– HWHIFG | Volume 1 – Chapter 4

When an Authority Angel falls, Wu Wang gets fed… though not that fed.

Even after inhaling more than half of the Authority Angel in a storm of devouring, the hunger value floating above Wu Wang’s head only barely dropped from [999] to [998]. The moment his mouth paused, it even looked like it was about to rise again.

Wu Wang: “…”

Eating was exhausting.

With a soft plop, the dog collapsed sideways onto the ground, flattening into a lifeless furry pancake. His ears twitched as he overheard the two-legged creatures nearby speaking anxiously:

“Bro, did you see it? What happened to my back? Why is it so itchy?”

“…Do you want the gentle version or the brutal version?”

Zhou Mo: “?”

Zhou Mo: “Try the gentle one first…?”

Xiao Tao answered sincerely, “Congratulations. You might be learning how to fly soon.”

Zhou Mo: “…”

“And the brutal one?”

“Congratulations. You’ve grown two tumors on your back. They look like wing roots. You were probably assimilated by the angel.”

“…………….”

Zhou Mo turned to stone.

Wu Wang watched with great enjoyment. His tail unconsciously wagged twice. The rich expressions on the humans’ faces gave him the strength to continue stuffing himself.

Lazily sprawled on the ground, he continued eating nearby in an utterly uncouth posture.

He had only taken a few bites when a pair of hands reached over.

“This is disgraceful. Eat properly.”

Wu Wang: “?”

Mind your own business.

He rolled upright, wandered over to the other half of the Authority Angel’s corpse, and plopped down again. Just as he lowered his head to resume eating, he heard Fu Guang casually launch a combo attack:

“This dog… doesn’t have an owner to discipline it? Its manners are terrible.”

Wu Wang froze.

A few seconds later, he started coughing violently.

Xiao Tao paused comforting Zhou Mo. “It probably does? It has a collar. Maybe its owner spoiled it too much, so they didn’t want to suppress the natural instincts of a husky.”

“Spoiled it, huh…” Fu Guang repeated meaningfully. Then he asked, “Have its eyes always looked like this?”

“Yeah,” Xiao Tao replied. “Ever since we met, they’ve looked like ghost fire. Why?”

Fu Guang shook his head mildly. “I once saw a dog like this before. That dog also had blue eyes, but just ordinary canine blue—not like this one, as if phosphorus flames were burning inside its pupils.”

He paused.

“If I remember correctly, that dog’s owner called it ‘Cassie.’”

Zhou Mo answered without thinking:

“? Cassie? Isn’t that exactly what’s written on this dog’s collar?”

Wu Wang suddenly choked and coughed again, claws digging into the ground hard enough to arch his back and stiffen his tail.

Two seconds later:

“Hrk—blegh!”

A thin, blood-soaked scrap of paper was vomited out.

“?!” Everyone immediately stopped talking and crowded around.

“?” Wu Wang had no idea why these two-legged creatures even cared about the bones he coughed up, but he indulgently lay there anyway.

Zhou Mo held his breath and reached toward the paper.

“I’ll do it! I’ve already been assimilated, so I’m not afraid of touching angel blood… What does this say? Ment… experiment…?”

He squinted his eyes into slits, unable to decipher the smeared writing.

Just as he turned around to ask Xiao Tao whether he had any item that could restore text, his expression froze.

“…”

“What are you cosplaying as this time—a stone statue?” Xiao Tao’s voice gradually weakened as his gaze locked onto Wu Wang’s tail, which had somehow started wagging cheerfully.

Xiao Tao: “…”

If his tail was wagging that happily, then without even turning around, Xiao Tao could already guess some monster was definitely standing behind him.

Silently, he tensed his body, preparing himself to enter battle while dragging along Zhou Mo, the deluxe deadweight edition.

Unexpectedly, after several seconds, Zhou Mo didn’t pounce onto him in panic. Although terror hung across his face, he managed to remain independent.

“I knew it!” Zhou Mo exclaimed. “These really are Authority Angels! Look—they only move within the areas they govern. They never cross territories!”

Wu Wang licked his lips and tilted his head, examining this new category of food ingredient.

This one didn’t look quite the same as the ration under his paws. It had fewer mouths, but it possessed an eagle’s head. Wings dozens of meters wide spread open like the flattened hood of a cobra, standing motionless over a hundred meters away.

Though it never charged toward them, its snake-gold eyes remained fixed on them the entire time, while the neck beneath its eagle head slowly stretched longer and longer in their direction.

After watching for only a few moments, Wu Wang lost interest and turned away.

