Read at: https://blogspot-translatedstories.blogspot.com/?m=1
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It had already been six months… Qiao Sang instinctively started to think.
Before the plane took off, she had specifically checked, their destination was Changqing City, located in Mutiang Province in the Hollow Central Region. Mutiang Province had a total of 11 prefecture-level cities.
That meant she needed to complete 11 assessments in six months, which averaged out to about 16 days per assessment. Excluding travel time, she had roughly half a month for each prefecture-level city’s assessment.
Hmm, shouldn’t be a big problem… Qiao Sang put away her ID card and Beast Badge, thanked them, and turned to leave.
Her calm expression and unhurried turn instantly sparked an excited discussion between the two staff members.
“Did you see that?”
“I saw it!”
“My god, not even eighteen and already has three General-level pet beasts, I’ve never seen that before!”
“When I told her there were only six months left, did you see how she brushed it off like it was nothing? She didn’t seem to think the time limit was short at all, she looked so confident.”
“If I had that kind of strength at her age, I’d be even more confident than she is.”
“You think we’ll see her in this year’s regional tournament?”
“Hard to say. If she had registered for the assessments in the first month of sign-ups, then definitely. But now with only six months left, it’s uncertain. You know some cities’ assessments are ridiculously nasty. A Beast Master blogger I follow posted recently that the examiner in Tianti City made him collect 10 jin of Wood-gland Grass. That stuff costs ten thousand Alliance Coins per liang if you buy it, and if you don’t buy it, you have to pick it in Secret Realm No. 39. That realm only opens one month a year, and when he got the task there was only one day left. The examiner was clearly just making it difficult.”
“That’s still considered easy. At least you can solve it with money. I know one…” The staffer at Window 19 was just about to share some gossip.
At that moment, the person waiting at the counter couldn’t take it anymore: “Are you two done chatting?”
The staff members quickly snapped back into work mode and gave a professional smile.
“Hello, what service do you need today?”
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Beast Center. Third Floor.
At the door of the examiner’s office, who was in charge of assessment matters, Qiao Sang knocked twice.
The office for the assessment examiner of each prefecture-level city was inside that city’s Beast Center.
No appointment was needed, you could just walk in during working hours and the examiner would usually be there.
“Come in.” A voice said from inside.
Qiao Sang opened the door and saw an ordinary-looking middle-aged man with a noticeable belly, nothing particularly memorable about his appearance.
“Hello, I’m a Beast Master who has signed up for this year’s regional tournament. I’m here to receive my assessment task.” Qiao Sang stepped forward, handed over her ID card, and went straight to the point.
She still looks like a kid… The man was momentarily stunned by the young face of the black-haired girl in front of him.
He knew the age limit for the regional tournament was 40. Even people in their twenties were considered young for these assessments, but someone this young was a first for him.
He took her ID card and verified her information.
“Hiss…” The man stared at the computer screen, silent for over ten seconds as he processed the unbelievable data in front of him.
I’m the examiner. Stay composed. Must stay composed… He took a deep breath, steadied himself, and began searching through the assessment tasks for something suitable.
In reality, examiners didn’t just make up the tasks on the spot. The assignments came from government and major institutional listings of pending matters, or from long-unclaimed tasks that were deemed suitable for regional tournament candidates.
If there was something urgent, it would be prioritized as an assessment task.
Otherwise, it came down to the examiner’s discretion.
After carefully reviewing the tasks, his gaze landed on one. He picked up the ID card, handed it back to Qiao Sang, and said:
“One of the warehouses belonging to the City’s Pet Beast Item Center has recently experienced theft. You are to assist the police with their investigation, or act independently, whichever you choose. As long as you catch the thief, your assessment will be considered complete.”
“I’ll send the contact details for the warehouse manager and the police officer in charge of the case to the backend of your Beast Center app. You can reach out to them directly.”
Catch a thief… Qiao Sang thought for a moment and asked: “How long has this case been going on?”
If anyone else had asked this, the man would have replied bluntly: Can’t you ask the manager and officer yourself?
But since it was someone under eighteen with three General-level pet beasts, an extraordinary talent, he didn’t hesitate to check.
He looked at the details on his screen.
