Urban Martial Saint

Ye Qing woke up among the water plants. Although the sky was bright, there was absolutely no one passing by in this area.

Ye Qing released the tail of the mongrel. The mongrel jumped up and dashed off. Running a bit far, it turned back, casting a frightened glance at Ye Qing. It was obvious that it had developed a fear of Ye Qing.

No wonder, Ye Qing had held onto its tail all night and almost dragged it into the river to drown. How could it not be afraid? Now that it finally had its freedom, of course, it would run away immediately.

Watching the mongrel, Ye Qing just slowly nodded. He still felt very grateful towards the mongrel. Without it, he would have surely lost his life.

For some reason, after soaking in the water for a while, Ye Qing vaguely felt that the parts of his body which had lost sensation were beginning to regain some feeling. Moreover, the broken bones seemed to be slowly mending. The most obvious sign was that his fingers on his left hand could now slightly move, regaining some strength and making Ye Qing incredibly overjoyed.

He originally thought he would be completely crippled and bound to a wheelchair, but unexpectedly his body was gradually regaining sensation. This was wonderful news. Regardless of whether he could recover his full strength, at least he could stand up and walk, live like a normal person, and that was enough!

Using his right hand to prop himself up, Ye Qing slowly shuffled to the shore to lie down more comfortably. Afterward, he turned his head to observe the surrounding terrain.

He was currently by the bank of the Shenchuan River, in a very remote area far from the city. Surrounded by wild grass and trees, there were no roads nearby. This means that people hardly ever pass by here. Otherwise, someone would have already discovered Ye Qing, and he wouldn’t have lain here until daylight.

In fact, Ye Qing was lying upstream of the current, while Helian Tiehua’s men were searching downstream. Moreover, Ye Qing had been dragged by the fishing boat over sixty li upstream, essentially ending up in the suburbs of Shenchuan City. Hence, no one could find Ye Qing for such a long time.

Ye Qing had been soaking in the water for nearly ten hours since last night. Whether or not he was injured, by now he was feeble and exhausted. Climbing ashore had drained all his energy, and he could only lie on the ground to recover his strength. However, after such a long torment, his stomach was empty, and the intense hunger made it impossible for him to sleep. Yet, he had no strength to get up and search for food, so he had to lie there, hoping to encounter a passerby to ask for help.

No one knows what caused it, but the air around was filled with a foul odor, as if something had rotted. The smell was very strong, which probably explained why few people ever passed by here. Who would want to come to a place like this with such a smell?

Ye Qing lay on the ground for over two hours, yet no one passed by, only stray dogs occasionally wandered by. By the looks of it, waiting for someone to pass by for help seemed hopeless.

Fortunately, Ye Qing had recovered some strength during this time. Although his broken limbs were still unusable, they had regained some sensation, and the fingers on his left hand could now lift, showing a rapid recovery.

Supporting himself with his only functioning right hand, Ye Qing began to slowly crawl forward, intending to leave this place and look for a location where he might encounter people.

Crawling for about one or two hundred meters, Ye Qing turned a corner to find a massive garbage dump in front of him. This dump was huge, piled with all sorts of rotting garbage, from which the earlier stench was emanating.

Ye Qing hadn’t expected to end up in a place like this. No wonder hardly anyone came near; with such a strong odor by the dump, who would want to come here?

After closely inspecting the garbage dump, Ye Qing discovered that it was different from typical ones. While the top layers were covered with various decomposable household waste, underneath lay layers of industrial waste. This meant that the dump was originally meant for industrial waste, though it was now largely filled with household waste.

Having understood the situation of this garbage dump, Ye Qing figured out his location. Shenchuan City did indeed have such an abandoned industrial waste processing site. It was deserted because it was too close to water sources, polluting the environment, and the situation caused quite a stir when it was shut down. This location was now basically outside Shenchuan City’s boundaries, in the neighboring Fengyuan County, indicating that Ye Qing was near Fengyuan County.

This industrial waste processing site was also very remote in Fengyuan County. Industrial waste is much more dangerous than household waste, as many of its contents are toxic. Therefore, no one lived nearby. After it was abandoned, Fengyuan County began to dump household waste there, resulting in the current situation.

Seeing the garbage processing site, Ye Qing felt somewhat helpless. From this position, hoping to find someone for help was almost impossible. Places like these are typically deserted. Although garbage trucks come daily, they follow fixed routes. Considering Ye Qing’s location, it was unlikely that garbage trucks would pass by. Moreover, crawling to areas where trucks might pass, at least five or six kilometers away, was virtually impossible for him in his current state.

With a hint of helplessness, Ye Qing rested against the rock by the corner. Having crawled less than two hundred meters, he was again out of strength; his meridians were broken, and his True Qi seemed to have vanished completely, making him even weaker than an ordinary person.

While leaning against the rock with his eyes slightly closed, Ye Qing suddenly heard a faint barking. Turning his head, he saw three small puppies, not yet over a month old, curiously watching him from afar, occasionally barking in their puppy voices. Their round black eyes and short chubby legs wobbled as they tried to look fierce, showing their teeth, appearing quite adorable.

Seeing the three little creatures, Ye Qing couldn’t help but think of the mongrel that saved his life last night, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. Raising his right hand, he gestured for them to come closer. However, the little ones were very timid. Though they barked just moments ago, the instant Ye Qing raised his hand, they were scared away in panic.

They ran five or six meters away, and after seeing that Ye Qing wasn’t pursuing, they cautiously stopped, keeping a wary eye on him. Noticing Ye Qing didn’t make any further moves, their courage partly restored, they started to bark at him again.

Ye Qing chuckled slightly. Despite being hungry and weak, finding himself in such a dire strait, seeing these little guys brought a bit of humor.

As Ye Qing was entertaining these little fellows, a louder bark suddenly came from not far away. Turning his head, Ye Qing saw the mongrel from last night hastily approaching from the other side. Seeing Ye Qing, it was visibly tense, cautiously watching him while running to the puppies’ side, scolding them vigorously, seemingly warning them not to approach Ye Qing.

Seeing the mongrel’s behavior, Ye Qing couldn’t help but smile again. This time, the mongrel was scared of him, watching him with caution, not daring to get close.

The puppies seemed not to understand the mongrel’s warning or perhaps weren’t afraid of Ye Qing. Despite the mongrel’s scolding, they didn’t show fear but instead huddled around the mongrel, playfully jumping onto its body.

The mongrel appeared helpless with them, letting out two resigned sounds, simultaneously playing with and coaxing them away, clearly reluctant to stay here.

Sitting nearby, Ye Qing watched them, and seeing the little ones leaving, he sighed softly. Alas, in a place where not even dogs wanted to linger, it seemed unlikely for him to survive.

While Ye Qing pondered silently, the mongrel suddenly let out a low bark. Lifting his head, Ye Qing saw a little girl around five or six years old coming over, hugging a ragged doll. Excited upon seeing the mongrel, she ran over, stretching her arms to embrace it and the puppies.

Although the mongrel was wary of Ye Qing, it was very friendly towards the little girl, letting her hold it and lovingly licking her hand, seemingly acting cute. Apparently, the mongrel was raised by the girl; otherwise, it wouldn’t behave so affectionately.

Meanwhile, Ye Qing was the most excited of all. He hadn’t expected to encounter someone here, giving him the opportunity to finally ask for help and potentially save his life.

”Little girl, little girl,” Ye Qing called out, waving his functioning right hand towards the girl, ”Could you help uncle make a call, please?”