Dogs, after all, were hunters who loved chasing moving prey. A target that just stood there stupidly and barely moved couldn’t stir his hunting instincts at all.

Better to keep eating and soothe his eternally starving stomach.

He tore off a strip of tendon meat while listening to Zhou Mo suppress his fear and explain:

“…I like reading miscellaneous books in my spare time, so I know a little about angel lore.”

“The monster we just killed should be an Authority Angel called ‘Israfil’ from descriptions in the Quran.”

“It’s enormous, covered in mouths and tongues, and on Judgment Day it blows a trumpet to awaken the dead…”

“And the one standing there should be another Authority Angel derived from Assyrian mythology. Eagle-headed, guardian of freedom, called ‘Nisroch.’”

Zhou Mo nervously stared at the unmoving angel beneath them, whose neck kept growing longer.

“According to the lore, different regions are governed by different Authority Angels. They only manage their own territory and don’t easily trespass. As long as we stay within the domain of this dead Authority Angel, that eagle-headed angel probably won’t cross over to catch us… assuming its neck doesn’t stretch infinitely.”

With monsters, who could say for sure?

Fu Guang, who seemed to be in an especially good mood after hearing Zhou Mo’s explanation, smoothly returned to his previous suggestion:

“We should still get moving. Staying here is no different from waiting for death. Besides, we still have a dog to feed, and this little friend covered in nails also needs to deal with the tumors on his back. Going to Hell is a good choice.”

The little friend covered in nails: “?? This is called a studded leather jacket! Also, when did it become ‘we’?!”

Though his words sounded bold, his actions were extremely cowardly. As he spoke, he curled himself into a smaller ball behind Wu Wang, trying to absorb courage from Brother Husky’s overwhelming combat power.

“…But I really do want to go to Hell.”

He muttered quietly:

“My instance quest is to adopt a little demon and feed it ten times…”

Before Xiao Tao could ask, Zhou Mo hurriedly confessed:

“I didn’t say it earlier because your quest was ‘adopt a little angel and feed it three times.’ It sounded easier than mine.”

“I was worried the difficulty was assigned according to some hidden rule—like strength or experience. I thought you’d suspect my identity after hearing it…”

He raised a finger.

“But I swear! I’m not saying this now to guilt-trip you or Brother Husky into accompanying me. I was thinking maybe I could just go with Mr. Fu Guang? Bro, you should stay. Your quest requires you to adopt a little angel, so you probably have to remain in Heaven to complete it, right?”

“…”

Xiao Tao stared expressionlessly at Zhou Mo for a while before clicking his tongue irritably.

“Oh, shut up. I’m afraid if you die, nobody’ll even collect your corpse.”

Who knew whether this Fu Guang was human or ghost? Who would dare trust his suggestions or travel alone with him?

Wu Wang would.

Not only that—he even bit into Fu Guang’s hand again, letting out a long string of muffled howls:

“Wuuuu… awoooo—”

Peasant. Hands too itchy. Why keep touching his tail? Was he jealous of his fluffy luxurious fur?

The bite was brief. Before Fu Guang could do anything else strange, Wu Wang released him, leaped back down, and smacked Zhou Mo’s ankle with his thick furry tail.

Zhou Mo trembled nervously and spent several seconds interpreting the holy will before turning for outside assistance.

“Bro, what does Brother Husky mean? Can your skill scan it?”

“…”

Xiao Tao stared woodenly at the giant 999 floating above Wu Wang’s head, growing larger and larger by the second. After a moment, he asked:

“For Authority Angels like this… how many are there in Heaven? And are there even stronger ones?”

Zhou Mo hesitated.

“I don’t know… probably not too many? They’re considered middle management, after all.”

“…”

Right. One middle manager barely lowered the hunger value at all.

Question: Was there any possibility Brother Husky could actually eat his fill in Heaven?

Xiao Tao: “…The food in Hell… forget it. Brother Husky says he wants to accompany you to Hell and take a look.”

According to Zhou Mo’s explanation, Heaven’s angels could roughly be divided into upper, middle, and lower ranks.

Authority Angels governed the lower angels. The fact they had encountered one here meant they were already in the lower layer of Heaven. Descend a little further, and they would probably leave Heaven entirely.

Wu Wang listened impatiently as Zhou Mo chattered beside his ear:

“Brother Husky, do you think we’ll be able to see the human world after we get out?”

Cradling Wu Wang like some oversized imperial jade seal, Zhou Mo babbled excitedly:

“If we can, maybe we can figure out a way to get guns and cannons! We could even buy you dog food!”

