Chapter 17: A Beast Invaded the Warehouse
Chapter 17: A Beast Invaded the Warehouse
The purchase price of the three vehicles was $11,350.
The auction fees and Chuck’s proxy-bidding fee came to $675.
Consumables and other parts cost approximately $2,200.
The body shop charged around $1,200 for polishing.
The total cost came to roughly $15,400.
Meanwhile, the car purchased by Steven’s acquaintance sold for $8,500 even after deducting the brokerage fee.
The two sold to Karen’s acquaintances went for $10,300 and $10,000 respectively.
If I subtract the expenses from that... my net profit is $13,400?
I calculated that correctly, right?
Maybe the lack of sleep had left my head too foggy, because it felt as though numbers were floating around inside my mind.
Around twenty-eight percent of that would disappear in taxes, but one thing was certain.
I had made a profit far beyond my expectations.
I guess all the suffering and barely being able to shower was worth it.
First came the Mustang my father had left me.
Then the Crown Victoria I had happened to find at auction.
To be honest, luck had played a significant role in both of those.
But all three of the cars this time had come through referrals.
The fact that existing customers had introduced me to new customers gave me a sudden surge of professional confidence.
Of course, the restoration completion rewards were also quite generous.
—————
[Restoration Complete]
Vehicle: Ford Crown Victoria P71 ×3
Restoration Value: C+
Difficulty: D
Contribution: 20%
Basic Vehicle Appraisal Skill Enhanced.
What a Car Should Never Leak
(You can detect hidden locations of fluid leaks.)
Coins earned: 200 × 3 = 600
Current Coin Balance: 11,875
—————
Oh, I had earned a lot of coins too.
And the more I looked at these skills, the more incredible they seemed.
Just being able to identify whether a car has a fluid leak and exactly where it is probably gives me a third of the appraisal process for free.
My happiness did not last long.
Maybe it was the relief of having finished everything safely.
Or perhaps the accumulated sleepiness had simply passed its limit.
Thud—
Without even enough energy left to celebrate, I collapsed onto the floor of the rented warehouse, which finally had some open space again.
Ah... I was supposed to go have a beer at the saloon...
...
...
“Ugh. I completely passed out.”
I had no idea how long I had slept, but when I finally woke after a deep sleep, my previously foggy mind felt much clearer.
My back and waist ached a little from rolling around on the bare floor, but thanks to this soft bundle of fur, I had slept rather comfortably—
“Hm...? Bundle of fur?”
The unfamiliar sensation against my side startled me so badly that I shot upright.
What is that?
A gray bundle of fur lay beside me, curled into a ball.
Fortunately, it was not particularly large.
It was smaller than a basketball.
It looks like some kind of baby animal...
Coyotes were the most common animals around here.
After them, I occasionally saw gray foxes.
However, both species were usually extremely wary of humans, so it was difficult to imagine one coming this close.
Besides, judging from the color of its fur, underneath all the dust it seemed almost white.
I would have been able to tell more clearly by looking at its snout, but it had buried its face into its curled body, making it hard to see.
Even though I was making all this noise beside it, it did not move at all.
It is alive, right?
Its belly was rising and falling slightly.
It was breathing.
“Is it sick?”
People living in outlying areas were taught not to carelessly touch wild animals that wandered inside.
The desert was home to many poisonous plants and animals, and there was always the possibility that an animal might carry some strange infectious disease.
Still, I could not simply leave it lying inside the warehouse.
I put on thick gloves, kept my body at a distance, and stretched out one hand to gently poke it.
Tap—
Still no reaction.
Only faint, wheezing breaths.
This time, I became a little bolder and lifted it by supporting its body around the waist.
It hung limply without resisting at all.
At the same time, its face was revealed.
Black eyes.
A black nose.
And slightly drooping ears beside them.
This is just a puppy, isn’t it?
All the tension instantly drained from my body.
Judging from its young-looking face and small size, it was still very young.
Had it wandered in from outside to escape the wind?
I had collapsed from exhaustion before closing the warehouse door completely, so it must have entered through the small opening.
I carefully lowered it back onto the floor and examined it more closely.
Fortunately, there were no visible injuries.
However, its nose, which should have been moist, had no shine at all.
Its eyes remained shut.
Its tail showed no sign of moving.
Something was definitely wrong with this puppy.
And if I left it like this, it would die.
After witnessing so many deaths, I could tell that much with certainty.
“What am I supposed to do with you...?”
I had never raised a dog.
In fact, I had never raised any kind of animal in my life.
