At 8:59 PM, the answer came.
He appeared slowly from the darkness, thinner than before but moving with determined purpose. The moment he saw the excavator positioned near the wall, his posture changed. His tail lowered, ears flattened, and a low, trembling sound escaped his throat—a sound filled not with aggression but panic.
The excavator engine roared.
The bucket lifted.
And suddenly the dog sprinted forward, placing himself directly between the machine and the concrete.
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