Chapter 254: Speak of the Devil

Lying on his side in bed, Shi Gaofeng froze, his hand pausing on his phone, his brain momentarily unable to process it.

Qiao Sang is going too?

What for?

Although he had posted the news in the group chat, he had never expected Qiao Sang to accompany him.

Could it be that Qiao Sang likes him...... Shi Gaofeng's face turned red, thinking he might be flattering himself, so he searched online:

【Would a girl accompany a guy somewhere for no reason?】

The results that came up made Shi Gaofeng's face grow redder and redder.

【Well, first of all, the guy must have a good impression in the girl's heart】

【Generally speaking, if a girl is willing to go out with you, it means she has a certain level of fondness for you】

【There's a chance, seize it well】

【Under normal circumstances, absolutely not!】

【Is it possible that the other person just sees you as a friend or bestie?】

Shi Gaofeng chose to selectively ignore this last one.

Qiao Sang likes him...... After reaching this conclusion, Shi Gaofeng could no longer lie still.

He sat up, leaned against the headboard, opened the group chat, typed and deleted, deleted and typed, deeply conflicted.

This was the first time a girl liked him, but puppy love wasn't good...... Shi Gaofeng struggled internally, dawdling for a long time before finally sending a message:

【Don't you still have to participate in the sports meet?】

【Qiao Sang: Only one event, it won't take much time】

Shi Gaofeng stared at the message, lost in wild thoughts, and after struggling for another several dozen seconds, finally sent what he really wanted to ask:

【Why did you suddenly think of accompanying me to the assessment?】

Just as this blockhead Shi Gaofeng kept imagining things in his head, a message from Qiao Sang instantly doused all his excitement and inner turmoil:

【It's on the way, I want to go check out the assessment too】

A single short sentence, devastating in its power, not only stopped Shi Gaofeng's fantasies, but also directly blew up the chat, luring out everyone who had been lurking.

【Shi Gaofeng:???】

【Xu Yajie:???】

【Wang Yao:???】

【Zheng Guoping:???】

The next day.

September 24th, Saturday, sunny.

Although she had slept three hours later than usual last night, her biological clock still woke Qiao Sang up early.

While washing up, Qiao Sang stared at herself in the mirror in a daze. Whether it was an illusion or not, she felt her face had become a bit more delicate, and her skin—apart from some dark circles—looked nothing like someone who had just stayed up late the night before.

Could it be the backfeeding effect of her pet beast?

Qiao Sang immediately thought of the vice principal, whose beast-tamer level was far above hers, then recalled his big belly in her mind, and promptly rejected this hypothesis.

It must be that she was born beautiful, it had nothing to do with backfeeding.

At noon, the five boxes of tiles and Energy Recovery Solution she had bought a couple of days ago were carried in one box at a time by a Gravity Monkey.

After putting part of the items into Little Treasure Ghost's ring, Qiao Sang slung her backpack containing Lu Lu Lu over her shoulder and set off for the Hongying Beast-Taming Battle Club.

It wasn't that Lu Lu Lu was unwilling to stay in the Beast-Taming Codex; Qiao Sang simply felt that there wasn't much time left, and Lu Lu Lu and Ya Bao needed more interaction.

Ya Bao using Shadow Clones to cast Meteor Shower together would definitely look incredibly cool, so she had to let Lu Lu Lu see it.

So Qiao Sang sat on Ya Bao's back, with Little Treasure Ghost perched on her head and Lu Lu Lu on her back, and took to the air route.

Beast tamers riding flying-type pet beasts through the air route were common, but beast tamers like Qiao Sang, whose mount clearly wasn't a flying type, were rarely seen.

So much so that on the way to the Hongying Beast-Taming Battle Club, a group of beast tamers deliberately lagged slightly behind Qiao Sang or flanked her, secretly taking out their phones to snap photos, ready to post them on their Moments.

Lu Lu Lu poked half its head out, watching almost everyone staring at Ya Bao.

