Monster Pet Evolution

by Stayrr

Three years ago, the animals and plants on Earth underwent crazy and unexplainable changes that included transformations, reversions, and the addition of otherworldly species. And it was the start of a brand-new type of profession in the new generation of humanity – Monster Trainers, people who specialized in taming monsters. On his 18th birthday, the protagonist of the story, Gao

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Chapter 121: The Results of the First Round

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

It's wasn't that intelligent monsters didn't exist, it was just that they were very rare. So the idea of capturing this Dead Leaf Mantis did not occur to Gao Peng.

After all, this was a monster used in a challenge, not a monster in the wild. There were no rules that stated one could bring home a monster from the Monster Trainer College Entrance Examination.

The Dead Leaf Mantis moved forward eagerly. It vigilant and found Stripey to be a bit weak.

The Dead Leaf Mantis' eyes shone brightly. Its favorite thing to do was bully others. However, Stripey covered his head and carefully looked at the mantis.

This kind of display made the Dead Leaf Mantis furious.

In response, the mantis spread its arms. Inside its claws was a sticky yellow substance that clung to it, making it look like some sort of bat.

When it met an enemy in the wild, the Dead Leaf Mantis would open its arms and make itself look bigger to intimidate its prey or enemies.

Stripey just stood there, confused. What was this guy doing?

Stripey grew up in the city, so it had never witnessed such a strange display before. It just thought the mantis was a bit ugly, so it took two steps backward.

This made the Dead Leaf Locust even more arrogant. It thought that the weak little creature in front of it had been scared, and wanted to continue the intimidation.

The Dead Leaf Mantis started to dance, shaking from side to side. It stared intensely at Stripey and then started to move forward.

Stripey thought to itself, Is the Dead Leaf Mantis trying to…

Stripey suddenly loosened the two feelers in front of his head. The Dead Leaf Mantis trembled, and it stopped to look.

It then realized that this spider didn't have a follow-up action. It relaxed a bit and continued to dance its strange dance while moving towards Stripey. It was looking for an opening to attack.

Stripey's two feelers moved upright, then slightly undulated. Its limbs swayed sideways, back and forth. It was like a strange dance.

What the hell was it?!

The Dead Leaf Mantis was stunned. Was this spider preparing to attack?

When Stripey saw the dance by the Dead Leaf Mantis, it couldn't help but be reminded of the dance it saw in the plazas. It thought that the Dead Leaf Mantis was playing, so it started to mimic its movements.

Gao Peng wondered if he had done something wrong…

Stripey, it is trying to scare you. It wants to attack you, you need to strike back, Gao Peng called out to Stripey in his heart.

Gao Peng then saw Stripey had suddenly stopped moving. It stopped the dance completely.

This mantis isn't playing with me? Stripey felt a very complicated emotion. It was at this exact moment that the Dead Leaf Mantis rushed out.

A yellow-green blur was moving towards Stripey. The Dead Leaf Mantis' two claws created two arches in the air. One swung in front of Stripey's head and another swung behind him. The claws created a crisp sound.

Then the vicious mantis flew back to its position and looked at both of its claws. They were trembling slightly.

Two white spots appeared had on the shell on Stripey's head, but there was no damage. The Dead Leaf Mantis adjusted its crooked neck and then stared dignifiedly at Stripey, realizing the spider's head was quite tough.

That wouldn't be a big problem for it! Ever since it was born, it had never met an opponent it couldn't beat. Except for the ten wolves that captured it the other day… but that was a case of being outnumbered, so it didn't count.

The mantis spread out its wings. It took to the air and wanted to get to Stripey's back. From the mantis' experience, when faced with a huge opponent, it needed to get behind.

Who knew that after it flew up it would get hit in the face by a white substance from the spider? Its wings glued together and it fell from the sky. The spiderweb was extremely sticky, so much that it had no way of opening its wings. It was not used to not being able to fly. Even walking felt a bit awkward.

The Dead Leaf Mantis on the ground was stupefied. It could only look at Stripey in shock. It straightened its neck. It couldn't believe the result of this fight.

How… how did this happen? it thought.

Stripey was also stunned. He didn't think that this flamboyant and arrogant mantis would be so weak. He couldn't help but move forward and look down at the Dead Leaf Mantis.

It seemed like the difference in power between this mantis and Stripey was quite big.

Gao Peng was speechless. However, it was still a reasonable result.

Although there were elemental attributes that monsters were weak against, neither Stripey nor the Dead Leaf Mantis had been promoted to the commander tier, so the elemental weaknesses wouldn't really play a part in a fight.

Another reason was that Stripey was above the mantis by two grades. It was one level higher as well. The gap between the two was not small.

The vicious mantis lifted up its head hopelessly. Stripey was moving forward in curiosity. It fiddled the mantis with his feelers as if it were playing with a toy.

As it was being rolled around in the ground, the Dead Leaf Mantis was getting used to its body in this state. Getting used to the feeling of not being able to use its wings.

It suddenly moved, and claws went straight for Stripey's eyes.

Stripey turned its head and avoided any harm, although the claws were able to scratch Stripey's forehead. In anger, Stripey lifted up its legs and stepped down.

Stripey's leg went right through the mantis. Then Stripey did it for a second time, then a third…

In the end, the heavily injured Dead Leaf Mantis had to be carried out. Stripey tasted the blood on its legs. Its eyes became as round as a full moon.

"Your exam is finished," a worker said as he came up to Gao Peng. He returned the Examination Admission Ticket to Gao Peng.

Gao Peng took the Examination Admission Ticket and thanked the worker.

"Don't dilly-dally around the exam site. Since your exam is over, you should head out," the worker said.

Gao Peng nodded.

The first round of the exam had ended. Gao Peng brought along his familiars to leave the exam site. After getting out, he let out a long sigh of relief. He wondered if he would be able to pass the first round of the exam. There were only eight people who took the exam in area A.

After walking for a while, Gao Peng took out Silly the jellyfish from his pocket.

Silly was angry for being put away for so long. However, Gao Peng said the words "Drink your juice," and Silly immediately became happy. It wouldn't stay angry at the master for such a small matter.

The reason Gao Peng didn't let Silly out was that he knew that this fellow would definitely get on top of his head.

He noticed a drone flying over his head. He didn't know why the drone liked to stay around area A, but it would be awkward to be seen with Silly as a green hat.

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Chapter 122: A Gift from Grandfather

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

When Gao Peng left the exam site, he saw a long queue of candidates waiting their turn to take the exam.

The candidates would glance over at the exam site whenever they heard sounds from the battles.

Gao Peng was sitting on top of Stripey. His butt was hurting. Stripey was very tough, and there were a lot of protrusions that came out of its head.

"Silly, let me grab something," Gao Peng said to Silly, who was sitting on Gao Peng's shoulder.

He took a seat cushion that was inside Silly and placed it underneath his butt.

It felt much more comfortable. Gao Peng adjusted his sitting position, and it felt just right. He started to sing happily. He did quite well in this exam so he was in a very good mood.

Gao Peng arrived at his villa in the suburbs. The villa Uncle Liu was building opposite of his house had already finished construction. In the past, Japan had a very famous construction technique. It made construction akin to playing with Legos. This technique spread to the rest of the world, and each culture adopted it and added their own cultural elements. Building the villa would only require a few hours if the materials were already prepared in advance.

There was a lawn in front of Uncle Liu's villa and a big fat cat lying lazily on the lawn, soaking in the sun. Gao Peng remembered that the cat was called Softy. It was a pity that its personality was not soft at all. In fact, it had a bit of a prickly temperament.

When the cat realized that Gao Peng had returned, it yawned. It then rolled around on the lawn, switching to another side to take in the sun.

When Gao Peng went into the courtyard, he noticed something. The front porch used to be full of bermudagrass that was neatly trimmed in the morning. However, Gao Peng saw that there were now pits everywhere. The grass had been overturned and yellow mud was all over the courtyard. It was a mess.

The door of his villa had been damaged. The shape of the wooden door was changed, and there were bits of white wood everywhere.

A hole exposed the interior of the villa. Gao Peng had a bad feeling about this.

He immediately rushed into the house. He saw the furniture that he had just bought was all broken on the floor. The sofas in the living room were all clumped up together, and there were even holes in them. Gao Peng almost fainted.

Lord have mercy! Gao Peng thought. He was a diligent and thrifty person. One could imagine how painful this was for him.

Gao Peng felt himself twitching and wore a very complicated look on his face.

Did a hundred huskies come by his house?

A scratching sound could be heard from the middle of the room.

Gao Peng immediately became alert.

The guy who trashed my house has the guts to stay at the scene of the crime? He has the gall to disrespect me?

With a wave of his hand, both Da Zi and Stripey came out from his left and his right.

Dumby looked around, then slowly walked up in front of his master to protect him.

Silly flopped around and then landed on Gao Peng's head.

"How many times do I have to say this! Doing this doesn't make me stronger!" Gao Peng took Silly off his head. Silly made a noise to show dissatisfaction, twisting its emerald-colored body.

Da Zi and Stripey moved forward.

Suddenly, Stripey was struck by lightning. It retreated and screamed in pain, and covered the part of its body that was hurt. Its other legs also moved in to hold the hurt part.

Da Zi moved in on the sofa. A fierce sound came from the spot and Gao Peng saw a few white feathers flying into the air.

Everything calmed down. Gao Peng heard Da Zi saying in its head, Can I eat it?

What kind of monster is this? Gao Peng walked forward and looked down.

There was a white monster in the center of the sofa. A pair of wings was protruding out of its body. There were white feathers all over the floor.

A bird?!

Gao Peng had guessed that it might have been a dog, a monkey, or even something fierce like a tiger or a lion. He never would've thought that the things in his villa were destroyed by a bird.

"Shriek! Shriek!"

A sharp humming sound continued to come from underneath Da Zi's body.

"Little Peng." Someone's face suddenly appeared on the window. It gave Gao Peng a shock. He only realized it was Uncle Liu after looking closely.

"This little monster is a gift from your grandfather. You should keep it if you like it. Your grandfather put in a lot of effort to get this little creature," Uncle Liu smiled. He gave Gao Peng a nod and then left.

Oh… this familiar was a gift from his grandfather.

Gao Peng looked down to look at the white bird that was underneath Da Zi. The bird kept flapping its wings and shrieking.

"Dumby, lift it up," Gao Peng ordered Dumby.

Dumby obeyed and moved forward. It bent its left arm to hold the white bird's wings and then lifted it.

It was actually a white crane, as white as snow. There was a patch of red feathers in its chest and a blood-red line on its head. The weirdest thing about it was that it only had one leg.

A red-crowned crane with only one leg was quite special.

Dumby held the crane by its neck so it couldn't make any sound and it kept flapping its wings. Its eyes started to go white, as if it were running out of breath. Its head than slumped down and its tongue came rolling out of its mouth.

Gao Peng raised his eyebrows slightly. "Dumby, loosen up a bit. Don't strangle it to death."

Dumby relaxed its hand significantly.

The crane suddenly came alive. It opened its mouth, flapped its wings and let out a proud laughter at Gao Peng. Kaw! Kaw! Kaw!

Gao Peng was speechless.

"Let us have roast crane for dinner," Gao Peng said as he turned to Da Zi.

Da Zi's eyes lit up. It quickly nodded.

The crane understood what he said and shrieked. It used its single leg to kick Dumby. It was fighting for its life.

Ha. Are you still going to act tough you little bugger? Gao Peng laughed in his head. Of course, what he said was a joke. He wasn't so wasteful as to roast a Lord tier youngling.

In actuality, Gao Peng had already looked up this crane's attributes when Dumby lifted it up.

He wasn't shocked by its attributes, but he was shocked at how his grandfather was able to give him a familiar with such stats.

Gao Peng couldn't help but go into deep thought…

[Monster Name: Flaming Red Crane (Infancy)

[Monster Level: Level 6

[Monster Grade: Epic (Present grade. When promoted to Commander tier, its grade would become Perfect. When promoted to Lord tier, its grade would change to Excellent.)

[Monster Attribute: Fire

[Special Characteristic: (Unawakened)

[Requirements for Promotion: 500 jin of Burning Heaven Crystals, at least three Prime Mystery Fruits, and one Fire Marrow Pulp.

When Gao Peng saw the items required for promotion, he decided to ignore it. He didn't know what the hell those things were. He never even heard of them! He had no idea where to find them.

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Chapter 123: A New Group

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"You were the one who destroyed my house, right?" Gao Peng said to the Flaming Red Crane and pointed to his messy home.

The Flaming Red Crane pretended not to understand what he was talking about. It looked to the ceiling.

Its body language was saying, "I'm just a bird, I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Let us just focus on the facts. I know you understand me. I will ask directly. Did you mess up my home?" Gao Peng asked while turning over the sofa. He then sat on the sofa.

The Flaming Red Crane rolled its eyes and then fell on the floor. It pretended to be dead. It definitely understood Gao Peng.

This was a monster with a high intelligence. After all, it would reach the Lord tier when it grew up.

Gao Peng let out a long sigh. If he wanted to re-buy all the sofas and the other furniture, he would need to spend at least a couple dozen Alliance credits. Gao Peng felt a pain in his heart when he thought about it.

"Do you know how expensive the furniture was? Even if I were to sell you would still-"

Gao Peng suddenly thought of something, and changed what he was going to say. "Still be guilty."

Guilty! Da Zi said in its mind while waving its feet. It gave the Flaming Red Crane an evil look.

Da Zi was punished badly by the master when it bit the sofa in the past. It was now taking pleasure in the misfortune of others and wanted to see the Flaming Red Crane get punished.

When it thought about Gao Peng pinning this Flaming Red Crane to the ground, it couldn't help but let out a laugh.

The Flaming Red Crane looked at Gao Peng with a dull look. It seemed to be suggesting to Gao Peng that he never even said that it wasn't allowed to tear up his house.

When it was living in its old house, it could destroy things as it pleased. The monsters that were responsible for guarding the place didn't dare to interfere with what it did. Why couldn't it do the same now?

The Flaming Red Crane suddenly thought of something. Its eyes went dim, his head slumped down. It seemingly accepted defeat.

Gao Peng didn't have the energy to deal with the Flaming Red Crane anymore, "Fine, fine. Forget about it. Just don't do it again."

Da Zi was stupefied. What? He wasn't going to hit it? He would give it another chance?

Gao Peng didn't act like this when Da Zi was being punished!

Da Zi looked at his master in shock. Gao Peng did not know about all the thoughts that were going on in Da Zi's mind within this short period of time.

Gao Peng called the furniture store and put down an order for new furniture. The person who picked up the phone immediately took down the order and promised to have them delivered within two hours.

The person from the furniture store had seen such cases of needing to replace a large amounts of furniture. After all, most familiars were very active. It was normal for them to destroy the furniture in their homes. However, this was the first time he had received such a large order to replace all the destroyed furniture in a person's house.

Gao Peng thought in silence and started to carefully look over the Flaming Red Crane. This Flaming Red Crane had an Epic grade, which was the same as Dumby's. It would automatically reach the Lord tier when it grew up. It would definitely evolve quickly.

Dumby's Epic grade allowed it to be promoted to the Commander and Lord tier, but the evolution speed couldn't be compared to the Flaming Red Crane's.

Gao Peng did not think that his grandfather would give him such a big gift. How strong would a Lord tier monster be at its peak? Gao Peng could only use the Desert Ruler as a reference.

He took a deep breath. It seemed that his grandfather was much more powerful than he thought.

This was a good thing. He should have been happy that his grandfather was strong; he was his relative after all.

At the same time, Gao Peng also started to worry. How big of a problem was his grandfather facing if even he couldn't resolve it? Would Gao Peng be strong enough to deal with it?

"Let's give you a name." Gao Peng was sitting on the stone bench in the garden facing the Flaming Red Crane. It was looking into the pond, trying to see if there were any fish in it.

The Flaming Red Crane only had a single leg, so it had to hop to move around on land.

It stretched its neck, observing the fish in the pond. It made a sound to indicate to Gao Peng that he didn't care what name he gave it.

Suddenly the Flaming Red Crane's beak pierced through the water like a sword. It struck the back of a fish. It lifted up its head and threw the fish into the air, opened its mouth, and swallowed the fish.

It squinted its eyes. The fish tasted pretty good.

"Since you have the word Flaming in your name, I'll call you Flamy."

The Flaming Red Crane blinked and turned its head. It didn't know what that meant anyway. As long as it sounded good. It called twice to show that it was fine with the name.

Gao Peng thought that Flamy might be a bit nervous since it had only just arrived. He decided against signing the Blood Contract straight away. He would let Flamy relax a bit before doing anything.

He was lucky that he had bought this villa, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to fit all his familiars in one place.

Dumby and Stripey realized that they no longer had to take turns to sleep in the underground parking lot. They were so happy that they laid down on the grass to enjoy the night breeze and to look at the stars.

Da Zi was given to Gao Peng by his parents, and so was the most precious to him. Silly, Dumby, and Stripey were acquired within a similar timespan, so they were grouped together.

Now that Flamy was here, there would be a new group.

Gao Peng felt that he was very good at giving names. He was able to come up with a name on the spot.

"Flamy, come here," Gao Peng called. Flamy was taking in the night breeze. Gao Peng was sitting on a swing and closed the book in his hand.

Flamy turned its head towards Gao Peng. It spread its wings and flew over. It turned its head and looked at Gao Peng with uncertainty.

Gao Peng put down the book in his hands and took out a blood collection device from his pocket.

Gao Peng placed his left hand on Flamy's head. He closed his eyes.

He entered into Flammy's consciousness, and something started to appear.

The clarity of what appeared might have been a direct correlation to how intelligent the familiar was.

Gao Peng could even see some scattered memories within Flamy's mind.

It was a large swamp. Water plants were flourishing in that area. There were a large number of different creatures living in the middle of the swamp.

A large number of unwelcome guests suddenly appeared in the swamps.

Silhouettes of large creatures appeared beneath the waters. Green tortoise shells that looked like rocks moved across the surface of the water.

They were moving rapidly. The water was turbulent.

The image Gao Peng was looking at suddenly had a red filter all over it and Flamy saw a figure coming down from the sky.

The swamp most likely contained something that beneficial to the growth of monsters, otherwise other Lord tier monsters wouldn't go and try to take over the area. Gao Peng started to think. Within Flamy's mind, there was one memory that was particularly vivid. A large Flaming Red Crane that looked similar to Flamy was bitten by a giant crocodile that was at least a 300 feet long. The crane was dragged into the water and it struggled until it died. Its blood turned the water red.

Gao Peng could feel the pain from this horrifying scene.

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Chapter 124: A New Partner

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Flamy, are you willing to be my partner? Gao Peng transmitted his thoughts to Flamy.

It was followed by a long silence.

Just as Gao Peng felt that he wouldn't succeed, he heard a clear and melodious voice.

Can you help me get revenge? Flamy's voice was full of hatred.

If we sign the Blood Contract, you will be one of us, and your problems will become my problems, Gao Peng answered solemnly.

Another long silence followed. Just before Gao Peng was about to exit Flamy's consciousness, a slender red claw appeared and pressed down on the Blood Contract.

The Blood Contract shattered and vanished. Gao Peng felt a new connection between Flamy and him.

Gao Peng opened his eyes. He saw Flamy looking at him curiously. Flamy then turned around and went towards a tree in the backyard, sitting under it. It bent the single leg, dropped its white wings, and pressed its back against the tree.

Gao Peng had never seen such a strange sleeping position before. Weren't red-crowned cranes suppose to sleep while standing on one leg, with another leg tucked inside its wings? Why was Flamy different from others?

Gao Peng transmitted his thoughts to Flamy via the Blood Contract.

Flamy turned its head and glanced at Gao Peng. I only have one leg.

Then you should be sleeping with your chest on the ground instead of having your back against the tree.

Flamy sighed, then turned towards the moon and looked at it for a long time. It then said softly, But sleeping like this is comfortable.

"Anyone here? Is the owner in?" the sound of a car breaking could be heard outside the villa. Gao Peng heard someone shouting.

Gao Peng went to the front courtyard to open the door. The dim lights allowed Gao Peng to get a clear look at the driver. He was around 30 years old, had a patchy beard, and wore a yellow uniform.

"The furniture is here already? Bring it in," Gao Peng said. He opened the door and called them over to bring the furniture in.

The person nodded and called another who was wearing a hat to carry the furniture.

While carrying the furniture, the two of them kept looking around the house as if they were searching for something.

"Mister, your villa is quite big," the yellow shirt-wearing driver laughed. He realized that Gao Peng didn't respond, so his laugh just became a dry laugh.

They were quite fast and finished bringing everything in within half an hour. Gao Peng kept the familiars in the backyard while this was going on; he didn't want to scare anyone.

After moving everything, they wiped their sweat, said goodbye to Gao Peng, and left.

Gao Peng looked on as the truck left. He then turned around towards the villa.

There was another week before the result for the first round of the exam would be released. Gao Peng let out a yawn and called Dumby over to help with arranging some of the furniture. Dumby was especially useful for such situations.

The villa had two floors. The ceiling was taller than most villas to allow Dumby to walk comfortably in the house.

A shorty like Da Zi, on the other hand, did not have to worry about such an issue.

The repairman for the gate would arrive the next day, and the walls needed a new coat of paint as well.

Gao Peng did not go upstairs to sleep, as he was used to sleeping on the sofa. He laid down on the sofa and sank down into the cushions, letting out a moan due to how comfortable it was.

The light from the stars came in from the windows. Gao Peng closed his eyes, and within moments, he started to snore.

Da Zi looked at Gao Peng and went upstairs. When it reached the second floor, it opened the bedroom door and took a blanket from the bed.

Da Zi fell and rolled down the stairs, then placed the blanket over Gao Peng.

When it saw how deeply asleep Gao Peng was, Da Zi shook its feelers in happiness. It laid down on the sofa and slept beside its master. Da Zi was happy as long as it could stay with Gao Peng.

It was late at night.

All the familiars were sleeping quietly.

A few suspicious-looking people were moving towards the villa.

"Are you sure only the owner lives here?"

"Relax, I've checked with my own eyes. Only one person lives there!" one of them said with certainty. "There is definitely only one person in there! If I'm wrong, I'll eat shit when we get home."

"That's good if that's the case," the other person had a breath a sigh of relief when he heard the guarantee.

Almost all the lights in the villa were off. Only the dim yellow light at the front door still emitted a warm light.

The men approached slowly. The insoles in their shoes were very thick, and there wasn't any noise when they stepped on the grass.

"We will leave after we finish stealing. No matter if we succeed or not," the most trusted among the group said. "And another thing. No killing under any circumstances. We are just here to steal. The people who are able to live in these kinds of villas are definitely rich and powerful. If someone dies, the matter will be escalated."

"Understood," the other two nodded.

In the living room stood a skeleton. The Soul Flames in its eyelids lit up and the weak blue flames started to swell rapidly.

Outside the villa, one of the men took out a black flower pot from his bag the size of a fist.

The flowerpot suddenly cracked in half, and two emerald green vines emerged out from the soil. They started to twist upwards together and sprout green leaves.

The growth was so fast that one could see it with the naked eye. It only stopped growing when its roots started to show. The vines had grown more than seven feet. They were touching the ground and full of pink flower buds.

"Wait a minute. Tell your familiar to slow down. Don't gas us before you gas our target like last time," the person on the side said nervously. He then took out a gas mask from his pocket.

After all of them put on their gas masks, the flower buds started to open, and a pink cloud started to spread.

After waiting for half an hour, they started to move towards the villa.

The villa's gate was broken so it was left open. One of the men walked towards it carefully. He moved his head inside and took a look around.

The living room was very quiet so he waved his hands to call the others to move in.

But no one came to him. Where did they go?

He turned around and saw a silver skeleton walking towards him underneath the moonlight. He could see his partners lying on the ground through the holes of the skeleton. He didn't know if they were alive or dead.

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Chapter 125: Magnet For Thieves

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Was he a magnet for thieves? Gao Peng seriously pondered this question.

He was sitting on the sofa. The three stupid thieves were kneeling in front of him. One of them were bowing their head in shame, sweat dripping off his eyebrows.

"Have we met before?" Gao Peng suddenly asked.

"How is that possible. Mister, you are overthinking it," the thief laughed awkwardly.

"…Mister?"

The thief shut up when he realized he'd said something wrong.

Gao Peng hadn't thought of it before, but the way this person called him mister made him realize who he was.

Wasn't this the person from the furniture store?

"I have to ask…" Gao Peng started to frown. "Why did you guys choose to break into my house? Do I look like one of those people who are dumb but have a lot of money?"

Flamy flapped its wings and laughed. It didn't know what it was laughing about.

Da Zi stood up and gave Flamy a slap on the back of his head. It wasn't allowed to laugh at master!

"I… I…" the thief's lips started to tremble. He suddenly didn't know what to say. He was close to tears.

There weren't any real reasons for breaking into a person's house other than to rob them. He saw that he was rich, and there weren't a lot of people living there, so of course, he wanted to steal from him! What else was there to say? But he didn't dare to say this, because he was scared of dying.

Thank goodness that the skeleton didn't scare him to death. A skeleton appearing behind you in the middle of the night was extremely scary.

This guy kept a skeleton as a pet, so he definitely wasn't a good person.

Gao Peng felt awkward. He massaged his temples. The three of them were quite sincere in their apologies, and when they realized that they couldn't get away, they were very ready to admit fault.

If he chose to kill them and bury them around the suburb, no one would ever find out.

However, Gao Peng had his own standards to uphold. He was no saint; he was not going to smile and forgive people who had crossed him. His style was an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. At the same time, he had a justice in his heart!

"I won't kill you guys… since you guys didn't have the intention to kill. You guys are lucky that you only intended to steal," Gao Peng yawned. Being woken up in the middle of the night was quite tiring.

The other two glanced over at Gao Peng in gratefulness. He was supremely clever in his decision! They were able to live because of his words.

Da Zi called the police.

On the other side of the call, someone said, "Hello, this is the Guangcai Road Honghe District Police station."

Hiss, hiss, hiss, said Da Zi.

Da Zi realized that the other side didn't reply and replied worriedly with more hissing.

The policeman on the other side of the call was stupefied.

Gao Peng took the phone away from Da Zi. That idiot. He only wanted Da Zi to dial the three numbers, he didn't ask it to talk. Others weren't able to understand what it said.

Gao Peng informed the police of the situation at the house, and they said they would immediately send someone over.

A police car reached his house after about ten minutes and handcuffed the three thieves. The police didn't ask Gao Peng to go back to the police station, just took down some simple information right there and then.

While chatting with the police, Gao Peng learned that the three of them were habitual criminals. They had never been caught because they were very careful.

"You need to be careful at night if you are the only one in your house. Chang'an City is quite dangerous at night. If you have any problems, call us immediately," the police in charge reminded Gao Peng.

Gao Peng nodded to show he understood. He poured a few drinks for the policeman who came from afar.

"No thank you." The policeman's phone rang and he responded to the call. He gave Gao Peng a smile, turned around, and left.

"Hmm, where's Silly?" Gao Peng suddenly realized that he had not seen Silly since he'd come home. He also didn't see him when they were having dinner.

"Da Zi, help me find Silly," Gao Peng said and patted Da Zi's head.

Da Zi nodded and climbed upstairs. After a short while, it came down accompanied by the jellyfish.

Gao Peng realized that the usually naughty Silly was very quiet.

"Come here," Gao Peng waved his hands.

Silly hesitated for a while and then flew over. This was the first time he saw Silly so terrified; he almost thought that Silly was possessed by Stripey. It took a long detour before reaching the top of Gao Peng's head. Gao Peng glanced over at Flamy and understood why Silly was so terrified.

Flamy was not happy with Silly avoiding it. Silly's tentacles retracted. He grabbed on to Gao Peng's face very tightly.

Gao Peng looked Flamy who was standing with one leg. He suddenly realized that there was something familiar about this kind of red-crowned crane. He looked at Flamy with a strange expression; would Flamy be changing in that direction if he kept evolving?

The god bird, Bi Fang.

It was an auspicious legendary beast from ancient times, a pet of the God of War. Wherever it went, fire followed. In the myth, Bi Fang also had one leg and it was in the shape of a crane. However, its feathers were blue and not white.

But this was just a myth…

Gao Peng suddenly felt a bit guilty. Gao Peng used to think that the people from ancient times made a wrong guess when they saw a sleeping red-crowned crane.

If someone from ancient times saw a red-crowned crane sleeping while standing on one leg, they would definitely shout out, "Oh my god! It is a one-legged beast. It is a legendary beast!" and then quickly run back home to tell everyone he saw a mythical legendary beast.

Another person would comfort him and say, "Relax, relax, what is the name of the legendary beast?"

What was the name?

The person would be stunned. How would I know? And suddenly think of a random word. Bi..Bi…Bi Fang.

"That legendary beast is called Bi Fang!"

If someone told me that this beast is real right now, I may very well believe him. Gao Peng was felt shocked.

But familiars already existed. Gao Peng felt that he was very receptive to the idea.

He patted Silly to comfort this stupid little creature. It was still on his head.

"Let's go to sleep," Gao Peng looked at the time. It was already three o'clock. Sleeping late often wasn't good for the kidneys.

Gao Peng only woke up when the sun hit his eyes. He opened his eyes while he was still in a daze, and went to cook some food.

Da Zi was staring at a small steel pan and ran over to the kitchen to look at the master's back, and would once in a while bang on the pan in anticipation.

After the soup was done, Gao Peng poured some of the food into Da Zi's pan. Da Zi leaned towards the pan and started to eat.

Stripey dragged a small steel pan and walked forward to Gao Peng. It looked like an elementary student who was waiting his turn to get his food in the cafeteria.

In Dumby's mouth were five Yin cedar needles bound together. It blew out a cloud of smoke.

Flamy looked on at the familiars who were lining up to get their food. It let out a laugh. It felt a sense of superiority because of its higher intelligence, and thought that these land animals were so stupid. They were pleased just because they had food.

"Hey, Flamy. Do you want to eat? I made fish soup today. It smells great," Gao Peng peeked out of the kitchen with his head and shouted.

Flamy laughed. Don't overdo it. I won't eat your food.

The smell spread to the living room from the kitchen. Flamy gave a sniff and started to drool.

Flamy turned his eyes, cleared his throat, and chirped.

No one in the kitchen gave any response.

How can he act like this! Flamy thought.

Gao Peng happily poured what was left of the fish soup into a bowl. There was still a fish brain left today. This was definitely one of the most sumptuous lunches he ever had.

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Chapter 126: New Life-saving Ability

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Gao Peng placed his bowl of fish soup on the dining table. He turned around and went back to the kitchen to get chopsticks.

When he came out from the kitchen, he saw a white figure standing beside the bowl, pecking at it. When Flamy saw Gao Peng had returned it quickly flapped its wings and flew away.

Gao Peng was speechless. Didn't Flamy say that it didn't want to eat just now?

Gao Peng walked to the dining table, sat down, and used the chopsticks to stir the bowl. His eyes widened. Why was there only soup in his bowl? Where did the fish head go? The yam? His side dishes?

"You jerk!"

In the end, Gao Peng used the leftover soup as broth for a bowl of noodles. After he finished eating he did the dishes and cleaned the stove. He switched on his computer to look at the news and browse forums.

Suddenly he felt very angry. It was a sort of anger that he had never felt before.

In TV was a guy riding a spider who liked to make other people wear green hats. Someone realized that he was the strongest of the eight contenders who challenged Commander tier familiars in the Chang'an City exam. This aggravated the situation even more.

Almost immediately, forums were flooded by topics that discussing this event. The news even reached some of the neighboring cities.

"I'm stunned. A beautiful female journalist had to wear a green hat while on the street. What kind of situation is this?"

"The spider-riding guy has these kinds of interests? Unbelievable!"

Gao Peng found such topic titles everywhere.

He felt annoyed and wanted to beat up the people who wrote such things. This was too much! Fortunately, they were just news headlines.

But wait- one of the websites had a video.

Gao Peng opened the video by Chang'an TV Station. A female reporter was running with a microphone. The cameraman was quite good; there wasn't any shaking throughout the whole video.

Gao Peng saw himself.

That eyes, that nose, that eyebrow. He clicked his tongue and was quite amazed at how good the cameraman was at getting the right angles. Gao Peng wanted to give him a thumbs up.

Afterward, he saw himself rejecting the interview. He left, looking very cool.

