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I Talk to Animals,My Pet Live Stream Made Me a Millionaire
NovelShort
Hoàn thành
In front of the live stream camera, Sienna, a pet influencer with ten million followers, cradled her beloved dog Toby, now thin as a bundle of bones, and sobbed uncontrollably. Toby was a toy poodle w...
Chương (4)
第1章
In front of the live stream camera, Sienna, a pet influencer with ten million followers, cradled her beloved dog Toby, now thin as a bundle of bones, and sobbed uncontrollably.
Toby was a toy poodle who, a month ago, had suddenly stopped eating.
Sienna had put up a one-million-dollar reward, asking the entire internet to find the cause of her dog's hunger strike.
Tens of thousands of comments flooded the chat, guessing everything from parasites to cancer, but no one could give an answer.
Even the most authoritative doctor at the pet hospital let out a helpless sigh.
"All the tests came back normal. There's nothing physically wrong with him."
"My guess is depression. I'd recommend euthanasia. Otherwise he'll just starve to death slowly, which is far more painful."
Sienna cried so hard she could barely stand, and the live chat exploded.
"Toby's only two years old!"
"Dr. Dickerson is one of the top ten pet doctors in the country. If even he says so..."
"Sienna, don't torture yourself. Let Toby suffer less."
And right then, I suddenly heard Toby's inner voice, frustrated and frantic.
"I don't want to be put down! My sweet mommy, it's not that I don't want to eat. It's that the Border Collie on the kibble bag is way too scary, and you put my food bowl right next to that bag, so I'm too terrified to eat!"
My hand jerked, and the broom nearly slipped to the floor.
I took a deep breath and walked over to Sienna.
"Sienna, the bag your dog's kibble comes in, does it have a Border Collie printed on it?"
——
The whole room went quiet.
Sienna lifted her head, tears still clinging to her face, completely frozen.
"How did you know?"
My heart raced, but I didn't answer.
Instead I pressed on. "And the bowl you put his food in, is it right next to that bag?"
Sienna wiped her tears, her expression shifting from grief to shock.
"Yes... could Toby's hunger strike be connected to all that?"
The chat erupted instantly.
"Who's this? Holding a broom, isn't that the pet hospital janitor?"
"Dr. Dickerson couldn't figure it out, but a janitor can? She's just trying to ride Toby's clout!"
"Sienna posts Toby's daily life in the group every day. How hard would it be to know all this?"
Wyatt Dickerson frowned at me, his tone less than polite.
"Faith Dickerson, quit causing trouble. How many days have you even been here?"
I opened my mouth, unsure whether I should keep going.
I didn't know why I could hear Toby's inner voice.
If it was just my imagination, and I got it wrong, the millions of fans in that live stream would tear me apart.
And just then, Toby's voice rose again, even more urgent than before.
"Kind lady! Hurry up and say it! Save my doggy life! My mommy's super generous, the reward's a whole million dollars!"
I clenched my fists. My internship paid eight hundred a month, and after rent and utilities I had three hundred left.
My grandmother needed knee surgery, put off for three years now. If she waited any longer she'd never be able to stand again.
I swallowed hard and threw caution to the wind.
"Sienna, the reason your dog won't eat might be that he's scared of the Border Collie photo on the kibble bag. Switch out the bag, or move the food bowl somewhere else, and he might just start eating."
Sienna stared, stunned.
The chat went silent for a second, then completely lost it.
"What the heck? A dog scared of a photo?"
"That's ridiculous. It's not like Toby's never seen a dog. This intern's gone crazy trying to get famous?"
"I have a master's in pet behavior, and I've never heard of a theory like that!"
Wyatt let out a cold laugh and turned to Sienna.
"Toby's mom, don't listen to her nonsense. She's just an intern with zero medical experience. This is purely her own wild guess. I've been practicing for twenty years and handled over three hundred hunger strike cases, and I've never once seen a dog refuse to eat because it was scared of a photo."
第2章
Sienna hesitated, her eyes drifting to Toby.
In my head, Toby was shouting again.
"She's right! The Border Collie on the kibble bag is so scary. I was too terrified to eat, and I couldn't sleep either, so of course I got skinny. Mommy, you have to listen to this lady!"
Seeing that I stayed quiet, Wyatt sneered.
"If you're saying he's scared of a photo, then how do you explain him refusing to eat once he got to the animal hospital? Our kibble doesn't have any Border Collie on it."
The fans in the live stream started piling on.
"Right, he wouldn't eat here either."
"Obviously the dog's just depressed."
"Stop stirring up trouble, intern. Let Toby go in peace."
I clenched my teeth.
Toby's voice rose again in my mind, full of hurt.
