“Newbie?”

“Idiotic Purebreed searching for an interesting way to die”, Xiao Shan responded, throwing his bag into a corner and approaching the holographic map in the middle of the table to check out where the newest Rifts had appeared.

“Another one bites the dust”, a gruffy-looking guy humpfed. He pat the boy’s shoulder heavily. “Bad idea, kid, but I admire that unwarranted confidence. Why’s he not with our favourite Purebreed, though? Wouldn’t that be a better fit?”

Xiao Shan snorted from the middle of the room.

Flustered, Wu Cheng lowered his voice. “Excuse me… Who? What’s a Purebreed?”

“Cai Zhiqiang”, the gruffy guy answered in a friendly manner. He pulled the kid to the side, opening up a wardrobe to see which clothes would fit him. “Purebreed, that’s what we call the Dogs that come from good families. Just like Mutts are the ones from the Slums.”

“Is… that bad?” Wu Cheng winced.

“Nah.” The man shook his head. “We don’t care. Strength is all that matters, and a tad bit of honour. ‘Sides, is not like Purebreed Cai is throwing around his money or anything.”

In fact, the opposite was the truth, and it wasn’t a secret.

When Cai Zhiqiang, who had been born into an influential family, had shown signs of seeing, his family had taken drastic measures. The top of the pet Dogs of the government were in high regard, with a lot of influence.

The Cai family had wanted to groom such a person, which resulted in them training Cai Zhiqiang from young age. According to an offhanded comment from the man who went through it, the training was more of a disguised attempt to kill a child by overworking.

Once he was off-age, Cai Zhiqiang had directly packed his things and left. Too pissed at his own family, he did what he knew they’d hate the most - prove his worth as a Hunting Dog, all the while refusing to work with the government.

Since he had to ensure that he didn’t ever need to turn to his family, Cai Zhiqiang was a rather frugal person. Not to the level of Xiao Shan, but still pointedly careful with his money.

However, Wu Cheng didn’t know anything about that. He looked confused at the man’s words, then took the clothes he was offered and went to the bathroom to change.

Clothes were an easy way to keep an eye on who worked with who. Most mercenaries preferred dark colour, so there were usually designs that stood out. For their group, it was a simple design of several belts around the sleeves, allowing you to tighten them into a perfect fit.

The one who looked best in it was without a doubt Xiao Shan.

“Uhm…” Wu Cheng returned from changing his clothes and tugged at them. “What should I do now?”

“Shut up and wait”, Xiao Shan snapped calmly. His eyes were focused on the map of their country, zoomed in to all areas that could be reached within one day of travel.

Twenty-nine Rifts were open right now, of which five were A-class and one S-class. Reports stated that at least one weaker monster had been killed from that Rift, meaning all strong ones were still out.

A Rift was classified according to its size. The larger the Rift, the more dangerous, because only large Rifts would allow stronger creatures to slip through. That didn’t mean weaker ones wouldn’t appear, obviously.

With only one S-class Rift around, Xiao Shan already knew he’d be running into Cai Zhiqiang, which was going to be a hassle.

Usually, people fought for two reasons: Money and power.

Xiao Shan and Cai Zhiqiang fought for two reasons as well: Money and violence.

What their childhood had broken inside them, they now let out on those invading creatures. It was a thrill to hunt them, similar to sports, and no one would like having to share their prey with someone else.

Their groups were built based on that. All were herding dogs, in a way, making sure to keep the creature in place and limiting its movements while the leader attacked.

But when both groups met, there were two leaders.

No mountain is big enough for two tigers, so every hunt that had them meet would end in a violent, ridiculous race for the killing blow.  

It truly was a case of hatred born out of similarity.

“You all have one hour”, Xiao Shan finally spoke up. “We’re going to the S-class. There’s no attack right now, so we’ll stay there until something happens. Once the first one is done, the corpse here goes back, dead or alive.”

“Yes, Boss!”

Everyone except for the new boy answered in unison, eyes gleaming. A new hunt meant good money, and considering the lifestyle that all of them had, they needed a lot of it.

Weekends are nice, but… There’s no weekend to enjoy without sufficient money to burn up, right?

It took a solid eight hours for them to reach the city and check into the hotel. With no creature having come out of hiding yet, everyone retreated into their respective rooms.