The video finally reached the most important part as a green jellyfish floated over. It lowered down from the sky like a beam of light and fell on the female journalist's head.

In the video, the female journalist's expression started to change. It was extremely entertaining. Her trembling hands touched her head, and the moist texture almost made her collapse.

The best line in the video was then said.

"What is on my head?"

"A crown."

This sentence had been spoofed by countless people.

"Guan Yu, what is that on your head?"

"Brother, that is power."

It was like the face-change show in Sichuan opera. From red to white, then from white to cyan, and finally from cyan to black.

In order to maintain her image, the female journalist squeezed out a smile. She hurriedly rushed up to Gao Peng.

The journalist received a nickname: Queen of the Crown.

Gao Peng let out a sigh. This was just… He apologized to the female journalist in his heart. He turned off the web page without hesitation. He was scared that he would feel more guilty the more he looked at it.

After Dumby was promoted to the Commander tier, Gao Peng felt that there was something new in his body. He was very familiar with this feeling; he felt the same thing when Dumby got the Shifting Constellations ability.

He closed his eyes. Gao Peng summoned his Blood Contract within his own consciousness.

Within the darkness of his consciousness appeared five shadows in the shape of his five familiars. Gao Peng only opened his eyes when he finished checking something, and wore an odd expression on his face.

Some familiars will gain new life-saving abilities once they were promoted to the Commander tier. Every time a familiar got promoted to the Commander tier, Lord tier, and Emperor tier, it would gain new life-saving abilities.

The later their stages, the stronger their life-saving abilities.

A message was received in the Blood Contract.

"Battles should be handled by the familiars. Monster trainers should just hide behind the familiars and not interfere with the fight."

Gao Peng had an odd expression on his face.

Monster trainers was a profession that had been handled down by the previous generation. Were there monster trainers in other places?

Gao Peng thought about it for a while and felt that this was a question that was too distant from him. It was as if a commoner worrying about when the sky was going to fall.

His new life-saving ability was "Elemental Barrier." The ability consumes the energy of his own familiar and then transform it into a barrier to protect himself. It wasn't a rare ability. After all, Gao Peng remembered that he saw it being used in the first round of his exam.

These life-saving abilities were branded in the depths of one's soul. There was no way to teach these moves to other people.

All the Commander tier monster trainers did not leak out any info regarding this. They all had a tacit understanding to keep it a secret. They only discussed it amongst themselves.

Gao Peng suddenly thought about Shifting Constellations, an ability thought to him by Uncle Liu.

He looked very serious. Only now did he know of the importance of Shifting Constellations

People would definitely put their attention on him if they found out he had an unrestricted life-saving ability.

Only know did Gao Peng understand why Uncle Liu wanted him to keep it a secret. Otherwise, even those kids who didn't have Commander tier familiars would suddenly have a life-saving ability. The stronger monster trainers who have younger family members would be tempted to give the ability to their relatives. After all, who doesn't have a few youngsters they want to protect?

Fortunately, Gao Peng did not have a cheeky personality. He wouldn't have the urge to do things that adults told him not to do.

Because it was during the Monster Trainer College Entrance Examination, almost all the discussion online was about monster trainers.

Monster trainers were always popular. With all the hype surrounding the exam, it would definitely get the attention of everyone.

Most of the battles by the monster trainers' familiars were recorded and uploaded to the internet. Gao Peng watched all of them with keen interest and pleasure.

They were much more entertaining than any cartoons. It was because of what he saw were real. Through the data frame, Gao Peng was able to look at the familiars and monsters' attributes.

Although there were no special effects, these battles felt sincere and real.

After watching the videos for a while, Gao Peng closed his laptop.

He got up and called to the familiars that were taking a nap in the living room, "That's enough. You guys should exercise after filling your stomachs. Otherwise, you guys will turn out like Stripey!"

Stripey, "???"

After taking out the familiars out to train, Gao Peng went and sat in the back garden. He switched on his laptop and poured himself some chrysanthemum tea.

Da Zi and Stripey grouped together to fight against Dumby in a mock battle. The three familiars were bunched up together. It was a vigorous battle.

Dumby stored up a lot of his energy so that he could be the sparring partner for Da Zi and Stripey.

On the other side, it was time for Gao Peng's favorite training exercise. Exercise to improve Silly's courage.

Silly was tied to the tree by a small rope.

Just a short distance from Silly was Flamy. Flamy's wings were flapping continuously, and its body burst forward. Its strong beak shot out like a sword. Every time it hit the tree it left a deep scar.

As the training went on, Flamy's beak started to show small stripes of blood.

Gao Peng sighed. Flamy's heart was full of hatred. All its hard work was so that it could one day avenge his mother.

Silly was scared by Flamy's fervor. It hid underneath a tree and looked at Flamy, trembling.

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Chapter 127: Chang'an City's Champion

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

As Gao Peng was browsing the internet, he would sometimes look over to see how Silly was doing. His reason for doing what he was doing was to toughen Silly up so that it would gain courage, not to scare it to death.

In the beginning, Silly was very nervous. It kept going around in circles, making itself dizzy after about two turns. But then it would rest for a while, get up, and continue turning in circles. Since the little guy still had the energy to keep turning in circles, Gao Peng decided to ignore it.

After a while, he walked over and found the familiar looking green figure underneath the grass. Its color allowed it to blend seamlessly into its surroundings. Its tentacles were up, and it was resting, occasionally letting out a soft snore.

Gao Peng couldn't help but admire its ability to sleep in such conditions.

These past few days, Gao Peng had occasionally gone to the monster breeder office to work. Ever since he started his exams, he had reduced the number of hours he worked at the office. The office had recruited two new novice monster breeders from Chang'an City, and they were able to attract quite a few customers because of their low prices.

Gao Peng would only take on clients that were important. He wouldn't take on any average clients.

In the past, Gao Peng had to work at this job in order to earn enough to take care of his familiars at home. He felt guilty every time he had to earn money using his own hands.

But now he didn't have to worry about his living expenses anymore. Two days ago, Uncle Liu had given him an unmarked credit card. He said it was given to him by his grandfather for him to spend on his living expenses. He didn't tell him the limit. Only that he should use it as much as he could.

Gao Peng looked at the number on the credit card and tried to compose himself. From this day forward, he would be able to treat his monster breeder job as a hobby.

Eight days after Gao Peng finished his exams, the first round of the Monster Trainer College Entrance Examinations finished. The results came out on the night of the seventh day.

On the dawn of the eighth day, a lot of people woke up early to check their results.

Uncle Liu woke up early in the morning. He dug up his prescription glasses from God knows where. Wearing his pajamas, he switched on the light and turned on his computer to look at the results.

Although he had already learned about the results through his special connections, he still wanted to see for himself.

The ninety-ninth floor of the Southern Sky Group Temple Tower, Yuzhou.

"Chairman," said a male secretary wearing professional attire as he walked into the office and placed several contracts on the desk of Ji Hanwu.

Since Ji Hanwu had come back, he had changed his secretary. It was not known where Secretary Liu went.

"Understood, put them down," Ji Hanwu said dully as he nodded.

The new secretary nodded respectfully. He was afraid to move his eyes around. The last secretary was removed because he did not listen properly. He saw that no more instructions were coming and left the room.

Ji Hanwu only started to show a sense of solemnness after the secretary left. He carefully opened a webpage as if he were doing something sacred.

He typed in the web address one letter at a time. He then took out his phone. On it was the Examination Admission Ticket sent over by Uncle Liu. Uncle Liu was so afraid that he didn't send it properly that he had sent it three times…

If their ages were added together, they would be over a hundred years old. Seeing them bumble about trying to check the results was quite a funny spectacle.

Some senior officials of Southern Sky Group realized that the chairman was in a very good mood, and many experimental projects were approved very quickly.

Uncle Liu was walking around casually, like an old, rich landlord inspecting his eight hundred acres of land.

He unconsciously arrived at Gao Peng's villa and then unconsciously walked into the villa's garden. Through the window, he saw Gao Peng sleeping on the sofa.

"Ahem," Uncle Liu coughed outside the floor-to-ceiling window.

Gao Peng tossed and turned on the sofa, but he continued to sleep.

Stripey, who was sleeping on the sofa next to Gao Peng, looked up in a daze and rubbed its eyes with its black foot.

It yawned, but its alertness dropped when it recognized it was Uncle Liu.

How can this kid be so lazy!? He doesn't even worry when his results come out, he thought.

Uncle Liu signaled to the two familiars beside Gao Peng to wake him up.

Da Zi lied on the ground on its stomach. It turned to look at Uncle Liu and then slowly fell asleep again as it was looking at him.

Uncle Liu couldn't believe it! This kid's pets all had the same attitude as him: lazy and a bad attitude!

Uncle Liu initially wanted to come and announce the good news to Gao Peng. Who knew that he would still be sleeping like a pig?

Knock, knock, knock.

Uncle Liu politely knocked on the glass, waking up Gao Peng with the sound.

Gao Peng opened his eyes in a daze, saw a person standing outside the window, and was given a shock. He then realized that it was only Uncle Liu after he looked more carefully.

"Uncle Liu, what happened?" Gao Peng asked as he gently rubbed his eyes.

"Wake up and look up your results," Uncle Liu said happily. The only way he could look happier was if the word "happy" was carved on his face.

"…" Gao Peng looked at the clock in the living room and said, "Uncle Liu, it is four thirty in the morning."

"You can look up the results at four thirty!" Uncle Liu said with a serious looking face.

Since he had already woken up, what else was there to do? Gao Peng got up begrudgingly and switched on his laptop. At the same time, he also opened the door to let Uncle Liu in.

Uncle Liu waved his hands and refused. "There's no need. I didn't come here specifically to remind you to check. I was just passing by and saw that you were still sleeping, so I decided to wake you up," he said and then left just as he had come.

Gao Peng looked out and saw the dark blue skies. The moon and stars were still visible. He then looked at Uncle Liu's back as he was leaving.

Should I thank you for being old?

He switched on his computer, went to the website, and saw that he had a notification on his account saying, "This account has been logged in from another location."

Gao Peng frowned. He clicked on the notification and it showed the location of the log-in: Southern Sky Group Temple Tower, Yuzhou.

Gao Peng was speechless.

At the same time, an old man sneezed in the Southern Sky Group Temple Tower.

Gao Peng clicked on the rankings. There were rows of options divided into different regions and districts. It was an idiot-proof system.

He selected Chang'an City. On the top was a search bar for the student ID.

Gao Peng inserted his student ID. The screen flashed, the computer froze for a few seconds, and then a form appeared.

[Name: Gao Peng

[Age: 18

[Score: 710 points

[Ranking: First Place in Chang'an City

Gao Peng was in first place! He was content. If it were ancient times, would he be considered the champion?

Most of the other monster trainers focused on raising a Commander tier familiar. After all, a single Commander tier familiar could score better than five Elite tier familiars.

Of course, there were also monster trainers who chose to train many familiars at once. They would train them as a group. For example, their main familiar would be a Commander tier fire-type familiar, and their second and third familiar would be a wind- or wood-type, or any type that would help in their growth. There was a limit to how fast they could progress.

At the same time, in another villa in another suburb in Chang'an City, someone said angrily, "How can I be second place? I saw it with my own eyes. Both he and I have three familiars. One Commander tier and two Elite tier. How am I not first? I am below him by one place!"

"Sir, one of his Elite tier familiars is an earth-type, and the monster it fought against was a wood-type. That gave him a ten-point advantage," came the voice of a woman from the side.

There was a pause in the villa, and then the sound of someone going crazy rang out.

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Chapter 128: The Second Round Exam

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

For most of the candidates, the end of the first round was the end of the entire Monster Trainer College Entrance Examination. But for a small number of monster trainers, the end of the first round was just the beginning.

Gao Peng received a call from the examination office in the morning.

"Hello, is this Mister Gao Peng?" asked the voice on the line.

"This is Gao Peng speaking."

"Hello, you are qualified to take part in the second round of the Monster Trainer College Entrance Examination. Please go to the venue where you took the first round exam on June 27th at nine o'clock in the morning. The exam will last for fifteen days. You do not need to bring keys, clothes, or toiletries. Thank you for your cooperation."

Gao Peng thanked the person on the phone, double-checked the time, and hung up.

This was the second round exam that Instructor Chen told us about. But Instructor Chen didn't tell us the details of the exam, Gao Peng thought. He wasn't sure what to expect.

It was already the 26th, so the exam was nine o'clock the next day.

Gao Peng hadn't signed the Blood Contract with Flamy yet, so Flamy wouldn't be able to take part in the second round exam.

Gao Peng planned on putting Flamy in Uncle Liu's house for a few days. Flamy was a young Lord tier familiar after all. If it were stolen, Gao Peng would be heartbroken. He took Flamy next door.

"Little Peng, what's the problem?" asked Uncle Liu, who was laying down on a rocking chair facing the sun. He squinted his eyes, looking very happy.

"Uncle Liu, I don't know if you have the time, but can I ask you to take care of my crane for half a month?" Gao Peng asked, feeling embarrassed. Although he knew Uncle Liu had been sent by his grandfather to take care of him, he still felt embarrassed to ask Uncle Liu to do something like this for him.

Being a sweet talker would help no matter where one was.

Uncle Liu lifted his eyelids and said, "Why are you being so cordial with me? Just leave it here. Relax, I will feed it so well that it gets fat."

Oh…

Gao Peng muttered to himself. He turned and look at Flamy, who was quite fit. When Uncle Liu said that he would feed it until it became fat, he was definitely not just being courteous.

Flamy looked at Uncle Liu in confusion. The old fart turned and smiled at him, showing a few white teeth. He said, "You can rest easy by leaving it with me."

"Well, I can always trust Uncle Liu's words." Gao Peng nodded and handed Flamy to Uncle Liu. He urged Flamy not to cause trouble, to listen to Uncle Liu, and not to run around.

Flamy wasn't dumb. It understood what its master said and flapped its wings twice to show it understood.

Da Zi had been promoted to the Commander tier the previous day.

If a familiar were of a certain grade and level, being promoted wasn't a very hard thing to achieve. Although it might need an opportunity to get promoted, it was not necessary for a familiar to be in a battle to do so. It only needed to reach a peak in order to break through the promotion barrier. When the conditions were correct, getting promoted was a very natural process.

On the dawn of the second day, Gao Peng rode Stripey to the venue where he took the first round exam. He didn't know how many people were there or how many people had made it to the second round.

Gao Peng thought that there would at least be a few hundred people, but when he arrived, he saw that there were only a handful of people there waiting for the exam officials to arrive.

It seems like I arrived quite early, Gao Peng thought as he smiled.

After waiting half an hour, the exam officials arrived, but no additional candidates had come.

A jeep with a military license plate drove toward them from a distance. When it arrived, it parked by the roadside.

"I am your handler," said the short-haired, spectacled man who exited the jeep. "That's enough, everyone, quiet."

Eight. There were only eight candidates. Gao Peng was speechless. How could there be a second round with only eight people? Would they just be assigned their ranking in the top ten? Gao Peng couldn't help but ridicule the situation.

"The second round will not take place in or anywhere close to Chang'an City. It will take place in Taiyangshan National Forest Park, within the base city of Jiangnan. I am telling you this to let you mentally prepare yourself. This exam won't take part in a ring, and it won't be a one-on-one battle. It will take part in the forest, and you will be fighting against real monsters out in the wild!

"Taiyangshan Forest Park has been scouted by top monster trainers. They have ruled out the possibility of the presence of Lord tier monsters," the spectacled man said. Then, after pausing for effect, he said, "However, there are no less than 500 Commander tier monsters in the Taiyangshan Forest Park, and some of them are peak Commander tier monsters."

Base city of Jiangnan? Taiyangshan Forest Park?

The crowd was stunned. Why did they need to go so far?

"In principle, the government and the Monster Trainer League will ensure your well-being, and we will give you guys a flare gun to use in emergency situations. However, it will take time for rescue workers to reach you. So, you guys will have to know when to use the flare gun. Of course, others will go through the specific details later, so I won't talk too much about this.

"The second round is not mandatory. If you choose not to take it, it will not affect the results of your first round exam. Okay, you guys can make a decision now. We will give you half an hour to decide. In half an hour, an airplane will be here to take you guys to your destination."

After he finished speaking, he ignored the eight candidates. He quietly walked to the side, took out a cigarette from his pack, and started to smoke.

A large figure suddenly appeared in front him, blocking out the sun.

He lifted up his head and saw Dumby staring down at him.

"What?" the spectacled man asked, puffing out smoke at Dumby in confusion.

Dumby lifted up its right hand. Beneath the black robe were white bones.

The spectacled man frowned. He then hesitantly extended his right hand to shake Dumby's hand. "How are you?"

Dumby remained still. It looked at the cigarette in the man's left hand.

The spectacled man then realized that Dumby didn't want to shake his hand. It wanted the cigarette. He said in annoyance, "You are so thin that only bones are left, and you still want to smoke? How are you so addicted?"

It wasn't that the man was stingy; smokers just value their smoking time.

Dumby's right hand was still stretched out, and its posture of asking for the cigarette remained unchanged.

It was just a skeleton; it didn't feel any embarrassment.

In the end, the man had no choice. He took out a cigarette from the box and gave it to Dumby.

Dumby took the cigarette, put it into its mouth, and started to chew.

"Hey, that's not how it works! You didn't even light it!" said the man. He couldn't help but shout when he saw Dumby wasting the cigarette, which was a special cigarette made by the military that used a different kind of herb.

What happened next stunned him. Smoke that carried the smell of the cigarette came from Dumby's mouth.

It can actually be used this way?!

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Chapter 129: Competing

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The spectacled man had gotten Dumby totally wrong. He had thought it was just an average joe, but it turns out that Dumby was the complete opposite of that.

The way Dumby smoked really impacted the spectacled man's spirit. I wouldn't care if a skeleton wants to smoke. I mean, it might just be a hobby. But this familiar doesn't even need to light its cigarette to smoke it! That is too outrageous.

The man looked down at his cigarette and went into deep thought. Was he the one who was doing it wrong? Maybe not lighting up the cigarette was the correct way to smoke…

This was a question worth pondering.

"Teacher," said a voice, bringing him back to reality.

A black-haired girl in a black exercise outfit said to him with a blank expression, "My dad won't let me participate in the second round."

"That's fine. This is completely voluntary. This is much more dangerous after all. There is some risk to this," said the man, comforting her. She was a girl after all, and as he was a father to a daughter, he could understand why her father wouldn't want her to join the competition.

"But I want to take part in the competition," said the black-haired girl.

"What?" asked the man, rubbing his eyes. "So, what you mean is…"

"I don't need my parent's approval to join, right?" asked the girl.

"According to the rules, no, you don't need their approval, but…"

The man was put in a hard position. Of course he understood her father's position, but it was just a one-sided understanding for him.

But this was not the most important thing. He was a strong-willed man, but he would still succumb under pressure.

She did not require her parent's consent because she was already 18 years old. She had the power to make her own decisions. If they were close, then he would be in an awkward position.

After the girl finished listening, she nodded, saying, "I want to apply to enter." She then stood to the side and stayed quiet, gently touching her Black Anaconda's head.

The man eyes' hurt a little, so he squinted.

Whatever happens doesn't concern me! I'm just the handler!

"Okay! You need to sign a release-of-liability form before you start," the man said and nodded.

He then asked if there was anyone who wanted to withdraw.

Two guys stepped forward, looking very embarrassed. After all, a girl whose family did not want her to enter still entered, but they, two grown man, decided to withdraw. It was so embarrassing!

"It's fine. It is understandable," the spectacled man said cheerily.

The two students took their familiars and left.

After half an hour had passed, the spectacled man asked again, "Is there anyone who wants to withdraw?"

The remaining six shook their heads silently. No one left.

"Okay, the airplanes are almost here," the spectacled man said as he looked up to the sky.

Two fighter jets tore through the sky, leaving white streaks behind them.

The vast plain they were standing on had been cleaned up and partially paved with cement so that the planes could land.

"Split into two groups and get onto a plane. Initially, we were worried that it might be a bit cramped, but now there are only six people left. Three people to a plane. Your familiars need to get on the same plane as you," the man called out. "Get on quickly."

"Will it be dangerous?" Gao Peng asked. "Although there aren't many flying-types, they still exist."

"Don't worry. These planes are made with special materials. We will be flying 20,000 meters high. Only Lord tier flying-types are able to reach that high. We won't meet other kinds of monsters. It is safe, for the most part. Besides, we have the Golden Deity's feathers. Even if we were unlucky enough to meet a Lord tier flying-type, nothing would happen because Lord tier monsters generally don't bother each other," the man answered with a smile.

"Okay." Gao Peng nodded. The Monster Trainer League and the government probably knew what they were doing.

The plane took off quickly, and the sudden loss of gravity made a few of the familiars uneasy.

After moving around for a while, Da Zi climbed up Dumby's body and grabbed on tightly like a belt. Stripey held on to the floor with a death grip. Fortunately, there was a thick carpet on the floor of the plane. It was as if they had predicted the familiars' reactions.

"Most familiars feel uncomfortable when they fly. They will be fine once they get used to it," the spectacled man said with a smile. He was on the same plane as Gao Peng, seated not far from him.

Gao Peng gave him a nod.

Dumby, on the other hand, was very calm. The loss of gravity did not affect it at all. Dumby looked around with indifference. It lowered its head and softly patted Da Zi's head to calm it down. Stripey then came forward brazenly and used its head to brush against Dumby. Dumby paused and then stretched out its hand to pat Stripey on the head. This made Stripey so happy that it started to move around excitedly.

"This familiar has such a good psychological quality!" the spectacled man exclaimed in surprise.

He had seen quite a few familiars in his life, but not many like Dumby that had such a good psychological quality.

Was bravery a trait of ghoul-type familiars?

The man thought to himself that perhaps he could go to Fengdu or Xiangxi to search for a ghoul-type familiar that had potential.

"There are so many monsters outside. How are the traffic problems solved? Are those highways not destroyed by monsters?" asked Gao Peng. Since there wasn't anything to do on the plane, he decided to chat with the spectacled man.

The man thought to himself that this sort of news wasn't usually talked about, but it wasn't really a tightly held secret either.

"Actually, there are highways between all of the military cities in the Huaxia Region. It's just that their conditions aren't the same as before. I'm not talking about the quality of the roads, but the number of roads. We have a limit to our manpower, so we can only choose to guard a few important routes. Even then, we still run into some trouble sometimes," the spectacled man said.

Gao Peng was silent. The current road conditions were likely similar to the road conditions during ancient times. The mountains and places with large bodies of water were relatively safer, but meeting monsters on official roads was not a rare occurrence. If one were unlucky, he might even meet beasts such as tiger-type monsters. This depended entirely on one's luck.

Most of the cars on the highways traveled in convoys, which greatly increased their safety.

Gao Peng remained silent.

A student next to Gao Peng asked the spectacled man, "Sir, how many candidates do you think there will be? Are all the candidates from all over the world coming?"

"Not so many that they are from all over the world. Only all of the candidates from all the military cities in the Huaxia Region. So you guys need to do well to make Chang'an City proud."

"I will try my best," said the student, touching his thumbs. He noticed Gao Peng looking at him and extended his right hand with a smile, saying, "Hello, my name is Wang Zhenshan. May I ask your name? I've seen you for a while."

Gao Peng was silent for a bit, but then answered, "Thanks. I'm Gao Peng."

"Hi. I noticed you because of how cool your familiars look. Don't get the wrong idea!" Wang Zhenshan said with a laugh.

They started to get familiar with each other while chatting on the plane.

After five hours, the plane started its descent. They didn't encounter a single Lord tier flying-type throughout the entire journey.

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Chapter 130: Candidates from the Whole Nation

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Through talking, Gao Peng found out that four out of the five other candidates were from wealthy families. If they weren't from families with a political background, they were second generation nouveau riche or their parents were powerful monster trainers.

Han Xiao and Gao Peng were the only commoners, and they cherished each other's presence.

Han Xiao said to Gao Peng with a smile, "A few companies came looking for me right after the exam. Did any of them look for you?"

Gao Peng was stunned, and he started to frown. No one had looked for him yet. What was this…

Han Xiao could tell from Gao Peng's perplexed expression what he was thinking, so he comforted him with a smile, saying, "It's fine. You are number one in Chang'an City. After the result comes out, companies will definitely contact you!"

"Yeah, probably," said Gao Peng, though he secretly thought to himself that his grandfather or Uncle Liu probably kept the companies away from him.

Han Xiao's familiar was a God Ant. From what Gao Peng had heard, it mutated from a Black Ant to a God Ant after it mistakenly ate something. So the name was in reference to the fact that the mutation was an act of God.

Gao Peng took a look at it. This was a level 21 Commander tier, Excellent grade, familiar.

It was two and a half meters tall and five meters long. It had a glistening outer shell, and it looked very imposing.

But to Gao Peng, this monster's real name was revealed as Golden Devil Ant. The God Ant name was completely inappropriate.

This was interesting. Was it because the patent had already been registered?

[Monster Name: Golden Devil Ant

[Monster Level: Level 21 (Commander)

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Attribute: Gold

[Monster Weakness: 1. Its joints are not protected by its shell. 2. It hates odors that cause irritations.

It was hard to train a familiar up to the Commander tier just through talent alone. If monster trainers didn't come from a good background or didn't have the necessary resources, they wouldn't be able to acquire the items needed to speed up a familiar's growth. Even if they got lucky and acquired some by luck, they would still be few and far between. This was the cold, harsh reality.

This was not to say that the average person wouldn't be able to train up their familiar. They would just need more luck. They would need to trade time for opportunity. Rich people could just buy the necessary technology, but poor people would need to take risks.

Gao Peng's ability was that he was able to let his familiars get promoted to the next tier without possessing the necessary items. This allowed him to take shortcuts when it came to training his familiars. However, he was not able to increase the speed of his familiars' growth.

The plane landed.

In front of them was a bustling metropolis, and they could see planes ascending and descending in the huge airport. This was Gao Peng's first impression of the base city of Jiangnan.

Another name for the base city of Jiangnan was Wu Du. It was quite close to Mo Du and Jinling Du, and it was the top city in the Huaxia Region after the Cataclysm.

"Welcome to the base city of Jiangnan," said the sweet voice of a woman over the airport speakers as the plane landed.

The ramp at the back of the plane opened, and sunlight shot into the plane.

"Hey, that's a military plane, right? Why are there so many military planes here today?" asked a passenger in the airport lounge as he looked outside in curiosity.

Within the hour that he had waited for his plane, he had seen at least eight military planes land. The dark green planes had blue stripes on them, and their streamlined bodies made them look very high tech.

"Do you think it's because there is going to be a surge in the number of monsters near Jiangnan?" asked a nearby person anxiously, frowning.

"Probably not. If there was a surge in monsters, the news would have mentioned it," said another person, comforting him.

"Hopefully…" said the man as he nodded.

"You don't need to worry. There is no outbreak of war. Those planes are carrying candidates that are taking part in the second round of the Monster Trainer College Entrance Examination in the Huaxia Region," said another man.

"They actually mobilized such a large number of people for a test? Even using military planes to transport them…" One of the people there became speechless.

"Hey, what do you know? There are only a few candidates in any single base city, usually only a few dozen total. They are the best and brightest out of thousands of candidates. Of course the military region needs to protect these geniuses," said a young man, rolling his eyes as he spoke.

"Oh… they are only a few out of thousands? Then they really must be the top candidates out of each city. They definitely must be talented," said the person who asked the first question. "Hey, do you know why they are coming here to the base city of Jiangnan?"

"You should be able to see why on TV in a few days," said the young man. He cleared his throat, adjusted his collar, and lifted his nose.

A middle-aged woman who had been listening in suddenly interjected, "Do you have someone in your family who is working in the government? Otherwise, how do you know these things?"

The young man's mouth twitched a little. You finally asked!

He took a deep breath, looking very proud, and opened his mouth-

"Yehan! Why are you here? You almost gave us a heart attack," yelled a girl with a ponytail as she ran over toward the young man. "Everyone was about to leave, but we discovered that you were gone. If it weren't for your familiar leading the way, I wouldn't have been able to find you. Why do you always make people worry? I'm not even your mother!" The girl's tone became more serious as she spoke. This guy had already wandered off three times!

Behind the girl with the ponytail came a white piglet. It shook its head and gave a very human-like sigh. It was disappointed with its stupid master.

Yehan's face turned red and he waved his hands around, saying, "I didn't get lost! I just wanted to see what the monster trainers from the other cities looked like. Moreover, it is not getting lost if a monster trainer goes the wrong way. It doesn't count."

This explanation made so little sense that even the white piglet started to laugh. It was ruthless ridicule. The girl with the ponytail couldn't help but laugh as well.

The airport lounge suddenly had a jolly atmosphere.

Finally, the girl with the ponytail shouted, "Don't wander off next time!"

Are these the other candidates in the exam? Gao Peng looked around to examine the other candidates.

There were a lot of people, close to 200.

Fortunately, he grew up in the Huaxia Region, so he had long gotten used to being in a crowded place.

There were about 50 base cities in the Huaxia Region. Most second-tier cities before the Cataclysm became base cities after the Cataclysm.

There were all types of familiars. Basically every different type of familiar was represented there!

There were flying-types, such as the six-meter tall Volcanic Vulture, which kept emitting heat waves from its body.

Gao Peng thought that Silly would be so scared that he would hide. Who knew that he would just hold on tightly to Gao Peng's head? He then went to Gao Peng's back. Through the Blood Contract, Gao Peng could hear Silly saying, "I'm not a fruit juice. I don't taste good, I don't taste good…"

Besides flying-types, there were also ghoul-types, which were all either wearing capes or wrapped tightly in clothes. Perhaps they didn't want to scare anybody.

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Read Monster Pet Evolution Chapter 131 - Vine-Covered Rock Monster online for free - AllNovelFull

Chapter 131: Vine-Covered Rock Monster

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Most familiars seemed normal enough, but the one that caught Gao Peng's attention was a nearby familiar that seemed to be made entirely of granite.

When looking at this familiar, the first thing that popped into Gao Peng's mind was a miniature version of a mountain giant. Compared to the actual mountain giant of legend, this familiar was like a pocket edition. Its body was covered with criss-crossed yellow vines, and on top of its head was a small circle of bright yellow flowers.

[Monster Name: Vine-Covered Rock Monster

[Monster Level: 23

[Monster Grade: Normal

[Monster Attribute: Rock

[Monster Condition: Healthy (Shy)

[Monster Weakness: 1. Shadow-type monsters. 2. It is afraid of having its picture taken.

"Please do not take pictures," said the owner of the Rock Monster to a few nearby trainers who were taking out their phones. "It doesn't like having its picture taken."

The trainers nodded their heads in understanding and put away their phones.

It seemed most people in the world were reasonable after all!

Gao Peng made his way over to the trainer. "Is this your familiar? It looks really cool. I've never seen such a familiar before!" he exclaimed.

"Thank you," said the owner of the Rock Monster, hurriedly nodding his head in reply.

The owner was a shota with a mushroom haircut, large round glasses, and a naturally innocent-looking face. Though he looked young, to have established a Blood Contract and entered the second round of the competition, he must have been at least 18 years old.

"This familiar of yours seems really shy," said Gao Peng with a laugh. After continually interacting with so many familiars, he had realized that most familiars, and even monsters, possessed a vast range of emotions. They had their own happiness, anger, sadness, and joy, and they could not be described with a simple blanket term.

"Yes, it is rather shy," said the Rock Monster's owner. After speaking, he seemed to realize that not introducing himself was rather impolite. Immediately, he stretched out his right hand and said, "Hi, my name is Jiang Ke. I'm from Mo Du."

"Gao Peng from Chang'an."

"I've been to Chang'an. It was the ancient capital of the Thirteen Dynasties, and it has a lot of historical and cultural value. You even have terracotta soldiers there! The terracotta soldiers are the most famous…" Jiang Ke laughed shyly. His personality seemed similar to that of his familiar.

As the saying goes, if a bride were not meant to marry into a family, fate would not have brought her in the door. Indeed, in one way or another, a monster trainer's personality would have an effect on the personality of the familiar as well.

Gao Peng suddenly thought of the personalities of his own familiars and then hurriedly abandoned that train of thought.

"Terracotta soldiers, eh? That's right! There's plenty of that stuff," said Gao Peng. "The next time you come over to Chang'an, I'll sell you a few of them," Gao Peng boasted loudly.

