Chapter 12: Everyone Knows

Silence and darkness shrouded the wilderness, filled with eerie quiet.

The black figure approached suddenly, making a cackling laugh.

It had no limbs, only a body the size of a human head floating in the air, its dark red eyes staring at the girl in white like prey.

The next moment, the limbless body suddenly grew a hand with only two fingers and reached toward the girl's heart.

The hand passed through the girl's body, and it was empty.

The black figure widened its eyes in disbelief.

The girl raised her head, and a face without features slowly appeared on the screen...

"Tooth!"

The Fire-Tooth Dog threw itself into Qiao Sang's arms.

It didn't want to watch anymore!

Qiao Sang stroked its head, a bit of a pity...

After getting off the station, the Fire-Tooth Dog obediently let Qiao Sang put it into the Beast-Taming Codex, even happily shaking its tail.

Besides taking time to go to the Beast-Taming Center to register her beast-tamer identity and the Fire-Tooth Dog's household registration, the remaining time was almost all spent in books.

"Tooth!"

Qiao Sang's mouth twitched.

On the No. 36 bus.

Her mother bought six Red-Tangerine Fruits last time. She fed four to the Fire-Tooth Dog on the first day, and one a day for the next two days.

It liked staying outside more than the Beast-Taming Codex.

"I didn't come, so how would I know what the homework is? Besides, you're fourth-to-last in the class, and I'm third-to-last; isn't it embarrassing to copy me?" Qiao Sang was speechless.

A slender figure appeared at the classroom door.

Fang Sisi was still copying homework, and only then did she notice Qiao Sang had arrived.

"Didn't the rumor last time say Li Tan Beast-Taming High School?"

"If you don't come in, I'll have to go by myself."

"Did you watch the competition in the Lianbo region yesterday?"

Qiao Sang didn't want to be surrounded.

"If you come in, I'll buy you Red-Tangerine Fruits to eat when I get back," Qiao Sang tempted.

"Tooth." The Fire-Tooth Dog responded weakly with its head hanging down.

"As expected of our province's ace high school, even Dai Shushu can't get in."

Qiao Sang's heart softened into a ball.

"Wait until you get to school, you have to be obedient and go in, okay?" Qiao Sang smiled.

"It seems the quota was brushed off."

Qiao Sang didn't choose to take the subway like usual.

The Fire-Tooth Dog turned its head to the side arrogantly.

Feeling the strange atmosphere in the classroom, Qiao Sang touched her nose and whispered to Fang Sisi, "Did you tell the class about my autonomous awakening?"

"By the way, did you do the spiritual plant analysis homework? Lend it to me to copy," Fang Sisi touched Qiao Sang's arm with her hand.

"Don't you see I'm still copying?"

"..."

"Tooth!"

The Fire-Tooth Dog responded energetically.

"Yeah."

"I'm leaving."

Qingcheng Jiayuan is the school district house for Wencheng Junior High, less than 9 kilometers away. Taking bus No. 23, 36, 57, and subway lines 5 and 7 can all go directly there.

"I'm really leaving."

"Nonsense, I've been waiting in front of the TV since 7 PM. Lin Jinyang's Blood-Pale Dragon is simply cool!"

"Yes, yes, yes, and that Scale-Eating Ant, golden, I've never seen a golden Scale-Eating Ant! It almost blinded me!"

In this school, news spreads very fast.

This time Qiao Sang wanted it to go in again, but it showed some resistance.

If it had stopped there, everyone wouldn't be interested. After all, Qiao Sang's grades were poor, and being called to the office for criticism wasn't unheard of.

The Fire-Tooth Dog shook its head, indicating it didn't want to go in.

"Don't, absolutely not." Qiao Sang shook her head quickly, then asked in confusion, "Then why are they all staring at me?"

Qiao Sang sat in her seat and found that some classmates were secretly looking at her.

I don't know if it's because of the brain domain awakening, but her memory was much better than in her past life; she only needed to read the books once to remember most of it.

At this time, Fang Sisi said again, "Also, everyone knows that you were the one who scored zero in this

Qiao Sang didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but she didn't feel anything in particular.

"If you want to be with me, you have to go inside first. I promise to let you out as soon as school is over," Qiao Sang said.

The head teacher wouldn't call her to the office for a spit-flying lecture again, would she...

The next two days happened to be the weekend, and Qiao Sang rejected Fang Sisi's suggestion to go out and play, choosing to study at home alone.

Class 3-7, Wencheng Junior High.

"Have you finished your homework? Lend it to me to copy."

"..."

As it turned out, Qiao Sang asked for leave the next day, and on the third day, she skipped class entirely.

"Ya."

"..."

"Didn't your mom come to school twice? Then you asked for a day off and skipped a day of class; everyone is guessing if something happened to you," Fang Sisi explained.

The Fire Tooth Dog pounced into Qiao Sang's arms, lifting its wet eyes to look at her pitifully.

Qiao Sang arrived at the entryway, squatted down to put on her shoes, and made a move to leave.

Qiao Sang couldn't help but stroke its head.

But once parents are called in, the situation becomes serious.

Ever since the Fire Tooth Dog got bored of the game of entering and exiting the Beast Taming Tome, it hadn't gone back inside.

The head teacher didn't criticize her by name directly in class out of consideration for Qiao Sang's face, but afterward, she had the study committee member call Qiao Sang to the office, and later, she even called her parents to the school.

Qiao Sang felt somewhat helpless; the school didn't explicitly forbid bringing pet beasts, but with no one else having contracted a pet beast yet, leaving the Fire Tooth Dog outside was too eye-catching.

"Fire Tooth Dog, be good. I'll let you out as soon as school is over," Qiao Sang coaxed the Fire Tooth Dog.

Originally, if it had stopped there, no one would have been interested; after all, Qiao Sang had poor grades, and it wasn't the first time she'd been called to the office for criticism.

It looked at the outside world with excitement.

"You get into Shengshui Junior High and show me."

"Thigh, you're finally here." Fang Sisi's eyes lit up as she leaned in. "How could I say anything without your consent? Do you need me to promote you in class?"

Soon, the day to return to school arrived.

Qiao Sang was stunned. "Skipped a day of class?"

The Fire Tooth Dog happily poked its head out the window in Qiao Sang's arms, the wind blowing against it and messing up its fur.

Although she guessed her mother might have forgotten to ask for leave, Qiao Sang still felt a bit heavy-hearted when she realized she had guessed correctly.

It wasn't a distortion of facts that she was called in by her parents for scoring zero; children of this age might feel ashamed if others knew, but Qiao Sang didn't have that kind of psychological pressure.

One must know that, usually, the head teacher rarely notified parents unless there was fighting or brawling.

It didn't want to.

"I heard Dai Shushu from Class 9 was recommended to Shengshui Junior High."

Could it be that it was tired of eating this?

Asking for leave and skipping class at this critical juncture already explained the problem; everyone's gossip fire burned fiercely, and before long, they knew the cause and effect.

As the figure walked in, the discussion suddenly quieted down.

Still just a child.

"Thigh, I won't allow you to talk about yourself like that." Fang Sisi accused her, then made a mournful expression. "I thought your mom brought your homework when she came to school on Friday. I'm really envious of you people who don't have to do homework."

Qiao Sang: "..."

Ignoring Fang Sisi's antics, Qiao Sang fell into deep thought.

She seemed to still not know why her mother came to school last time.

(End of chapter)