The air was dusty, every breath scratching in one’s lungs as if inhaling spikes. There was a distinct stench of metal hovering around, not unsurprisingly stemming from the pools of red slowly forming here and there.

Some spread out under the rubble of a demolished building - where it had collapsed, it had taken along its fleeing owner.

The other pools were smaller, splattered. Chunks of meat and ripped fabric were lying around, strewn everywhere.

Most people had long fled or were evacuated, but those that hadn’t managed to get away in time were huddling down alone, making themselves as small as possible while they hid in whatever corner they could find.

A ripple went through the air, accompanied by a long, uncomfortably high noise. The growl of the beast was less of a growl and more of a screech, if any of the listeners were allowed to judge - it was the sound of someone drawing fingernails over a blackboard, and of drawing a fork over a plate. It hurt in their teeth.

They couldn’t see the creature that made the sound, but as is with all unknown, that made it much worse.

Xiao Shan was squatting on the edge of a rooftop, peering down. His black hair fluttered in the wind, dark eyes holding an abnormally yellow shade.

“Mmm-rah!”

The black cat on his shoulder dug its claws deep into his shoulder. Xiao Shan’s right eye twitched, but he otherwise disregarded the fierce little beast that was too confident for its own good. No one had ever seen another cat that would run into a Rift Zone so obnoxiously.

Next to Xiao Shan, another mercenary scooted away in fear of the cat deciding to jump over.

Seven people, Xiao Shan included, kept their silent watch. In their eyes, the world was a different one.

The creature that crawled its way over the fallen house was too thin for its own size. Like disgusting spider’s legs, the six limbs reached forward, pulling an elongated, pus-yellow body along. The eyes of different sizes jumped and jerked around, while a thin but long maw kept opening and closing to breathe. With every breath, its body inflated, before deflating again. 

“They’re getting prettier and prettier”, Xiao Shan remarked with a click of his tongue. He grabbed the cat by the scruff and threw it back without looking. According to the annoyed hiss, it wasn’t hurt by it anyway. “All ready?” 

“All ready, Boss”, the man next to him confirmed. All seven people rose at the same time.

Xiao Shan was tall, taller than any of the others. The messy hair was about as well-kept as his torn clothes. High, solid boots were paired with thick pants and an even thicker, padded coat over a simple shirt. Rows of scars covered his body like medals of honour, one worse than the other.

No one had said that being a Hunting Dog was an easy job. In fact, it had the highest lethality rate in the whole country, but it paid damn well.

When the Rifts had begun opening about three decades ago, humanity ended up losing several percents of its total population. The creatures crawling out of the Rifts wiped out whole cities before they returned back to follow whatever call came out of the Rift.

It wasn’t that the military wasn’t prepared.

It was that it was damn hard to shoot something you can’t see - not with your eyes, not with tools. No heat, nothing.

Whatever these things were made of, they left no goddamn trace everywhere. Like lotus leaves, any powder or fluid would slide right down their bodies, rendering them invisible again immediately.

Personally, Xiao Shan thought that the people didn’t know how good they had it for being unable to see those ugly mugs.

With the Rifts came those who could see. A sort of mutation, possibly, although science was still trying to figure out what exactly made them different.

Those that could see were originally viewed as monsters. Stronger bodies, increased rate of healing, better senses. In their hands, a knife was more lethal than any gun.

And so, the ones that could see were leashed - transformed into obedient hunting dogs for the government.

Some were officially on a leash, listening to restrictions and rules like mindless worker ants, too stupid to make decisions for themselves.

And then there were the mercenaries.

Xiao Shan couldn’t help but grin at the familiar rush of adrenaline running through his body. He did not like the government, but he liked their money.

After all, they paid well for every bounty.

“I want a smoke”, someone else in his group lamented quietly as Xiao Shan stepped onto the ledge of the roof.

The man drew his knife - long changed through the blood of the creatures, becoming harder than any metal - and whirled it through his hands. 

“Five fifty-three. If we’re not done in fifteen minutes, I’m taking your parts”, Xiao Shan snarled, glaring down at the flinching men behind him. They all knew he wasn’t joking. If they kept on wasting time, their Boss would personally throw them down.

Xiao Shan jumped. The wind whistled past his ears - a short fall, ending in a strong shock going through his whole body as he slammed down on the thin body of the creature.

It screeched again, realizing the presence of someone who could see it. The head turned one hundred and eighty degrees, maw flexibly distorting to reach out for Xiao Shan. Its body tilted to the side, making his footing unsteady.

“Ew”, Xiao Shan merely spit out, grabbing forward and curling his gloved fingers right around one of the needle-like teeth. Instead of slipping down its body, he held onto it, ramming his knife through its lower jaw and tearing a long gash into it. When he ran into something like bone, he clicked his tongue again.

The creature was about to trash, but more Dogs landed on it. They settled for its legs, hacking away as if on wood. 

Xiao Shan pushed a foot against its teeth and pulled. His knife ran through the more solid area, splitting the creature’s lower jaw into two. Irritated, the thing decided to directly throw its body to the ground.