“First theft happened a month ago. Two more occurred afterward. The task was officially registered a week ago. There’ve been no updates since, but the fact that it’s still posted means the thief hasn’t been caught.”
He explained everything he knew, even offering analysis.
And they say examiners are hard to deal with, this one’s being perfectly nice… Qiao Sang nodded.
“Got it.”
After leaving the office and heading down to the first floor, she immediately spotted Mikayla.
“All registered?” Yabao’s fiery wings were too eye-catching, Mikayla had spotted Qiao Sang at once and walked up to her.
“All done.” Qiao Sang nodded.
“And your assessment task?” Mikayla asked.
“Got it too. It’s to catch a thief.”
Mikayla’s expression turned serious.
“If they’re posting this as an assessment, it means the local police haven’t been able to catch the thief. This one probably has some skill.”
She paused, then softened her tone in concern: “We’ve just arrived in the Dragon Nation. Rest for the day and start tomorrow.”
After the flight, registration, and collecting the task, she didn’t want this rare prodigy to burn out.
“I’m not resting.” Qiao Sang’s tone was firm.
“There’s only six months until the regional tournament, and I’m already half a year behind everyone else. I need to get started right away.”
Mikayla was silent for a moment, her voice gentle.
“You’re still in your growth stage. Rest is important too.”
Qiao Sang’s expression didn’t waver.
“It’s fine. Lubao has Healing Light.”
Mikayla: …
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5:22 PM.
High Above.
Qiao Sang sat on Yabao’s back, heading toward the item warehouse.
She had just gotten the address from the warehouse manager and was now calling the police officer in charge.
Two rings later, the call connected. A man’s voice came over the speaker: “Who is this?”
“Hello, I took on the item warehouse theft case from the Beast Center’s assessment list. I wanted to see if we could meet and go over the case details.” Qiao Sang said.
“You see what time it is? I’m about to get off work. If you want details, call me tomorrow during office hours.”
And with that, he hung up.
Qiao Sang: …
No wonder this ended up as an assessment task, with cops this unmotivated… She reached down to stroke Yabao’s fur.
“Looks like tonight, it’s up to us.”
“Yap!”
Yabao called out excitedly, speeding up.
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Changqing City, Outskirts.
Half an hour later, Qiao Sang arrived at the warehouse.
The Pet Beast Equipment Center had several warehouses, but the one where the incident occurred was in a relatively remote suburban area.
Just as Qiao Sang dismounted from Yabao, she saw a staff member in work uniform and a bipedal crocodile-type pet beast, also wearing a work uniform, waiting at the entrance.
“Excuse me, are you Miss Qiao?” The staff member, seeing Yabao’s powerful and majestic appearance, instantly felt reassured. Ignoring Qiao Sang’s slightly youthful looks, he quickly walked over.
“I am.”
Qiao Sang said, not wanting to waste time. She went straight to the point: “I need to know when the most recent theft happened in this warehouse.”
“It was last night at 9:05 p.m.” The staff member replied while leading the way inside.
“I happened to be on duty last night, but I didn’t hear a sound from inside, and the surveillance cameras didn’t capture any sign of a person or pet beast.”
“Then how do you know the theft happened at 9:05?” Qiao Sang asked.
“Because when we checked the footage, the items were still there at 9:04, but at 9:05 they were gone.” The staff member explained clearly.
Soon, they arrived in front of a shelf.
The staff member pointed to an empty spot.
“Right here.”
He couldn’t help but complain: “We reported this a month ago, but the warehouse mostly stores defective equipment. Headquarters doesn’t care, and the police don’t care either…”
While the staff member talked, Qiao Sang picked up the now-shrunken Yabao and placed him in front of the empty shelf.
“Yap.”
Yabao closed his eyes, placing his paw on the empty spot.
The staff member froze for a moment.
“You’re trying to let your pet beast smell the thief’s scent left here?”
Yabao’s paw was on the spot, not his nose… Qiao Sang didn’t answer him and instead closed her eyes in sync with Yabao.
During their month aboard the starship, Yabao couldn’t train attack-based skills, so he’d focused on meditation and sensing skills. By the time they arrived, he had already mastered sensing at the Profound level.
