pertwk Page 91
Page 91
"Um...I...I'm sorry..."
Golden Retriever bent over again, covering her head with her hands, while Payne stepped forward, pinched her uninjured chin, and lifted her head up. He then stretched out his other hand to the side and said, "Ruby, scissors."
Sure enough, the golden retriever reacted again upon hearing that word, struggling and backing away, "Please!...Please wait! I...I'll never do it again!..."
"What do you mean 'dare' or 'dare'? You didn't do anything!"
Payne immediately grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard twice, successfully calming her down temporarily with this rough method.
He then took the scissors Ruby handed him, and before the golden retriever could react, he quickly and neatly trimmed off its sickly gray fur. He then said to the six animals:
"Remember, before treating a wound, you should trim the hair around it. This is beneficial for both treatment and recovery."
The other five animals nodded vigorously, but the golden retriever, which was being used as a teaching aid, didn't dare to move at all.
After that, Payne had Ruby bring bandages and iodoform, pointing out the injuries all over the Golden Retriever's body while explaining how to treat them, and also disinfecting and bandaging the fresher wounds.
During this process, the golden retriever seemed completely stunned, letting Payne manipulate her body without reacting even though disinfection and bandaging would hurt her wounds.
Or rather, after spending those several tens of minutes together, although she found it hard to believe, she eventually slowly accepted the fact:
This human being genuinely wanted to help me.
After Payne finished explaining and had the five beast girls disinfect and bandage the remaining wounds, he went around to the front of the golden retriever and took off her boots.
"Ah...that...that..."
The golden retriever hesitated, as if Payne had anticipated her move, looking up at her and asking, "What's wrong? What do you want to say?"
Seeing the golden retriever blink somewhat bewildered, Payne could feel the foot he was supporting trembling slightly, its toes curling up a little.
“Say what you want to say, don’t keep people in suspense,” he added.
The golden retriever froze, then awkwardly turned its head away. "N-nothing...I'm...sorry..."
"Don't apologize."
"Um...no...um..."
At the moment, Payne has no interest in admiring her; his immediate priority is to check what's wrong with her feet.
Thinking this, he flipped the golden retriever's paw over and immediately noticed a swollen and red mark on the outside of its ankle, which was obviously a sprain.
When were you injured here?
"Huh?... Ah, about two weeks ago..."
"Has it always been like this?"
"No, it was worse before, it's much better now..."
Have you been exercising since you sprained your ankle?
"Yes, training never stopped in between."
"You definitely haven't used any medication, right?"
"um, yes."
After finishing the questioning, Payne gently put the golden retriever's foot down, sat on the ground, and sighed, "What kind of superhuman physique is this? He didn't stop training after the sprain, and he was still able to recover on his own..."
Chapter 143 CXLII. Sobbing uncontrollably
With such incredible regenerative abilities, it would be a terrible waste to let the Golden Retriever heal on its own and potentially leave any lasting effects.
Thinking this, Payne brought over a pile of straw and placed it under her feet, instructing her:
"What you need now is a hot compress. I'll get you a hot towel tonight."
"Although I still shouldn't be doing strenuous activity, I have no choice because I'm going to the front lines tomorrow."
"Therefore, whenever you have a spare moment, take off your shoes and elevate your foot like this. It will help with recovery, understand?"
Before the golden retriever could speak, Payne interrupted her: "No one will say anything to you on the front lines, so you can do this without worry."
"Damn it, these guys have so many lousy habits every day. Do they really have to wrap the beast girls up like Arab women to be satisfied? How are we supposed to fight a war like that?...
"I'll massage it for you now; that will help speed up the healing process. Let me know if it hurts."
Golden Retriever (somewhat dazed): "Ah...okay...okay."
It wasn't until Payne actually started gently massaging her calves that the golden retriever finally accepted the scene, feeling a gentle warmth flow down her legs to her swollen ankles and cold feet.
This human just took off my shoes with his own hands, and now he's personally rubbing them for me, being very careful not to press on the swollen areas.
Moreover, he had his orcs treat my injuries elsewhere.
He seemed genuinely hoping to cure me.
Thinking of this, the golden retriever grinned, letting out an awkward laugh he'd never made before: "Hehe...hehehehe..."
"why are you laughing?"
"!..."
Ah, as expected, I was questioned by this human.
The golden retriever instinctively wanted to apologize, but then immediately recalled his new command, "Don't apologize," and inadvertently blurted out his true feelings:
"Hehe, you're a weirdo."
Payne was already a little uncomfortable with the blonde's somewhat neurotic laughter, and now that she was saying that she was weird, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow: "Why do you say that?"
"Ah, no, no, no, no, it's... um... I'm sorry!" The blond guy paused for a moment, then apologized again. "I... I actually wanted to say that you're a good person! The kind of good person I've never met before!"