Three mercenaries went flying with a surprised shout. One was squashed beneath it, a long row of curses a sign of him still being alive.

Xiao Shan let himself slide down its side, fixating the bulging stomach. It would be the best place to-

A dark figure slammed down on the creature. A long knife - more of a sword at that point - was pushed into the thick stomach through the force, already beginning to cut it open when the person used their weight to pull it to the side.

The creature screamed again, and the person looked up, locking eyes with Xiao Shan.

For a moment, the world was still, with only the two of them inside it.

Then their faces distorted in disgust and absolute annoyance.

“Bastard.” Xiao Shan cursed the word with all of his heart. “That’s my prey.”

Cai Zhiqiang snorted. Unwilling to give Xiao Shan any attention, he tore his sword out of the creature’s stomach and turned it towards the first of its eyes.

Xiao Shan cursed, jumping up and forward to do the same.

Eight orderly dressed mercenaries descended from another building, exchanging quick glances and nods with the scruffy group. One pulled the squashed mercenary out from under the creature’s body, showing a toothy wry smile to the other man.

It was a familiar scene to all of them. It certainly happened often enough for them to become acquainted, although not beyond the level of recognizing each other.

It wasn’t rare for two groups to eye the same Rift Zone and bounty, but it was a rare occurrence for the Zones of S-class. Most Dogs did not like the danger and avoided them, as the chance of an overpowered creature appearing were too high.

The Purebreed and the Mutt were two men whose brains were simply too abnormal for people to understand. 

The mercenaries did not mind the meeting as much as their respective leader. For them, meeting each other ensured not only a win, but even further that there would be a low level of injuries. Of course their pay was lower, but that was acceptable at this point. Ultimately, they valued their life more.

It was hard for the mercenaries to keep their attention on the creature instead of their leaders. Like a mirrored dance, Cai Zhiqiang and Xiao Shan hacked away at eye after eye, evading the distorted maw and two waving limbs. There was no conversation, no shared planning, nothing.

These two people, who had not met each other until two years ago… simply had the exact same train of thought on how to best bring down the creature, resulting in a synchronized attack.

The creatures never went down like a normal living being. If you shredded at it long enough it would stop moving at some point, with points like eyes and stomach being the most likely to cause the largest result.

After thirteen eyes, the creature swayed and toppled over.

Xiao Shan wiped his face with the back of his head, looking down at the disgusting thing.

“Still a prettier sight than you”, he commented dryly, earning a glare from Cai Zhiqiang.

The other man opened his mouth, a surprisingly poisonous tongue revealing itself. “I didn’t know you were so sensitive. Want me to get you some flowers to relax your eyes? Maybe with a little lacy bow and all?”

“I’d love that.” Xiao Shan bared his teeth. “I can sell it. Might make up for the time I wasted talking to you.”

The leaders stared each other down until a cat’s howl interrupted them.

The cat ran through the yellowish goo without a care in the world, jumping up Xiao Shan’s back and biting him in the ear.

“Old Hei!” Xiao Shan pulled at the cat, which simply clawed itself tighter to his back. “Demon spawn…! One day I’ll throw you through the Rift, where you belong.”

The cat signified the end of the exchange. Cai Zhiqiang turned away from Xiao Shan, squatting down to stick the pointy end of some sort of tool into the corpse. The tool beeped, prompting him to enter something. Once that was done, he stood up and left without so much as a glance back.

Xiao Shan wrestled with the cat before he repeated the same motion.

The one who registered the creature’s corpse was the one who got paid. If you didn’t watch out, someone else would do it before you, and the government wouldn’t give a shit.

However, it was possible for several groups to hunt the same creature. In this case, you could note down the percentages of the pay.

Xiao Shan registered for the leftover percentage without even so much as glancing at it. However annoying that Purebreed was, he was hardly worried about the other’s honour. Not once had they fought over the percentages.

With the last creature that had crawled out of the Rift being dead, a crackling spread through the air. Xiao Shan glanced up at the sky, taking out a cigarette and lighting it. The smoke curled upwards.

The Rift closed audibly, leaving behind nothing but silence.

The last creature had sadly been a weakling, which meant the pay would be low. It was fine for the moment - it was the weekend anyway.

“Alright”, he said once the noise was gone. “Rest’s for someone else to clean up. We’re leaving.”

The other mercenaries nodded, silently following behind their leader. Old Hei rode on his shoulder.

When Xiao Shan had been born, the cities had already given birth to slum areas wherever Rifts were more likely to appear. It was worse than anything that had been in a long time; even more so than hunger and poverty, fear was driving its inhabitants to do the worst.

Xiao Shan grew up protecting his things. Protect his money, protect his food, protect his body. Everything could be sold, after all, and you didn’t need to be its official owner.

Pretty people could be sold alive.

Ugly but somewhat healthy people were useful for their inner values.

Those whose organs were worth nothing could still be kept and thrown out as a meatshield.

In the slums, the only things that belonged to you were those you were holding in your hand. If you couldn’t keep a hold of it, it didn’t belong to you.

