Gu Ning never expected this dog to actually pull off her pants.
Beastmen were already strong, but this dog was a cut above the rest. Her outer pants were held securely by a belt, but he snapped it clean in two.
The moment the belt snapped, the dog yanked down her loose, waterproof trousers.
But she still had a pair of insulated pants on underneath.
"So many layers?" Leo froze for a second when he saw another pair of pants. "What are you, a snake? Aren’t you hot?"
Furious, Gu Ning jabbed a finger toward his gleaming dog eyes.
The tactic had some effect. Leo was so focused on her pants that he didn’t dodge. He recoiled when she poked him, then reached out to grab her. "You just wait, I’m gonna..."
"CRASH!"
The sharp sound of shattering glass exploded next to Gu Ning’s ear.
A Beastman outside had shattered the window on Leo’s side with a single punch. A gust of frigid wind, carrying the scent of blood, poured into the car.
The Beastman wrenched open the car door, seized Leo by the hair, and dragged him from the vehicle like a dead dog.
Even though Gu Ning couldn’t get a clear look at the Beastman, she could feel the tremendous rage in his movements.
She scrambled to the open car door and peered out. In the flickering glow of a fire up ahead, she got a clear view of the Beastman brawling with Leo.
It was Barto.
The two were fighting so viciously that Gu Ning, afraid Barto would get the worst of it, quickly hitched up her pants and jumped out of the car to get help.
The snow here wasn’t as deep as in Zone 19, but as she jumped from the car, her waterproof outer pants—now without a belt—slid right down and tripped her.
She silently cursed the dog who had ruined her pants, floundering in the snow as she got back up and bent over to pull up the outer pants bunched around her calves.
The cuffs were tucked into her boots and the laces were tied tight, making the pants impossible to take off in a hurry. All she could do was hold them up.
Just as she bent over, Vine rushed over and scooped her up from the snow.
Gu Ning breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was him.
Vine’s expression was thunderous. When he saw her pants sagging around her ankles, he grew so enraged he looked ready to shift into his beast form.
Gu Ning saw Barto grab Leo and slam him into the snow. She smacked Vine’s shoulder anxiously. "Captain, help Barto!"
"What did he do to you?" Vine asked in a grim voice.
Gu Ning said, "Just go! Go help Barto!"
Vine pulled her pants up for her and set her down on the hood of the car. "Wait here," he said.
He ordered the team members who had followed him to keep an eye on Gu Ning, then marched toward Leo with murder in his stride.
By now, Cook had broken through the Dog Team’s encirclement and rushed in to help Barto pummel Leo.
Leo was on the back foot against their combined assault, but he was still holding his own. In fact, he seemed to draw strength from the fight, growing more excited at the sight of blood and beginning to shift into his half-beast form.
He was professionally trained, with superb combat instincts. He found an opening to grab the more troublesome of the two—the fox—and hurl him aside. Then he pinned Cook by the neck and started smashing his head against the wall of a nearby ruin, intending to knock him out first.
But before he could, Barto came flying back in. He grabbed Leo’s head and viciously slammed it against the wall, then kicked him so hard in the stomach that he crashed right through it.
The wall collapsed with a roar.
The onlooking members of the Dog Clan saw that it was two against one—and two Mixed Breeds at that. The way they were fighting, it was clear they were going for the kill.
Several of the Dog Clan members exchanged glances before rushing in to restrain Barto and Cook.
Even though Andrew wasn’t here to keep them in line, they were still on a mission. If they screwed it up, their leader would have to face the consequences.
"Get off me!" Leo shoved his teammates aside and spat out a mouthful of blood. He glanced at Cook, who was on the verge of losing control to his feral nature, then turned to Barto. "If you’ve got the guts, fight me one-on-one, you stinking fox."
"Let him go," he told his men.
Barto wrenched himself free from the Dog Clan members restraining him. Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, he slapped Cook hard across the face and shoved him aside. "Go watch her!"
The slap seemed to stun Cook, who regained a sliver of his senses and immediately turned to run in Gu Ning’s direction.
"Hmph." A smirk played on Leo’s lips. He was about to re-engage with the fox when he saw him pull out a gun and aim it right at him.
He froze. "The hell? Can’t fight fair?"
"Who said I was playing with you?" In stark contrast to Leo’s soaring battlelust, Barto was chillingly calm, not at all like a typical Mixed Breed. He said slowly, "I want you dead."
"Bring it on." Leo mimed a gun with his fingers and pressed it to his temple. "Shoot right here. If that doesn’t kill me, we’re going to tear you to..."
Before the words were out of his mouth, Vine furiously shoved aside the onlookers and decked him with a single punch, sending him sprawling to the ground.
"BANG!" The bullet whizzed past Leo’s face, missing his head by a hair’s breadth.
The spectating soldiers, regardless of their team, were no longer in the mood to watch a show. They all snapped into combat readiness in an instant.