"They can be sold?!" Jiang Ke was stunned. It was the first time he had heard of terracotta soldiers being for sale. He hesitated for a moment, then carefully asked, "Is this…illegal? I won't do anything illegal."

"Well, the terracotta soldiers owned by the country cannot be sold, of course," Gao Peng said in total seriousness, "but I'm free to sell my own. Selling things that you own isn't illegal, right? Like if you were to take a precious family heirloom and sell it to someone, would that be breaking the law?"

"I guess not…" Little Jiang Ke wasn't totally sure.

"Then it should be fine! Back in Chang'an, practically every household keeps two terracotta soldiers to guard their doors. Those things can ward of evil!" Gao Peng said, nodding his head.

Jiang Ke eyed him suspiciously. "Do you really have some in your home?"

Gao Peng laughed out loud and rubbed the little shota on his head. "I was just kidding! How could I have such a thing in my home? I say, you didn't grow much physically, but I guess you didn't grow much mentally, either! You're too easy to fool. You won't be able to find a girlfriend if your intelligence is so low, you know?"

Jiang Ke's face flushed with anger. He glared at Gao Peng and left in a huff. He didn't want to bother himself with such an unpleasant guy anymore.

Afterward, Gao Peng saw that the few people around him were looking at him oddly. He touched his own face. Nope, I don't have any pimples, do I?

The gates were pushed open, and a bald man wearing a black coat walked in. He was well built, with large eyes and thick eyebrows, and he spoke in an incisive manner. "All the candidates have arrived. Tonight, you will all be having dinner together, so please get to know one another. Afterward, we will give out the letters of consent. In order to participate in the second round of the examination, you must sign to acknowledge the possibility of dying!

"The location of this test will be in the wilderness, a far cry from the safety of the city. The wilderness holds unlimited possibilities, so even with your emergency flares, the mortality rate in this examination will be at least 10%." The bald man gave a deep laugh, caught himself, and then continued, "Do not think that I'm joking. This estimated mortality rate takes into consideration that your familiars are at least Commander tier and that some of you will not be signing the agreement."

Even with this announcement, the dinner tasted pretty good.

After dinner, all the candidates were taken into a large hall, where military personnel gave out the contracts to everyone to sign. The whole process was carried out without a single word being uttered.

Those that had made it this far had already done their due diligence. They had been told beforehand that they would have to sign the agreement, and many were mentally prepared. Gao Peng scanned through the document. The clauses were clear and easy to understand. Their lives were their own responsibility, but in the event of death a hefty pension would be paid as compensation to the family. They would even be made martyrs.

Gao Peng signed the agreement and handed it in.

"Since everyone has signed, I will now explain the rules of the examination." After a short pause, the bald man continued, "There were a total of one hundred and ninety-seven candidates for the second round examination, all of you elites from across the nation! In the end, one hundred and fifty of you signed the agreement. I am pleased. This was a higher percentage than I had expected. It seems there aren't many cowards among you!" The bald man roared in laughter.

"The second round of the examination uses a point system. Within the forest of Dayang Mountain, we have set up a large number of target pillars. These target pillars are made of a special material that strongly attracts monsters to them. Destroying a target pillar will grant you a large amount of points. At the same time, taking down a monster will also reward you with a certain number of points.

"In the end, we will choose the top twelve candidates with the highest number of points to take part in the third round. The third round can be said to exceed the boundaries of the Monster Trainer College Entrance Examinations. It even has its own name: 'The Alliance's Strongest Youth Monster Trainer General Assembly!'

"Those who perform well in the competition will be bestowed a title, and even your familiars can be awarded a title as well. Also, the last round of the competition will be broadcast live globally! The battles between your familiars will be shown to everyone around the world!"

Gao Peng couldn't help but feel like puking. "The Alliance's Strongest Youth Monster Trainer General Assembly"? Who on earth thought of such a name!?

But the focus of the others was definitely different than Gao Peng's. They were all wide-eyed with deep desire for a title. In an era filled with the great spirit of youth, to be awarded a universally recognized title would be such a sacred thing. But Gao Peng would never admit to being moved by the idea… It was too Eighth-Grader!

Those that did not sign the agreement were sent back home. After all, with the possibility of death involved, the Allied Government couldn't possibly force everyone to participate.

That night, Gao Peng received a full-body combat suit, which included a gas-mask helmet and a fast-acting cardiotonic agent. In an emergency situation, the cardiotonic agent could be activated, and its effects would last for one hour!

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Chapter 132: The Contest Begins

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

What kind of title would he get?

Gao Peng was seriously giving this question some thought, but it was rather difficult to answer. After all, with his wide variety of familiars, there were too many titles that were suitable for him. Just thinking about it made him giddy with joy.

After the conference ended, Gao Peng went back to the room provided to him by the Monster Trainer League.

They were being housed in a mountain villa, and each participant had their own little courtyard for their familiars.

Returning to his courtyard, Gao Peng found Stripey trying to dig a hole. Its sharp spider claws slashed apart the ceramic tiles on the ground, only to reveal cement underneath. Stripey seemed rather puzzled. Shouldn't there be soil underneath? Just two days ago, it had been digging up soil in master's garden. Why was it digging up this hard, grey stuff here?

Stripey's claws began to ache from trying to dig up the cement. Finally, it smashed the ground twice in frustration, making angry squeaking sounds.

"What's wrong?" asked a puzzled Gao Peng.

Puchi, puchi.

Gao Peng turned to see Silly drifting over leisurely like a leaf in the wind. Then, just when Gao Peng was least expecting it, it attacked while his guard was down!

Pachi!

Silly plopped onto Gao Peng's head and started to dance happily as if to say, "I managed to get on your head again! Yay!"

Ever since Silly found out that Gao Peng hated it when Silly plopped onto his head, doing so had become Silly's new favorite hobby. Seeing its master feel so defeated by its behavior made Silly so happy.

"Alright, alright," said Gao Peng, giving up. He went to ask Da Zi what was going on.

Gao Peng noticed that his familiars were gradually maturing. As they grew stronger, they also grew wiser. Take Da Zi for example. Initially, it often did cute and silly things, like an animal would do. But as time went on, just like a child growing up, Da Zi's personality was gradually becoming steadier and more mature. Now it only did silly things occasionally, and that brought Gao Peng joy.

"It's trying to bury itself," Da Zi told him, waving its mandibles. The antennae on its head were swaying nonstop.

Gao Peng then realized what was going on. Because of Stripey's attribute, it liked to partially bury itself in the ground to sleep at night. This was a new habit that it had developed since its evolution.

Because his villa's back garden had nice, loose earth, Gao Peng had allowed Stripey to do whatever it wished. But it seemed he had forgotten to tell Stripey that they were not in their villa anymore. Even if it weren't for the cement floor, to dig up another person's place like this… It just wasn't right.

"I want to sleep," Stripey complained to Gao Peng.

"Alright, then go to sleep, but no digging."

Gao Peng gently rubbed Stripey's head. Stripey whimpered some more, but after a good deal of comforting, Stripey finally tucked in its limbs and lay on the ground. The light in its eyes slowly dimmed.

After coaxing Stripey to sleep, Gao Peng heaved a sigh of relief. Then he noticed Da Zi behind him, pitifully staring at him while lying on the ground. How long had Da Zi been in that position? Gao Peng didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This petty little fella was unhappy again.

He quickly went over to comfort Da Zi, and only when Da Zi fell deep into sleep did he finally get up, massaging his sore arm. But as he got up, Silly, who had been resting on his head all along, made unhappy "puchi" sounds as though it had been disturbed from its sleep.

It took Gao Peng until midnight to comfort all his familiars. After waiting for them to fall asleep, Gao Peng was finally able to go to bed himself.

They had only just arrived in the Jiangnan district, so Gao Peng could understand why it was hard for them to get used to the new environment.

Dayang Mountain Forest was only a dozen miles away from the villa.

"Attention all candidates, attention all candidates." The blaring sound from a loudspeaker reverberated across the entire mountain villa. The sound of a helicopter could also be heard, and from the helicopter white searchlights shone down, creating white pillars of light across the night sky.

All the candidates within the mountain villa were startled awake.

"The second round of the examination will now begin!" the loudspeaker continued. "Attention all candidates, please take note. You have twenty minutes to prepare. You will officially set off in twenty minutes. Head in the direction indicated by the searchlights of the helicopter and reach the target destination within the time limit."

As the sound of the loudspeaker continued to reverberate above them in the night sky, the candidates rushed out of bed to put on the combat suits issued to them the day before.

Pushing open the door, Gao Peng saw that all the candidates were streaming out of their rooms like a school of fish.

After twenty minutes, the propellers of the helicopter hummed as they started to shift direction, and the helicopter flew northward.

It was 6:20 AM, and the sky was just beginning to brighten.

"Follow it." Gao Peng's instructions were short and concise as he walked towards his familiars.

Stripey was lying flat on the ground, ready for Gao Peng to mount up, but Gao Peng walked right past it and over to Dumby.

Dumby knelt down and reached out its hand. Gao Peng climbed up Dumby's arm to sit securely on the middle of Dumby's neck, which had an area of broad and sturdy bone that was just the right size for a person to sit on.

Chichichi? Stripey tilted its head in confusion.

"Your back has become too rough on my bottom…" Gao Peng said, trying to comfort Stripey. "If you run too fast, I'm afraid you'll tear a hole in my pants!"

Gao Peng patted Dumby on the head and told him to follow the helicopter.

Dumby nodded and picked up Da Zi from the ground. With a whip-like swish, it coiled Da Zi around its waist just like a belt. Then it sprinted after the helicopter in large strides. Stripey followed after them.

On the helicopter, two cameramen, each holding a video recorder, were taking footage of the candidates from two different angles. The country had specially set up a temporary television channel for 24-hour footage of this part of the examination. Just in case of accidents with the candidates, the footage was not broadcast live. Instead, it was recorded first, and the broadcast of the footage was released two hours later to allow for editing.

Cruising through the dense forests, each step of Dumby's legs landed firmly on the ground. The strong blood-thread heart within its body pumped with each stride, continually providing Dumby with energy.

Stripey was just as fast. When facing tall obstacles, it simply shot out a thread of spider silk at a thick branch overhead and swung in the air over the obstacles.

After ten minutes, the fastest candidates had already reached the destination, arriving the same time as the helicopter.

In the sky, a Volcanic Vulture was comfortably spreading its wings in the sky. Clambering on its back was a large, burly teenager, who was wearing a rather awkward expression on his face because the cameraman on the helicopter next to him kept zooming in on him. If he were sitting in a cool pose it would be fine, but he was clinging on to his Volcanic Vulture's neck for dear life, his hair blown into an utter mess by the raging winds. It was so embarrassing!

After hesitating for a moment, the teen yelled out, "Could you stop recording me?!"

Sadly, the sound of the helicopter was just too loud, and the cameraman simply could not hear him.

Replying with an OK sign, the cameraman facing the teen turned to the other cameraman and said, "He wants us to take a few more shots of him."

"Alright."

Chapter 133: Stellar White Pig

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The teen desperately looked toward the two cameramen, who were taking turns recording him.

That was not what I meant… Are you guys misunderstanding something?

The teen was in utter despair. The cold wind whistled as it blew past, making his nose run. He sneezed but didn't dare wipe his nose. He was afraid that he would fall if he let go!

Mortified, the teen buried his head into the fluffy feathers of his Volcanic Vulture's back and wiped his snot onto his familiar.

Sigh, it's all over. I can't face people anymore after this. No matter how famous I may get in future, this moment will follow me forever. I'll never be allowed to forget this.

Dumby rushed madly through the jungle, snapping branches under its feet and leaving bushes and weeds dancing in the air of its blurred afterimage.

Gao Peng was very grateful for his Shifting Constellations technique. At the speed they were going, being whipped by these branches would definitely cut him open. At that moment, Gao Peng realized how practical this ability of Uncle Liu's truly was.

Practical, but not particularly powerful. It allowed him to neglect nitty gritty details for a bit.

"Hey! Slow down! Slow down, you!" Through the blur of tree branches to his right, Gao Peng could see another blur that was travelling alongside them through the dense forest. On the back of that blur was a boy, wailing, "You don't have to go so fast! Hey! There's no prize for first place, so slow down!"

Finally listening to the boy's words, the blur reduced speed, revealing itself to be a large, silver pig.

The pig had a slightly long snout like that of a wild boar. Domestic pigs had short, flat snouts, but this pig's was rather thin and long by comparison. The only thing it lacked was tusks, and it had no bristles on its back, which was smooth and hairless, giving off a faint, silver glow from the star light that shone on it.

[Monster Name: Stellar White Pig

[Monster Level: 25

[Monster Grade: Perfect

[Abilities: Star-Force (Effect 1: Active Effect; Can absorb stellar energy from the stars to form a layer of Stellar Thread Armor on its body. Activation of this ability has no upper limit, but the rate of stellar energy absorption is limited by the monster's level. At current level, absorption can only take place at night. Effect 2: Active Effect; When Stellar Thread Armor is active, the monster's agility is increased.

[Monster Condition: Healthy (Disgusted)

After the pig slowed down, the boy sprawled on the pig's back noticed Dumby to his left, and he seemed surprised that there was actually someone who could keep up with his Stellar White Pig. Then he realized how awkward he must look arguing with his familiar and looked away in embarrassment. To think that he was seen in such an unsightly situation!

Gao Peng smiled to himself. He thought of how he was called "spider-riding boy" by netizens after appearing on Chang'an Television. Because spider and pig both sounded the same, there were also those who called him "pig-riding boy."

He had finally met the real "pig-riding boy" in the flesh, and he could finally throw away the unpleasant moniker that he'd been carrying since the day of the first exam. At the thought of this, Gao Peng's gaze softened as he looked at Ye Han.

He gave Ye Han a thumbs-up and said, "All the best!"

Then, he gave Dumby a pat on its bald head, and Dumby sped up, leaving Ye Han to stare at their backs.

All the best? Why would he wish me all the best? This guy must be a nutjob! Ye Han thought, dumbfounded.

The auras of Commander tier familiars were being spread throughout the whole forest. They were not yet within the bounds of Dayang Mountain Forest, and in this neighboring ordinary mountain forest, the elemental forces within the air were weak and the monsters that lived there were neither large nor strong. Feeling the auras of hundreds of Commander tier familiars passing through, all the monsters along the way were on the verge of wetting themselves in fear.

A black-furred wild boar buried its head in the dirt, the rest of its body shivering in fear. Up in a tree, a small snake lay frozen like a dead branch as a Commander tier familiar walked past, a hint of evil accompanying the thick stench of bloodthirst. After it passed, the small snake fell from the tree with a pata sound like a wooden stick, its small tail twitching.

"Second place is almost here. Get ready to shoot in that direction," said the cameraman on the helicopter.

"OK."

The teen on the Volcanic Vulture finally managed to squeeze out a smile. The cameramen were finally filming someone else!

In the distance, three figures were approaching. It was impossible to tell which one was in the lead.

The trees shook and a cheetah rushed out of the forest. Its body was completely covered in glistening gold, and on its back was a trainer who sat upright the moment they dashed out of the forest.

Closely behind it was a giant, strong-looking humanoid figure. Every step it took on the ground was filled with intense force and rhythm. The figure suddenly jumped upwards and raised its arms high.

Boom!

It landed solidly and steadily on the ground, kicking up a cloud of leaves. As it stood upright, the strong winds howled, lifting its black robe. On the monster's shoulders sat a boy, his arms wrapped around the humanoid giant's head.

"Hey, why is the head of that humanoid giant green?" one of the cameramen muttered to himself.

The spot of green stood out against the giant's head, and it made a very strange sight. The helicopter's searchlights shone down right on Dumby's head, which reflected a pale greenish light that was misty and ephemeral, giving off the aura of a spirit.

"Is that a hat?" the cameraman asked, frowning, and then zoomed in and took a picture of Dumby's head.

Gao Peng's face remained expressionless. Dumby, this important duty shall be left to you!

Dumby's face showed no expression. It just stood firmly in place.

Grunt, grunt!

Behind them, another area of dense forest burst apart and out charged a silver wild boar. The wild boar trampled across the grass, displaying a ferocious charging force! Such vigor!

It viciously glared at the back of Dumby and spat on the ground with disdain before throwing Ye Han off its back. It faced its master with disgust. Look at the other master sitting directly on his familiar's shoulders. You just had to butt in and make me slow down. If not for you, do you think they could have overtaken me?

The Stellar White Pig circled angrily, unhappy at having lost the race. Then, without any other way to vent its frustrations, it finally faced its owner and viciously spat a mouthful of saliva in his face.

Standing next to them, Gao Peng was at a loss for words. This was the first time he had come across such a helpless monster trainer. In most cases, the trainer was the dominant one in the trainer-familiar relationship. But there were also exceptional cases when the reverse occurred, especially if the trainer had a weak personality and the familiar had a strong one. Even so, this pig was really irritable.

In no time at all, one by one, Commander tier familiars were rushing out of the forest into the empty plain. After a few minutes, Stripey came skipping out of the forests as well and crawled happily next to its master.

The last to reach the plain was the Vine-Covered Rock Monster. It ambled slowly out of the forest, reaching out with its two strong arms to effortlessly uproot a few small trees and thrown them aside. It had forcefully created a path through the forest in this manner. Jiang Ke tiptoed carefully behind his Rock Monster.

"Through the entrance ahead will be Dayang Mountain," announced the voice from the helicopter. "Near the entrance, we have placed field-combat backpacks with compressed biscuits, canned food and bottled water inside. Each person may only take one.

"I know that some of you have had experience surviving in the wild and are proficient in doing so, whereas some of you have rarely been outside the city. So, my best advice for you all is to survive! Only by surviving can you hope to get a high score!"

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Chapter 134: Day One

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Many people were already waiting in front of their TVs, mobile phones and computers when the coverage of the event finally began.

Red dots of light flashed across their pitch-black screens, becoming brighter and denser until they finally formed rows of bright-red flames. The flames then transformed into large words: Dayang Mountain Forest.

Over the sound of a helicopter, the narration began. "Welcome, everyone, to this special presentation. This group of cute monster trainer cadets is about to participate in day one of the Dayang Mountain competition…"

The audience in front of their screens was stunned. The program's style felt really familiar… Was this supposed to feel like a documentary?

"On the first day, our energetic and cute cadets got up from their beds…" The sound of the footage gradually softened, and then, from the background, came a loud, blaring voice, "Attention all candidates, attention all candidates."

Just like people rushing out to their clotheslines when there is thunder and rain, from the high vantage point of the camera, the audience could clearly see doors opening one by one and cadets rushing out.

Following this, the sounds from the footage faded away and a vigorous drum beat began, invoking excitement in the audience.

A white pillar of light shone in the forest like an eye-catching streetlamp, guiding the way ahead for the cadets. By either riding their familiars or having their familiars carry them, the cadets were making a beeline through the forest, showcasing a wide variety of talents.

However, the footage that stole the show was of a lone giant familiar flying through the night sky alongside the helicopter. The searchlights revealed it to be a Volcanic Vulture, and sprawled across its back was a snot-nosed boy looking as pathetic as can be. The boy shouted something inaudible at the camera, and afterward, the cameramen focused even more on him and captured photos of him from all angles.

Following right after the Volcanic Vulture, the footage cut to the three fastest familiars as they broke through the forest into the clearing.

At the same time, far away in a small villa along the outskirts of Chang'an City, a plump one-legged red-crowned crane hopped up on its foot, almost losing its balance in the process. It made some unintelligible sounds while waving its wings, as though speaking to the old man beside it. It was clearly excited and was pointing to a certain person on the television screen.

The old man chuckled and nodded. He handed the crane a plate containing a fat squid that had a fiery red color. "Quick, eat up. Eat more so you can become stronger. Then you can follow in the footsteps of your master."

The one-legged crane was conflicted. It was already really full, but the plate of food looked super delicious.

After hesitating for a long while, it closed its eyes in determination and gobbled up the food!

This was Gao Peng's first day on Dayang Mountain. The sun was just beginning to set, and the sky turned a beautiful sunset-yellow.

This was indeed a forest in the wilderness. It was nothing like the training-valley forests. Looking around, Gao Peng found plenty of medicinal herbs. At first, Gao Peng's money-minded personality drove him to pick up every single herb he saw along the way and store them in his backpack. And after his backpack was full, he stored them in Silly's personal space dimension. But in the end, Gao Peng realized that there was no way to carry them all, and he had to regrettably discard those of lesser value.

This forest is truly a treasure trove waiting to be excavated! Gao Peng thought.

And it was not just in that particular part of the forest. Practically every patch of forest was a treasure trove waiting to be discovered. The less human activity there was in an area, the greater the chance of discovering something remarkable.

As for the point pillars that the bald man had mentioned, Gao Peng had not seen a single one yet. This was probably because he had not yet ventured deep enough into the forest. This was a foreign place to Gao Peng, and he was not the kind to rashly charge right in. He chose to explore the outer areas before making his next move.

After a day of exploration, Gao Peng hadn't encountered a single Commander tier monster. He saw plenty of Elite tier monsters, but they were all rather intelligent. The moment they sensed the Commander tier auras coming from Dumby and Da Zi, they fled far away. None of them wanted to rush to their deaths by attacking Gao Peng.

These monsters are a bit too clever… In stories, don't they usually just charge at people without any care?

Seeing that the sky was getting dark, Gao Peng decided to find a place to spend the night. He remembered a cave he had seen along the way, and when he had gone inside to check, it had been empty.

Riding on Dumby's neck, Gao Peng found the cave after less than ten minutes of backtracking. A dense curtain of vines draped over the cave entrance, covering half of it.

Gao Peng told Dumby to go in, but Dumby suddenly stopped and let out a low, threatening growl.

Da Zi, who had been lying quietly by their side, suddenly became alert. The two antennae on its head waved around and its eyes sparkled. Without warning, it scuttled into the cave with its thousand claws.

"Wait–" Gao Peng tried to stop Da Zi, but it was too late. It was already inside.

Roar!

A loud roar came from inside the cave.

A bear, thought Gao Peng, squinting. A bear's sound was easily recognizable. It was low, raspy, powerful and very distinct.

Sounds of battle came from the cave, accompanied by the angry roars of a bear.

Gao Peng didn't waste any time. He quickly jumped off Dumby and sent him rushing in to assist Da Zi. After Dumby went in, the bear's sounds became irritable. Finally, it made a few dismal whimpers before falling silent.

"Dead," Dumby's voice rang in Gao Peng's mind.

Gao Peng pushed aside the vines in front of the cave and entered. The cave was not deep, but it was bottle-shaped, with an interior that was much wider than the entrance.

There was a bloodied black figure lying in the middle of the cave floor.

[Monster Name: Black Wind Bear

[Monster Level: 16

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Condition: Deceased

The word in gray in the last row made it clear that the Black Wind Bear had breathed its last.

On the body of the Black Wind Bear was one fatal wound: a gaping hole in its head. It looked as though it had been smashed by a heavy object, and a large amount of brain fluid was flowing from the wound. The cave was filled with the pungent stench of the metallic smell of blood.

Gao Peng frowned. He had Da Zi remove the Black Wind Bear's paws before taking the carcass outside the cave. Although Da Zi and Stripey usually ate cooked food, it did not mean they couldn't eat fresh, raw meat.

Smelling the scent of blood, his familiars displayed various changes in their moods. Among the two, Da Zi's behavior was the most evident. Its antennae kept waving about and it was scuttling all around the cave. As Da Zi was exposed to battle more frequently, Gao Peng noticed that its personality had begun to change quite a bit. It had become far more aggressive and eager to do battle.

He remembered that Mr. Zhang had mentioned the Purple-Backed Yellow-Clawed Centipede was a more ferocious type of centipede. Although Da Zi had already evolved into a Purple-Backed Thunder Centipede, its ferocious nature was still evident.

Gao Peng sensed that there was something not quite right with Da Zi's temperament. Before he had even given the order to attack, Da Zi had taken the initiative to head into battle.

Gao Peng found a cleaner spot in the cave to sit down and waved Da Zi over. "Da Zi, come here."

Da Zi crawled over earnestly and quietly looked up at Gao Peng with a slightly depressed and lost look.

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Chapter 135: Salted Fish Form 3

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Da Zi, why did you rush in without my permission just now?" Gao Peng asked, pinching Da Zi's two antennae and pulling them upward.

Da Zi's head was pulled upward along with its antennae. It gave its master a perplexed look and made a bunch of unintelligible sounds from its mouth. Chichichi?

Gao Peng gently rubbed Da Zi's head to comfort it. "Don't act ignorant. Why did you rush in without my permission just now?"

"I dunno." Da Zi lifted its head with a pitiful expression.

"There's no use in acting cute!"

Da Zi cried in protest, curling tightly into a depressed purple ball.

After repeated interrogation by Gao Peng, Da Zi finally admitted the truth, "Smelt bear, wanted to eat."

A centipede like you wanting to eat a bear? Your predatory instincts are pretty scary, huh? Gao Peng was shocked.

"And were you able to defeat the bear?" Gao Peng asked. On the body of the Black Wind Bear, other than lacerations along its chest and limbs that looked like they were caused by a sharp object, the only lethal wound was caused by Dumby's punch, which had blown the bear's head open.

Although Da Zi had risen to a Commander tier level, its attacking strategy still relied on using electricity to paralyze the enemy and then injecting venom into the enemy thereafter. Against larger creatures with thick flesh and tough hides, Da Zi's maxillipeds and forcipules had a pretty low chance of success.

"Can! Can defeat it! It's trash!" Da Zi said, its body stretching out in agitation and its two forcipules flailing around.

Suddenly, Gao Peng saw the figure of a tyrannical mantis in Da Zi. A centipede tyrant?

In human years, Da Zi was the current equivalent of an eleven- or twelve-year-old human child. Its personality was irritable, active, and highly aggressive, which was rather normal. This was not actually a bad thing. After all, only when a familiar was aggressive could there be more possibilities for battle. It was a good thing.

"The next time you want to attack another monster, you can, but you will have to get my permission first. Do you understand?" Gao Peng asked in a severe tone.

Da Zi grudgingly nodded.

"As punishment, there will be no food for you today," said Gao Peng to Da Zi.

Da Zi's waving pair of antennae suddenly froze.

"This is the punishment for your first offence. One day without food," Gao Peng said coldly. "But as your trainer, not educating you properly is my fault as well, so I will join you in the punishment. There will be no food for me today either."

Da Zi was stunned. Master will not be eating either?

The bear's paw was initially cut off to be used as a meal, but since Gao Peng had made the sudden decision to discipline Da Zi, the paw ended up going to Stripey alone.

Stripey ate loudly, munching and crunching and even making occasional lip-smacking sounds. Even a simple raw bear's paw seemed like a rare delicacy when Stripey was eating.

Gao Peng's expression darkened. Can't you see there are two of us fasting here!?

"Go outside and eat!" he demanded.

Stripey raised its head and tilted it in puzzlement. Pachi, pachi? Its mouthparts kept on moving as though it was slurping up a strand of noodle.

"Dumby, throw this guy outside."

Stripey quickly raised its two claws, and, like an obedient henchman, carefully crept out of the cave sideways.

In the past, Da Zi would have rushed out with Stripey to play around. But today, Da Zi simply remained silent on the floor. It lazily rolled its eyes at Stripey and stayed in the cave.

Early the next morning, as the sky was beginning to turn bright, gentle rays of light shone through the gaps between the vines that draped across the entrance of the cave and illuminated the already extinguished campfire.

"Candidate Xiao Nuoyan eliminated. Candidate Xiao Nuoyan eliminated." The repeating announcement echoed across the sky above the forest.

Someone has already been eliminated?

Gao Peng got up from the ground and rubbed his empty stomach.

"Through the tracking device on each candidate, we are able to see their exact location."

On the TV program, the host and his guest were sitting opposite one another.

In front of their screens, the audience gave gasps of surprise.

The guest sitting opposite the host was a young man in his early twenties. He was wearing a tight white shirt, looking youthful and radiant, with a warm smile on his face.

"Hey, that's Duan Wu! Didu's "Dragon in the Clouds" Duan Wu," said someone in surprise. "I thought Duan Wu didn't like to take part in such programs…"

Yangcheng's Pearl River Delta, Modu's Jinling Dragon Convergence, and Yuzhou's Western Capital—currently, these were the three areas where young monster trainer powerhouses gathered within the Huaxia district. In these areas, active monster trainer powerhouses were relatively young, and young people made up most of the population, making the place youthful, vibrant, and attractive to younger monster trainers.

Other than these three areas, Didu was also a place where many strong monster trainers gathered, but Didu's environment was more oppressive and the powerhouses there were usually older. These older monster trainer powerhouses preferred to live quietly within Didu.

"Dragon in the Clouds" Duan Wu was among the few young powerhouses within Didu, and he was of great repute. After becoming famous, Duan Wu's background and past experiences were dug up and made known to all. Born into a family of bureaucrats, his father was a prominent member in the Allied Government. Before the Cataclysm, his hobby was cricket fighting. Apparently, the familiar that brought him to fame was evolved from one of the champion crickets that he had owned.

"We can clearly see that, in order to get the highest number of points, most of the candidates have gone to the center of the forest. The point pillars are basically all situated within the center region of the forest. As of now, the participant with the highest score is… Jun Moyi."

From the footage taken by a drone in the sky, the audience could see a giant black anaconda slithering its way around the trees, killing monsters one by one in brutal fashion.

"The first-place candidate is actually a girl. This is definitely unexpected," said the host, a little surprised. "What do you think about this, Mr. Duan Wu?"

The host intended for Duan Wu to give his analysis on Jun Moyi, who was currently in first place. Though Jun Moyi rarely smiled, she was still a good-looking girl. This would definitely pique the curiosity of the audience.

"Not bad. I believe this species of black snake is a Black Anaconda. This Black Anaconda's scales are full of shine and its body is well-built, so its grade should be rather high as well. It seems to have been raised well. From a battle perspective, this Black Anaconda must have been through frequent battles, as it seems very practiced in combat," said Duan Wu, giving his analysis seriously.

The host was speechless. I'm asking you for your views on the trainer, not the familiar…

Many in the audience couldn't help but laugh. "Dragon in the Clouds" Duan Wu was known to be hopelessly single, and his display today truly lived up to his reputation. He seemed to have a powerful, innate ability to stay single.

"Mr. Duan Wu's analysis is spot on as always. A professional indeed," the host said, smiling.

"Thank you," said Duan Wu calmly as he nodded in thanks.

"Let us now look at the candidate who is currently in last place…"

On the screen, green dots were flashing across the entire Dayang Mountain Forest. Each dot of light represented a candidate's position.

One of the green dots around the periphery was enlarged. It was at the outermost area, almost along the boundary of Dayang Mountain.

"This candidate seems rather cautious. Perhaps he is making some preparations?" the host asked with a smile.

The scene cut to footage from an aerial drone, where on a large rock jutting out from the ground, a teenager was lying down, spread-eagled like a salted fish, staring blankly at the sky. Beside him, a centipede, a spider, and a skeleton were all quietly lying on the open ground, their heads turned toward the sky.

The atmosphere in the broadcasting room suddenly became awkward.

As though uncomfortable in its position, Da Zi flipped over, its thousand claws facing the sky and exposing its white underside. One by one, its yellow claws spread outwards, putting itself in a rather embarrassing position.

In front of their screens, audiences were laughing out loud. Preparations? What kind of preparations was he making? Salted Fish Form 3 – Flipping of the Salted Fish?

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"Ah, lying down like this is really comfy…" Gao Peng said with sigh.

Chichi. Stripey, who had eaten its fill, agreed and burped.

Gao Peng glared at the spider.

"Let's have barbecued spider tonight, shall we?"

Da Zi nodded in agreement.

Stripey got up with a start and looked warily at its master as it slowly crept away.

"This teenager seems to be really Zen," the TV host said with a laugh. "Not competing, not fighting, just focusing on a relaxed attitude toward life. Such a personality is very much like those of teenagers before the Cataclysm."

"This is just laziness," said Duan Wu, who was not known for mincing his words.

The host almost choked in surprise and forced a smile. If this is how you always talk, we probably won't be seeing you next episode…

In front of the television, Uncle Liu was trying to urge Flamy to go outside and exercise. "You're becoming as lazy as a pig. If you keep this up, Little Peng will blame me again for getting his familiars fat."

Flamy rolled its eyes and feigned ignorance.