Of course it was possible for them to sniff the creatures out but… Why bother?

Xiao Shan wasn’t going to waste his time. Sure, if the creatures came out, a few people would die, and some buildings might collapse, but it was easy to find them. It was never hard to spot screaming people running away from a place.

He knew that the government paid extra for creatures being killed before they managed to attack a human, but he didn’t think the reward was worth the effort.

He waved at his group to signify for them to leave. Only the dead man, Wu Cheng, stuck around him, eyeing the cat on the man’s head.

Xiao Shan was one-handedly fighting off Old Hei from chewing off his ear, a regularly appearing occurrence.

“Go out and do whatever”, Xiao Shan told the tagalong without even looking over. He was checking out maps, making sure to memorize the layout of the surroundings so he could use his environment to his advantage later.

“Okay.” Obedient, Wu Cheng nodded, scuttling away as quietly as possible.

They met in time for dinner. It was half a war zone, with no one caring about manners or equality. Food was snatched directly off other people’s plates, the best pieces hogged and devoured quickly.

Xiao Shan didn’t need to participate in the fight, having already declared ownership over the very best pieces. Wu Cheng almost got nothing but scraps.

In general, the young man appeared distracted.

“What’s wrong, kid? Getting cold feet?” One mercenary’s comment made everyone laugh.

Wu Cheng shook his head, nervously fiddling his fingers. “No… I was thinking. Boss Xiao, do you have a lot of enemies?”

Xiao Shan raised an eyebrow mutely.

He was an unleashed Hunting Dog of the highest calibre, and yet a Mutt. He probably didn’t even know all the faces of people who wished they could run a knife straight through his head, or a bullet through his brain.

“That’s normal for a competitive area like this. What’s the problem with that?” One badly scarred mercenary chewed on a chicken bone, crunching it down.

“I overheard something.” Wu Cheng lowered his head. “I don’t think they recognized me as a fellow Dog, that’s why they let me go, but…”

“But?” Xiao Shan raised his voice, dark eyes narrowing.

Wu Cheng swallowed. “It was… about a sniping attempt. They said they were going to take you out when you least expect it - right before you scan the data for the bounty. There were several people, and they looked like mercenaries.”

“How would they even get that close?” Most of the group didn’t take the situation too seriously.

“I wouldn’t know.” Wu Cheng shrugged helplessly.

“What did they look like?” Xiao Shan thoughtfully tapped a finger on the table.

“It was a black uniform.” Wu Cheng frowned as he tried to remember. “There was… Ah, right - they had a golden emblem on their shoulder, here. Both sides.”

The young man tapped his shoulders, indicating the area.

At this point, everyone fell silent. Only a single curse was whispered by someone.

Someone who could come close enough for an assassination attempt, wearing an emblem on both shoulders. They recognized that.

“The competition is getting worse”, the oldest mercenary mumbled as if to himself. “Every time a new S-class opens up, more and more people are eyeing it. They’re getting more confident, and it pays the best.”

Xiao Shan closed his eyes. Then he chuckled darkly into the silence, canines revealing as he smirked. “A mountain cannot house two tigers.”

A solemn mood fell over everyone.

“We’ll see who’s the one to fall”, Xiao Shandeclared with an easy-going confidence. When he opened his eyes again, his face was calm, as if nothing had happened at all. “Unexpectedly, you’re useful, corpse.”

Wu Cheng gave a lopsided smile at the name.

Night fell. In the early morning hours, a loud noise woke everyone up, having them jump out of bed. Immediately awake, they slipped into their shoes, grabbed their weapons and rushed out without thinking. 

The mercenary who had roomed with Wu Cheng out of kindness dragged the startled youth along.

People were running, one scared stampede away from a smoking center. In the middle of the panic, a group could be seen, jumping over cars to steadily make their way deeper and deeper into the masses, closer and closer towards the origin of the panic.

Wu Cheng was swallowing hard when he finally saw the monster.

It wasn’t an S-class, to his luck. But it certainly wasn’t much lower.

The thing had a much too human-like face with a constantly opened mouth. A normal-looking tongue lolled out, heaving as if panting.

It did not make the overall image any more comfortable.

