Read at: https://blogspot-translatedstories.blogspot.com/?m=1
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6:00 PM.
Beast Center.
Room 2603.
Yuan Tianlong, 37 years old, B-rank Beast Master. His brain domain awakened autonomously at age 10. He contracted the Little Sonic Dragon that had been with him since it hatched from its egg... Qiao Sang sat on her bed, scrolling through the search results on her phone.
Generally, Beast Masters can only visit beast bases or breeding shops to interact with potential partners once their brain domain awakens for the first time. However, some people are born with privileges.
When a guardian is a B-rank or higher Beast Master, they can apply for a pet or an egg directly without a contract to accompany themselves or their children. This allows them to bond in advance so that the contract can be finalized the moment the child is able.
This saves a lot of time during the initial bonding phase and ensures the pet follows the Beast Master's commands immediately upon contracting. Yuan Tianlong was one such privileged figure. Later, he contracted Dragon-types for every single one of his pets. In past interviews, he stated his goal was to become a Dragon-type Heavenly King.
Watch out for Yuan Tianlong... Qiao Sang recalled Chen Tianqin’s words and fell into thought. Was it because Chen Tianqin thought her chances of winning the championship were high, and Yuan Tianlong was her biggest obstacle?
As she was thinking, Mikayla’s voice rang out: "Do you want to go out for dinner tonight?"
Qiao Sang looked up to find Mikayla had appeared out of thin air in the room. "No need, I'll just order delivery."
With her ranking constantly rising, the people outside were getting more fanatical. She didn't dare go out right after such a high-profile win.
"Don't bother with delivery. Tell me what you want and I'll bring it back." Mikayla said.
"We'll go train after we eat."
Qiao Sang didn't act polite and gave her order: "I want the braised wheaten cake from that place we tried last time."
"Xun xun!" Little Treasure chirped, indicating he wanted some too.
Mikayla, having lived a long time, guessed the meaning even without understanding the language. She chuckled, "Your Ghost Ring King really eats anything."
Most pets only eat food infused with energy. Qiao Sang’s Ghost Ring King was different, he ate everything. Mikayla had even seen him cracking melon seeds the other day.
Qiao Sang smiled and replied, "He likes trying new things."
Mikayla nodded and vanished on the spot. About ten minutes later, she reappeared with the food. On the coffee table, Little Treasure opened his mouth, using telekinesis to guide the meat inside.
Qiao Sang ate slowly, then remembered something and asked, "Can the Mutual Destruction trait be triggered intentionally?"
Mikayla understood instantly. "You didn't find any data on the Phantasm Hate Fox having that trait before?"
An S-rank Beast Master is truly an S-rank, I don't even have to finish my sentence, Qiao Sang thought. She hummed in affirmation. "When the fox was attacked in previous matches, its opponents never felt the same pain."
Mikayla answered without hesitation: "That's because it's a Hidden Trait."
Hidden Trait? Qiao Sang was stunned. She remembered that Little Treasure’s Cursed Body, Gangbao’s Power of Bonds, and Lubao’s Snowfall were all listed as Hidden Traits in the Beast Codex.
She knew a bit about them. Unlike ordinary traits, Hidden Traits can be trained out through specific methods, provided the genetic potential exists within the pet. For example, if a pet doesn't have the path for Bond Evolution, it won't gain the Power of Bonds no matter how close it is to its master.
Mikayla continued, "Most traits are passive, but some aren't, like Ghost Ring King’s Invisibility or Qinyin Fairy's Wind Transformation. These can be controlled. Hidden Traits are originally triggered passively, but when the level reaches a certain point, they can be controlled to decide whether or not to trigger them."
"Do you know why pets with the Power of Bonds often share the same thoughts as their master in battle? It's because the power operates continuously during combat, whereas in daily life, it might remain in an untriggered state."
The Power of Bonds can be untriggered during daily life? Qiao Sang’s eyes lit up. "Does that mean if Gangbao controls it, she actually wouldn't be able to hear my inner thoughts?"
Gangbao, while eating her energy pellets, gave her Beast Master a silent look.
Mikayla took a sip of soup and added with a smile, "However, that usually applies to low-level Power of Bonds. Your Steel Sword Falcon has gone through Bond Evolution several times, her power must be very high. Even in daily life, she is likely to remain synchronized with your thoughts."
Qiao Sang and Gangbao shared a look of mutual understanding and let out a simultaneous internal sigh.
"But it can be controlled, right?" Qiao Sang asked.
Mikayla nodded. "Correct. If the Mutual Destruction trait never appeared before, it was either just awakened before your match, or its level is so high that he controlled it previously. I lean toward the latter."
He was so upset I joined the National Bureau but wouldn't train with them that he saved a trump card's debut just for me... He certainly thinks highly of me, Qiao Sang thought.
Mikayla put down her chopsticks and wiped her mouth elegantly. "I almost forgot, there's one more possibility."
"What is it?" Qiao Sang asked curiously.
"Information warfare." Mikayla said.
"Chen Tianqin is part of the National Bureau. Some of his old information might have been scrubbed. When you searched for him, you were likely looking at his recent matches."
Qiao Sang nodded. "That's true."
Searching for opponents usually involves looking for the most recent videos, as they reflect current strength. Older data is harder to find and involves lower-level pets, making it less relevant.
Mikayla explained, "For contestants in major international or interstellar events, information is vital. They usually have dedicated teams to find info on opponents and scrub their own info online, or even release false data to cause confusion. Your opponent today might have triggered that trait back when the fox hadn't even evolved, but that info was erased. People forget easily, they might remember a win or a loss, but not the specific details."