"Get out and exercise!" Black lines were showing all over Uncle Liu's face. He ordered Softy to chase the fat crane out of the house.

But then an image of Gao Peng popped up on the television screen.

Flamy stopped just as it was about to leave the house. It stared transfixed at its master on the screen, and then, with a long chirp, it flew straight at Gao Peng's image and wrapped its wings around the television.

It stretched out its long beak for a kiss…

Puchi.

Sssss. A surge of electricity shocked Flamy until it went numb. Its body shook for a moment before falling to the ground.

The television set had a huge gaping hole in the screen where it had been pierced by the peck from Flamy's long, sharp beak.

Softy strolled in from the living room and gave the silly, fat crane a despicable look.

Heh, fat crane.

Uncle Liu felt for Flamy. It obviously missed its master, which was why it was displaying such pathetic behavior.

He hoped Little Peng would be back soon.

"The outer areas of the forest shouldn't be too dangerous." Gao Peng said, rubbing his empty belly as he spoke. "Let's go in there."

Dayang Mountain Forest had been a national park before the Cataclysm. The vegetation was dense, and the deeper they went, the denser it became. Thick roots, vines, weeds, and grass covered the ground, making the forest almost impenetrable. Unless a person had giant strides, his foot could easily get stuck in the roots and vines.

Initially, Da Zi used its forcipules as giant scissors to cut open a path for itself, but after a while its mouth got too sore to continue forward. It tried to climb over the obstacles, but such a densely covered mountain terrain was just too difficult for Da Zi's short, little legs.

Dumby couldn't stand to see Da Zi trip and fall, so it bent down and picked it up. Da Zi was so happy that it spun around in the air.

Stripey also came forward, looking at Dumby with expectation in its eyes, but Dumby simply walked on ahead with large strides, ignoring it.

Stripey was such a lazy rascal. The terrain didn't pose much of an issue to its long legs, but riding on Dumby looked like fun and it always wanted to try new experiences.

Deeper into the forest, they came to a white stone pillar that was easily twenty-five feet tall.

"So, is this one of those fabled point pillars?" Gao Peng asked, standing next to it.

[Material Name: White Earth Sandstone

[Material Uses: Can be used on Earth-type and Sand-type monsters. Can be used in small amounts to improve stomach health.

[Other Uses: Has the ability to attract monsters.

On the pillar were two large words written in black ink: POINT PILLAR.

But what troubled Gao Peng was that the pillar was covered with vines.

[Monster Name: Ghost-Wood Vine

[Monster Level: 22 (Commander tier)

[Monster Grade: Normal

[Monster Attribute: Poison/Wood-type

[Monster Weakness: Fire-type

Just like small snakes, the vines draped down from the trees. They looked pretty much like all the other vines that could be seen around the forest.

Is this fella putting on an act in front of me?

Gao Peng thought it was interesting. This Ghost-Wood Vine hadn't moved an inch since he had approached the pillar. It looked exactly like a normal vine that couldn't move or speak. It would even sway gently along with the wind.

Gao Peng's lips curved into a smile.

You like acting, don't you? I'll give you a chance to earn a Golden Horse Award then!

Gao Peng turned around and gathered a large pile of dried leaves and twigs.

"Da Zi, come here," he said.

Da Zi obediently crawled over. Then, under Gao Peng's instructions, sparks began to run all across Da Zi's body. Although Da Zi could now release electricity, this amount of voltage was still rather insufficient if they wanted to electrocute a monster to death. After all, Da Zi's main attribute was poison; electricity was its secondary attribute. But to light a fire, it was more than sufficient.

Balls of electric sparks crackled and exploded, and, in no time at all, Gao Peng set fire to the dried leaves he had gathered. He added a few twigs and the flames grew larger.

Gao Peng paid close attention to the Ghost-Wood Vine as the fire grew and noticed that a few vines seemed to twitch for a moment and then calm down.

Although he could not hear the voice of the Ghost-Wood Vine, Gao Peng could imagine the Ghost-Wood Vine was saying to itself, "He hasn't noticed me, he hasn't noticed me, he definitely hasn't notice me…"

Like an arsonist, Gao Peng continued to add fuel to the fire.

As the flames grew and licked the surrounding trees, the trees diminished in size. After the Cataclysm, trees seemed to have built up a much greater resistance to normal flames. At the very least, flames of this intensity would not be able to cause a forest fire.

The Ghost-Wood Vine was beginning to notice that something was wrong. Why does the fire keep coming this way?

But it forcefully bottled up its unease in its heart. Based on its many years of hunting experience, there was still hope. It had to remain patient! The Ghost-Wood Vine continued to stay in its place as it watched the flames slowly drift toward it.

This feels… rather hot.

The furthest ends of its vines were already burnt and turning brown.

The Ghost-Wood Vine's tentacles twitched momentarily, and then it forced itself to be still! An elite hunter must remain calm.

The flames grew larger and larger. Under Gao Peng's direction, the flames completely surrounded the Ghost-Wood Vine.

The leaves of the vine were being lifted upward by the hot air rising.

Crack!

The flames licked some of the vine's dried leaves, giving of a crackling sound. Then, just like flaming snakes coming from all directions, flames covered the vines.

The Ghost-Wood Vine could hide no longer. No matter how much it had mutated, it was still a vine creature, and such a burning environment made it extremely uncomfortable. If it continued to stay still, it would be burned alive.

As it frantically tried to escape, a thick root broke out from the earth, taking up a large patch of soil with it.

Without a word, Dumby, who had been waiting quietly on the side, took a great leap. As it descended, it reached out with its right arm, grabbed one of the roots of the Ghost-Wood Vine, and yanked it.

With brute force, it pulled the escaping Ghost-Wood Vine back and followed with a vicious swing overhead!

Crash!!!

Multiple sections of vines crashed to the ground, kicking leaves up into the air.

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Chapter 137: First Death

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Just as the Ghost-Wood Vine hit the ground, it sprung back up again. Thick vines jumped out at Dumby like snakes striking at prey.

In the blink of an eye, Dumby was completely wrapped up in vines, looking as though it had transformed into a tree demon.

Each vine crisscrossed and rubbed against each other, trying to crush Dumby into pieces. At the same time, it triangular-shaped leaves ran against Dumby's bones like little blades, giving off a raspy shaaashaaa sound. The leaves of the Ghost-Wood Vine were extremely sharp, each leaf acting like a circular saw.

Normally, when hunting prey, the Ghost-Wood Vine would use its vines to envelop the enemy and then use its sharp, knife-like leaves to lacerate the enemy until it either bled to death or its bones and organs were crushed by the pressure of the constricting vines.

But against Dumby, it seemed both of its killer moves were extremely ineffective.

When the vine leaves cut against Dumby's tough bones, they hardly did anything at all other than create a piercing sound from the friction. In fact, they seemed to be removing all the dust, grime, and stains that were stuck on Dumby's body. It was like polishing an object using sandpaper, and Dumby's bones seemed to be getting shinier by the second!

As the vines wrapped around Dumby's body, they simply slipped through the gaps between the bones. Without any leverage, they had no hope of crushing Dumby to death.

Even so, being tangled up caused Dumby a great deal of frustration.

The blue soul flames in Dumby's eye sockets burned brightly as Dumby grabbed both ends of the Ghost-Wood Vine and pulled it apart with all its might. Despite using his full force, Dumby failed to break the vine. It simply stretched the vine further and further, causing a great deal of pain to the Ghost-Wood Vine.

"Da Zi."

Gao Peng motioned Da Zi to assist Dumby. This was not the time to talk about fair fights.

As Da Zi rushed forward, the Ghost-Wood Vine noticed the danger and tried to escape. But the moment it loosened its hold on Dumby, Dumby caught it and held it out for Da Zi, who went up, opened its forcipules, and clamped them together viciously!

The sharp forcipules were like a giant pair of scissors, giving off a loud snip as they cut the vine in two. The wounds glistened and leaked white fluid.

Da Zi's pitch-black eyes began to show wisps of purple electricity. The wisps coalesced into a thread, which then twisted together to create a dense net of electricity.

The electric net covered the Ghost-Wood Vine, exploding with a piercing, deep boom. The parts of the monster that were touched by the electric net were all charred, leaving a fish-net pattern of black marks.

The Ghost-Wood Vine thrashed about wildly, as though it had been hit in a vital spot. One of the vines whistled through the air before landing with a crack on Da Zi's back, sending the familiar flying backward. Its back carapace concaved slightly, but then slowly returned to normal.

But this was the Ghost-Wood Vine's final struggle. Da Zi rushed back into the fray and cut the vine into multiple pieces, scattering the ground with its fluids.

A Commander tier monster can die so easily?

Gao Peng was a bit shocked. He had not expected such an easy victory.

The result of the battle was Dumby being "polished" and a small dent on Da Zi's carapace. Other than that, no other injuries were sustained.

But then again, thinking about it from a different angle, a Perfect grade familiar and an Excellent grade familiar had joined together to beat up a Normal grade monster. Sustaining any more injuries than that would have been rather pathetic.

After Da Zi finished off the Ghost-Wood Vine, Dumby planted its right foot behind it on the ground and kicked off, charging straight ahead!

In its chest cavity, the large blood-thread heart beat rapidly, releasing an explosive amount of energy. More than it ever had before!

Dong, dong, dong!

The White Earth Sandstone pillar shook violently as Dumby charged forward. On its surface, large cracks appeared from the shaking, and small bits of the material fell to the ground.

Dumby suddenly planted its left foot on the ground, and strands of red thread extended across the entirety of the thick leg bone, tightening and then relaxing.

With the left foot as the pivot, Dumby's body rotated 180 degrees, and it smashed its right fist into the pillar with ferocious speed and power.

Boom!!!

The white sandstone pillar exploded into pieces, crashing into a pile of rubble on the ground. In the center of the rubble was an electronic device that was flashing with a red light. Dumby stomped on it, smashing the device into tiny pieces.

Gao Peng looked down and checked his score: 199 points. Compared to the start of the battle, it had increased 150 points.

Gao Peng wasn't too worried about the points. He wasn't concerned about such things, as he was not such a shallow person to begin with.

"Da Zi, come over here and give me a hand. There must be a monster core crystal within the body of this Ghost-Wood Vine. We need to search properly. That was an intense battle earlier. Who knows where the monster core crystal might have flown off to…"

Nearby, the trees shook, and a jet-black giant scorpion with golden rings across its body crept out of the dense forest.

[Monster Name: Giant Monarch Scorpion

[Monster Level: 21

Sitting atop the giant scorpion was a dark-skinned, well-built teenager with angular features. He had been attracted to the location by the fire earlier, as the column of grey smoke could be seen clearly from miles away. As he arrived, he saw that the battle had already ended and the pillar had already been shattered. He too had destroyed a point pillar, so he already knew what it was.

Alright, seems like I'm too late. No spoils to be taken.

He simply gave Gao Peng a friendly smile and left without any hesitation.

Although it had never been stated during the examination that candidates were not allowed to battle each other, the fact that it had not been stated meant that it was not prohibited.

"This examination does not actually prohibit fighting between the candidates," said the host. "Is that a good or bad thing?"

"It makes it more realistic," Duan Wu answered. "This is not a fighting match; they won't be stepping into a ring for one-on-one fights. The real wilderness is much crueler! It is bloodthirsty!"

In the wilderness, killing and looting were common occurrences. After killing a person, one could simply dump the body anywhere in the wilderness. Without a doubt, not even a scrap of bone would remain by the next day.

It was not like an important base city with cameras installed everywhere; it was a wild land with no rules to protect you. In order to obtain treasures, precious monster parts, or even the young of powerful monsters, murder was actually very common.

"Participant Zhou He eliminated. Participant Zhou He eliminated." The voice rang across the entire Dayang Mountain.

Gao Peng squinted. This was the fourth participant to be eliminated so far. He could predict that the next few days would see the most eliminations.

In another area of the forest, Zhou He was lying on the loose soil. His face was covered in blood stains and his mouth was slightly open. On his forehead was a bloody hole the size of a thumb, which was still leaking fresh blood.

Three personnel wearing blue and white combat suits looked over the body.

"He's already dead," said one of them. They took out a body bag and placed the corpse inside.

Not far from the corpse was a fiery red, Mouse-type familiar lying on the ground. Its already cold body was punctured all over with both large and small wounds.

"What do we do about the familiar?" asked one of the men.

"Let's take it back and give it to the family along with the boy's body."

Vicky_

Vicky_

Chapter 138: Mystery Monster of the Forest

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Silly, come here."

Gao Peng waved Silly over, and Silly drifted to him.

Puchi? Puchi?

The past few days of intense battles had taken its toll on the body and mind of familiar and monster trainer alike.

The forest view might be stunning, with a beautiful sunrise that took his breath away, but Gao Peng was still getting tired of it after spending so many days in it.

He yawned. For the past few days, his main motive had been collecting valuable items.

"A Red-Banded Silverleaf is worth three credits, which is one credit less than a Blue-Light Goldenrain Flower. But the size of a Red-Banded Silverleaf is smaller than a Blue-Light Goldenrain Flower by almost half, so when factoring in the size, the Silverleaf is more valuable," Gao Peng muttered to himself.

He took out a Blue-Light Goldenrain Flower from Silly's personal space dimension and placed two Red-Banded Silverleaves inside.

The thrifty Gao Peng was making careful calculations. Diligent, frugal, and overflowing with passion, he was the standard of an eligible bachelor in this new era.

As he walked ahead through the forest, the sounds of birds and insects suddenly vanished, leaving nothing but the empty sound of the blowing wind.

The quiet, spooky, dark forest seemed to be hiding something horrifying. The trees here were denser, blocking out most of the light from above, and shadows were all around.

The low winds began to carry a faint, foul smell, like that of raw fish being left out to rot in the middle of July.

Crunch.

With each step he took, the crunch of fallen leaves beneath his feet was deafening in the silence of the forest.

Gao Peng furrowed his brows. Something was out there watching him.

"Be careful."

His familiars didn't need Gao Peng's warning. They had already sensed that something was amiss. Da Zi's eyes, normally carefree, were carrying a cautious glint. Silly was obediently sitting atop its master's head with its tentacles gently waving.

Stripey suddenly noticed something and charged at a bush, shouting.

Chi!

Rustle, rustle.

In the direction of Stripey's charge, a bush shook a little, and out hopped a white rabbit, fleeing as quickly as its legs would allow it.

Seeing that it was just a rabbit, the familiars relaxed a little. But then a pitch-black blur shot out from the bush behind the rabbit and struck it like a snake striking its prey.

A long, thin insect limb had pierced through the back of the rabbit's brain and out through its forehead. The limb was white in color, with bluish-purple discolorations like those on a corpse. Red blood trickled drop by drop from the brows of the rabbit.

The long limb came from deep within the bushes. Just the exposed area of the limb was at least fifteen feet long.

On the surface of the limb were rings that separated it into multiple segments, like a growing bamboo plant showing the signs of growth.

Schloo.

This bamboo-like limb retracted, disappearing into the depths of the bush, and the rabbit fell flat on the ground with a twitch.

In the middle of the rabbit's forehead was a bloody hole roughly the thickness of a thumb. Fresh blood trickled out.

Just from a segment of the limb, Gao Peng was unable to see the monster's attributes. He would have to see at least four-fifths of the entire monster before he could do so.

The forest once again fell into a deathly silence.

Gao Peng squinted and then let out a laugh. He had seen plenty of movies where characters in similarly horrifying situations would act like idiots, insisting on proceeding headfirst even when it was clear that danger was up ahead.

There was more than one path to take, so why gamble with his life? This was an easy choice to make.

Facing the direction of the monster, Gao Peng slowly backed away, saying, "Let's go back the way we came."

He and his familiars slowly retreated, never taking their eyes off the direction of the monster.

As they left that patch of forest, the monster in the depths began to follow.

The air suddenly brought a gust of cold, foul-smelling wind, causing the leaves around them to rustle violently.

It seemed as though Gao Peng's unusual way of approaching the situation had piqued the curiosity of the monster in the forest, drawing it out.

Gao Peng began backing toward a wide clearing with a pond in the middle. Along the forest edge, they could see two long, white claws slinking their way forward. From behind the trees, they could feel the monster's gaze on them.

Gao Peng sighed to himself. His familiars still lacked a means of long-range offense. Otherwise they could simply attack from afar. Even if such attacks weren't very damaging, they would at least be able to see the entire monster and make out its attributes and weaknesses. Then they wouldn't have to take such a passive approach.

Gao Peng and his company were mere steps from the clearing.

All of a sudden, one of the monster's slender limbs pierced out from within the woods in a blur.

The speed kept increasing, and the limb kept on stretching.

In the blink of an eye, it had covered dozens of feet in one burst.

Dumby side-stepped to its left into the path of the strike, but the limb passed right through the gaps in Dumby's body…

And it struck Gao Peng dead center in the chest, sending him flying backward.

A fraction of a second before impact, Gao Peng felt a strange ripple slither across him, which then extended outward toward Da Zi's body.

Gao Peng grunted as he hit the ground, bringing his hands up to his chest to find it still in one piece. He looked looked over at Da Zi and saw that a hole had been punched into its carapace, leaving a depression that was shaped like a swirl. It almost pierced right through Da Zi's abdomen!

Gao Peng had activated Shifting Constellations in the nick of time to absorb the blow, saving him and Da Zi.

Dumby was dumbstruck. It looked down at its empty and fleshless body and scratched its bald head.

Gao Peng was shocked to the core. He had not expected the monster to be able to launch an attack from such a long distance! He and the monster had been at least a hundred feet apart!

The monster couldn't possibly be that big. Most likely it had the ability to extend its limbs. Otherwise the patch of forest would not have been able to hide a body that huge.

Inside the Monster Trainer College Entrance Examination Special Ops Unit Headquarters, a person said in a severe tone, "This Corpse Mutation Dream Stick Insect has already killed one candidate. It knows that the trainer has a weaker defense than the familiars and that it should attack the trainer first."

"Are any of our operatives nearby?" asked the Special Ops Captain.

"White Rose is currently five kilometers from the target location. She is flying there now."

"Good. One person has already died at the hands of this monster. If more fatalities occur…" The Special Ops Captain had a headache.

"Don't you think those guys are crazy? 'Be prepared for the possibility of deaths,' they said. 'It's for the training of our cadets."We hope for a more realistic experience.'"

"Now that someone has actually died, they are more anxious than anyone else," the Captain said, his headache worsening.

"Captain, haven't they always been like this? This isn't the first time," mused one of the members of the team.

The captain let out a long sigh. "Let's hope this candidate can hold out until White Rose reaches him."

Far away, a black and white giant albatross was soaring through the sky. On its chest was a white rose, adding a hint of beauty to its appearance. On the back of the albatross rode a short-haired girl. What left the deepest impression were her eyes, which were narrow and sharp.

"Retreat!" Gao Peng ordered, coughing as he hugged his chest.

Dumby turned around and grabbed its master and Da Zi before making a run for it.

Stripey turned towards the monster's direction and shot out a few balls of white spider silk before also turning and fleeing.

"This guy is pretty clever!" said the Special Ops Captain's as his eyes lit up. He had expected the little guy to try to fight it out with the monster. Thank goodness he knew better and retreated.

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Chapter 139: Intense Battle

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Under the instructions of the Special Ops Unit, all of the screens displaying the area Gao Peng was in were locked.

Because Gao Peng had only exhibited his Shifting Constellations ability and had not yet used his Elemental Barrier skill, others were led to believe that Gao Peng had already used his sole survival ability.

"But captain, this guy… Isn't he behaving a bit too cowardly?" asked a large bald male in the room.

"Zhou Lei, this isn't cowardice! It is strategy!" the captain said seriously. "Knowing when to advance or retreat, understanding when to give and when to take, that is the most important factor for a successful individual! Every great general has lost a battle. Even if he were to think that he's invincible, he would eventually lose because of his own arrogance."

Looking at the seriousness of the captain, the others in the room were amazed. It was the first time that they had seen him being so stern. It seemed as though he had a story of his own…

Dumby's retreat seemed to have triggered the monster in the woods. It was unable to contain its impatience anymore, and it charged out from the trees!

It looked like a stick insect that had ballooned to ten thousand times its original size.

Before the Cataclysm, the record for the world's longest stick insect had belonged to the Giant Huaxia Stick Insect. Back then, it's length could reach over two feet, the length of a grown man's arm. Out of over 80,000 insect species discovered by humans, it had been the longest insect ever recorded.

Of course, with so many species of stick insects within Huaxia, it was impossible to say whether this stick insect had evolved from the Giant Huaxia Stick Insect.

[Monster Name: Dream Stick Insect (Corpse-type Mutation)

[Monster Level: 35

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Ability: Body Hardening Lv2

[Monster Attribute: 1. Wood-type 2. Corpse-type

[Monster Weakness: 1. Fire-type 2. Metal-type 3. Within the center region of its abdomen, there is a white spot the size of a grain of rice. Attacking this white spot can cause fatal damage to the Dream Stick Insect.

As the Dream Stick Insect charged out of the woods, Gao Peng saw that it was over 40 feet long. Every one of its limbs was at least 20 feet long, and each stride covered a huge distance.

Looking at the monster's level and grade, Gao Peng immediately abandoned any thought of fighting it out with the Dream Stick Insect.

So what if he knew its weakness? How was he to find a white spot the size of a grain of rice on such a large body? Ignoring the fact that the location of its weak points was a problem, the Dream Stick Insect would not be stupid enough to let anyone slowly search for its weak point anyway.

Seeing its prey about to get away, the Dream Stick Insect let out an angry low squeal. With his very own eyes, Gao Peng saw the monster stop and raise one of its limbs, which then shot out like a spear. Just like a spring, it extended forward madly. Rows of the rings along its limb were stretched apart, and the bamboo-like ring patterns made a kacha sound as they reached full extension.

The pitch-black afterimage came from behind and pierced through one of Stripey's legs. The spot that was hit broke off with a snapping sound. Stripey let out a wail as it rolled onto the ground, just like a racecar losing one of its wheels while speeding around the track. Stripey continued to roll and flip on the ground before finally crashing into a large tree with a loud bang, the impact shaking the leaves from the tree.

Stripey got up and wailed to its master, "Run, master, run!"

Then, missing a leg, Stripey turned around and glared fiercely at the fast approaching Dream Stick Insect, opening its mouth and raising its spider claws high overhead in a menacing stance.

The corners of Gao Peng's eyes twitched. He suddenly patted Dumby's bald head.

"We're not running anymore, we finish it off today!" he yelled.

As soon as Gao Peng opened his mouth, Dumby let out a roar. Planting its right foot vigorously on the ground, it turned its body 180 degrees and placed Gao Peng down on the ground with his left hand. Then, Dumby charged towards the Dream Stick Insect like a high-horsepower racecar. Each step covered dozens of feet, and a gust of wind was created from its charge, sweeping up a giant wave of leaves right behind Dumby.

"Its abdomen has a white spot the size of a grain of rice. That is its weak spot." Although he knew it was hard to find, Gao Peng still informed Dumby and the rest of his familiars about this weak spot through their Blood Contract.

Dumby raised its left hand high in the air. Its five white bone fingers opened and then clenched into a fist, a signal of determination!

Floating above Gao Peng's shoulder, Silly also raised two of its tentacles, curling the ends into balls, just like two little clenched fists.

Dumby's heart thundered within its chest cavity, beating madly!!!

Dumby seemed to have totally unleashed its savage nature. Leaping high into the air, a fist with overwhelming power came crashing down on the Dream Stick Insect.

The Dream Stick Insect let out a low screech and raised a bamboo-like limb that shot out upward.

Ssssuuuuu——

The long limb went into the middle of Dumby's empty body and straight out the other end.

The Dream Stick Insect was stunned. Before it even had the chance to react, out of the sky came a fist the size of a sandbag!

Boom!!!

The fist struck a blow that left the Dream Stick Insect seeing stars. It stumbled, almost falling over.

The dazed Dream Stick Insect raised its limb. Although it had passed through Dumby's empty chest cavity, the limb was like a wooden skewer sticking through Dumby's body. As it was raised, Dumby could also be raised along with it. This discovery excited the Dream Stick Insect.

It flung its limb outward in an attempt to fling Dumby away.

But it had underestimated Dumby's weight. The move did nothing to shake Dumby off. It simply stayed firmly where it stood.

Bang!

With a left uppercut, Dumby landed another blow on the Dream Stick Insect's head.

The stick insect was stunned. Its mouthpiece opened, giving a furious hiss. It spun around madly on the spot, each of its limbs wildly stabbing outward. One by one, large tree trunks were being pierced through, sending a tornado of wooden debris flying into the air.

Gao Peng had not expected the battle to develop in this manner. It was rather dramatic.

It seemed as though Dumby was a natural counter to the Dream Stick Insect, not in terms of attributes, but in terms of monster type. The Dream Stick Insect's main method of attack was to use its extendable, spear-like limbs to impale enemies. But against a monster like Dumby with no flesh and blood, it would have a hard time.

"Go Dumby! You counter it! You can beat it!" Gao Peng encouraged Dumby from the bottom of his heart.

For some strange reason, Dumby felt a chill run down its spine. Its bones were rattling with a "clack clack clack" sound.

It was most likely that the Dream Stick Insect had never encountered an opponent with such an unreasonable body constitution before. But it quickly recovered its composure. It shot its free limbs at Dumby's head, ignoring Dumby's torso this time. It seemed to have realized that attacking that area of a skeleton like Dumby dealt little damage.

Although Dumby tried its best to evade, one of the limbs struck its head, making a small cavity on its tough skull. Small cracks began to spread out like a web from the damaged area.

But Da Zi had already taken the opportunity to charge forward, leaping straight at the Dream Stick Insect's abdomen, sneakily trying to find the white spot that Gao Peng had informed them of.

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Chapter 140: Joint Attack

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The Dream Stick Insect suddenly felt a chill along its abdomen. A centipede was viciously crawling to and fro under its belly.

While searching everywhere it could for the white spot, Da Zi suddenly froze. An insect limb flashed right in front of its eyes, narrowly missing its head, and pierced through the soil in front of him, making a loud shaaa sound.

Da Zi almost jumped out of its skin, looking fearfully at the limb in front of its face. It had shot out of nowhere!

Da Zi looked at it carefully, and then cautiously took two steps back. The Dream Stick Insect was now stabbing the ground with its limbs in a frenzy. Da Zi needed to be careful with its own position, or it could very well be impaled.

Da Zi twisted its body and made its way through the stick insect's limbs like a slippery, agile fish. Its two pitch-black eyeballs rolled around in its sockets, trying to find the small white spot.

Where is it? Where is it?

Da Zi was searching for it madly. Its vision was not great to begin with, and the high speed at which the Dream Stick Insect was moving made its body look even blurrier. It was making Da Zi dizzy.

At the same time, Dumby was also in a difficult situation. Because its body had one of the Dream Stick Insect's limbs going through it, Dumby was stuck less than a foot from the Dream Stick Insect's head.

It wasn't possible for Dumby to retreat and shake off that limb, but Dumby wouldn't dare retreat anyway. Doing so would only make it easier for the Dream Stick Insect to attack.

Clang——

One of the insect's spear-like limbs came thrusting from right above Dumby's head, striking Dumby's shoulder with a loud, metallic sound.

Dumby's shoulder drooped slightly, and there was a chip in the area that had been struck.

Da Zi, who was right under the Dream Stick Insect, froze in its tracks. The waving antennae on its head suddenly stopped and its eyes were transfixed on a certain spot on the Dream Stick Insect's abdomen.

Found it! Finally found it!

But in the next moment, Da Zi realized something truly awkward. It could not reach the spot.

Although Da Zi had many legs, they were all short legs. Also, who had ever heard of a jumping centipede? Being able to jump just a foot into the air was the result of Da Zi's full effort. But it had to try.

Da Zi jumped with all its might, going up a foot into the air, and then landed with a flop on the ground.

The Dream Stick Insect was stomping madly on the ground, and as Da Zi landed, one of its limbs pierced Da Zi.

The surface of Da Zi's purple carapace exploded with the shrill, screeching sound of clashing metal. Sparks flew out, and the part that was hit was caved in with the pattern of a swirl.

Puchi!

Da Zi rolled up and screamed in agony. It was as though it had been nailed to the ground.

Gao Peng's chest suddenly tightened up. No matter how many familiars he had, his bond with Da Zi, who had followed him right from the start, was the deepest and the hardest to let go of. Da Zi had been his first familiar, after all.

Seeing that it had managed to step on the little centipede, the Dream Stick Insect held it down with its limb. A savage expression flashed across its eyes, carrying along with it the hint of unimaginable cruelty.

The Dream Stick Insect raised another limb, aiming straight at Da Zi's squirming head.

Dumby's soul flames burst into a frenzy in its eye sockets. An indescribable feeling of anger exploded from its heart.

In these few months of interacting with Da Zi, Stripey, and Silly, Dumby had come to see them as close friends. Even though Da Zi often got jealous of Dumby, even though Stripey was really timid, even though Silly was truly silly… Dumby truly saw them as friends.

Dumby opened its mouth wide, its sharp canines flashing with a cold glint, and chomped down on the Dream Stick Insect's head with all its might!

The Dream Stick Insect's limb had only descended halfway before it stopped in mid-air and jerked up again in pain and fright.

Sssss!

Dumby had bitten right into one of its eyes, crushing it completely, and fluids were dripping everywhere.

The pain was impossible to describe.

The Dream Stick Insect could no longer afford to be concerned by the little centipede beneath it. Jerking in pain, the Dream Stick Insect finally managed to fling Dumby away with its skewered limb.

Green fluids were spurting out of the broken eyeball.

"Da Zi, come back," Gao Peng ordered.

But Da Zi acted as though it didn't hear and kept staring at the white spot on the center of the Dream Stick Insect's abdomen.

Gao Peng could feel Da Zi's strong yearning for vengeance, and this feeling was directed straight at the Dream Stick Insect that had just hurt it.

The Dream Stick Insect, having a broken eyeball with blood flowing everywhere, looked to be in a pitiful state, but in reality, other than its eye, it had not sustained any major injuries. Its combat ability was still at a very high level.

But on Gao Peng's side, both Stripey and Da Zi had sustained major injuries.

Da Zi suddenly opened its mouth wide, and its surface erupted with purple arcs of electricity. The arcs condensed into threads, and then converged into a purple thunderbolt, shooting outward!

Bang!

The air exploded with a crackling sound as the arcs of electricity flew dozens of feet into the air, like a purple, snake-shaped sword stabbing upward.

Gao Peng's eyes widened. He stared transfixed at the thunderbolt, holding his breath.

The thunderbolt struck true. At such a short distance, with such a sudden attack, the Dream Stick Insect had no time to evade.

The moment its brain registered the sound of thunder exploding, it also felt a sharp pain spreading from its abdomen.

The thunderbolt had struck a mere foot from the small white spot, charring the Dream Stick Insect's abdomen and turning it pitch black, just like a tree struck by lightning.

The Dream Stick Insect immediately leapt backward and turned its head around, glaring at Da Zi with its remaining eye.

Tension filled the air of the forest.

Da Zi displayed no signs of weakness. It glared back fiercely at the Dream Stick Insect, arching its body like a large bow, ready to strike.

Life and death are trivial. When it comes down to it, one must fight!

Dumby circled around from the side. Dumby bent its body low, hunching over like an ape. Its hands dug into the soil beneath it, and its Blood Thread Heart beat strongly in its chest cavity.

"If I'm not wrong, those two familiars are both Commander tier," said a member of the Special Ops Unit in surprise.

"To be able to own two Commander tier familiars at this stage is quite rare."

"But hoping to defeat that Dream Stick Insect with those two Commander tier familiars is still too difficult," the captain said, shaking his head.

"Captain, White Rose has almost reached the target location. She is asking if she should kill the Dream Stick Insect right away or standby and observe the situation."

The captain frowned. Based on the initial instructions, they were not allowed to interfere. But now that a participant had died, the higher-ups were getting nervous.

He let out a long sigh.

"Tell White Rose that she is to immediately finish off the Dream Stick Insect."

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Read Monster Pet Evolution Chapter 141 - Skin Shedding online for free - AllNovelFull

The white albatross dove down from the sky as if it had received an order.

It riled up a storm that shook the trees as it descended on the Dream Stick Insect, its dark, elongated shadow stretching before it.

Gao Peng raised his head and saw its white-colored afterimage fall from the sky, leaving phantom traces in the sky.