Although he couldn’t decipher the note completely, the word “experiment” was obviously modern terminology. Even if they weren’t in modern times, he still knew some methods for making explosives.

Xiao Tao interrupted from the side:

“Do you know how to leave Heaven?”

Zhou Mo’s excitement stalled.

“…Commit some taboo?”

If this were a legitimate Heaven, the punishment would definitely be casting angels into Hell. But this place was clearly a scam operation. Breaking taboos would probably just get you eaten on the spot long before any “fall from grace” punishment.

Wu Wang slapped a paw onto Zhou Mo’s head, turned around, and barked once at the detached-looking Fu Guang.

“Woof.”

Zhou Mo suddenly understood.

“Right! Mr. Fu Guang is so powerful—he must know a way, right? Back in Eden, you were standing right beside the tree, but that gatekeeping monster didn’t react to you at all!”

Fu Guang lightly covered his lips with his fingers and coughed twice, intentionally displaying the hand wrapped in bandages.

“My strength actually isn’t that impressive. Earlier, I only avoided the monsters’ attention by using a one-time-use item.”

Xiao Tao stared at him with dead fish eyes.

“Really? Then how did you end up wanted?”

Wu Wang turned around and barked too.

“Woof.”

Xiao Tao: “Hiss.”

The others couldn’t see the floating subtitles, so they didn’t know.

At the exact moment Wu Wang barked, a pitch-black text bubble emerged between the dog’s twitching ears. Inside it was a line of glowing blue words matching the color of his eyes:

[How did you end up wanted?]

Xiao Tao: “…”

Although it merely repeated his own question, at least it proved Brother Husky truly understood human language and could perform simple thinking.

As for why no subtitles had appeared earlier…

Either Xiao Tao was too weak to perceive Brother Husky properly, or Brother Husky simply couldn’t be bothered interacting with humans most of the time—even if he understood them.

Wu Wang shook his ears again. Like an emperor seated proudly in his human-shaped throne, he merely fixed his gaze on Fu Guang.

The text above his head vanished for a second before reappearing even larger:

[How did you end up wanted?]

Xiao Tao: “…”

Clearly Brother Husky was genuinely curious.

Though honestly, this whole “wanted” business might just be a lie Fu Guang fabricated because he couldn’t produce a pocket watch to verify himself. They might not get any meaningful answer at all.

Sigh. Hopefully Fu Guang could at least come up with a believable excuse and satisfy Brother Husky’s curiosity.

Fu Guang adjusted the cufflinks on his sleeve and tilted his head thoughtfully.

“I don’t know.”

Spoken as “I don’t know,” but his face clearly said: Too lazy to make something up.

“Woof!”

A chaotic cloud of scrambled symbols immediately burst above Wu Wang’s head, occasionally puffing out little steam explosions representing anger. His tail also began thumping heavily—once, twice—the unmistakable rhythm of irritation.

The culprit casually lowered his hand.

“But I do know how to get to Hell.”

“Earlier in Eden, I heard the trumpets of battle. Not long afterward, almost all the guardian angels withdrew from the orchard.”

The only thing capable of mobilizing angels on that scale was war with Hell. Therefore, the route the guardian angels took when retreating was naturally the road to Hell.

Steam still puffed from Wu Wang’s head like a tiny locomotive for quite a while before it finally condensed into a single word:

[Go.]

Xiao Tao immediately obeyed the instructions of the team’s strongest combat force, dragging along Zhou Mo, the accessory tail edition, as they followed Fu Guang toward the glowing path.

Halfway there, however, they abruptly retreated.

“—A very serious problem,” Zhou Mo announced solemnly. “Halfway through, this road enters darkness. Xiao Tao said earlier that without protection, going inside directly would corrode us into dried corpses. So what should we— Xiao Tao, why are you smiling??”

Xiao Tao instantly forced his expression straight again, not daring to admit he found it hilarious that Wu Wang had first marched off with [Go] over his head, only to return with [Retreat!!] moments later.

“No. I was just thinking—if angels can travel this route, then maybe they naturally possess resistance or adaptability to darkness?”

The group fell silent for a moment before everyone simultaneously turned to stare at the half-eaten Authority Angel corpse.

The corpse: “…”

Holding Wu Wang, Zhou Mo’s courage inflated infinitely beneath the gaze of the distant monster.

“I have a bold idea.”

“What if we ask Brother Husky to hollow the angel out completely and use the shell as a protective suit?”

Fu Guang glanced at the eagle-headed monster, whose neck had already stretched over ten meters long, and couldn’t help laughing softly.

“In front of the monster itself?”

Xiao Tao: “A crime committed right before the victim?”

—Absolutely.