I knew how to provide emergency treatment to a human, but I had no idea what to do with a limp puppy.
Damn it. Why is a little thing like you out here alone?
I nearly cursed aloud without realizing it.
At that moment, the puppy began trembling violently.
Why is it shaking like that? Is it cold?
I immediately took off my outer shirt and wrapped it around the puppy.
It was small enough to fit entirely in one arm.
Was there a veterinary clinic nearby?
The sun had already gone down long ago.
In a rural desert area like this, veterinary clinics that treated small animals were rare to begin with.
It was safe to assume that none of them would be open at this hour.
To reach an emergency animal hospital, I would have to drive at least as far as Tucson.
The problem was that I did not think the puppy could endure the trip.
“Right. Didn’t Karen say she was a veterinarian?”
I suddenly remembered the conversation I had had with her.
I quickly pulled out my phone and called her without warning.
Normally, I would never have done something like that.
But this was not the time to worry about such things.
Ring, ring—
“Hello, Jason? What’s wrong?”
She would have had every reason to be surprised by a sudden call from someone she barely knew, but there was no sign of it in her voice.
“Karen, I’m really sorry for calling so late. I found a puppy in my warehouse, and it looks really sick. All the clinics are closed, and I don’t have anyone else to ask. It’s still very small. It’s breathing, but it can’t open its eyes.”
My thoughts were racing, and I talked without even stopping to breathe.
I could not remember the last time I had spoken this much at once.
“Okay, Jason. First, take some pictures and send them to me. It’s breathing and can’t open its eyes. Are there any other symptoms? Is it drooling heavily?”
Karen calmly went through the symptoms one by one.
Her composure helped me calm down too.
I quickly took several pictures, sent them, and continued.
“No. It’s just trembling a little. It doesn’t react when I touch or lift it, and its tail isn’t moving. I wrapped it in clothes to keep it warm.”
“All right. Give me a moment.”
I heard faint rustling over the phone, probably as she checked the photos.
“Yes, it’s definitely a puppy. Judging from the fur and body shape, I don’t think it’s even six months old yet. I don’t see any serious external injuries... Based on what you described, it’s probably dehydrated. It looks like it’s been wandering outside for quite a while.”
Dehydration?
Come to think of it, some of the symptoms overlapped with dehydration in humans.
Dehydration during operations and training had been fairly common when I was in the SEALs, so I was familiar with the signs.
“If it’s dehydration, should I give it fluids?”
“Yes. If you have some, you can mix a small amount of sugar into the water. Puppies are especially vulnerable to hypoglycemia compared to adult dogs. But do not add salt. Also, the temperature doesn’t have to be too hot, but keep its body comfortably warm. Try feeding it again after it regains some strength.”
(Translator’s Note: Hypoglycemia in Puppies — Young puppies can be especially vulnerable to low blood glucose because of their small energy reserves and high metabolic demands. Signs may include weakness, shaking, lethargy, and collapse.)
As expected of a professional veterinarian, Karen listed the necessary steps without hesitation.
Aside from not giving it salt, the response is almost the same as with a person.
Fortunately, none of the instructions were particularly difficult.
“All right. I’ll do that. Thank you so much, Karen.”
“No problem. You did the right thing by calling. I’m actually grateful you didn’t just throw the puppy back outside. Don’t feed it anything until tomorrow. Bring it to my clinic first thing in the morning. The address is...”
After ending the call, I quickly opened a bottle of water, added a very small amount of coffee sugar, and shook it.
Then I poured a little into a small dish and placed it in front of the puppy’s mouth.
“Hey. This is water. Drink some.”
But the puppy continued trembling and did not react at all.
I pulled off my gloves and touched its body with my bare hand.
It was much colder than I expected.
Water isn’t the main problem right now.
I pulled the puppy back into my arms and curled my body around it as tightly as I could.
I blew warm air onto it, rubbed my hands together vigorously, and pressed them gently against its body.
“Come on. Get some strength back. You have to live, you little idiot. She said you’re not even six months old yet.”
It was a good thing I had collapsed and slept earlier in the day.
There was no way I could fall asleep now and leave the puppy like this.
I had no idea how much time passed.
Eventually, the trembling gradually began to subside, and its wheezing breaths became calmer.
That was a good sign.
I brought the dish of water back to its mouth.
“Come on. You need to drink this. If you don’t, you really might die.”
Maybe my words finally reached it.
The tiny black nose, no bigger than a button, twitched from side to side.
“Water. It’s water. Come on, drink.”
Its mouth slowly opened.