The Dream Stick Insect cowered on the ground and shrieked in surprise, several of its spear-like limbs rising into the air.

The wind whistled as it formed a white barrier that covered the surface of the albatross's wings like a shield. The pressure from the wind forced the Dream Stick Insect to retreat several steps.

The Dream Stick Insect shot its spear-like limbs at the albatross, but the giant bird somersaulted in midair, skillfully dodging the spear-like limbs before instantly landing behind the Dream Stick Insect.

Dark claws as hard as steel caught hold of the Dream Stick Insect, splinters bursting from the surface of its body as the claws dug in.

With a powerful flap of its wings, the white albatross dashed quickly into the air, pulling the Dream Stick Insect up with it. The Dream Stick Insect struggled in the giant albatross's grasp, but it was no use.

The bird soared higher and higher, and in the blink of an eye, it disappeared from view with the Dream Stick Insect still in its grasp.

It flew away just like that?

Gao Peng was left speechless.

Da Zi and Dumby, still in their offensive stances, were also dumbfounded. As they relaxed, they looked at each other and winked awkwardly. That had been a tough fight.

The Dream Stick Insect, which they had treated seriously as a life or death battle, was taken away by a Level 38 Light Albatross just like that.

Gao Peng was still in shock. Had he seen the shadow of a person seated on the back of that Light Albatross?

Gao Peng snapped out of it and gathered his familiars to check on them.

He touched the wound on Da Zi's back with a pain in his heart. The wound had started to heal, and the blood had stopped flowing, but he could still vaguely see the white-colored tender flesh through the wound. It looked like the meat of a fish.

One of Stripey's legs was torn apart, and the spider had remained in the same place throughout the battle, the poor thing. The savagery and viciousness it had displayed in the face of certain death was now nowhere to be seen.

Although Stripey had gone from being an eight-legged spider to a seven-legged spider, the problem was not serious. To a spider, losing a leg was not a permanent disability. By the time it shed its skin the next time, its severed leg would have regenerated, though it would be slightly smaller than the rest of the legs. After another two skin-sheddings, the regenerated limb would be no different from its other legs.

This was true of a normal spider even before the Cataclysm. Striper's regenerative ability would be even more effective. Perhaps it would only need to shed its skin once to completely regrow its new spider leg.

But until Stripey shed its skin, its movement would be slightly affected.

Stripey suddenly hobbled over and picked up its severed leg from the ground. It lifted it up and stared at it without moving a muscle, as if reminiscing.

Da Zi crawled over and circled Stripey.

Stripey lifted its limbs and scratched its head in confusion. It didn't know what Da Zi wanted.

Finally, Da Zi stopped in front of Stripey and stared directly at the severed leg Stripey held in its hands, drooling.

All eight of Stripey's eyes widened at the same time. I treat you as my big brother. How could you harbor such thoughts?!

Stripey squeaked in anger.

Da Zi shook its head and raised its claws clumsily in an attempt to point at the wound on its back. But Da Zi's limbs were so short that it couldn't point at its back, and the awkward motion made Da Zi stumble and fall on the ground.

It got back up in a daze and shook its head. Da Zi crept over to Dumby and said something to the skeleton. Dumby seemed confused at first, but then it understood the message. It extended its right hand and pointed towards the injury on Da Zi's back.

Da Zi nodded happily and continued shaking its head to Stripey in an attempt to claim credit.

Stripey saw the wound on its big brother's back and fell silent. Big bro had risked its life to avenge it and even got injured, so was it totally unreasonable to award big brother with its severed limb?

Da Zi glanced toward Gao Peng guiltily. To prevent its master from comprehending what it had said, it had used a complicated beast language to communicate.

Gao Peng thought it was quite funny. Although he did not understand beast language, he still understood sign language.

Ever since these familiars had begun watching the TV show "Square Babies" every day, they were becoming more humanized by the day. They even knew how to use sign language now!

As for Stripey's decision about whether to give the severed limb to Da Zi, Gao Peng was not interested in becoming involved. He was only thinking about how they should proceed from there. Should they continue exploring further, or should they strategically move outward?

They had already encountered a Level 35 Dream Stick Insect this far into the forest. Although Gao Peng knew that it was a low-probability event, it still made him a little scared.

Now that Da Zi and Stripey were both injured, if they encountered some other monsters what would he do?

For things like points, Gao Peng, would only try his best within the range of his abilities.

"Let's go. We should first find some food for Stripey. We'll decide what to do next once it's shed its skin and regenerated its leg," Gao Peng said decisively.

The familiars had no objections.

That night, through the shining moonlight, a bonfire lit up in the forest. Beside the bonfire lay the corpse of a Roaring Wind Mountain Beast. It was the original master of the forest, but now it had become the food for one man and four beasts.

Stripey inserted its mouthparts into the beast's body and then crouched beside the corpse and watched it dissolve into a thick liquid in silence. Stripey then moved forward in excitement and devoured the food. The Commander tier Roaring Wind Mountain Beast had two attributes, wind and earth, and its body was filled with vibrant energy.

Stripey sprawled on the ground beside the bonfire after devouring its food and closed its eyes. Its skin began to harden.

Gao Peng saw it clearly. After this skin-shedding process, Stripey would increase its level to 20.

Initially, Gao Peng had wanted to develop Stripey into a meat shield. Unfortunately, he hadn't had enough time to train it. Its level was only 19 at the moment. At that level, while still good, Stripey's defense wasn't strong enough to defend against a Commander tier monster.

The skin on Stripey's body continued to harden. It was like it had developed a layer of scab. Although the color deepened, it lost its shine.

Da Zi had long ago fallen asleep on the side, while Dumby stood in place and remained vigilant as a sentry. Dumby did not need to fall into deep sleep to rest. As the beating of its Blood-Thread Heart slowed down, it could maintain a pseudo sleep state while remaining vigilant to the slightest fluctuation of the surrounding air. If a monster with a heartbeat appeared in the vicinity, it would attract Dumby's attention.

The night went by without a single word spoken.

The following day, Stripey had already become a dark grey scab shell. Suddenly, a crack appeared on the surface of the shell, and a shiny, black limb poked through the crack. An all-new, eight-legged Stripey emerged from within the shell!

Its level also leapt directly to 20. It was now only one step away from Commander tier!

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Chapter 142: The Performance of the Young Monster Trainers

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Stripey touched its newly grown limb amusingly, moving it around a little and seeing that there was nothing wrong with it.

My regenerative ability is amazing! thought Stripey.

It raised its two front limbs as if raising two shields high up in the air and started walking horizontally into the forest in a lawless manner, hitting things left and right. It occasionally clapped its claws together, making clunking sounds.

Stripey's grade requirements had been fulfilled long ago. Now that it also met its level requirement, if luck were on its side, it would evolve into a Commander tier familiar within the few days. Then Gao Peng would be the owner of three Commander tier familiars! And since Stripey was a defender and controller, it would certainly make up for the shortcomings of the team.

The injury on Da Zi's back had also recovered significantly; the wound was now only as thin as a single chopstick.

"Candidate Pan Feng eliminated. Candidate Pan Feng eliminated." The sound reverberated in the air.

Yet another one down. Gao Peng sighed. That was the fourth or fifth of the day already.

It was just as Gao Peng had expected. Today would be the peak of elimination.

By now, the total number of eliminated candidates had reached 20 to 30.

On the TV program, the host of the show had become very awkward. He followed the instruction of the channel director and praised the candidates as much as he could, but it was easier said than done…

"These young monster trainers are doing their best," the host said, maintaining his professional smile. "After all, this is the Dayang Mountain Forest. There are a lot of monsters here, and it is filled with dangers. These candidates were still only high school students not so long ago. To suddenly come into such an environment… It is normal if they can't adapt."

"If there is no emergency signal, then these candidates were not just eliminated. They died." Duan Wu shook his head. "In my opinion, these students are still too naïve. They need to train more."

The host's headache had worsened to a toothache. Why is this guy still on my program?

Although Duan Wu's words were hard to stomach, they were spot on.

Originally, the show had been intended as an inspirational program. The second round of the Monster Trainer College Entrance Examination was broadcast live not just in the Huaxia region, but throughout the entire world.

However, the performance of these monster trainers put the senior officials of the World Alliance Government in a very awkward position.

The elimination rate was extremely high, and the candidates' performance during this second round of the exam was absolute rubbish, especially that of the candidates who were eliminated due to basic knowledge errors. The newbie, Little Bai, had seemed speechless when he had been eliminated. His expression was even turned into an emoticon pack that became widely used on the internet.

The terrible performance received negative reviews and boos from the initially expectant viewers. As the saying goes, "the higher the expectation, the bigger the disappointment." The taunts and ridicule online grew worse and louder.

"This time, it's our mistake. Having a good performance on stage was not a guarantee that they would perform well in practice in the forest," a five-star general said with a frown.

Seven individuals, including the leaders of multiple top areas of government, sat inside a dimly lit room.

"The reviews these monster trainers have received so far are bad. I fear they have already become a joke," said a white elder with blue eyes, smiling. "However, one might say that this is a good thing. As long as they can endure the rumors and gossip, it will prove to be beneficial to their growth in the long run."

"In the long run, it is beneficial. But don't forget that the point of the upcoming Alliance's Strongest Youth Monster Trainer General Assembly is to observe the performance of these monster trainers. Their current performance is far from sufficient to make people believe in the quality of the General Assembly. Thi is downright disastrous," a suited black elder said with a hoarse voice.

The meeting room fell into silence.

"Perhaps we can delay the date of the Youth Monster Trainer General Assembly? Give them three months of buffer time. Perhaps this year's Alliance's Strongest Youth Monster Trainer General Assembly should not restrict participation either. As long as an individual is below 20 years old, he or she will be eligible to participate in the General Assembly," one of the leaders suggested.

"Below 20 years old, huh?"

"Those below 20 years old are still considered youth; those who are above 20 years old should be considered middle-aged already," another leader said jokingly.

"A three-month delay, huh? That could work. I hope that we can see them grow and improve during these three months."

After a brief moment of silence, the black elder agreed, saying, "That should be alright. Let's give these kids more time to prepare."

After that, four agreed, one abstained from voting, and two voted against the measure.

"The measure passes," the white elder said with a smile. "We'll give them three more months to grow."

"If in the three months some of the kids turn 20 years old, what's the operating procedure? Do we take away their right to participate?" The black elder asked.

"Then we'll move the age limit to 20 years and three months," another leader suggested.

That measure was passed with a vote of six for and one against.

"Preposterous… You're all simply ridiculous!" The five-star general laughed anxiously. He never would have thought that such ridiculous suggestions originating from casual chats would be passed into law so simply. These politicians seemed to have no moral integrity.

"Don't be so stubborn," the black elder said and then laughed heartily. A rare glimpse of mischief emerged.

Each and every one of them started laughing like children with no moral integrity.

"See? To get the highest score, we just need to survive the longest," Gao Peng lectured to Dumby, Da Zi, and the others while listening to the elimination announcement that reverberated in the air.

The familiars looked at their master without shifting their attention. Although they did not understand what Gao Peng was saying, they still nodded in respect to their master.

While most of the point pillars were located in the middle of the forest, a small number of point pillars were still scattered around the periphery of the forest, so Gao Peng was focusing on finding them. Gao Peng found and destroyed one while exploring along the outer edge of the forest.

Although his score did not increase exponentially, it was growing steadily. Gao Peng felt satisfied. As long as he survived to the end of the competition, his points would be pretty high.

The narrow road along the mountain was lined with big trees that had mottled bark that looked like ravines. As Gao Peng walked along the green, rocky road, he took a deep breath and reveled in the fresh air.

The scenery of Dayang Mountain was indeed amazing, and the air quality was good too. The only downside was that murderous monsters were hidden within the beautiful scenery.

Gao Peng's group came upon the sound of a flowing stream, accompanied by a vague croaking sound that rumbled like thunder.

Gao Peng walked over to investigate and discovered a misty stream flowing down from the depths of the mountain forest.

Rugged boulders sat on both sides of the stream, and atop the boulders sat multiple dustpan-sized blue frogs with watermelon-like patterned skin. Other frogs could be seen swimming in the stream.

Gao Peng started at them curiously.

Why do these frogs look so familiar?

Their white bellies occasionally expanded, and loud croaking sounds came from their throats.

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Croak. One of the frogs moved its body and looked at Gao Peng.

[Monster Name: Blue-Skinned Frog

[Monster Level: Level 8

[Monster Grade: Normal

[Monster Condition: Healthy (Happy)

[Monster Hobby: Sunbathing in peace

[Monster Weakness: 1. Electric; 2. Hates noise.

This must be the cousin of the Green-Skinned Frog…

Whether it was their similar names or their similar appearance, Gap Peng had no doubt that these two types of monsters were related. However, these Blue-Skinned Frogs were much better than the Green-Skinned Frogs, personality wise. At least they didn't seem to enjoy spitting at other creatures.

Pui. The Blue-Skinned Frog closest to Gao Peng spit at him.

Gao Peng quickly raised his right leg to dodge the spit. He was speechless as he stared at the Blue-Skinned Frog sitting on the moss-covered boulder.

I guess I spoke too soon…

The eyes of the Blue-Skinned Frog narrowed into two moon shape, and it croaked in excitement. The other frogs also began to croak in joy as they saw the situation.

Gao Peng was speechless.

Why had the data frame not indicated this disgusting hobby of theirs? Had the bad habit of spitting also become part of the nature of the Blue-Skinned Frogs?

He never would have thought that the Blue-Skinned Frogs in the Jiangnan area were even more mischievous than the Green-Skinned Frogs in Chang'an.

There were over a thousand Blue-Skinned Frogs along the stream, and Gao Peng was not at all interested in dealing with them.

Gao Peng went deeper into the dense forest, across the stream, and the air became even more humid.

"Let's go a little bit further and check it out," Gao Peng said with uncertainty. There was probably no point pillar in a humid place like this, but he wouldn't know for certain unless he checked. And since he was already there, it didn't make sense for him to go back the way he had come.

Suddenly, a Blue-Skinned Frog dashed out from a bush. It had dirt and mud smeared across its body, looking like some savage outcast that had been left behind by its Blue-Skinned Frog clan.

The frog sat on the ground and looked dumbly at Gao Peng with wide eyes. It was actually pretty cute.

Gao Peng frowned. There was something odd on the Blue-Skinned Frog's back…

Vines appeared from beneath its skin. Multiple strands of blue and green roots and vines poked out of its skin before slithering beneath the skin again to hide. It looked as though snakes were moving beneath the smooth, shiny skin of the frog.

A few vines were still exposed, and they were absorbing the moisture, minerals, and nutrition from the air. Above the vines were several green leaves. They seemed to be a type of fern.

Gao Peng locked gaze with the Blue-Skinned Frog. He could not detect any emotion in its eyes. They were as empty as the eyes of a doll left in a cupboard.

Gao Peng suddenly thought about Bulbasaur from Pokémon, which also had plants growing out of its back, but it wasn't quite the same thing.

After looking at Gao Peng for a minute, the Blue-Skinned Frog leapt away and returned to the depths of the forest.

Gao Peng frowned and said to Dumby, "Let's follow it."

After entering the dense forest, the scene within tightened Gao Peng's chest.

It was a wide and empty area, and the ground was filled with a myriad of monsters. None of the monsters had high levels, the highest was only a Level 18, Normal Grade, Yellow-Spotted Black-Eared Wolf.

But there was no denying the vast number of them. There were at least 70 or 80 monsters in the empty space, both large and small. The largest was as big as a sedan, while the smallest was only as big as a watermelon.

However, these monsters had two similarities: One, all of them stood quietly in place, the only proof that they were alive being their slow breathing. Two, each and every monster had ferns growing out of its back or some other part of its body, the plant's light-green roots puncturing into the blood vessels.

Parasites!

It was clearly a type of parasite.

Gao Peng looked around in full alert. He was initially prepared to retreat, but in the middle of the empty space stood a sandy white rock column.

There were weak and strong parasites, but the more critical factor was whether the monster they fed on was strong or not. Although there were a lot of monsters there, their quality was not very high, so Gao Peng and his familiars still had a chance.

Based on the experience of the human species fighting all kinds of monsters the past few years, when faced against parasitic monsters, the priority was to find the original body of the parasite and destroy it. That was basically enough to diminish at least half of the combat ability of the parasite. The original body of the parasite would normally have weak combat strength, as the parasite mainly relied on the combat ability of its host, which would retain its original skills and abilities, to ensure its survival.

From a certain viewpoint, they were similar to monster trainers.

The Yellow-Spotted Black-Eared Wolf slowly got up and howled. It stared at Gao Peng without any emotion. As it walked over slowly, all of the other monsters on that empty piece of land also began to move closer.

All of them stared at Gao Peng's group without any emotion, exerting threatening sounds from their mouth.

Above the footsteps and low, hoarse growls of the surrounding monsters, Gao Peng heard a rustling of leaves within the forest, as if a gust of wind were blowing toward them.

Gao Peng thought it was funny. He was initially worried that the parasitic monster would have some backup plan, but as he saw the instinctive behavior of the hosts, Gao Peng deduced that the original body of the parasite was fairly weak. Otherwise, it would not have behaved that way.

After all, if a predator were hunting, would it voluntarily expose its existence and risk scaring away its prey?

Only if it felt threatened or was in an uncertain situation would it behave this way.

"Found it!" Gao Peng shouted, looking toward the direction of the rustling leaves. It was a dense shrub, and beside the shrub were ferns that looked like centipedes on the ground. It looked like a kidney fern, which was also sometimes called centipede grass.

[Monster Name: Blue Iron Kidney Fern

[Monster Level: Level 21

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Attribute: Parasitic

[Monster Weakness: Fire

"Da Zi, destroy that plant!" Gao Peng told Da Zi.

Da Zi nodded vigorously and quickly rushed toward the Blue Iron Kidney Fern.

The monsters suddenly dashed towards Da Zi as if they had gone crazy.

"Dumby, block them! Help Da Zi gain some time."

Dumby nodded. He picked up a huge boulder that was at its feet and heaved it at the charging monsters. The Yellow-Spotted Black-Eared Wolf, at the front of the pack, did not have enough time to dodge the incoming boulder and was hit directly on its head. It fell to the ground with a poof as blood exploded from its head.

Dumby roared in anger as it rushed forward. It snatched up a cobra-like monster in its left hand and a worm-like monster in its right and began to use them as nunchaku, spinning them around in a frenzy.

Boom, boom, boom!

The monsters became two whips in its hands, afterimages left behind its swings.

Monster after monster was hit, and skin and flesh split, soaking the battlefield in blood. The two monsters held in Dumby's hands were in even worse condition. Their skulls were crushed and their bodies were close to ripping apart.

The Blue-Skinned Frog they had seen on the road earlier was hit by the "snake whip," and its eyeballs bulged outwards as sounds of bones cracking could be heard.

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Chapter 144: Blue Iron Kidney Fern

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The wave of attacking monsters was blocked by Dumby just like that. Dumby was like a resilient reef that held no matter the fierceness of the waves around it.

Da Zi took advantage of that barrier and rushed toward the Blue Iron Kidney Fern. The two antennae on its head collided, and upon contact, a silk-like electric spark shot outward in a ball of electricity.

Da Zi had eaten a fulfilling meal the day before, and it felt fresh and great, the electric elements in its body fully recharged.

Crackle.

The ball of electricity turned into an electric net that came down and covered the Blue Iron Kidney Fern.

A loud groan came from the overwhelmed fern monster as its body was burned to a crisp.

Multiple vines roots tore up out of the ground, pulling the Blue Iron Kidney Fern out of the soil. The roots were covered with multiple black holes the size of a pea, and as the fern monster began running away in a frenzy, these holes sucked in air, sounding like the quick inhale of someone about to sneeze.

The leaves of the Blue Iron Kidney Fern flipped over, and a chill went down Gao Peng's spine as he saw the backs of the leaves. It was comparable to the first time he witnessed the face of the Horrifying Human-Face Centipede.

The backs of the leaves were completely covered with greyish-brown blotches that looked like hollow eyes. And as he looked closely, Gao Peng could see the small moving spores within the holes. If he were afflicted with trypophobia, he would definitely have fainted at the sight of those countless, unevenly spread holes.

Then the air that had been sucked in through the roots shot out from the holes, ejecting countless sporangia. In an instant, the sky was filled with a myriad of floating sporangium, and in the very next moment, the sporangium exploded, and countless roe-like spores burst into the air. They fell to the ground like raindrops, so quickly that Da Zi didn't even have time to dodge.

The spores that fell on Da Zi's carapace quickly expanded into something that looked like moss. Thin, green vines grew instantly from the moss and extended outward. The threads bunched together and stabbed down, trying to puncture Da Zi's shell.

Da Zi growled and a layer of electric energy swept through its carapace. The thin, green vines and moss instantly turned black, and after a few waves of electricity the parasitic spores on Da Zi's body were completely cleaned off.

However, the spores that fell on the surrounding ground grew, covering the soil with a thick layer of moss. Countless thin vines crisscrossed over the ground and absorbed the nutrition from the soil in an instant. Then they began chasing Da Zi as if they were intelligent beings, trying to trap Da Zi in place.

Gao Peng saw that the condition of the Blue Iron Kidney Fern had changed to [Minor Injury (Angry)]. It must have taken a very long time to accumulate so many spores, so it was no wonder that the Blue Iron Kidney Fern was angry.

On the other side of the battlefield, the Yellow-Spotted Black-Eared Wolf struggled to get up. Blood vessels filled its eyes, and the wolf opened its mouth. A thick and sticky saliva fell off the corner of its mouth and onto the ground, where it began to move on its own. The parasitic Blue Iron Kidney Fern Sub-Body shook its feelers.

[Monster Name: Blue Iron Kidney Fern Sub-Body

[Monster Effect: Absorb surrounding energy to heal external and internal injuries of the host.

[Side Effects: The monster will become calm and lose its free will while under the command of the Blue Iron Kidney Fern.

The wound on the head of the Yellow-Spotted Black-Eared Wolf immediately stopped bleeding and started to heal.

The kidney fern was originally a type of traditional Chinese medicine with healing properties. Gao Peng remembered that the kidney fern had been originally used to treat cuts, but here, it had turned into something that healed both internal and external injuries. Clearly, the effects had been greatly strengthened.

Gao Peng was a little surprised. He never would have thought that the parasitic sub-body would have such miraculous effects that it could even provide regenerative abilities to its host.

Unfortunately, the side effect was that the host would become a puppet of the Blue Iron Kidney Fern.

There was no way Gao Peng would allow himself and his familiars to become the puppets of this monster.

One after another, monsters that seemed to know no pain came rushing toward Dumby. Dumby swung the worm monster in its right hand.

Rip!

The worm monster's body finally gave out and tore in the middle, its upper part nothing more than a red pulp as it crashed to the ground, breathing its last breath.

The monsters were beaten down by Dumby again and again, but they kept getting up and rushing forward as if they felt no pain, and their wounds and injuries continued to heal.

But over time, their bodies began to change. It seemed the energy within the Blue Iron Kidney Fern Sub-Body was limited, and the pace it absorbed nutrition from the air and soil could not keep up with its healing speed, so the sub-body began absorbing the blood and fluids within the body of its host monster as well.

The monsters began drying up, turning into mummies.

"This parasite sure is cruel," Gao Peng mumbled to himself. The kidney fern and spores had to absorb nutrition from the air and water in its environment to survive, but this evolved version of the plant seemed to be directly absorbing the nutrition from the blood vessels of the host.

To survive, to become stronger, monsters had evolved to use all kinds of weird and unimaginable methods. It had only been a few years since the Cataclysm, and unusual abilities like this had already appeared. If evolution continued at such a pace, what kind of creature would eventually emerge from the evolution?

Bang!

One of the host monsters was knocked down and did not get back up this time. The blood within the host body could no longer sustain the needs of the sub-body. The sub-body quickly fell off the back of the monster and turned into a seed-like spore before disappearing into the earth. It then quickly grew roots and sprouted, slowly growing up out of the earth again.

Fighting the sub-bodies would be an endless cycle, so Gao Peng asked Dumby to cooperate with Da Zi to pursue and kill the Blue Iron Kidney Fern.

The remaining monsters could no longer threaten him. Although Stripey had not yet evolved into a Commander tier familiar, it wouldn't have any problems bullying these minor monsters.

Stripey rushed forward arrogantly and swung its prismatic shield-like limbs, sending several monsters flying. Stripey crushed them in an instant and went berserk. It was the first time it had felt such dominance, and it wanted to relive that feeling, but unfortunately the remaining few monsters had already been defeated. So instead, Stripey jumped onto the head of one of the incapacitated monsters and continued striking its head with its spider claw. The monster had been defeated long ago, but Stripey just kept hammering it.

The Blue Iron Kidney Fern wasn't fast enough to outrun Da Zi. Da Zi's sickle-like maxilliped cut like crazy, snapping branch after branch from the fern. The leaves danced in the air.

The main body of parasitic monsters was indeed weak, and without any host monsters to protect it, it couldn't fight back when faced against Da Zi.

After defeating the Blue Iron Kidney Fern, Gao Peng searched among the many roots and vines and found a wood-attribute monster core crystal. When he examined it though, he saw that in the center of the core crystal was a green thread that looked like a mycelium.

He sighed and carefully put it in his pocket. But this made him feel a little anxious, so he called Silly over and put it in Silly's space dimension.

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Chapter 145: The End of the Exam

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The core crystal had belonged to a Commander tier parasitic monster, after all. Parasitic monsters had always been rare, so the core crystal would definitely fetch a decent price.

Ugh… However, it did not seem like he lacked money at the moment.

Gao Peng realized this and fell silent for a while. He suddenly felt ashamed about his thoughts. As the saying goes, "Earning money is as hard as shoveling dirt with a needle, while spending money is as easy as waves finding sand."

Gao Peng thought of the days when an egg had been all he had eaten for each of his meals. Those days were long past, but he could not help but fall into deep thought as he remembered them.

He let Dumby destroy the point pillar. The ground was covered in moss, which looked like a thick carpet laced with thin green threads. Gao Peng attempted to burn the place, but the flame would disappear after only burning a small area.

He sighed. It seemed like this thing's fire resistance was pretty strong.

Initially, his best solution was to use Da Zi's electric attack, but with such a large land mass, it would take too much energy to clear it all.

The main body of the monster had already been destroyed, and the only things left were the sub-bodies. Perhaps one day, these sub-bodies would evolve into another Commander tier body, but by then, they would already have become another life.

The moss on the ground moved slightly as it continued absorbing the minerals and nutrition within the earth, slowly growing thicker.

Fern type plants were already ancient plants, and they could even be called living fossils. The adaptability and evolution capability the plant showed at that moment amazed Gao Peng even more.

As he put his foot on it, it felt as if he had just stepped on a sandy beach.

The thick moss wrapped around the sole of Gao Peng's foot. Gao Peng's eyes sparkled.

"We can see the scores of the examinees. The currently first ranked examinee is Ye Han, with 778 points. There's a small gap between him and the second rank, Jun Mo, with only a 10 point difference between them. Oh, Jun Mo added another four points, so he's close behind," the host said while nodding. The screen behind him switched.

The unmanned drone tracked the examinees from high in the sky. Through the dense forest, one could see a large black anaconda moving between the trees.

The unmanned drone flew lower and past the tree branches. It entered the lowly lit forest where light barely penetrated. Some of the trees were scarred from their involvement in battles, and some had even fallen or broken.

The corpse of a monster lay on the ground. The corpse was distorted beyond measure, and it looked like an old rag. The blood had drained from its body, pooling on the ground and dyeing the earth red.

"Yes, the competition between these two is very fierce. The black anaconda doesn't eat the monsters; it kills for the sake of killing, only in the hope of earning a large number of points."

"Yes, do you remember the guy from the flipping salted fish emoticon pack that was very popular on the internet?" the host suddenly asked.

The man sitting opposite the host was a guest. Yin Wu had been swapped out for a new guest for some reason… Of course, he did not enjoy participating in programs like this in the first place. He was very stubborn, though, and after he learned that someone from the upper ranks wanted to take him off, he deliberately held on and fought against the pressure. He used his bad temper and persevered through several episodes before leaving graciously.

"Of course I remember. Could it be that the salted fish and its owner are still around?" the guest asked, nodding.

"That examinee still hasn't been eliminated. Let's check his current ranking," the host smiled mysteriously.

Name: Gao Peng

Rank: 15

The people in front of their TV's widened their eyes. Rank 15?!

The salted fish monster trainer actually managed to make it to rank 15.

I thought you agreed with everyone that we would all be salted fish together, and you actually flipped over in secret!

Gao Peng's smile that appeared on screen pained a lot of people.

You're clearly not a salted fish! How could a salted fish be like this!

"Rank 15? That's not a bad ranking. Currently, only 121 examinees are left in the Dayang Mountain Forest. The 15 rank includes the scores of those who have been eliminated. The requirement for getting to the third round of the exam is to be ranked in the top 12. He is very close right now; he certainly has a chance."

Gao Peng sneezed. He rubbed his nose in confusion. Who is praising me?

The sound of buzzing bees came from above. The sound was weak, and with Da Zi's reminder, Gao Peng raised his head and saw an unmanned drone hovering in the air. The camera was pointed straight at him.

Gao Peng suddenly looked serious. A camera was pointed at him, after all.

He immediately straightened himself and made a pose that showed that he was trying his best. He had to create a hard-working image of himself in front of all the citizens of the country.

The unmanned drone only recorded for a short while before moving away.

Although Gao Peng stayed in the periphery, the number of points he accumulated was not low. He destroyed two point pillars and even killed three Commander tier monsters.

Even many students located within the depths of the forest hadn't gotten as many points as Gao Peng.

In truth, there were a lot of the strong Commander tier monsters in the depths of the forest; however, when the students encountered them, they could only choose to run away. It was a very awkward fact. It was also the reason why these students were ridiculed.

It looked terrible.

After all, anyone would be disappointed to keep seeing monster trainers being chased around by monsters. They looked way too weak.

Gao Peng and the other monster trainer cadets did not know what was happening outside. Gao Peng continued with his rhythm of gaining points steadily in the periphery.

Apart from destroying point pillars, killing monsters also earned points.

Just as Gao Peng had said in the beginning, hanging out in the periphery didn't raise his score very high, but it was very stable. Moreover, it was less likely for him to encounter a powerful monster and get eliminated.

In the remaining few days, five monster trainer cadets who had a higher score than his own were eliminated, one of them even suffering a "permanent elimination."

In the depths of the forest, it was easier to grind for points. However, it was more dangerous. One had to be prepared to be eliminated at any time.

"The exam has ended. All scores will cease to accumulate and will be tabulated. All examinees are asked to move to a safe zone and await transportation." A sound came from the band on Gao Peng's left wrist.

Gao Peng yawned and looked at the tired familiars. He had done his best, and although he hadn't found too many point pillars over the last few days, he had killed several Commander tier monsters. Everything was thanks to Stripey succeeding in being promoted to the Commander tier through battles. After Stripey's promotion, its defense improved significantly, and paired with its control of spider silks, its combat ability increased substantially as well.

He had done his best, and he would not feel regret regardless of the result.

Two hours later, Gao Peng was sitting on a plane and looking down at the city below him. He had stayed in the wilderness for an entire week, but he was finally back in a busy city.

A starless night sky veiled Jiangnan City, as neon lights glowed up from the busy streets. A consecutive week of rushing about everywhere had exhausted the monster trainer cadets. They fell asleep almost instantly upon returning to the government-arranged hotel.

The results of the examinees also appeared the moment the examination ended.

Gao Peng was ranked 11.

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Chapter 146: Hotel

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

(Author note: The kidney fern mentioned in the previous chapter really exists, and it is actually quite common in real life. It's also called the raurenga, and anyone who is interested can search for it on Baidu. Many people might have seen it before.

The body of the author is, of course, perfect, so there is no way for me to have urinary pain. I don't have urinary pain.)

"I told you to try your best to get in the top 12. The Alliance Youth Monster Trainer General Assembly would do much to help you grow and develop in the future," a bearded man in the hotel said with a grim face.

"Dad, I already tried my best. It's not like you didn't see my performance on TV," said a boy wearing a white patterned T-shirt as he stood in front of the man. The boy rubbed his red and swollen face.

"Dad, why don't you look through your contacts and see if you can get me a place inside?" the boy asked testingly.