"Is this guy sick or something? I wouldn't eat at the animal hospital because their kibble bag has a different dog printed on it too. It's not as scary as the Border Collie, but it still freaks me out!"
My head snapped toward the big kibble bag propped in the corner.
Sure enough, there was a Corgi printed on it.
Round and plump, grinning ear to ear.
I'd never imagined Toby could be such a coward.
Sienna was crying too hard to speak now, and clearly she didn't believe me.
Wyatt reached out to take Toby, his voice gentle.
"Toby's mom, don't be too upset. I'll arrange the euthanasia now, so Toby suffers as little as possible."
When Toby was lifted up, his eyes could barely stay open.
His voice suddenly went very small, very weak.
"Save me, lady... My mommy bought me a gold collar, it's so pretty. If you save me, I'll give it to you."
I balled my hands into fists.
"Wait!"
Everyone turned to look at me.
I walked over and blocked Wyatt.
"Whether Toby's starving himself because of the dog photo on the kibble bag, all we have to do is test it, right? Five minutes won't make a difference. If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility!"
Wyatt's face darkened.
"Faith, you're an intern. What makes you think I should listen to you? I've practiced for twenty years and saved more animals than I can count. How many days have you even been here?"
Sienna wiped her tears and tugged at me.
"Sweetheart, I know you mean well, but I really... I can't bear to watch Toby suffer anymore. I trust Dr. Dickerson."
The live chat agreed in one voice.
"Quit the act, intern. I think she just wants to ride the hype and grab that million."
"Hurry up and give Toby back to Dr. Dickerson."
"Exactly, dragging it out only makes Toby suffer more."
Toby gave a faint twitch in Wyatt's arms, his breathing growing weaker.
That voice came again, choked with sobs.
"Lady... please... I'm only two... I don't want to die..."
My eyes stung.
Looking into his eyes, I suddenly remembered the mutt I'd kept as a kid.
He'd looked at me just like this, right before a neighbor poisoned him to death.
I gritted my teeth, stepped forward, and snatched Toby right out of Wyatt's arms.
The whole room erupted.
Wyatt's face went green.
"What are you doing?! Cause any more trouble and I'm calling the police!"
"Just five minutes." I held Toby tight, my palms slick with sweat.
"If five minutes proves nothing, I'll give him right back to you! But if it does, that's a life on the line!"
Wyatt let out a cold laugh.
"Fine. And if you fail," he pointed at the jade bracelet on my wrist,
"this bracelet is mine."
My chest ached.
It was the keepsake my mother left me.
Wyatt's wife had taken a liking to it when she came by the hospital, offering to buy it, and I'd refused no matter what.
I'd had no idea he'd been eyeing it all along.
"This bracelet means a lot to me..."
第3章
"So?" Wyatt folded his arms across his chest. "Weren't you so sure of yourself a second ago?"
I hesitated. In that moment, Toby nuzzled gently against me from inside my arms.
I drew in a deep breath and slid the bracelet off my wrist, closing my fist around it.
"Fine. But if I pull this off, Dr. Dickerson apologizes to me publicly."
Wyatt let out a scoffing laugh.
"Deal."
Sienna nodded, choking back tears, and the livestream camera swung onto me.
Millions of eyes were watching.
Carrying Toby, I walked to the corner, grabbed a rag, and covered up every dog photo on every kibble bag in the hospital.
Then I moved the food bowl to the far end of the counter, well away from the bags.
Last, I set Toby down gently beside the bowl.
At first, nothing happened.
Toby lay there, his nose twitching, but he still didn't eat.
The live chat was howling.
"Hahaha, what'd I tell you? The intern crashed and burned!"
"How bad does it sting, getting shown up on camera?"
"Shame about that bracelet, though. It looks like it's worth a lot."
Wyatt stood there with his arms crossed, the corner of his mouth curling up.
"Well? Ready to admit you lost?"
The hand clutching the bracelet was shaking.
Then, the next second.
Toby lifted his head with everything he had.
Opened his mouth, and took a bite of kibble.
The whole stream went silent in an instant.
Then the live chat exploded upward like crazy.
"Holy crap! It ate?"
"No way, am I really seeing this right?"
"The intern's a beast!!"
Sienna covered her face and sobbed, lunging forward to wrap her arms around Toby.
"Baby, you ate! You finally ate!"
Toby rested a moment, then lowered his head for another bite, and started whimpering inside my head.
"It's good… after all these days, I finally got to eat… so does that mean I don't have to die? I couldn't bear to leave my mommy…"
Wyatt's face went ashen. He rushed over to inspect the food bowl, then pried open Toby's mouth.
"Impossible… did she use an appetite stimulant?"
