Beast Taming: Starting From Zero

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Crowned Meow was stunned, and Qiao Sang was just as taken aback.

What the heck? What is this?

Late at night, in an empty alley, suddenly seeing such a strange scene is terrifying!

Qiao Sang felt a chill all over, her spine tingled, and she shivered involuntarily.

Just as she envisioned all the horrifying scenarios that might unfold next, she saw another wisp of pitch-black shadow extend from the darkness, connecting to a ring-shaped shadow on the ground.

Then, as the shadow pulled, the ring hovering mid-air changed direction and dropped right onto Little Treasure’s head.

Qiao Sang’s gaze fell onto Little Treasure as well.

Realizing that the eerie scene had been caused by Little Treasure, warmth quickly returned to Qiao Sang’s body.

But as she noticed the lingering purple glow in his eyes and the way he held the ring, she was momentarily dazed.

Oh, right, he was probably using the skill she'd asked him to learn in the virtual helmet recently. If he managed to learn it, the display should look like this.

She recalled that it was called Shadow Control, a high-level skill…

Qiao Sang fell into thought.

First Yabao, and now Little Treasure, is learning high-level skills actually easier than she thought?

Sensing his beastmaster’s gaze, Little Treasure turned around, his mouth quivering as the purple light faded from his eyes, leaving them brimming with tears.

“Xun!”

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“Xun, xun!”

Little Treasure floated over with open arms and flung himself into his beastmaster’s embrace.

He pointed accusingly at Crowned Meow, who lay face-down on the ground, then at the half-eaten hotdog nearby, looking utterly aggrieved.

When he saw his beastmaster was ignoring him, he whimpered and cried even harder.

“Xun... Xun…”

Yabao, hearing his little brother’s heart-wrenching sobs, finally couldn’t hold back. He bared his fangs and glared menacingly at Crowned Meow on the ground.

“Yap!”

Shall we teach this guy a lesson?

“Xun, xun!”

Little Treasure nodded enthusiastically.

Yes, definitely!

“Crown!” Crowned Meow froze, then struggled to get up, preparing for a showdown.

Qiao Sang, who had just come to her senses: …

After quickly defusing the situation, Qiao Sang had Little Treasure use Hypnosis on Crowned Meow.

Under the effect of Hypnosis, Crowned Meow finally settled down.

Qiao Sang didn’t immediately call to claim the one-million-dollar reward but instead looked intently at Little Treasure and asked, “Did you learn Shadow Control?”

"Xun?”

Little Treasure tilted his head, not reacting at first, then quickly shook his head in denial.

"Xun, xun!”

If his beastmaster found out he had mastered Shadow Control, he would lose his reason to play in the virtual helmet, no way he'd admit to it!

Qiao Sang’s mouth twitched. She hadn’t expected Little Treasure to flat-out deny it despite clearly mastering the skill.

She paused for a moment and said, “So you didn’t learn it? I thought you did and figured the virtual helmet’s teaching must be pretty effective. I was thinking I’d let you play with it more often.”

“Xun, xun!”

At Qiao Sang’s words, Little Treasure’s eyes lit up, and he nodded vigorously.

Worried that his beastmaster might not believe him, his eyes glowed purple as he prepared to demonstrate Shadow Control once more.

Qiao Sang smiled as she watched him perform.

In the end, Little Treasure was still young; though smarter than Yabao, he clearly couldn’t quite match wits with Qiao Sang.

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Exiting the alley.

Riding on Yabao’s back, Qiao Sang happily pulled out her phone, found the recent call log, and dialed again.

“Sorry, the number you dialed is currently on another call…” The cold mechanical voice came through from the other end.

Qiao Sang hung up and tried again five minutes later. Still, the line was busy.

It was just a little interruption last time; surely he wouldn’t have blocked her, right? Qiao Sang thought with mixed feelings.

After another five minutes, she tried again.

This time, it connected.

“Hello, who’s this?” A familiar, now slightly hoarse voice answered through the speaker.

“Your Crowned Meow is with me.” Qiao Sang got straight to the point.

“Oh, really?”

Wang Yiding sneered, “You’re the eighth person today to tell me that. Why should I believe you?”

Qiao Sang paused, then immediately snapped a photo of the sleeping Crowned Meow.

“Check your messages.” She said after sending the picture.

Though Wang Yiding thought she might be a scammer, he opened the message with a glimmer of hope.

Seeing the photo, he couldn’t hold back anymore, placing the phone to his ear and yelling, “You fraud! You can’t even tell Crowned Meow from Iron Paw Cat, yet you dare to call me! Do you know I…”

Qiao Sang interrupted him, “Your Crowned Meow’s just dressed up as Iron Paw Cat. Look at the bag beside it in the photo, recognize it?”

Wang Yiding paused, then looked at the picture again. Sure enough, he saw his familiar bag in the shot.

Realizing the call might be genuine, he zoomed in on the Iron Paw Cat with its eyes closed in the photo.

He had to admit, the head size and ear shape matched his Crowned Meow perfectly! Plus, a bit of gray on its face was smudged off, revealing the white fur unique to Crowned Meow.

Shaken, Wang Yiding put the phone back to his ear, his voice trembling as he croaked, “Don’t touch it. I’ll pay you whatever you want!”

Qiao Sang felt something odd but still replied, “One million.”

“Alright, one mill… wait, what? Only one million?” Wang Yiding sounded incredulous.

Qiao Sang hesitated.

“Didn’t you say in your lost pet announcement that you’d pay one million for its return?”

Silence from the other end.

“Hello? Hello?”

“Sorry, bad signal. Where are you? I’ll come to you directly.”

“Sure, I’m on Xiangqi Road, right near the intersection.” Qiao Sang said, looking at the intersection five meters ahead.

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In under ten minutes, a deep-blue medium-sized avian beast appeared above Xiangqi Road.

At that moment, Qiao Sang’s phone rang.

“I’m here. Where are you?” The voice came through the speaker.

“See the Flame Hound? I’m on his back.” Qiao Sang replied.

More silence from the other end.

“Hello? Hello?”

“I see, I see. I’ll be right over.”

The deep-blue avian beast swooped down, landing gracefully before Qiao Sang. Its right wing extended, tip touching the ground, as a youth around 15 slid down from it.

Most people just jumped off flying-type beasts, so it was rare for Qiao Sang to see someone slide down using the beast’s wing.

“Crowned Meow!” Wang Yiding spotted his sleeping Crowned Meow on the Flame Hound’s back immediately.

Though he’d had some doubts seeing it in the photo, the closer proximity and the use of his beastmaster’s sense confirmed that this was indeed his Crowned Meow.

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