"Ridiculous! How do you expect me to get you into such a large-scale general assembly! You really think your father is almighty?" the man scolded. "You little b*stard, you've never given me a break ever since you were young. From primary school to middle school, and then from middle school to high school, when did I not use my contacts to help you? You're really infuriating."

"When will you start living up to expectations!" the man said, exasperated.

"Dad, I know I messed up. I won't do it again. Please believe in me," the boy said, admitting his mistakes three times.

The man was infuriated, but after looking at the boy, his heart softened. It was his only son, after all!

Why did he work so hard? Was it not to provide a better life and environment for his offspring? Because he had lived a life filled with debauchery, he had health issues that rendered him unable to reproduce.

This was the one and only son that he would ever have.

He sighed deeply.

What else could he do? The boy was his only son. He could not just give up like this, right? His mouth might say that he would break his son's leg, but in truth, his heart still ached.

"Give me some time to think. You had better keep a low profile over the next few days! Don't f*cking hang around with those rubbish friends of yours! If I see you hanging out with them again, I will seriously break your good for nothing leg!" The expression on the man's face was gloomy as he spoke in a low voice.

"Thank you, Dad!" The boy smiled. He knew that his father was prepared to help him, and at the same time, he made a decision in his heart. He decided that he would keep a low profile for the next two days and not hang out in bars. He would wait until things were over before deciding anything else.

Seeing his son's back, the man walked back and forth. His face was distorted and very gloomy.

Even if he was the mayor of the city base of Jinling, he could not take action that was too obvious. After all, many eyes were fixed on him, waiting for him to make a mistake. The moment he made a single mistake, the people below him would pounce like hungry dogs and tear him apart.

After deliberating for a long time, the man took out his phone. "Send the information of all the examinees to me."

After handing over his familiars to the service center of the hotel, Gao Peng returned to his room and fell asleep immediately.

He slept all the way to the morning of the second day. Gao Peng finished washing up and went downstairs. After consulting the hotel management staff, he walked towards the back hall.

All the familiars were kept in the back hall, and entering the hall was like walking into a zoo. One after another, familiars were kept in rooms, and in front of each door was an iron railing. Gao Peng glanced at the rooms and noticed that they were quite big. They were clean and spacious. Moreover, there were no odd odors.

Upon reaching Dumby and the gang's room, he found the room empty. Through the contract's binding agreement, Gao Peng knew that Dumby and the gang were not far from him.

"They're taking a bath?" Gao Peng's eye twitched as he looked at the hotel staff in front of him.

"Yes, do you want to go see?"

Gao Peng nodded. "Please lead the way."

They walked through a corridor, and the surrounding air became humid. A gust of hot air came from the large room in front of them. The big room had several large windows. It seemed a little weird because the windows did not have any frames, they were just large holes.

White steam came out of the windows.

Sounds of water gushing out of hoses came from within the room, and the vague moans of monsters could also be heard.

It was like a large bathhouse. The four sides of the rooms were on a higher level, while the center of the floor was sunk lower. The floor was made of rough cement. Water flowed from the sides and gathered in the center. On the four sides of the bathhouse, hotel staff wearing blue work clothes held water spray guns in their hands and sprayed water at the familiars in the middle of the room.

The familiars were Dumby, Da Zi, and the others.

Da Zi sat quietly on the ground and allowed water to flow over its body. It seemed in peace.

Stripey, on the other hand, did not seem comfortable. It looked like it was dancing ballet as it skittered around on the ground. A leap and a jump, and sounds with unknown meaning kept coming from its mouth.

Dumby, on the other hand, just let the water flow through its empty skeletal frame with its head lowered. It expanded its palms, seeming to think it was amusing. Water flowed past its silverish grey bones. It felt comfortable. It was soft, and it felt light and fluffy, just like the feeling of moving a palm through a large bunch of swan feathers.

The most agitated and happy of them all was none other than Silly. Just like a small gyro, it was pushed away by the water spray. It floated all over the place in the room. It would occasionally stop and sit on the head of one of the hotel staff. Paired with the color of their work clothes, it looked pretty decent.

Silly was a jellyfish in the first place. Although it was now the kind of jellyfish that floated in the sky, it still liked water.

The familiars noticed when Gao Peng walked in, and they rushed over to him in excitement. It was only due to their size that they did not continue their dash and tackle Gao Peng. However, they still tried hard to lean onto Gao Peng, making Gao Peng's body wet. His outfit became utterly soaked.

"Alright. Alright." Gao Peng patted the familiars and said to the hotel staff, "Are they done showering?"

"Not yet…" one of the staff said.

"Alright, then I'm taking them away," Gao Peng said while smiling.

The hotel staff was speechless.

Gao Peng felt bored after playing with his familiars during the afternoon. He prepared to purchase a ticket back to Chang'an. The development of the city base of Jiangnan was decent, but it was not his home. No matter how busy and bustling it was, Gao Peng did not feel that he belonged.

The busier it was, the easier it was to feel lonely.

He could check the results through the internet. The top 12 were automatically qualified to participate in the third round of the examination, which was the qualification to participate in the Alliance's Strongest Youth Monster Trainer General Assembly.

As such, after the exam, he was free to do anything he wanted.

The only thing was that there was an additional banner on the top part of the official website when he checked his result, and it was that the Alliance's Strongest Youth Monster Trainer General Assembly would be held in three months, which was two months later than the previously determined date.

The most important thing was that the age limit was actually capped at 20 years old and three months. What the heck was that?

It was the first time Gao Peng had seen that the age limit was accurate to the month!

"Did they go crazy?!"

After returning to the hotel at night, a few people who sat in the hall stood up silently and walked over.

Gao Peng paused his steps briefly and looked at those people.

"I've been looking for you for a long time. The staff said that you were not at the hotel. Want to go have a bite of dinner? We're all from Chang'an here." Wang Zhenshan smiled harmlessly.

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Chapter 147: Cafe

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Behind Wang Zhenshan were Han Xiao, Jun Moyi, and three other examinees who came from the city base of Chang'an.

Looking at their faces, Gao Peng guessed that they had waited a while for him.

Gao Peng's original plan was to eat some random stuff at the hotel before heading back to rest in his hotel room, so he could not help but hesitate a little.

"Let's have dinner together. Look, even Jun Moyi, who never smiles, agreed to it," Han Xiao suggested in earnest.

Ultimately, Gao Peng agreed to go have dinner with them. After all, they all came from Chang'an, and besides, they invited him with such hospitality. It would be impolite to be too cold.

As soon as they left the hotel, a girl stepped directly in front of them. She had neat, short hair, and she would have dimples when she smiled. The girl said, "Are you Gao Peng?"

"Ugh, and you are?" Gao Peng hesitated. I probably don't know this girl, right?

"Can I treat you to dinner?"

Gao Peng was speechless. Why is everyone trying to treat me to dinner? "I don't think we know each other."

"We'll know each other after we have a meal together." The girl widened her eyes and said, "I saw you on TV, you were super cool!"

Whaaa?

Gao Peng sucked in a breath of cold air. Was he really super cool on TV?

As he thought about it, Gao Peng felt a little bit happy.

Gao Peng touched his face and said in a deep voice, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," the girl said out of habit. By the time she regained her senses, Gao Peng had already walked far away.

By the time he returned to the hotel after having dinner with Han Xiao and the group, it was already nine o'clock. A man wearing a black suit was standing at the front gate of the hotel. When Gao Peng passed by him, he suddenly spoke and asked, "Can I discuss something with you?"

Gao Peng acted as if he hadn't heard.

The man extended his right arm and blocked Gao Peng. A blue bank card was in the palm of his hand. "The password is six sixes. Inside, there is about 1 million Alliance credits. Regardless of the outcome of our conversation, this is the payment for taking up your time."

Gao Peng stopped in his tracks. "Is my time really worth this much money?"

"There's a cafe over there." A smile appeared on the man's face.

Gao Peng glanced at him and said, "Wait a minute."

The man smiled gently. He was not in a hurry, so he just stood there and waited with Gao Peng. After standing there for around five minutes, a muscular figure came from the alley beside the hotel. The blue soul flame burning in the darkness was clear.

Behind the figure was a staff member of the hotel wearing blue work garb. The hotel employee exclaimed loudly, "Hoy, where are you going? Don't go, please! My paycheck is going to get cut!!!" The hotel employee clung to Dumby's leg as if his life depended on it. He howled in desperation.

Dumby walked forward in a straight line, and it just seemed like it had a decoration hanging around its feet.

The smile of the man in the black suit froze for a short moment.

"I was the one who called for it. I really do apologize for not giving you any notice in advance," Gao Peng apologized to the hotel employee.

Ugh…

The man stood dumbfounded and hesitated for a moment before regaining his senses. He replied hastily, "Since it is under your command, that's fine, of course." As soon as he finished speaking, he continued quickly and added, "The other familiars belonging to other clients still need taking care of, so you can just let the familiar come over at night when you return. I'll be on shift this evening." After he finished talking, the man chuckled.

Gao Peng smiled. After the hotel employee left, Gao Peng turned around and spoke earnestly to the man in the suit.

"My familiars have always been cowardly ever since they were young. I have to pat its head every night. Otherwise, it can't even sleep. Look at this, it's here looking for me because it couldn't sleep."

Like I actually believe you!

The man in the black suit smiled as he became speechless. He did not say anything and merely nodded. He thought with admiration, Quite cautious. That's a good thing. He's in a foreign place, so he needs to be cautious no matter what he is doing.

Two men and one beast walked towards the cafe. They found a seat beside the window and sat there. As Dumby was too big to enter the cafe, it stood outside in the street, beside the window. It stood as close as it could to protect its master.

"Your familiar sure is loyal." The man in the black suit threw a glance at Dumby. "Relax. I'm only here today because I want to talk to you. I have no other intentions."

Gao Peng nodded and made no comment.

"Let me introduce myself. My last name is Zhang, and I'm called Zhang Xingxing," the man in the black suit introduced himself.

Gao Peng could not help but glance at him. "Your name sure is artsy."

"It's not stars in the sky. It's ape on the land." Zhang Xingxing smiled gently. His smile was disarming. He had two beautiful dimples, and it was tough to imagine why two beautiful dimples would appear on the face of a man who had such a savage name.

As he spoke, Zhang Xingxing produced a gold-plated card from a pocket and passed it to Gao Peng. "This is my business card. If you need anything in the future, you can contact me. I'm usually tasked with helping people deal with things. You could call me a middleman."

"You make commission?" Gao Peng smiled gently.

"Of course not." Zhang Xingxing smiled and looked at the waiter who was walking towards them. "One cup of blue mountain, without sugar. Thank you."

"And you, sir?" the waiter asked Gao Peng.

"I'll have the same," Gao Peng said casually since he never drank coffee.

"Uhm. In truth, the reason I came here today is to make a deal with you, Mr. Gao," Zhang Xingxing said gravely, staring deep into Gao Peng's eyes.

"What deal?"

"Someone is willing to give you a huge sum of money as compensation in the hope that you will relinquish your qualification to participate in the Alliance's Strongest Youth Monster Trainer Competition. This sum is definitely larger than the reward given to the first placed youth monster trainer in the competition."

"That sure is generous." Gao Peng sighed and said in resignation, "No one would pay that kind of money for an orphan like me. It seems like that client of yours really does love his child."

Zhang Xingxing smiled, but he didn't respond to that comment. "Actually, even if you participated in the youth monster trainer competition, there is basically no chance for you to claim first place… Based on the information that I've received, a monster trainer from the Mei District signed a contract with a Lord tier familiar. Basically, he's the favorite for winning the competition."

"Looks like you've got yourself covered when it comes to information," Gao Peng implied two things in one sentence.

Although Gao Peng loved money, a gentleman had to love money in the proper way.

Moreover, more importantly, Gao Peng no longer lacked money, he only enjoyed the joyous and triumphant feeling he received when he pocketed money he earned through his hard work.

Making money should be filled with positive energy! It should make him happy!

Unfortunately, the current proposal did not bring Gao Peng happiness.

"Sorry. Rather than money, I want to have the chance to enter a higher stage," Gao Peng declined the offer cordially.

"…" Zhang Xingxing felt that something was wrong. Based on the information he received, didn't Gao Peng like money? …Something seems fishy.

Finally, Zhang Xingxing tried very hard to convince Gao Peng again. He eventually realized that it was futile.

"Then… It is really a pity," Zhang Xingxing sighed.

"Sir, your coffee." The waiter came at just the right moment. He placed a cup of coffee in front of both Gao Peng and Zhang Xingxing respectively.

The mild aroma of the coffee surrounded the coffee table.

Gao Peng stood up. He walked to the counter and paid for the two cups of coffee.

"Take your time and enjoy the coffee." As Gao Peng left the cafe, he turned his body sideways, nodded, and smiled.

A blue bank card was left on the table.

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Chapter 148: The Feeling of Repeats

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

When he saw that Gao Peng and Dumby had entered the hotel, Zhang Xingxing took out his phone and dialed a number.

The phone only rang three times before it was connected.

"What did he say?" A deep voice came from the other side of the phone.

"He rejected the offer," Zhang Xingxing answered helplessly. Nothing worked on the kid; no matter what he said, he was immovable.

After a moment of silence, the voice from the other side became lower. "I understand."

Zhang Xingxing shrugged his shoulders. Was it really necessary? Why did the kid insist on being so stubborn?

Zhang Xingxing resolved problems through negotiation. His client, on the other hand, was not someone who only resorted to words.

However, that did not have anything to do with him. He had already done what he could. Everyone chose their own path. Whether it was good or bad, everyone needed to continue walking that path.

The boy was too young. He would understand the cruelty of the real world after experiencing more difficulties.

Zhang Xingxing shook his head and got up to leave the cafe. As soon as he left the cafe, the door closed behind him with a loud bang. Zhang Xingxing turned around and looked back. A dark and shining light came from the cold door of the cafe.

At that moment, he couldn't see anyone around him. The street was completely empty.

A gust of wind blew past the street, and a few old newspapers flew into the air.

Zhang Xingxing felt uneasy. He turned around and banged at the door of the cafe with force. "Open the door, I left something inside."

No reply came from within the cafe. Only his echo could be heard on the quiet street.

Footsteps came from behind him. Two people walked from either end of the street. They wore very tall hats and black trench coats. They both also had a dog leash as thick as a thumb in their hands. On the other end of the leashes were Red-haired Giant Dogs that were at least four meters tall and eight meters long.

What purpose does the leash serve?! Is the human leading the dog or the dog leading the human!

Their red eyes were void of emotions. They were cold. Although the eyes were not fixed on him, Zhang Xingxing felt a strong sense of threat.

A squeaking sound came from his chest, Zhang Xingxing unbuttoned his shirt, and a silver mouse clung to the side of his undershirt. It squealed anxiously.

Zhang Xingxing's face turned dark. He had experienced many dangerous situations in his life, and it was thanks to the spirit mouse that he successfully escaped from life-threatening situations.

This time, he had once again perceived danger.

He attempted to summon his familiar, but there was no response, and he did not receive any warnings.

Now, Zhang Xingxing's face changed colors.

When did he lose contact with his familiar?

He bit down hard on his lip as he gazed at the dim lights from the large hotel building. As long as he could rush over there, the unknown attackers would probably be more careful.

At the same time, Zhang Xingxing's mind raced as he wondered if he had offended someone. It seemed like the other person was someone with weight.

It was then that Zhang Xingxing discovered, despairingly, that people in his line of work offended people often and easily. He could easily have p*ssed off any number of people.

There were too many people… It was simply impossible for him to guess who it was exactly…

However, he had long expected that this day would come. He sighed in his heart. After his death, the bank would transfer the balance in his account to his sister, and the money inside the account should be enough to last her the rest of her life.

However, even if he was prepared to die, he still wanted to try his best! Even ants strived for survival, much less a human!

Zhang Xingxing turned around quickly and pushed the metal door of the cafe.

Pang!

The metal door was suddenly pushed open, and Zhang Xingxing staggered inside.

Then, the metal door closed without any sound.

Outside the cafe, the two people with the dogs stood guard outside the cafe's metal door. The two giant hounds stayed alert and sat obediently outside the door.

The cafe was quiet. It was so quiet that one could hear the sound of a needle hitting the ground.

The only things that remained were his breath and the dim lights.

"You are Mr. Zhang Xingxing, am I correct? Sorry to take up your precious time. This is a card. There are five million Alliance credits on it. The password is six fives. Regard it as compensation for your time." In the middle of the cafe, under the weak lights, a silver-haired old man wearing a white suit looked at him with a smile.

Zhang Xingxing felt that the scene was oddly familiar.

It… It's probably just a coincidence.

The lights in the cafe were almost entirely extinguished, and the only light left was the table lamp emitting a warm light beside the old man.

Through the yellow light from the table lamp, Zhang Xingxing could tell that the old man was very well-built. He had wide shoulders that made the suit fit nicely. His white hair was slicked back, and his eyes were extremely bright.

Zhang Xingxing's heart tightened the moment his gaze locked with the old man.

He suddenly felt an odd sense of guilt.

"Sir… May I ask?" Zhang Xingxing did not know when he started to stutter. It irritated him. It was not like he had never met big shots before, so what was wrong with him today?

"Mr. Zhang Xingxing, I would like to know what you said to the innocent and naive child just now," the old man said seriously.

Why is he asking this? Zhang Xingxing was perplexed.

"I just wanted to talk to him, I wanted to ask him to quit the Alliance's Strongest Youth Monster Trainer Competiton," Zhang Xingxing answered cautiously.

"Right…" the old man said deeply. "And how did the boy answer?"

"He declined it. He said that he did not want to miss an opportunity to expand his horizons," Zhang Xingxing replied honestly.

"So what do you plan to do next?" the old man asked without hurry.

"Ah?" Zhang Xingxing secretly analyzed the old man, and then thought back to Gao Peng's look. An unbelievable thought appeared on his mind.

Boom! Something flashed through his very soul like a lightning strike.

Zhang Xingxing suddenly felt his entire soul shiver. He opened his mouth but could not make a sound.

What was his next step? Of course, he knew. It was because the next step was his design. The only question was if he dared to say it out now.

Zhang Xingxing almost cried. The calm and composure he showed earlier when negotiating with Gao Peng was long gone.

"I don't want to hear anything about lying or cheating. I believe that your sister wouldn't want to hear that her brother is a liar." The old man smiled. "Otherwise, it would set a bad example for the children."

Zhang Xingxing raised his head quickly and stared straight at the old man.

"Big brother." A familiar voice appeared beside Zhang Xingxing. Once upon a time, this voice had made him feel immeasurable warmth, and it was his motivation for moving forward. However, right now, the sound sent chills down his spine.

He stiffly turned his head. He stared at his sister who stood not far behind him in disbelief.

"Xiao Xuan, how are you here?"

"The grandpa said that he could help me meet you. You're always busy and not at home… It's been a long time since I last saw you…" A young girl wearing a red and white patterned dress raised her head and glanced at Zhang Xingxing. "The grandpa also asked me to play a game with him, to not let you discover me, and as long as I could do that, he would buy me five ice creams."

The young girl raised her white arms and extended five fingers. Her eyes were turned into reverse moons and her attractive dimples, dimples that were similar to Zhang Xingxing's, showed as she smiled.

As she finished speaking, she noticed that the expression on her brother's expression wasn't great, so the little girl bit her lips and lowered her head. "Big brother, I'll give you all my ice creams, please don't be angry. It's just that I've missed you."

Zhang Xingxing turned around and stared straight at the old man. He said word by word, "My sister is innocent. She knows nothing. What do you want to know? I will tell you everything!"

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Chapter 149: Reunion

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Of course. She's such a cute little girl. I believe that she doesn't know anything." The old man nodded and spoke to Zhang Xuan with a smile, "Cute little princess, I have to talk to your brother for a while. Why don't you go inside and have some ice cream? Your brother won't be mad at you."

Zhang Xingxing's face turned numb, but he still nodded earnestly and forced a smile. "Yes, big brother won't be mad. Be a good girl, Xuan Xuan."

"Ok," the girl said, nodding unhappily. A lady in a red suit led the girl inside.

"Relax. You follow the rules, and I'll follow the rules," the old man said while mildly blowing at the tea leaves. "However, if you don't follow the rules…then don't blame me for using any means necessary."

The words "any means necessary" sounded particularly clear, however, in Zhang Xingxing's mind; it was like thunder roaring through his ears.

"I…I haven't done anything. I only talked to him for a little bit."

"That's why you're still here. Talking to me." The old man raised his teacup and took a sip. He then raised his head, smiled, and said, "My name is Ji Hanwu. What do you say you work for me?"

"You…" Zhang Xingxing was stunned. In his line of work, with his vast information network, it was impossible not to have heard of Ji Hanwu. But he never would have imagined that Ji Hanwu would choose to use him instead. "You're not going to kill me?"

"There are three religions and nine schools of thoughts. As long you are a person, you have value," Ji Hanwu said calmly. "Killing is the easiest method, but at the same time, it's also the most wasteful method."

Zhang Xingxing held himself back from asking dumb questions like whether Ji Hanwu was afraid that he would betray him. For a person like him to join Ji Hanwu's ranks, it was a given that there would be methods to restrain him. It might be a type of drug, or perhaps a kind of locust.

Everyone was smart, and everyone knew it.

"So, that's what happened…Boss." Zhang Xingxing did not know how to address Ji Hanwu, but his pause had gone on way too long, so he had awkwardly blurted out the word "boss."

"In the future, you can call me Chairman Ji like everyone else," Ji Hanwu said casually.

"Yes, Chairman Ji."

"The mayor of the city base of Jinling, Han Yuanming." Ji Hanwu repeated it a few times. Finally, an eerie smile appeared on his face. When he received information stating that someone was investigating Gao Peng, he always assumed it was something big. He never would have thought that it would be for such a reason.

If it were before the Cataclysm, no matter how large his group was, he would be helpless against the mayor of a city base.

But the Cataclysm had changed everything.

The rules of the game that governed the world had changed completely, and those changes were still constantly evolving—into something much worse.

From a certain perspective, the strongest batch of monster trainers were gradually turning into the rule makers of the new world.

"Chairman Ji, do you want to get rid of Han Yuanming?"

"No." Ji Hanwu shook his head. "Leave Han Yuanming for Little Peng to handle himself. This incident occurred because of him, so he'll be the one to end it. It will give him a sense of accomplishment."

"Yes." Zhang Xingxing nodded.

"However, there is one thing that I agree with. Little Peng taking part in this competition is really a waste of his time," Ji Hanwu said mildly.

"Huh?" Zhang Xingxing seemed confused.

"I will look for an opportunity to talk to him about it," Ji Hanwu said, looking outside the window.

It had been four years since they last met.

The cafe turned silent for a brief moment.

After returning to the hotel, Gao Peng let Dumby return to the backyard of the hotel to rest before heading inside.

Gao Peng's footsteps slowed as walked into the hotel. Around 70 or 80 people were gathered in front of the hotel reception area. He assumed it was some group's or company's dinner or gathering, so he ignored it and continued to the elevator.

After returning to his room, Gao Peng rested his head on the pillow before gradually falling asleep.

The next day, as Gao Peng was still asleep, a sudden knock came from the door.

Knock. Knock, knock. Knock. Knock, knock.

It had a regular pattern, rhythmic.

But Gao Peng was sound asleep, and the knocking did not wake him for some time. Finally, the persistent rhythm roused him from his dreams.

He rolled around on his bed and tried to get up, but he was pulled back by the soft and comfortable blankets. Gao Peng groaned weakly, saying, "I don't need any housekeeping."

"It's not nice for a young man to constantly oversleep," came a powerful voice from outside the door.

Gao Peng's eyes opened instantly, and his heart raced.

He jumped out of his bed, turned his head, and stared blankly toward the direction of the door in disbelief. He was shocked, worried that what he had just heard was an illusion.

Knock. Knock, knock.

Gao Peng ran to the door without bothering to put on his slippers and looked through the peephole.

A muscular old man wearing baggy white Han traditional clothing stood outside the door, his neat white hair slicked back. He looked into the peephole, locked eyes with Gao Peng as if he had noticed Gao Peng's gaze, and smiled.

Upon confirming the face of the old man, Gao Peng lips curled upward into a smile almost instantaneously. He immediately opened the door, yelling, "Grandpa!"

Gao Peng rushed outside and hugged Ji Hanwu.

Ji Hanwu laughed heartily and patted Gao Peng's back. As he looked down and saw that Gao Peng had not even bother to put on his slippers, he couldn't help but lecture him, saying, "You're still a barefooted boy after all these years? Next time, wear your slippers before coming out."

Gao Peng didn't answer. He just hummed, his eyes remaining tightly shut, his nose beginning to run as emotions overwhelmed him.

No one knew how a child who had lost both parents survived after the Cataclysm. Uncle Liu had only moved in next to him a year after the Cataclysm, and Gao Peng never really made any friends. He had been so lonely for so long.

"Okay, okay. Grandpa is back now," Ji Hanwu consoled Gao Peng with a soft voice. "As long as Grandpa is still around, no one can bully you!"

No matter how mature a person was when in front of a blood-related elder, one was still a kid.

A few people stood at the end of the corridor, but they quietly averted their gaze from the scene in front of them. It was the first time they had seen such a gentle chairman. They weren't sure of the consequences for witnessing such a scene, so it was best for them to not see it all.

Gao Peng and Ji Hanwu walked into the room and closed the door.

Ji Hanwu sat on the wicker chair beside the window and cheerfully said to Gao Peng, "Grandpa also saw your performance during the competition. You did great! You were smart and courageous."

Gao Peng knew himself better than anyone. Normally he would dismiss such praise after cheekily admitting to it, but hearing his grandpa praise him made him somewhat embarrassed.

"To preserve yourself is the best success," Ji Hanwu said and smiled. "There is nothing to be embarrassed about. You're just like your grandpa. When I first started the Southern Sky Group, I also took a step back in many matters.

"You have to remember, the reason you pull back your fist is so that you can throw out a stronger punch later!"

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Chapter 150: Conversation

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Pulling the fist back is so that the next punch can gain more power…" Gao Peng mumbled to himself, his eyes getting brighter and brighter.

Ji Hanwu nodded in admiration. It seemed like his grandson was somewhat spiritual.

"I was going to look for you when I came back to the mainland, but some other things happened. I was afraid I'd bring danger to you, so I didn't come and see you," Ji Hanwu said seriously to Gao Peng.

"I understand. Uncle Liu told me that you were occupied and couldn't come to see me," Gao Peng said, nodding.

"At the beginning of the Cataclysm, I was trapped on the island and only returned to the mainland a year later. By then, the Southern Sky Group had already changed drastically, and my return made some of them panic. Some even hated me to the bone. They wanted me to die, but they couldn't kill me. But you were a different story. Back then, you still couldn't sign a Blood Contract, and you were just an ordinary person. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to protect you," Ji Hanwu said with a sigh. "I couldn't take any chances when it came to your safety.

"After all, you are now my only family member."

"Then, the thing with the group…" Gao Peng hesitated a little. "If there is anything that I can help you with…I have a lot of experience in training familiars."

Ji Hanwu smiled, waving his hands, "The thing in the group is almost settled; only a few minor characters are still struggling, and they can't do any harm to the group."

Ji Hanwu talked peacefully as if the thing he mentioned was negligible.

"I came here this time to see you," Ji Hanwu said, observing Gao Peng attentively. He was different from what he had seen in the video. He was more realistic and warmer.

After a while, Ji Hanwu said, "You've grown taller."

As he talked, he raised up his right hand to compare, "I remember you were only this tall. Now you almost reach my ear."

Gao Peng nodded. His grandfather was really tall. He was at least 190 cm tall, and, especially in the era of his grandfather, that was very tall.

"Just a while ago, someone tried to take away your competition qualification," Ji Hanwu said.

Gao Peng wasn't surprised. Someone had already found him to talk about this before he had gone back to the hotel. And it wasn't a pleasant chat.

"I know that you refused him, but he has more than one way to take away your competition qualification. Directly asking you was just him showing you courtesy before the war."

"What kind of war?"

"First, he will ruin your reputation. The girl that invited you to a meal before was working for him. After you and the girl finish the meal, she will seduce you, and then she will frame you and accuse you of raping her."

"Then, they will spread rumors, and you, a good child with no background, will never be able to defend yourself against such rumors. After all, even rumors become truth when enough people believe them. Once that happens, such mistruths may stick with you for the rest of your life."

Gao Peng remained silent. Once his reputation went downhill, there would be a lot of ways to deal with him.

He knew that even if his grandfather didn't tell him.

"So, how are you going to deal with him?" Ji Hanwu asked, smiling.

"Who is this person?"

"The mayor of Jinling base city, Han Mingyuan."

Gao Peng felt his teeth aching. How was he supposed to enact vengeance on such a big shot?

"I hope that you can avenge yourself. If you need any help, I will help you with all my might. Having motivation is, in fact, good for you too."

"Okay. Thanks, Grandpa."

Gao Peng never saw himself as a generous person. After someone plotted against him, how could he treat it as if nothing had happened?

Han Mingyuan. Gao Peng memorized the name.

"Also, I hope that you are willing to give up this Alliance Youth Monster Trainer General Assembly," Ji Hanwu told Gao Peng. "It doesn't have any to do with that man; it is just my personal opinion."

Gao Peng was a little puzzled.

"It has only been about three years since the Cataclysm. So, actually, the gap between individuals isn't that big, and age does not bring advantage to anyone. Whether a person is 30, 40 or 50 years old, everyone stands on the same starting line. Why must you go and seek after the title of 'The Strongest Youth Monster Trainer'? Isn't it better to remove the word 'Youth?'"

Gao Peng was dumbfounded. "'The Strongest…Monster Trainer'?"

"Yes, 'The Strongest Monster Trainer,'" Ji Hanwu said, nodding in approval. "A man should be more ambitious!"

Gao Peng felt a different sort of feeling rise in his heart after listening to those words.

Suddenly, inside his brain, a door was opened.

The word ambition was often used as a derogatory term, but it also contained a sense of mystery.

Ji Hanwu stood up and walked to Gao Peng's side, patted Gao Peng's shoulder, and signaled him to get up and look outside the window. "It's a different era—an era for the ambitious. Although the overall situation right now is controlled by the Alliance, it's only temporary. One day there will be an explosion of conflict. What if, one day, a person could ride familiars that destroyed mountains and hills, stirred up rivers and the sea, would he still be willing to be an average citizen? Would he be satisfied by his current position? A human's greed is always proportional to his capabilities." Ji Hanwu smiled. "Maybe there will be strong people who are willing to maintain order, but everything in the world has two sides. There will also exist a bunch of people who want to destroy this order."

Gao Peng remained silent. He didn't dare imagine the arrival of such a day.

"So, strive to make yourself stronger. Participating in this kind of competition will only waste your time," Ji Hanwu said encouragingly.

"Grandpa, then…do you wish to maintain the order or…"

"Of course! It is to protect you," Ji Hanwu said without any hesitation.

Gao Peng felt warmth in his heart.

"Then, I'll retire from the competition," Gao Peng said.

Ji Hanwu nodded happily. "Okay, Grandpa will support you."

He paused for a moment, then Ji Hanwu said thoughtfully, "Grandpa prepared a small gift for you too. After three months, when the competition starts, I'll recommend that you participate in the competition as a judge."

Gao Peng was startled.

"But that doesn't mean you won't have to work for it. I can help you fight for this spot, but whether you deserve the spot will be up to your effort to get stronger in these three months. If your strength is too weak, it would be embarrassing, right?" Ji Hanwu laughed out loud.

Truthfully, Ji Hanwu had only just thought of this idea as a method to encourage his grandson. Though Gao Peng had been persuaded to give up competing, he knew that deep in his heart he was still not happy about it.

Participating in this sort of competition was indeed pointless, but to take part as the judge… That would be so much more interesting! And the other participants would be shocked to see a former competitor as their judge so quickly after the last exam. Ji Hanwu was rather proud of himself for his quick wit in hatching the idea.

However, when Gao Peng looked at his grandfather, his expression changed too. The fact that his grandfather had the influence to get him the position of a judge… It was actually quite frightening.

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Read Monster Pet Evolution Chapter 151 - Return to Chang'an online for free - AllNovelFull

Chapter 151: Return to Chang'an

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After talking, Ji Hanwu and Gao Peng left the hotel room to go down for a meal at the restaurant on the second floor of the hotel. When they entered the restaurant, not a single person was inside. It was extremely quiet.

