Chapter 679: Playing Quite the Game

An hour later, Qiao Sang vomited out the body-tempering bug, her face pale.

Elma promptly brought over a glass of water.

Qiao Sang took it, downed it in one gulp, and eased the nausea a little.

“Thanks.” She said with a long exhale.

“It’s my duty.”

Elma replied, then seemed to think of something and smiled, “So, do you want to keep training with the bug today, or continue tomorrow?”

Qiao Sang thought for a moment.

“Can I bring the bug home to train?”

The second phase required the bug to travel through her tendons 99 times. If she only did it once a day, it would take 99 days.

By then, she'd be in university.

Who knew if she'd even have time to come back here? Naturally, she wanted to finish the training early.

She had just tried one round, it took a little over an hour. If she could bring the bug home, she could train at least three times a day and save on travel time.

Elma said, “You mean like home service? That’s possible, but this bug isn’t my pet. The cost for home service is different, you’ll need to check with its beast master.”

She smiled gently.

“I’ll go ask for you now.”

“Alright.” Qiao Sang nodded.

For some reason, she felt Elma now held more… respect for her.

Yes, respect.

Maybe it was because she’d just endured the pain of the bug running through her body, which earned Elma’s admiration?

Elma left the room.

Just then, Tang Yi gave her a thumbs up.

“Damn. Respect.”

“Respect for what?” Qiao Sang sat beside him on the couch.

“For accepting the whole ‘bug-crawling-in-your-body’ thing so fast.” He said sincerely.

“You’re not grossed out by it?”

Qiao Sang glanced at him.

“What do you think?”

Yeah, she was grossed out…

Tang Yi looked at her pale face, and couldn’t help picturing himself swallowing the bug. Instantly, he gagged, fighting the urge to throw up.

Could you not look at me while doing that?

Qiao Sang scooted a little further from him.

Tang Yi dry-heaved, took a sip of water, then let out a heavy breath.

“I don’t think this kind of training is for me…”

Qiao Sang offered, “You could at least try it.”

He hesitated.

He still vividly remembered her tanking a 200kg punch from the punching puppet unscathed.

But then he also remembered the part where she swallowed the bug…

At that moment, Elma came back in.

“The bug’s beast master agreed. But he charges 3,000 alliance coins per hour for home visits. You can choose the time.”

“Alright.” Qiao Sang stood up.

“Have it come to my place this afternoon. I’ll send the address.”

One hour at 3,000 coins…

Tang Yi quietly pulled out his phone to do the math.

99 sessions = 297,000 alliance coins…

Yeah, forget it. He wasn’t built for this.

He put his phone away.

---

3:00 PM.

Qiao Sang sat cross-legged on her bed, meditating.

Ding dong~

The doorbell rang.

“Xun xun!”

Little Treasure was using telekinesis to play on the computer and didn’t want to move, so he called out to Gangbao, who was training her Iron Wall.

“Gang Guard."

Gangbao stopped, went to check the monitor at the door.

It was the same bug from this morning. She opened the door with her wing.

“Duan duan.”

The Body Forge Bug crawled in slowly, showing its work badge hanging from its neck, then took out a stopwatch to prepare for the session.

“Gang Guard.”

Gangbao covered the stopwatch with her wing.

“Duan duan?”

The bug looked confused.

“Gang Guard.”

Gangbao pointed toward her beastmaster’s room and signaled:

Not until the training actually starts.

“Duan duan.”

The bug didn’t mind. It nodded and crawled inside.

“Gang Guard!”

Gangbao followed it and raised her voice.

Qiao Sang heard the noise and opened her eyes. Seeing the bug, she greeted it, “You’re here.”

“Duan duan.”

The bug nodded, then chirped:

When do we start?

“Gang Guard.”

Gangbao translated.

“Right now.” said Qiao Sang.

“Duan duan.”

The bug pressed the stopwatch, removed its uniform and badge, and jumped into her mouth.

Damn, it still hurts like hell…

Qiao Sang broke into a sweat, curling up on the bed.

Gangbao went to the kitchen, poured water, and placed it on the nightstand. Then she got a towel from the bathroom, dampened and wrung it out, and placed it on her(QS) forehead.

She had seen humans do this when they were unwell.

She watched her carefully.

The cool towel helped Qiao Sang shift focus and feel slightly better. She let out a slow breath.

After observing for a while, Gangbao returned to the living room to continue training Iron Wall, quietly doing her job.

---

Ding dong~

Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang again.

Gangbao glanced at Little Treasure, who was furiously gaming, canceled her Iron Wall, and checked the monitor.

A stranger.

Ding dong~ Ding dong~

More ringing.

“Gang Guard.”

Gangbao pressed the intercom.

“Gang Guard.”

The man paused.

“Is this Miss Qiao Sang’s residence? I’m from the Negative Energy Collection Contest. I’m here to film a promo for Ghost Ring Phantom.”

Gangbao recalled the event and nodded to herself.