The rest of the body was bloated and covered in bumps, like an overgrown toad that had been pumped full with air. The ugly yellow of its skin was dark, even though brightly yellow liquid seeped out of numerous areas. At first sight, there was no way for the creature to even move with its considerable mass and the short limbs sticking out of it.

Xiao Shan drew his weapon, pausing to inform everyone of the most important thing.

“It’s a Worm! Everyone, get ready!”

Just as he finished his shout, the human-like face twitched over to face them. 

The tongue retreated, its mouth closing. Around the area where face met body, the skin broke open, yellow liquid splashing everywhere. The head moved forward, elongating continuously like a disgusting extendable neck.

The squelching noises caused Wu Cheng to gag. He retreated a step, watching as the neck broke out of the body completely - revealing a centipede-like creature, wiggling its butt out of the slowly collapsing round body. Every single one of its dozens of legs gave a shudder, while its mouth reopened.

Then it moved.

It was hard to keep your orientation when faced with its movements. The seemingly endless body swirled in a speed that was disgustingly fast, with the constant movement of legs irritating one’s eyes. Some were longer, others shorter, making it hard to keep an eye on the dangerous head.

When the first mercenary screamed, everyone pounced forward with weapons drawn.

The face had clasped its teeth around a mercenary’s arm, lifting the man up with ease and attempting to return to its confusing movements.

Xiao Shan was the first to cut off several of the legs. The mercenary’s sacrifice meant that they all had nothing to worry about for a moment, freely focusing on cutting away the legs like weeds.

Hanging off the angry face, the hurt mercenary still managed to grit his teeth and jab his own weapon somewhere near its eyes.

Infuriated, the Worm curled like a snake, thrashing around wildly.

“Limit its movements!”

The command didn’t come from Xiao Shan. 

Cai Zhiqiang appeared like a ghost from the rubble, jumping on top of the thrashing creature. It was too thick for human legs to get a good grip on it, but Cai Zhiqiang managed to keep his balance through his sword that he had stuck into its body like a handle.

Now distracted by both its food resisting and a newcomer sticking on its body, the Worm decided that it didn’t like the way things were going. It hurled the mercenary at Cai Zhiqiang, who narrowly jumped out of the way. Before they knew it, the Worm was beginning to resume its confusing movements.

There was no need for any conversation.

Both mercenary groups knew what they had to do when faced with one of these things, and that the best way of fighting involved one of them getting chewed one.

Wu Cheng was pale and wide-eyed at the side, quivering as he attempted to help. Every leg gone was an improvement, and no one had the time to make fun of him anyway.

The fight was bound to drag on.

Yellow liquid and blood mixed on the ground, legs twitching here and there.

The sun was already rising by the time the Worm was too worn-out to put up a fight anymore. Several mercenaries couldn’t participate anymore, two having lost parts of their own limbs. Where they had been ripped out, the wounds continued to bleed - although not for too long, as the healing set in unnaturally quickly.

Xiao Shan managed to get the last hit in. He crushed the head until the whole thing stopped its wriggling and twitching.

Tired, the mercenary looked down.

Worms were the most exhausting. In moments like this, it was easy to get distracted. It was easy to become a target.

Xiao Shan looked at the ground, where his shadow stood next to Wu Cheng. The kid had put up a good fight, doing his best. The kid’s weapon was still inside the Worm, the person himself slumped to the ground.

Slowly, a third shadow joined the image.

Xiao Shan’s eyes narrowed. From the side of his eyes, he watched Wu Cheng’s eyes widen, focused on something behind him.

“Boss”, Wu Cheng said quietly, voice unsteady. Then, in a louder, scared voice: “Watch out-”

A blade whistled through the air.

All around, the mercenaries froze up, eyes wide in shock.

Wu Cheng was completely frozen, sweat dripping down his face. He stared at Xiao Shan, mouth agape.

Behind the tall man, Cai Zhiqiang cocked his eyebrows, having paused. His eyes moved along the line of Xiao Shan’s blade, all the way up to the dark, glowing eyes.

“Now, now”; Xiao Shan said, clicking his tongue. “Be a good boy and give that to me, alright? We don’t want trouble, do we?”