So many twists and turns in big competitions... Qiao Sang noted.
After dinner, Little Treasure’s eyes glowed blue, and the group vanished from the room.
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Suburbs, Villa.
The Muscle-Protective Tiger opened the door, and as soon as Qiao Sang walked in, a flurry of streamers fell over her.
"Congratulations on making the Top 16!" Yu Ke and Yu Le shouted excitedly.
"Yap yap..." Yabao waved a paw to clear the streamers off his head.
"Xun xun~" Little Treasure appeared and started spinning happily under the falling ribbons. A gust of wind blew, and Qingbao silently floated to a spot outside the streamers.
Qiao Sang laughed. "It's only the Top 16; did we really need a celebration ceremony?"
"Of course!" Yu Le countered.
"You defeated Chen Tianqin! THE Chen Tianqin who was scouted by the National Bureau!"
Mikayla coughed and said, "I'll leave you to chat. I'll be waiting at the outdoor training ground."
"Now everyone is saying that since you beat a National Bureau member, you'll definitely get in too." Yu Ke said with a smile.
Qiao Sang replied calmly, "I'm already in."
Yu Ke: "!!!"
She stared at Qiao Sang. Although she had guessed as much after seeing the photos of Coach Tao Yunkai and Qiao Sang leaving the Heavenly King Hotel, she thought they had just been talking. She never expected it to be a done deal! The National Bureau moved fast!
Yu Le was much more composed. She only froze for a second before cheering, "I knew Goddess Qiao would get in! That guy from the Rong family keeps saying he'll get in, but so what if he booked all the training fields? He got eliminated early anyway."
Qiao Sang’s heart skipped. "The guy from the Rong family?"
"Rong Yuhua. He also participated in this regional competition." Yu Ke said.
"I saw him sitting next to you for two matches, but you might not remember him."
I remember him. How could I not? I even have his contact info... So HE was the one who booked all the training grounds... Qiao Sang’s eyelid twitched. She had a sudden, immature urge to delete him from her phone.
She resisted the urge and checked the training ground availability on her phone. Every single rentable field was still marked as reserved. Qiao Sang sighed and put her phone down.
"What's wrong?" Yu Ke asked.
"The fields are still all reserved." Qiao Sang answered.
Yu Ke guessed, "Rong Yuhua definitely didn't book them this time. It’s probably the other Beast Masters visiting for the competition. Some people get fired up after watching a match and want a place to battle."
Yu Le added, "Maybe Rong Yuhua has too much money and just forgot to cancel his old reservations?"
Qiao Sang, no longer interested in the topic, said, "Let's catch up later. I'm going to train."
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11:00 PM.
Qiao Sang returned to Room 2603, washed up, and lay in bed. She habitually closed her eyes to check the Beast Codex.
"Xun xun?" Little Treasure lowered his voice and pointed a short toe toward the door, asking Qingbao if they should go out.
"Qing qing." Qingbao looked at their master and shook her head.
"Xun xun?" Little Treasure looked confused. Why? His fifth sibling had gone out with him the past few days to find bad guys. Why not today?
Qiao Sang opened her eyes. "What are you going out to see?"
"Xun xun..." Little Treasure flinched, his eyes darting around as he let out a guilty chirp. Nothing...
Do you know how obvious your lying is? Qiao Sang complained internally.
"Qing qing~" Qingbao chirped sweetly, explaining that there were bad guys monitoring their room recently, so Little Treasure wanted to see if anyone was still lurking.
Little Treasure looked at Qingbao in shock. What? You can just say it? Why did you hide it last time then?
"Yap yap?!" Yabao, who had been drowsy, snapped his eyes open and lunged off the bed with a serious face. What?! Bad guys monitoring the room? Where!
"Qing qing." Qingbao chirped, saying the bad guys had already been driven away last time.
"Yap yap..." Yabao relaxed and immediately felt sleepy again, flopping back onto the bed.
Qiao Sang suddenly realized, "So the mysterious wind in the other rooms last time was your doing?"
Little Treasure nodded. As Qiao Sang was about to speak, Qingbao looked up with pure, innocent eyes and chirped cautiously, asking if they were being too bad by doing that...
"Not at all!" Qiao Sang countered.
"It's their fault for coming here to monitor us."
She added, "If not for you two, I wouldn't have been able to sleep so soundly lately."
"Qing qing~" Qingbao's eyes crinkled into crescents, and she rubbed against her master happily. Qiao Sang gently stroked her head.
"Xun xun..." Little Treasure watched the fifth child snuggling up and felt like he was being played... Gangbao, by the window, watched Qingbao with a thoughtful look. Lubao, in the water tank, continued condensing her Ice Armor undisturbed.
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The next day.
8:00 AM.
Qiao Sang was woken by a series of vibrations. She fumbled for her phone and saw it was flooded with messages. Most were asking when she joined the National Bureau.
I just joined a couple of days ago and it's already out... Did Mom leak it? Qiao Sang remembered her mother's suppressed excitement and complaints about not being told. She checked the trending topics. The top result was: [Coach Tao Admits Coming for Qiao Sang]
Followed by: [Qiao Sang Joins National Bureau]
Qiao Sang clicked the first link. It was a video of Coach Tao being interviewed. A reporter asked: "Someone photographed you and Qiao Sang leaving the Heavenly King Hotel one after the other. Were you having dinner together?"
"Yes." Coach Tao nodded.
"Did you know each other beforehand?"
"No." Coach Tao replied.
"I invited her to discuss her joining the National Bureau."
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Thanks for the chapter. Qingbao is growing up to be a fine little devil
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