Saving the Boss From a ‘Dog Blood’ Novel - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Puppy Breaking Point in Progress

His computer had been touched.

This was the first abnormality Lu Mingtang discovered upon waking up.

Having finally slept through the night for the first time in ages, he didn’t even have time to savor the pleasure before his heart leaped into his throat.

Still in his pajamas and shuffling in slippers, he checked every corner of the apartment with messy, bed-head hair.

There was no third living creature in the house besides himself and the dog. It was either sleepwalking or the pup making trouble. He didn’t have a habit of sleepwalking, but he didn’t have time to interrogate the dog either, he immediately turned on the machine to check the data—

No abnormalities.

However, the computer was off, yet the tower still held residual warmth. If he had forgotten to turn it off last night, it should still be on now. But if it was turned off, how could the casing be warm to the touch?

Lu Mingtang narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the little thing following closely at his heels with an inquisitive gaze.

“Puppy.”

The puppy snapped to attention, his gaze resolute: “Awoo-woof!”

Lu Mingtang suspected him more and more. If it wasn’t him, why was he acting so firm?

The puppy locked eyes with him for a moment before losing his cool. He dashed out and then pushed his food bowl back in, wagging his tail frantically.

“You were in here last night,” Lu Mingtang said with certainty.

The puppy’s tail stalled for a second, then wagged even faster. He ran out again, this time returning with an unopened bag of toast, handing it over obsequiously.

“Didn’t I say you aren’t allowed in this room?”

It was definitely him. If not, why all the flattery?

Lu Mingtang’s face darkened. He scooped up the dog and sat at the desk, pinning the puppy’s stiff body against the tabletop, and said nonchalantly:

“Do it again for me.”

???

The puppy was shocked: Big brother, do you even hear yourself right now?

Lu Mingtang scratched under his chin, but his resolve remained firm. This dog even knew how to turn a computer on and off; if he kept raising him, he’d probably turn into a spirit soon.

Fortunately, nothing vital was touched this time, but if he didn’t educate him, what about next time? Wait until he blows up the house?

He decided that the moment a paw reached out, he’d give him a flick on the forehead. Once it hurt, he’d learn to be good.

But the puppy didn’t follow his train of thought. Instead of reaching out a paw, he thought he understood the “assignment” and performed an act that defied human nature: he twisted his body and enthusiastically licked Lu Mingtang’s face.

The fire of Lu Mingtang’s gathered anger hissed out instantly. He sighed silently, tilting his head back to dodge, and said sternly:

“No acting spoiled.”

The puppy tilted his head, his eyes sincere and innocent. For a puppy his size, what else could he do besides act spoiled?

Be the bigger person, Lu thought. Why get worked up over a nursing pup?

“…Otherwise, no food for you,” the man insisted on being petty.

Man and dog fell into a stalemate once again.

Lu Mingtang felt this dog wasn’t very “dog,” and Ye Li felt this man was being a real “dog”, he had just helped him!

The doorbell interrupted the standoff.

Ye Li breathed a sigh of relief and bolted to the door like a lightning bolt, squatting upright, waiting for the homeowner to open it.

“Opening the door shouldn’t be hard for you either, right?”

Lu Mingtang’s voice was cold, and the puppy’s posture slumped a bit:

Your lock requires fingerprints and facial recognition. Which one of those does a dog have?

The door opened—

“I say… you actually slept!” The person hadn’t even entered yet, but the large bags in his hands did. He entered and immediately made himself at home, heading for the fridge, wondering aloud:

“The All-Nighter Immortal finally broke his streak? Who had the skills to get you into bed? I was worried you’d dropped dead in here!”

“Good grief, are you planning to raise fish in the fridge? Is there anything in here besides water?”

As he spoke, he stuffed frozen food into the fridge, not top-quality stuff, but at least more nutritious than Lu Mingtang’s previous diet.

“So early. Is something up?” Lu Mingtang turned a deaf ear to the grumbling and took a bowl of instant noodles from the man’s bag, walking to the living room.

Ye Li was surprised to find he knew this person too. After he left, this man became the Technical Director—Liu Da, who could be called Lu Mingtang’s number one lackey.

Back then, they didn’t get along, mainly because Ye Li couldn’t stand the way he acted like the boss’s echo.

Liu Da likewise couldn’t stand Ye Li’s attitude, acting like even the Emperor himself would have to wait in line. Their constant bickering was a daily routine in the tech department.

“Came to see if you were still alive,” Liu Da gave him a rolled-eye look. “Something’s up, of course.”

As he spoke, he pulled a card from his pocket:

“Twenty percent off for a single run. Go straight to Old Zhao; he’s in charge of the lab. It’ll be available by the end of the month.”

Lu Mingtang picked up the card. A string of gold-embossed text read: “For Internal Use Only.”

This was the only large-scale private laboratory in the city, a classic case of high demand and zero supply. Projects waiting for test runs were lined up from the start of the year to the end. Zhao Ge had gone there after leaving the company, but based on the timing, he should still be a newcomer. It was unclear how he’d snagged this internal testing qualification.

“Don’t make things hard for Zhao Ge. This stuff isn’t easy to get, right?”

“How is it making things hard? Do you think he doesn’t want you to land the project and hire him back?” Liu Da added water to the noodle bowl for him while continuing to nag:

“Don’t be picky now. You’re so broke you’ve turned your home into a server room… We’re all waiting for this project so we can find that grandson who tripped us up and see the look on his face.”

Lu Mingtang hummed in response, not saying much.

Liu Da ranted on, cursing everything from the start of the year to the end—cursing suppliers, then customers, then relevant departments. Finally, he threw in a side note:

“You got a dog? Where’d you buy it? It’s quite refined.”