After being stared at for a while, Lu Lu Lu pulled out from its backpack the small mirror it had recently gotten from Little Treasure Ghost and started looking into it.

"Lu Lu..." Lu Lu Lu showed a thoughtful expression.

It shouldn't be that bad either...

Upon arriving at the Hongying Beast-Taming Battle Club, Qiao Sang headed straight for the door with the "No Admittance for Unauthorised Personnel" sign that the receptionist had mentioned last time.

The moment she pushed the door open and went in, before she had a chance to properly take in the surrounding facilities, she felt a blast of cold air and couldn't help but shiver.

If this had been a month ago when it was still around 35 degrees every day, Qiao Sang could have enjoyed it, but now, although the weather hadn't dropped sharply, she clearly could no longer bear such cold air.

Fortunately, the blast of cold air vanished in an instant; the surrounding temperature was still low, but already within tolerable range.

"Are you Qiao Sang?" At that moment, a booming voice rang out from the side.

Qiao Sang turned her head and saw a burly man who was not only bare-chested but also bald, his build no different from a fighting-type pet beast, with a stubbly chin that looked like steel needles.

Seeing the girl look over, the fierce-faced大汉 revealed a standard set of eight white teeth.

Could it be a fan of hers...... Qiao Sang instantly thought of the fan she had encountered during a mission not long ago.

"I am." Qiao Sang nodded reservedly.

"Haha, I knew it was you." The大汉 laughed heartily, instinctively reaching out to pat Qiao Sang on the shoulder, but then thought of how skinny she looked, and his hand abruptly swerved to rub his own bald head instead.

"And you are?" Qiao Sang asked.

"I'm a sparring partner here, name's Li Sisong, just call me Brother Li." Li Sisong looked at Ya Bao beside her and said: "I've long heard that a beast tamer with a Yanling Hound came to our club, young and still in school, and today I finally get to meet them."

Saying this, Li Sisong turned to look at Qiao Sang, his peripheral vision sweeping over the backpack on her back, then flashing his eight white teeth again:

"Haha, didn't expect you to be even younger than I imagined."

Such a rough exterior yet such a refined name, it totally doesn't match the person at all!

Qiao Sang had just finished her internal grumbling and hadn't even opened her mouth when the chill she'd felt earlier swept through again, and she couldn't help shivering once more.

Li Sisong noticed and said, "Why don't you go out and borrow a jacket from someone? Someone's training the skill Blizzard today, so you'll probably get frozen several times a day."

Blizzard?

Qiao Sang turned her head and looked, and sure enough, about ten meters to her front-left she spotted a large bear-type pet beast with white fur and sharp claws.

It was also at this moment that she finally got a clear look at the entire training ground.

The ground was pitted and uneven, looking like a ruin that had been carpet-bombed by pet beasts; in one corner sat a few pieces of high-tech equipment that completely clashed with the surroundings. All in all, it was nothing like the outside.

But the place was big enough — by eye, about three times the size of an ordinary training ground.

Qiao Sang smiled and said, "No need, I'll just train a bit farther away from that Frostquake Bear."

Li Sisong smiled and said nothing more. The whole point of his greeting had been to spar with the only Flame-Ear Hound around, but the moment he saw how young its beast master was, he dropped the idea.

The kid was still wearing a backpack.

Any beast master who'd earned the title of Advanced Sparring Partner had a certain pride to them — bullying a child was really not something they could bring themselves to do.

Qiao Sang looked around and spotted a decent spot.

She had just started to head over when she realized Like Ya Bao hadn't followed.

"What's wrong?" Qiao Sang turned her head and followed Like Ya Bao's line of sight, and saw that it was staring at the Frostquake Bear currently training.

No way… A sudden bad premonition rose in Qiao Sang's heart.

And as always, what you feared most was what came to pass.

"Ya!"

Like Ya Bao turned its head and looked at its beast master with an excited bark.

It wanted to battle that guy!

Qiao Sang: "…"

Just as she thought.