After the meal, Gao Peng took his grandfather to meet his familiars.

When Da Zi saw Ji Hanwu, it was rather suspicious of him. It lay along the side of the cage, eyeing Ji Hanwu with its unmoving pitch-black eyes. It wondered who the old man standing next to its master was.

Ji Hanwu smiled. "This is an adorable little fella."

When Da Zi heard that, it happily raised its head, waving its antennae. After Gao Peng told Da Zi that the man was his grandfather, it became even happier, twisting its body around in glee.

Silly, on the other hand, panicked. It quickly flew out of the cage, squeezing through the bars easily with its soft and boneless body. It anxiously flew in front of Ji Hanwu, then reached a few tentacles into its personal space dimension and rummaged about before fishing out a cup of fruit juice and passing it to Ji Hanwu.

"Fruit jus, drink fruit jus!"

Silly flew around Ji Hanwu in an attempt to please him, but, at the same time, it seemed very reluctant to actually part with its fruit juice. When Ji Hanwu declined the juice, Silly let out a sigh of relief.

Pachi!

The bright blob flopped onto Gao Peng's head, waving its tentacles around in satisfaction. Ah, this familiar feeling…

Ji Hanwu looked at them and smiled without saying a word.

"Do you have any ideas about you are going to do now that you've finished the college entrance examinations?"

"I'll start applying for a school I guess." Actually, he could have started applying the moment the results were out, but he had procrastinated. Of course, with the kind of results that he had gotten from the first and second rounds, he could pick any famous school in the world.

"Oh? Which school?" Ji Hanwu asked casually.

"Yuzhou University."

"Oh? Not going to take the opportunity to venture farther while you're young?" Ji Hanwu sounded as though he was questioning Gao Peng's decision, but the smile on his face gave it all away. At that moment, Ji Hanwu was in a rather good mood.

"I'll apply to Neon University then," said Gao Peng cheekily.

Ji Hanwu turned his head and gave Gao Peng a look. "Don't fool around. Yuzhou University it is!"

"OK."

Gao Peng was amused. His grandpa was an old man whose words did not match the thought in his mind.

Leaving the hotel, Gao Peng took out his phone to withdraw from the competition. But then he suddenly realized that he didn't know who to contact, and he froze on the sport awkwardly.

Ji Hanwu laughed at the sight. He took out his phone to make a few calls, then turned it off again. "Alright, the matter has been settled."

Ji Hanwu noticed that his grandson still had some doubts and could not help but offer some words of encouragement. He patted Gao Peng on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry so much. Just take the right steps, one step at a time. You are the owner of your own life. Grandpa will not interfere…"

As Ji Hanwu finished his words, his voice sank a little. He was thinking of his own daughter. She had run away from home exactly because he kept forcing his own ideas on her.

"Say, Grandpa. In life, do you think that one needs to care about what others think of them?" Gao Peng asked suddenly. This was something that he had kept in his heart for a long time without any answer.

"Why bother with how others see you? Are you living your life for others?" Ji Hanwu questioned in return.

Gao Peng was silent for two seconds. Then he shook his head.

"That's right. Just take Grandpa, for example. If I cared about how others viewed me, I wouldn't have gotten where I am today." Ji Hanwu laughed loudly. "You must remember, in this life, as long as you keep working hard and moving forward, you will end up as the villain in some people's stories."

"What about you, Grandpa?"

"Me?" Ji Hanwu paused, then continue to laugh. "I've been notorious since long ago."

There were issues to settle back at the company, so Ji Hanwu had to leave that very night.

Gao Peng also left that night, but he didn't take the same flight as Ji Hanwu. Under his grandpa's arrangements, he flew back to Chang'an.

Although he had decided to go to Yuzhou, Gao Peng still needed to return to Chang'an to settle certain matters before leaving, such as his old home, Flying Roc Studios, and the small villa that he had bought but barely had time to live in.

Gao Peng was the sole passenger in the plane, but he had a total of twelve flight attendants serving him throughout the flight, as well as the pilot and copilot.

When they arrived in Chang'an, the pilot said to Gao Peng, "Young Master Gao, the plane will be here at the airport. Please tell us whenever you are ready to fly again. Usually just one day in advance will do. We will arrange a time to take off with the airport."

"Don't you all have to get back to work?" Gao Peng asked after a moment of pause.

"You must be joking, sir. This is your personal aircraft. Our full-time work is to provide service for you," the pilot replied with a smile.

"…Alright." Gao Peng nodded. He was trying his best to get used to this.

When he arrived back at his villa, it was already four in the afternoon. He took a bath and then went over to Uncle Liu's to retrieve Flamy.

Entering Uncle Liu's home, Gao Peng was greeted by a fat white penguin hobbling over to meet him.

"Uncle Liu?" Gao Peng shouted, but there was no response from Uncle Liu.

Where is he? Gao Peng was a little puzzled. Where could Uncle Liu have gone?

Tweet, tweet. The fat penguin circled around Gao Peng many times, looking anxious.

"Since when did Uncle Liu raise a penguin in his home?"

Gao Peng squinted as he observed the penguin carefully. Suddenly, he noticed that the way the penguin walked was rather peculiar. It looked as though it was hopping, but it was too fat to actually hop properly, so it hobbled instead.

The penguin lifted its white and fluffy belly, which then spilled forward, causing it to hobble two steps forward, and it had to flap its wings to maintain balance.

Why does this penguin look so familiar?

Gao Peng was in deep thought.

Silly curiously circled the penguin with no hint of fear at all.

Tweet, tweet!! The penguin cried as loud as it could.

Because it was too fat, even its voice seemed sharper than it should be, as though it was slick with a layer of oil.

Gao Peng suddenly thought of a scary possibility. His eyes twitched.

"Fl-Flamy?"

Seeing that its master finally recognized it, Flamy excitedly flapped its wings and hopped around happily.

Gao Peng almost threw up blood.

From a thin and slender crane into a penguin? What on earth were you feeding it, Uncle Liu?

Seeing that its master was not giving it a warm embrace, Flamy tweeted indignantly.

You don't like me anymore!

Flamy continued to tweet loudly in protest, flapping its wings and thrashing about the living room. Its sharp beak pierced a hole through the sofa and ripped out the white cotton material. With a turn of its body, it smashed an antique wooden chair.

Then Flamy stopped. It stole a glance at its owner and saw that he still was not trying to comfort it. Angrily, Flamy continued to demolish the house.

Slap!

A black shadow flashed past. Flamy spun in the air a full 1080 degrees before falling flat on the ground.

Because it was too fat, Flamy's belly simply bounced off the ground. It helplessly beat its wings about but only managed to roll around on the ground.

A pitch-black cat as large as a leopard quietly sat in the middle of the living room. It gently licked its paw, looking at Flamy with contempt.

Dare you try to demolish the house again?

Gao Peng found this both infuriating and amusing. He picked the fat crane up from the ground. Seeing Softy's practiced motions, it was clear that this was not the first time that Flamy had tried to demolish the house.

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Chapter 152: Memes

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Softy lay quietly on the ground and simply watched as Gao Peng dragged the fat crane away.

After making sure that Gao Peng was far away, Softy got up, stuck its front paws out and gave a lazy stretch. Its back curved into an arch and its black tail swished about gently.

Softy elegantly walked to the telephone. Using its left claw, it managed to place the telephone right beside its ear. From its right paw, a single claw stuck out, which it used to gently press on the number pad.

Softy's call was answered. Meow? it said lazily.

As though totally used to it, the person on the other side answered, "Understood."

Putting down the phone, the receptionist girl from the furniture shop took out pen and paper, scribbled something down, and spoke to her supervisor. "Supervisor, the old customer at No. 12 is requesting a new set of furniture."

"Alright, Li, go over to his house to check out what needs to be changed. Then call back and we'll send someone over with the furniture."

"Yes, supervisor." A young man dressed in a blue short-sleeved shirt left the building and drove off to the outskirts on a motorcycle.

Back in his own home, Gao Peng instructed Dumby to drop Flamy.

Flamy fell to the floor with a crash. No matter how hard it tried, Flamy could not get up from the ground because it was too fat. It couldn't fly, either. It was totally round, just like a ball.

Tweet, tweet? Flamy asked its comrades in surprise. Why are you not helping me up?

Da Zi's antennae wavered as it got ready to help Flamy up.

"Don't. If Flamy can't get up on its own today, it doesn't have to get up anymore," said Gao Peng unceremoniously.

Flamy blinked and then lay on the ground, playing dead.

Gao Peng placed the fat penguin on the treadmill in his villa.

"You will properly exercise for me for the next few days," Gao Peng told Flamy, patting it on the head.

Flamy's red crest was a bright red, the color fresh blood. It was a lump of red flesh on its head. It felt rough to the touch, like a bunch of ice-cold gravel. There was plenty of friction as his hands ran across the crest. Flamy had a fire attribute, but its crest was ice cold. The surface of Flamy's feathers also felt smooth and silky, and it was really nice to touch them.

Afterward, Gao Peng packed up a bit before driving to school.

He had been riding on Stripey most of the time, and his butt was aching. Riding in a vehicle was definitely more comfortable. As he drove his large truck down the highway, he caught the envious glares of many. Such a metallic beast like that driving down the roads was indeed very eye-catching.

Gao Peng parked his truck in a parking lot not far from the school. He turned off the engine, got out, and walked toward the school.

Classes were in session. Usually, after getting two days off after the college entrance examinations, the school would carry out the extra summer holiday lessons for the high school sophomores. It was a show of warmth and caring for their students.

Gao Peng was, by right, a high school senior. He had just graduated early. Knowing that he had already finished his examinations and that his classmates were still in the classrooms working hard, Gao Peng could not resist wanting to go in and take a look at them.

The security guard stopped Gao Peng, saying, "Outsiders are not allowed to enter the school."

Next to the security guard rested a Steel-Backed Manul, which raised its head and glared menacingly at Gao Peng. Its smooth and round body looked just like a ball. Even without revealing such an expression, it already looked incredibly vicious.

But this manul was also still small, only the length of two palms. Its meaty cheeks grew a few strands of long white whiskers, which swayed when the wind blew. It menacingly circled around Gao Peng, walking in a unique manner. Its feet pointed outward while its heels turned inward, just like the Chinese character for "eight."

"Uncle, I am from this school," said Gao Peng, fishing out his student ID.

The security guard took it to take a look. "It is from our school," he said. Then he stared suspiciously at Gao Peng. "But why do I find you so familiar?"

Hearing the guard's words, the manul pounced at Gao Peng with a little mew. It tore a hole in Gao Peng's pants with its little teeth.

Gao Peng gently raised his right leg and the palm-sized manul fell over backwards with its legs sticking out in the air. It rolled over on the ground and then viciously pounced at Gao Peng again.

"Stop it," Gao Peng scolded the fat little thing in a deep tone.

He bent down and picked up the manul, finding that the little fella was actually lighter than he had thought it would be. Its smooth fur was rather thick, just like a thick layer of hide. The short, fluffy furs pricked Gao Peng's palm, making it itch.

After being picked up by Gao Peng, the little fella kept reaching out with its paws to attack. It was extremely comical and cute.

The manul cat was known among felines for having short, stubby legs. With its large square face, round ears, and short stubby tail, it looked like a chubby, little thing.

"Uncle, how come you're raising a manul cat now?" Gao Peng asked curiously. He remembered that the security guard didn't have any pet in the past.

The security guard frowned at Gao Peng. "I've had this little kitten for almost half a month. You're a student here, but you don't know that?"

Uhh…

Gao Peng was at a loss for words. He did not think that the security guard would be so serious about his work.

"I'm from Year 2, Class 3. I took the college entrance examinations early…" Gao Peng began explaining the situation to the guard.

The security guard slapped his forehead. "I remember now! You're the salted fish!"

Gao Peng's face fell.

The security guard chuckled as he took out his phone. With a very practiced motion, he unlocked his phone, opened up WeChat, and scrolled through one of his chats. Very quickly, he found the picture, and tapped on it to enlarge it.

Gao Peng was lying spread-eagled on a large rock. Around him were his familiars, all in similar positions. Below were the words in large white font: "I have become a salted fish."

Gao Peng's face froze with an awkward smile.

"No wonder you looked so familiar! You're the salted fish," chuckled the security guard.

"Uncle, how long has this picture been spreading around?"

"It's been popular for a while now. Hey, hey, don't go. There are a few more, and they're all pretty funny." The security guard kept scrolling, showing Gao Peng memes of other examination participants as well.

One was of this boy sitting in a very ungraceful manner on his flying Volcanic Vulture, his hands wrapped tightly around the familiar's neck. His hair was blown into a mess, his face was pale, and his expression was frightening. Below were the words "trembling in fear."

Puchi.

Gao Peng tried not to laugh, but he couldn't help it.

Then, he felt anger bubbling from within. Just who had taken such a handsome photo of him and secretly uploaded it onto the web!?

In the classroom, Li Zigong suddenly sneezed.

"Just a while ago, the principal held a meeting to praise you. You've brought fame to Chang'an Third High," said the security guard, laughing. "Since this is your alma mater, please go in."

Gao Peng thanked the security guard and walked toward the school building.

The Steel-Backed Manul kitten cautiously hid behind the guards's legs, staring at Gao Peng as he passed. It even mewed menacingly as Gao Peng looked over.

Gao Peng smiled and continued walking into the school.

School was still the same. Nothing big had changed, and the teachers were all still there. But for some reason, it had still lost that sense of familiarity. It was like a stranger returning to an old home that another family had moved into.

Below the math building were a few pots of bonsai. Under the blazing sun, they were all baked brown.

Suddenly, Gao Peng heard the school bell ring. A hoard of students came scrambling down the stairs toward the cafeteria.

Gao Peng shook his head. He had a complicated look in his eyes. He knew that he would not have a chance to come back to this school in the future.

After things were settled, he would be heading over to Yuzhou, even though Chang'an was his home. But still, was a place without family still considered home?

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Chapter 153: He Ming

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The marble stairs were very clean, still showing traces of water that had not fully dried yet. The faint scent of disinfectant lingered in the air.

The school bell signaling the end of class rang, but the classroom doors remained shut. As Gao Peng passed a classroom, he could hear the loud voice of the teacher speaking, "So, according to the analysis, the answer for this organic matter should be 'amino acid.'"

Gao Peng continued on to the staff offices, but Ms. Murong was not there. She was likely still in class.

After a few minutes, Murong Qiuye walked into the office with a stack of papers. Seeing Gao Peng waiting for her, she was surprised at first, then she nodded her head happily, saying, "You're back. Your performance on TV was not bad."

Bang. The thick stack of papers landed on the desk. Murong Qiuye picked up a thermos flask from the desk and took a sip of water.

Seeing that Gao Peng was still standing stiffly by the side, Murong Qiuye brought a chair over from the next teacher's desk. "What are you standing there like a fool for? Come sit down."

Gao Peng saw that Ms. Murong had become thinner. Her round and chubby face seemed less wide than before. Perhaps it was because he had not met her for a while that he could notice the change.

"Ms. Murong, you've lost weight."

"It's alright, I'm used to it. Every year, the summer is busier, so my body shrinks a little. But once winter comes, my weight will bounce back." Murong Qiuye did not mind the comment at all. "Don't worry, my body weight is really stable."

"Oh…"

Gao Peng really had no idea how to continue the conversation, so he changed the topic and asked about his old classmates and how they were doing. But Murong Qiuye seemed more interested in the Monster Trainer College Entrance Examination, and she asked him many questions about the other candidates and their familiars.

Such as the Vine-Covered Rock Monster. Was it really made up of rocks? How does a pile of rocks move on its own? Does it need to eat? And so on.

Even if you ask me, I don't know the answers either! thought Gao Peng

Gao Peng didn't really have any answers for a lot of the questions that Ms. Murong asked. After all, he had not interacted with the other participants much. In fact, he might even know less than the television audience.

The two of them chatted until the next class started. Murongo Qiuye smiled and said to Gao Peng, "Alright, come visit me when you're free again. I have to go to class now."

Gao Peng nodded and rose to his feet. He placed his chair back where it had come from. As he turned around, he saw Murong Qiuye open a drawer and take out another thick stack of papers.

Leaving the school, Gao Peng thought for a bit and decided to make a trip to the Monster Breeder Association. Of course, it didn't go by that name anymore. Now it was called the Monster Trainer League Monster Breeder Division. The name was much longer now and looked much more impressive.

Upon reaching the Chang'an Monster Breeder Division, Gao Peng found out from the receptionist that Director Chen had resigned. It had happened not long after the new Monster Trainer League had been set up.

At that time, Gao Peng was preparing for the combat portion of his Monster Trainer College Examinations, so he had not received the news.

"Alright." Gao Peng nodded. Since Director Chen was not around anymore, he had no more business there.

Just as Gao Peng was about to leave, someone shouted from behind. "Wait!"

Gao Peng turned around, puzzled. A man wearing a white combat suit was walking over quickly. Upon taking a closer look at Gao Peng's face, he heaved a sigh of relief. "It really is you, Mr. Gao."

"You are…?" Gao Peng really had no recollection of who this guy was.

"Uhh…" Seeing that Gao Peng did not recognize him, He Ming became a little awkward. He remembered clearly that they had had a meal together before. "Just a few months ago, we had dinner together, along with BlueShield Protection Company manager Liu Senlin and a few other captains." He Ming spoke very sincerely.

Gao Peng then finally realized who he was. They did share a meal together, but that night had not been a very happy experience for Gao Peng. And that, Gao Peng remembered very clearly. He had forgotten most of the details, but he certainly remembered that he had left the dinner unhappy.

"Oh," Gao Peng said, nodding reservedly. His face displayed a coldness that made it clear that he was trying to keep his distance. As far away as possible.

He Ming felt a little embarrassed. He was, after all, the captain of a renowned Monster Hunting Squad in Chang'an City and was well known within his community. To have approached someone in public to speak to him and gotten such a cold treatment in return really made him lose face.

But, remembering that he had something to ask of Gao Peng, he had no choice but to swallow his resentment. A beggar must behave like a beggar. He knew better than to put on airs when pleading for help.

"Ahem, Mr. Gao, it was indeed our fault that day. Actually, I have always meant to find you to apologize, but I just never had the opportunity to meet you," He Ming said, all smiles.

Those who had business in the Monster Breeder Division were all people that dealt with familiars, and many of them recognized He Ming. Although they were surprised to see He Ming being so deferential to such a young boy, none of them lingered around to watch. He Ming was known for being a bully. If they were seen laughing at his predicament, he was sure to bear a grudge.

"There's nothing to apologize for. You guys did nothing wrong to begin with. It's just that we have different ideologies that we live by, that's all," Gao Peng replied, smiling.

With that, Gao Peng simply turned around and left.

He Ming reached out and grabbed Gao Peng's arm in panic. "Wait!"

He Ming's expression looked really embarrassed now. He had already lowered himself so much in front of this kid. What more did he want?

Gao Peng squinted. His eyes gleamed with a dangerous light. "Let go."

"Sorry, sorry." He Ming immediately let go. "Mr. Gao, please take a look at my familiars. You can name your price." Discomfort was written all over He Ming's face. "I tried to make an appointment with you earlier, but I never got the chance. Then you were busy with the monster trainer competitions… In the whole of Chang'an City, only you can help promote my familiars."

"You really have a high opinion of me," Gao Peng replied plainly.

"Please help me. No one else will be able to do it!" He Ming was adamant.

Gao Peng quietly looked at him. Was this guy joking? According to the statistics table that he could see, He Ming's condition clearly stated that he was in a rage, but no hint of anger could be seen on his face. This guy's acting was pretty good.

Ever since that dinner, Gao Peng had had a poor impression of these so-called "Elite Monster Hunting Squads." Today, that impression was solidified.

But, if he thought about it further, he could understand where they were coming from. These Monster Hunting Squads frequently entered the wilderness and fought with monsters. He had also heard that they often employed dirty methods. There was no law in the wilderness. Although the rules of the Monster Trainer League would never clearly state so, that there was no law in the wilderness was an unspoken rule that everyone knew.

Gao Peng considered He Ming carefully. Although he seemed friendly to Gao Peng, Gao Peng had already caused him to lose face, and he most likely hated Gao Peng to the bone for it.

Gao Peng looked at him plainly, then suddenly smiled. "Ok, then, bring your familiars over tomorrow. I'm only an intermediate level monster breeder. I cannot ensure success, but I will try my best."

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Chapter 154: Can't Go With a Broken Leg, Can You?

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

He Ming was stunned. He had not expected Gao Peng to agree so easily. It was almost too quick…

After leaving the Monster Breeder Division, Gao Peng took a cab to his studio in the city center. As he walked into the studio, he saw that it was quite busy with customers.

"Little Boss, this is the new intermediate monster breeder, Liu Menghui," Xun Quanquan said, introducing Gao Peng to a lady in a grey suit who looked like she was around thirty years old. She nodded at Gao Peng.

"Great! At least this studio won't fall into ruin after I leave," said Gao Peng.

He was still very agreeable to getting another monster breeder to work here. After all, developing this studio was Uncle Liu's wish, and he hoped that he could make this studio successful and famous. If the studio's business declined once he left town, he would feel really guilty.

Now that he thought about it, Gao Peng had not actually seen how other intermediate monster breeders raised the grade of familiars. Gao Peng was quite curious, but he knew that it was not nice to ask, since every method used could be a practitioner's secret. It was best not to be overly curious.

"In the future, I won't be able to work at the studio anymore. In two days' time, I'll be heading over to Yuzhou. You guys keep up the good work," Gao Peng said.

"What? Little Boss, you're leaving?" Xun Quanquan was reluctant to see him leave. She thought Gao Peng was very nice, and he had never gotten on to her when he caught her secretly snacking in the office.

Leaving the studio, Gao Peng turned back to look at it one more time.

Initially, Gao Peng had intended to do something nasty to He Ming's familiars while helping to promote them the next day. He had wanted to cripple them. For a person who can see the weaknesses of any familiar, it was child's play to ruin a familiar without leaving any noticeable traces.

But after some thought, he felt that there was really no need to do so.

He Ming was detestable, that was true. But in reality, he had not actually done anything too aggravating. Gao Peng was not a dollar bill; not everyone was supposed to love him.

To cripple a person's familiars over such a trivial issue would be very childish behavior.

He Ming went back to his home in the outskirts, where he lived with his familiars and his family. It was a simple four-walled house with a courtyard.

"This darn weather is baking me to death," said He Ming with a sigh. He took off his white battle suit, tossed it into the washing machine, and wiped the sweat off his face.

He walked into his room to change into a clean white battle suit. All of his clothes were white. He thought that white was more authoritative, and that it accentuated his status as a powerhouse.

Walking out of his room, He Ming suddenly froze. A black leopard was lying quietly in the middle of his house, its jade green eyes staring at him.

He Ming chuckled to himself dryly, but it lacked any humor. "Which brother is playing a prank on me?"

Looking around him, the rooms were all silent. The black leopard slowly got up and strode elegantly toward him. Its steps were light, not making a single sound at all, like some ghostly apparition.

He Ming slowly retreated, calling within his mind for his familiars' assistance.

This was definitely not a wild monster! He Ming was sure of it. The black leopard's fur was extremely smooth, just like high-quality black silk. Just from the look of it, he could tell that someone tended to it often.

Roar!

The nearby wall exploded to bits as a giant black gorilla charged out angrily.

Its thick arms were like reinforced steel beams. It charged at the black leopard and took a swing at it with its thick right fist, the explosive force generating a gust of wind that rattled the windows of the house!

The black leopard stood still without dodging, and He Ming's eyes lit up in delight.

This leopard is dead meat!

His Brutal Devil Gorilla was extremely strong. Just one punch from its tough fists could smash a few square yards of limestone.

The fist went straight down at the leopard. But, as though it had struck a shadow, the fist simply went through the black leopard's body and landed on the ground.

Crash!!!

He Ming felt the ground shift under his feet, and the shockwave sent him tumbling.

The Brutal Devil Gorilla was stunned. Suddenly, the black leopard appeared behind it in a nimble flash of movement. Sharp claws sprung out of its paws, each gleaming with a cold light.

With a gentle swish, like a hot knife through butter, it easily ripped into the Brutal Devil Gorilla's back. Blood spewed out of the four devastating slash wounds.

The black leopard then jumped backward, avoiding the punch that came as the Brutal Devil Gorilla turned around. It was as agile as the most elite assassins of the night.

Bang!

White smoke was drifted out of the gun barrel held in He Ming's shaking hand, the smell of gunpowder lingering in the air.

But the bullet just spun on the black leopard's fur, creating a ripple across its shiny black fur. In the end, the energy from the bullet fully dissipated, and it fell to the ground with a clank.

Even a bullet was not able to penetrate the fur of the black leopard.

Meow. The black leopard squinted and gave He Ming a threatening look.

A cat? He Ming was stunned for a moment. He had thought that it was a leopard, but it had meowed instead of roared. But the distinction was unimportant. He had bought time for his familiar.

The moment the black cat turned to look at him, the Brutal Devil Gorilla took the opportunity to swing a vicious blow at the black cat!

But the moment the first struck the black cat's body, He Ming watched as the cat morphed into a bunch of black shadows, the fist going straight through the inky mist of shadows.

Shadowfication!

A rare ability unique to shadow-type monsters.

Despair clouded He Ming's face. His own familiar was perfectly countered by this monster. Against shadow-type monsters, one either had to use light-type familiars or some form of elemental powers to fight against it. Using pure force was totally ineffective against shadow.

The black cat's body wove through the darkness and blended in with a dark, shadowy corner of the house, vanishing from sight.

He Ming felt a chill run down his back, and he quickly fled toward the back of the house. But it was already too late.

"Energy Barrier."

A pale yellow energy barrier was activated, like a layer of pale yellow film, sticking close to the surface of his body.

Just as a large force struck him from the back.

He Ming was sent flying, knocking over a chair.

The Energy Barrier covering his body revealed a layer of cracks, which were slowly being restored to normal.

A powerful wind swept past, and over a dozen strikes were made at the same time, all on the same spot.

The Energy Barrier was immediately broken to pieces, and blood splattered out. He Ming let out a painful cry as he clutched his leg and rolled across the ground. A sharp pain swept over him, enveloping his entire soul.

The black cat performed a Shadow Leap and vanished.

Large drops of perspiration dripped down He Ming's forehead. In his heart was despair, but also a sliver of relief. The other party seemed to have no intention of killing him. Though they could just want to keep tormenting me…

He Ming could feel that the ligaments in his leg were torn apart. He hurriedly took out his phone to call the hospital. If he were lucky, they might be able to be reattached.

Who could have attacked him? How could he have not heard of such a powerful top-tier monster trainer with a shadow-type cat familiar within Chang'an?

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Chapter 155: Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm Commander

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

That night, Gao Peng received a phone call from He Ming. He said that his wife had fallen ill and that he'd had to accompany her at the hospital. He was hoping to reschedule a time for his appointment, as he would not be able to attend the following day.

"Captain He, I'll be heading over to Yuzhou tomorrow. Let's arrange for an appointment if we're both available in the future," Gao Peng answered.

Gao Peng felt that this was really too coincidental. He had been trying to think of an excuse to avoid working on He Ming's familiars, and, lo and behold, an excuse had appeared right in front of him.

After about ten minutes, the phone rang again. Flamy, who was working hard on the treadmill, immediately got off. It rushed to the sofa in hops and jumps, grabbed the phone, and rushed it into the kitchen. Flamy handed the phone to its master, eager to please.

Gao Peng took the phone, and Flamy happily puffed up its chest, eagerly looking at its master with expectant eyes.

Gao Peng looked at his phone and saw that it was Director Chen. As he answered the phone, he waved Flamy away with his hand and said, "Looks like you're taking it easy now, aren't you? One more hour on the treadmill."

Flamy's soul left its body.

"You're back from Jiangnan?" On the other end of the phone, Director Chen's hearty laugher could be heard. "Are you free tomorrow? There is something I need your help with. It's something good, don't worry."

"Director Chen, why did you leave the Monster Breeder Association?" Gao Peng asked. Director Chen was a seasoned director of the Monster Breeder Association. Apparently, he had taken up the role ever since the Cataclysm.

When the topic of the Monster Breeder Association was brought up, Director Chen seemed a bit sad.

"The organization has changed. It is no longer the Monster Breeder Association that I loved working for. The Monster Breeder Association is now a subsidiary of the Monster Trainer League, and the Monster Trainer League…" Over on the other end, Director Chen fell silent. He seemed to have something to say, but the words never came out in the end.

"I heard that the establishment of the Monster Trainer League has something to do with the Allied Government," said Gao Peng. This would mean that the Monster Trainer League and the Allied Government had a very close relationship.

Director Chen's laughter came from the other end of the line again. "Yes, they are related. But it's not in the way that you might imagine. I'm working for the military right now. Are you interested in coming to work here? Based on your talents and the potential in your work performance, it would be totally possible for you to be in charge of your own laboratory here." Director Chen knew that Gao Peng was on his own, and he wanted to help him out.

If this were the Gao Peng of the past, he would have considered. But now that he had gotten back in touch with his grandpa, he had abandoned all intentions of joining any such established powers.

Director Chen felt that Gao Peng's decision was a pity, but he quickly lifted his spirits. "It's alright. But for now, there's a big job to be done. Are you interested? Uh… I can't pay you much for it, but I can make up for it with rare materials." Director Chen knew Gao Peng's personality well. Money was the greatest enticement.

"Please feel free to get straight to the point, Director Chen. If it's within my means, I will do my best to help."

"Alright, I'll get straight to the point, then. You've probably heard of the Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworms migrating over from the Dali Desert, right? The colony of Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworms has already been driven out beyond the Chang'an City borders. But recently, a Monster Hunting Squad discovered that, within the colony, a Commander tier Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm is about to promote to Lord tier."

A Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm about to reach Lord tier… Gao Peng tried to digest the news.

"The military is preparing to capture a Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm on the brink of reaching Lord tier?" Director Chen was representing the military now, so this request was also coming from them.

"Yes, but not right away. We intend to have this Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm successfully promote. Since these earthworms initially lived in the Dali Desert, we believe they will return to the Dali Desert if it manages to successfully promote."

Gao Peng realized their plan with a start. Dali Desert was currently dominated by the Desert Ruler. Although the Dali Desert had gotten bigger since the Cataclysm, it was definitely not big enough to house the territories of two Lord tier monsters. When the time came, a huge battle would erupt. It seemed like the Chang'an military was preparing to reap the spoils of this battle.

But the only thing was…what part could Gao Peng possibly play in this plan? He was baffled. A battle at such a level was way beyond him. Even if he went, all he could do was watch.

"Don't worry, we won't be taking part in a battle between Lord tier monsters. All we'll do is prevent other monsters from interfering while the Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm is in the midst of promoting."

"Why come to me then? Aren't there much stronger trainers within the military?"

"Well," said Director Chen awkwardly, "this plan was proposed by me, but the upper brass of the military didn't like it, so I can only rely on my own connections. But don't worry, there shouldn't be too much danger. I also have a few military trainers on my side, and, if the plan goes well in the end, the Golden Deity itself will personally lend us a hand.

"Seems like Director Chen isn't doing so well since joining the military…" thought Gao Peng.

"Alright, when will the giant earthworm be evolving?"

"It should be within the next two days. According to reports, a lot of Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworms have already begun to gather. We believe this is in preparation for the promotion. I'll owe you one after this. In the future, just come to me if there's anything you need," said Director Chen gratefully. Ever since he had stepped down from his position as the director of the Monster Breeder Association, he had truly learned about the warmth and coldness of humanity. Many who had appeared to be his friends on the surface had all declined one by one the moment they heard about a monster promoting to Lord tier.

The next day, the group of people gathered along the Mirror Lake in the outskirts of Chang'an. By the time Gao Peng got there, Director Chen and the others were already there. Other than Director Chen, there were two others dressed in casual wear. They were both tall and fat. He thought their weights added together must equal more than 500 pounds.

"And this is?" asked Director Chen, looking hesitantly at the old man standing next to Gao Peng.

"He is one of my elders from my family…" said Gao Peng, introducing Uncle Liu to the rest.

"Good morning, everyone. Have you all eaten? I have some buns here, they're still hot." Uncle Liu took over the conversation and offered the plastic bag he was carrying. The thick fragrance of meat buns rose into the air.

"It's ok, we've eaten," said Director Chen with an awkward smile.