He reached out his hand, itching to mess with Ye Li.

If it weren’t for the fact that he brought human food, Ye Li wouldn’t have let him off so easily; he’d have sent him for five rabies shots right then and there.

He nimbly dodged the hand and jumped onto Lu Mingtang’s lap, chest out, declaring his territory.

That proud little expression somehow reminded Liu Da of someone. His face twitched:

“The little thing is quite fond of people.”

“Found him,” Lu Mingtang pinched the puppy’s ear and rubbed his head. The puppy was well-behaved, letting himself be kneaded and rubbed.

That submissiveness made Liu Da think the resemblance vanished again—

“Brother Lu, do you think we should make some rounds with the military side as well?”

Ye Li’s ears twitched, focusing intently. Previously, he had never touched the company’s PR work, but later his identity changed; as the client (Party A), their identities were highly classified.

“I’ve asked around. The clearance level is very high. All we know is it’s a Project 17-Institute task. No one knows who the person in charge is.”

Generally, military branches in various regions have fixed partner enterprises. However, the 17th Institute was recently established, and its research direction was too cutting-edge. Internal personnel information was entirely classified. There were very few enterprises on the market that could meet their needs. This project was their first public one; the confidentiality was not only a requirement of the bidding law but also a hope that technologically leading companies would stand out.

It was stated very clearly: no favors this time. Everyone relies on their own ability.

So they staked everything and gambled.

But Liu Da remained anxious; the shadow of the past year loomed large: “That’s what they say, but maybe…”

“This technology will be applied to deep-space exploration in the future. It’s not something just anyone can handle. They wouldn’t dare mess around.”

“Who knows what those big shots are thinking,” Liu Da muttered.

Ye Li bristled: Watch your mouth! The 17th Institute is clean as a whistle. There are no ‘big shots’ pulling strings!

Liu Da didn’t know why the puppy was excited, but he began to act hesitant, stammering. Lu Mingtang couldn’t stand it and slapped a plastic fork on the table:

“Just say it. Are you performing an opera?”

“Should we go find Ye…” he said in a small voice.

“What?” Lu Mingtang lifted the bowl lid, stirred the barely soaked noodles, and then froze.

“I said find Ye Li! Not to go through the back door! Just to scout for info!” Liu Da went for it, shouting at the top of his lungs. “He has a share in the R&D credit too. No matter how much of a jerk he is, he’s got to have a conscience when it comes to judging fairly. Who else in this industry can beat us?”

Hearing that name, Lu Mingtang didn’t even lift his eyelids: “If you think he’s a jerk, why are you going to find him?”

Ye Li glared at Lu Mingtang: Who are you calling a jerk?

Liu Da bit his spoon, mumbling:

“Does he even know you’ve been screwed this badly?”

Lu Mingtang didn’t speak. He finished the bowl of noodles in a few bites, stood up, and walked toward the study. Ye Li hurried in after him.

Liu Da thought he wouldn’t get an answer, but then a voice came from the room:

“It has nothing to do with him.”

How could it have nothing to do with him? That was Ye Li.

The only young person in the whole company that Lu Mingtang had personally recruited.

Not very old but with a huge temper, arrogant like an ignorant rich kid. The whole company looked to President Lu as their leader, except for him—a professional contrarian, constantly saying things wouldn’t work or weren’t viable. Yet, Lu Mingtang actually listened to him.

Lu Mingtang had started with nothing to get to where he was. He worked while studying in middle school, and started his business while in college. In his junior year, riding the wave of brain-computer interface development, he earned his first pot of gold with an independently developed mini-game. Later, he built an R&D team and moved into neural network digitization, rising rapidly all the way.

He was a near-legend in their circle.

What did he rely on?

He relied on his own absolute authority; his word was law.

Liu Da was also someone who didn’t easily submit to others, but he submitted to Brother Lu.

From campus idol to career idol, that was the direction of his efforts! He sincerely treated Lu Mingtang’s career as his own. In his words, they were brothers of the heart, not far from being brothers who would die for each other.

The whole team was mostly like him. They moved in perfect unison under the leadership of the alpha wolf, until Ye Li appeared.

A pack can only have one alpha, but Ye Li was young and reckless, appearing before them with sharp claws and bared teeth.

At first, they watched for the entertainment, waiting for this young beast to be slapped silly by the alpha. But slowly, the fun faded, Ye Li was different.

Liu Da sometimes bitterly wished he really was just a spoiled rich kid; a “second-gen” has no say in front of a “first-gen” founder. But he wasn’t.

This little brat flaunted the talent God gave him everywhere, and Lu Mingtang actually indulged him—indulged him in challenging his authority, indulged him in being brazen, indulged him in squandering the indulgence he was given.

But Ye Li was blind. Anyone with eyes could see Lu Mingtang treated him differently, yet he was completely oblivious, taking all the favoritism as natural. When he left, he just patted his butt and didn’t even look back once.

Yes, Young General Ye was “traveling incognito,” and they were just peasants who failed to recognize a true dragon. But even the Emperor Qianlong remembered to come back a few times when he traveled south; Ye Li, on the other hand, left as if he were severing all ties.

Liu Da stared at Lu Mingtang’s closed door, feeling unsettled, and pounded on it loudly:

“You turtle, open the door!”

Lu Mingtang opened it, his gaze as sharp as ever, with a little puppy standing right by his feet.

Liu Da immediately chickened out, shrinking his neck and saying in a tiny voice:

“Do you know… some people are saying that person is actually Ye Li… because of Wu Yu… he’s deliberately screwing you…”