Chapter 570 — Eaten by the Dog

"Grandfather, then what about me and Wang Xinyan?" Kang Jinglong had already decided to distance himself from Wang Xinyan, but plans never keep pace with change. Elevating the family to a noble house had seemed a sure thing, yet in the blink of an eye it had all come to nothing, leaving Kang Jinglong deeply dispirited.

"You still have to keep in contact with her. Our family is in troubled waters now, and we cannot afford to cut ties with the Xiao family," Divine Doctor Kang said, his words soaked in profound helplessness.

Kang Jinglong nodded. In truth, he still coveted Wang Xinyan; it was only the interests of the family that left him wavering, uncertain just how far to take things with her. He feared that if the Kang family rose high, Wang Xinyan would bind him fast and he would never break free; yet he also feared that, now that the Kang family had lost the Xiao family's support, they would sink even deeper into misery.

So it was that Kang Jinglong slept not a wink all night, fretting over his gains and losses, and rose early, intending to take the Life-Prolonging Detox Pill to the laboratory to analyze its ingredients. If they truly could not identify its composition, then there was nothing for it but to keep pursuing Wang Xinyan.

In the living room, he reached for where his grandfather had placed the Life-Prolonging Detox Pill the day before. But the moment he stretched out his hand, he froze in shock — the box holding the pill was open! And the Life-Prolonging Detox Pill inside had vanished into thin air!

"Oh no! Grandfather, where's the Life-Prolonging Detox Pill?" Kang Jinglong cried out in alarm. This was something they had bought for over four hundred million — no joking matter!

Kang Jinglong's shout brought Divine Doctor Kang, Kang Guifeng, Kang Cuipu, and Kang Jingming rushing into the living room. Staring at the empty box on the coffee table, all of them gaped in alarm.

"It's gone? Which of you touched the Life-Prolonging Detox Pill?" Divine Doctor Kang's first thought was that someone in the family had turned thief, quietly making off with the pill, and his face darkened at once.

Everyone was taken aback, but one after another they shook their heads. They were all children of the Kang family; though Kang Guifeng and Kang Cuipu had their little frictions, those were personal grudges — who would dare sabotage the family's great enterprise?

"Dog hair!" Kang Jingming had sharp eyes, and suddenly spotted several strands of dog hair beside the box that had held the Life-Prolonging Detox Pill.

"Where's that sheepdog?" Divine Doctor Kang started, his brows knotting at once. Could their own dog have carried it off?

Because of the earlier investigation into the dog's droppings, that German shepherd had been kept in the house all this time. Later, when the droppings proved useless, no one had bothered with the dog and simply let it live at home. Yet no one had expected the beast to cause such a disaster, carrying off the Life-Prolonging Detox Pill in its mouth!

The Kang family all came to their senses and began searching the whole villa for the dog, until at last they found the German shepherd in a corner of the courtyard. The dog was curled up beside a pile of broken branches, surrounded on all sides by runny dog droppings that stank to high heaven.

Yet Divine Doctor Kang had no time to care about the stench. He hoisted the shepherd up by the scruff and began searching the ground around it, but after a long while he still found no sign of the Life-Prolonging Detox Pill. The pill was gone!

"You wretched dog, where have you taken the Life-Prolonging Detox Pill?" Divine Doctor Kang was frantic, cold sweat beading on his forehead. That was bought with cold, hard cash — over four hundred million! If it was lost, what a colossal loss that would be!

Everyone exchanged glances. A pill that small — where could they even begin looking? The villa was vast; if it had rolled off somewhere, there was no hope of finding it. But only Kang Jingming's face changed color. "Grandfather... could it be... the dog ate it?"

"What do you mean, Grandfather was eaten by the dog? What kind of talk is that?" Kang Cuipu, hearing his son speak so nonsensically, flared up in anger.

"Not that Grandfather was eaten by the dog — I mean the Life-Prolonging Detox Pill was eaten by the dog!" Kang Jingming hurried to explain. "This dog's in the same state I was after I took it last time — the runs, then lying there limp and weak..."

At Kang Jingming's words, Divine Doctor Kang looked again at the dog's condition, and sure enough it matched exactly. His head buzzed with a "wham," his vision went black, and he toppled to the ground in a dead faint! Who wouldn't faint at this? A Life-Prolonging Detox Pill bought for over four hundred million, eaten by a dog — was there any reason left to live?

Divine Doctor Kang's fainting was mild enough. Anyone with a weaker constitution would have had a heart attack on the spot.

The others were scarcely better off than Divine Doctor Kang. That pill had been the Kang family's only hope of rising in the world, and now it had been eaten by a dog! Heaven itself had abandoned the Kang family! But whatever Heaven thought, the Kang family now hurried Divine Doctor Kang to the hospital. With the Life-Prolonging Detox Pill gone, if anything happened to Divine Doctor Kang as well, the Kang family would truly be finished!

Divine Doctor Kang was in no real danger — he had simply fainted from a rush of anxious fire, and woke as soon as he reached the hospital. He was worried about the Life-Prolonging Detox Pill at home. Even if a dog had eaten it, they had to slaughter the dog and cut the pill out of its belly!

"You pack of idiots, what did you take me to the hospital for? Wasting time! Why didn't you cut open the dog's belly and see whether the pill was inside?" Divine Doctor Kang was beside himself with fury. These spendthrift whelps would be the death of him — couldn't they tell what mattered most?

Kang Guifeng and the others exchanged glances again. True enough — why hadn't they thought of it? But going back now would probably be too late. The dog would long since have digested the Life-Prolonging Detox Pill!

Be that as it may, Divine Doctor Kang still rushed out of the hospital in a panic and hurried the whole family back to the villa — only to be greeted by a German shepherd bursting with life! The dog was in finer spirits than words could tell, bounding and leaping about as though its strength would never run out!

At the sight of it, Divine Doctor Kang was overcome with remorse! Nine times out of ten the dog had already digested the pill — otherwise, how could it be so full of vigor? Yet Divine Doctor Kang still clung to a sliver of hope and had the dog killed, only to find nothing at all left inside its belly! It seemed the pill had been digested.

Divine Doctor Kang dropped straight down onto the ground and nearly wept himself to death! He came within a hair's breadth of rolling about on the floor — four hundred million! That was more than four hundred million, gone just like that! Nothing remained of it, and how could his family possibly be so unlucky?

Divine Doctor Kang pounded his chest and stamped his feet, and the others were no better off. Kang Guifeng and Kang Cuipu wore grim faces, while Kang Jinglong and Kang Jingming were filled with endless regret! Another fine opportunity had slipped through the Kang family's fingers.

"Grandfather, why don't we stew this dog meat and eat it? Maybe it would still do some good..." Kang Jingming could not help but suggest.