Recalling last night’s events was no problem.
Seeing this, the staff member realized the unfamiliar pet beast was using some kind of skill. He instantly shut his mouth and didn’t interrupt.
The scene before Qiao Sang shifted, the shelf was no longer empty but held a purple cylindrical piece of equipment.
Then, the cylinder twitched.
And in the next moment, it vanished.
Qiao Sang and Yabao opened their eyes at the same time.
“Did you find anything?” The staff member asked quickly.
“It should be a Ghost-type pet beast.” Qiao Sang said.
The staff member was puzzled.
“Ghost-types can turn invisible, but how did it make the equipment vanish instantly?”
You don’t even know that… Qiao Sang was slightly surprised, suddenly understanding how the Vice Principal must have felt when she herself once asked what seemed like silly questions.
She quickly realized that ever since becoming a Beast master, she’d been dealing with top peers in her age group, and after arriving on the Chaosu Star, she was surrounded by even older geniuses.
Compared to ordinary Beast masters, her knowledge was on a completely different level.
Living in that environment for so long, she hadn’t noticed. She even thought she wasn’t learning fast enough, when in fact she had already accumulated knowledge far beyond that of an average Beast master.
“When a Ghost-type pet beast’s invisibility reaches B-rank, it can make anything it touches turn invisible as well.” Qiao Sang explained.
The staff member and the crocodile-type pet beast both showed an expression of sudden realization.
“But Ghost-types can pass through walls and turn invisible. We can’t deal with that at all. I’d better inform the police and have them send someone over.” The staff member said, taking out his phone to call.
Recalling the police officer’s dismissive attitude toward this case, Qiao Sang said: “Wait until tomorrow morning. Right now we only know it’s a Ghost-type, without any trace, the police won’t come just because of that. I’ll investigate a bit more first.”
The staff member put his phone down.
“How are you going to investigate?”
Qiao Sang smiled slightly.
“Once I’ve confirmed it’s a Ghost-type and that it was indeed here last night, the rest will be simple.”
She turned to the staff member.
“Where are the blind spots in your wall surveillance?”
A Ghost-type must have entered by phasing through the wall. Thanks to Little Treasure, Qiao Sang knew their habits well, most Ghost-types couldn’t help but reveal themselves briefly when passing through walls, to look around before turning invisible again.
If the cameras didn’t catch it, it probably phased in at a blind spot.
Without another word, the staff member led Qiao Sang to a corner of the wall and pointed.
“Right here.”
Qiao Sang nodded to Yabao.
“Yap!”
Yabao instantly understood, placing his paw on the wall and closing his eyes.
Qiao Sang also closed her eyes.
The scene changed again, pitch-black, with only a bit of moonlight filtering through the iron-barred window above.
Soon, a nearly purple, gaseous-bodied pet beast appeared out of thin air by the wall.
It glanced around, then vanished.
That pet beast… Qiao Sang suddenly realized something.
She knew a lot about Chaosu Star's species and rare beasts from other planets, but not nearly as much about ordinary pet beasts on Blue Star outside her own Yuhua Region.
She would need to study the pet beasts of the Hollow Central Region, especially since most competitors here would use local species.
Collecting her thoughts, Qiao Sang looked toward a spot in the air and said: “Go to the other side of the wall.”
“Xun xun~”
Before the staff member could figure out what she meant, Little Treasure appeared, eyes glowing blue.
The next second, Qiao Sang and Yabao vanished from sight, reappearing outside the building.
The staff member stared at where she had just been, too stunned to react.
Meanwhile, outside...
Yabao put his paw on the wall again, closing his eyes.
Most Ghost-types revealed themselves instinctively when phasing out of a wall, just like when going in.
The scene shifted again, soon it was last night.
Under the moonlight, there was no movement around the wall.
“Fast-forward to today.” Qiao Sang said, still with eyes closed.
“Yap.”
Yabao called softly, eyes still shut.
The scene moved from night to day, then back to night, showing the moment when she, Yabao, and Little Treasure appeared here.
Everything froze.
Qiao Sang’s eyes snapped open, a thought flashing in her mind: That Ghost-type might still be inside…
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