She opened the door.

“You…” The man’s smile froze.

“Where’s the beast master?”

“Gang Guard.”

Gangbao pointed at the still-gaming Little Treasure. Her gesture said:

Beast master’s not feeling well. You can film directly with Little Treasure.

The staff brought a ghost-type pet with a horn on its forehead.

“Translate.” He told the pet.

“Yōu yōu.” The horned pet translated.

The staff looked at the ghost-like creature typing away on the computer.

“That doesn’t look like Ghost Ring Phantom…”

“Gang Guard.”

Gangbao explained patiently.

He evolved.

“Translate again.”

“Yōu yōu.”

The man froze.

“It evolved?!”

“Gang Guard.”

Gangbao nodded.

Wasn’t Ghost Ring Phantom supposed to be a rare high-tier pet on Blue Star? That Qiao Sang girl looked like a minor…

The man took out a scanner and pointed it at the ghostly pet.

Soon, the scanner beeped:

[

Error: Recognition failed

.]

Failed to recognize…

The man looked at Gangbao.

“I want to see your beast master.”

“Gang Guard.”

Gangbao stared at him calmly.

She’s unwell. If you won’t film now, you can schedule another time.

The man frowned and repeated, “I want to see your beast master.”

He didn’t like dealing with pets, normally in a place like this, someone should come out and receive him. But there was no one.

Just this… bird.

He pulled out his phone to call Qiao Sang-

“Gang Guard.”

Gangbao suddenly turned and walked off.

Finally going to get her…

The man put his phone away.

Ten seconds later, footsteps, not human ones.

“Gang Guard.” Gangbao spoke.

The man looked up and saw a massive, over 6-meter-tall red beast with overwhelming presence walking toward him.

“Yap.”

Yabao remembered what Old Four told him earlier. He glared menacingly at the man.

The man: !!!

What kind of beast is that?!

The huge shadow swallowed all light. His heart raced. He instinctively stepped back.

“Gang Guard.”

Gangbao smirked slightly.

“Quick! Translate!” The man shouted.

“Yōu yōu…” Even the ghost pet was intimidated, clinging to its master as it translated nervously.

Same message:

She’s unwell. If you won’t film now, come another time.

The man didn’t dare delay:

“I’ll film now!”

He quickly pulled out his equipment.

Gangbao looked pleased.

“Gang Guard.”

She waved a wing:

Big bro Yabao could return to training

“Yap Yap…”

Yabao felt something was off. He shook his head.

His beast master was sick,

he had to guard her and keep this human away.

“Gang Guard.”

Gangbao didn’t argue and went back to her training.

Suddenly-

BOOM BOOM!

Familiar explosive sounds.

Gangbao tilted her head.

That was Yabao’s fire skill. But… Yabao was right here?

She walked toward the outdoor training ground and saw a bunch of Fire Qilus practicing fire skills.

“Gang Guard…”

Gangbao fell into thought.

She knew Yabao could create many clones to train different skills.

But she didn’t know the main body and clones could be this far apart… and still work independently.

If she learned this one day, maybe she could multitask too and save time…

---

One hour later.

“Duan duan.”

The body forge bug climbed back into its work uniform, bowed, and slowly crawled out the door.

Lying on the bed, Qiao Sang weakly said, “Take care…”

She took a moment to recover, then picked up the phone beside her, wanting to see how long this training session had lasted.

She lit up the screen and saw two unread text messages:

[Hello, I’m the person in charge of filming the Ghost Ring Phantom. I’ve arrived, are you home?]

[Filming is finished. I didn’t expect your Ghost Ring Phantom to have already evolved. Congratulations!]

Huh? It’s already done?

Qiao Sang sat up and recalled that she had indeed heard some noises outside just now.

The sound insulation of this building was really good. Once the door was closed, basically nothing could be heard. Only Qiao Sang, thanks to her sensitivity, could catch a bit of the commotion, though she hadn’t known what exactly was going on.

She had thought it was just Yabao and the others causing a ruckus, turns out it was the promotional film crew…

Qiao Sang replied:

[I wasn’t feeling well just now. Everything went okay with the shoot, right?]

The response came instantly:

[It went great! All your pet beasts were very cooperative!]

Qiao Sang was relieved and exited the messaging app.

It wasn’t that she was worried that Little Treasure’s evolution would cause filming problems, after all, she had already experienced Yabao evolving into a Flame Hound right before a shoot, and knew that evolutions usually benefited the promotion.

What surprised her was that, even without her present, Little Treasure had managed to cooperate well with the shoot and keep it running smoothly.

“Gang Guard.”

Just then, Gangbao pushed the door open and came in, calling out to indicate that she wanted to learn the Clone skill.

Hearing this, Qiao Sang was momentarily stunned.

“You suddenly want to learn Clone?”

“Gang Guard.”

Gangbao flapped her wings, expressing that she felt learning Clone would allow her to do multiple things at once, just like big brother Yabao.