Wu Cheng’s voice trembled. He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down in front of the tip of a blade pointing right at his throat. He lifted his head a bit up, not even daring to shuffle backwards. “...Boss?”

“The vial”, Xiao Shan repeated calmly. “Or do you want to see who is faster between you and me?”

Slowly, very slowly, Wu Cheng’s face changed from shock to irritation. The youth gnashed his teeth, discontentment and fury burning inside his eyes. “Why?”

“What, why?” Xiao Shan stood calmly, keeping a sword pointed at Wu Cheng’s throat. His expression didn’t waver at all. “Oh, you mean why I noticed something off?”

One by one, the mercenaries that could still move came closer. Like wary dogs, they closed in on the three people, creating something like a closed circle around them. Wu Cheng watched the movement with increasing anger. “Where did I make a mistake?!”

“You didn’t, I guess.” Xiao Shan shrugged. He switched his grip, reaching out to take the vial away from Wu Cheng. It was a clear powder of some sorts, but Xiao Shan knew what would have happened if this thing had broken open on his body. At this point in time, acid was a thing of the past compared to what some people created. “You were perfectly harmless. An amazing actor, too. I could have fallen for that last stunt.”

“But you didn’t!” Wu Cheng shouted, sweat continuing to drip down his body. He was mentally calculating - he had been told how to behave in front of the authorities for the odd case that he’d be discovered and handed in before his mission was done.

Xiao Shan stored the vial securely near his chest. Then he pointed over his shoulder, at Cai Zhiqiang who was leisurely crossing his arms and watching the scene with interest.

“I fear that your plan would have worked if you hadn’t chosen him as your target.”

Wu Cheng was stunned. With his lost voice, he looked like a harmless child again. “But… you yourself said that there is no place for two tigers on a mountain. You two are rivals! What would have been so odd about this!”

Xiao Shan lowered his voice to a sweet whisper. “You forgot something.”

Silence fell. Wu Sheng didn’t even blink, waiting for the answer.

“There is indeed no place for two tigers. But… we are, after all, Dogs. And Dogs, unlike tigers, have always been animals that hunt in a group.”

His weapon whistled through the air one last time.

Accurately, it managed to slide through the space between the bones, neatly decapitating the still confused young man in front of him. The head rolled to the side, eyes open and staring into nowhere. There was a hint of disbelief inside them - disbelief at being killed directly, instead of being handed over for interrogation.

Xiao Shan blinked, not minding the sight.

What he had said was, ultimately, bullshit for anyone listening to hear.

There were two mistakes that Wu Cheng and the person behind him had made. For sure, the youth was a genius - there wasn’t a single crack in his mask before this. Even him overhearing a plan would have been possible, as many mercenaries weren’t too worried about keeping their killing attempts a secret and attacked anyway, like feral animals.

No, the problem was something entirely else.

The first mistake was that, by default, Xiao Shan didn’t trust anyone. He was perfectly ready for anyone inside his own group to pull a knife at any second. No matter how exhausted he was, he’d still keep his ears open and note everyone’s movements.

There was no such thing as letting down your guard for as long as he was outside. That included a harmless looking young man.

The second mistake was…

If there was one person on this planet who he didn’t worry about being attacked by, it would be Cai Zhiqiang.

For the very simple reason that the other would find it below his dignity to not fight Xiao Shan in an official death match, even if he wanted the other’s life.

“What a hassle”, Xiao Shan said dryly. “I told them that he was a corpse. They still made me take him along.”

Behind him, a tool beeped as Cai Zhiqiang scanned the creature for his bounty.

The man didn’t care about what had happened. He didn’t want to know the backstory. He didn’t see any reason to get involved at all.

Once the creature was scanned, Cai Zhiqiang sheathed his weapon and left without turning back. No words or gestures of goodbye were exchanged. He made sure to motion for his own group to follow, but didn’t spare Xiao Shan a single glance.

The tall man stretched where he stood, likewise putting away his weapon.

From somewhere to the side, meows could be heard as Old Hei made his way through the rubble over to him.

In the end, it was another day of work.

Owl

I quite like these two. I might write more shortstories with them, basically roughly connected cuts of their lives.
They'll also be features in the BL Palace Kinktober stories! cough
https://archiveofourown.org/series/2562958
you can read the kink here.