Snack stall.
Zeig was holding a creature that looked like a small lion, offering pieces of meat to its mouth.
Zeig: "Chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp~!"
"..." Diting sniffed it, then turned its head away in disgust.
"Hey, that won't do!"
March 7th squatted on the ground, looking around for something.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up. She quickly picked up a small pebble and held it out to Diting's mouth.
March 7th: "Chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp~!"
Diting: "..."
"Friend, aren't you stepping over the line a bit?" Zeig stroked the creature's fur, looking at March 7th on the ground with disdain. "Feeding it stones—what's that supposed to mean? Are you looking down on this mourning tiger?"
March 7th sat cross-legged on the ground and scoffed disdainfully. "It won't even eat meat. Who knows, maybe it has some weird eating habits? Feeding it stones is perfectly normal!"
"Hmph, what an ignorant fool." Zeig reached into his chest and pulled out a bag of premium dog food. He grabbed a handful and held it to Diting's mouth. "Mourning tiger, chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp—!"
Diting: "..."
Seeing that it still wouldn't eat, Zeig's expression darkened. He stuffed the dog food into his own mouth, chewed it, and suddenly cursed, "Hmph! A wild boar can't eat fine bran!"
"Is it possible that this actually isn't a dog?"
March 7th stared at Diting's face, thought for a moment, and suddenly had a flash of realization. "Look, the mourning tiger is clearly a lion! How could it possibly eat dog food?!"
"?"
Zeig frowned. "Are you blind? Didn't you see what I was feeding it at the beginning? Look, does it eat meat?"
"Our Peppy eats everything—hamburgers, fries. Whenever I buy them for her, has she ever been picky?"
March 7th muttered, "Is it possible that dogs on the Xianzhou are just different? They're not from the same world, so it's normal for their food culture to have some differences, right?"
"A dog that doesn't eat meat?" Zeig still had a frown on his face. "Why don't you ask the mourning tiger what it eats? Weren't you chatting happily with Peppy back at the space station? Go ahead and try communicating with it now."
Zeig thought for a moment, then tentatively tried communicating with Diting.
"Chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp..."
"?" March 7th narrowed her eyes. "So all you can do is chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp, huh?"
"What's wrong with that!" Zeig looked up and scolded. "Isn't this a perfectly normal way to communicate?!"
"But back at the space station you talked directly to Peppy! You never shouted any chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp!"
Zeig narrowed his eyes. "My relationship with General Peppy is different, okay? Don't you know what it means to have a meeting of minds?"
"But it's ignoring you when you do that."
...
Tingyun and Welt quietly walked up behind the two of them, watching speechlessly.
"Dear benefactors, please return Diting to me."
"Huh?"
Zeig suddenly lowered his head and looked at the small lion in his arms in shock. "What's going on? Didn't you say your name was Mourning Tiger? Why is she calling you Big Yellow??"
"It's Diting, not Big Yellow!"
Tingyun quickly snatched Diting away and hugged it to her chest, looking at the two resentfully. "Also, please don't feed the clockwork hound strange food!"
"Heh, clockwork hound? See, I told you the mourning tiger was a dog!" Zeig pointed triumphantly at March 7th.
Although it looked like a small lion on the outside, the frequency with which it wagged its tail after seeing Tingyun was clearly that of a dog!
Tingyun stroked Diting's fur and introduced it to the two of them. "This is Diting, developed by the Artisanship Commission to mimic the five senses of our foxian race. Its acuity is very strong."
She placed Diting on the ground. "Whether it's footprints or scents, as long as it locks onto the characteristics, it can sniff out the traces left by the target and track them all the way to the end."
"As long as we can find even the slightest trace of Kafka, no matter how well she hides, she won't be able to escape Diting's pursuit."
After hearing Tingyun's explanation, the two finally understood what this dog was for.
Suddenly, Zeig felt as if he had been struck by lightning. "Wait… another product from the Artisanship Commission? Last time, wasn't the thing you used to hear Kafka's location also from the Artisanship Commission? And now this mourning tiger is also made by them. Isn't that a bit too coincidental?"
Tingyun pursed her lips, her gaze turning unfriendly. "Please refrain from making baseless accusations, benefactor. Doesn't everything show that the Artisanship Commission's professional capabilities are very strong? Why must you assume there's a trap?"
Zeig crossed his arms and shook his head. "No way. The mourning tiger won't eat what I feed it. I don't like it, so I'm not using it!"
Tingyun smiled awkwardly. "First of all, its name is Diting, not Mourning Tiger. Secondly… we don't have any better tracking methods right now. We should at least give it a try."
"How do we try it?"
"Um… like this. First, set it to sniff out someone's scent~"
March 7th nodded and began adjusting the one lying on the ground with its tongue out—Zeig.
Welt: "..."
Tingyun smiled. "Why don't we use my perfume as the target? Everyone can test Diting's skills with it."
After letting the perfume be smelled by Diting on the ground and by Zeig who had crawled over, Tingyun smiled and said, "This little lady will hide first. You can use Diting to search for me."
Seeing Welt and March 7th nod, Tingyun turned around and trotted away.
March 7th grabbed the rope, leading Zeig, and held her forehead. "What the heck, in the end we still have to use a dog to chase someone."
Welt squatted down, stroked Diting, and said in a deep voice, "There's no other way. Let's try trusting them for now."
And so, Welt led Diting while March 7th led Zeig as they began searching for Tingyun.
As the two groups passed by the port, Diting suddenly paused.
"Woof!"
Hearing this, March 7th scoffed disdainfully. "Heh, it says the port wind is strong, so it's not easy to track by scent!"
At that moment, Zeig, who was sprawled on the ground like some deformed creature, also laughed disdainfully.
"Hehehehe—!!"
Then, following the scent, he quickly dragged March 7th off in one direction.
The pressure was suddenly on Welt's group.
"..."
Welt silently looked at Diting and sighed. "What do we do now? If this keeps up, our group is going to fall behind."
In this moment of crisis, Diting barked twice more.
"Woof—!!"
Welt's eyes lit up. "You mean we can ask passersby to gather information? But then… what difference does it make whether you're here or not?"
After a long silence, Welt still took Diting and began inquiring with the people around them.
On the other side, March 7th's group.
"Hehehehehehe—!!"
She was leading Zeig, who was crawling on the ground like a deformed creature, and they were making incredibly fast progress!
The two of them sped through the port like a gust of wind!
Passersby had their hair blown up by the wild gust created as the pair rushed past.
A little girl holding a candied hawthorn pointed innocently in the direction the two were running.
"Mom, what kind of animal is that—!!"