Qiao Sang was both surprised and not.

Gangbao had always had her own opinions and a clear sense of her training direction. She just didn’t expect her to ask to learn Clone now.

This skill was ridiculously overpowered for someone like her with a golden finger (cheat-like ability).

One pet beast using Clone was fine but if all her beasts started using it like Yabao, it would definitely raise suspicions. If she ever entered a highly watched tournament, people would dig up her history for sure.

A skill just learned, yet reaching intermediate or even advanced level within a day due to simultaneous Clone training?

Anyone with half a brain would find that suspicious.

If it were just one pet beast, people might marvel at its talent. But if all of them were like that, the internet would explode.

After all, never underestimate the imagination of netizens.

Luckily, Little Treasure and the others each had their own training and battle styles, and their progress wasn’t slow either.

So she hadn’t let them learn Clone.

Qiao Sang thought for a moment and said:

“Alright, I’ll find a way. But don’t neglect training other skills, especially Iron Wall.”

“Gang Guard.”

Gangbao nodded seriously, indicating understanding, then turned and left the room, considerately closing the door behind her.

Oh well, if Gangbao wants to learn, let her. Worst case, once she learns a new skill, just wait a while before showing it in public…

Qiao Sang thought.

She didn’t notice, she had never doubted Gangbao’s ability to learn Clone.

---

Qiao Sang wasn’t who she used to be. Now with her unlimited credit card and vacation time, her first instinct was to take Gangbao to a professional training center for Clone.

She searched online, and that very evening arrived at the destination.

It was a training institute not far from where she lived, with trainers holding high-level certifications and usually booked solid.

But for consultation, no appointment was needed.

The consultant pushed forward the materials of the trainers and said:

“All our trainers are top-notch in 1st District. They’ve trained-”

Qiao Sang interrupted:

“Who has the shortest time for teaching Clone?”

The consultant thought for a moment, then pointed to a man with a wild afro in the photo:

“This is Mr. Everett, a senior trainer. He once taught a pet beast to learn Clone and use it flexibly within half a month. That client even referred several friends afterward.”

“What? The fastest is half a month?” Qiao Sang was a bit shocked.

Another one impressed by Mr. Everett, looks like this deal is in the bag…

The consultant smiled.

“That’s right, just half-”

“That slow?” Qiao Sang interrupted again.

“Anyone faster?”

Consultant: …

She started to doubt her own hearing.

Half a month to teach Clone… and that’s slow?

She managed to maintain a polite smile and said:

“Clone is a mid-tier skill. Half a month is already very quick, it also depends on the pet beast’s talent. Most can’t even learn that fast.”

Qiao Sang looked disappointed and asked again:

“No one faster?”

The consultant shook her head.

“No.”

“Forget it then.”

That speed? She might as well train it herself…

Qiao Sang got up decisively and walked out.

The consultant was dumbfounded.

Just left like that?

Was she really dissatisfied with half a month? Not just messing around?

---

Back at home, Qiao Sang thought for a bit and called over Yabao and Gangbao.

“Yabao, when training Meteor Rain, control the power a bit, let Gangbao practice dodging under it.”

Yabao had learned Clone at a baseball training center. The intensity and density of Meteor Rain were far beyond any automatic baseball machine. Given how smart Gangbao was, replicating Yabao’s method might just work.

Now that her own defense training was done for stage one, even if Gangbao got hit by fire, she should be able to handle it…

“Yap!”

“Gang Guard.”

Yabao and Gangbao responded simultaneously, showing they understood.

Seeing that, Qiao Sang smiled with satisfaction.

The best thing about her pet beasts, they needed almost no oversight in training.

“Xun xun!”

At that moment, Little Treasure, who was playing on the computer nearby, widened his eyes and growled fiercely at the screen.

Go! Charge! Don’t be scared!

…Except for Little Treasure.

Qiao Sang silently added in her heart.

---

2:00 AM.

Little Treasure drank an energy recovery potion while using telekinesis to type on the keyboard.

[Charming Fatty: Bro, you’re playing wild. Last time, you even called your own tamer your partner?]

“Xun xun?”

Little Treasure tilted his head in confusion, then typed with his mind:

[Not partner. Just my own tamer.]

[Charming Fatty: Hahaha, okay, kid. I can’t keep up with you young folks.]

Little Treasure didn’t quite understand what he meant, and replied:

[I don’t use feet. I float.]

[Charming Fatty: Still in your beast roleplay, huh? So what’s your type, Ghost or Psychic?]

Little Treasure activated his telekinesis:

[What roleplay? I am a Ghost-type pet beast.]

[Charming Fatty: …you win.]

Seeing those two words, Little Treasure looked a little proud.

[I am strong.]

[Charming Fatty: …]

Just as Little Treasure was about to type again, he suddenly sensed something. His eyes lit up with a blue glow.

The next second, the coffee table, computer, sofa, TV, dining table…

Everything in the living room started floating.