Chapter 262: Countdown

Right after that, the water cup on the coffee table rose into the air, tilted at 75 degrees, and poured out — but the water didn't spill onto the floor; the moment it left the rim of the cup, it vanished without a trace.

"Damn! How many times have I told you this! When I'm inside your body, don't just shove food or drinks into your mouth!" Beside the coffee table, the pet beast named Maodou reappeared. Yang Du, his hair still wet, cursed as he unzipped and climbed out from inside.

"Zip…"

"Xun!"

Before the zipper could be pulled back up, Little Xunbao suddenly popped out from somewhere, dove straight in, and with an excited expression stretched its claws outside, trying to pull the zipper shut.

"Zip…"

The pet beast named Maodou stopped Little Xunbao's action and, while at it, lowered its head to look at its own belly.

"Xun~"

Little Xunbao showed a friendly smile.

"Zip."

The pet beast named Maodou was unmoved, reached its claws into its own belly, and yanked Little Xunbao out in one go.

"Xun!"

Little Xunbao floated to Qiao Sang's side, pouting with a wronged look on its face.

"Is this Xunbao Yao also your pet beast?" Yang Du asked, eyes wide.

Ever since learning of the existence of Lu Lu Lu, his entire demeanor had changed quite a bit.

"Mm." Qiao Sang nodded.

"Maodou, this is your fault." Yang Du slapped Maodou, who was zipping itself up: "The little guy just wanted to go in and play for a bit, why be so rough!"

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"Zip…"

Maodou, keeping a blank expression, pulled the zipper back down and called out to Little Xunbao.

"Xun~"

Little Xunbao immediately floated in happily.

Seeing the pet beast named Maodou vanish again, Qiao Sang asked: "Is this pet beast a Niladuo from the Xilv region?"

In truth, beast tamers mostly only knew the pet beasts of their own region well; for pet beasts from other regions, they generally only had half a clue.

Either they looked familiar but couldn't name them, or they only knew the name of a certain pet beast's form at a certain stage — they wouldn't know the names of every evolution form.

But there were always some pet beasts that were exceptions.

For example, the signature pet beasts of each region, or the pet beasts contracted most often by tamers in that region.

Take Fire Fang Hound — people from other regions might not recognize it — but mention Chubby Dove, Bai Sha Fox, Short-Tail Snake, Sand Digging Rat, or Deep-Fur Tortoise, and people from other regions could name not just the basic form but the entire evolution chain.

And Niladuo belonged to this category.

As one of the pet beasts most contracted by rookie beast tamers in the Xilv region, Qiao Sang had a fair bit of knowledge about it.

Niladuo, the General-rank evolution of Lazy Dummy, has a cute, dopey appearance and possesses the Concealment trait — it can unzip the zipper on its front and hide things inside, living things included.

This trait was deeply loved by house husbands and housewives, the reason being, naturally, that it made grocery shopping at the supermarket much more convenient.

"That's right." Yang Du smiled: "Good eye, little one."

Little one…

Qiao Sang's expression turned odd, but then she remembered the man in front of her was actually 53 years old, so being called "little one" didn't seem unwarranted…

The two chatted for a while and got a bit more familiar.

Qiao Sang asked: "Uncle Yang, are you sick and need treatment?"

Since the mission's reward was curing an illness, the person accepting the mission naturally had an illness they wanted cured.

"You child, I'm this young and you call me uncle." Yang Du took a sip of water and said: "Just call me Shu."

Uncle, 53 years old, not that young… Qiao Sang asked again: "Uncle Yang, what illness did you get?"

"It's not me." Yang Du set down his water cup and said: "It's my wife."

Qiao Sang struck a listening pose.

Thinking of his wife's condition, Yang Du's spirits sank again. He pressed his lips together and said: "My wife's brain domain suffered severe collapse due to a forced breakthrough. Right now she can only be kept stable in the hospital through deep hypnosis and nutrient injections."

"If we wake her up, the headache will make her unable to hear anything anyone says, and she won't be able to control her own behavior — she'll grab whatever's beside her and smash it against her own head. Even if everything around her is moved away, she'll still bash her head against the wall."

Qiao Sang said, surprised: "Why would she choose to forcibly break through her brain domain?"

The brain domain was a beast tamer's lifeblood — it couldn't be trifled with lightly. Even if the brain domain's progress could no longer be developed, one could not choose to forcibly break through.

This was a lesson paid for in blood by countless beast tamers throughout history!

Hard to imagine that in this day and age, someone would still choose to forcibly break through their brain domain.

Yang Du rubbed his temples and said in a low voice: "It's all my fault. I was away all year and didn't spend much time with her. Last time I went back to give her a surprise, but when I got there she wasn't home. One of her friends happened to be visiting, and I knew that friend too, so without thinking much I invited her in."

"I didn't expect…" At this point Yang Du suddenly remembered Qiao Sang was still a minor, so he got a bit awkward, skipped the details, and said: "Anyway, I didn't do anything, but my wife happened to come back and misunderstood."

"Later she made a fuss about divorcing me. I didn't agree, so she filed for divorce by litigation. We have a child, and she wanted the child to go with her, but I'm a B-rank beast tamer, and I hadn't done anything wrong, so the court rejected the lawsuit."

"She thought the main reason the lawsuit failed was because I was a B-rank beast tamer, so she desperately tried to develop her brain domain to become stronger than me — and that's how she ended up like this."

She really did risk her life just to divorce you… Qiao Sang sighed inwardly.

She had expected to hear some tragic medical history, but instead she got gossip.

To be honest, Qiao Sang could actually understand his wife's actions. Probably in his wife's mind, she thought it was a double betrayal by both her friend and her husband, which made her so furiously angry she couldn't think calmly.

If that "friend" had actually been a stranger rather than a friend, she probably wouldn't have been so impulsive as to do something so irrational as forcibly breaking through her brain domain.

Qiao Sang was just about to open her mouth and say something when she happened to catch sight of Little Xunbao going in and out of Niladuo's belly nearby.

"Lu Lu Lu." Lu Lu Lu saw Little Xunbao come out and called out to it.

"Xun~" Little Xunbao, having the time of its life, paid no attention.

Like Ya Bao stood stiffly beside Lu Lu Lu, expression frozen, like a wooden stump.

Qiao Sang stared blankly at the scene for a moment, then seemed to think of something, glancing at Shui Lu Yana one moment, at Ya Bao the next, then at Little Xun Bao.

After looking back and forth like this several times.

"I've got it!" Qiao Sang sprang to her feet.

Yang Du got a fright: "What did you think of?"

Qiao Sang giggled: "A grand show."

Saying that, she bowed deeply to Yang Du: "Thank you for the inspiration."

Yang Du: "???"

……

That evening, Yang Du moved in. The house had plenty of rooms, so he picked one on the second floor and moved his things in.

After confirming she didn't need to buy any daily necessities, Qiao Sang went back to the first floor, secretly called Ya Bao and Little Xun Bao into the room, and started whispering with them.

Ten minutes later, Little Xun Bao floated out of the room with an excited face.

Ya Bao followed behind, walking out with a "Who am I, where am I" expression.

Qiao Sang, meanwhile, went to the desk, opened her notebook, and wrote a line:

"Countdown to Shui Lu Yana's evolution: 8 days."