Chapter 3

After using the Insight skill, Xu Dong suddenly noticed that the guard dog in front of the door, which was less than ten meters away from him in a straight line, had suddenly perked up its ears and instinctively raised its nose, as if it had sensed something unusual and was trying to extract useful scent information from the air.

This discovery made Xu Dong inwardly shudder. Despite his covert observation, the large black curly-haired dog had instinctively sensed something amiss. In fact, it was now approaching the house where Xu Dong was hiding.

As it got closer, Xu Dong truly realized the size of this large dog. Just standing, it was as tall as an adult's waist. Only the Great Pyrenees or Alaskan Malamutes he had seen in his previous life could compare in size. Moreover, this black curly-haired dog had a pair of triangular eyes, making it look even more ferocious, a menacing aura that could only be compared to that of a German Shepherd or a Pit Bull.

Xu Dong couldn't help but hold his breath, not daring to breathe heavily, for fear that his breath or scent would attract the dog's attention. He wasn't overly afraid, but he was concerned that if they came into contact unprepared, it could easily turn into a life-or-death struggle, which might alarm other dogs and lead to unpredictable consequences.

At that moment, he suddenly heard a series of hurried footsteps outside the window. The moment these footsteps appeared, the large dog outside the door immediately abandoned its exploration and ran away.

The footsteps were clearly not those of the guard dog's four legs running, but rather the sound of someone in cloth shoes sprinting! A bad thought flashed through Xu Dong's mind, and he immediately peered out through the window's crack.

Soon, a middle-aged man, who looked quite strong and was wearing rough, dark blue clothes, came into view. He was sprinting, and both his clothes and shoes were stained with a glaring red blood. Xu Dong could even see several gruesome wounds under his loosely pulled shirt. These wounds were all bleeding profusely, and it was this blood that had dyed the man's clothes red.

Even without much imagination, it was clear that the maker of these wounds was the six or seven sturdy guard dogs that were still chasing the man, looking for an opportunity to take a vicious bite.

Suddenly, the black short-haired guard dog that had paused in front of Xu Dong's door earlier ran out from the side, crouched down, and leaped nearly two meters high, drawing a parabolic arc in the air. During this process, the dog adjusted its front paws, and at the moment of contact, it fiercely pressed down on the middle-aged man's shoulder.

The sharp claws tore through the man's shirt with a ripping sound, leaving two deep cuts on his body, and blood immediately gushed out.

The middle-aged man's forward momentum was interrupted by this sudden attack, and because it came from the side, he was knocked to the ground. Realizing the gravity of the situation, he let out a hysterical roar and swung a wooden stick with all his might, striking the black short-haired guard dog's nose. There was a loud "thud," and the dog let out a mournful howl, with two streams of blood shooting out of its nostrils!

The other guard dogs seized the opportunity and rushed forward like they were on a high, viciously tearing into the man who had fallen to the ground.

The sound of tearing fabric, screams of pain, and the tearing of flesh filled the air. Right before Xu Dong's eyes, the middle-aged man was literally torn open, and even a piece of his intestine was pulled out by a guard dog, which ran off with it in its mouth, as if afraid of being robbed, but in the process, the rest of the intestine dragged on the ground, attracting two other guard dogs to fight over it.

Despite his impending death, the middle-aged man managed to find an opportunity to drag two guard dogs down with him.

After killing the middle-aged man, the guard dogs scattered, continuing to look for their next victims.

Xu Dong, hiding behind the window, saw this scene clearly. His scalp tingled, and a surge of anger rose in his heart.

Xu Dong pursed his lips and looked around, finding a small, sturdy iron knife in the corner. The knife was heavily rusted, with a layer of rust that couldn't be scraped off, and the blade was extremely dull. Even if he pressed his finger against it hard, it wouldn't cut the skin. The only advantage of the small iron knife was its hardness and sharpness.

With a suitable weapon in hand, Xu Dong began to set up a trap. He first moved the water barrel carefully to the window, then arranged the window mechanism, and finally climbed onto the beam, looking calm and composed, waiting for the prey to fall into the trap.

Not long after, a guard dog appeared outside the door, coincidentally the same black curly-haired one. Xu Dong used the Insight skill on it without hesitation. When he used this skill earlier, the dog had clearly shown a cautious reaction. Using the same trick again, he immediately attracted the dog's attention.

The guard dog approached cautiously, its steps particularly light and silent. It was easy to imagine how difficult it would be to deal with them once they entered the forest. It quickly climbed the steps and came to the front of the door.

The guard dog tried to push open the dark wooden door with its nose but was blocked by the door. Estimating that the dog had experience with brute force, it took a step back and then leaped forward, ramming into the door. However, the double-door was much harder than it expected, and with a dull thud, it showed no signs of damage, only making the dog a bit angry.

The injured black curly-haired guard dog's anger flared up, and it rammed into the door twice more, but still couldn't break through. Just as it was about to howl in frustration, it noticed a window nearby.

The window was about 1.3 meters above the ground, and the guard dog could reach it by standing on its hind legs. It tried to push the window with its nose, finding it not very tight, and then retreated, preparing to pounce and break through the window.

Unbeknownst to the dog, it was falling into the trap Xu Dong had set.

The guard dog pounced, sprinting three steps and then colliding with the window.

Xu Dong had already timed it perfectly, pulling out the wedge and opening the window. The wooden window slammed against the wall with a loud "thud." Fortunately, the village was filled with barking and shouting, so Xu Dong wasn't worried about these small sounds attracting other guard dogs.

The guard dog, as it pounced through the window, suddenly found itself in a dark space, then felt a sudden plunge into a cold liquid. It entered headfirst, landing in the water barrel with its head down and its rear up, unable to make a sound.

