Chapter 263: A

Tuesday. After a long absence, a light rain began to fall.

Since her umbrella wasn't big enough, Qiao Sang put Like Ya Bao into the Beast Codex and walked to school.

The sky was overcast, and pedestrians hurried along with umbrellas, stepping through puddles on the road — but whenever they passed a certain someone, they slowed down one after another and turned to look, surprised, more than once.

"Uncle Yang, we haven't reached school yet. Do you want to come out for some fresh air?" Qiao Sang asked, unable to ignore the gazes from nearly every passerby around her.

Beside her, a single umbrella hovered about two meters up, with no one beneath it — this was the main source of the pedestrians' attention.

"La…"

Nilado appeared while holding the umbrella, called out once, then vanished again.

"Xunxun~"

Little Xunbao, very perceptive, perched on her beast tamer's head and acted as translator.

Hearing Little Xunbao's words, the corner of Qiao Sang's mouth twitched slightly.

Good grief — it had actually fallen asleep inside Nilado's belly…

When she was about 100 meters from Sacred Water Middle School, Qiao Sang called Nilado to a halt and said, "If you go in like this, you'll be exposed. Wait until the rain stops or the people checking at the school gate leave, then come find me. Remember, I'm in Class 1 of Grade One."

"La…"

Nilado appeared and nodded.

After giving her instructions, Qiao Sang walked on under the umbrella with peace of mind. Nilado was a General-rank pet beast — she trusted it completely.

What she didn't know was that Nilado stood dazed in place, staring at the direction she'd disappeared, for nearly a minute before showing a bewildered expression.

"La…"

What class…

At 9:30 in the morning, when second period ended, Qiao Sang glanced out the window, then looked around the classroom.

The rain had stopped over forty minutes ago, so by all rights Nilado should have been in the classroom long ago. But during the previous class it hadn't made a single peep. Qiao Sang gave it a sincere mental thumbs-up.

As expected of a General-rank pet beast — its stealth is incredible!

"Uncle Yang, are you there?" Qiao Sang asked softly, resting her head on her hand on the desk.

No one answered.

Qiao Sang expressed understanding: "I get it, it's not convenient to talk now. If you're here, just have Nilado move my pen on the desk."

"What are you saying?" Jin Feifan, beside her, suddenly asked.

Qiao Sang sat up straight as if nothing had happened and answered, "I'm silently reciting what the teacher just covered, to reinforce the knowledge."

"Looking back at past college entrance exam papers, there's a 93% chance the content from last class won't be tested." Jin Feifan thought for a moment and said, "But the monthly exam probably will cover it. There's nothing wrong with memorizing it."

Qiao Sang was taken aback: "We're only in Grade One. You've already studied what past college entrance exams tested?"

Jin Feifan flushed slightly and said, embarrassed, "I believe everything should be done efficiently — you shouldn't waste time on meaningless things. If you know in advance what kinds of questions the college entrance exam likes to ask, you can spend more time on them when studying."

Qiao Sang gave a thumbs-up: "Awesome!"

At that moment, a buzz-cut boy ran in from outside the classroom to the podium, 激动ly saying, "Guess what just happened in Gao San!"

"What happened?"

"How could we possibly know?"

"Don't keep us in suspense, just say it!"

"Hurry up and tell us, class is about to start!"

The classmates chimed in one after another, all attention focused.

Qiao Sang looked over as well.

Almost every class has a "gossip hound" who knows all the school's little news first-hand. Their class was no exception. Zhang Shuzhou, their class's "gossip hound," had contributed plenty of school gossip within less than a month of the semester starting.

【Honestly, I've been using the Huanyuan app to read and catch up lately. Switch sources at will, plenty of voice options. The. huanyuanapp works on both Android and Apple.】

Zhang Shuzhou scanned the room from the podium, didn't drag it out, and grinned: "No idea whose pet beast it was, but it stayed invisible and went through every class in the entire Gao San grade, eating up all the hidden snacks. The school leaders are investigating now — whoever it is is in for serious trouble."

Invisible?

Qiao Sang's first instinct was to reach up and pat her head.

Thank goodness — it wasn't Little Xunbao…

"Qiao Sang, is your Xunbao Ghost here? It hasn't been running around, has it?" Jin Feifan leaned over and asked in a lowered voice.

Qiao Sang: "……"

"Xun…"

……

6:56 PM.

Tianjing Yuan, Unit 1705.

"What?! You went to the Gao San grade?!" Qiao Sang asked in disbelief.

Yang Du gave a wry smile: "I overslept this morning. When I came out I didn't see you, and since I figured you were in class I didn't contact you by phone. I asked Maodou but it didn't know which class you were in either. I thought you were in Gao San, so I went and had a look around over there."

After saying this, he looked at Qiao Sang with an extremely complicated expression.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed it no matter who told him — a beast tamer with three pet beasts was actually a child who had just started Grade One.

What was even harder to believe was that two of her three pet beasts had already evolved to Intermediate.

One of them was a Yanling Hound whose evolution method the Alliance hadn't even announced, and the remaining Beginner-rank pet beast was a Water Lulu Yana on the verge of extinction…

Yang Du couldn't describe what he was feeling right now. For decades he had lived in praise, always thinking his own talent was outrageously impressive.

But now he felt his talent was pathetically weak!

Qiao Sang said, doing her best to keep her tone normal: "I told Nilado I was in Class 1 of Grade One."

"Well, you might not know this, but Lala-dai's forgetfulness is famous in the West Law region," Yang Du replied. "Even after evolving into Nilado, it's still the same."

Qiao Sang: "???"

She didn't understand!

How could someone so forgetful still be so popular with newbie beast masters?!

Qiao Sang suddenly thought of something, her mouth twitching, and asked: "I heard all the snacks in the entire Gao San grade were eaten by an invisible pet beast — that wasn't done by Nila Duo, was it?"

"Nonsense!" Yang Du frowned and retorted: "Mao Dou only took some food from the first two classes while I wasn't paying attention at the very beginning. After that, it never ate any more!"

"La…"

Nila Duo slowly nodded.

Qiao Sang: "…"

So it really was you guys…

After Yang Du promised such a thing would never happen again, Qiao Sang came to the courtyard.

Ya Bao and the others had already begun training.

Ya Bao, Meteor Rain.

Xiao Xun Bao, Tile Smash.

Shui Lu Ya Na waited for Xiao Xun Bao to finish smashing the tiles.

Qiao Sang watched with satisfaction.

"Kacha!"

The tile shattered at the sound.

"Lu Lu Lu." Shui Lu Ya Na cast Healing Light without delay.

Xiao Xun Bao, currently being healed, saw its beast master appear in the courtyard, remembered its mission, put on an "everything's on me" expression, and secretly flashed an OK sign where Shui Lu Ya Na couldn't see.

Qiao Sang stared at Xiao Xun Bao's actions for a beat, not yet catching on to what it meant.

"Xun xun~"

Xiao Xun Bao had already drifted over next to Ya Bao and, with its paw freshly bathed in Healing Light, eagerly began giving Ya Bao a massage.

"Ya?"

Ya Bao turned its head and called out to Xiao Xun Bao in confusion.

"Xun~"

Xiao Xun Bao put on a smile it had just learned from playing on its phone last night, one that meant "like."

Qiao Sang: "…"

She didn't understand why Xiao Xun Bao was suddenly smiling so… sycophantically…