"Why, thank you." The fat man on the left chuckled as he reached his hands into the bag and took out two large buns.

"Uncle, you are so generous. I shall not stand on ceremony." The fat man on the right also chuckled as he reached for two large buns. He bit into one, smearing his mouth with grease.

Director Chen just stared at them silently.

"Let's not be strangers, everyone," said Gao Peng, trying to diffuse the awkwardness in the air.

Uncle Liu was wearing a white athletic jersey, a pair of grey shorts, and a pair of olive green sports shoes. He looked like he was just taking a walk in the park, which probably explained Director Chen's puzzled expression when he first saw him.

"My name is Liu Shaotang," said Uncle Liu as he introduced himself. "You can call me Uncle Liu or Old Liu."

This was the first time that Gao Peng had heard Uncle Liu's full name, which he thought was rather elegant. Gao Peng suddenly thought of how Uncle Liu looked when he was dressed proper, and it gave an entirely different impression of him.

"I am Li Qing," said the fat man on the left.

"I am Qin Yi," said the fat man on the right.

"…Zhong?" Uncle Liu ventured hesitatingly.

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Chapter 156: Shadow Japalura

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"That's right, it's Li Qing Qin Yi Zhong." Li Qing was not bothered by the pun at all. He and Qin Yi got a long very well, and they had formed a Monster Hunting Squad after the Cataclysm. Those that knew them within the monster hunting community had all made the same pun. There was nothing much worth getting angry over actually. The more they heard it, they more they thought it was amusing as well.

Although they didn't look like they minded, Gao Peng was still not comfortable with making a joke out of other people's names.

"My name is Chen Xuehe," said Director Chen to Uncle Liu, introducing his name.

Gao Peng looked at the familiars brought by Director Chen and his company. Director Chen's three familiars were all Commander tier Wide-Toothed Iron Worms. One was at level 30, and the other two were level 24 and 25. Those were both significantly smaller than the level 30 worm.

Li Qing's familiars were a level 24 Thorny Iron-Hide Boar and a level 21 Poison-Blooded Green Snake.

Qin Yi, on the other hand, had one level 27 Flaming Bird. Its feathers seemed to be flowing with wisps of flame, and its eyes were bright.

Raising familiars was not an easy task. Each familiar had its normal level limit, which might vary slightly based on individual differences. Before approaching this level limit, increasing the level was easy. But once the limit was reached, every increase in level required a large amount of effort and, very often, a large cost as well.

To avoid that, there was another, more convenient method, which was to evolve the familiar's species. For example, if a wolf were to evolve into a ferocious tiger, its level limit would rise significantly. By feeding it large amounts of rich and nutritious food afterward, it would be able to rise quickly in level again.

As the director of the Monster Breeder Association, Director Chen definitely did not lack the finances. His Wide-Toothed Iron Worms must have hit their level limits long ago, or else the highest leveled one would not merely be at level 30.

For this occasion, Gao Peng had brought Da Zi, Dumby, Silly, Stripey, and Flamy.

Under Uncle Liu's efforts to nurture Flamy, it had already reached level 19 and was on the brink of breaking through to Commander tier. During promotion to Commander tier, there was an extremely high chance of awakening a monster's special abilities.

"Don't tell me you've brought all of your familiars?" Director Chen was a little surprised.

"… Do you all keep your familiars at home?" Gao Peng asked.

"I have two familiars with low combat ability, so I didn't bring them," said Director Chen as he shook his head.

"I just recently managed to establish a contract with a juvenile Commander tier monster, so I'm still nurturing it at home," said Qin Yi.

Gao Peng looked at his full team of five familiars. It was as if he'd brought the entire family out, both young and old.

"It's alright. I brought all of my familiars along too. We're going full force, aren't we?" Uncle Liu said to comfort Gao Peng.

Gao Peng nodded, grateful to him.

Other than Softy, Uncle Liu had brought another familiar as well. Its body was almost twenty feet long, but it looked like an ordinary green lizard. The giant green lizard squinted as it lay on the ground. It was extremely quiet and didn't look the least bit scary.

But its attributes were absolutely frightening.

[Monster Name: Shadow Japalura

[Monster Level: 39

[Monster Grade: Perfect

[Monster Ability: Harden Skin Lv2

[Special Characteristic: Shadow Assassin (Effect 1, Passive Effect: When it is silent and still, it will perfectly blend in with its surroundings, matching both color and body temperature to its surroundings; Effect 2, Passive Effect: Its special skin allows it to absorb sound as well as vibrations, allowing it to move silently and remain almost undetectable.)

A Nightshadow Cat and a Shadow Japalura. Uncle Liu's familiars were all perfectly suited for the path of an assassin.

Gao Peng suddenly understood why Grandpa had sent Uncle Liu to him.

But, if Uncle Liu's familiars were already at such a high level, what kind of level were Grandpa's familiars at? Furthermore, to have achieved such a feat within the three short years since the Cataclysm, it seemed like Grandpa had secrets of his own.

As the group followed the Mirror Lake and walked inward, the forest made rustling sounds as they passed, the monsters hiding within the bushes clutching themselves closely in fear.

The Shadow Japalura's eyes kept turning, secretly observing the surrounding trees. Suddenly, it opened its mouth, and a dark red tongue shot out. It pierced through the trunk of a large tree, penetrating deep in order to extract the sap. Then, in the next moment, the tongue fiercely snapped back into its mouth!

The Shadow Japalura closed its mouth and a very human-like look of disgust came across its face. The sap must not have tasted very good.

Smacking its lips, the Shadow Japalura continued to walk ahead with Uncle Liu on its back. The way it walked, however, was a little strange. It kept changing from slow to fast, and it kept rocking its head in an insane manner—front, front, left, left, right, right…

The Shadow Japalura was six feet tall, and it looked like a giant green beast from afar. Its large and wide tail kept swishing about, sweeping through the bushes and making rustling sounds.

Gao Peng was a bit envious. Riding such a giant lizard looked much cooler than riding a spider.

After about an hour of walking, they had only run into one Commander tier monster. The monster had initially rushed out of the trees confidently, but after it had detected the aura of more than ten Commander tier familiars, it had come to an abrupt halt and turned around, escaping with its tail between its legs.

"It's here." Director Chen pointed ahead to a depression that formed a basin.

Gao Peng was surprised. They had not travelled very far. They weren't deep enough into the Dark Ember Forest yet, as this area was still considered the outer regions.

"Any further in, and we'll be in the territory of the Lord of the Dark Ember. The Lord of the Dark Ember has always had a bad temper. It would be bad to provoke it," said Director Chen with a shake of his head.

"Is the Lord of the Dark Ember's actual name 'Lord of the Dark Ember?'"

"No, that's not its proper name. We call it that because it is currently occupying the whole of the Dark Ember Forest. Anything that can hold such a large territory is often at the pinnacle amongst Lord tier monsters. You see, not all Lord tier monsters are lords of a territory. Just like how not all beanbags contain actual beans," joked Director Chen.

"For instance, if that Desert Ruler were able to occupy the Dali Desert for a long enough period of time, perhaps we would start calling it Lord of the Dali instead… Everyone be careful." Director Chen's voice became softer as he signaled for the group to slow down. "Right before a breakthrough in level is when a monster is most cautious. For now, we do not want to move in too close, or else we could provoke it. We just have to stay right here. In fact, we might not need to do anything in the end. These Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworms will naturally protect their leader," said Director Chen in a soft voice.

The group carefully walked forward. From the edge of the depression on the ground, they could see scores of earthworms covering the entire basin.

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Chapter 157: 40.5

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The earthworms filling the basin flipped around every so often, bringing up patches of soil. The earth in this basin had all been dug up, and the air was thick with a foul stench and the earthy smell of the soil.

"These earthworms enjoy loosening the soil." It might be his occupational hazard, but Director Chen was still fond of reciting scientific facts. "Usually, when there's nothing to do, these earthworms will dig up the earth beneath them and then keep tossing the earth back upward as they work their way down, repeating the action again and again."

"Don't they get tired?"

"I don't know. But from the looks of it, they seem to be having fun." Director Chen pointed toward an earthworm that had twisted itself into a convoluted pattern. That earthworm's unique manner had attracted the attention of its surrounding comrades. A group of them huddled over and surrounded each other, forming a giant ball. They indeed seemed to be having a great time.

The sight of it hurt Gao Peng's eyes, and he quietly turned away.

"So these earthworms aren't beneficial to crops anymore, are they?" Gao Peng asked, looking at the earth that had been "loosened" beyond recognition. If these earthworms were sent to loosen the soil in a field, they would bring all the seedlings back up to the surface.

"Theoretically speaking, if we could find a large enough and hardy enough vegetable, these earthworms could still be beneficial."

As they were chatting, a monster rushed out of the woods beside them.

They didn't know where the monster had come from, but its giant black bat wings became two black tornadoes as the monster dove down from the sky in a flash. Its claws grabbed a particularly fat Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm, and it flew away.

The earthworms in the basin seemed to panic a bit, but they didn't scatter and flee in all directions. Instead, they gathered together, opening their mouths menacingly at the monsters hiding in the woods.

After a while, the giant black bat came back. Once again, it managed to grab an earthworm from the basin. It looked like it was treating this place as a giant buffet table.

Slowly, as time passed, a strange aura began to dissipate from deep within the basin. This aura grew in strength until it stirred the depths of their souls.

A Commander tier monster hiding in the woods could no longer hold back its impulses.

Cuckookoo!

As it emerged from the forest, they saw that it was a Commander tier Five-Colored Golden Rooster with a colorful plumage. It began to beat its wings, kicking up a large gust of wind.

Chickens eat earthworms, and it was greatly drawn to this soon-to-be Lord tier Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm.

Because it was so agitated, its crest was filled with blood, turning it bright red like a ball of flame. Slender chicken claws flew across the ground like sand in the wind.

Cuckookoo!

A Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm raised its body upright to take a bite at the Five-Colored Golden Rooster, but in mid-air, the rooster dodged the bite with a beat of its wings. Quick as lightning, its sharp chicken claws scratched downward, tearing into the head of the Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm under its feet.

The rooster's claws trampled on many earthworm heads, showing a great display of agility. It was almost as impressive as Dharma's crossing of the river on a reed.

With a flap of its wings and a graceful landing, it landed right in the middle of the basin. But suddenly, the Five-Colored Golden Rooster looked stunned. Where were the fat, juicy earthworms it was expecting?

Where did they go?!!

"Earthworms can dig underground. This Commander tier Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm should be hiding underground while it is promoting, so, unless there is an absolute need to, we should not make a move," said Director Chen.

The Five-Colored Golden Rooster pecked the middle of the ground in disappointment. Just as it was preparing to leave, the ground beneath it suddenly split open. A Commander tier Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm broke through the earth and coiled around the rooster's legs like a giant snake.

The Five-Colored Golden Rooster forcefully dragged the earthworm upward as it attempted to fly away, but the earthworm's tail coiled into a hook, and, like a string, hooked onto another earthworm. One by one the chain of earthworms grew longer and longer, until they forcefully dragged the Five-Colored Golden Rooster back to the ground again.

Finding itself surrounded by Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworms, it unleashed a wail of despair that pierced the air.

The demise of the Five-Colored Golden Rooster seemed to have shocked the hidden onlookers in the surrounding woods.

Suddenly, from far away, there came a loud and violent rustling of leaves. The canopies of the trees shook, and they could vaguely make out a giant creature approaching at a very fast speed.

The Shadow Japalura next to Uncle Liu opened its eyes wide and slowly sunk its claws into the earth. Its constantly swaying tail stopped moving as it raised its head and looked cautiously in the direction of the approaching monster.

One by one, slender limbs that were over twenty feet long stepped out of the woods, revealing the true identity of the behemoth.

[Monster Name: Horrifying Violent Female Spider

[Monster Level: 40.5

[Monster Attribute: Rock

[Monster Weakness: 1. Wood-type 2. Septic Blood Berry 3. Platinum Radish Tendril

[Monster Ability: Spider Silk Strengthening Lv2; Toughened Skin Lv1

This was a colossal monster over fifty feet long. Its gigantic spider limbs, covered in sharp hooks, were ferocious and terrifying, and they shook the trees violently as it walked over. A deformed, partially incomplete grey halo was slowly rotating above the head of the giant female spider, its edges rough like a sharp, jagged rock.

The Horrifying Violent Female Spider's eyes glared fixatedly at the middle of the basin. It could feel it. Right under the ground was the thing that it wanted.

Ssssss!!!

It charged toward the center of the basin, crashing and breaking through everything in its way.

The group of Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworms could feel the powerful aura of a Lord tier monster coming from the female spider, even though its transformation was incomplete. The earthworms formed a temporary blockade by gathering together, but the spider continued advancing into the basin, its limbs like chopsticks stirring up a bowl of noodles.

The Commander tier Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworms leapt ahead one after another, trying to buy time for their leader. But their efforts were futile. The spider easily cut through the earthworms each time it raised its legs, and its speed never slowed.

This spider was the same one that Liu Senlin and the others had fought when they led a crusade against the nest of Brutal Grey Devil Spiders. If Gao Peng recalled correctly, that had ended in failure, and many people had died.

But halfway through the female spider's promotion to Lord tier, it must have been interrupted. Its evolution only half-succeeded, resulting in an awkward level of 40.5.

"Let's try our best to stall for time then…" said Director Chen Xuehe with a deep sigh.

Gao Peng stared agape at Director Chen. Are you serious? Even though it is a deformed, half-promoted Lord tier, it is still too powerful for us.

Gao Peng turned to look at the Shadow Japalura and Nightshadow Cat. They were the only ones with a chance to do something. The rest of them would not be much use at all. In the end, they would need to rely on Uncle Liu's two familiars to be the main force.

Gao Peng turned to look at Uncle Liu, seeking his opinion on the matter.

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Chapter 158: Ascension to Lord

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Uncle Liu was silent for a moment, then he spoke to Director Chen. "We can take action, but I'm afraid the price for that would be the Horrifying Violent Female Spider."

This elder of Gao Peng's really did talk big. Director Chen could not help but take a second look at Uncle Liu. All this while, Uncle Liu had been merry and smiling, like a friendly next-door neighbor. He had thought that he was just an ordinary relative of Gao Peng's.

But now, Uncle Liu was displaying an unexpectedly strong disposition. Although his voice was not loud and his expression was still cheerful, his tone was strong and difficult to refuse.

Director Chen wasn't sure how to respond. "We need to stop that female spider, but defeating it might be a bit too difficult…"

"Alright, then Little Peng and I shall attack the spider. The rest of you stay on alert and prevent other monsters from interfering," said Uncle Liu plainly.

Without giving a chance for Director Chen to refuse, Uncle Liu signaled his familiars with a wave of his hand. Softy, who was sitting next to Uncle Liu, silently vanished from the spot. The silent Shadow Japalura also began to slowly creep toward the spider. It made no sound at all as it moved, advancing like a gentle breeze through the leaves.

Director Chen was stunned as he watched the Shadow Japalura slowly vanish from his sight. It was clearly there one moment, but then its body color began to change, as though it had put on an optical camouflage suit, until its body color blended in perfectly with its surroundings. The moment he blinked, he could no longer see it.

Director Chen was shocked to the core, and he took a closer look at Uncle Liu.

After a bit of hesitation, Gao Peng also sent Dumby forward, leaving Da Zi and Stripey to protect himself and Uncle Liu.

"Let's retreat first," said Uncle Liu cautiously.

They silently took a few steps backward, hiding behind a large rock amongst the trees.

Director Chen was about to send his highest-leveled Wide-Toothed Iron Worm to assist, but Uncle Liu turned around.

Uncle Liu waved his hand and said, "Don't. You'll only mess things up."

Director Chen looked at Dumby, who had just been sent out, and then back at Uncle Liu, his mouth falling. You can't be this biased, Uncle.

A black shadow suddenly appeared on top of the spider and began slashing at the spider's back with two pairs of sharp claws. In a split second, deep cuts appeared all over the spider's back, its tough-looking grey skin seemingly brittle when faced with Softy's sharp claws. But the spider was too large. Softy's claws only damaged its skin and flesh, and it was unable to harm any of its organs.

The female spider hissed, but it was unwilling to engage Softy. It just kept on advancing.

But suddenly, one of its hind legs became entangled with a dark red rope, and it clumsily fell down to the ground in a cloud of dust.

The female spider got up, furious. It did not want to deal with these pests, but they kept on getting in its way. It angrily turned around, and a spider leg shot downward from the sky like a long spear, whistling through the air and piercing through the ground, penetrating at least twenty feet deep. It was clear that this stomp was made with the spider's full force.

But no matter how strong an attack was, there was no effect if it did not hit its target.

Huh? Where was that guy that tried to ambush me?

The female spider could only see one of its attackers, but it clearly remembered that it had it had just been tripped by another one.

The spider returned its attention to the one it could see. It tried to stab it with a flurry of stomps, but the little black cat was just too agile. None of its attacks were hitting. It then tried to trap the little cat by spitting spider silk at it, but that was even less effective. The speed of its silk was even slower than its limbs, so it never even got close to hitting the target.

The female spider became more and more agitated. Not being able to land even a single hit even though it was stronger than the opponent was driving it mad.

Finally, the female spider turned around, ignoring Softy and heading toward the center of the basin. It had learned its lesson. It would ignore those two little monsters no matter how much they attacked it.

Dong, dong, dong.

The Horrifying Violent Female Spider could hear the rhythmic beating of a heart in its ears. The sound of the heartbeat became faster and faster, finally matching the rate of its own heartbeat.

Dongdongdongdong…

Boom!!

Suddenly the heartbeat stopped, and the female spider felt its own heart tighten, as though a giant, formless hand was squeezing down on it.

It then violently twisted around, flipping 180 degrees.

Furiously, it raised its head and looked far ahead. It could see a skeleton fleeing into the depths of the forest in panic.

Its strong and sturdy heart slowly began to loosen, the heartbeat returning to normal. Even though the blood that ran through its body had slowed down immensely because of the skeleton's attack, it had still managed to survive.

The female spider's speed was greatly affected though, and it hesitated for a long while before finally deciding to put aside this grudge for now to follow its desires. It turned back to the basin and continued to stubbornly make its way toward the center. That skeleton… it had better not let me see it in this forest again!

This was the reason that Gao Peng had sent Dumby to go against the spider. To use the Blood Thread Heart ability. Although a single use puts the ability into a temporary cooldown period, it was still useful to buy them some time.

As though sensing the approach of the female spider, the leader of the Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworms seemed to be getting anxious. The surface of the earth turned into a swamp, becoming sticky and making it much harder for the spider to walk through.

But Softy's speed was also affected as a result. A few times, it was close to being struck by the spider. Finally, it hid outside the attacking range of the spider and glared cautiously.

Boom!

The earth split open. A thick, giant worm broke out of the ground, opening up its circular mouthpiece to reveal that it was filled with sharp teeth. It bit down onto one of the spider's legs, swallowing it. It then closed its mouthpiece and spun its body. The spinning force along with the sharpness of its teeth tore the spider's leg to shreds.

The giant Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm's body gave off a black metallic shine. What was originally a weak and fragile skin seemed to have been strengthened greatly. An earthy yellow halo began to spin and extend outwards with the Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm Lord at its center. The halo's color was very deep, close to a dark yellow, and the shape of the halo was flat and level.

The surrounding Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworms were all enveloped by this halo, and they became excited.

It was not like the broken halo on the female spider. This was a perfect lord halo, and it gave off an even stronger sense of pressure to all the surrounding creatures, humans and monsters alike, far greater than the one from the spider's halo.

[Monster Name: Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm Lord

[Monster Level: 41

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Attribute: Earth

[Monster Weakness: Fire-type

Immediately after ascending to Lord tier, the Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm Lord had attacked the female spider. Whether it was because the spider had tried to eat it or it felt a threat from the spider, it had instantly decided on a head-on clash!

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Chapter 159: Body of Extreme Toughness

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

When deities fight, mortals suffer.

Just the shockwaves from the fight alone were enough to destroy huge swaths of trees within the forest. The monsters hiding in the wings and waiting for a chance to grab some of the spoils of the war fled the scene after seeing the situation.

Director Chen was anxious. Why was this earthworm so petty? His aim was for this successfully promoted Lord tier earthworm to return and have a good "talk" with the Desert Ruler so that the military could reap the spoils of their war.

It didn't matter which monster won that fight. Gaining either would be a valuable asset.

But this spider… I had no intention of you "talking" with this spider! It is a pseud-lord that underwent a failed evolution. Its potential is practically zero. Why must you fight it out with the spider?!

Director Chen's heart ached, and he quietly watched to see how things would develop.

The earthworm had only just become a Lord tier monster, and its body was not yet fully recovered. After its initial surprise attack, it found that it had no real advantage over the spider. With a shake of its body, it used its special move to dig into the ground and escape.

A large hole suddenly appeared in the ground. The earth seemed to part as though it had life of its own, and after the Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm Lord escaped through the tunnel, it collapsed, the loose earth gradually closing up that hole that had appeared.

The female spider stabbed into the ground in anger and wiggled its limb around, causing the rest of the tunnel to collapse in on itself. With that, the spider lost all trace of the Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm Lord.

The Horrifying Violent Female Spider was left with a large number of injuries. After all, it was just a pseudo-lord and not a true lord, so it was at a disadvantage, even against a lord that was just promoted. Its grey skin was covered in scars large and small. Some of them had already healed, while others were still healing.

Gao Peng had seen during the fight that when the Shatuoman Man-Eating Earthworm Lord had bitten the leg of the Horrifying Violent Female Spider, large amounts of grey leg skin had come off. Because of that, the spider actually did not sustain any serious injuries after losing its first leg in the surprise attack; it just lost a layer of white, rubble-like material. Just like how wild boars rub rosin all over their thick fur and then roll in mud to form a sort of armored covering, the spider seemed to have a similar armored hide.

"This female spider expended a lot of energy during the fight, so it might be hungry," said Uncle Liu, squinting his eyes.

The spider lay on the ground. It was hard to imagine a fifty-foot-long giant spider looking so gentle. Its eight eyes carefully observed the hole on the ground as it circled the tunnel that the earthworm lord escaped from. It looked rather silly.

At last, it realized that the earthworm had escaped for good, and it let out a wail of regret.

In the basin, however, there were still some earthworms left. When their leader had promoted and fled, a group of them had squeezed together in a rush, becoming stuck in a ball. Losing its target, the spider turned its head and looked coldly at the earthworms. Its mouthpiece slowly opened, revealing a set of ferocious fangs.

A swash of white appeared in its mouth, and in the next moment, it shot out a large amount of white silk. The silk spread out in the shape of a fan. Each droplet gathered into white little pearls which scattered in mid-air, forming a large and dense white web.

Feeling something land on them, the earthworms scrambled for escape. Only a few lucky ones managed to flee, but the rest were too slow and got stuck in the spider's web.

The web still had one end connected within the mouth of the Horrifying Violent Female Spider. Just like reeling in a large net, the two pedipalps began to pull the net back toward its mouth.

Gao Peng's eyes widened. To think that it used such a hardworking way to eat its prey! Then, Gao Peng's brain suddenly twitched, and he thought of eating soy bean paste noodles…

A swath of black shadow hid within the short grass, silently approaching the female spider.

The female spider was wolfing down its food in sorrow when it felt a chill along its leg. Then, a sharp pain came. It looked down to see black balls of shadow power forming scissors and cutting off its leg. The part that was cut was the exact spot that the earthworm lord had inflicted heavy damage on during the earlier fight, and it was the point with the weakest defense.

It had already lost one leg, and now it had suddenly lost the one right next to it! It stumbled and nearly fell over. To lose two legs in such a short time was not easy to get used to.

Just as the spider stumbled, the Shadow Japalura made its move. It burst into action, become a green afterimage. It opened its big mouth and the sides of its head began to rise. The scales on its body hissed as the frills on the sides of its head spread open. A jet of air streamed out from behind, propelling it forward. The Shadow Japalura viciously bit down on one of the spider's legs and swung its head backward.

The leg twisted in a strange manner, almost breaking off.

The spider was furious! Why do these monsters like to bite my legs?!

With a sweep of its leg, it sent the Shadow Japalura flying.

Although the leg was not broken, it was still seriously injured, and it made walking extremely difficult. The spider now had missing legs and one severely injured leg on the same side of its body.

A smile appeared on Uncle Liu's face. "Now it can't run away," he said and then looked up into the sky.

They did not know when it had appeared, but above their heads circled a black shadow. And from that shadow came an unknown and frightening aura.

In the next moment, the shadow dove down, clad in raging winds as it descended and landed right in the middle of the basin.

A pale white halo was rotating beneath the feet of the giant bird. On the halo, there seemed to be tornado-like patterns.

A lord! A bird-type lord!

Everyone at the scene held their breath; their hair stood on its ends.

Although the earthworm lord and the spider pseudo-lord were both extremely powerful entities, neither of them gave off such an oppressive feeling of power.

In the previous battle, the earthworm lord had not displayed the true battle capabilities of a Lord tier monster because it had just been promoted. If it had, there was no way that it would have been chased off by a pseudo-lord.

This new arrival was a vulture. But compared to other vultures, this one had a thicker, sturdier neck. Its fierce eyes were surrounded by a circle of black, with an area of blood-red coloration at the sides of the eye. Its stare was piercing and the feathers from its neck up were all white.

But what left the greatest impression was the strong muscles that were visible all over its body! Its wings were raised high, flexing its bulging muscles. When they closed together, and the feathers formed an elegant wave pattern.

On its sturdy toes were claws that looked like large iron hooks. Its strong chest rose and fell as it breathed, and blades of violent winds formed an invisible barrier around its body, causing the surrounding shrubs to sway in the wind.

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Chapter 160: The Vulture Addicted to Dark Movies

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

[Monster Name: Blood Eye Bearded Vulture (Extremely Strong)

[Monster Level: 42 (Lord tier)

[Monster Grade: Normal

[Monster Condition: Healthy (Calm)

[Monster Ability: Power of Wind Lv3; Strengthened Stomach Lv2

[Monster Attribute: Wind

[Monster Weakness: 1. Electric-type 2. Fire-type 3. Metal-type 4. Dark-type

[Requirements for Promotion to Excellent Grade: 1. Dark Evolution 2. Divine Evolution 3. Blood Evolution

Gao Peng felt a chill in his heart. This Blood Eye Bearded Vulture's name actually stated "Extremely Strong." Of course, even using the naked eye, that was obvious enough from its appearance.

Unlike a normal vulture with an ugly bald head, this vulture's white head of feathers made it look as though it was wearing a white top hat. Coupled with what looked like black eyeshadow and blood-red eyelids, it looked extremely cool and suave.

The vulture made no sudden attack against the female spider. Instead, it elegantly stood there and began gently preening its feathers with its sharp beak, removing all the dust from it.

Then, it cooed and elegantly stretched out its feathers before closing them toward the middle of its body. It hung its head low, as though mourning for something.

"What is it doing?" Gao Peng asked. This Blood Eye Bearded Vulture did not look like the usual lawless and savage wild monster. Instead, it gave off the impression of being extremely elegant and cultured.

It must just be a false impression…

"It's mourning for these monsters," said Uncle Liu plainly.

Gao Peng looked at Uncle Liu, then back at the vulture. "Why is it mourning?"

"Because it has watched too many movies…"

Beside them, Director Chen, Li Qing and Qin Yi could not help but steal a sideways glance at Uncle Liu. With a strange expression on his face, Li Qing asked, "Don't tell me that this Lord tier monster is…"

Uncle Liu laughed but did not give a straight reply.

Director Chen's face twitched. Li Qing and Qin Yi both swallowed their saliva.

Gao Peng was already numb to these surprises. Even if he were told his Grandpa's familiar was a dragon, he would not be surprised.

"Uncle Liu, what movies did you let it watch?"

"I think it was Priest? And then there was V for Vendetta and Hannibal? There were too many, I can't remember… At that time, there wasn't much entertainment on the island. The holiday villa had a video player and a few classic movie discs. When we were resting, we would play them sometimes, and the vulture would be perched by the side quietly watching," Uncle Liu recalled.

Gao Peng's grandpa had said that, other than himself, there were a few others trapped along with him at the villa. So, one of them was Uncle Liu…

This Blood Eye Bearded Vulture must have been tamed by Uncle Liu while they were on the island.

"Enough, stop making wild guesses. I'll tell you more in detail on the way back," said Uncle Liu.

The vulture finished its movements with its wings and then looked over at the giant, fat, juicy spider. It swallowed a mouthful of saliva in anticipation.

It got ready to make its move and then hesitated for a moment. Tilting its head sideways, it took a closer look at the female spider. Then, its body shot upright and it gently shook its head.

Uncle Liu's eyes twitched, and he cursed below his breath. "That rascal with its bad habit again!"

"What bad habit?" asked Gao Peng.

Director Chen secretly pricked his ears. This was such a rare Lord tier familiar. Usually he would only get to see something like this on television.

Uncle Liu's expression was strange. "It thinks it's a scavenger and that it can only eat carrion and not hunt live prey. That's why it's adjusting its mentality right now."

Adjusting its mentality? Such a sophisticated function?! The secretly eavesdropping Director Chen was totally dumbstruck.

"This female spider is not for eating. Severely wound it and bring it back with us," instructed Uncle Liu through the Blood Contract.

The Blood Eye Bearded Vulture froze in the middle of its silent prayer. Not for eating?

The vultures gaze dulled as it cooed back uninterestedly.

With a casual cry, it raised its head, beat its wings, and flew into the sky.

Its speed was extremely fast. In just a few moments, it became a tiny speck of black in the sky. Then it rotated 180 degrees midair and folded its wings. Violent raging wings pressed its feathers flat, making it look like a sharp blade descending from the sky.

It was like a black flash of lightning tearing through the air.

The crippled female spider had no chance of escaping and was directly hit, suffering a grievous injury!

With a cry of defeat, it fell on its bottom, raising its six remaining legs high in the air.

The Blood Eye Bearded Vulture's head and neck were embedded deep into the back of the spider, sending blood splattering everywhere. Pulling out its head, the vulture's face and neck were covered in blood. But using its tongue covered in tiny hooks, one lick was all it took to clean away all the blood.

The Blood Eye Bearded Vulture was huge. Just its body alone was over twenty feet long. Its wingspan, fully extended, was over fifty feet in total.

The Horrifying Violent Female Spider may be huge as well, but most of it was empty space. Its long spider legs made it look bigger than it actually was.

It struggled to get up a few times, but each time it tried to get to its feet it was put down again by the vulture. The spider was furious. No living creature has ever stayed on top of my head—

Bang! The Blood Eye Bearded Vulture's strong wing crashed onto the spider's head, making it swell up. But the Horrifying Violent Female Spider would not give up. It tried to get up once again… and was beat down once again by the wing. After many attempts, the spider finally seemed spent, and it just lay quietly on the ground.

Director Chen blinked. This pseudo-lord was conquered just like that? It was hard to believe. It seemed…it seemed just a bit too easy. Their entire group had been trying to face the monster cautiously. But in the end, matters were resolved with pure, unreasonable force. There were thousands of ways to express himself, but in the end, it only came out as, "Uncle, your familiars are really strong!"

As though receiving the order, the Blood Eye Bearded Vulture lowered its head and gave lightning-quick pecks at the joints of the Horrifying Violent Female Spider's legs, right where they connected to the body. One by one, it plucked out the tendons of each leg.

The vulture squinted its eyes and smacked its lips. It seemed to be enjoying the taste very much.

Unlike other vultures, bearded vultures did not like to eat rotten meat. Instead, they preferred to eat the tendons and bones of a carcass. Their diets consisted mainly of bone and bone marrow.

As such, their digestive fluids were extremely terrifying. Even before the Cataclysm, the stomach acid of a bearded vulture could corrode metal! After the Cataclysm, the bearded vulture evolved into the Blood Eye Bearded Vulture, and its stomach acid was strengthened to an even more terrifying level. Practically anything could be digested by a Blood Eye Bearded Vulture.

But, even then, its preference for eating tendons and bones had been passed down as it evolved. The Blood Eye Bearded Vulture thought to itself for a moment. Then, while no one was looking, it plucked out another tendon from another area. It chewed and thought, Mmm, this is good!

And then, while Uncle Liu was not watching it, it secretly tore off another piece of leg tendon.

Underneath it, the female spider was almost in tears.

Bang!

The Blood Eye Bearded Vulture's wing landed another blow on the spider's head.

Don't cry! Hold it in!

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