Beast Taming: Starting From Zero

Suddenly, memories of the past surged back.

It was only then that Qiao Sang remembered, this Shi Gaofeng was not the real Shi Gaofeng, but rather the Phantom Water Baby in disguise…

To be honest, except for the voice, it really was hard to tell them apart just by their appearance.

"Mei!"

After hearing Shi Gaofeng speak, the Thornberry Beast's round eyes widened, and the thorns on its body stood upright.

Shi Gaofeng, frightened, immediately covered his mouth, looking pitifully at the Thornberry Beast and then at Qiao Sang.

Although Qiao Sang couldn't understand what the Thornberry Beast was saying, from their reactions, she vaguely grasped the meaning.

"It's fine. Your master already told me he brought an Phantom Water Baby. Don't be mad at it." Qiao Sang comforted the Thornberry Beast.

"Mei Mei."

"Huan huan!" Beside them, Shi Gaofeng's eyes lit up, and he happily shouted.

Qiao Sang: ...

She could bet that Shi Gaofeng was done for...

"Mei!" The Thornberry Beast, paws on its hips, sternly started lecturing Shi Gaofeng.

And Shi Gaofeng squatted in front of it like a three-year-old child, nodding occasionally.

Qiao Sang couldn't bear to watch. She could already imagine the scene where Zheng Baolong instantly saw through the fake Shi Gaofeng.

Sighing for Shi Gaofeng in advance... Qiao Sang summoned Yabao to her side.

"Yap!"

As soon as Yabao appeared, he happily rubbed against his Beast Master.

Qiao Sang smiled and patted his head.

Yabao was usually by her side, but now, whenever she left home, he had to stay in the Beast Codex. Not only Yabao, even she wasn't used to it.

The heat was about to dissipate, but once word got out that the Flame Hound had psychic abilities, Yabao would probably have to stay in the Codex for even longer.

Unless a second Flame Hound appeared, every time Yabao stepped outside, he would likely draw a crowd.

Maybe she should dye his fur and disguise him... Qiao Sang looked at his luxurious fur and fell into deep thought.

"Yap..."

Yabao shivered inexplicably.

"Qiao Sang, you're early." At that moment, a voice broke Qiao Sang's train of thought.

"I only beat you by three minutes." Qiao Sang turned to the voice.

"How did your task go?"

"It was practically perfect. Xiaoyan's performance this time was way better than last time. The task poster even wanted to book Xiaoyan as a model for next time, but I turned it down." Wang Yao strutted over, looking proud.

"Yan Yan." The Flame Sparrow raised its head haughtily.

"Why did you turn it down?" Qiao Sang asked.

"I only took this task to train Xiaoyan's patience." Wang Yao replied.

"You don't know, during battles, it's fine if the opponent faces us directly. But if they like defending, Xiaoyan quickly gets impatient and sometimes stops following my commands, making it easy for others to exploit the opportunity. I lost to Lu Mai from Litan High School last year because of that."

"Now that Xiaoyan's patience is well-trained, there's no need for such boring tasks anymore."

"Yan Yan."

The Flame Sparrow raised its head even higher.

"This task must have earned you a five-star review then. Looks like Zheng Baolong won't call you out." Qiao Sang laughed.

"No, it was only a four-star review." Wang Yao's face fell.

"Why?" Qiao Sang asked curiously.

Wang Yao grumbled, "Just because I refused to let Xiaoyan be a model again, the guy took off one star!"

Qiao Sang: ...

"But it's fine. I'm sure, apart from you, I did the best in completing the task." Wang Yao glanced over at Shi Gaofeng, lowering her voice mischievously.

"I bet Shi Gaofeng got a bad review this time. He always shows off his good reviews in the group chat whenever he gets one."

"Five whole days, and except for the first, he hasn't said a word in the chat. He hasn't even posted that hot guy with six-pack abs photo he promised."

Wang Yao was getting more excited as she spoke.

"I'm going to ask him about it."

Qiao Sang's eyelid twitched. She quickly advised, "Let it go. Zheng Baolong will be here soon. Let's start preparing for training."

Wang Yao thought for a moment and decided it wasn't urgent to tease Shi Gaofeng right now, so she agreed.

Qiao Sang breathed a silent sigh of relief. Phantom Water Baby, this is as far as I can help you...

---

Ten minutes later.

Everyone had arrived.

Zheng Guoping held his tablet and started giving feedback.

"I won't say much about Qiao Sang. She completed her task on the first day and even got a five-star review. Look at you guys, an entire year, and forget five stars, how many tasks have even met the minimum standard?"

"I had ten." Wang Yao chimed in.

"I had eight." Xu Yajie mumbled.

Zheng Guoping's temples throbbed. He was about to scold them harshly but remembered that their task performance this time wasn't too bad, so he turned his gaze toward Shi Gaofeng.

Shi Gaofeng blinked innocently in return.

"What about you? How many tasks have you completed to standard?" Zheng Guoping asked coldly.

Shi Gaofeng opened his mouth, about to speak.

Just then, Xu Yajie interjected, "He can't speak right now. He thought his task went so badly he cried himself hoarse at home."

"Pfft..." Wang Yao couldn't help but laugh.

Who would believe such a ridiculous excuse? Only an idiot would... Qiao Sang mentally rolled her eyes.

"Heh." Zheng Guoping sneered.

"You think losing your voice will change the result of your task? One-star review. You were supposed to extract fat, and you ended up making someone's abs disappear? I've never taught such a terrible student!"

Shi Gaofeng blinked innocently.

"You need to understand, the school team won't fall apart without you. Do you know how many people are waiting to take your place? No sense of urgency whatsoever. The National Campus Beast Mastery League is in two months. If you keep performing like this, I'll have to consider replacing you." Zheng Guoping said sternly.

The National Campus Beast Mastery League... Qiao Sang fell into deep thought.

After the vice principal mentioned the high school beast battles, she went online to research it.

The National Campus Beast Mastery League is the oldest and most prestigious high school beast mastery competition in the country.

The event is a centralized tournament spanning all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions.

The competition has three stages: Provincial competitions, regional competitions, and the national finals.

Winning first place in the province, defeating Litan Middle School, was just the first stage of the provincial competition.

Among the numerous beast mastery contests, this one garners the most attention and is the most prestigious.

If you break through the provincial competition and place in the top three in the national finals, you won't need to take the college entrance exam or any specialized admissions test. Top universities will be lining up to recruit you.

It's a highly esteemed competition.

Zheng Guoping frowned.

"For now, run twenty laps around the field. Next time, it won't be this easy. Understood?"

Shi Gaofeng blinked but said nothing.

Zheng Guoping's veins bulged, and he couldn't suppress his anger anymore.

"Even if your voice is gone, you can still nod or shake your head! I'm asking you again, do you understand?"

Startled by the outburst, Shi Gaofeng nodded quickly. "Huan huan!"

As expected... Qiao Sang wasn't surprised at all.