Demons Beside You

“Its name is Princess. I only know that it’s our boss’s pet, but it’s really smart.”

“Do you know who’s the culprit right now?”

“We can’t confirm it yet. We only know that the culprit used N-Nitrosodimethylamine. Our boss’s other pets are searching the store now.”

Just then, Black Ma jumped down from the cash register with a piece of beef in his mouth. He tossed it into the basket with the turkey already confirmed to be poisoned.

“This is?” Geclid looked at the big black dog with amazement. No, this was a wolf!

“Its name is Black Ma. It’s also our boss’s pet. It’s responsible for searching for poisoned products. This beef must be poisoned too.”

“Is it possible for it to make mistakes?”

“As of now, the four products they found and were sent to be tested all came out to be poisoned.”

…

“Daisy, be ready,” Winnip said, expression grave. “Start the PR as soon as the media starts reporting the scandal. How many poisoned products have been found so far?”

“Twelve have been found.”

Winnip’s spirits were low. Her expression was even more depressing.

Whoever poisoned the products was truly crazy. If these 12 items were sold and someone died from food poisoning, Mara Supermarket would really be in trouble. Not even god would be able to help them.

“Is the culprit found?” Winnip asked.

“Not yet. The poisoned items were all in the cameras’ blind spots. The culprit is really smart.”

Winnip thought for a moment. “Then we’ll wait for the crowd to thin. The culprit won’t be able to hide even if he wants to.”

Princess was guarding the entrance. The culprit couldn’t escape. Black Ma and White Ma were patrolling the store too. If they found the guy, he would have nowhere to run to.

“Boss, our customer flow hasn’t thinned. Instead, it’s 40% more than usual.”

“What? How is that possible?”

“Earlier, there was already a report about the poisoning, but it emphasized that Princess, White Ma, and Black Ma are doing safety checks in the store. A lot of customers want to see just how smart they are.”

“That works too?” Winnip was stunned.

“Two newspapers also contacted me. They want to come and film inside the store. More accurately, they want to film Princess, Black Ma, and White Ma.”

Winnip was tempted. “Give them permission, as long as they don’t disturb the animals’ work.”

She’d decided. The poisoning had already happened, so she should at least use this chance and Princess, Black Ma, and White Ma for promotions.

“Boss, the police are here too. They brought dogs.”

“Let them in too, but the searching for poisoned items and the culprit still depends on us.”

…

“Dum, what’s wrong with you?” Russville yelled in anger. “I told you to poison them, not to give Mara free advertisement.”

“Boss, what did I do wrong? I followed your instructions and poisoned Mara Supermarket.” Dum looked troubled. “Now, me and three other guys are stuck in the store. The police are here too. Boss, you have to help us, or else the police will find us out.”

“You want me to get you guys out? Don’t you know that because of your mistakes, not only did we not hurt Mara, we even gave them free advertisement? They have 40% more customers than usual now. How many of them went to Mara after leaving our store?”

“But we were just following your instructions,” Dum refuted. “You can’t blame us.”

“I don’t care. You couldn’t complete the task.”

“Boss, if I and the three guys I found get caught, I can’t promise we won’t rat you out.”

“You’re threatening me?”

“Boss, I don’t care what you’re thinking about. Since I did this for you, you better prepare a million dollars for me. Otherwise, you better get a good lawyer.” Dum sneered.

He wasn’t Russville’s dog. If everything went smoothly, anything could work. But now that he was in danger, he had to get something good for himself.

“You’re blackmailing me? I’ll kill you!”

“Boss, I’m asking for the payment that I deserve. After all, what I did for you is really risky.”

Dum hung up. He didn’t see that a small cat on a shelf witnessed the entire thing. Dum felt something, but when he looked up, there was nothing there.

Samuel was already back at Chen Zhao’s side. “Master, I found a suspect.”

Chen Zhao held Samuel up and patted his small head. “Good job.”

“Mr. Chen, you got something?”

“We found one culprit,” he said to Daisy. “There are three more.”

“The kitty found him?” Daisy asked in disbelief.

“Yes.” Lowering his head, Chen Zhao said to Samuel, “Go tell Black Ma and White Ma not to catch him now. See who else he interacted with.”

Daisy grew even more doubtful. “Are you sure it can send your message?”

“He’s really smart.”

“It’s just a kitty, right?”

“That’s why I say he’s smart.”

…

Lester was a cameraman for a TV channel. This was his first time following a white dog. For today’s job, most of his time was spent running around the store with this dog.

He felt like this was a complete waste of time. Could this dog really catch a suspect?

Meow—

Just then, a cat’s meow caught his attention. It caught the dog’s attention as well.

Lester saw a fist-sized kitty standing on a shelf. The white dog went to the cat. Lester thought the dog would attack the cat. After all, he’d seen many fights between dogs and cats.

Much to his surprise, the white dog actually looked up at the cat. The cat meowed a few times and then the dog nodded.

They’re talking? This thought appeared in Lester’s mind.

After they talked for a while, the white dog looked back at Lester after telling him to follow.

So, Lester followed the big white dog and it started searching with a target in mind. Lester didn’t know what it was looking for.

Just then, the dog lowered its body and looked at Lester. Woof.

“You want me to get low?”

The dog nodded. Lester also lowered himself and pointed the DV at a shelf in the near distance. A hooded man seemed to be looking around.

As soon as Lester saw him, he thought that something was wrong with the guy.