"Dr. Dickerson, see for yourself. The kibble in that bowl came straight from your exam room."
I raised both hands. "I didn't add a thing."
The color in Wyatt's face flushed red, then drained white.
Sienna lifted her head, tears still hanging on her lashes, but she was smiling now.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! I'll wire you that million right now!"
The live chat turned on a dime.
"This intern's gotta be some animal-world miracle healer reborn. Dr. Dickerson's face is green, hahaha."
"So what's twenty years of practice even good for? She runs circles around him."
"Right? Somebody tell Dr. Dickerson to hurry up and apologize!"
Wyatt's mouth twitched, but he forced it out: "It's not necessarily the reason you're guessing. It could just be that the antidepressant shot I gave Toby earlier finally kicked in, and you happened to catch it at the right moment."
I was speechless.
How could anyone be this shameless?
Toby cussed him out for me, right inside my head.
"This guy's awful! It's totally my big sister's doing, and he's trying to steal the credit!"
I steeled myself, walked over, and yanked the rag off the kibble bags, revealing a bag printed with a Corgi.
Toby was happily eating away, but the second he saw that dog photo, his whole body jolted. He scrambled backward in terror, the kibble spilling out of his mouth, and started convulsing.
I quickly covered the bag again.
Only then did Toby slowly come back around, whimpering pitifully.
"That scared me half to death…"
Wyatt's face went ashen, and the live chat detonated.
"Ironclad proof now, right? What've you got to say?"
"Dr. Dickerson lost so bad, hahaha."
"Apologize, now! A deal's a deal!"
Wyatt clenched his teeth. In front of millions of livestream viewers, his face burned scarlet.
第4章
“I……I'm sorry.”
“Louder!” The live chat flooded the screen.
“I……I apologize. It was my fault.”
Wyatt forced the words out through his teeth, then turned on his heel and stalked off.
Sienna wired me the money right then and there, hugged Toby, and cried all over again. The stream shot straight to number one across every platform.
I gripped my phone, staring at the seven figures that had appeared in my account, my throat tight.
Grandma's surgery was finally covered.
The chat was all telling me the same thing.
“Quit now, girl! This dump of a hospital doesn't deserve you!”
I wanted to leave too.
But my internship still had a week to go.
Without that internship certificate, I couldn't get my degree.
One week. I could grit my teeth and get through it.
What I didn't expect was that early the next morning, Sienna came rushing back into the hospital with Toby in her arms.
“Faith! Toby won't eat again at home! I already swapped all the kibble bags for clear ones, so why still won't he eat?”
I froze for a second.
Wyatt poked his head out of the exam room, and the moment he saw Sienna had come looking for me again, his face darkened.
He ran Toby through another full checkup, then walked back out with a cold smirk.
“Everything's perfectly normal. So, Faith, aren't you supposed to be so brilliant? How come your little trick isn't working this time?”
Sienna didn't want her followers to worry, so she kept the stream running. Tens of thousands of people were watching.
Toby was set down on the exam table, curled into a tight ball, not making a sound.
I leaned in close and asked softly.
“Toby, what's wrong? Why won't you eat again? Tell me, and I'll help you.”
Toby said nothing.
Wyatt was filming the whole thing beside me.
“Come take a look, everyone. This is our hospital's little intern. She got lucky and guessed right once, and now she's putting on a whole psychic act. Well? Found the cause yet?”
People in the chat started to doubt.
“Yeah, why isn't it working this time?”
“Last time was probably just a blind squirrel finding a nut, right?”
“What about that million-dollar reward? Shouldn't she give it back?”
Wyatt shoved his phone right up into my face.
“Can't find the cause, can you? Fine. If you can't explain it this time, I won't sign your internship certificate, and you can kiss that degree goodbye.”
“Oh, right. And shouldn't that bracelet be mine too?”
I clenched my fists.
But Toby stayed silent.
The coworkers crowded around started whispering to one another, someone murmuring.
“Probably really was just luck.”
“She's an intern. How could she be that good?”
“Right? A million dollars would feed her for years. Of course she's faking it.”
“I knew she was a con artist!”
“A million dollars! She actually dared to take money like that?”
“My heart breaks for Sienna. Just got her hopes up and then had cold water dumped on them.”
Sienna looked at me, the trust in her eyes crumbling little by little:
“Faith, that million dollars……if it really was just luck, I hope you'll give it back to me. I can pretend none of this ever happened.”
But that money, I'd already paid forward for Grandma's surgery.
The pressure bore down on me like a mountain.
I held Toby, my palms slick with sweat.
And just when I was about to crack.
Toby suddenly moved.
A faint little voice rose up.
“The reason I won't eat is……”
The instant I heard that voice, I froze where I stood.