catching the animal had been effortless this time, which made it highly likely that some other trouble was waiting for him down the line.

"Come on, I'll take you down the mountain," Shen Yibin said after some thought. He decided not to take out the pill and feed it to the dog just yet. For one thing, he was afraid it might be the wrong animal. For another, what if it had an owner who refused to sell? Once the pill was used, it was gone, and he highly doubted the Future Pet Shop would send a replacement. 'Better to lead it down the mountain, check for any clues, and ask around the nearby houses to see if anyone recognizes it.'

"WOOF! WOOF!" The yellow dog seemed to understand him. It tried to push itself up with its front paws but stopped halfway and lowered itself again, still looking up at Shen Yibin with a silly grin.

"Come on, I've got yummy treats. Come down with me, and I'll give you some." 'Just get up already! What's so great about this spot?' Shen Yibin was starting to get annoyed.

"WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!" The dog stayed put on the ground, this time not even trying to move. Its barks, however, sounded more urgent than before, as if it was afraid Shen Yibin might abandon it and leave alone.

'Huh? What's going on? I'm telling you to come with me, but you won't budge. You're not scared of me, are you? But if you were scared, you'd have gotten up and run away already.' Shen Yibin was completely stumped. 'What in the world are you doing, just lying here in this bush?'

'Wait a minute... the bush? That's right, why are you so determined to stay wedged in there?' Shen Yibin subconsciously looked past the dog's neck toward its hindquarters. The sight made him snort with laughter. 'Holy crap! No wonder you wouldn't get up! You big doofus, you're stuck on a branch and can't move!'

'Hang on... Entirely brownish-yellow fur, medium build, triangular ears perked forward, smallish oval eyes, a tapered muzzle... Isn't this a Shiba Inu? No wonder it got stuck! Oh, right, Shiba Inus are common in Japan's Kantou region, so it's not that strange to find one here. And it's even less strange that it's stuck. Is it even a real Shiba if it doesn't get stuck somewhere at least once a day?'

"Alright, alright, don't worry, I'll get you out right now!" Shen Yibin said, suppressing a laugh. Who knew how long the poor thing had been stuck here. He pushed aside the branches and freed the unlucky creature.

"WOOF! WOOF!" Finally free from its predicament, the Shiba Inu immediately scrambled out and shook its body vigorously. It must have been stuck for quite a while; its little body had gone stiff.

"Are you hungry? If you are, I'll take you to get something to eat!" 'Ai, you poor kid,' Shen Yibin said casually while pulling out his phone to study it again. 'The previous Mutant Animals I've met were all incredibly smart. This one is dumb enough to get itself stuck. There's no way it's the one I'm looking for!'

'You've got to be kidding me. The orange dot moved?' Shen Yibin followed the radar's indicator and looked up, only to see the Shiba Inu staring at him goofily. It was panting heavily with its tongue out and eyes squinted, looking like it couldn't wait to go get something to eat with him.

'It really is him!' Shen Yibin felt his whole worldview beginning to crumble. 'Since when does the Future Pet Shop sell defective products? One look at this guy and you can tell he's not all there in the brains department!'

'You sent the wrong one, didn't you?' Shen Yibin immediately opened WeChat, found the Future Pet Shop, and sent a message. 'Yep, that has to be it!'

"Nope. You already found it, didn't you? I can see on the radar that your positions have overlapped. It's the Japanese Shiba Inu right in front of you. Take good care of it!" With that, the Future Pet Shop went silent, giving no further response no matter what he typed.

"Mr. Bin! Mr. Bin! Where on earth are you?" Just as he put down his phone and was having a staredown with the Shiba Inu, he heard Sakai Kaori's urgent shouts from farther up the mountain.

'Oops, I've been down here for a while. I should get back up there.' Shen Yibin quickly shouted a reply and started heading back up the mountain, leading the intellectually challenged Shiba Inu with him.