Beast Taming: Starting From Zero

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Everything happening right now felt surreal.

Little Treasure had fallen under the hypnosis of the Ghost Lamp, suddenly burst into tears after waking up, and then, after making peace, gave the Ghost lamp some milk.

Finally, he babbled a bunch of things that she couldn't understand, and somehow, the Ghost Lamp just... gave in?

Never mind the other stuff; Just the fact that the Ghost Lamp agreed to go back with her to see the old lady was absurd.

Would a beast, willing to sacrifice its evolution or even its life to save its trainer, really compromise so easily?

Qiao Sang's expression changed slightly.

Could it be that she had unknowingly fallen under the Ghost Lamp's spell just now? Was everything happening now a dream or an illusion?

Little Treasure floated in front of his trainer, seeing no response.

Looking at the familiar face, he pouted, and his eyes began to redden again.

However, before his tears could fall, Qiao Sang reached out and knocked him on the head.

"Does it hurt?"

Little Treasure : ???

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After a long night, Qiao Sang finally confirmed that this wasn’t an illusion.

In the latter half of the night, the Ghost Lamp recovered but didn’t leave. Instead, it started communicating with Little Treasure again.

Although she didn’t know what they were talking about, Qiao Sang had a vague sense that it was impressive.

She knew Little Treasure was a social butterfly, but she didn’t realize he could be this good.

Qiao Sang glanced at Yabao, who was still sound asleep, and felt a bit conflicted.

there’s no harm without comparison...

As the sky lightened, Qiao Sang returned Yabao to the Beast Taming Codex, still with dark circles under her eyes, and knocked on the door of room 702.

The same aunt opened the door.

She was surprised, "Why are you here?"

Fighting the urge to doze off, Qiao Sang replied, "I’m here to submit the task."

Submit the task?

The aunt suddenly realized, "Oh, you’ve come to withdraw from the task, right? Actually, you didn’t have to come in person; you could have done it on your phone."

Half-squinting, Qiao Sang said, "No, I’ve found the Ghost Lamp."

With that, she finally couldn’t help but yawn. Staying up all night was exhausting, especially since her phone had died later on...

The aunt froze. The Ghost Lamp? She found it?

Seeing no reaction from the aunt, Qiao Sang poked her own head. In the next second, Little Treasure appeared and gave a cry to the side.

Then, a familiar figure appeared before the aunt.

Her face instantly went blank.

The Ghost Lamp that the inspection team had searched for so long and couldn’t find was located by an underage girl in less than a day?!

"Spirit?" The aunt, in disbelief, confirmed with the Ghost Lamp.

What if this wasn’t the one the old lady lost but another that looked similar?

Ghost Lamp glanced at her coldly and walked straight inside.

Aunt: …!

It was indeed it!

Qiao Sang followed the Ghost Lamp inside.

The lamp hesitated outside the room for a moment.

"Xun." Little Treasure floated to its side and nodded at it.

The Ghost Lamp glanced at him, then floated through the door, with Little Treasure following closely.

Seeing this, Qiao Sang knocked on the door twice, but there was no response. She knocked again, still no response.

This time, she was smart. Instead of knocking a third time, she just pushed the door open.

The old lady was lying on the bed, still asleep, while the two beasts stood beside her, staring blankly at her.

Qiao Sang could understand the Ghost Lamp being in a daze, but why was Little Treasure also staring? Shouldn’t he be drooling instead?

Was this a side effect of the hypnosis?

Little Treasure slowly overlapped the wrinkled face in front of him with the one from his dream. Anxiety began creeping back into his heart.

He turned to look at Qiao Sang, then disappeared and reappeared on her head, grabbing two tufts of hair to calm himself down.

Seeing this, Qiao Sang felt relieved. She looked at the old lady, who was still sound asleep, and hesitated whether to wake her up.

Just then, the fire inside the Ghost Lamp flickered, and a Nether Sun Crystal emerged from the lamp’s shade, slowly moving towards the old lady.

Qiao Sang froze for a moment. Seeing that the crystal was about to enter the old lady’s body, she acted faster than her brain, darting forward and grabbing the crystal.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" Qiao Sang scolded the Ghost Lamp harshly.

She knew that without the Nether Sun Crystal, the Ghost Lamp wouldn’t last long.

The old lady still had the Ghost Lamp's wick inside her, so she couldn’t understand why it would try to transfer the crystal into her body.

Besides, the old lady was human; She couldn’t possibly withstand... wait...

The wick, the old lady still had the wick inside her!

Qiao Sang suddenly recalled the vice principal’s words: The wick could only stay inside a human body for three days, but it had already been over half a month.

If the wick had been sustained by the Nether Sun Crystal every once in a while, that might explain how it was still functioning.

But if that were the case, then the Ghost Lamp...

"Lamp!"

The Ghost Lamp fiercely snatched the crystal back from Qiao Sang’s hands.

"Xun!"

Little Treasure spread his arms and stood in front of Qiao Sang protectively.

The Ghost Lamp paused for a moment, then reined in its ferocious expression. It turned around and once again placed the crystal near the old lady.

At that moment, a realization struck Qiao Sang.

Without the Nether Sun Crystal, the Ghost Lamp wasn’t acting right. Had it stopped absorbing human essence?

Just then, the old lady slowly opened her eyes.

The Ghost Lamp froze, instinctively hiding the crystal and vanishing.

"You’ve come." The old lady said calmly, not at all surprised by the extra presence in the room.

She propped herself up and leaned against the headboard, her expression peaceful.

Her attitude was completely different from yesterday...

Qiao Sang paused, about to speak, but Little Treasure floated up to the old lady and gestured.

"Xun."

"Xun Xun."

The old lady watched him quietly, a faint smile appearing on her face.

"Yes, it seems that child used hypnosis on you."

"Dreams are the activity of the subconscious. While in a dream, the conscious mind shuts down, allowing the subconscious to take over. Normally, it wouldn’t be able to control your dreams, but it seems the child’s hypnosis is so advanced that its subconscious seeped into yours."

"So, what you saw were all its experiences." As the old lady spoke, she turned to look at the air to her left, her cloudy eyes glistening with tears.

"I did say those words in the end. Maybe the child was in too much pain to hear them, so it didn’t stop."

Only then did Qiao Sang understand why Little Treasure had acted so strangely after waking up.

She followed the old lady’s gaze. The Ghost Lamp must be hiding in that direction. The old lady had likely noticed too...

Sure enough, the old lady turned to Qiao Sang and said, "Thank you for finding this child for me. You never asked about the reward, so I didn’t mention it."

She opened the bedside table and pulled out a Beast Tamer Badge, tossing it over. "Take this to the Beast Taming Center, and they’ll give you your reward."

Qiao Sang was startled.

"I’ll return the badge to you afterward."

The old lady smiled kindly, "There’s no need. I won’t have any use for it in the future."

Qiao Sang fell silent. For a beast tamer, the badge was a symbol of identity. How could she not need it unless she never would again...

"Alright, you may go now. I’d like to be alone with the lamp for a while." The old lady said, her gaze soft as she looked at the empty space in front of her.

Qiao Sang remained still.

After several seconds, the old lady turned impatiently.

"Why are you still here?"

Now that’s more like it... thought Qiao Sang.

"By the way, could you leave me a five-star rating when it’s over?"

The old lady: ...