Transcendent Dawn

“Arf… woof!”

After breakfast, Su Lu grabbed a dog leash and took Hallock out for a walk.

Hallock, the dog being walked, was far from reluctant. On the contrary, he seemed particularly excited. He had likely been cooped up for a while and was now running back and forth and round and round Su Lu nonstop.

If it hadn’t been for the leash, the dog would’ve probably disappeared in no time.

“Alright, calm down, Hallock… we have a fixed schedule for today.”

Su Lu said, tightening his dog leash.

His plan for the day was to explore all the ‘mysterious places’ within the city, first determining whether it was a supernatural or a false alarm. Next, he would confirm if it was an anomaly or a creature.

Even though the ‘Saintess’ of the ‘Shadow Council’ seemed reliable, Su Lu trusted himself more.

By this time, the morning sun had fully risen above the horizon, its orange light illuminating the earth.

The air held a slight chill, and many people had already emerged from the apartments on Black Rose Street.

They were mostly respectable middle-class citizens, or students and office workers sharing the rent. Everyone greeted each other courteously before going to work or starting their morning exercises.

There were also others taking their dogs for a walk, who greeted Su Lu with a friendly smile.

‘Speaking of which… according to the local customs, I should’ve sent pies or candies to my neighbors after moving in… I totally forgot about it… Never mind, it’s not a big deal anyway.’

Thought Su Lu nonchalantly.

Hallock, with his tongue hanging out long was extremely excited, eyeing each passing dog.

‘But… what does it mean, Hallock, when you, a husky, are so interested in a Chihuahua or a dachshund?’

Su Lu mused to himself until he saw a bully dog.

Its owner was a muscular man with a crew cut, and they seemed to be a perfect match.

“Arf!!”

Hallock became even more animated, barking madly at the other dog.

This situation felt oddly familiar to Su Lu; he couldn’t help but wonder if his husky had been bullied by this bully dog before.

Of course, it could also be that Hallock was trying to show off his strength and fearlessness in front of the lady dogs nearby?

— This is indeed something a supernaturally enhanced dog would do!

“Woof woof!”

The bully dog, at least twice the size of Hallock, was obviously not in a good temper and started barking back in return. Its owner looked at Hallock and disdainfully told Su Lu: “Control your dog!”

“Sorry…”

Since it was Hallock that provoked them first, Su Lu didn’t want to stir up trouble.

He turned his head, looking at a figure across the street, looking somewhat distracted.

‘That person… doesn’t seem to be a local tenant, but I’ve seen them several times… and… they seem to be very interested in my house.’

What made him notice was a woman in her twenties, dressed in a gender-neutral style with a baseball cap on her head.

As if aware of Su Lu’s gaze, she promptly pulled her cap lower and quickly left.

To Su Lu, this behavior seemed suspicious: “Is she here to spy on Apartment 13? Because of me? Or the previous tenant?”

He felt a nagging urge to follow her and find out more.

But at that moment, the barking competition between the two dogs had reached a fever pitch.

The muscular man with the crew cut looked at the ‘weaker’ Su Lu and let out a sneer before letting go of his dog leash.

“Uh… let’s not go overboard.”

Su Lu issued a warning before doing the same.

“Don’t worry, my Zack won’t kill him!” the muscular man made a throat-slitting gesture with a broad grin on his golden bearded face.

“No… I was talking to my dog!”

Su Lu shrugged.

The next moment, howls and whimpers could be heard from the bully dog.

Like a triumphant general, Hallock strolled off, leaving the bully dog lying on his back, showing his white belly in surrender, and returned to Su Lu’s side. He even threw a flirtatious glance at a few ‘ladies’ watching from the sideline.

“No… My dog… Zack…”

The man with the crew cut’s face turned ashen, he rushed over to his defeated dog: “How could you do this to him? He’s just a child…”

Su Lu rolled his eyes, feeling that dealing with this kind of person was beneath him.

Just then, he caught sight of Wood approaching. He gestured for him to take care of the situation, then, leading the exhausted Hallock, they left.

East Minglang Street.

Su Lu was looking at the Boroch Building some tens of meters away. The building was now completely sealed off, with police lines and patrolling officers preventing anyone from entering.

Clearly, following the tragic casualties in the recent supernatural event here, The Eleventh Bureau had taken over, but it had not resolved the issue, only chose to seal off the area.

This was how many ‘restricted areas’ came into being.

They either couldn’t be resolved, or the cost was disproportionate to the payoff. As long as the impact wasn’t too severe, this was the go-to solution.

“It is indeed the breath of the supernatural… I can sense the presence of a spiritual body… It’s…very powerful…”

Su Lu muttered to himself, not recklessly moving any closer.

His own ‘presence’ was extremely strong and he has defeated numerous spiritual bodies. Once he moved closer, it could potentially be seen as a ‘declaration of war’. If that happened, the evil spirit here might go berserk.

Next to him, Hallock sat obediently, no longer the mischievous pooch, he too stared seriously at the building across the street.

“Remember? If it’s a spirit body, bark three times. If it’s a magical creature, bark twice!”

Su Lu instructed Hallock through their temporary contract.

“Woof woof woof!”

Hallock wagged his tail, showing that he had remembered.

“Good, let’s go check out the next place…”

Su Lu looked at his pocket watch with a smile: “Let’s try to cover the city today and head to the suburbs tomorrow…”

Once Hallock understood the idea and was trained to be a professional dog, Su Lu believed that his search for magical creatures wouldn’t be as difficult – all he needed to do would be to take it out for a sniff around the streets.

Clip-clop! Clip-clop!

At that moment, a black carriage sped past, coming to a halt in front of the Boroch Building.

The carriage door opened and several people in uniform, black trench coats stepped out.

Su Lu was familiar with their garb and demeanor; these were agents from the Federal Eleventh Bureau!

Of course, this place was their ‘restricted area’, and its location wasn’t great, so it was understandable for them to patrol occasionally.

These agents scoped the surroundings and one of them, who was facing away from Su Lu, turned around to meet his gaze.

Su Lu had been staring at the building for quite a while, so his attention seemed a bit suspicious.

Su Lu also looked back at the agent.

The man was tall and slender, with triangular eyes and burgundy hair. Despite wearing a suit, the sleazy look on his face was unmistakable.

‘Sean!’

Su Lu silently spat out the name.

That agent from The Eleventh Bureau turned out to be his former roommate, Sean, who was once kidnapped by the Black Death Society but was saved and successfully became a Transcendent!