UCPA Chapter 8: Canines and Felines

Chapter 8: Canines and Felines

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: PlumSauce

 

A strange incident had happened at the animal shelter.

A few nights ago, the watchman heard strange noises coming from the direction of the kennels. When he went to check on the kennels, he was horrified. Two of the kennels had their metal doors and mesh fencing torn off and their locks broken. All the dogs had escaped except for a few old and sick ones.

Next, the watchman witnessed an even more bizarre image: in the dim light of the night, two completely naked men ran over with the wind. They helped the shelter catch a few dogs… In fact, there was no need to catch the dogs–whenever they approached with their wild energy, many ran back in fear.

In the end, a few dogs escaped but a lot were caught. Two completely naked men sang the Beatles’ “Moonlight Shadow”, and while running and jumping, they disappeared into the night.

As the witness described what happened, John listened, stunned. In his mind, he pictured an extremely cheerful and peaceful scene, although a little vulgar but not at all frightening.

“How many dogs were lost?” Coraci followed the staff, going from kennel to kennel. He and John had pretended to be looking for a lost pet.

“Seven,” the staff member replied. “Fortunately only two kennels were damaged, otherwise it would have been really scary. Sir, we have photos over here so you can see whether your dog is among them.”

From the archived photos, it looked like all the dogs that were lost were normal dogs. After walking out of the shelter, Coraci asked John in the car, “What do you think about this?”

“The barbed wire and the door were definitely not broken by a dog!” John said. “Did you see that gaping hole? Even a husky couldn’t make that.”

“Ah, there really is a husky in there,” Coraci said, flipping through the photos on his phone, “and he was lost last night.”

“Coraci, there’s something else that’s weird too,” John pulled out his own phone, and he had surreptitiously taken some pictures too. “Look. The kennel looks like it’s been ripped open from the inside out.”

Coraci nodded approvingly, “That’s right. Also, from the eyewitness account, it doesn’t look like the two naked runners were trying to steal dogs; they even helped herd them back.”

“And what is this about… Performance art?”

“Uh, John, you are so very perfectly integrated into human society, with thought patterns that are completely human.”

“I was once human,” John said. “So, what’s your guess?”

“I’ll give you a hint,” Coraci said. “The bite and claws are more powerful than the average animal of its kind, often moves at night, can easily tear through iron, wire, etc., and is a canine…”

With a pale face, John turned his head slowly, “Werewolf?”

Coraci froze for a few seconds, and even Wu Jiu, who was driving, laughed softly. Although John did not know what he was laughing at.

“John, you can’t suspect that everyone else is a werewolf just because you’re a vampire!” Coraci didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, and said, “Think about what you’ve learned! Werewolves don’t turn into mixed pugs, black labs, huskies, Japanese pointers, pit bulls, Welsh corgis, mixed sheepdogs… Their beast forms are very robust, scary giant wolves. Not lost dogs.”

After the reminder, John remembered the closest answer. “Ah! I got it. Clade dog!”

He recalled that the book said: Clade dogs are commonly known as dog people, which sounds like a companion to “werewolf”, but in fact they were the opposite of werewolves.

Simply put, the werewolf’s base creature was a human, essentially a monstrous human; and the Clade dog’s base creature was a domestic dog, essentially they were dogs. Werewolves are humans during the day and beasts during the full moon, while Clade dogs are domestic dogs during the day and can only become human at night. They pass down from generation to generation by ordinary breeding methods, are not infectious in any way, and do very little harm.

In the dark ages of the past, humans often mistook Clade dogs for werewolves and hunted and killed them out of fear. Humans thought they had killed the evil werewolves, but in fact they had not. They had only killed some mutated hounds, sheepdogs… They’ve never even seen a real werewolf.

Clade dogs are embarrassing creatures. They are not nearly as powerful as werewolves, but they are definitely stronger than domestic dogs and wild dogs. They are omnivores, and they don’t need flesh or hearts. Moreover, it’s best to feed them dog food. Human food makes them lose their sense of smell or lose their hair, and chocolate harms their heart… All these traits are the same as ordinary dogs. Only, they are usually greedier and like to steal human food.

It was said that the ancestors of Clade dogs ate the innards of ancient werewolves, which led to a peculiar mutation that has been passed down from generation to generation. These dogs had greatly increased life expectancy and intelligence, and could even learn some human lifestyles, but were not very good at conversation. Usually, Clade dogs had to live more than thirty years before they could learn language, and almost none of them ever learned how to write.

If the two naked men from that night were really Clade dogs, then those two must be old enough and have a high enough IQ because they could even sing…

“So now what.” John looked at the photo. “These dogs are so common that even if we see them, we won’t recognize them.”

“I can recognize them whenever I see them,” Coraci said. He had the Eyes of Truth, the ability to see creatures directly for what they are. “Regardless, we need to find them. Looks like they’re rather careless. It’ll be troublesome if they let people mistakenly believe there are werewolves in the city.”

Coraci finished and noticed John frowning at him, so he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” John withdrew his eyes and scratched his head. “It just occurred to me… You see, I’m a bloodkin. Although I’ve lived long enough to withstand a little weak sunlight for a short time, I can’t be out working all day… In order to match my time, you would need to reverse your day and night. I don’t think that’s good.”

“What’s wrong with that? I used to do the same thing.” Coraci looked at his watch. “It’s not yet nine o’clock. The night hasn’t even started yet. As for daytime, I’m sleeping too.”

John thought, No wonder everyone in the Association thinks I’m a good partner for Coraci, was this part of the reason?

“So we…?” he asked.

“It’s hard to find two people in the city, and it’s hard to find two dogs,” Coraci said, tapping the specter driver in front of him on the shoulder. “Looks like it’s time to go ask the Chairman of the Katehaus family. Wu Jiu, we’re going to the park behind Third Street.”