Then a tiny pink tongue, no larger than my thumbnail, slipped out.
Lap, lap—
“Yes, that’s it. Good.”
Calling it “drinking” was generous.
It was really only licking the surface of the dish.
Still, with moderate or severe dehydration, gulping down too much water at once could actually cause problems.
At least that was true for humans.
Dogs were probably similar.
In any case, once the puppy tasted the sweetened water, it began licking the dish on its own without me having to coax it.
Each time, I added a little more water.
I also kept holding it to prevent its body temperature from falling again.
That’s it. Drink slowly. You only have to make it until morning.
I had shot people during operations.
Not once.
Not twice.
I had nearly lost my own life.
I had watched colleagues die in front of me.
I deliberately avoided thinking too deeply about the sanctity of life.
Otherwise, I would not have been able to carry out any operation.
But right now, I absolutely could not allow this filthy little bundle of fur, breathing faintly in my arms, to die.
You came into my warehouse. That means I’m keeping you alive no matter what.
It was different from responsibility or obligation.
The feeling was probably closest to what I had felt when I first saw the Mustang’s empty engine bay.
But the strength of my determination now was incomparably greater.
Cars left this warehouse alive.
There was no way a puppy was going to die here.
I held it in my arms through the blue hours before dawn until the warm morning sun finally rose again.
(Translator’s Note: Blue hour — The period shortly before sunrise or after sunset when the sun lies below the horizon and indirect light gives the sky a predominantly blue tone. The term originated in photography and visual art from the French l’heurebleue.)
“You’ve been starving for a long time, haven’t you? Poor thing.”
The next day, the moment Karen’s veterinary clinic opened, I practically burst through the door and became the puppy’s first patient of the day.
Karen looked slightly unfamiliar in a white coat.
Still, the way she confidently placed the stethoscope against the puppy’s body made her look every bit the professional.
“Heartworm test is negative, and I don’t see any external trauma or internal organ damage. Still, it looks extremely exhausted, so I think it would be best to put it on LRS fluids and observe it for about a day.”
(Translator’s Note: Heartworm — A parasitic disease caused by Dirofilaria immitis and transmitted primarily through mosquito bites. It most seriously affects dogs and can damage the heart, lungs, and associated blood vessels.)
(Translator’s Note:LRS — Short for Lactated Ringer’s Solution, a balanced crystalloid fluid used in both human and veterinary medicine for fluid replacement and management of dehydration.)
“Whew...”
I let out a long breath of relief.
“Hehe. When I saw you before, your face was so stiff the whole time that you looked a little frightening. I didn’t know you could make an expression like that.”
Karen glanced at my face and teased me.
“No, well... it’s just that it’s still such a little puppy. It would be sad if it died.”
I scratched the back of my head.
The corners of her mouth lifted softly.
“Jason, I think you’re a much better person than I expected. You know how to feel compassion for an animal weaker than yourself. That’s never a bad thing. So, what are you going to do with this one now?”
What was I going to do?
Come to think of it, I had not thought about that at all.
“What are the options?”
“Hmm... First, it needs to be reported as found. I can keep it here until it recovers enough, but after that, it would normally go to a shelter. They would post a notice, and if it’s lucky, someone will adopt it. If not...”
Karen frowned slightly, looking uncomfortable.
“If it goes to a no-kill shelter, it could remain there for a long time. At a kill shelter, depending on the circumstances, euthanasia is also possible.”
(Translator’s Note: Kill Shelter — An informal and often controversial term for a shelter where euthanasia may occur because of severe illness, dangerous behavior, capacity limits, or other circumstances.)
Euthanasia?
After I had gone through all that trouble to keep it alive, someone might take it away and kill it again?
“Of course, cases like that are much rarer now, and the people working there never want to do it. But the probability is not zero.”
When my expression hardened again, Karen hurriedly continued.
She was right.
This was not an issue that an outsider like me, who knew nothing about it, had any right to become blindly angry over.
Had I not already experienced countless times that the world could not be understood in such simplistic terms?
Still.
There was no way I could send the puppy to a shelter.
Just last night, while holding it in my arms, I had promised that I would keep it alive.
That left me only one option.
Honestly, there was no reason to hesitate anymore.
“Could you take care of it here for just a few more days? Please don’t send it to a shelter.”
“What? Of course I can do that much, but...”
“I’ll pay all the expenses. Please take care of it for me.”
I hurriedly finished speaking and stood up.
My plans had changed.
Now I did not just need a proper automotive workshop.
I needed a workshop where I could live together with that puppy.