At that moment, Xu Dong nimbly jumped down from the beam, quickly closing the window to avoid making more noise. Meanwhile, the guard dog in the water barrel struggled to adjust its position, and its head finally emerged from the murky water, spouting two streams of water from its nostrils, looking quite comical.

In the unfamiliar environment, the guard dog panicked and thrashed about, splashing a lot of water, clearly a pitiful sight of a drenched dog.

Just as the guard dog was about to bark to call for help, a young human with a sinister smile pounced on it. This scene didn't remind it of the hungry humans during festivals...

"Beat the dog while it's down!"

Xu Dong didn't wait for the dog to bark. He grabbed its head with one hand and thrust the rusty iron knife with the other. With a "thud," the knife pierced deep into the dog's neck. He could feel the dog's body tremble violently and struggle fiercely.

Xu Dong gritted his teeth, thinking of the middle-aged man who had been torn apart and eaten by the dogs, his eyes bloodshot, and he hissed through his teeth, "Die!"

The rusty iron knife wildly stirred in the dog's neck, tearing through the throat, arteries, trachea, and lymph nodes, turning the area into a bloody mess. Large amounts of blood gushed from the wound, mixing with the water in the barrel, turning it a sickly red, and the air filled with a pungent, metallic smell.

"Yelp!"

In its dying moments, the guard dog showed surprising ferocity, suddenly twisting its head with a force that made the sound of its neck muscles tearing. It then opened its mouth and bit down on Xu Dong's arm.

If Xu Dong hadn't sensed the danger and tightened his grip on the knife while quickly pulling back his hand, he might have been bitten deeply. Even so, his arm was scratched by the dog's sharp teeth, leaving two red marks.

Finally, the 45-kilogram guard dog let out two painful yelps from deep in its throat, its body gradually relaxing, and it died unwillingly.

Xu Dong let the dog's body sink into the water barrel and hurriedly crouched by the window, ensuring that the commotion hadn't attracted other guard dogs. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief.

This was his first time slaughtering an animal, and Xu Dong felt a wave of nausea. However, his attention soon turned to the Insight skill. To his surprise, the proficiency bar for the Insight skill had increased slightly. After some thought, he understood that repeating the skill on the same species wouldn't increase proficiency.

On the other hand, at the bottom of the survival task, a new counter appeared, showing that Xu Dong had killed one guard dog.

Killing the first guard dog, Xu Dong felt a surge of excitement. He repeated the same trick, using the Insight skill to provoke and lure more dogs. Through repeated use, he gradually learned some techniques, such as the effective range and how to avoid detection.

In just half an hour, the small house was filled with the bodies of ten guard dogs. The strong smell of blood made Xu Dong feel nauseous. Although the trap for killing dogs was simple and effective, as a beginner, he inevitably made some mistakes. Fortunately, the relatively enclosed space he had created meant that even if he made a mistake, the worst outcome would be a one-on-one confrontation.

Thus, when facing the last guard dog that had avoided the trap, Xu Dong paid a price to kill it. The dog had clawed his arm fiercely, leaving a five-centimeter-long wound with the skin flayed open. Even though it was just a flesh wound, the pain made him grit his teeth and curse.

As Xu Dong was killing the dogs, the barking and shouting in the village gradually diminished. Occasionally, a stray bark could be heard, mostly from the guard dogs. He leaned against the window, observing the scene outside, and noticed that the road was in chaos, with no sign of the guard dogs.

After some thought, he realized that this place was no longer suitable for setting traps. He pursed his lips, considering that the geographical advantage was gone, and decided to abandon it, stepping out of the house.

As he walked out, Xu Dong instinctively looked up at the sky, which was even clearer and bluer than he had imagined. However, when he noticed the state of the village, he couldn't help but sigh. Almost every house had bloodstains at the door.

Apart from the indescribable desolation and horror, there was a chilling silence, broken only by the occasional creaking of wind-dried meat on the eaves and the clucking of chickens from the coops behind the houses, providing a faint sense of normalcy.

It was easy to imagine that after this attack by the guard dogs, the village was on the brink of ruin.

Suddenly, a fierce barking and a wild, ear-splitting roar came from not far away. If Xu Dong's ears didn't deceive him, the roar was from a man!

Without much thought, Xu Dong pursed his lips and ran in the direction of the sound.

The village, which seemed to have once been prosperous, had at least a hundred houses. Xu Dong passed by a dilapidated tavern. For some reason, the village had lost its former glory, and many of the houses, arranged in a grid pattern, were now abandoned.

The village roads were not complicated, with only two main streets, one vertical and one horizontal, forming a cross. The houses were orderly distributed along the main roads.

Turning left, Xu Dong soon found a particularly large and spacious house with a pair of double doors painted in a dark red, giving it a rustic and wealthy appearance. The doors were closed, and from Xu Dong's angle, he could see an old man with a goatee peering out from behind the wall, his face a mix of urgency and fear.

In front of this courtyard, a particularly muscular man was wildly swinging an iron rod. Even from a distance, Xu Dong could hear the whistling sound of the rod as it cut through the air. The rod was deadly to the guard dogs, and as a result, a two-meter radius in front of the man was eerily clear...

No! The ground was already littered with countless dog corpses, their blood seeping into the brown earth, creating a terrifying and gruesome scene.

However, when Xu Dong saw the swarm of guard dogs surrounding the man, he quickly covered his mouth, afraid of involuntarily shouting in shock.

Damn, the number of guard dogs was over ten! Among them was a large, golden-furred dog, similar to a Golden Retriever but with a build even stronger than a Great Pyrenees, standing out among the pack, eyeing the man with a menacing gaze!