"Ha, a 'good person,' huh..."
Having already received so many friend cards from numerous beast girls, Payne was practically immune to them all, so he simply asked, "So that's why you keep wagging your tail at me?"
At this moment, the golden retriever's big tail was swishing wildly, and even Xiao En, who was helping her treat the wound on her back, had to temporarily avoid its sharp edge.
After Payne pointed it out, her tail paused only briefly before wagging uncontrollably again. "Um...yes...yes..."
"Really? But I feel like you treat everyone the same way?" Payne asked again.
This time, the golden retriever's tail drooped completely and stopped moving.
"...Yes, I'm like that with everyone..." The blond man seemed to be explaining, yet also talking to himself, "I'm like that with everyone—training officers, cooks, veterinarians, escorting soldiers, and even the onlookers on the street..."
"But why? Why can't they see my efforts to be nice to them? Why doesn't anyone reciprocate in the same way?"
As he spoke, although the golden retriever's face remained expressionless, tears streamed down his cheeks like a burst dam, gathering at his chin and falling to the ground drop by drop.
Payne didn't say anything, but continued to gently massage her—his suspicions were confirmed once again.
She wagged her tail indiscriminately at everyone, perhaps thinking that if she only showed her friendly side and made others think she was not a threat, she would not be harmed.
In other words, she was begging for mercy.
But why does she insist on doing it even though she knows it has no effect?
Is it because Golden Retrievers are naturally gentle? Is it because she doesn't understand what hatred is? Or... is she really just an innocent child, stubbornly wanting to find a friend she can rely on?
Payne didn't have much time to think about these things, because the golden retriever's crying gradually became more and more intense, to the point that it was out of control, and even the healing exercises for the other five beasts could not continue.
Let's try to calm her down first.
Thinking this, Payne sighed softly, went over and hugged the golden retriever, "It's okay to cry if you want to."
Only on the first touch did the golden retriever flinch as if she had been electrocuted, but then she ignored the pain in her wound and pounced on him, burying her face in Payne's arms as if she had seen her long-lost biological parents.
"woo woo woo woo……"
"Cry, it's okay, cry..."
"Waaaaah...I...am I really useless...waaaah...I...am I delaying your important business...waaaah..."
"No, that's not true. My main task right now is to wait for you to cry your fill."
Sigh, what a forgetful, gentle child.
Despite being tortured and abused to the point of being covered in wounds and feeling worse than death, it still wags its tail at me, a human, wanting to be my friend...
Golden Retriever's crying never turned into a loud wail. All the emotional outburst was released through the tears that soaked Payne's clothes, and in terms of volume, it was only a low sob that was desperately suppressed.
Is it because you're worried that the sound will attract onlookers and cause me unnecessary trouble?
Being this mature for her age is actually heartbreaking, sigh...
Payne shook his head but said nothing, only carefully avoiding the golden retriever's wound and holding her in his arms.
Then, Xiao En was the first to step forward and hug the golden retriever. Her action served as a signal, and the remaining four animals quickly followed suit, surrounding the golden retriever.
Suddenly, Payne recalled the scene of them comforting Mr. Angela not long ago.
At that moment, he felt that the difference between beast girls and humans was shrinking infinitely.
Besides having ears and tails, being stronger than humans, having more acute senses, being more agile, and having organs more similar to animals, what exactly makes them different from humans?
They also experience joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness; they know who is kind to them; and they yearn to be accepted, not for any lofty ideal, but simply to be free from hunger and fear.
Freedom from hunger and fear should be the minimum requirement for intelligent beings living in the civilized world.
But humankind, their creators, are unwilling to even treat them as useful tools to maintain and care for them. Instead, they treat them as playthings to be trampled on at will, wantonly venting the violence that has been suppressed by civilization for a long time.
It was as if their tears of fear and terror, their battered bodies, and their shattered spirits were nothing more than insignificant little episodes in this barbaric game.
That's fucking terrible.
Chapter 144 CXLIII. Pathetic and Tragic
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made you do strenuous exercise during this time, but I still made you carry so much stuff..."
"It's okay, it's okay~"
After the new recruits and veterans spent a night getting to know each other, Company B was dispatched to the front lines again early the next morning.
Perhaps the only good news is that, according to soldiers who have been withdrawn from the front lines, the French seem to have given up the siege of Minston. They have made a difficult advance of a few kilometers before stopping, digging new trenches and then staying inside them.
Therefore, theoretically speaking, as long as the French army doesn't do anything wrong, this troop rotation should be quite safe.
Upon hearing this news, B Company immediately felt much more relaxed.
Therefore, even when they later heard that the French had recaptured the salient they had captured on their original front, they were not too disappointed.