John asked, “Who are the Katehauses?”

“They’re a well-known family among the local supernatural species,” Coraci said. “From the entire West Bay City to the nearby towns, almost nothing escapes their intelligence network. They don’t pay attention to everything — only to what they care about.”

John had been living in West Bay City for years and had never heard of the Katehaus family. “Are they similar to the ruling family of the bloodkin?”

“Very similar, but not as strict.”

John was just about to ask something more when the car turned onto Third Street. Wu Jiu parked on the side of the street, so Coraci and John had to walk to get closer to the park.

In response to John’s question, Coraci explained that because the Chairman of the Katehaus family hated the sound of engines, it was only polite to approach on foot. They entered a very small street garden. There weren’t many street lights in this section of the road, and very few people came here at night. There were swings and iron slides along the park’s lawn, and on the slides squatted several feral cats. One of the cats was completely black, making it nearly impossible to see its silhouette at night.

Coraci walked toward them and stopped in front of the black cat. Some of the other cats were frightened and ran away, some cowered in the distance and stared at them.

John knew that black cats were often rumored to be messengers of witches and even demons, and some psychics believe that pure black cats had the power to connect to different worlds. Humans had written countless such stories.

Coraci did not speak nor did he meow; he just made a few hand gestures. The black cat turned around and disappeared into the night.

“You were looking for this black cat?” John asked in a whisper.

“Of course not. I’m looking for his owner. He went to report.”

John was sure he would see a psychic or a wizard. Within a minute, the grass rustled and two black cats came out, followed by a huge, fat, fluffy yellow and white cat.

The yellow and white cat looked like it had a large and heavy body, but its movements were very agile. It deftly scampered up the highest part of the slide, and then — 

It stood on two paws, looking down at Coraci and John.

“Cat — !” John shouted uncontrollably. “The cat can stand!!!”

“Shh!” Coraci gestured for him to keep his voice down. “That’s rude. You’ve lived a lot longer than me. Haven’t you ever seen a cat standing?”

“I’ve never seen one!!!”

At this point, the yellow and white cat spoke, “Deville Coraci, it is a pleasure to meet you, and many of my people would love for you to pet them now… But the slave you have with you is too much of a nuisance! He scared away a lot of the children!”

John kept marveling in his mind, The cat spoke! Not only was it standing upright on its feet, it was also talking!

“I’m sorry, Master Joseph Katehaus,” Coraci said with a respectful, traditional salute in the style of the royal court. “My new partner is still in his internship, and after all, he is bloodkin; so it is inevitable that he will make all of you uncomfortable. Please forgive us. We need your help which is why we came so presumptuously.”

John wondered why Coraci was being so deferential to a cat, which was certainly no ordinary cat. He tried to search his mind for recent knowledge and guessed what kind of creature “Master Joseph” was… A beastkin? No, something about it was different from a beastkin. An expert of magic who can shape-shift? But why did he turn into a cat?

Joseph the yellow and white cat looked at Coraci with understanding. “Forget it, don’t take it personally. Just now, my tone was a bit heavy. It was my fault.” It seemed to be comforting Coraci. “You know, I’m a cat who has always been a little emotionally unstable. I heard you’ve been through a lot lately, child. To see you standing here in one piece, I’m actually very happy.”

John silently thought, Cats usually live for less than twenty years. Is this creature like a werewolf or a Clade dog? But he had never heard of a creature like a “cat person”…

 

From The Unthreatening Creature Protection Association’s Guide to Unscientific Monsters:

Clade Dogs

Clade Dogs are not humanoid. They are fundamentally dogs.

According to legend, when werewolves first appeared, some ancient domestic dogs consumed the internal organs of dead werewolves and mutated into Clade Dogs. By day, they appear as ordinary dogs; at night, they can take human form. Their bites carry no supernatural infection (aside from ordinary diseases like tetanus or rabies). They cannot shift into half-beast forms. The purer the dog’s lineage, the more likely it is to become a Clade Dog.

• Diet: Their diet mirrors that of domestic dogs. They can eat some human foods as dogs do, but foods toxic to dogs are also fatal to Clade Dogs.
• Reproduction: Like dogs, Clade Dogs produce fully Clade Dog offspring when mating with each other. Mating with ordinary dogs yields a 50% chance of producing an ordinary dog. Even in human form, Clade Dogs cannot reproduce with humans.
• Lifespan: Similar to humans, though some breeds live slightly shorter lives.
• Abilities: Clade Dogs are far more intelligent than ordinary dogs. Many can learn human language, though they cannot read or write.

 

Author’s Note:

The name “Clade dog” is something I made up, but the idea of a dog that can transform into a human is an ancient little legend, kind of like werewolves.

I once read in a book that people’s fear of werewolves comes from the wolf itself — a fierce, large, nocturnal predator — so the things werewolves do in stories usually involve tearing people apart and the like.

In contrast, legends about “evil dogs” originate from rabies. They look like ordinary dogs but can bring harm or death to humans.

The Clade dog in this story is a bit different from those traditional “evil dogs that turn into humans.” The biting-and-infecting part is removed; even if they bite someone, it doesn’t spread anything. They reproduce like normal animals. For example, if two dogs mate and at least one of them is a Clade dog, the puppy will also be a Clade dog.

Additionally, the purer the breed, the more likely it is to produce Clade dogs… that’s part of the setting.

I also remember that popular American TV show “Supernatural”¹ (don’t ask me why) featured people who could turn into dogs. But I still don’t fully understand the essence of those creatures — are they really humans or dogs? If they’re dogs, they can still infect humans…

 

 

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