Xiao Shan grew up, but he didn’t grow with fear. He grew with anger.

Those goddamned creatures.

Those goddamned beasts in human clothing.

That goddamned government that did nothing.

The first taste of power was a nice experience. Realizing that despite being small, even he could keep being the owner of himself as long as he stuck a weapon into the attacker’s throat or another weak point.

It was a thrill to realize that he could be powerful. He wouldn’t let the chance pass by.

When he heard that people who could see the monsters could get paid, he had laughed for the first time in his life. All this anger, how nice to have a place to vent it!

That was how the Mutt crawled out of his slum, followed by other mutts who would probably jump at his throat at the first sight of weakness.

But this was how it was, and it was alright. He’d not give them the chance.

With the most recent profitable Rift closed, the group parted. Everyone went to their own home, ready to greet the weekend with their newest payment. 

Xiao Shan went in a completely different direction. Past the mansions, past the pretty houses with little gardens, and past the apartment complexes. On his way home, he stopped to buy takeout, then made his way up the stairs of an old apartment building.

His door opened with a click. The apartment was small - one room for a bed, a bathroom, and one kitchen. He did not even have a livingroom.

Xiao Shan sat down on his bed and took out his meal. A raw chicken leg had been bought for Old Hei, who immediately got to devouring it. As Xiao Shan himself ate, he turned on his laptop to access his own data.

He had money.

He had enough for a much nicer apartment, even a housekeeper. But who would do that?

What if things went badly?

What if he got hurt?

The most important things were a roof, medicine and food. The roof could be cheap. The food could be simple. Medicine was more expensive.

He preferred hoarding his money like this, for bad days. You’d never know when they’d hit you.

After eating, Xiao Shan washed up. Feeling refreshed, he yawned and went into his bed. 

--

The government had its own pet Dogs, but that didn’t mean that the wild ones could ignore the government completely. There were still basic rules to follow - like, don’t kill people.

Not that anyone would give a comment if a Dog bit a scumbag. That had been tested already.

Xiao Shan was less than amused when the officials summoned him. Dressed in black pants and an equally black shirt, he looked as formal as he looked like a reaper. The bloodthirsty, insane glimmer in his eyes did not help at all.

The receptionist led him to a conference room with a lowered head, shivering softly.

Inside, Xiao Shan found a young man - a kid in his eyes - and an older woman.

Both rose when he entered, with the woman showing him a business smile he did not return. “Good morning, Mister Xiao.”

Xiao Shan did not reply. He plopped down on a chair, crossing his legs. “So?”

Wen Yan was used to his behaviour. She sat back down, folding her hands on his lap. “Let’s make this short then. This young man here is Wu Cheng. I want you to take him out on a mission and give me feedback.”

Xiao Shan glanced over at Wu Cheng, who sat up straight. The wavy dark brown hair made him look even younger, and the yellow-shaded black eyes were wide and uncertain.

“I’m not a babysitter”, Xiao Shan directly refused. “Why aren’t your Dogs doing it?”

“Because none of the ones currently available are ready to take on an S-class.”

Xiao Shan looked surprised for a second, then snorted out a laugh. “I’m not into keeping corpses around.”

If a Dog wanted to become an official for the government, they’d have to go through a test. This involved following a group to a hunt. The group, especially the leader, would then hand over a feedback form - mental state, usefulness, ability to work as a group or solo.

The person themselves decided which category they wanted to hunt. Obviously, someone who accompanied a high level hunt would have better chances immediately, but they were also likely to die.

“Please take me along.” Wu Cheng appeared to have found his determination as he spoke up. “I won’t get in the way. Even if I die, it won’t be your fault.”

“Of course it won’t be”, Xiao Shan spat out. “If a kid runs right into a car, it’s not my fault. I’m a bystander. I don’t care if you live or die.”

“Then, please take me along!”

“Why me?” Xiao Shan was growling, staring down the older woman. She sat quietly under his gaze, not minding at all.

“There aren’t many wild Dogs willing to attack S-classes. Do excuse me, but although you’re an insufferable bastard, you still have higher standards than most of the ones that do. At least I won’t have to worry that you will kill or rape him, and if he survives, your feedback will be honest and unbribed.”

“Bribe? He’s a Purebreed?” Xiao Shan rolled his eyes. “Another running into his death. Off we go, then, pup. I’m not waiting.”

Xiao Shan snatched the papers - the feedback forms - off the table and left. Payment didn’t need to be discussed, the bonus for this task was well known to everyone.

Wu Cheng had trouble keeping up with the tall man’s pace, so he half jogged behind him. 

By the time they reached the little building that held Xiao Shan’s conference room, the kid was wheezing. Still, he had enough energy to look around curiously, taking in the numerous heavily locked doors.

There were buildings of similar kind all over the country. technically, anyone could create a mercenary group, so it was useful to have a way to rent a conference room for meetings. For free, as long as the government knew you were actually working.

The six other mercenaries were already waiting in the room, their eyebrows jumping up at the sight of a younger man following after Xiao Shan.